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COUNTWAY
HC 4FSb *
Boston
Medical Library
8 the fenway
THE
JMEDICAL ADVANCE
\-^'-
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE
OF
HAHNEMANNIAN HOMEOPATHY
DEVOTED TO
A STUDY OF METHODS AND RESULTS.
H. C. ALLEN, M. D., Editor. J. B. S. KING, M. D., Associate Editor,
VOLUME XXXVI.
JAMES E. FORREST, Publisher. 1908
,.,; J««
AbsQQS^, Retinal Tr9fk]l|ment qf, Rabe, 5^3
Aconit^UD .oapellus, Bass, 7^9
Adapos, Dr. Ghas., 719
Alford, Dr. J. H., Why I Am a £(omeopath, 333
Alkaloldal Therapeutics (Editprlal). 190
Allen, Dr. H. C, Discussion of Dr. Pierson's Paper, 48 The Necessll^y for Original Work, 111
Alumni of Homeopathic Colleges, (Edit), 824
Amalgamation of the Schools, (Ed- itorial,) 502
Amenorrhea, Case of, 369
Amenorrhea, from^ Disappointed Love, Bloomings ton, 491
American Heart, The, (Edit.), 55
American Institute of Homeopa- thy, 807 '
American Patriotism, (Edit.), 638
American Institute of Homeo- pathy, 420; Bureau of Homeo- pathy, 193
Ammoniu a Caust, Fragmentary Proving of, 612
Anamnesis, The, Hudson, 517
Anderson, Dr. Clinical Cases, 772
Antitoxin, The Deadly. (Edit.) 131 An Involuntary Proving of, 190
Antitoxin Fad, 816
Anti vaccination Convention, 784
Appendicitis, Chronic, De La Hautiere, 552
Asthma, Case of, 195
Asarum Europeum, 542
Atwood, Dr. H. A., 419
Back to the Homeopathy of Hah- nemann, (Editorial), 553
Banergee, Dr. Ganga D., A Case of Remittent Fever, 313
Banning, Dr. E. P., T78
. TAe Philosophy of the Erect Posture, 366
Bari^es, Dr. Florence L., The Homeopathic Treatment of Pneumonia, 17
Barranquilla, Dr., Francisco V.T.. Cerebral Hemorrhages: A Clinical Case, 525
Bass, Dr. Julia H., Aconitum Nap., 759
Bechamp, Dr. A, 577
Bee Sting Fatal, 50; Cures Rheu- matism, 413
Beebe, Dr. H. E., 138
Beckwith, Etiology of Appendi- citis, 820
Belding, Dr. H. E., 250
Bid well. Dr. Glen I., Organon Par., 51 56,477
Biegler,Dr.Jos.A.,rn Memorlam,60
Birthmarks, Removal of, 524
Blackmore, Dr. R, Cases, 191, 305.
Blindness from Drugging, Thorn- hill, 312 " Bloomingston, Dr. F. D., Amen- orrhea from Dissappointed Love, 491
Boenninghausen Repertory, The New, 576
Boffin, Dr. Reply to McNeil, 248 Hahnemann's Defence of Vaccination, 339
Roger, Dr. C. M., The Study of Materia Medica, 686
Boland. Dr.J.T., Clinical Cases 404
British Homeopathy (Edit.), 675
Bryonia in Asthma, Campbell, 195
Burgess, Dr. Margaret E., 716
Butler, Dr. W. C. Sinapis nigr., in Asthma, 744
Calcarea Cure, A. Trumbull, 369
Calcarea Sulph., Infantile Erupt- ions, Freeman, 244.
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Campbell, Pr. J. ,B., Bryonia in^ Asthma, l95.
What is Worth While in Med jclne? 455
Campbell, Dr. Nettie, Surgical Cases Cured Therapeutical- ly, 699
Can Surgery Avail in the Select- ion of the Homeopathic Rem- edy? Stanton, 245
Case, A Peculiar, Pollette, 97
Case Study with Repertory, Free- man, 630
Cases, Edgar, 243
Cases, Four Every Day, Stanton, 69
Causticum, its Action on Warts Produced by X-ray Burns, King, 749
Central New York Homeopathic Society, Transactions, 1, 287, 477 525, 719
Chiron, Dr., 117
Cholera Infantum, 564
Cholesterinum, Yingling, 549
Clark, Dr. Geo, E., The Simplicity of the Homeopathic Law, 171
Clark, Dr. Geo. H., 781; Mania a Potu, 408
Clark, Dr. John H., Radium Brom- ide; A Proving, 389
Clinical Case, Jausset, 236
Clinical Case, Taylor, 260
Clinical Cases, Anderson, 772
Clinical Cases, Boland, 404
Clinical Cases, King, 251
Conium, 267; Coral rubr., 69;: Ferrum Sulph., 102; Ficus. Relig., 604; Gelsemium. 192, 527, 599; Glonoin, 251; Graph- ites, 602, Hamrells, 476; Hyd- ratis, 269; Kali. Bich., 69;. Kali. Carb , 313; Kali. Sulph., 476; Lacdef., 633; Lachesi8,85; Lemna minor, 253; Lycopod- ium, 70, 106, 108, 773; Lyssin, 243; Medorrh, 700, 1^1, Mer- curius,602; Natrum. Mur., 365, 475, 491, 675, 772; Natural gas,, 515; Nitric acid, 526; Nux. Vom. 623, 706, 758, 772; Nux. Mos., 252; Petroleum, 71: Phos- phorus, 196, 515, 671; Physos- tigma, 527; Phytolacca, 406, 520; Psorinum, 181, 670, 701, 703; Pulsatilla, 604, 706; Pyro- gen, 366; Radium Brom. 391;. Rhus, rad., 83; Rhus, tox, 552, 559, 602; Sambucus, 338; Sar- sap., 763, 764. 765; Spigelian 252: Sulphur, 601, 181, 773: Syphllinum, 699; Tarantula, 516; Thuja, 261; Trombidium, 666; TabercuUnum, 178, 552. 702; Tubercullnum aviare, 679; Variolinum, 166; Veratumalb. 181, 365; Zinc, 677.
Clinical Verifications, from My Note Book, Hawkes, 599
Coagulation of the Blood, Lever- son, 581
Clinical Cases, Alumen, 476, Arg- Coca, An Unexpected proving of^
entum Nitr, 365; Aurura Mur. 673; Belladonna, 408, 527; Ben- zoic acid, 676; Borax, 268; Bromine, 253; Bryonia, 195, 552; Calc. Carb. 70, 369, 404, 524, 603, 746; Calc. Sulph. 244, 666; Cannibas Sat., 87; Carbo.
Guild-Leggett, 100 College Inspection Schedule, 176 Comment and Criticism, 561, 641,.
778 Complementary Relationships,.
Freeman, 487 Compulsory Medicine (Edit.), 825 Veg.,476;Causticum,749;Cheli- Compulsory Health, (Edit.), 56, 59 donium, 405; Cholesterin, 549; Copeland, Dr. Royal S., 575 Hom- Coffea, 527; Colchicum. 670; eopathy and the New Thought
IDEX,
3
in Science (appendix to June) Remarks at the R. H. M.
S. Meetinir, 41 What is Homeopathy? (appendix to Jan.)
Correction, Dr. Nettie Campbell, 788
Coryza, A Case of, 701
Council on Medical Education, Committee of, 197
D-ibbous, Dr. A. M., Tuberculosis, Etiology and Pathology, 30
Day, Dr. J. R, 129
De La Hautire, Dr.Rosalie, Chronic Appedicitis, 562
Derelict or Otherwise. (Edit.) 129
Diagnosis vs. Therapeutics, (Edit) 352
Diarrhea, Infantile, Phytolacca dec, 520
Diathesis the Personal Factor in Disease, Duckworth, 319
Diet for Brain Workers, King, 72
Liflference Between Belief and Practice, (Edit.). 273
Diphtheria Cured Without Anti- toxin, Blackmore, 191
Dose, the Repetition of the, 275
Di-ake, Dr. W. E., Early Diag- nosis of Tuberculosis, 480
Duckworth, Sir Dyce, Address on the Diathesis, 319
Dysmenorrhea, a Case of, 700.
Eaton, Dr. Chas. WoodhuU, In Memoriam,212; Personal Trib- ute to, 280 R^fsolutions in Memoriam 281 The **New Vaccination" in the Courts of Iowa, 299
E^ctopic Gestation, A Case of, Morris, 115
Edgar, Dr. J. F., 418, 570. Clinical Cases, 243 Materia Medica Noles, 823
Eggs.Idosyncrasy in Regard to, 633
Elimindtion of Sectarian Dogma
from Scientific Medicine, ' CEdit.), 133 Emphysema, Case of, 677 Epilepsy, A Clinical Case.Chiron 117
Soc. Franc. D'Hom., 184 Epistaxis, Case, 515 Erect Posture, Banning, 376 Esoteric Homeopathy, (Edit.), 558 Facts and Fallacies, (Edit.), 636 Fahnestock, Dr. J. C, Lecithin,466 Family Case. The, (Edit.), 557 Farrington, Dr. Harvey, Discus- sion on Tuberculosis, 48
Sequellae and Treatment
of Pneumonia, 22 Sinapis nigra in Asthma,
745 Similar Cases, Three, 803 Ferrum Sulphuricum, Guild-leer-
gett, 102 Ficus Reigiosa, On the Action of,
Mattoli, 604 Fincke Potencies, 210 Fitz-Matthew, Dr. J., 192 Fisher, Dr. C. E., 381 Foetal Phenomenon, A , 285 Follette, Dr. W. W., Lycopodium in Tumor, 106 Value of Tuberculin in Diag- nosis, 484 Fracture of Skull, 580 Fragmentary Provings by the
Bayard Club, 611 Frash, Dr. J. E. 190 Freeman, Dr. W. H., Case Study with Repertory 630 Calcarea Sulph., in Infantile
eruptions, 244 Complementary Relation- ships, 487 The Relation of Homeopathy
to Puerperal Fever, 881 A Rhus Radicans Case, 83 Symposium on BOnninghau- sen's Pocket Repertory, 799
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Fritz, Dr. A. A.. Gonorrhea, 294 Furuncles, Mai- treatment of, 640 Gall Stones, case, 549 Gelsemium, Fitz- Matthews, 190 Qonorrhea, Fritz, 294 Gtonorrhea, The Surgical Aspect
of, Stearns, 671 Gonorrhea, the *'Inefficacy of In- ternal Treatment" in, (Edit.) 712 Gordon, Dr. W. F., 717 Gorton, Dr. W. D., Renal Calculi,
758 Guild-Leggett, Dr. S. L., An Un- expected Proving of Coca, 100 Lycopodium in Recurrent
Append icite, 107 Ferrum Sulphuricum, 102 Gustafson, Dr. Frank A., Homeo- pathy and the Homeopathic Physician, 508
Homeopathy, Its Principles
and Practice, 595 The QualiflcatioDs of the
Physician, 765 Variolinum in the Treat- ment of Smallpox, 155 Hahnemann's Tviiiching, The Sole Gaage of Fidelity to, Hal- lo way, 342 Hahnemann Round Table of
Philadelphia, 267 Hahnemann Hospital of Rochester
N. Y., Notes from, 242 Hardy, Dr. E. A. P., 419 Hawkes, Dr. W. J., Clinical Veri- fications from My Note Book,599 Hayes, Dr. R E. S , Experience with Tuberculinum Avaire, 679- Health Resorts in the West Indies
330 Hering M.dical College, (Edit.), 634 Graduation Exercises, 507 Orthepedics at, 639
Higl>ee, DrX?X^.,Ia Momod»m<282
High Potency Homeopai^, (Edi- torial). 200
HinjratOD, Dr. J. W., The .Cllna- tic Treatment of Tuberculosis 35
Pulmonary Tuberculosis, Calcarea Carb., 746
Hodge, Dr. J. W,, Jennerian Vaccination, 213 What is the Stuflf Variously Termed Vaccine, etc.,
Holcombe, Dr. A. W., Is the Rule Smallest, Similar, Single Remedy Praciica.1 on Practice? 513
Holloway, Dr. J. C, The Philo- sophy of Hahnemann, 649
The Sole Guage of Fidelity to Hahnemann's Teach- ing, 342
Holmes, Dr. Horace P., 575
How the Dynamic Remedy Works, 254
Home, (Poem), 560
Homeopath, What Kind of a, Are You? King, 696
Homeopathic? Are you becoming, Vincent, 78
Homeoparhic Law, The Simplicity of the, Clark, 171
Homeopathic College of the U. of Minn., 565
Homeopathic Propagandism« the A. I. H. Committee, 777
Homeopathic Philosophy,Sugg cat- ions in, Yingling, 255
Homeopanhic Principles vs. Insti- tute Practice, (Edit.), 500
Homeopathic Remedies How they Act, 591
Homeopathic Teaching,Our,(Edit.) 558
Homeopathy, The Philosophy of, Holloway, 649
Homeopathy and the Homeopathic
^v^imf
PhyiiioiaD, Gustafsof^.^O? HoipBQPalfey' 1^8 Present 8t&fu» and Future Pro^^ta, Ovev"
homeopathy, Its Principles aofl
Pra^tic^, 6uatj^8C|;Q, 595 homeopathy, The Propagandism
cf, 135. 714, 770 Hoftkins, Dr. May E , 138 House Fly, The Murderous, (Edit.)
58. How the Dynamic Remedy Works,
Holmes, 254 Hudson, Dr. T. H., The Anam- nesis, 517
Introeuctory Address, 791 Hussy, Dr. E, P., Orgnnon Par.
30 and 33, 289 Hutchinson, Dr. Jno., Standard
Homeopathy, 315 inauguration of Dean Copeland,
(Edit.) 829. ' International Hahnemann Assoc- iation, 29, 419, 529, 678
As a Factor for Good in the Homeopathic Pro- fession, (Pres. Address) 533 Loyalty to, 127 Meeting, Change of, 124 Next Meeting o', (Kdit.)
51 Me<.t=n«; for 1909 574 Tran.iu-noiidl90S. 520 Influenza, Case, 5 5 Insanity, TheStuily of, (F.lit. ).55"» Intermittent Ft* vn , Ca.s«\«.181, 772 Jenoerian Vaci-in uion, Holj?»%213 Johnson, Dr. W. W., Oi-^Mnon Par. 30 34, 287
A ^tudy of Lyoopodiuin,104 Journal of the A. I. H., (Edit.), 776 JouBset, Dr. P.,A Clinlcil Case,236 Kenney, Dr. Adeline, 782 Kent, Dr. J. T., Nitric Acid, 2 Kin^, J. B. S.t Clinical Cases, 251
D^ ^QK B^in ?/V^Qr!j:,er^, 72 '*N^f tvfm ^f Interior,"
276 '•SurgicaJ Technlc, 769 What JCji^nd of a flameop^th are You? .696
Owl, the Monkey an4 the Goat, The, 801 King, Dr. J. W., Causticum, its Action on Warts Produced by X-ray Burns 749 Kirkpatrick, Dr. J. A., Pneu- monia, Etiology and Pathology 11 •
Simple Case, A, 814 Kraft, Dr. Frank, In Memoriam,
566 Krichbaum, Dr. P. E., Surgical Cases, 665
Sinapis Nigra, 742 Krichbaum, Dr. Theod >ra, 138 Lachesis Specimen, 421 Lachesid Verifications, RabCf 85 Lanktoa Dr. Freda M., In Mem- oriam; 62 Lecethin, a Proving of, Fahnes-
tock, 466 Leonard, Dr. W. H , A Frag- mentary Proving »^f Papaya Vulgaris. 74 Leverson, Dr. M. U., The Coagul- ation of the Blood, 581 London Homeopailiic Hospital and
Homeopathy, Tyler, 641 Loos D.-. J. C, The Relation of Homeopathy to Puerperal Ff ver, 708 Luff, Dr. Jos. A., 409
A Case of Septic Fever, Pyrogen, 366 Lutipe, Dr. F. H., Infantile Diar- rhea, Phytolacca, 520 Lycopidum in Recurrent Ap- ' pendicitis, Quild-Leggett,108 Lycopodlum for Eauresis, 199 Lycopodium, A Study, Johnson, 104
6
THE MEDICAX. ADVANCE.
Lycopodium in Tumor, Follett,106
Magna est Veribae, etc.,Mahoney, 614
Mahoney, Dr. Ed w. , 614
Mania a Potu, Clark, 408
Materia Medica, A Charrcteristic and Comparative, McNeil, 542
Materia Med lea. Comment on Our, Rauterberg, 441
Materia Medica, The Needs of Our, 575
Materia Medica, the Study of, Boger, 686
Materia Medica Verifications, Rabe, 475
Mattoli, Agostina, 604
McOeorge, Dr. W., Sanguin- aria in La Grippe, Diseases of the Chest and Neuritis, 733
McNeil, Dr. A Characteristic and Comparative Moteria Medica 642
Medical Ethics, Terry, 626
Medicine and Heresy, Tyler, 644
Mental Clinics, 285
Mental Troubles Relieved by the Homeopathic Remedy, Nor- man, 703
Merrill, Dr., Some New Develop- ments in the Preparation of Whey, 88
Metrorrhagia, Case, 675
Middletown Insane Hospital, 331
Miller, Dr. Z. T., The Status of Modern Nosodic Medication, 752
Missionary Campaign, (Edit.), 351
Missouri Institute, 507
Morris, Dr. R. N,, A Case of Ectopic Pregnancy, 115
Morphium Sulph.. Fragmentary Proving, 613
My Vow, 633
Nat rum Phos., Fragmentary Prov- ing of, 611
Necessity for Original Work,
Allen, 111 New York Homeopathic Medical
College, 640 New York State Society, 276, 574
717 "News from the Interior." King
276 Nitric Acid, Kent, 2 Norman. Dr. Lee, Mental Troubles*
Relieved by the Homeopathic
Remedy, 703 Nosodic Medication, the Present.
Status Modern, 752 Notes from the Field, 606 Notes from Prs. Copeland's Ad- dress, 503 Oklahoma Instituto of Homeo^
pathy, 78;^ Oleum Santali, Fragmentray Prov-^
ing, 612 Onosmodium Vlrg. m., 788 Officicious Health Board, The^
(Edit.), 828 Opium Cure, The, 576 Opsonic Index, the, (Edit.), 271 Orthopedics at Hering, 639, 778 Organon Par. 30-34, 287; 51 56, 477 Osier vs. Oslerism, 579 Osteopaths are Physicians, 563 Osteomyelitis, Case, 678 Otitis Media, Acuta, Case, 71 Overpeck, Dr. J. W., 450 Papaya Vulgaris, a Fragmentary
Proving, Leonard, 74 Pernicious Intermittent Fever,
Valiente, 181 Pharmacopeia of the A. I. H.
. (Edit.) 827 Phosphorus Case, Rabe, 196 Phymosls, Case of, 514 Physicians, The Qualifications of
the, Gustafson, 765 Pierson, Dr. H, W., Homeopathy^
in Tuberculosis, 43 Plea for a Scientific Reproving of
our remedies. Runnels, 370
TNDEX.
Pleurodynia, Case of, 515 Pnemonia, Etiolo&ry and Pathology
Kirkpatrlck, 11 Paeumonia. The Homeopathic Treatment of, Barnes, 1^
Pneumonia, Sequellae and Treat- ment, Farrington, 22
Pneumonia and Tuberculosis, a Symposium, 11
Pulmonary Tuberculosis, A Cal- carea Carb. Case, Hingston, 746
Post Surgical Treatment of Chronic Diseases, (Edit.), 52
Post Tenebrae Lux, Vertes, 261
Postal Law, The New, 210, 353
Practice, Is the Smallest, Similar, Single Remedy Practiced in, Holcombe, 513
Proprietary Mixtures, (Edit.), 351
Pseudo- Homeopathic Journals, 249
Puerperal Fever, The Relation of Homeopathy to, Freeman, 881
Puerperal Fever, The Relation of the Homeopathic Remedy to, Loos, 708
Rabe. Dr. R. F., The I. H, A. as a Factor for Good in the Homeo- pathic Profession, 533 Materia Verifications, 475 A Phosphorus Case, 196 Some Aspects of the Tuber- bulosis Problem in N. J.,231
Radium Bromide, A Proving, Clarke, 389
Rauterberg, L. E., Comment on Our Materia Medica, 441
Rectal Fistula, Case of, 676
Regular Homeopathic Medical So- ciety, 11, 299, 575
Reilly, Dr. W. E., 717
Remittent Fever, A Case of, Banerjee, 313
Renal Calculi, Case of, Gorton, 758
Repertory Index, 719
Rhus Radicans Case, Freeman, 83
Rice, Dr. Philip, The Taking of a
Case, 494
Roberts^ Drs. Thos. Q. ancji Jose- phine, M., 139.
Cases from My Note Book, 809
Roberts, Dr. W. R, The Relation of Vaccination to Tuberculosis 151
Rock River Institute of Homeo- pathy, 421
Runnels, Dr. D. S , Extracts from a plea for a Scientific Re- pri)virg of our Remedies, 370
Runnels, Dr. M. T.. 574
Sanguinaria in La Grippe, Diseases of the Chest and Neuritis, Mc- George, 733
Sarsaparilla, Taylor, 763
Scarlet Fever, The Treatment of Complications of ,Campbell,359
Schmidt, Dr. H. C, 782
Scientific Specimen, 414
Senn, Dr. Nicholas, Death of, 62 "
Septic Fever, Pyrogen, Lufif, 366
Serum Therapy Problem, ( Ed it.),202
Similia Similibus, 614
Sinapsls Nigra, Kricbbaum, 742
Single Remedy and Single Dose, (Edit.), 636
Small-pox Cases, 156
Smallpox in Japan, 284
Smith, Dr. T. Franklin, 782
Sommer, Dr. C. M., 138
Southern Homeopathic Medical Association, 635, 775
Spring, Dr. L. G., 716
Standard Homeopathy, Hutchin- son, 315
Stanton, Dr. L. M., Can Surgery Avail, etc., 244
Four Every Day Casss, 69
State Societies, 278
Status of Modern Nosodic Medi- cation, Miller, 762
Stearns, Dr. G. B., The Surgical Aspect of Gonorrhea, 671
Stokes, Dr. Lydia W., Rapid Re- sults from Tuberculin, 178
Stone, Dr. A. C, 138
Stone, Dr. Geo. L., In Memoriam, 135
Stovain aa a Local Anesthetic^ Vertes, 332
Strabismus, Case of, 703
Straube^s Challenge to Dickinson,
THB MBDICAJ^ ^2> VANCE.
785 Surgdc^a^ Cf^s, Kric)ibaum, 606 Surgical Cases, (so-calLsd), Cured Tberapeutically, Campbell,B99 Surgery, CbnservatUm in, Wltte,
737 •*Surglcal Techuic," Kiog, 769 Tabor, Ur. G. A. In Memdriao, 135 Taking the Casei Rice, 4M Taylor, Dr. E. A., 47
Clinical Cases, 260, 675 Sarsaparilla, 763 Tarsal Tumors, 666 Terry, Dr. M. C, Medical Ethics
626 Texas Homeopathic Medical As- sociation, 783 Thomson, Dr. J J.. 49 Tbornhill, Dr. G. E., 716
Blindness from DrugjBring,312 TheUropagandismoiHomeo- pathy, 770 Toothaches, Turner, 522 Trumbull, Dr. Eliz., A Calcarea
Case, 369 Tuberculin Cow Injunctions of, (Edit.), 350; Value of in Diag- nosis, 484 Tuberculinum, Rapid Results from,
Stokep, 17H Tuberculinum Aviare, Elxperi-
ments with. Hayes, 679 Tuberculosis, Early Diagnosis of, Drake. 480 Clinic Treatment of, King- ston, 35 Diagnosis and Prognosis of
Pulmonary, Young, 27 Etiology and Pathology,
Dabboup, 30 Homeopathy in, Pierson, 43 International Congress of,
279 Problem in New Jersey,
Rabe, 231 Relation of Vaccination to, 151 Remarks on at the R H. M. S., by Copeland, 41 Tumor Ovarian, Case of, 677 Turner, Dr. M. W., Tootnaches,
522 Tyler, Dr. M. L., The London Homeopathic Hospital, 641 Medicine and Heresy, 644 Typhoid Bacillus Carrier, 790 Vaccination, Compulsory,(Edit.),348 Compulsory of Infants, 565
During SmaUp^, 528 "Hahnemann's Defence of**
Boffin, 339 The Legal Status of. Res- olutions by the R. H. M. S.,*9 The *'New'' in the courts
of Iowa, Eaton, 299 The Relation of to Tuber- culosis. Rr)bert8, 151 School Law at Niagara Falls, 311 Vaccine Virus, 160 Vaccine Virus, What is the Stuflf Variously Termed etc., Hodge 160 Valiente, Dr. F. P., Intermittent * Fever, Van de Venter, Drs. M. C. and
M. A., 782 Variolinum Recognized by Iowa
Courts, 212 Variolinum in the Treatment of
Smallpox, Gustaf8on,<155 Varner. Experiences with the No-
sodes, 817 Vertefe, Dr. Alex, 261, 782
Stovain as a Local Anesthetic 332 Vincent, Dr. A. W., 138
Are We Becomming Borneo- pathicV 78 Vivisection, 211 Vivisection and Vaccination,
(Edit.), 774 Yawning, 243
Yingling, Dr. W. A., Cholester- inum, 549 Suggestions in Homeopathic Philosophy, 255 Young, Dr. D. W., Diagnosis and Prognosis of Pulmonary Tuberculosis, 27 What is the Matter With Homeo- pathy? i? isher, 381 What is Woith While in Medicine?
Campbell, 455 Whey. Preparation of, Merrill, 8S Why I Am a Homeopath, Alford,
3:3 Wilcox, Dr. Helen B., 716
Some of the Dangers to Women, 356 Witte, Dr. E. B., Conservatism in
Surgery, 737 Women, Some of the Dangers t*^, Wilcox. 356
The Medical Advance
Vol. XLVI. BATAVIA, ILL., JANUARY, 1908. No. 1.
TRANSACTIONS CENTRAL NEW YORK SOCIETY.
Oak Hill Country Club, Rochester, June 20, 1907.
The Vice President, Dr. A. C. Hermance, called the meeting to order at 12:30 P. M.
In the absence of the Secretary, Dr. Bidwell was appointed to the office.
The minutes of the March meeting were read and appro v.ed.
President Alliaume assumed charge of the meeting.
Members present: Drs. Hermance, Grant, Fritz, Graham, Beck, Johnson, Stowe.
Visitor: Dr. Bidwell.
Dr. Grant asked permission of the chair to refer to the discussion of Arsenicum of the last meeting. Granted. He said he had cured three cases of appendicitis with Arseni- cum. He had had a case of arsenical poisoning where the patient drank large quantities of cold water without nausea, in fact had stood by a pump and drank dipper after dipper full as fast as he could pump it.
Dr. Stow thought we sometimes found strong charcter- istics that seemed to contra-indicate a particular remedy, but, when given, cured. [The Arsenicum in its crude form had not yet developed its typical thirst.]
A report of the Board of Censors was favorable to the election of Dr. Glenn I. Bidwell.
Dr. Stow moved that Dr. Bidwell's election be unani- Udous. Carried.
No reading or essay upon the Organon.
Dr. Grant read a paper on : * 'How to use the Repertory. ''
Discussion on Dr. Grant's paper;
2 THE MEDICAL. ADVANCE.
Dr. Stow had done good work with repertory alone, without referring to materia medica. Much difficulty lay in the fact that many patients were unableto give comprehensive expression to their symptoms. He thought remedies were more often selected by elimination than otherwise, and said he was indebted to Dr. Nash for that method. He cited a case of diarrhea > by riding in a carriage and > by eating fresh peaches, cured by Nitric ac. Im.
Adjourned for luncheon and called to order at 2: P. M.
A paper on Nitric acid by Dr. J. T. Kent, was read by the secretary.
Discussion of Dr. Kent's paper:
Dr. AUiaume reported a case of condylomatous warts on face and anus which wa» clearing up under Nitric acid.
Drs. Johnson, Hermance and Bidwell were appointed to select the program for September meeting and reported:
Organon: ^§XXX-I, Dr Hussey.
Clinical Experiences in Diseases of Children, Dr. Pol lette.
Lycopodium, Dr. Johnson.
Glen I. Bidwell, Acting Secretary.
NITRIC ACID.
- By James Tyler Kent, A. M., M. D.
Nitric acid produces great general weakness; feeble reaction; extreme sensitivity and nervous trembling.
Patients needing Nitric acid are usually greatly broken by long suffering, pain and sickness; physical more than mental sufferings predominate, with a final and marked anemia and emaciation. These patients are sensitive to cold; always chilly; always taking cold; the symptoms are < from becoming cold and in cold air.
The walls of the blood vessels are relaxed and bleed easily; profuse, dark blood.
The pains are as if the flesh was torn from the bones, and a sensation as of splinters is felt in the inflamed parts, ulcers, and nerves.
The conditions in which it has been found useful are:
NITRIC ACID. 3
Inflammation of the periosteum, tones and nerves; sypbli- tic bone pains; caries of the bone; exostoses; orifices, of which the margins bleed and grow warts; old scars, which become painful in cold weather, when the weather changes to cold, paint which are likened to splinters; inflammation of glands following the abuse of mercury in syphilitic subjects; prolonged suppuration in glands with no tendency to repair, when there are sticking pains; suppuration without tendency to repair. This often occurs in syphilitic patients sur- charged with Mercury. Cancerous affections with bloody, watery, offensive discharges and sticking pains. The dis- charges are thin, bloody, offensive, excoriating, sometimes a dirty, yellowish green.
It has often been observed that the patient requiring Nitric acid is more subject to diarrhea than constipation. It has cured many patients who are never so confortable as when riding in a carriage. It cures many complaints that are worse from a jar and noise; even its pains are < from noise. Nitric acid patients are often extremely sensitive to medicines, especially high potencies, indeed they prove every remedy given too high.
Patients who develop fissues, in canthi; corners of the mouth; anus; whose skin cracks and causes the sensation of sticking or splinters, need Nitric acid. These finally become dropsical, especiclly in the lower extremities; offensive, often putrid odors become a marked condition; the urine becomes strong like that of the horse; leucorrhea, catarrh, breath, foot sweat, all become intolerably offensive, even fetid.
Too much weight must not be given to the dark, swarthy complexion so often mentioned as belonging to the people most needing this medicine, for it will cure blondes as often as brunettes, if the symptoms agree.
Mentally we shall find these patients in great prostra- tion of mind. Any effort to reflect causes the thought to vanish. There is general indifference to all matters; tired of life; no enjoyment in anything; < before the menses; mental depression evenings; anxiety concerning failing health; fear
4 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
of death; anxiety after loss of sleep; after vexation and sor- row; anger, following his own mistakes; anger with trem- bling; obstinacy, refuses to be comforted in misfortune; weary of life, but fearing death; excitable; weeping; hopeless, despair of recovery; easily startled; frightened; starts in fright on falling asleep; cannot comprehend what is said to him. The entire mental state is better when riding in a carriage.
The patient suffers much from vertigo in the morning; must lie down.
The headaches of Nilric acid are violent, < from noise of wagons upon a paved street, but often > from riding in a wagon on a smooth, country road;' the noise and jarring in- crease the pain. The pains are as of a vise from ear to ear, compressive. The bi-parietal syphlitic pain is often cured by this remedy. The pain is as though the head were bound up. Pains; drawing, extending to eyes, with nausea; stitch- ing, hammering pains, are often cured. Pains in the head mornings, on waking, < by a jar, motion, noise, > after rising; > riding in a carriage; heat often > head pain; cold often <; wrapping up the head >. Pains are of ten constrict- ing as if bound by a tape.
Of the outer head there is extreme sensitivity of the scalp and skull to combing of the hair and to the hat. The hair falls in profusion, as in syphilis. We find eruptions on the scalp with. sharp, sticking pains, at from splinters; moist, offensive eruptions. There may be, also, caries of the skull, and exostoses.
The eyes may have lost their luster, the pupils are dilat- ed, and there is diplopia. Inflammation of the conjunctiva, acrid tears; ulceration of the cornea, pricking pain; iritis, with stinging, stiching pain, < at night and < changing from a warm room to cold air; spots on the cornea; intense photophobia with burning, pressing and a sensation of sand in the eye; ptosis; swollen lids which are hard and burn; small warts on the upper lids, which bleed easily, and cause aisensation of sticks.
Nitric acid cures a deafness > when riding in a carriage
NITRIC ACID. 5
or train; some oateorhs of \be eustachian tube; pulsating- in the ears; discharges from the ear that are iMrown, fetid, ichorous, purulent; may be a result of scarlet fever, with auditory canal nearly closed; swelling of the glands ubout the ear; caries of the mastoid.
Patients who need Nitric acid may be subject to coryza each winter; no sooner does he get over one cold than he has another; the nose is obstructed at night, during sleep; he sneezes in cold air, from every draft; must keep the room very 'warm. There are bad smells in the nose, and the catarrh is offensive to others; the catarrh is acrid, watery, < at night; yellow, offensive, excoriating, bloody, brownish, thin; such as follow badly treated scarlet fevers, or in mer- curo-syphilitic patients. The nose feels as if there were splinters in it; large crusts form high in the nose; green cAists are blown from the nose mornings; ulcers form high in the nose; warts form in and about the nostrils; the tip of the nose is red and scurfy; crusts form on the wings; the nose is cracked.
Deep lines of suffering characterize the Nitric acid face. The face is pale, yellow, sallow, sunken, bloated; the eyes sunken, the lids humid in the morning; dark rings about the eyes, mouth and nose; the skin feels drawn over the face; there are brown pigmented, warty spots, principally on the forehead; the right parotid is large; crusts and pustules form; the corners of the mouth are cracked, ulcerated, crusty; the lips raw and bleeding; the expression anxious, haggard and sickly, and there is painful swelling of the submaxillary glands.
About the mouth also, are many marked symptoms. Cracking of the jaw, while chewing; tearing pains in the teeth from either cold or warm; pulsating pains at night, after mercury; caries; the teeth become yellow, gums bleed easily, are scorbutic and swollen. The tongue is inflamed, ulcerated, excoriated, sore, red, yellow, white, dry and fis- sured, with sore spots and viscid mucus. The ulcers found in mouth, or* throat, are' white or dark, dirty, putrid, pha^- adinicf arid sj^philftic with sticking pains^as from- splinters;
6 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
the sore mouth has stinging, burning pain, mucous mem- brane excoriated, red and swollen. There is a foul, cadaveric odor from the mouth, and the saliva is so acrid that it ex- coriates the lips.
There is such confusion of action of the muscles of the throat that swallowing produces choking. There is difficulty in swallowing; violent pain in the throat, extending to the ear when swallowing; sticking in the throat like a splinter; (Hep., Nat. m.. Alum., Arg. n.,); viscid mucus in the throat; mucus drawn from posterior nares; inflammation of nostrils, uvula, soft palate and pharynx; edema of uvula and tonsils; (Apis, Rhus, Kali bi., etc.); swelling of throat and tonsils; ulceration of tonsils. Nitric acid has cured diphtheria when the sensation of splinter was present and other symptoms agreed.
The Nitric acid patient has inflammation of the esophagus and stomach; ulceration and catarrh of the stomach. He has many distressing symptoms referred to the stomach; weight and rawness in stomach after eating; pain in cardiac opening of the stomach on swallowing; bitter and sour emesis; nausea after eating. He is generally thlrstless, and longs for fats, herring, pungent things; also for chalk, lime, earths. He has aversion to meat and bread, and the stomach is dis- ordered by milk; fats disagree; all foods sour and cause sour eructations and vomiting. The nausea after eating may be > by moving about or riding in a carriage.
Nitric acid has cured cases of chronic inflammation of the liver; pain in region of liver with jaundice and clay-colored stools; stitching pains in liver; enormously enlarged liver And spleen.
In the abdomen is found many cramping pains in the ileo-cecal region, which is sore, tender, and < from motion. A patient needing Nitric acid may waken at midnight with cramping pains in the abdomen, chilliness, rumbling, disten- sion and tenderness, all < from motion. Inflammation and suppuration of the ingninal glands will also, at times, demand Nitric acid. The relaxed muscular ccmditioa in weakly in- fant bojB that 80 mveh disposes to inguinal hernia, is often
NITRIC ACID. 7
overcome by Nitric acid, and the hernia cured (Lye. Nux.}.
. Broken down subjects are disposed to suffer from fre- quent attacks of diarrhea, or from constipation alternating with diarrhea, and often need this remedy, especially so when the urine smells strong like a horse's urine, and the patient is pale, sickly, losing flesh and strength, and subject to excoriation of the orifices, or excoriating catarrhs and ulcers. In dysentery the stools are black, bloody, putrid, undigested, green, slimy and excoriating; curdled if milk is used as diet. Cold changes of the weather bring on diarrhea. The anus is excoriated, burning, fissured and covered avith warts, membrane comes with the stool; bloody stool, not even clotted, and very offensive.
There is constipation with painful, hard, difiicult stool; ineffectual urging; sensation as if the rectum were filled and could not be expelled; drawing, cutting, pressing before stool, constant, fruitless urging. During stool there is colic and tenesmus with spasmodic contraction of the anus and unsatisfactory straining; sensation as of splinters. After stool there is still urging (Mer.) exhaustion, soreness of the anus, cutting pain, burning and shooting in the rectum, con- striction of anus, great nervous excitement and palpitation. The pain causes the patient to stay in bed hours after every stool.
The anus itches and bums, there is a constant flow of acrid, fetid moisture, fissures, prolapsus, and periodical bleeding with pain in the sacrum. Nitric acid has been a most useful remedy in fistula, fissures, condylomata, polypi, caruncles, cancer of the rectum and hemorrhoids, when the symptoms agree.
It has cured caruncles so sensitive that the patient would cry out when they were touched; hemorrhoids exqui- sitely painful to touch and at stool; that bleed and ere burn- ing s^d sticking during stool; that are either internal or external, or both; that ulcerate and discharge copiously pus and blood. When piles are so painful that the patient breaks out in sweat, becomes anxious, pulsates all over,
8 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
either from the slightest touch or at stool, Nitric acid has been found useful (Compare Peonia and Staphisagria).
The male sexual organs produce many symptoms whiph indicate Nitric acid; they are in a constant state of irrita- bility; desire is increased and erections are troublesome at night; they are painful and spasmodic with stitching pains / in the urethra and chordee. Nitric acid has been a useful remedy in gonorrhea when the discharge was thin and bloody, and later when it was greenish or yellow, the urethra swollen and very sore, with burning and sticking on urination. It has cured condylomata on genitals and around anus which had the splinter sensation, bled easily, and were extremely sensative to touch. It is often indicated in inflammation of the prostate gland with gonorrhea, especially when the discharge becomes scanty from taking cold, or from strong injections. It cures old cases of gleet when the urethra has pain in it like a splinter on touch, or when urinating, inflammation with infiltration, making it feel like a *'whip cord" (Arg. n.); sore spots in the urethra; ulcers with bloody pus and the sen- sation of splinters; itching in the urethra after gonorrhea (Petr.); pimples, vesicles, herpes and crusts on the prepuce; small ulcers on the glans or prepuce; spreading ulcers; ulcers that discharge a brown, offensive, bloody water; phagedenic ulcers (Ars., Aur. m. n., Caust., Mer. cy.); ulcers that destroy the frenum; inflammation of the prepuce; phimosis ^nd paraphimosis with gre^at swelling; ulcers and inflamma- tion with the sticking sensations, that discharge a bloody water; the hair falls from the pubis.
Nitric acid suits many complaints referred to the sexual organs of the female; constgint itching, burning, and sexual desire; excoriation from leucorrhea or menstrual discharge; the slightest exertion brings about uterine hemorrhage (Calc); uterine prolapsus; the vagina is excoriated and con- -dylomata. grow upon the genitals; erectile tumors appear; oruncles at the orifice of the uirethra,. ex;quisitely sensitive M>' tou,ch. The. itching ip ,< by cold; thep£|.rt^ ar,e fissured and bleed. Qaaiiy^ many and extreme nervous sjafferi^gs cojne ^iuripg; the m^nstru?^.pei:iod; jlajiulonce, J)i:ui^e(;l, p^in,iQlijaib9
NITRIC ACID. 9
and down the thighs; * 'splinters" under the fingers and toe nails; palpitation, anxiety and trembling; neuralgic pains in any part.
The menstrual flow is dark, thick, too early, or like bloody water. After the menses there is a bloody, watery flow lasting many days, excoriating the parts; thin, bloody, excoriating leucorrhea at all times, or at any time. Many troubles that arise during lactation require Nitric acid; lumps in mammae; nipples fissured and tender, excoriated and have * 'splinters." The Nitric acid patient has a tendency to abor- tion from general Weakness, and the ease with which a uterine hemorrhage may set in.
There are many symptoms of throat and chest in which Nitric acid may be useful; hoarseness and ulceration of the larynx; voice lost; laryngitis in old syphilitic subjects. The cough is dry, barking, < from tickling in the larynx, < be fore midnight; coming on during sleep. It may be paroxys- mal with retching like whooping-cough, violent and racking. The coughing spells are hard and prolonged, loose in the day time, dry at night; in broken down constitutions, from liver and lung affections, or in tubercular subjects. The expec- toration is difficult, greenish, viscid or thin; dirty, watery, bloody mucus; or dark, clotted blood. The sputum tastes bitter, sour or salty, offensive and even putrid. There is profuse sweat during the efforts to expectorate; rattling in the chest in the day time without Texpectoration; stitching in the chest.
- In a case of typhoid pneumonia with rattling in the chest, inability to expectorate, or when there is expectoration, the sputum is brown and bloody, and the urine is strong, like the urine of a horse.
In tuberculosis with night sweats and hemoptysis look for confirmatory symptoms of Nitric acid.
The pulse of these patients is rapid, irregular, and every fourth beat is missed. There is palpitation from excitement or ascending stairs; swelling of glands of neck and axilla; stiff neck; stitching pains in back and chest; pains in the back nights compelling him to lie on the abdomen; sharp
10 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
pains in the back in tabes dorsalis; sharp pains in the back when coughing, etc. In the extremities we find recorded rheumatic pains; emaciation of the upper arms and thighs; weakness of the limbs; dropsy; crippled nails; sticking pains in cold weather; numbness of arms and hands; copp>er colored spots on the arms; chilblains on the hands and fingers; cold, sweaty hands; numerous large warts on the backs of the hands; herpes between the fingers; vesicles on the tip of the thumbs that open into ulcers, felons; discolored and distorted nails; yellow, curved nails.
Nitric acid is useful in wounds that inflame and have the sticking, splinter sensation.
There is tearing in the long bones of the legs at night; tiie legs are weary and bruised; the hip has a pain as if sprained, and there are sticking pains along the nerves as from splinters. There are syphilitic nodes on the tibia with nightly pains; extreme soreness of the tibia; chilblains on feet and toes; phagadenic blisters on toes (Graph); profuse, offensive sweat of feet.
Under sleep we find shocks on ^oing to sleep (Agar., Arg. m., Ars., Nat. m.); the pains come on during sleep; anxious, unrefreshing sleep with frightful dreams; starting in sleep.
Nitric acid is very useful during fevers; the thirstless- ness during all stages has often called attention to it. In chronic intermittent cachectic constitutions, copious night sweats, ' extreme weakness, with the characteristic odor of the urine, and bleeding from some part, a dark blood, this^ remedy will act well.
ETIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY. 11
PROCEEDINGS OF THE BEOULAB HOMEOPATUIC MEDICAL SOCIETY.
Tuesday, December 3, 1907.
Held at Chicago Public Library Building.
Dr. H. C. Allen, president of the Homeopathic Medical Society, opened the meeting with the following remarks: Ladies and Gentlemen:
This meeting is something of an innovation in that we are having a mid- winter day session. We would consider it very common in the summer or spring when meetings are being held all over the state. J6ut we have thought it ad- visable in the interests of Homeopathy and for the benefit of the profession to see if it is not possible to have a regular society meeting once or twice during the winter, and to have afternoon sessions for the discussion of medical matters in- stead of having them all come in the evening. If we find this successful and satisfactory to those who attend, we shall probably hold other meetings from time to time.
PNEUMONIA AND TUBEBCULOSIS: A SYMPOSIUM.
The general topic this afternoon is, Homeopathy in Pneumonia and Tuberculosis. The first paper to be read will be
THE ETIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY.
By Dr. J. A. Kirkpatrick, Chicago.
It ocupies a prominent place in medical literature. It would be a waste of time to do more than refer briefly to a few things found in the latest authorities.
The death rate in pneumonia is proof that the knowledge gained is of little practical value, either in preventing the disease or aiding in its cure.
Specialists have elaborated upon the bacteriology ol pneumonia but are ready to Qonf ess that they are helpless to lower the mortality. Hence it would be unprofitable to add anything along this line even if I were competent to do so.
Dr. Wells says that the death rate in pneumonia has risen during recent years from an average of 18 per cent.to an average of 28 per cent.
12 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Dr. Osier states that pneumonia is the most fatal of all the acute diseases and its aggregate annual mortality appears now to be even greater than the great **white plague," con- sumption.
The United States census for 1900 places the total num- ber of recorded deaths at 105,971. Of this number there died from pneumonia 106.1 out of every 1000 deaths from all causes, bemg over ten per cent.
Pneumonia in Chicago from the years 1900 to 1905 claims one eighth of all victims of disease; this is eight per cent in excess of all other acute contagious diseases combined which includes diptheria, erysipelas, influenza, measles, puerperal fever, scarlet fever, small pox, typhoid fever, and whooping cough. This is surely an earnest call for the medical pro- fession to pause and consider.
The text books generally follow the old classifications in considering the etiology of pneumonia and from our present knowledge it is about the best that can be done. The causes are given as predisposing and exciting; remote, or immediate; idiopathic, or symptomatic.
Among the predisposing causes given are: seasons, occur- ring more frequently in winter than in summer; climate, north temperate and cold damp climate favors its develop- ment; occupations, coal miners, stone cutters and those occupations that expose to extremes of temperature, to fumes and gases and impure air; alcoholism, habitual drinkers and users of other irritating drugs and narcotics are highly pre- disposed; age, occurring more in infancy and old age; men are more subject to pneumonia than woman; traumatism, of injury to the lung may cause inflammation; other acute or chronic diseases may predispose to pneumonia such as measles, typhoid fever and influenza. Many of the predis- posing causes may become exciting or determining causes of pneumonia.*
• Tlie exciting causes are many, such asexposure,fatigue, 5feficient food or poor quality of food or excessive amount of -Wholesome food may lead to auto- infection and help to pre- pare the way for this disease.
ETIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY. 13
The bacteriology of pneumonia has claimed the attention of pathologists in recent years; the specific germ or pne\i- moccus has been variously designated. Frankel and Weichsel- baum called it pneumococcus; Sternberg the micrococcus pneumoniae crouposse; and Telamon called it the diplococcus lanceolatus. It is generally admitted that other micro organ- isms produce conditions closely resembling this disease such as the streptococcus, staphylococcus and even typhoid bacilli are sometimes found.
Mixed infection is quite common, i. e. two or more varie- ties of bacteria are found present in a person suffering frqjn pneumonia.
Babcocksays, that bacteriologists have much to clear up regarding the role played by micro-organisms in the causation of pulmonary inflammation.
Bauchard's statement still stands: That what renders possible the development of an infective disease is not the chance meeting of man and microbe. * 'This meeting" he says, '*is constant but it is generally without result."
Later investigations have confirmed the truthfulness of this statement. Netter says that the pneumococcus is found in twenty per cent of persons not affected by pneumonia.
Park and Williams found germs in fifty per cent of two hundred healthy persons and concluded that pneumococci are the inhabitants of the mouths of most people during the winter months. Examinations made in the Boston City Hospital show germs in every one of the twenty four liealthy persons examined. Another authority found these germs in ninety five per cent of healthy persons examined.
Much more might be given along the same line but is this not sufficient to convince any reasonable mind that it is worse than useless to spend time in seeking a specific cause of an acute disease while the mortality grows worse an(J worse. Far better go back to the immortal Hahnemann and see how he answers his own question: *'How does the phy- sician gain the knowledge of disease, necessary for the pur- pose of cure?*' page 105 S 71 Organon.
In the 73rd paragraph we find this statement:* 'Acute dis-
14 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
likewise admit a£ division into several classes: The first are those which attack single individuals; they areocca- skmed by hurtfal influences to which the patient happened to be exposed." Note what he says: ''Excesses in sensual eajoyment, or deprivation of the same, violent physical im- inressions, exposure to cold,over heating, excessive muscular exertion, physical or mental excitement, etc., give rise to acute febrile diseases; they are however in reality," he says, * but transient aggravations of latent psora, which returns to its dormant conditions of its own accord, providing, the acute disease was not too violently and speedily relieved, ''(in other words suppressed).
No apology need be made for Hahnemann or his psora. He observed closely. He saw something and it matters little what you call it; to day we would say auto-intoxication or infection but, we have made little improvement if any in getting rid of the condition over that of Hahnemann; his plan was to cleanse the body from within thus operating with nature in her methods of eliminating an irritant from the body.
Admitting that Hahnemann had never seen the acari in scabies, he is still to be commended for his wisdom in driv- ing them from their burrow beneath the epidermis, rather than making a burying ground under the skin and thus ad- ding dead matter to the already auto-infected body.
We do not have to read far to find that the present eti- ology of pneumonia is worse than useless; if our knowledge is to be of any value it will show it in preventing diseases and lowering the mortality.
Pneumonia is a bankruptcy of the vitality. There are many ways of squandering strength and making a wreck on the highway of life; any one can tell a hundred ways in which it is being done, the vitality is lowered, the metabo- lism deranged, waste accummulates, the morbid opportunity comes, the scavengers begin to multiply, they feast upon the dead matter, the adjoining cells are contaminated and weak, they also fall a prey to the devouring bacteria of whatever kind may be present. The malignancy does not
ETIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY. 15
, upiHi what kind of bacteria ao much as the vital staadard of tiba persoa infacted. Vital resi&tance is recog- nized aa the cbiet factor in the development progress and termination in thia disease as in moat others.
The integrity of the cells depends upon suitable nutri- ticMi and proper environment. »
We comprehend more fully how dependent we are upon cell metabolism when we analyze the complex compounds that enter into tissue structure, and see what constant atomic relations are maintained by human life and life alone when it is furnished the natural food which is the only suitable composition to perfectly establish and maintain a high stand- ard of vital resistance.
Nature's God has fixed a definite relation and dependen- cy between man's need and the supply of material for food and protection. It is no accident that the human body is composed of C,H,N,0,P,S,Pe., in constant and definite proportion and that natural foods contain these same ele- mental comp>ounds.
Life only can build these complex food substances w^hether animal or vegetable. Human life is the only power that can transform these natural elements into a human cell. While this is self evident yet one can scarcely find natural food that has not been artificially changed, spoiled by at- tempted improvement and adulterated to satisfy greed until it is unfit to nourish the human body.
Take hemoglobin for example with its complex arrange- ment of atoms of Ccoo, H906, N164, On^, Sa, Fe./, -with traces of other salts, exactly suited to carry oxygen, taking from the inspired air in the lungs and distributing it to every cell in the body. One must first understand this function to comprehend the etiology of pneumonia. It is little we know as compared with what seems beyond the comprehension of the human mind. But we do know that there can be no perfect oxidation without a perfect hemo- globin; no perfect hemoglobin without suitable material, and no suitable material without a life to form it and human life to transform it into its organic proportions.
16 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
A proper environment is essential to the vital processes. The cell must be protected as well as the organ or individ- ual body. Heat favors vital activity, continued cold retards it. Heat must be generated and maintained. There can be no great degree of vital resistance without oxidation. This is nature's plan for cleansing. It is not heat that kills in fever; it is the toxins unoxidized that destroy life.
For example, a chicken has a temperature of IO65 F. The chicken in a normal condition can not be infected with anthrax. The virus may be injected into its blood without results, but stand the chicken in ice water until it is chilled and the anthrax will infect and kill it.
Lowered vitality, poor nutrition, improper environ- ment give the key to the dread disease, pneumonia.
The patient wastes his energy by overwork or abuse, he becomes auto-infected by eating all sorts of viands and confections; perfect nutrition becomes impossible, the tis- sues lose their integrity, waste and decomposing matter ooze from every gland on the outside, or mucous surface within; the patient now has catarrh. These discharges are suppressed as far as possible by astringents and local appli- cations, the infection is' forced back into the blood and lymph, nature rebels, starts a conflagration, and tries to burn out the waste; antiphlogistics are given or applied, the fever is suppressed. The patient only partially recovers, is easily chilled, extremities are cold, appetite poor, the tongue is coated, the bowels constipated, the breath offensive, rest is disturbed, the patient becomes irritable, tries to continue his work which becomes a burden, and life intolerable.
All the while the person is trying all sorts of ways for relief; one takes alcoholic tonics to deaden the misery, an- other takes sedatives. The appetite is tempted by highly seasoned foods to please the perverted tastes and desires; thus he keeps on to the limit of physical endurance.
Then comes more drastic measures; cathartics in the form of Cascarets, Castoria, Castor Oil or Calomel. In the attempt to cleanse the body it is worse polluted until every cell is weakened and contaminated and the patient becomes
HOMEOPATHIC TREATMENT OF PNEUMONIA. 17
a walking incubator, (if he has not taken to his bed). There is a chill, the morbid opportunity has come, the ever pres- ent germs begin to multiply. The tired muscles give way, the Wood driven inward by the contracted capillaries in- creases the blood pressure, the weakened vessels of the in- ternal organs burst from this increased pressure and the tumultuous action of an over stimulated heart. If the cap- illaries.of the larynx give way we have laryngitis, if the pharynx, pharyngitis or diphtheria, or quinsy; if the kid- neys give way we have nephritis, if the liver it is hepatitis; ^^the bronchi are the first to give way it is bronchitis; if ^^^ parenchyma of the lung chances to be the weakest f^int it is pneumonia with all that it means of lessened oxi- ^^ion and deficient elimination of carbon dioxide and other ^ic elements as it affects the functions of the whole body. When we come to know and understand the etiology of pneumonia, if that time ever comes, we shall be able to com- prehend the whole of pathology, for when pneumonia sets in **the whole head is sick, the whole heart faint, from the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it."
Whefi we recognize this fact more fully, less attention will be given to killing germs and more effort, directed to save the patient, by aiding the vitality in its battle against disease.
THE HOMEOPATHIC TREATMENT OF PNEUMONIA.
By Dr. Florence E. Barnes.
At this season of the year our attention is especially caQed to that much-dreaded disease pneumonia, and little wonder that it is so dreaded by the laity and the allopathic sect of the medical profession, when so eminent an authority as Dr. Billings, recently president of the American Medical Association, in his annual address said that, *Svhen he is called in to attend a case of pneumonia nowadays, he gets ready to sign a burial certificate."
And Dr. Bevan who openly declares that they (the old school) have no medical treatment for pneumonia, and that a
18 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
i^eoifie must be discovered before the diaeftae can be-tceated successfully.
Dr. Osier says:. "So fatal is the disease, in this country at least, one may say that to die of pneumonia is the natural end of old people.'' He also says that ''pneumonia is a self- limited disease, which can neither be aborted nor cut short by any known means at our command."
Relying upon our infallible law of cure we, as homeo- paths, have no such unwholesome dread of the results of this disease, but at the same time realize the seriousness of the condition with which we have to deal and the necessity for prompt and accurate prescribing as symptoms present themselves, always bearing in mind that a homeopathic prescription is based, not upon the symptoms diagnostic of the disease, but upon those peculiar to and characteristic of each individual patient, which may call for any remedy in the materia medica.
Experience teaches that Homeopathy gives us the means to shorten the course of this disease without waiting for the cyclical days and their effects, also that every case of pneu- monia has its own simile or specific.
So frequently, however, do our cases of pneumonia terminate by lysis that we often receive little credit from our patients or the community for curing such simple cases, physical signs often non-discernable after the eighth day, while under the expectant treatment physical signs are de- tected up to the twenty :fifth or thirtieth day, the fever abating from the ninth to the eleventh day.
Dr. Osier states that in hospital practice the mortality is from 20 to 40 per cent. Of the first 124 oases admitted to or developing in the Johns Hopkins Hospital 37 died, a mor- tality of 29.8.
Dr. Routh's statistics of the comparative mortality in pneumonia in the Vienna Homeopathic Hospital, are Hom- eopathic 5.77, or 1 in 17; Allopathic 24.57, or 1 in 4.
Statistics from the hospitals of Paris give about the same comparative mortality.
Wm. Sharp, Fellow of the Royal Medical Society, Lon-
HOMEOPATHIC TREATMENT OP PNEUMONIA. 19
don, gives the following: Homeopathic 5.77; Allopathic 24.
The United States census of 1900 shows that more than one-tenth of all deaths in this country were due to pneumo- nia, and the biennial report of the Department of Health of the City of Chicago, 1904-5, shows the mortality from pneu- monia to be 88 per cent, more than from all other acute con- tagions diseases combined, and 17.7 per cent, more than from all forms of tuberculosis.
What has Homeopathy to offer for the treatment of this very false condition? The above comparative mortality statistics certainly prove that we have reliable treatment, and that our remedies, all proven on the healthy, applied in atrict accordance with the law of similars must cure all cur- able cases.
How often does Aconite, given at the time of the first chill ward off the whole attack and thus prevent localization of the inflammation? Of course we must have the symp- toms of Aconite, which are well known to all of us, restless- ness and fear of death being important symptoms. Bryonia during the stage of hepatization or exudation; pulmonary oppression, bruised feeling and pains in chest, < by motion or deep breathing, > lying on affected side; cough hard and painful; abdominal breathing; great thirst for large quanti- ties of water.
Kali Iodide, when hepatization is so extensive that we have cerebral congestion, delirium, face red: pupils dilated, patient drowsy. A picture very much like Belladonna with which it must be compared.
Perrum phos., like Aconite, often indicated in first stage before exudation appears. Not so well adapted to full-blooded, arterial subjects as Aconite but rather to the pale anemic who are nevertheless subject to sudden and violent local congestion and inflammation; sputa containing a great deal of blood; nose bleed; very little thirst.
Phosphorus, dryness of the air passages; excoriated feeling in upper chest; great weight on the chest or tight- ness. Pains through left lung and cannot lie on left side; involuntary stools; thirst for very cold water.
20 THE MEDICAL. ADVANCE.
Sulphur, when the disease assumes a torpid character; weak, faint spells; flushes of heat: feels suffocated; wants windows and doors wide open; constant heat of vertex; pa- tient responds sluggishly; comprehends slowly: < midnight. Pneumonia passing through first stage normally and then remaining stationary. Such a defective reaction points to Sulphur as the remedy when it accomplishes the absorption of the infiltration and prevents suppuration.
Frequently when the condition does not yield readily to the apparently well selected remedy, there is a constitu- tional dyscrasia which will have to be reckoned with, these attacks being outbursts of the deep seated miasm which must be eradicated before a cure can be affected. In many of these cases I think we will find the nosodes of great value when thoroughly indicated by the symptom totality.
GENERAL MANAGEMENT.
The patient should not be too much bundled with cloth- ing. A light flannel jacket or a jacket lined with cotton wadding, opening in front and worn under the gown will ena- ble the physician to make his examinations without un- necessarily disturbing the patient and will protect from sud- den chilling.
The room should be bright and light, letting in the sun- shine if possible, and thoroughly ventilated.
Even when not called for on account of high tempera- ture the patient should be carefully sponged each day with tepid or hot water. This should be done with as little ex- posure and disturbance as possible. Special care should be taken to keep the mouth and gums cleansed.
DIET.
Water or lemonade should Jl>e given freely. When the patient is delirious the water should be given at fixed in- tervals.
The strength of the patiimt should be sustained by nourishing but not stimulating foods, principally liquid, consisting chiefly of custard, milk, either alone or better mixed with food prepared from some one of the cereals, and eggs, soft boiled or raw.
DISCUSSION. 21
If we recognize the symptoms of each case which indi- vidualize it, carefully select the remedies that correspond to the characteristic symptoms and supplement our medical treatment with proper diet, hygiene and good nursing our death rate will not be appalling.
DISCUSSION.
Dr. H. C. Allen: I notice that Dr. Barnes did not mention the serious heart complications so frequently found in this disease. Perhaps somebody else may know more about it or may have a greater fear of the trouble.
It is well known to every one that fear has a very marked effect in all acute diseases. In fact, it has been said that fear kills more patients in Asiatic cholera than any other one factor. The same thing is probably true of yellow fever. We find this same condition in pneumonia. Very frequently one dose of Aconite in the first stage of pneumonia, will do much to alleviate the patient and free him from fear.
Dr. T. G. Roberts: Something "has been said concern- ing the heart complications of pneumonia. I believe that if pneumonia is treated in the beginning with its similimum, we will have no heart troubles to deal with. In the treat- ment of this disease, I have had no more trouble with the heart than any other part of the body. I do not believe that under strict homeopathic treatment one usually has such troubles. I do not know that I ever gave a *'heart remedy" for pneumonia. Two good remedies that are frequently used in pneumonia are Sanguinaria and Antimonium tart. The latter remedy shows its wonderful power when there is so much accumulation of mucus and absolute inability to expec- torate it. Like all other diseases pneumonia is well handled when we prescribe on the totality of the symptoms and the characteristics of the patient, paying no attention to the disease itself.
Dr. J. C. ,'Holloway: The last remark of Dr. Roberts suggests that he is4 a homeopath. We have had some pneu- monia out in our country, atfnd our very ' rejj^ular friends say that they get all the hard cases. Their casos are all report- ed in the paper as very serious. Mine are all easy, because
22 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
I have not lost any. However, I consider that phase of it peculiar to Homeopathy and not to me. If I were the subject of pneumonia, I should want a homeopath to treat me; and I would not have any better hope if I had a mongrel homeopatii than if I had a regular (?).
I am known as a crank on Homeopathy. In our town of thirty thousand, we have fifty regulars,, two mongrels and I am by myself. In treating pneumonia one need not fear getting the remedy too high but rather that he may get it too low. I have nothing now in my office or case under the 200 potency. I am sorry that Dr. Barnes did not speak of Mer- curius vivus in pneumonia of a bilious type. I saved one of the **hopeless" cases last winter by giving Mercurius 3m. I am glad to be with you, and hope to learn something. I am shut up by myself in our country, but it does not lessen my ardor or confidence in Homeopathy, and its capabilities of cure.
Dr. M. A. Campbell: I have not heard anybody say anything about Tuberculinum in the cases of old people.
Dr. H. S. Llewellyn: I simply want to say: Do not let anything frighten you in pneumonia. A year ago, I waa called in consultation to see a man of 95 who was suffering from pneumonia. He completely recovered on Phosphorus. All we need is faith and our indicated remedy.
SEQUELia: AND TftEATMENT OE PNEUMONIA.
By Dr. Harvey Farrington, Chicago.
Under skillful homeopathic medication fthe after effects of any acute disease are reduced to an almost negligible quantity, and pneumonia is no exception. Nevertheless the subject of sequellae forms a legitimate part of our symposi- um, for the fact that they are rarely met with by the good prescriber does not imply that he should neglect to make a careful study of them.
Bungling treatment is probably the most frequent cause of sequellas. The case may have come from allopathic hands with all that that implies. Or the prescribed himself, bent upon removing the pathological condition, suits his-
SBQUifeLL^ AND TtlEATM^NT. 28
remedy to ^le tMose of the dtseaae instead of the individuali- ty of tbe patiait, and bolsters up his lack of confidence in tbe law of similars with crude drugs, thus interfering with the proper action of his remedy if it happens to be the right one, and engrafting a drug disease upon the already over- burdened system.
The nurse may be at fault. It goes without saying that an ordinary, uncomplicated case of pneumonia n^ay be spoiled by undue exposure, a cold room or diet improperly given. The physician himself may be responsible in part for this if his instructions are lax, or if he fails to recognize the true nature of the case. As, for instance, if he mistakes a lobar pneumonia for simple bronchitis, and though pre- scribing the correct remedy on the symptoms, allows his patient too much freedom in the sick room, thus favoring a relapse and prolonged convalescence.
Most of the causes just enumerated are avoidable. There are some that are unavoidable, namely those that are within the patient. Under any treatment, excepting the best of homeopathic, there is a large mortality for pneunM>nia oc- corring in the feeble and aged, in puny infants, in those pulled down by some debilitating acute or chronic disease; in the drunkard who, besides his poor recuperative power, may be further handicapped by having lain all night in the snow.
Such oases react slowly and with difficulty. They are prone to complications and sequellse in spite of the most skillful prescriptions and most careful hygiene measures.
For convenience we shall divide the sequellae of pneu- monia into general, or those manifesting themselves through- out the system, remote, those that occur in localities othel* than the respiratory organs and local, or in the lungs, bron- chi, etc.
Not infrequently a patient says: ''Doctor, I have never been well since I had pneumonia." There may be a long liit of symptoms shiowing a general state of ill health, but none that May be said to indicate any particular disease. The patient has recovered from the pneumonic process it-
24 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
self, but drags through a ^eary existance because of the de* bilitated condition remaining in its wake. This form of gen- eral sequellsB is the one we are most frequently called upon to treat.
Sequellae occurring 'in locations more or less remote from the lungs are quite numerous. For, we may say that any pf the so-called complications may persist after subsi- dence of the disease itself and become sequellae, though of course if they antedated the attack they could not properly be classed as such.
Thus Bright's disease, jaundice, ulcerative endocarditis or meningitis, even paralysis, may require special attention during and after convalescence. Chegelle and Prieur report a case of meningitis in a soldier 22 years of age, almost four months after the pneumonia had subsided; he was tak- en suddenly with violent delirium and died in a few hours. A culture made from the purulent matter that bathed the meninges demonstrated numerous pneumococci of Fraenkel.
Paralyses, according to Gubler and Macario, are rare. Hemiplegia has been oftenest observed, though Kraft- Ebbing and a few other authorities cite cases of paraplegia. The former may involve all of one side of the body or only one leg or on^ arm.
Aside from a general tendency to *'take cold," there is sometimes a local sensitiveness remaining, so that * 'colds" settle on the chest instead of in the nasal passages. Or the cough and expectoi^ation do not subside and as a result we have a more or less chronic bronchitis. Again a similar weakness may result in repeated attacks of the original ail- ment. Cases have been noted in which as many as thirty- five distinct attacks of pneumonia have occurred over a pe- , riod of five or six years. And further, in showing that* this tendency was the result of the first attack, out of a list of thirty-five cases reported by Grisolle. in twentj'-five the le- sion recurred in the lung previously affected.
. . Pleuritic stitches are probably the most common of io- : c^l annoyances. They may be more or less constant, indi- * eating a condition of subacute or chronic .pleurisy,, or they '
SEQUELLuE AND TREATMENT. 25
"ttiay appear only occaiionally,, as for instance during a spell of damp weather pointing to an inherent susceptibility of the previously affected pleura.
Actual adhesions may also occur and persist for years, Jfiving rise to more or less pain and discomfort.
Again the inflammatory process may prodwce hyper- plasia of connective tissue with consequent hardening and contraction of the lung. The diagnosis here is chronic in- terstitial pneumonia, considered by old school authorities as incurable, but seldom causing the death of the patient in ^^s than ten to twenty years, unless tuberculosis be super-
Among the more rare sequellae pulmonary abscess may . Mentioned, This occurs in patients that have been re ^^^^ to a low ebb of vitality by some exhausting disease SWcYi as diabetes, morbus Brightii, or by chronic alcoholism. \t there is sufficient vital resistance to conquer the pneumo- nia and the abscess ruptures into the bronchi without suffo- cating the i)atient, a cavity will remain in the Iting, healing in time by contraction and cicatrization; or it may continue patent, to form the source of an habitual expectoration, un- less the proper treatment be instituted.
Pulmonary gangrene might be classed as a rare sequel of this disease, but its rapid progress and fatal nature scarcely allow it to persist beyond the resolution of the original pneumonia. Since it is observed most frequently in the inflammation following the inhalation of noxious fumes or other irritating substances into the lungs, it is more apt to be a complication or concomitant than a sequel. And last but by no means least comes tuberculosis. The fact has been demonstrated time and time again that the person who has never fully recovered from pneumonia is liable to contract tuberculosis even when there is no heredi- tary tendency thereto. Especially is this true of the neg- lected and undiagnosed case with remaining consolidation. Bit this leads to the next subject in our program. I there- fore leave it to those who have prepared papers in the vari- ous phases of tuberculosis.
26 THB M£DICAL ADVANCE.
, The treatment of the , sequellaa of pueumonia may be dispensed with in a few words. The evacuation of a large collection of pus in the plural qavity may be necessary. The diet, exercise and other hygienic measures may require at- tention, but in all cases the homeopathic remedy that fits the totality of the symptoms is the only hope of entirely re- lieving the patient of the burden which, from avoidable or perhaps unavoidable causes, has been placed upon him.
DISCUSSION.
Mrs. E. O. Richberg: I encountered a homeopathic cure on my way here today. This wets the case of an old man who is doing odd jobs around the station that 1^ leave from. He said that he had just recovered from a severe case of la grippe, and he found that this had cleared up the sequellsD of a case of pneumonia which he had had sev eral years ago.
Dr. H. C. Allen: There is one special factor that Dr Parrington neglected to elaborate — the frequency of fibrous tuberculosis following pneumonia or pleuro-pneumonia, the development into a tuberculous condition without any pos- sibility of germ infection. One of our New York authors gives this as an illustration of the fact that germs do not always cause tuberculosis, because in this disease we have a frequent number of cases in which fibrous phthisis follows pneumonia (Leaming.)
Dr. J. C. Holloway: A pain in the lower portion of the left lung is a very common sequel in pneumonia. Dr. Kent told me a good many years ago in such cases to give Sulphur. I have done that with a great deal of success, but he would probably now say to give Sulphur, provided there were other symptoms calling for it. No doubt, however. Sulphur will be indicated in the most of the cases where there is a tor- menting, continuous pain in the lower region of the left lung, resulting from pneumonia.
When I was in college I got the erroneous idea that the
totality of symptoms meant a vast number, embracing a
^ great area almost beyond comprehension, I was a great many
years getting over that idea. Now the fact is,, that whea
PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS. 27
you get down to every day practict, in about ninety-nine cases out of every hundred you will find but two or three symptoms that are worth prescribing for.
DIAGNOSIS AND PROGNOSIS OF PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS.
By Dr. D. W. Young, Paris, 111..
The diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis from the stand- point of responsibility of the physician is two-fold in its nature. The first is the value to the tuberculous subjects themselves, and second the importance to those associated more or less intimately with them.
The diagnosis of this disease in its incipiency offers to the patient the greatest chance of recovery; since the in- si;itution of appropriate treatment in the earlier stages of tlie disease is much more effective. A failure of the physi- ciali to recognize the existance of tuberculosis in its early stages would entail months and perhaps year* of suffering ipon his patients, as well as loss from business pursuits and finally may cost them their lives.
The second phase of the responsibility of the physician in diagnosing this disease arises from its infectious nature.
The intimate association of the family and friends of the tuberculous subject may be the means of inoculating them with this dread disease, due to ignorance on their part of the true character of the disease and of the proper means of avoiding infection. This ignorance is due to a failure of the physician to recognize it and to instruct those who are to care for the patient as to the proper means of avoiding in oculation.
The ability of the physician is often challenged to his utmost capacity to determine the presence or absence cf the disease in patients presenting suspicious symptoms. It fre- quently requires, in addition to a thorough knowledge of its various phases, the faculty of fine discrimination, to make a correct diagnosis.
The first requisite in diagnosing a disease of any organ is a thorough knowledge of the normal structure and func-
28 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
tion of the organ. In pulmonary tuberculosis, then the physician must be thoroughly acquainted with the anatomy and physiology ot the respiratory organs. Normal lung action, as well as abnormal, is determined by inspection, palpation, measurement, percussion and auscultation. It is not our province here to enter into a discussion of the vari- ous means of physical examination, but rather to emphasize their importance. The physician must also understand its etiology and pathology in all stages of its development. The clinical symptoms vary with the different stages of its develop- ment,which may be for convenience of study, divided into the following, viz.: the first stage or period of incipiency or that of infiltration and beginning con.solidation. The second or moderately advanced stage or that of consolidation. The third or far advanced stage in which softening and break; ing down of the tissue occurs with cavity formation. Each of these stages in addition to presenting different clinical symptoms, exhibit varying phenomena under physical exam- ination by the methods above referred to and with which you are all familiar.
J. P. Arnold called attention in the 31edical News^ March 20, 1897, to the value of cog-wheel inspiration in the sub- clavicular area on the left side. He finds it more or less reliable as indicating the existance of tuberculosis of the lungs in its incipiency, especially where there has been a gradual loss of vitality without other assignable cause and a history of exposure to infection, or a hereditary tendency to the disease.
Among the first of the clinical symptoms to appear is a dry hacking cough, which terminates finally in profuse ex- pectoration with slight fever, emaciation and loss of strength. The incipient stage is not unusually diagnosed as bronchitis. Hemorrhage may be the first warning of the existence of the disease.
A careful study of all patients suspected of tubercular infection should be made; and this may require in many in- stances weeks or even months to give a positive opinion as to the diagnosis. We should attach no little importance to-
I
/
PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS. 29
ttie gradual loss of weight in suspected patients. Disturb; ance of digestion and nocturnal diaphoresis following peri- odic fever in relation with other clinical symptoms and as- sociated with physical signs of beginning infiltration or be- ginning consolidation, should be a warning of the onset of pulmonary tuberculosis.
A careful study of the character and quantity of sputum
^ill aid in the diagnosis. The tubercle bacilli are found in
varying numbers in the sputum. The presence or absence
^f the tubercle bacillus does not furnish ground for a posi-
y v-e diagnosis, but the presence of the bacilli in connection
'^ith clinical symptoms and physical phenomena furnishes
* foundation for a positive opinion. . The examination of the
^pspected sputum should be made daily; should no bacilli be
^^^oovered for a period of three or four weeks before, a neg-
^^ "^"^^ opinion of the existance of tuberculosis of the lungs is
The tuberculin test for the presence of tuberculosis may
^f value in the early diagnosis of the disease. H. P.
\iy)mis, in the Medical Record, Vol. LIII. No. 21, 1898, gives
tbe following method of using tuberculin for determining
the presence or absence of this disease.
The temperature is taken every six hours for a few days to see that the patient has no diurual temperature above normal; then a one half m. g. of tuberculin is injected ^ and his temperature is taken every four hours during the next 24 hours. At the end of the second day if there has been no temperature above one degree, a second injection of two m. g. should be given; if a reaction after two days more does not occur, a third and final injection of five m. g. is Riven. II there is still no reaction the patient is free from tuberculosis.
The Roentgen Rays has become in the last few years an accepted agent for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis. This agent is invaluable in corroborating the physical signs discovered by auscultation and percussion. By the aid of this means of diagnosis we may discover isolated foci of in- fection not amenable to any of the other ordinary means of
30 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
diagnosis. It is the opinion of the writer that every doubt- ful case of tuberculosis should be subjected to an X-ray examination.
The Opthalmic Tuberculin Reaction has attracted much attention in the last few months as a means of early diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis in children^ and should in our opinion receive a thorough test at the hands of the pro- fession.
Prognosis: The prognosis of pulmonary tuberculosis depends upon many factors that may enter into the case. The importance of a correct prognosis is second only to the value of early diagnosis. The opinion of the physician as to the final issue of a case of this disease in its incipiency, is dependant upon the ability to institute appropriate treat- ment. It is not necessarily a fatal disease and each year brings an increase in the percentage of cures. Prognosis is more favorable between the ages of 18 and 30 years and in females then males. Environment plays an important part in the prognosis of the disease.
TUBERCULOSIS: ETIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY.
By Dr. A. M. Dabbous, Chicago.
The disease, with a brief reference to its history was known to the Egyptians more than 6,000 years ago. In the 13th century it was recognized in cattle, and town decrees prevented the use of their flesh for food- In the 17th cen- tury it was said in Berlin and Munich that there was na danger in using tuberculous flesh, and the old restriction was removed for a century. In 1865 it was proved to be in- fectious by a French scientist, Villemin, who, by placing dried sputum from a tuberculous man in the nests of young mice, infected a number of them. He also proved the dis- ease transmissible by inoculating rabbits with human tuber- culous material. In 1882 the bacillus of tuberculosis was discovered and isolated by Koch.
There are five methods of transmitting tuberculosis: Alimentation, inhalation, inoculation, sexual contact and by inheritance, (questionable).
TUBERCULOSIS: ETIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY. 31
Of all the paths or ways known for the propagation of the germ, the alimentary canal is the one that plays by far the most important role.
To support this statement allow me'* to lay before you an extract of the experiments performed relating to this particuUr point.
Professor Calmette, with five collaborators at the labo- i^tory of the Savior's Hospital in Paris, convinced them- selves of the fact that pulmonary anthracocis could not be artificially reproduced by exposing animals to an atmosphere saturated with black smoke if these animals be prevented frora swallowing the black matter that accumulates in their ^asal fossae and pharynx. On the contrary, the lesions ^^Tacteristic of anthracosis appear very rapidly when the ^Aack of smoke is made to be ingested either by means of the esophageal sound or mixed with food.
Beside the black of smoke, china ink and vermilion ^ere used as the intensity of these'respective colors would enable the investigator to trace them early owing to the ^harp contrast they present with the tissue. The guinea P'fiTs could be easily induced to eat of this strange food so ^ to preclude any irritation that may result from the con- tact of the esophageal sound or tube. Those that were sacrificed half an hour after the ingestion of the colors had the Vermilion and the china ink tightly 9»dherent to the wall ^* the esophagus and but a slight quantity escaped into ttie stomach. From an hour and a half to two hours the colored matter is in the stomach and covers superficially the contents thereof. After three hours the colored matter could be traced (in microscopical sections) into the chylifer- ons ducts in the mesenteric glands and in the lungs.
These insoluble particles do not traverse the animal membrane after death. The vermilion is not soluble by the liqaids of the organism. Of the numerous sections that have been made, we have never been able to find the solid particles within the protoplasm of the intestinal cells. In the mucosa an abundance of insoluble granules are in the process of traversing the wall, and in the deeper layers
32 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
of the wall almost all the granules could be seen included in the lucocytes which transport them to the central chyle duct.
If the vermilion be placed in the colon through lapa- rotomy it is reproduced in the lungs.
When the nursling goat was made to take the milk of goats, the udders of which were infected artificially with tuberculous cultures of various origins — bovine, human, ovian or pseudo tuberculous — we noticed that these animals always violently reacted against the infection through their mesenteric glands. Those of them that were sacrificed 45 days or three months after their births, and which were fed by mothers infected with products of bovine origin showed enormous lesions of mesenteric adenitis, and their lungs were studded with translucent miliary tubercles containing bacilli. Those that ingested only the milk of mothers in- fected with human or avian tuberculosis had their lungs in- tact and with them the infection was limited to the barrier of the mesenteric glands.
On the other hand when young or full grown goats were given a very small quantity of culture of bovine tuberculo- sis as finely divided as possible by esophageal tube (to ex- clude respiratory primary contamination) our animals inva- riably became tuberculosis in 25-80 days. In the young, pulmonary tuberculosis appeared late after about three months, and the glandular lesions remained extraordinarily intense. We have practically never seen glandular lesions in the adult, and the pulmonary lesions were plainly mani- fest even after one single infective meal.
We conclude that the goat, contrary to the general opin- ion, is quite susceptible to the infection of tuberculosis, especially of bovine origin, and that these animals easily contract tuberculosis through the digestive tract, and that the virulent bacilli, when absorbed in the young may be re- tained a longer or shorter time in the mesenteric glands, while these same bacilli, absorbed by the full-grown produce almost immediately the dissemination of tubercular foci in the lungs.
TUBERCULOSIS: ETIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY. 33
Since the hypothesis of direct contamination through the respiratory tract has not been proved by any irreproach- able experiment, it seems more and more evident that children and adults as well, contract tuberculosis by in- gesting either milk of tuberculous cows, dust, food contam- inated with bacilli or some particles of tubercular sputa of bmnan origin.
If an experimenter should resort to inhalation, to intra- tracheal insufflation or to direct inoculation into the trachea, he will not be able to make the microbes penetrate be- yond the primary bronchial ramifications provided precau- tions be taken to exclude deglutition.
The experiments are too various to be enumerated here but the following extracts are deducted therefrom:
1. The animals easily contract tuberculosis through the intestinal tubes, not only in early age but also in the adult without any visible lesion left on the walls of this tube.
2. The bacilli in the young animals are ordinarily re- tained by the mesenteric glands; at times the infection would remain there localized during a period more or less long, end- ing by recovery; at others it would end in caseous tuber- cules spreading by the lymphatics to the great lymphatic circulation.
3. The defensory glandular reaction being far less ac- tive with the adult animals, the bacilli in the leucocytes are generally dragged with them into the great lymphatic cir- culation and through the pulmonary artery reach the lung.
4. The so-called primary pulmonary tuberculosis of the adult is of intestinal origin in most of the cases.
5. Of all the modes of contamination the infection through the. digestive tract is the most efficacious and the one that is most consonant with the normal conditions of natural infection.
6. Clinically with children and experimentally with animals every time when the tuberculous infection mani- fests itself by tracheo-bronchial adenitis theb. tuberculosis do exist in the mesenteric glands, though these glands may have a healthy appearance.
34 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
7. Pulmonary tuberculosis therefore must be consid- ered as resulting from tuberculous infection through intes- tinal origin since infection of the mesenteric glands and sub- sequent infection of the bronchial glands precede the pul- monary manifestations.
DISCUSSION.
Dr. Harvey Parrington: The view expressed by the paper that the ailmentary canal is the most important source of infection is rather new. We cannot get around the fact that tuberculosis is infectious. The experiences just cited prove the fact. It seems to me that it matters not where the poison gets into the system, if the soil be rich, or in other words, the individual be susceptible, it will have its in- fection.
Dr. J. A. Kirkpatrick: Vital resistance, I know from observation and experience, plays a very important part in resisting these germs. I have known persons who have waited intimately upon persons with the worst form of tuberculosis, without taking even the ordinary precautions, who did not take the disease. I believe there are chemical agencies in quantities essential to the building up of the different parts of the body necessary to the integrity of the tissues, and if we fail to recognize that fact, we will not put the highest possible standard by a high potency. If a person needs calcium, you will have to put him on calcium, or else you will not have given him the material for the upbuilding of his body.
Dr. D. W. Young: I think that Dr. Dabbous meant to say that the alimentary canal is more susceptible to the in- roads of the tubercle bacilli than any other part of the body and that the ordinary way of taking the infectious organisms into the body is through food and drink. It matters little what we say is the cause of the condition or disease, but the predisposing cause is the disturbance of the equalization of the cell salts of the human body. Now that may come from a lack of any of these tissue salts. But whatever this dis- turbance of the cell salts is, it produces a condition which is- described in our text books as a predisposing cause of tuber-^
CLIMATIC TREATMENT OF TUBERCULOSIS. 35
culosis. That may be inherited or acquired by improper feeding. Proper feeding may restore the normal equilibrium and therefore remove the predisposing cause. Then the ex- dting cause will not make any inroads upon the cells of the lungs.
CLIMATIC TREATMENT OF TUBERCULOSIS.
By Dr. J. W. Hingston, Chicago.
In the short time allowed for this paper, justice to the subject in all its phases is not po^ible. We will confine our- selves to climatic influence of that form of the disease known as pulmonary tuberculosis. But we may be assured that whatever of benefit from climate may be secured to the patient with pulmonary tuberculosis, may be confidently hypothesized for the patient with other forms of tuberculosis.
Everybody believes that certain selected climates have a beneficial effect upon the pulmonary tubercular. The physicians believe it. The world has faith. We are all agreed. Yet tuberculosis thrives everywhere — or at least everywhere where man dwells thickly enough to give the infection a chance to gain a foothold. True it i^ that cer- tain qualities of atmosphere seem to favor the development of the infectious bacillus. And certain qualities of air in- haled seem to favor the recovery of the infected person. But we must not lose sight of the fact that patients recover in those climates considered most favorable for the germ and least favorable for the patient, and others die in those localities which are supposed to give most chances for the patient and are death to the bacillus.
We may arbitrarily divide climate into three divisions and SIX kinds, viz: with respect to its temperature — relatively hot or cold, with respect to its humidity — relatively dry or moist; with respect to its barometric presure — relatively low or high.
Temperatures are hot or cold as we approach the equator or the poles, and are modified also by elevation above the sea- level, the infiuence of air that has swept over ocean currents, by trade winds that pass inland, as well as in a minor way
36 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
by proximity to mountain ranges and large bodies of water. Humidity is modified by proximity to sea coasts, desert lands, mountain ranges, forests and other topographical con- ditions. Barometric pressure is regulated entirely by ele- vation, and modified only in a minor way by the; presence or absence of storm areas. In a relative way these conditions are important, and have a bearing upon the welfare of the tuberculous patient. But more important than any or all of these is the purity of the air and its inhalation in large quantities into the lungs.
The summer air over the sand dunes at the south end of Lake Michigan, is not very different from the winter atmos- phere of Florida. The atmosphere of a hog pen in northern Wyoming, is not vastly unlike that of a pig-sty in western Missouri; while the country air of Tennessee approaches in character that of Arizona's mountains, and the bleak winds of the east coast of Maine are about as mild as the winter zephyrs of the mountain ranges of northern California. The death of a tubercular patient in a hovel in Chicago will be but a few weeks sooner than the death of a similar patient in an 8x10 room in Cheyenne. The tubercular woman who wraps herself in shawls and breaths the hot airs of the furnace after it has warmed her feet in her home in New York, will live as long as the consumptive man who views Pike's Peak from the window of his closed hotel room in Colorado Springs. All of which means that it is more im- portant to make your climate than it is to select it.
Tuberculosis is a contageous and infectious disease. As an ailment, consumption is a disease of laziness. The con- sumptive is muscularly indolent— so lazy of muscle, that he is stoop shouldered and hollow chested— the muscles refuse o hold him straight, his lungs never fully expand, his blood is not oxygenated, and small unaired spots become nidi for disease. He needs Sulphur. Or he is constitutionally indo- lent, phlegmatic and too indolent to work off the superfluous fat or burn up over abundant food; as a baby he has the snuflftes and as an adult he is everlastingly catching cold. He needs Calcarea. Or he is digestively weak, he has gas-
CLIMATIC TREATMENT OF TUBERCULOSIS. 37
tralgia and diarrhea, he is not nourished, is emaciated and eithausted. He needs Arsenicum.
In a rough and general way, we have stated it. Such general statement is not intended to be specific in method of prescribing, but illustrative of the fact that every patient with tuberculosis is in some respects, in'some manner indo- lent.
What would it benefit the fellow of lazy musyle to cart him carefully out of Chicago and plant him in an 8x10 room in Denver? You would soon plant him in a 6x2 .^where the evening shadows of the first range cast an early twilight over the last resting place of those who have gone before. What better would the constitutionally indolent woman be if she abandon her own cook and fireside and seek the over- burdening courses of the Aiitlers' chef, with no more excer- cise to work off the surfeit than to walk the length of the veranda to the luxuriousness of a reclining chair to view the haze over the distant mountains. What would be gained by the one of lazy digestion if he be denied the delicate dishes of his mother's making and the comforts of a wash three times a day, and be introduced to pork and baking powder biscuit three times a day on the round-up in Wyoming?
It would not impress one as judicious to take the frail girl, accustomed to the love and caresses of parents, brothers and sisters, away from so companionable a fireside in the midst of the attractions of civilization, and set her down in the wilderness of expanse of some arid tableland with no companion but a ranch-woman and the sheep dog during the day, and no music but the crazy laugh of the coyotes at night.
The pines of Michigan were, in their day, noted for their curative qualities in tubercular patients. It was said that their beneficent influence was due to the healing quali- ties of the balsamic emanations from their needles. But when the pine needles were carted home and made into' pil- lows it did not work, the patients who smothered their faces in these sacks, smelling the sweet aroma, died. The truth is that those who went to the virgin woods for their healing
38 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
perfume first hand, lay under the pines and took in fresh air, believing every breath they got from the boughs above them was a saving breath from heaven; and it was, scented on its way down by the pine needles, and they breathed deep, for they loved the odor, and hoped and had faith. For the first time since they ran races barefoot their lungs were filled with good air, filled all day long and all night long, in their anxiety to get their money's worth of smell, and they got their money's worth of oxygen.
Primarily then, the first consideration in climate is one of pure air, and the next thing is to get the patient to use it, breathe it, eat it, drink it, walk with it, sleep with it, love it.
I do not wish to ignore the fact that there may be a suitable and unsuitable air even though relatively pure. Air is the purest on the ocean, in the center of the Sahara, alonp: the coast regions, upon the arid plains of North Amer- ica, in the mountains of the world and at the North and South poles. Manifestly, in the case of the fellow who turns blue when the door is open to chase the cat out,and**catches cold" when some one breathes on the back of his neck, it would be folly for him to count stars from the summit of Pike's Peak or camp on the top of a post of the Grolden Gate. One would scarcely think that the waterless air of the Eastern slope of the Rockies would benefit the man whose cough is relieved when the tea kettle is steaming on the back of the stove. It should not be thought advisable to send the woman who spits blood at a laugh, to the 8,000 feet elevation of Middle Park. The man who hoists his umbrella and gets out his fan on the first warm day of May will scarcely be cured by a sojourn in Phoenix or Tucson in July.
Climate for the individual tubercular patient must be as carefully selected as the homeopathic remedy. Indeed, to make a wrong choice would be more fatal; for to place a patient in an unfitting atmosphere might prove irremediably harmful Or extremely dangerous, whereas the administration of a remedy not curative would be negative only in its re^tiltsV
CLIMATIC TREATMENT OP TUBERCULOSIS. 39
Dr. S. of Milwaukee suftered from frequent tubercular temorrhages. He went to an elevation of 1500 feet in Nebraska, rode the country and breathed in the pure air of the plains while caring for a practice amongst the pioneer farmers, lived to do a business of $7000 a year, married and survived his wife and two children, and finally died in Den- ver of tuberculosis, presumably cropping up again after an attack of pneumonia, complicating typhoid fever, 'and while doing an office practice in the western metropolis.
Mr. K. of Pennsylvania had slight recurring hemor- rhages,went to Colorado mountains and bled to death within a week.
Mr. S. of Maine was given up to die of consumption 29 jears ago — no hemorrhages, plenty of dyspepsia and no ap- petite—went to an elevation of 8000 feet in Middle Park, breakfasted on brook trout, dined on venison, suppered on blue grouse, drank the pure water of the mountain streams and the distilled extract of Gramma grass in the form of Jersey milk all day long. He still lives at the a^e of 64 and was about the heartiest pioneer I know of in that country when I last saw him.
Miss M. of Rochester, N. Y., whose mother died of tuber culosis a few months before, was coughing up her lungs at the rate of a pint a day, nasty pus, arrived at an elevation of 6,000 feet in Wyoming and breathed, slept in, ate and drank, night and day, the air fresh from the snows of old Saddle-Back, but dried on its way over 75 miles of hot gravel on the wastes of the eastern slope. She quit spitting, gained 27 pounds in three months, thought »he was cured, went back to Rochester and died within six months.
Miss K. lived at Omaha and wrote shorthand in a stuffy office, slept with a scared stepmother in 'a room locked and battened at both doors and windows, and containing a low turned kerosene lamp. She coughed a cavity in her left lung. She went to the other end of Nebraska where the air is so dry that the meat cures on this back porch and the at- mosphere is so pure that a dead maverick refuses to emit an odor. The ohly roses that were ever known ih thAt arid
40 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
land bloomed in her cheeks before the summer was over^ She went back to the night-lamp and the stuffy office, and her friends had to dig her grave before the snow was off the ground the next spring.
Mr. A. ''punched cows'* at an elevation of 3000 feet in Nebraska and drank "40 rod" at two bits a drink with ladies of a shady reputation. One lung refused to open even for the good air of that altitude. He went west to the Powder River in Wyoming, 3000 feet nearer heaven, where whiskey and women were less plentiful, and continued to "punch steers" for ten years until he got at the wrong end of a gun when he and another cow-puncher were having a friendly game with the chips.
Mr- L., aged 25 years, sweat himself out in St. Louis till all his convexes became concaves and even two standings would not make a shadow. Meantime one lung became "squeeky." He "hit the trail west" and arrived in Wyoming in time to ride a mustang at the spring round-up. He stopped sweating and went to eating. Plenty of cream and bacon greased the squeek out of his lung. He courted the zephyrs of southern California that winter, and stayed to try again the sweating process of the Red Lands next summer. The St. Louis quality was just as good. Returning to Wyoming in the fall, the atmosphere in that health resort refused to court again a delinquent lover. Mr. L. now occupies an honorable position in St. Louis's most fashionable cemetary.
Mrs. I. of western Nebraska would wheeze like a "heavy- horse" as soon as the thermometer dropped below summer heat. Incipient tuberculosis set in. On good advice for three winters, she migrated with the birds to a warmer climate and found her winter habitat in the warm valleys oT southern California, 2,500 feet lower than her summer home. It was several years later when she died of a difficult Jaboir and an unclean surgeon.
You have half a thousand well known remedies in your materia medica. You have a thousand localities of varying climate in this great country. You should study your patient, and study your remedies. Do not less than > i )
TREATMENT IN INSTITUTIONS. 41
climate, with relation to the needs of your patient. Perhaps the climate she needs is right at home. Perhaps the further ^eed is a window tent on the south side of a second story flat; perhaps it is a wall tent in the back yard; perhaps it is a house-boat, with broad decks and big windows, floating down the lakes-to-gulf canal; perhaps it is the extension of the cold air shaft of the furnace through the basement wall to the outer air instead of through the floor to the stale air of the hall; perhaps it is a couple of yard sticks to prop open the windows and a sign outside, * 'Burglars need not apply, lam too poor to even have flesh on my bones." Don't try to make change of climate take the place of fresh air; and on the other hand don't deceive yourself and your patient by believing that home tents and fresh air will take the place of a manifestly needful change of climate.
And wliile seeking knowledge of the climatic treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis forget not that the constitutional requirements of the other forms of tuberculosis are not different from those needful in the form under consideration. Surely if fresh air and selected climate are called for in the adult of more or less activity the same must relatively be true of the crippled child with tubercular disease of the knee, hip or spine.
At the close of the afternoon session of the meeting, President Allen introduced Dr. R. S. Copeland, president of the American Institute of Homeopathy, who said:
Mr. President and friends: I am certainly glad to be here today. • I have been interested in this society since its organization. It seemed to me that it was an organized pro- test against some of the reforms in which we were indulg- ing in certain parts of the country. And I surely feel that I have been decidedly benefited by the visit here.
I am interested in the subject of consumption, not as a physician but as a citizen. My specialty is so limited and so narrow that fortunately there are very few cases of con- sumption ^coming under my attention. It has been my pleas- ure to visit the eastern institutions where thesa cases ar
42 • THK MEDICAL ADVANCE.
treated, as a member of the commission from the State of Michigan and I suppose that during that visit two years a^o I saw four or tive thousand p(»ople taking the outdoor treat- ment. To ^o over Xhv details of that visit would only be repeating many things that have betm said here today. I visited Trudeau's institution, tht^ Looinis institution, tlu» in- stitution at Whit(^ Haven, the statf* instituticms of Massa- chusetts, Conmn-tieut, Rliod<» Island and others. Now there is not a particle of attention paid in any of these institutions to internal medication. I asked of ev(M-y superintendc^nt in each institution: Wliat do you do for these people inamt»d- ical way, and they invariably n^pTn^d that they did not do anythin*^:. It oerurred to me tlion and since, how much mort* ho[)e lui^^ht be extended thrsi* ]>oople if, in addition to all thes(» natural UH'thods, tluy niijj.ht be <riv(*n the addition- al benclit of the li()nh'Oi)nt]iif iv'UK'dy.
I think it must b** a(hniit('(l tluit the outdoor life has boon woiidorful in th*^ trc^atment of tuberculosis. At Sara- nac Ijak(\ bcinu" a inc!iib<M' of ;t commission, many courtesies were extcndc(l to mc tliat ]>erh:ii>s v/ould not have b(*en had I ij^onc as a private pliysician. I a^kcd Dr. Brown to h^t uie sec the ori.Lcinal ihhmu'iIs of the institution. HcMvent to Sara- nac Lake in l"^"^!, ill with tubt^'ciilosis. i-le vvnd all the boolvs he could tiTid on tlie sui)jcct of tubercuk)sis, with the firm n^solve and steadfast purpose^ of <j:ettin<; well, and he did. For i\"') years tliat institution has be(Mi runnin<^. They h'dXi' a system by which (»ach <i:i'a(hiate of the institution re- ports by postal card once a year his condition, vso that they know the pr(\s(Mit history of almost evei-y patient who has betui dischar<;ed and wlio still lives. The int(*restinK thing about it to me was that of all the i)ati(Mits who were admit- ted 7,") pcH* ciMit. wtM'c dischar*i:ed as cured, or appai'antly cured. Seventy-tiv(^ p(M- cent, of those discharged as cured or ap[)arantly curiMl are living and well today. That shows wliat natural methods will do. More are alive and well than would b(* had they had the ordinary medication, but more w^ould be alive than are alive had they had the hojaeopathic treatment in addition to the natural methods.
HOMEOPATHY IN TUBERCULOSIS. 43
I was interestai in what Dr. Kirkp.itrick said about the imi<5or of the cells for the natural cell salts. I think at ^imes physicians overlook the fact that people are really hungry for some of the natural tilings of life and need to iH'e better than they do; and when this natural food has ^^en supplied, then it is that we, as homeopathic physicians ha-vo to offer something further to promote lontj^evity.
I want to repeat what I said in the beginning: That it ^ ^ i:)leasure to be here and even if it is disagreeable outside ^^^\."e found it warm and comfortable ^md happy liere.
HOMEOPATHY IN TUBERCULOSIS.
By H. W. Pikksox, M. D., Chicago.
Fear is the deadliest foe to health. The direct cause ^Oi' much of the fear shown by peo])le, individually and col- lectively may be tracful to ignorance. Ignorance of the na- ^ure of the impending danger and conseciueut ignorance of tne means to be employed in resisting and warding off the same.
The general prevalence of tuberculosis, tln^ slow but ^^einingly inevitable conclusion of t\w struggle has been enoucr]^ to strike terror to the heart of the bravest. Scien- ^I'Sts have been untiring in their investigations, not only TOn reference to the nature of the dis(*ase and the causes t'ontributing to its development, Ijut the nunms that must be ^^T>loyed for the final rooting out of this dreaded i)lague.
Ever>^ new discovery has beon lauded to the skip's and a
^^^b of regret has followed its abandonuiont; but the myriad
01 failures has only served to induce the true scientist to
felve deeper into the secrets of Nature's Laboratory and to
^^^k on, buoyed up by urgent necHls of sutforing humanity,
^^dthe belief that success must finally crown his efforts.
It is not our province to proclaim a new discovery l)ut to present a few old and well established facts in suc^h a form that you may g(4 a clearer insight into the nature of the problem before us, and a more comprehensive knowledge of the means that must be employed for the removal of th<i
44 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
cause from those already infected and the prevention of infec- tion to those who seem to he healthy,
A CONSTITUTIONAL SICKNESS.
Tuberculosis is general and involves every portion of the body. The effects may be more pronounced in one por- tion than another by reason of some peculiar susceptibility of the individual or environment to which he may have been exposed.
It is onq of the products of civilization and may be charged to prolonged and persistent disregard of the essen- tial laws of healthy living. It was recognized as an estab- lished and deep-seated disease by the earliest historians. Hipocrates wrote of its ravages, but it was not until the early part of the nineteenth century that Laennec insisted that its virulence was due to a specific cause. The nature of this infecting agent was finally settled by the demonstra- tions of the German scientist, Robert Koch, in 1882. There now remains no question about one active and exciting cause being the slender, rod-like structure known as the tubercular bacillus.
If this bacillus were the only cause or even the most im- portant cause, subsequent discoveries would have secured an agent that would have destroyed its virulence and given the world general immunity from its influence.
THREE ESSENTIAL FACTORS NECESSARY.
Growing out of investigations of the past century, three essential factors are recognized as necessary for the devel- opment of any form of animal or vegetable life:
1st — The life principle, or germ.
2nd — Suitable soil.
3rd — Proper environment.
These factors must be combined in every instance. Im- perfection in one of them will be manifest in the result. The germ — or life principle — may be perfect and failure follow by reason of barren soil or unfavorable environment. It is equally true that the environment may be ideal and still be of ilittle avail. It may not be necessary to call your attention
HOMEOPATHY IN. TUBERCULOSIS. 45
to the fact that this proposition holds equally true in the development of all pernicious forms of life.
Following the discovery of the bacillus, Koch, and other laboratory experts, have been working incessantly upon a laboratory product of the bacillus, called by them tuberculin] but the results have been satisfactory in only a limited num- ber of cases, showing some radical defect in their theory of action or preparation of the product.
THE GERMAN TEST OF THE * 'NATURE CURE."
Failure in this direction has turned the attention to the possibilities of a combination of forced feeding, modified exercise and climatic environment that would afford an abun- dance of pure air. The most systematic report showing the effects following this combined method of treating tubercu- losis comes from the German Central Committee for 1903. This report covers over 6000 cases discharged from sanitaria, established by the German government, in which routine treatment was rigidly adhered 'to. None were admitted -when the prognosis was unfavorable, and few allowed to remain after improvement ceased.
67.3 per cent were able to support themselves at their former occupation.
7.1 per cent were able to support themselves by some other kind of work.
14.6 per cent only partially supi^orted themselves by any kind of work.
11. per cent incapable of self support.
Result — 87.7 per cent showed improvement while un- der treatment.
8.8 per cent, no improvement.
3.1 per cent, grew worse-
0.4 per cent. died.
Time will not admit of an exhaustive analysis of this report. The majority came from the peasant class who had been accustomed to hard manual labor, insufficient nutrition and unsanitary environment. The report does not show to what degree they were incapacitated from manual labor when admitted, and no tabulated conclusion shows the average
46 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
length of time of each inmate; but rest, abundance of nutri- tious food and pure air produced logical results; still 12 per cent, showed no improvement under th(*se most favorable conditions. Too short a time has ehipsed to show the per- manence of even the arrested progress of the disease, so the real value of the report can only be d(^termined by supple- mental reports that should appear from year to year for a period covering at least on(^ decade.
HOMKOPATHY KK<>T'niKD TO ASSIST NATUKK.
W(^ do not wish to l)e understood as disparaging the elTorts put forth for t\w coiTection of injurious habits of eating, .sleeping and living in g(»neral, for they c^n-tainly mark a decided advanct* over th(^ progi-ess of any other pe- riod in the history of this disease^; but in all candor, I ask you, have th(^y been surticicnt to justify th(» belief that this dreaded foe to life can be sheai'cd of its peculiar virulence without additional aid from a ditTerent source? Already the cry is hoard for something more. It has biM.m demon- strat(Hl that reaction and relapses are sure to follow undue haste in forcin(j results. ThiM'c is no pcn^manence in the new cell formation. They are like hot-house^ plants — no re.sist- enc(* when exposed to the vicissitudes of common ev(»ry day life. These poor unfortunates dare not leave their adopted homes. Their manner of living grows more and more re- stricted until the end finally C(mi(\s and they are s(^t free.
THIO INDIVIDUAL, NOT TrBKKCrf.OSIS, TO BK TULATED.
We now come to what we l)elieve to be the mi.ssing link, the scH-ret of past failuri^s and the most important factor in the whole problem — tltc iiHliridttf//. True, a tyi)e of indi- vidual has been recognizinl - a sort of composite picture known as the **tub(4'cular ccmstituticm." The food, climate, exer(!is(» and treatuumt has in a large m(*asur«^ btnm reduced to a routine form of ti-eatm Mit a lupt ul to this gfmeral type of individual. Tuberculosis as an (mtity, has been under treatment inst(*ad of f/tc inffirifh/tt/.
Where this routine practice was adapted to the needs of the individual the results wer(^ fairly satisfactory, but they occupy such an insignitieant place as to be hardly worthy of
/
HOMEOPATHY IN TUBERCULOSIS. 47
/^ideration in the study of thi^ great problem. They con-
,^te the class that linger on beyond the expectation of
n^^ ^ Haost sanguine friends, under any form of treatment.
., ^ ^Hct is we have no two cases of tuberculosis presenting
^n^^^lne peculiarities. There may be a general picture oc-
^^Xig the background wliich enables the physician to
^nk^ the diagnosis of tuberculosis, after structunfl changes
liave developed and (hnujer is imnnnent.but this (/encral picture
has no value from a therapeutic .standpoint.
You are familiar with the old adage — "what is one man's meat may be another man's poison,*' No two i)ersons look alike, think alike, eat alike, sleep alike, have like constitu- tions or are alike, consequenlly there can be no question about the short comings of a system of treatment that subjects any sick individual to a routine form of treatment. This criticism is doubly pertinent when the tendotcie.s of the fliseaspare *"0 unifonnlij iinfnvorahlc that the difference betn'een ^<f<'''f-XiH{n(l faibi re niani/ times dej)cnds ttjto)/ the detail trork- ^^^ffe thitajs that in the af/f/rer/ate overshadoic the genrral or ^'iore common things.
We concede that the tubercular bacillus is an exciting <^use only and that it is a definite fixed factor, but would Impress upon your minds that the myriad of peculiar symp- toms of the disease are but reflected images of the sick indi- XWUul^ and that it is tJiese pec^iliar manifestatio)is of the indi- vhlual that we must study if ice would eren^ hope to fual the meons needed for transforining the same i)tto the normal (r'tiri- tmof jiealth.
DISCUSSION.
Dr. E. A. Taylor: Generally we find such patients suf- fering from malnutrition. Then we want to know what kind of mal-nutrition. what there is peculiar and distinc- tive about the mal-nutrition as comj^ared with other cases. We may call it by what name we will, the name of the disease will not lead us to the remedy; but carry in mind the peculiar features of the case, the distinctive charactc^r- istics of the patient and his disease regardless of the di- sease he may have, will surely guidt* us to the proper and
48 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
curative remedy. One may hear doctors all over the land offering a sufficient reason for prescribing medicine that will correspond to malnutrition, or anemia, perhaps. The general term gives us no guide or indication for a remedy. We are trying too many short cuts to success, and the result is many failures.
Dr. G. E. Dienst: I have nothing to add to the paper nor any criticisms, but would like to emphasize what Dr. Taylor has said in regard to the individual. Out our way we have a sanitarium where they receive patients who, they say, are coming down with tuberculosis. They are all treat- ed alike, regardless of their individualities. Some improve, some do not. You will find them doing the same thing in Denver and other places — always leaving undone the things most essential to be done — overlooking the individual, hi» idiosyncrasies and constitutional disease tendencies. This is where Homeopathy plays an important part. It is our duty to find out this part and play it well.
Dr. Harvey Parrington: Many times I have had oc- casion to answer the question: **How is it you can do any thing with your little 'sugar pills,' for the sick?" We.do not need powerful, crude drugs. Our remedies act not by brute force but by subtlety" They do not act against the life force, but with it. The life force is endeavoring with all its might to throw off the incubus of the disease and the homeopathic remedy gives it the assistance it needs and it is sustained in so far as it corresponds with the state in which the individual is or the characteristics of the individual. So that although we do see marvelous results and we believe our remedies are powerful, nevertheless there is an analogy. A key is a small thing, a bit of steel, and yet that key, if it exactly fits the lock will open a very large door that may have special hinges on which to turn. That is the way our homeopathic remedies act.
Dr. H. C. Allen: The paper had one important factor that many seem prone to overlook, that is, the character of the cell. We are all cell products, and this cell life is one of the features often entirely forgotten. As Dr. Taylor so
LEGAL STATUS OF HOMEOPATHIC VACCINATION, 49
truly said, we get the idea of anemia or mal-nutrition with- out getting at the bottom of the defective cell life.
Dr. J. J. Thompson: If there is any one thing that Hahnemann emphasized more than another, it is the re- moval of the cause, and I was glad to hear our essayist em- phasize that fact. We as homeopathic physicians have been as much at fault up to recent times as our friends of the dominant school in not recognizing the fact that there is more than the mere administration of drugs in these cases. They have, perhaps, as has been suggested by the essayist, gone to the other extreme, depending almost entirely upon the physiological effect of drugs, dieting, food, fresh air and that sort of thing. The surgeon can do much in many of these cases, by removing the small portion affected by the tubercle baccilli? Not at all. More frequently in removing irritations quite distant from the local point of attack.
At the close of Dr. R. S. Copeland's address. Dr. Young moved that the society extend to Dr. Copeland a most hearty vote of thanks for the fine paper given by him. The motion was seconded and unanimously carried. Dr. Allen added that he would like to make it three times three.
THE LEGAL STATUS OF HOMEOPATHIC VACCINATION.
The Regular Homeopathic Medical Society of Chicago, will at its regular monthly meeting, to be held at the Public LiT)rary Building, Tuesday afternoon and evening, January 7th, 1908, take action upon the following resolutions:
Whereas: Vaccination for the prevention of small pox is only a prophylactic measure and used to give immu- nity to the public;
Whereas: Any method of sanitation or treatment which will prevent small pox must be recognized to have legal standing, and based upon State and Municipal Law,
Whereas: The allopathic method of vaccination is by inoculation with crude bovine virus, which is commonly in- jurious to health, frequently causing death.
Whereas: The homeopathic prophylactic method is by the administration of Variolinum and other homeopathic- ally prepared medicines (wherein the poisonous or toxic
50 TK?si£fiffi^L*i*mVANCE,
quality is removed) ^ivei^jgt^rnally, which has proved more efticient and without injury or (Tanker to the patient.
Wheueas: The State and Municipal Boards of Health are endeavoring^ to make compulsory the use of the allo- pathic method and refuse to accept certificates of vaccina- tion issued by homeopathic physicians who hold licences authorized by the laws of the State of Illinois to pra(*tice their system of medicine, and
WiiEKEAS: A recent decision in the State of Iowa says: *'That the Boards of Health do not have the power to speci- fj^ and enforce any recognized method of vaticination to the exclusion of otiiers n^'o^^nized and i)racticed by any stand- ard s(*hool of medicine, authorized and established under the laws of the stat(\"
X<ftf\ Tlanfon, hr if lUsolwd: That the Regular Hom- eopathic* Medical Society instructs hnd iiutlioriz(\s its execu- tive committee to demand from said Boards of Health recog- nition of the homeopathic method of vaccination, and if re- fused to entcu' suit by mandamus procecnlings to accomplish the same results recently obtained in the State of Iowa, de- fending and maintaining the h^gal rights of the homeopath- ic profession.
Apiuiii Virus: A Fatal Sting: r-
Canton, S. D., Oct. IS.-- Stuntr on the temple by a oommon honey bee while he was on the farm of Henry Trip, one mile north of here, Michae Oakleaf died fifteen minutes afterward in eonvuKionH.
Phy.sie ians ^^ave it as their opini(m that the stin^,'- penetrated the brain. To .satisfy the minds of the medieal experts it is probable that an autopsy will be held.
There are numerous cases on record where the sting of the honey-bee or the was]) has produced fatal results, death occurring within an hour after the accident; but the .sting did not penetrate the brain in this or any other case. The dose was not very large, but it was very effective. But there is not even a suspicion that the sting penetrated the skull, simply the effect of the virus on tlic^ brain, by being injected into the circulation on the temple
The Medical Advance
A Monthly Journal of Hahncmannian Homeopathy A Study of Methods and Results.
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jJANUARY, 190^.
EbitotiaU
THE NEXT INSTITUTE MEETiN«.
The following telegram is jself -explanatory:
Clkveland, Ohio, Jan. (I 190S. Next meetin*^ of the In^^titute at Kansa.s City. l)e^inninir . I unci 22nd
Kraft.
After a personal visit to Oklahoma City by Pr(\si(lent Copeland, and a thorough and impartial investigation of its advantages, it was decided by the Executive Committee that the best interests of the Institute and the comfort and ac- commodation of the majority of the members would be best conserved by a change of place of meeting. But in making the change and thus reversing the vote of the Institute, the committee has not* overlooked the just claims of the West and South West, or that the last two sessions were held on the Atlantic Coast,by selecting Kansas City w^hich has ample
52 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
hotel accommodations and can be reached from the East^ West, North and South without change of cars. We will probably have **a warm time in the old town'' the third week in June, yet not so hot as in Oklahoma; but the interests of the Institute are paramount and loyalty to the cause we all love will lead every homeopath to accept the decision of the committee in the same good faith in which it was made. ON TO KANSAS CITY.
POST SURGICAL TREATMENT OF CHRONIC DISEASES.
To the acute observation and practical experiment of Hahnemann we are indebted for the three greatest discov- eries in medicine:
1. The law of cure, Similia Similibus Curantur.
2. The potentization of our remedial agents.
3. The psoric theory of chronic diseases.
In 1810 Hahnemann issued the first edition of the Or- gan on of Rational Medicine, the principles by which the practice of Homeopathy may be successfully followed.
After years of labor with his colleagues in drug prov- ings, the first part of the Materia Medica Pura was issued, in 1811, but it was not until after twelve years of study and research to ascertain the source of this inscrutable cause of chronic affections to discover 'the great truth which re- mained concealed from his predecessors and contemporaries, and to establish the basis of its demonstration that, in 1 HI 2, Chronic Diseases, Their Peculiar Nature and Homeopathic Treatment was pubhshed.
As great as was his discovery of the law of cure, and a method for obtaining the dynamic principle of remedies that they may be practically applied in the cure of the sick, has- been, this last discovery of the author of Chronic Diseases^ is by far the greatest of his wonderful achievements. Thia theory, although it has been maligned for fifty years or more, is becoming more and more imi:>ortant, and today i» more pregnant with results in the cure of the chronic sick^ and a greater boon to suffering humanity than all the rest of his discoveries combined. The underlying principles are
EDITORIAL. 53
by W ,^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^ receiving scientific verification p^ ^^Sht in the opsonic index; by Von Behring in classing JjI^ ^^'b work as homeopathic, and by Huchard,of Paris, in unde 1^^^ announcement that it is the principle of Similia i^ijig the latest scientific investigations. p^^ illustrate this far-reaching principle in surgery: W oae^^J* ^-j a&e 17, Had apparent good Health until 14 whea she began .^A ^Viate scantily and painfully, and to run down. This had per- ^^^^^^ardlesa of medication, for three years. For two months she ^ABiijefen insane; was violent and required restraint. Lunacy inquest had been held and she was on the way to the insane asylum. Being ap- pealed to I found marked tenderness at McBurney's point; also erratic menstrual history.
DiagDosis: Insanity from causes resident below the diaphram. Operation: Removal of append ex, which was much swelled and coDirested; both ovaries enlarged and cystic, requiring removal of degen- erate portions together with removal of a fibroid tumor from left paro- varium size of an English walnut.
Result:— Return to normal mentality and perfect health. Case 2. Harry W., age 22. Never rugged: while pursuing art studies at Munich became violently insane: was returned to this country under guard and placed in an asylum where he remained for two years. During this time he made several escapes from custody, frequently half nude; was captured and returned. He had semi-lucid periods during one of which I was called to see him. In answer to his question: '*Can you minister 'x) a mind diseased?" "No! The mind Is never diseased; the body becomes diseased and the mind suffers." He was found to ^ave piles requiring reposition after each defacation.
Removal of hemorrhoids brought immediate cure. He returned to
theHague a few months later to pursue his studies, where he married
Md i6 rearing a family. He continues well after ten years.
Now comes Hahnemann's statement in the Organon §222:
But a patient that has thus been freed from an acute disease of the
mind or disposition by the use of non-anti psoric remedies can never be
regarded as cured. Far from it: And it was necessary to loose no time
in placing him under a prolonged an ti- psoric treatment to deliver him
of the chronic miasm of psora, which, it is true, has again become latent,
but is not less ready on that account to break out again. In short, there
19 no fear of another attack similar to that which has been arrested,
providing the patient does not depart with the regimen that has been
prescribed for him.
^'OTE. It js a very rare case that mental alienation of long standing
ceases spontaneously, (since the internal melady recedes upon
the grosser organs ). These are a few cases in which the patient,
54 THE MEDTCAT. ADVANCE.
aft(*r having- been the inmate of a mad-house, is discharged as apparently cured. Every institution for the insane has hither- to been filled to excess, so that the multitude of others waiting^ for admi^sion have scarcely ever found a place, if vacancies did not. occur in the house by the deetnise of p itients. AV»; on( (H/umg them is rtdHy and pfrmanoUlij cural.
In the admirable and thoughtful pai)er. The Problem of Prophlaxis, by Dr. Runnels, in our December issue, the ex- perience of Hahnemann is verified by the experience of some of our oldest surgeons. The etiology, the pathology and diagnosis of many of these chronic diseases, as logically illustrated by Dr. Runnels, corroboratc^s in every i)articular the inductive reasoning of Hahnemann.
Read the other clinical cases here reported, in which tlie corriH^tness of tlie physical diagnosis was v(U'itied by the re- sults from the removal of the cause by surgical measures, and we return to th(» same conclusions reached by Hahne- mann thre(^ quart(n's of a century ago, that, "Not one among tluMu is really and ])ermanently cured." After the patient has been restored mr»ntally by the removal of physical im- pediments to health, the old chronic ailment, whatever it may hav(» been, remains uncured. And h(H'e is where the Science and art of lu^aling comes into full play, it being able to cure — not simply r(\stori* to lunilth- patients who are sick with chronic inabilities from birth. Here is a field for the exer- cise of the art of h(^aling. H(?re is wheiv the homeopathic surgeon, if i*(nilly imbued with liis r(\s]K)nsibility to his patient" -if he does not consider himself cai)able of carefully pn^scribing for a i)atient after the iHMuoval of the exciting cause -should turn him over to a therapeutic specialist. Here is wlun'e th(^ surg<?on and tlu^rapcnitist may work harmon- iously for the ui)lifting of the science, and the welfare of humanity. Her(» is a ti(4d at pn^simt practically uncultivated which should yit^ld a richer harvest in the fields of science than any other known. And in this field the homeopathic - surgeon has no competition.
EDITORIAL. 55
THE AMERICAN HEART.
There has been much written in the daily press, in recent months, by physicians of Chicago and other Ameri- can cities, in re^^ard to the increasing death rate from lieart disease. The claim is made that th(» mortality is out of all proix>rtion to the growth in ]K)pulation. Of course th(n'c Diust be a cause for it, and it is now attributtnl to the in- tensity of modern business life; the tendency to over-do, or over- work: too much eating, drinking, late suppers, coti'(»e, tobacco, the automobile, etc-, are, in some way, factors in the production of heart affections and c(msequent prematuni death.
When th(» physician is app(nil(Hl to for reUt^f, and insists that a return to "the simph* hfe" will remedy the existing evil, he is listened to with an incredulous smile. The advice is j^ood, the* reasoning unansw(^rable and tin* logic sound, for the other fellow. Tobacco is doing more today to weaken the American heart, and not only the American's but all other nationaliti(»s as well, than any otlun' cause. Th(»re is no drug in the entire mat(»ria medica that so certainly (h^s- troys the elasticity of musch^ tibi-e as Tabacum. Americans, Englishmen, Frenchmen and (icnnans, will all stand tln^ stress and strain of the strenuous busint\ss lite, if they will only curtail the excessive use of nicotine. When a physi- cian informs a patient that he is using too nuich tobacco, that it is afflicting his heart, th(» advice is a])t to fall on stony soil, when the patient sees the physician, hims(^lf, snioldng and chewing. The force of habit has much to do with it, and the force of example in this cas(^ is wanting.
To gently advise a busin(»ss nran, on the vei'goof nei-vous
prostration, that he must slacken his pace, is all vi^-y well;
but it is much better, and moi-e etT(»ctive, if tlu^ advict* be
specific, and the danger of not following it pointi^d out. The
sermon on the strenuous life has Innm ])reached for years,
and preached in vain; the advice was not taken tlu^i, and
similar advice will not be taken now. T1h» New Year is t1u»
time to make resolutions, and it appears to be (Mpuilly as
gooda time to break them. An individual here and tlun-e
56 THE MEDICAL'ADVANCE.
may change his habits when compelled to, but the commu- nity, as a whole, will go. on at the old rate,, irrespective of consequence.
COMPULSORY HEALTH.
It is the office of sanitarians to study the art of preserving the health and preventing disease and of all the means that are subservient to those ends. Such work is both educational and executive; it is educational when it gives publicity to the laws of prophylaxis and directs the attention of readers to the risks and dangers that follow their infraction. It is executive when it directs and control's the disposal of garbage, the cleanliness of streets and all such matters as relate distinctly to the public health. In performing these functions, it is necessary that sanitary officers should have the power to enforce their rules amd regulations. Com- pulsory rules and regulations however, must be founded upon sound and just principles or they become oppressive and unjust. It is a sound principle that a man must be com- pelled to refrain from anything that molests or injures the welfare of others. This principle underlies all compulsory legislation; there is another equally sound and just principle that is often neglected or overlooked by law makers; i. e. a man must not be compelled to refrain from anything else than what molests or injures the welfare of others. It is only in relation to others, that compulsion is warranted.
For instance habitual over eating is undoubtedly provoca- tive of much ill health, but since a man may indulge in this unsanitary habit, without in the least injuring others,it is not a matter for compulsory laws but for sanitary advice and education.
If a man allows garbage to lie on his premises until it becomes offensive and a possible source of disease, he is already molesting the welfare of his neighbors and hence it is just that he should be conipelUd to clean up. In other words a man must be prevented from injuring others, but also he must be left free to injure himself if he wants to.
Trouble fretiuently arises because some well meaning
EDXTORIAJL. 57
set of refarmers try to iofliot a aanitaor xneasure upon all mankind when not all mankind are agreed that it is a gpod thing. For instance a large number of civilized people use tobacco ki some form; another large number regard tobacco as poison and so deleterious to health, that they would like to compel all mankind to refrain from using it in any form. In some states legislation of this kind has been introduced. Such legislation is unsound and will prove ineffective.
A vast number of people drink alcoholic beverages, another vast number consider them deleterious both to health and morals. This being an unsettled question, it would be clearly wrong for sanitary officials, no matter what their individual view, to step in and take sides to the extent of compulsory legislation.
The same principle applies to vaccination, a large num of people believe in vaccination, another large number be- lieve it harmful, another large number believe in inefficient and still another large number believe it another mode of vaccination. There is a great difference of opinion here not only among laymen but also among medical experts and it is manifestly an unsound principle for any one of the various sets of vaccinationists to try to force their mode upon others. Yet attempts are everywhere being made to do this. The weekly bulletins issued by the Chicago Department of Health have stated that that Department recognizes only one kind of vaccination, the kind advocated by the particular clique to which the Health Commissioner belongs.
Unfortunately sanitarians are adopting more and more the false idea that it is their duty to compel the public to be healthy whether it will or no; there is a tendency to extend their scope and increase their power. In some quarters it has been advocated that the use of antitoxin in diphtheria be made compulsory; an article has appeared looking to- wards compulsory operation in appendicitis. Another article ha9 advocated the compulsory annual physical examination of all adult citizens by government physicians. The castration of criminals has been introduced (but not passed) in the legislature of a western state. Propositions
58 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
have not infrequently been made, by well-meaning but ignorant reformers, that all applicants for a marriage license should have their fitness for the marriage state determined by a medical examination before the license is granted.
In all these attempts ignorant enthusiasm is at work. Some particular idea of reform so fills the mind of these ad- vocates, that they try to force a petty reform upon mankind at the expense of mankind's most precious inheritence, in- dividual freedom. Attention is called to a sketch on another page of this issue under the same title. J. B. S. K.
THE MURDEROUS HOUSE FLY.
New York boasts of nothing more than its originality. Formerly this human trait belonged, almost exclusively to New England, but it has now moved south a few hundred miles and landed in the metroi^>olis. There is a new source of danger menacing the life and health of the citizens of Manhattan Island. It is claimed that the common house fly is responsible for 7,6r)0 deaths in New York in the year 1907, according to the cities bacteriologists. The fatal attacks of typhoid and intestinal diseases between July 1st and October 1st are attributable to the infection from or of the housefly. It is claimed that a careful study of the habits of the fly leads irresistably to the conclusion that the pest is responsi- ble for the deaths.
This mortality comes under the preventable causes of disease, and now that the cause has been discovered, pre- vention, to a certain extent, • may follow. The mortality for accidents and preventable causes of disease, including those from insects and other pests, is simply alarming. With the advent of rapid locomotion, and increased trans- portation facilities, comes, also, the natural consequence of accidental deaths.
A better applied hygiene has increased longevity during the last fifty years, but the best applied hygienic measures are unable to counteract the increasing number of accidental deaths. In the future, possibly, the average length of life will be increased, but progress in that line will be slow, and
EDITORIAL. 59
it is doubtful whether, with all our boasted improvements m bygiene and medicine, the average longevity in these modem times is much greater than it was among the ancient Greeks and Romans. /
COMPULSORY HEALTH.
The commissioner of health sat in his office late on^ night framing a law, entitled an Act to Amend an Act, en- titled an Act to Limit the Consumption of Picnic Ice Cream, when, lie was interupted by a knock on the door. He opened the door add saw a weasened little man, sallow, thin and stuntLod in stature, who walked in without ceremony and seated himself.
* '^Vho are you and what do you want?" asked the Health Com missioner .
' 'I have come,'* said the visitor in a cracked voice, *'to sho^wr the evil effects of the compulsory health that you are trying to inflict upon the public. Examine my shrunken Diesel es, my sallow and wrinkled skin, my meager and stunt- ed proportions. Notice the unclean exhalations that issue frc^m my pores, the feeble pulse, the decaying teeth, the fr^eile bones, the gibbous spine and the puny lungs that ch^a.-ra,cterize me and know that I am the product of the ^^texmalistic care of the state and municiple Boards of Health. * 'Here is a cicatrix from a compulsory operation for a pa^ixi in the right inguinal region; this is the scar of vaccina- ^^^^ > this of inoculation against hydrophobia, this to prevent scaclatina, this against measles, this against diphtheria, all P^rEormed during the first year of my life.
*Here is a certificate that my sputa has undergone its '^^^iVily examination; here is my permit to eat three regular \s\ftals of inspected food per day. This is my license to smoke one cigar of assayed and inspected tobacco on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Here is the certificate that my heart has passed its annual examination."
"But my governmentally inspected heart has yearnings for other things than compulsory health, and I sought the marriage inspector for permission to marry Angelina Smith
186 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
a fetrhailr^ damsel dwelling on the banks of the Desplainea rive*r.
**In spite of th^ loss of her vermiform appendix, in sj^te of the numerous scars from nosodial inoculations that dis- figured the smooth bloom of her cutaneous covering, I thought her the fairest of the daughters of men. Our an- nually examined hearts burned for each other with a mental flame of love.
"Behold the result, the marriage inspector, whose wife is even now sueing him for divorce, refused us a licpnce because one of her grand uncles by marriage had died of tuberculosis; one of her grandfathers had swollen cervical glands; a third cousin was affticted with ringworm and she herself had a history of having played with a mangy cat in her innocent youth.
"I have come to complain and I warn you Mr.Health Com- missioner that your impudent, harmful and unnecessary restrictions on the rights of the qeople must cease."
The sallow dwarf's voice had risen to an impassioned pitch as he recited his blighted love and his manner became so threatening that the Health Commissioner feared a per- sonal attack and began to utter a few soothing words and to promise relief.
The little man departed and the commissioner resumed his work, but seemed somehow to have lost his relish for it. After several efforts, he seized the Act Entitled an Act to Amend an Act concerning picnic ice cream and thrust it into the waste paper basket. J. B. S. K.
IN MEMOKIAM.
Joseph A. Biegler, M. D., died at his home in Roch- ester, N. Y., at 1 o'olock A. M., Dec. 21nd. 1907.
By the death of Dr. Biegler Rochester loses a valuable citizen, and the homeopathic school one of its ablest expo- nents. Dr. Biegler was one of the ablest prescribers our school ever produced. He was a genuine Hahnemannian, a true follower of the master, and as such was known in every state in the Union. The secret of his success is said to
IN MEMORIAM. 6i
have been due largely to his faculty of obtaining a complete and correct anamnesis including especially the existing or maintaining cause of the sickness. In this he excelled, and probably had no superior in America. In some difBcult cases ^we have known him to labor half a day with one pa- tient while his reception room was full, but he never made a prescription until he was thoroughly satisfied that the reraedy he had selected was the similimum.
The Rochester Hahnemann Hospital is his monument. It 'Was founded through his indefatigable efforts, and it has b^en maintained largely by his zeal and ganerosity.
Xlxe directors and medical staff of the HahnemaDn Hospital adopted tihe following memorial on the death of Dr. Blegler:
Joseph Augustus Biegler, the founder of the Hahnemann Hospital of E<ocbe8ter, chief of its medical staff, and a member of its board of di- rectors, died at bis home in Rochester, Dec. 21, 1907. He was born in Alsace in 1832. His father, a German by birth, studied medicine in the office of Samuel Hahnemann, and became a noted physician. The sob Jose phi, at the age of 9 years, came to America with his father, who set- tleti. in Rochester in 1842. After completing his academic education^ 3aseph went to the University of Pennsylvania, and was graduated in 1^7 from the medical department. He practiced his profession in Rochester continuously until his death, excepting the years of the Civi^ war, ^hen he was employed as a contract surgeon in the Federal Army '° ^hieh capacity he rendered noteworthy service, particularly at New Orleans during the militarv occupation of that city, among other things establig^^ug there a hospital during an epidemic of yellow fever, for ''**^Qh Ixe received the highest commendation.
^s a citizen he was public spirited and progressive. From 1888 to ' he >was a member of the Board of Health of Rochester and inaugur- , ittiportant reforms in the administration of that body, and drafted ^ '^^tices which are retained practically unchanged.
^^ was singularly success' ul in the practice of medicine, always a
8 u^eot, and a firm and consistent believer in the principles of Homeo"
^^y as a scientific system. He expounded those principles with great
swces^ to many younger practitioners. His reputation was international
*^^ tl^ose to whom he ministered, numbering thousands, will cherish
Memory of their beloved physician. He was one of the founders of
Jj^ International Hahnemannian Association,of which he was at] one time
^ Pf esident, and was also prominent and honored in other medical
*^^^tiea, both state and national.
He was strong in his opinions, and when conviocer' of the righteous- ^^%a of hi4 course, held it with unyielding tenacity. He hated iniquity;
62 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
feared no one; he was a friend to the poor; a lover of children. He will be especially remembered as founder of the Hahnemann Hospital of Rochester, to which he gave much of his time and thought during his later years. The limits of this memorial will not permit extended reference to his work in this relation, but we may say, in brief, that he conceived its plan, encouraged its growth and set the standard for its policy. The success of the hospital was a joy to him, and for its future be had firm faith.
We say * -Farewell" to our leader and friend with extreme regret but record with gratitude our appreciation of the example and inspir- ation of his life.
At a meeting of the board of lady managers of the Hahnemann Hos- pital the president, Mrs. W. H. H. Rogers, appointed a commit- tee of three, consisting of Mrs. Rufus A. Sibley, Mrs. Arthur E. Southerland and Mrs. Church Arvine to prepare resolutions in memory of Dr. Josf-ph A. Biegler. The following resolutions were adopted:
Our friend and physician. Dr. J. A. Biegler, has passed into the other life. We realize that a great man has gone, one of unusual learn- ing, wonderful in skill, faithfuJ, kind, loving and true. In a long life he had much to endure but showed rare heroism, great honesty and achieved many triumphs. In the hearts of friends and patients his memory will always remain. It can be said of him; *'He made good use of his friends by being of use to them." His life work has given him world wide reputation, and in this community the Hahnemann hospital stands as the monument of his steadfast devotion to principles.
Dr. Freda M. Lankton died in Omaha, December 5th, 1907. She was bom in Oriskany, N. Y., August 10th, 1852; was married August 10th, 1870, at Rome, N. Y., and removed to Iowa in 1874, locating in Council Bluffs in 1878.
She was a gradut^ from the homeopathic medical depart- ment of the Iowa State University in 1H8H and at once began practice in Omaha, where she has had a large clientele and a successful practice.
She has been afliicted for many years with heart trouble, and died from an acute aggravation of this old disease.
Dr. Nickolas 8enn, one of our best-known surgeons of Chicago, is dead. He was not only one of our leading sur- geons, but one of the great travelers of the present day. He had visited and explored nearly every country in the world. His writings, and especially his works on surgery, are well-known and valued by every surgeon, and especially by every surgical teacher. He was known as one of the conservative men, and is said to have declined more major operations than any other well-known surgeon of his time.
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
l^fORRIS' HUMAN ANATOMY. A Complete Systematic Treatise by English and American Anthors. Edited by Henry Morris, M. A„ and M. B. Lond, F. R. C. S., Eng. President of the Royal College of SnrgeojM of England ; consulting Surgeon to Middlesex Hospital, London ; Honorary Member of the Medical Society of the County of New York ; Formerly Chairman of the Court of Exami- ners of the Royal College of Surgeons ; Examiner in Anatomy in the University of Durham, and Examiner in Surgery in the Uni- versity of London. And J. Playfair MoMurrick, A. M., Ph, D., Professor of Anatomy University of Michigan. Member Association of American Anatomists; Member of Advisory Board, Wistar In- stitute of Anatomy, Etc. Ten Hundred and Twenty-five Illustra- tions, Three Hundred and Nineteen printed in Colors, Fourth Edition, Revised and Enlarged, in Five Parts; Each Part Sold Sep- arately. Part I, Morphogenesis, Osteology, Articulations, Index. $1.50. Part II, Muscles, Organs of Circulation, Including Lymphat- ics, Index: $2.00. Part m, Nervous System, Organs of Special Sense; Index: $1.50. Part IV, Organs of Digestion; of Voice and Respiration, Urinary and Reproductive Organs, Ductless Glands, Skin and Mammary Glands; Index $1.50. Part V, Surgical and Topographical Anatomy, Index: $1.00. This Book is also Pub- lished in one Handbook, Octavo Volume: cloth, $6.00; Sheep or . Half Morocco, $7.00, Net. Contributors to Fourth Edition: Henry Morris, F. R. C, S. , London. R. J. Terry, Washington (^Diversity, St. Louis. Peter Tbompson, King's College. London. Irving Hardesty, University of Califor- nia. G. Carl Huber. University of Michigan. J. Playfair Mc- Murrick, University of Michigan. Abram T. Kerr, Cornell Uni- versity. Charles R. Bardeen. University of Wisconsin. Florence E. Sabin, Johns Hopkins University. R. Marcus Gunn, F. R. C. S.. London. W. H. A. Jocobson, F. R. C. S., Guy's Hospital, Ijondon. Philadelphia; P. B I akis tone's Son & Co., 1015 Walnut Street. 1907.
This is no doubt the best illustrated work on Anatomy ever published, and that its popularity and value are ap- preciated by the medical profession is evinced in the fact that it has reached its fourth edition. Hitherto Gray's Anatomy has deservedly held a foremost rank among med- ical students, but it is now excelled by Morris in practically «very department, both in descriptive work and in illustra- tion.
64 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
This is the first attempt to issue an international work on Human Anatomy, the authorship being divided among^ some of the best- known living anatomists both in Great Britain and America, and among whom, for the first time, we find the name of a woman physician. Professor Florence R. Sabin, of Johns Hopkins University.
There is another important innovation in this work, the book being issued in one handsome octavo volume and also in five fasiculi, thus accommodating specialists.
In Part V. we have surgical and topographical anatomy; a part for our specialists of diseases of the chest and di- gestion; for diseases of the nervous system, so that a fasi- culus small in size but comprehensive in text and descrip- tive matter can be had for a small price, and the volume is convenient for the office table. Each fasiculus contains a comprehensive index and, taking all in all, it is the most complete and comprehensive work in every part that has ever been issued by the press.
THOMAS SKINNER. M. D. A biographical Sketch, by John H. Clarke, M. B., C. M., M. D. London Homeopathic Publishing. Co., 12 Warwick Lane, E, C. 1907.
The death of this celebrated Hahnemannian marks the close of an epoch in British Homeopathy. So far as vol- umes are concerned, his writings have been few; his chief work being done in the quarterly journal, The Organoii, and his small volume on gynecology. But it is not volumes alone that count. The size of the book has very little to do with it; its contents are much more important, both in the present and the future.
In the commencement of his medical career, he was a veritable Saul of Tarsus, like his preceptor. Sir J. Y. Simp- son, two of the most bitter opponents of Homeopathy to be found in Great Britain in their day. But when confronted personally with an incurable sickness, that neither he nor his colleagues could relieve, he accidentally met a genuine homeopath, Dr. Berridge, who promptly proceeded to cure him, and that with a single dose of dynamic Sulphur. And
NEW PUBLICATIONS. 66
^^omes in one of the chief traits of this great man; hon- of conviction and a readiness to pat It in force. He
an to study Homeoi)athy, and like nearly every other professional man, who has ever truly investigated it, 'be- came a convert. He was one of the rare converts who be- ing cured with the potency was ready and willing to com- mence practice on the same plane; the single remedy and the dynamic dose were all-sufficient for him. The author says, page 67, ''He had a genius for singling out the most important symptoms from the prescribing point of view. He appreciated to the full the value of keynotes as pointers, but he never relied on them apart from other symptoms."
His **genius for singling out keynote and important symptoms" was the same kind of genius that Hahnemann displayed; hard study of the basic principles of theOrganon was the chief thing. Any of us can become a genius if we would work as Skinner worked; and along the same lines; drop our pathology when a prescription is to be made, and follow the instructions in § 153 of the Organon. Genius is only another name for hard work, and Skinner had it.
This is a splendid tribute to one of the greatest dead in English Homeopathy, by one of the greatest of living Eng- lish homeopaths.
WHAT TO DO FOR THE STOMACH. A Careful Arrangement of the Most Important Symptoms in Diseased Conditions of the Stom- ach and the Remedy Indicated in the Cnre of these Symptoms. By G. E. Dienat, Ph. D., M. D.. Author of ** What to Do for the Head." Pp. 202. Cloth, $1.00 net; postage 5 cents. Philadelphia and Chicago; Boericke & Tafel. 1907.
This work is another of the author's practical compila- tions, taken directly from the repertory and materia medica, 'Which is arranged so that many of the prominent conditions or symptoms, such as drawing, gnawing, lancinating, pinch- Uig» pressing, scraping, shooting, soreness, etc., are given, with the indications for the different remedies for those af- lections. It is understood, however, and this is emphasized by the author, that the indications for the single remedy
66 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
given should be carefully compared with the symptom total- ity of the patient.
For instance: "In conditions of inflammation six leading remedies are given. Each remedy has its own particular catalogue of symptoms which no other remedy will cure. These should be carefully studied, and the patient and rem- edy clearly understood before the two are brought into con- tact with the other."
The author is a clear-cut homeopathic prescriber, and this little work is an effort on his part to furnish a concise reference work for the office table that his colleagues may be as much benefited as he has been by the study.
HOW TO TAKE THE CASK AND TO FIND THE SIMILIMUM ' By E. B. Nash, M. D. Author of * 'Leaders in Homeopathic The- rapeutics," ''Leaders in Typhoid Fever,'* '* Regional Leaders," and ''Leaders in the Use of Sulphur." 55 pages. Cloth, 50 cents net. Postage 3 cents. Philadelphia. Boericke & Tafel. 1907.
This small work, a pocket reference book of fifty-five pages is a hint in the right direction. Hahnemann states in the Organon that 'Vhen a case is once properly taken, when the anamnesis is sarefully recorded, their chief work is com- pleted." Any one can prescribe for a case that is well tak- en, and no one can make a successful prescription of a case poorly taken. As the author states:
'*Often times, in a case being reported, the very symp- toms that are most important, so far as the selection of the remedy is concerned, are left out."
Physicians themselves, professed homeopathic physi- cians, frequently ask the question: Doctor, what is your favorite remedy for neuralgia, sick headache, rheumatism, tonsilitis, dysmenorrhea, etc. i The homeopath has no best remedy; the remedy that covers the totality of symptoms of the sick patient is the similimum, and of course the best remedy when found, but the Hahnemannian never has **the best remedy" for any disease, no matter what the name may be.
If we were to offer any criticism on this little work, it
NEW PUBLICATIONS. 67,
would be that the author uses the terms ''generals" and "particulars" in the illustrations given, which, instead of clearing up an abstruse problem, only makes it more diffi- cult to understand for a great many. Also we would sug- gest that if special attention be paid to § 153 of the Organon less symptoms would cover the case just as completely as those in the illustrations, where twenty-seven are given; however, this work will help a great many home opaths to do better work if they will study it and put in practice the rules here given.
THE ELEMENTS OF HOMEOPATHIC THEORY, MATERIA MEDICA, PRACTICE AND PHARMACY. Compiled and Ar- ranged from Homeopathic Text-Bookd, by F. A. Boericke and E P. Anshntz. Second Revised Edition. Pp. 218. Cloth. $1.00 net. Postage 5 cents. Philadelphia and Chicago, Boericke & Tafel. 1907.
The popularity of this small hand-book has been such that a second edition is called for within i short time. It is intended for physicians of other schools who wish to obtain an insight into what Homeopathy really is. There is a brief sketch of Hahnemann and some of the pioneers of Home- opathy; the manner of its discovery, its doses, how to apply it in the cure of the sick and some of the recent works on Homeopathy. 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 ^lectic 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 homeo- pathic treatment, as here laid down, that it probably will *'riin its course:''
When cough runs into convulsions. Cuprum metalli-
cum6.
68 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
*'Where the whoop is very marked and clear, Mephi- tis 6.
**Severe paroxysms, changing color of face, Magnesia phosphorica 12x.
"In cases not marked by any severe symptoms, Drosera rotundifolia Ix.
*' 'Minute gun' variety or smothering, Coralium rubrum 12x.
**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 children, or to those liable to contract the dis- sease."
As a prophylactic, Drosera Ix will most certainly lail,. unless in rare cases, where it is the genus epidemicus. This is not the way to educate an allopathic physician or indoc- trinate a family into the homeopathic treatment of whoop- ing cough. Besides it leads the beginner to believe that the potencies here given are the only ones to use.
CONSlL\rPTlON : Its Cause and Nature. By Rollin R Gregg, M. D , to which is added the Therapeutics of Tuberculous Affections, by H. C. Allen, iM. D. Cloth. 479 pages. $1.25 delivered free any- where. Boericke & Tafel.
This very handsome book was published in the year lbH7. The price was $3.00 per copy. After Dr. Gregg's death we took charge of the remaining copies and will now close them out at §1.25 each, sent post-paid on receipt of price to any part of the world. Dr. Allen's therupeutics alone are worth far more than the price asked. For homeopathic therapeutics changeth not and Dr.. Allen is a pastmaster in them. The first 179 pages were written by Dr. Gregg; the remainder of the book was written by Dr. Allen. Dr. Gregg writes of the disease and Dr. Allen of its homeopathic treatment. The remedies follow each other in alphabetical order, most excel- lently put and this is succeeded by more than 100 pages of Repertory where every symptom of consumption may be found with its remedy. You cannot work miracles with this- book but it will immensely aid any practitioner in his treat^ ment of this disease. — Jott'uigfi.
The Wedical Advance
Vol XLVL BATAVFA, ILL., FEBRUARY, 1908. No. 2.
FOUR EVERY DAY CASES.
By Lawrence M. Stanton, M. D., New York. Case I. CoralUum rubrum. This patient had had an annoying cough for a week. It had daily grown worse, and when I first saw her her condition was really distressing. The cough was dry, harassing, very constant, and on lying down at any time incessant; talking so increased it that the patient could hardly utter a word; redness of the face on coughing.
CoralUum rubrum 10m was given at four o'clock p. m. By evening the patient was more comfortable, at bed time she was able to lie down with but slight aggravation, and an excellent night followed. The case required no further treat- ment.
This was the '*minute-gun" cough of CoralUum and lam grateful to him who thus characterised the remedy.
Case II. Kali bichromicum. I give this case entirely from memory, and while quite sure of the prompt action of the remedy I cannot present many details, nor report the patient's fuller history, if there was one. The woman had received a knock on the leg over the shin bone six weeks or more ago, shortly after which art ulcer develo])ed at the place injured. It had been under local treatment without benefit.
The ulcer was oval in shape, three quarters of an inch in its long diameter, its circumference elevated above the surrounding skin and as regular in outline as if it had been cutout. There was little pain, and I do not recall anything characteristi? of it. A glance at the sore suggested the typ- ical Kali bichrom. ulcer. This remedy given in cm. potency
70 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
resulted in a cure, improvement beginning within a few days.
Case III. Lycopodlion: Caharea: This is another simple case but one well illustrating the brilliant action of homeopathic remedies in high potency.
The patient had been under treatment a number of years at the time I first saw her, getting worse rather than better. The case, one of aggravated intestinal indigestion, presented a perfect picture of Lycopodium. The symptoms were those in the materia medica word for word and I will not trouble you with them. Improvement began a few days after the first dose of Lycopodium 8m, and in two or three weeks the patient was practically a well woman — with one exception, however, and herein lies the special interest of the case.
Constipation had been a troublesome factor and this was not materially benefited by Lycopodium, in spite of its rep- etition in the same and in a higher potency. Reviewing the case in its symptoms resulted in no indications for anything else, but studying Lycopodium in its relationship to other remedies brought to mind the three great correlatives Sul- phur, Calcarea and Lyco])odium.
Hering with double black marks compares Calcarea to Lycopodium in its constipation and, while to follow Lycopo- dium with Calcarea would be a reversal of their usual se- quential order, it seemed likely that Calcarea was the next remedy in the case. This proved to be so for after a dose in the mm. potency regular movements of the bowels were established and have continued now many months. Once only was the remedy repeated.
Sulphur, Calcarea and Lycopodium follow each other as a rule in this order, but here is a case where Calcarea came beneficially after Lycopodium.
But why, after all, do these remedies stand in close re- lationship to each other? They are very individual, indeed in many respects so quite the opposite of each other that it is supposed impossible to confound them. Yet they are wide in range of action, rich in symptomatology, and in
FOUR EVERY DAY CASfiSv 7)l
consequence are constantly overlapping. It is difficult, therefore, to know whether their resemblance or their dif- ference is the more remarkable. I suppose it is just the shax-p individuality of each tempered by their common like- no?^^ that constitutes the compatibility, the companionship b^t \^een them.
Case IV. Otitis media acuta. Petroleum. This patient bad caught a bad cold which, after affecting almost every P^i't of her organism, had settled in the left ear. Symptoms ^^ve vague, and the one or two prescriptions I made at this ^^nae were not followed by marj^ed improvement. The pa- tient decided that her case was one for the .specialist and f^etoob herself to him. He inflated the middle ear by the ^olitzer method, but this caused much pain, and so aggra- vated the whole .condition that she did not continue the ^^^atment. Again I took up the case.
There were no signs of middle ear suppuration, and evi- ^^ntly the inflammation was of the *'dry'' kind. The symp- '^ms were: Aching pain extending from the throat through ^lie eustachian tube into the middle ear; distressing noises ^^ ^reat variety; almost total deafness of the affected ear. "etroleum 3m brought great relief within twenty-four hours ^^d the case, with another marked stride under the cm. po- tency later on, made an excellent recovery.
The symptoms that most decidedly indicated P(^troleum
^^re the eustachian pain and the many noises in the ear.
^^iding Symptoms'' clinically sums it up thus: Eustachi-
^^ tubes affected, causing whizzing, roaring, cracking with
vV^T^Xness of hearing.
Since making a closer study of Petroleum there is an- other feature of the remedy that strikes me as a very gen nine indication for it in the present case, and this is its lin- gering, long-lasting character. We read that it is suited to 'long-lasting diseases," to ^'lingering (gastric and intestinal) troubles;'' that **long-lasting complaints follow mental stafces, fright, vexation, etc.'' Now this case was typically astheaic from the beginning. The patient had a severe cold, V&tt after part had become involved and then it finally had
72 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
settled, in the middle ear. Here it had dragj^ed through six weeks, gradually getting worse until the appropriate home- opathic remedy was given. I think, then, it is not going too far to say that in the tendency for mildly acute or sub- mcnte complaints to verge toward the chronic we have a strong indication for Petroleum.
Gelsemium strikingly resembles Petroleum in the pres- ent case, in the eustachian pains, the noises in the ear and in the deafness. Then, too, there is the same disposition for the Grelsemium complaints to develop leisurely and to run a sluggish course. I confess that the recognition of this resemblance was an afterthought.
But nothing, not a miracle even, could have worked jiuch quicker than did Petroleum, so I think there is little doubt that it was the more similar of the two remedies.
DIET FOR BRAIN WORKERS.
By J. B. S. King. M. D., Chicago.
It has been found by careful experimentation, the most recent and accurate of which is Atwater's, that severe and continuous mental labor causes no more tissue waste than absolute rest. That is to say, the most accurate instrument with which we are acquainted is unable to show that mental activity affects tissue waste any more than absolute rest. That there is a difference is certain; whether science will ever be able to demonstrate it or not is problematical. Cho- lestrin seems to be increased by mental work and is elimin- ated by the bile, but the metabolic changes involved are not such as a respiration calorimeter is capable of showing.
Brain workers are very apt to be sedentary in habit and not infrequently such work is accompanied by high living and late hours. Such a life, namely, plentiful eating and drinking, with bodily indolence, tense nerves and worry, is the best combination for bringing on an early breakdown, as pointed out under Bright's disease.
Tiiere are no doubt special brain foods, or foods that especially nourish the nervous system, but as yet we do not
DIET FOR BRAIN WORKERS; 73
Ahov just what parts of food they are' from the standpoint of exact experimentation. Under these circumstanties we must depend upon practical experience.
In the first place, the brain is less directly dependent upon food than any other organ. It is a general rule that the higher the function of any organ the less it suffers from withdrawal of food, hence, the brain being the highest organ in the body, suffers the least of all. It is a matter of common observation that the brain works better under a light diet and best of all under abstinence from solid food. All the tissues yield to it in importance, and as a consequence it draws aliment from the other organs, as ministers and ser- vants, when the external food supply is deficient. The ideal diet, therefore, for a brain worker is a very light one, of a not too easily digestible character, at the same time the food should have sufficient residue to prevent constipation.
Fine white bread should be avoided, and the coarser breads selected. Graham, entire wheat, oatmeal crackers, pumpernickel (whole rye), C3rn bread and Boston brown bread offer sufficient variety to select from. The feces from an exclusive diet of Graham bread outweigh and are greater ^ bulk than those from an exclusive diet of an entire wheat bread, by double, and from the feces of a patent flour bread diet by a quadruple proportion. This bulkiness of intestinal <^^tents takes the place to a certain extent of exercise and tends to obviate the constipation of sedentary pursuits. The slight waste of starchy matter found in the bulky stools ^ of no great importance. The objection to fine white bread ^I'^o extends to meat, with the additional disadvantage, that ^(^^ tvitrogenous products of the digestion of meat encumber V\ie internal organs more than vegetables.
The no- breakfast plan works well with many sedentery brain workers. During the morning hours, if the stomach is empty, the mental faculties are generally alert and the best work can be done. There are thousands of people who have no appetite for breakfast and simply eat in conformity with aiong-establishedhabit. T^hey form the *'cup of coffee and 8iT[)il*' brigade so numerous in the United States.
74 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
With such i)eople there is a certain repugnance to solid food in the early morning. If such people will make a trial of the no-breakfast plan they will probably be surprised at the improvement. The following menu will serve to give an idea of the amount and kind of food recommended for mental and sedentary occupations:
Breakfast: Either none or a cup of coffee.
Tjunch: One or two caviar sandwiches made with coarse bread, lettuce, cucumbers and a banana with cream; chocolate or tea, as preferred.
Dinner: Meat, fish or eg<^s, toast and butter, spinach, tomatoes, ic(^ cream and tea.
During continuous mental worlc, without exei-cise, the total food for a day n(*ed not woigh ov(m- 10 ounces. A rational liver, however, would tak(* some regular nmscular outdoor exercise, and his mental work woukl beall thebetter for it and mor(* food would th(»n be needed.
A FHAGMKNTAKY PHOVIN(i OF PAPAYA MMJAKIS.
By W. II. Lkoxaki), M. D. (dtK*eas(Hl), Miuneapohs, Minn.
(As near as I can learn this Pajvaya vulgaris is the Carica papaya, or West Indian Paw-paw, from which **Pap)iJ" is prt^pannl \V. E. L.)
Notes (of the daily proving, transcribed from his own hand writing).
Proving of Papaya vulgaris on myself, W. H. L.; age 54 ycvirs. In good health usually; secn^tions natural, except scxinty urine, two thirds the normal amount: bowels inclined to constipation, yet having a stool ea;-h day; disturbed sleep when lying on left side; smoke two cigars daily, one each, after dinner and sui)pei-.
Nov. oO, 1HN(), evening, took i\' droi)sof ()X dilution of P.
Dec. 1. No symptoms. Took r> drops at 7:i]0 a. m. and on retiring at 10 p. m.
Dec. 2. No syn)i)toms. Took ,"> dio;)s at 12 noon and at 10 p. m.
Dae. «]. Repeat dose at 7:o0 a. m. and 12 noon. Peel dull on rising, dull pain in head, stretchy (probably owinj^to
PROVING OF PAPAYA VULGARIS. /D
weather, for I have this feeling frequently in this cloudy weather).
Costive stool in morning, loose stool at night (unusual)
Dose at 10:30 p. m. on retiring. Wake in the night with headache.
Dec. 4. Peel dull in the morning on rising, headache gone.
Dose repeated at 7:30 a. m., 1 p. m. and 10 p. m. Loose stool this morning. No other symptoms.
Dec. o. A restless night; dull on rising, dull headache over left eye extending back to occiput; eructations, taste- less, especially after medicine; head feels better after 8 p. m. ; appetite as usual, good. Took no medicine to day.
Dec. 0. 7th day. * Wake up with headache which con- tinues till 1) a. m., passes while riding to visit patients natural stool this a. m. No m?dicine today.
Dec. 7. ><th day. No head iche, though up part of the
night; some nasal catarrh; hoarseness after 4 p, m. Took
'> drops at bed time. Disposed to stool but refrain till morn- ing.
Dec. •^. 9th day. Had vivid dreams through the night, ^s I have had each night after taking the medicine. Notice ^hat the urine is more profuse since taking P. Very hoarse throuj^h the day (probably from a cold), pain in larynx; otherwise feel well as usual.
Soreness and some pain in molars on left lower mJlxilla (quite unusual). Took five drops at bedtime.
Dec. 9. 10th day. Took no medicine. Cold a little loose; hoarseness about the same, but no pain in the larynx; natural stool; urine increased.
DeL\ 10. 11th day. No medicine. Itching behind right ear. Stool at 1 p. m., also loose stool in evening; urine not so profuse. Dryness of the throat at bed time, with some cough'keeping awake 'till after 11.
Dec. 11. 12th day. No medicine. Cold and hoarseness much better.
Dec. 12. liMh day. Commenced again with 7) drops morn- %, noon and bed time. No symptoms except toothache, not 3s severe as before Costive stool in evening.
76 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Dec. 13. 14th day. Took the three doses as yesterday. Loose stool morning. No other symptoms.
Dec. 14. 15th day. Took four doses to-day. Toothache of left molars, as before. Itching just above the nons veneris for two days, an itching, irritable wheal like a nettle rash; itching on different parts of the body.
Dec. 15. 16th day. Took three doses to-day. Toothache continues.
Dec. 16. 17th day. Took four doses to-day. More itch- ing of skin over different parts of body.
Dec. 17. 18th day. Dose morning and evening. Tooth- ache on left side. Still some itching of skin.
Dec. 18. 19th day. Took no medicine. Stool a. m,, another loose one p. m. More wheals over pubes; itching of skin continues.
Dec. 19. 20th day. On rising in the morning tension in bladder, with desire to urinate (unusual); again at noon, also in the evening. Rheumatism in loft shoulder. No medicine.
Dec. 20. 21st day. Toothache continues much of the time. Itching of right ankle on going to bed, this the third night. Costive stool after dinner (midday.) Rheumatism of shoulder. No medicine.
Dec. 21. 22nd day. Costive stool after dinner. Rheu- matism of shoulder continues, not as severe. Toothache after meals. • No medicine.
Dec. 22. 23rd day. Costive. Itching behind left ear. No medicine.
Dec. 23. 24th day. Dentist found decay in acliing tooth, * the treatment of which mostly relieved the pain. Deltoid of left arm still painful, but better. No medicine.
Dec. 29. 30th day. Still much itching of skin in different parts of the body, especially behind the left ear. Soreness of second toe of left foot, as if corn existed — there has been none for years; symptom present since last record, but grow- ing less. Not as much urine as when first taking P., no stool to-day. No medicine.
Dec. 30. 31st day. Took 4 doses (5 drops) of 6x two hours apart. After second dose, sensation of chilliness
PROVING OF PAPAYA VULGARIS. 77
Easy stool at noon — none for twenty-four hours. More itAh ing behind left ear. Toothache much increased in filled tooth. Fulness of head in evening?. I have noticed at different times after taking P., greater activity, can read or study longer without being tired.
Dec. 31. 32nd day. Three doses to-day. Pain and swelling on ball of right foot, under little toe.
Jan. 2, 1881, 34th day. After taking one dose (5 drops) of Ix. felt a pain in the night through the pubic region, More pain in right foot involving ball and two small toes, with burning heat (feel have not been exposed to cold.) More itching of skin. Take 5 drops of Ix at bed^time.
Jan. 3. 35th day. Passed a wakeful night, first sleep dreamy. Took 5 drops on rising". Before breakfast while reading, fore-finger of each hand felt cold and dead; it took some time to get the blood to circulating by whipping and wringing; right one worse. Evening, after four doses (5 drops): much thirst, desire . cold water but it produces so much pain in decayed (painful) tooth that I cannot take it. Two stools to-day.
Jan. 4. 36th day. Have slept well, rising at seven a. m., (although feel like sleeping another hour). Dull head- ache and much thirst. Take no P. to-day. Evening — head- ache better; still some thirst. Itching over skin continues, especially at wrists. Urine continues more profuse.
Jan. 6. 38th day. Felt pain in left testicle in the night; wakened by it and kept awake some time — nothing similar for years; when it occurred after taking Podophyllum 200. Itching behind ears continues; no eruption. No medicine since Jan. 3rd.
Jan. 13. 43rd day. Have noticed no marked symptoms in this interim, except some itching of the skin; urine, as formerly, rather scanty. This morning an eruption over the right eyebrow with feeling as if there were some foreign substance in the right eye; had it examined, nothing noted except inflammation of the lids; the worst of the feeling passed away with the examination. The eyes were examined at the same time for glasses; marked for No. 14., which
78 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
proved a ^ood fit; I had worn No. 11 for one year, but they were g^etting tiresome.
Jan. 19. 40th day. Commenced again on Ox. taking a dose every two hours through the day. Eruption on right forehead nearly all gone. Urination as it has been for months past, rather scanty. Have noticed more itching of skin, especially about the head. No appetite for supper; much thirst in the evening, had to drink water which I seldom do.
Feb. 'jr). s7th day. Have taken no P. since Jan 19th. The eruption over the right eye has continu(»d since its first appearanc(» ( liJrd day). The irritation of the eyelids also continued so that I have been unable to do much reading or study by artificial light -my rc^ason for stoppfng the proving. The seal]) lias itching, but less dandruff than usual — whirh latter I have besMi much troubled with for years. Stools hav(^ btM'ii more regular and loose. Urine continues more fr(H\ A sick headache returns which troubled me more or less ten years ago. Have taken no medication whatever to antidote^ or relieve symptoms. TIk* P. has evidently awak- en(Hl an old *'i)soric taint", causinl by tlu* suppression of an itch forty years ago.
'My fatlKU^ gradually recovered his usual vigorous health ix^ti'v this experiment, W. E. L.)
ARK WE BECOMING HOMEOPATHIC;
Editor Medical World: —Even in discussing a common cold, you now consider th(* opscmic index. I am glad to see this. In closing th'e senttmce of comments in the Nov. World you say: "More prompt and thorough elimination will probabl ; i)revent the opsonic index from dropping so low, and fai^ilit.ite its restoration." But is not the opsonic index itself the only indication of the real true process ol: elimina- tion? I cannot conceive but that a '^calomel elimination*' will dei>ress the opsonic index to the extent that it taxes the vital forces; and as the brother points out, it may be the means of rendering soluble mass(\s containing toxins, and
ARE WE BECOMING HOMEOPATHIC? 79
thus throw them back upon the real eliminators within the
tissues.
Is there, then, any way to increase the opsonic index* except by the method of its discoverers?
Let us consider the manner in which these *'bacterins" increase the opsonins in the blood. In the active immunity from the use of the **killed" or ^'attenuated'' baeiUus it is explained that the animal cell is made to produce its own protective substance (opsonin). In the passive immunity, as from antitoxin, the protective substance is previously devel- oped in the animal laboratory of the horse. In either case -the production depends upon the vital reaction of animal life. Prof. Goldscheider, of Berlin says:
The nat.iirul pio^obs of healinij^ does exist: th«* ori^arr^^'ii iiosst^-sBO forces unl proi-e-^^es by uu*iin> of which it r^•si.-^t'^ anil niay oveicoine diseM«;e. KKperienc^ !iMrh»,'s tli tL ir. 1-* within our pi)A'e»' ti) fo'-ci up )ri theor^aii>in c* iraLive rea -tions of which it is not of itself cap.ibV* -v sic- tioDr? Ideulic.il with, oi* iiii iina!«'lv rl.iud I) t..o tutural cntMtivo rc.ic tions. H TIC ', tho ino^t natui*a.l th raptnitics. thcsf iiio>t, in cojiforrnitv with nature, consist in ih • use of sp-cilic is ni. dies in the s -n-ie that, tri^.'se ctTi-espond to th»* sul)stinc's pfiKlucMl hy the naiutMl heiliuj^ prfxvs^es, er that t*^ ey c.«nse tte- ])r-o(hiction o;* h'-i;^ ittMi-.l ai'tioncf ihe^e (lefcntive >nbHiances or* ant.i-i) uiies.
Theobald Smith, of Harvard, says that tin* old concv^p- tiod of direct curative action of tuberculin has b(M»u aban- doned, and that the new idea is its "arousin*if the dt'f(Misive action of the body." He says that cattle are in a fair state of equilibrium a*?ainst their bacillus, and that "tlun-e is need- ed but a relatively slij^lit impulse at the ri<^ht place to (\stab- lish a resistance which will promptly suppress the invaders." And goes on to say that the same is true in sou'ic* (h^^rec^ of the normal human bein^.
Now, it appears that each j?erm infection contains a something capable of exciting a reaction, or of inc reasing the natural reaction in direct opiH)sitioa to this ])articular ^erm. The production of opsonins in the blood is only one of the actions of that resistive force. Trudeau says: ''Op- sinins, after all, constitute only one of the active bo lic^s pro- duced in immunity reactions."
And then are there not actions of that life force which
80 . THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
cannot be spoken of in terms of material **bodies"'or **anti- bodies'' ?
Now, in'using the **killed bacteria'' or the **living attenu- ated bacillus" (Th. Smith) we eliminate or reduce the pri- mary "germ action or ii^fection, but retain that power to ex- cite the resistive reaction on the part of nature to a degree of which nature unaided, or prompted only by the primary infection (the active germ), is incapable.
And* islit not equally certain that every drug contains a something, or is in itself capable of exciting a vital reaction in direct opposition to its own primary action? I need only mention the immunity of the opiate fiend to immense doses of that drug, and the well-known necessity to graduallj^ increase the dose of any drug to obtain the same constant action. But this is not the immunity of health, foritlmplies tlie constant forcing of the primary drug action upon the fe^ystem.
Is there no way by which we may, with drugs as we do with germs, eliminate or reduce the primary action and still retain and use the power to excite that resistive reaction of nature?
Is it not reasonable to believe that the attenuated (po- tentized) drug may act the same as the *'attenuated bacillus"?
That the highly attenuated Rhus toxicodendron will cure and produce immunity to poisoning by that plant? I myself can produce the evidence of several scores of cases; and if the history of contact with the plant is not clear, but the symptoms are closely similar, it cures just as promply.
Just recently I saw a babe with cough and rattling of mucus, slight temperature. It did not cry, would not nurse; just in a serai-stupor all the time; pupils contracted. Now, lias the cough syrup, of which they have given a very little, contained unusual quantities of opium. Is this child especi- ally susceptible to a very little of that drug, or are these symptoms due to natural causes? I don't know. But what this child needs now is an increase of the vital resistive re- action in the direction of Ooium symptoms. Nothing in. heaven or earth will bring it about so surely,so nicely, as at-
1
ARE WE BECOMING HOMEOPATHIC? 81
tenuated Opium. I know not whether the opsonic index here would show any change; whether there was anything for opsonins to do; but the clinical index, which even many bacterin therapeutics still claim to be the most reliable, showed prompt improvement after the Opium was given. What does Prof, von Behring say in a recent pamphlet? Iq spite of all scientific specalations and experiments regarding small pox vaccination, Jenner'tj discovery remained a stumbling block in medicine till the bio chepically thinking Pasteur devoted all his medical class room knowledge, traced the origin of this therapeu- tic block to a principle which cannot be better characteriz d than by Hahnemann's word, hom«H)pa!hic. Indeed, what else causes the epidfrnioloyical immunity in sheep vaccinated against anthrax than the iofiuence previously exerted by a virus similar in character to the fatal anthardx virus? anl by what technical term could we more ap- propriately speak of this influence exerted by a similar virus than by Hahnemann's word. Homeoyathy? He also speaks of having deraon- s rated the immunizing action of ray tetanus antitoxin in infinitesimal dilution.
Dr. R. C. Cabot, Dean of Harvard says: The use of tuberculin i^ a f jr^n of vaccination which illustrates better than any example kno-vn to me the approval of homeopathic principles within our school. * * * S irely this is a case of similia similibus <:urantur.
The use of bacterial vaccine- in infectious diseases recently produced by Sir A. E. Wright is distinctly h »raeopathic. But the revival of tuber- culin therapy within the pust t^n years after its abondonment in 1890 illuatrales the victory of anoth^;r hoineopithic doctrine within our school. I mean the doctrine of th t oct;a<'i ri il ur,ility of very minute doses. No one in this country has h id -o m ich experience with tuberculosis as Trudoau, of S iranac Lake. * * * vVn it dose does he useV Not the 10 mi,'. Oiten employed in th • earlv nineties; not even the T mg. or half m;?. recotnrn Winded lat'^ir, b it h L(i is every non-febrile case with one ten ihoiLmmlfk of ft m'j.. and a febrile (;:ise with one one htunlrcd thouH<tM(Uli '>f*imj. What fiKii the do-j 5? P'-*3cis3ly the homeopathic principle, Yiz.: to produc J a d-ijfinit^ g^ » 1 tl -en vithjut any observable ill effect.
Now, here we have the best re^^ular indorsement, not only of similitt similibus curantur^ but of simile simjtlex miniinum. Even the most radical homeopath's shibboleth: "one dose high and wait,'* is carrie i oat to the letter, after experienc- ing the same '^negative phase" or "a^^j^ravation'' which Hahnemann described a hundred years ago.
82 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Trudeau says: In a recent pamphlet put out by the Mulford Co., and in heavy type:
Care sho ikl b i tak^n never to inject after a reaction until all ofTects of the previous reaction have disappeared
And further, the principle of the resistive reaction of the vital force, which Hahnemann so plainly set forth as the foundation stone of Homeopathy, is seen to be the basis of the bacterin therapy.
Verily the medical schools are coming together; but it is not being accomplished by those in the rear of each process- ion: the strong drug-worshipping regular, and his * 'liberal homeopathic" imitator; but it is the advanced guards in each school who are finding common ground. Such men as von Behring, Wrigh, Houchard and Cabot, who have the courage of their convictions, and a host of otliers who have many of them renounced faith in drugs to a large extent, or almost entirely, and are finding the inostnatnnil the ra])ei/ tics in thof^e things which (troupe tJte (tpfcnsicr redcfiou. And on the other hand, those truly advanctnl homeopaths who have stuck close to the basic principle of the vital reaction, and who have been using tuberculin, psorin, variolin, diphtherin and such agents since years before the fame of Koch and Pasteur. Our literature is full of clinical' cases and lectures upon Tu- berculinum, Psorinum, Medorrhinum, Syphilinum, Vario- linum, Diphtherinum, etc., with careful comparisons with other remedies, for there are often other elements in the vital depression, other things to be accomplished than that of opsonizing the germ. In other words, the bacterin is not always the similimum in every phase of the case.
We cheerfully await further developments in this line. It is to be hoped that the method of producing immunity to small-pox will be reformed upon the basis of the recent use of bacterins. Let us have the genuine variola bacterin, **killed" or ''attenuated" as much as possible. We won't ask you to use at once the very highly attenuated remains which we use, if you will only cease to afflict the innocent with the very much alive, active, and dangerous cow-pox virus. Nobody knows what it is. It may be somewhat similar^ but it is not the simUlmum. Dr. A. W. Vincent.
A RHUS RADICANS CASE. 83
[This is a very skillful defense of high potency Home- opathy, but coming down to the very ordinary matter of a common cold, with which the doctor started out, we wish to say that we have concluded that the old-fashioned remedy, **a good dose of castor oil," at the beginning of a cold, is the very best treatment. By theorizing, we wander far from the good old homely truths, and when we get back to them we feel that we are on solid and certain ground again. Cas- tor oil is one of the most prompt and least disturbing elimi- nants. It may raise the opsonic index by ronov'uKj ac- cumulated poison, and that is better than to counteract the poison by arousing systemic resistance. An astonishing statement. Indeed, resistive force is increased by removing the poison that pulls down that force. — Medical World. Ed.]
A RHUS RADICANS CASE.
By W. H. Freeman, M. D., Brooklyn, N. Y.
Dec. 30, 1907. Mr. L. D., age 21. Ailing since a bad ^old contracted five weeks ago.
Pain left chest, knife-like, extending to the right, < ^^Pu coughing and in the day time; > from exertion and ^^^^ taking a deep breath.
•M^uscular soreness in left chest, shoulder and down left ' -^ while exerc\smg. ^ ^^y tickling cough for five weeks, < on changing from in ti ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^ tim3, > from hot room and
. '^^ open air.
'itux^rh with nasal obstruction for several years. l)Q ^^^tipated for about three years; inactivity of the ^ath ^^ ^^ inclination or stool except after taking some oj. p ^^J^o, principally Cascara, Epsom salts, vegetable pills(?) ""^^a^ld tea. ' r,? . ^^ three times a day.
^^IXs from hips downward today. ^^^I>endical pain and tenderness for three years. ^ ^^^e reddish, turbid, strong smelling, burns on pass-
84 TRE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Desire for and relief in cold open air; < in wet weather, during rest and when unoccupied.
Restlessness, > from motion, violent exertion and on getting warmed up.
Last September, had eczema (?) lasting six weeks.
Eruption entire head and face, arms and hands; moist, purulent, scabby, itching and burning. Cured after about one month's treatment with lotions, ointments, etc.
Rhus poisoning on several occasions as a boy. Never had any venereal disease.
Rhus radicans 200 (B. & T.) four powders, one every six hours and follow with placebo.
Jan. 3, 1908. Patient says he felt much better within twelve hours.' The pains were quickly > and the bowels have moved daily since taking the medicine, and urine more natural. The cough is about the same but does not bother him greatly. No more chills and cnly slight pain occasion- ally in region of appendix.
Cases like this with a mixture of chronic and acute symptoms and a history of suppressed eruptions, Rhus poi- soning, abuse of coffee and drugs* are always more or less confusing and difficult to prescribe for. Only by grouping the symptoms according to their etiology and time of exist- ence can we arrive at a proper understanding and able to select the right remedy with which to begin the treatment.
The remedy given was selected because of its similarity to the **generals" of the patient and because it covered his most recent and most troublesome symptoms. It did not seem to fit the cough which is also recent (live weeks) but not as recent or troublesome as the muscular symptoms. The cough is possibly an acute extension of the nasal catarrh and probably deserved to be considered and treated as a distinct entity. The proper thing to do is to continue the patient on placebo as long as he improves, and if necessary give more Rhus for return of Rlius symptoms or another drug for the cough or other symptoms remaining later oa that are not removed by the Rhus.
The morbid influences with which patients become
LACHESIS VERIFICATION. 85
loaded up can only be unloaded from the top downward, one layer at a time, that is, the patient must get well or be cured in the reverse order to that in which he became sick.
Whether there is any difference between Rhus tox, and Rhus radicans is a disputed question. In his article on Rhus radicans (Medical Advance, p. 218, 1906), Dr. Allen claims there is and speaks of the variety radicans or climb- ing ivy as an antipsoric, and a valuable remedy after sup- pressed eruption — which is one reason for its selection in this case. Rhus radicans is very common in the woods of Long Island, and there is much of it near where the patient has lived sinbe childhood.
LACHESIS VERIFICATIO .
By Dr. R. F. Rabe, New York.
Miss E. W., age 22 years. As a child had scarlet fever,
pertussis, measles. Has been subject to bronchial colds.
^eut to school at four years, always bright. Stopped
school at fifteen and went to business, stenographer and
/ typewriter. Began to feel badly in June, tired and run
J down. Went away for two weeks latter part of July and
/ ^^^^ very well; then went back to work. Was reprimanded
' sharply and took this much to heart- It i)reyed upon her
I '^d; she cried much after that whenever her employer
^^fretoher. Lost control of nerves entirely. Trembling
ii2 ^i^en came on beginning in the stomacli and spread-
^ body and limbs. These continue now.
^^J^ing spells, cries as though her heui would break.
t^^tr first these crying spells alternated vith laughing at-
^- Globus hystericus. ^^a]i ^^^^^^ feels too tight, lump in throat • \ she has to
^Q- ^*"^" restless, cannot sit still and yet )o nervous to
^^"^tiing.
^ ^^ Appetite or desire for food, tremblin . ^^^^othering sensation at stomach exten lin :; to throat, ^^dness of feet and legs.
86 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Dreams of death; that she is dead or that some one wants to kill her.
Fears and illusions that some one is in house and trying to harm her.
Sinking sensations as though she were going to die.
Peels > after crying, but crying is difficult and preced ed by much choking and smothering.
General < of nervousness towards evening and at night.
Sleep restless, much tossing.
Dread of being alone, wants family about her.
Menses every 28 days, last seven days, profuse normal- ly so for last six months; previously scanty.
Melancholy preceding menses, wants to be let alone.
During and after menses feels >. Preceding menses tired and dragged.
Pain first day of menses.
Formerly constipated bowels, now normal, since Alum- ina 45m.
Has been losing flesh; last menses during first week in August.
Is thin, tall, timid and looks delicate.
Does not want to go out of house. Gave up work four days ago. Grieves on this account because she is sole sup- port of mother.
Aug. 29, 1907. Ignatia 400 (D.). Placebo every four hours.
Sept. 14, 1907. Nervous symptoms <. Feels languid, < mornings in bed. General soreness all over body as though she had been pounded. This has come on since she has felt > of the nervousness. Sharp sticking pains in throat, not felt when swallowing solids; < liquids or from empty swallowing. Collar feels tight, neck sensitive. Throat congested and inflamed, follicles enlarged. Since nerv- ousness, hair is breaking off and splitting. Lachesia 200 (D.), Placebo every twelve hours.
Oct. 12. Was > at once. Throat now sore, < right side, feels swollen as if collar were too tight. No pain when
LACHESIS VERIFICATIONS. 87
swallowing solids, severe pain on empty swallowing and al- most as bad when swallowing jB^uids. No pain when not swallowing. Lachesis 10m (Sk.) Placebo every twelve hours.
A CANNABIS SATTVA CASE.
B. B,, age 35, male. Sore pain abont the heart. Bruised pain in sides of chest. Dry, hard and racking cough; harts head and racks him all over, < soreness about heart. Slight white expectoration, tinged with yellow^ rawness in chest. Feels as though much mucus were int chest but it cannot be raised. Temp. 101.2 mornings; 102.4^ evenings. Creeping chilliness at night in bed, < motion or moving bed covers. Chilly; can't have house warm enough^ yet feels > in open air.
Has had Bryonia cm-, one dose, without >; given yes terday. Cannabis sat. mm. (Swan), every three hours,three doses.
Jan. 12. Reports immediate > after taking the first dose.
Temp, normal this forenoon. Cough much >; looser and does not rack.
Soreness about heart gone entirely. Chills gone.
This patient had never had gonorrhea either.
For symptoms verified see Allen's Encyclopoedia.
AUKUM MET.
Mrs. R., age 59. Vertigo; falls to left
Head feels full.
While sitting must hold head; < motion; > lying.
Palling to left. Anac. Aur., Bell., Dros., Euphor, Mez.,Nat. c, Nux m., Spig., Spong., Zinc.
Motion <; Aur.
Jan. 10, 1907. Aurum met. 53 m. (P.)
Jan, 27. Was promptly >. No return of trouble since.. No syphilis in this case.
_j
88 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE,
TRANSACTIONS CENTRAL NEW YORK SOCIETY.
Syracuse, N. Y., Vanderbilt House, September 19, 1907.
The Central New York Homeopathic Medical Society was opened by the President, C. E. AUiaume, of Utica, N. Y.. at 2:30 P. M.
Members present: Drs. Alliaume, Bidwell, PoUette, Fritz, Grant, Graham, Hermance, Johnson, Keese, Leggett.
Visitors: Lewis C- MerrelL
Be.cause of the lateness of the hour and a previous ar- rangement with -Mr. Merrell it was decided that the first order of business should be to listen to his report upon some of his experiments and successes with the dry milk products.
Mr. Merrell was intfroduced as the grandson of the late Dr. Stephen Seward, than whom the Central Society had no more staunch supporter, nor the Homeopathy of Hahnemann a more earnest student.
Mr. Merrell advanced the following facts upon
SOME NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THE PREPARATION
OF WHEY.
The value of whey for infant and bedside feeding has long been recognized. The constituents which it contains and their proportions make it in many ways an ideal food product.
A sample of fresh whey which I have examined is of the following composition:
Fat .02
Proteid ., 89
Milk Sugar 4.67
Ash .61
Water 93.81
There is only about six per cent of solids and it is evi- dent that the water content of whey is so great as to require the ingestion of a large amount of liquid to secure complete nourishment from whey alone.
THE PREPARATION OF WHEY. 89
Upon examining the solids of the sample given above I find it composed as follows:
Fat 27
Soluble lact-albumen. 14.25
Milk Sugar 74.45
Ash 9.80
Tlie ratio between the proteids and the carbohydrates is about one to five and one-quarter — very much higher than inmost food materials. The proteids consist entirely of soluble lact-albumen and the carbohydrates consist entirely of milk sugar so that both proteidi3 and carbohydrates are one hundred per cent, assimilable. The ash is the normal ash of milk which is as we know, suitable for the bones and teeth of the growing child.
Whey is evidently a very valuable food material but too watery, and it would be very desirable to eliminate a part at least of its water content if this can be done without in- juring the delicate organic materials of which whey is com- posed.
It is practically impossible to procure good whey from a cheese factory. Anyone who has seen or smelled the whey barrel at a cheese factory will admit at once that whey considered as a waste product of cheese-making is not suit- able for, let us say, infant feeding. The cheese- maker's process is operated with the idea of producing acidity and the growth of certain forms of bacteria which are useful in ripening the cheese curd. The milk is as a rule handled less carefully than that used for domestic consumption or for making butter or condensed milk, for the cheese-maker can add a culture of lactic bateria (commonly called **start- er") and induce a vigorous growth of lactic bacteria which will kill off any other germ life which the milk may contain.
It is practically impossible to manufacture a whey of uniform quality in the household for the reason that the de- gree of temperature at which the curd is produced must be accurately determined or else a complete separation of the curd is not effected. Particles of coagulated curd seriously impair the value of whey as a food. The whey must also
^0 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
be pastenrized at a temperature of 150 degrees P. to render inactive any rennet which may remain in it. If, how- ever, the temperature exceeds 155 a considerable por- tion of the albumen is rendered insoluble. Such delicate adjustment of temperature is not possible with the thermom- eter found in the average househoid. More than this, whey deteriorates so rapidly and has to be prepared anew so fre- quently that the average housewife will not trouble with it even if she has the necessary skill.
In spite of the many advantages which whey possesses, it is not used because it is so difficult to obtain or prepare. The wider use of whey feeding depends upon the develop- ment of the process by mean^ of which whey of uniform comi>osition may be prepared in the laboratory by experts and then preserved in a permanent manner without loss of quality.
Such a process has been devised, and a preserved whey IS now baing produced commercially. If it retain all the beneficial qualities of whey it will mark a distinct advance in the facilities which the physician at present enjoys for the modification of milk and cream for infant feeding.
Some description of this process may prove of interest. Sweet whole milk selected for freshness and quality is sub- jected to the action of rennet. The whey is separated from the ,curd as expeditiously as possible to avoid the develop- ment of acidity. The whty is then pasteurized just above 150^ P. to destroy any rennet remaining which might otherwise act upon milk or cream with which the whey might subsequently be mixed. The whey is then con- densed in vacuo at a temperature below 135^ P. to about one fourth of its original bulk. The concentrated whey is then desiccated by projecting it in the form of a fine spray into a ■current of hot, dry air. The liquid particles are deprived of their moisture immediately and fall like powdery snow.
The efficiency of this drying is best understood when I say that I have produced materials containing, less than half of one per cent, of moisture, Pive per cent, is the least amount .of moisture found in materials dried by any other
THE PREPAEATION OP WHEY. 91
process with which I am familiar, and ten to fourteen per cent is not uncommon. The keeping quality of dried organ- ic matter depends largely oxl its moisture content, and I am in a position to say that materials of this nature do not keep well if the moisture content runs much above three and one half per cent.
Chemical change is inhibited by this extreme dryness, aad I can say from personal observation that such powders (hermetically sealed) may be exposed to any temperature below the point of combustion without injury. Albumen dried in this way is not coagulated by a temperature of 212^ P., and I should deduce from this fact that the presence of water in certain quantity is essential to coagulate albumen by heat.
To illustrate the delicacy with which this process will remove moisture from organic matter without injury, I will say that I have dried such materials as yeast, diastase, pep- sin and certain forms of beneficial bacteria to less than two per cent, moisture content, without impairing their strength, preserving them for two years or more hermetically sealed, and find them unimpaired in vitality on adding water. This extreme dryness can therefore be produced without injuring the most delicate organic substances, and is effective in pre- serving them from deterioration.
Strange to say the current of drying air into which the sprayed material is proiected may be very high in tempera- ture—say 300^ P. — without injuring the solubility or life of the most delicate substances, that is to say without even producing pasteurization. This at first glance would seem to be absurd. I will describe how this **air boiling" may be done.
In the first place let me say that I have selected the term **air boiling" to distinguish this process from those in which the liquid is boiled by contact with heated metal. This process boils or evaporates the liquid by contact with heated air. If a liquid is boiled in a kettle the steam has no way of escape except upward through the liquid. Can you imagine what would happen if each particle of vaporous
92 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
steam were greedily absorbed by the metal of the kettle as soon as formed?
If a tiny drop of liquid is suspended in heated air w^hat happens? Evaporation proceeds on all sides of the little sphere, drawing heat from the center of the particle. On ac- count of its spherical form the particle is really being cooled by the rapid evaporation of its moisture. Logically, the hotter the air current the more rapid the evaporation of the moisture and the greater the cooling effect on the remaining tiny mass of solids.
Of course the air current itself is cooled somewhat by the evaporation in which it takes part and provided the temperature of the air is produced below the point of com- bustion, no harm results from this temporary ordeal in the fiery furnace, and a state of dryness is produced which pro- tects and preserves the tiny particles of material.
The solids of fresh whey evaporated by this process appear under the microscope as amorphous semi-transpa- rent quartz-like masses. The powder is instantly soluble in water, hot or cold, and nothing settles out of solution. In fact, upon examination, the fluid cannot be distinguished from fresh whey chemically or microscopically.
The process lends itself with equal facility toward pro- ducing powders from fresh eggs, milk and cream. This ^gg powder is at present being used in place of fresh eggs to make omelette and scrambled eggs for officers and crew on one of the largest United States warships. The powder made from whole milk has been used for some time by one of the largest Soldier's Homes in the United States, to re- store with water and serve as fresh milk for drinking pur- poses for the veterans, and the oflicer in charge prefers it to the local fresh milk supply which is of questionable origin.
The hew whey powder is a very much more desirable material for the modification of milk and cream than milk sugar or cereals. It possesses bone forming material and lact-albumen, neither of which can be obtained in any other form so desirable.
THE PREPARATION OF WHEY. 93
It is well known that fresh whey possesses the power ofproducmg an extremely fine coagulum when digested with milk or cream. Nothing else will produce equal re- sults unless perhaps barley water. This power is retained in the whey i)Owder. It is unnecessary therefore to add lime water to whey modifications as is customary when milk sugar is used. There is plenty of lime in the ash of the whey for the needs of bones and teeth.
It has been suggested to me that a large proportion of the digestive troubles of young infants are caused directly or indirectly by difficult or deferred cutting of the teeth. If this should prove to be the ceise the use of a whey powder containing nearly ten per cent, of ash might prove of great value. There certainly is no longer any excuse for rickety children when such material is easy obtainable.
Probably the best method of preparing whey is to use it with water in modifying cream. The cream is low in casein, sugar and ash but high in fat. The whey is low in fat but high in ash, sugar and albumen which the cream lacks. The removal of water from the whey makes the arrange- ment of percentages comparatively easy and the number of modifications is practically infinite.
As an example of what can be done in the way of cream modification, I submit a formula for a child four months of age:
Two and one-half oz. 20 per cent cream, 1 oz. whey powder, Hi oz. water:
Pat 3.40
Proteid 1.50
Sugar 5.70
Ash .... .72
Water .^....88.68
It is interesting to note the high ash, which it is ordin- arily impossible to obtain in combination with low proteid. Compare this with Richmond's figures on the composition of cows* milk:
Pat 3.90
Proteid 3.40
94 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Sugar 4,75
Ash .75
Water 87.10
The modification shows about the same fat. percentage as cows' milk and the same percentage of ash but the proteid is reduced to less than half while the sugar is increased by a fifth.
If instead of whey powder milk sugar were used, the formula would have the following composition:
Two and one-half oz. 20 per cent cream, 1 oz. milk sugar. Hi oz. water.
Pat 3.39
Proteid .54
Sugar.. 7.42
'5^ Ash 09
Water 88.56
The fat is approximately the same as in the whey- cream mixture. The proteid is reduced to half of one per cent. The ash is only ten hundredths sis compared with seven- two hundredths in the whey-cream mixture. The deficiency of bone. forming material in the milk sugar mixture is at once apparent, being only one eighth of the proper amount.
Soldner deduces the following composition as most probable for the salts existing in milk:
Per cent
Sodium chloride,. 10.62
Potassium chloride, 9.16
Mono-potassium phosphate, . . 12.77 Di-potassium phosphate, ...... 9.22
. . _ Potassium citrate 5.47
''^r^ Di-magnesium phosphate. . • . . 3.71
Magnesium citrate, 4.05
Di-calcium phosphate, 7.42
Tri-calcium phosphate, 8.90
Calcium citrate, 23.55
Lime combined with proteids. . 5.13
100.00
THE PREPARATION OP WHEY. 95
Of course the ash of whey Is slightly different from the ^ash of milk for some of the phosphoric acid is derived from the phosphorus of the casein, but for ordinary purposes the table as given above is correct.
According to Leads the ash content of various foods is -as follows:
Robinson's Prepared Barley 1.93
Ridge's Pood 0.60
Nestle'sPood 1.70
Anglo Swiss Condensed Milk. .2.02
Malted Milk 3.13
Mellin's Pood 3.75
Imperial Granum 0.39
It will be readily seen that none of these materials can <xnnpare as regards mineral constituents with the nearly 10 per cent of ash in whey powder.
In the above foods the ratio between the proteids and corbohydrates is as follows:
Robinson's Prepared Barley. 1 to. 16
Ridge's Pood 1 to 9
Nestle's Pood 1 to 15
Anglo Swiss Condensed Milk 1 to 7i
Malted Milk.... 1 to 5
Mellin's Pood 1 to 7
Imperial Granum 1 to 5i
The ratio between the proteids and carbohydrates in whey powder is 1 to 5i. There are only two prepared foods therefore that compare with it at all in food value. Of these we find Malted Milk and Imperial Granum of the following <XHnposition as compared with whey powder.
MALTED MILK. IMPERIAL GRANUM. WHEY POWDER.
Moisture.. ... 2.18 Moisture 8.38 Moisture ' 1.20
Pats 5.30 Pats 1.40 Pats .27
Proteids 15.83 Proteids 14.13 Proteids 14.25
<2Bu*ohydrates72.56 Carbohydrates77.91 Carbohydrates. 74. 45
Ash 3.13 Ash .39 Ash 9.80
Prom this table it will be seen that the whey powder is ^ better food for adults and invalids than either of the other
96 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
materials given in the table, for the reason that ail of its^ proteid is soluble lact albumen, and all of its carbohydratea is soluble milk sugar. The amount of fat in either of the other materials is less than half of 1 per cent, when dis- solved. This is about as close as a centrifugal separator will skim milk, so that for food purposes the fat content of the three materials is so small that it should be disregarded.
L. C. Merrell.
Mr, Merrill was willing to answer all inquiries concern- ing the process and results of treatment, by his methods, of the various products exhibited, not the least interesting of which was a dry powder of the ripe raspberry.
Adjourned for luncheon.
The meeting was again called to order at 2:40 P. M,
The minutes of the June meeting were approved un- read.
Dr. Keese read sections 34 to 47 of the Organon, and confessed himself unable to present any new thoughts upon so vast a subject through his short experience in the prac- tice of Homeopathy.
Dr. Johnson mentioned a case of diphtheria occurring^ during a case of measles, resulting in death of the patient.
Dr. AUiaume mentioned a peculiar sequence of epidemic disease, observed in Utica, and confirmed as prevalent in other cities, i. e., measles, scarlet fever, and finally diph- theria. He also said that seven cases of scarlatina anginosa iQ the same city, treated with antitoxin through false diag- nosis, had died, while other cases, properly treated, had re- covered.
All agreed that the Klebs Loefler bacillus was not sure- ly diagnostic of diphtheria.
Dr. Leggett recalled the meeting of a woman who had been ivy poisoned and recovered, but had not been troubled with a chronic rheumatism since the attack of Rhus.
A patient of hers had told her of a chronic sore throat relieved for several years after scarlet fever.
Another patient of hers having an epithelioma upon the right lower eyelid had an attack of erysipelas which com-
k
A PECULIAR CASE. 97
pletely removed the epithelioma for some time, but the orig- inal condition after a time returned.
Dr. Fritz had personally suffered from otitis media at ihe age of seven, which no specialist of several benefitted, bat which yielded to an attaek of small pox which he con- tracted at 10 years of age.
Dr. Alliaume, while in Mexico, saw many cases of oph- tlialinia as result of small pox, and many blind as a result of small pox engrafted upon syphilis.
A PECULIAR CASE. TYPH0I1)(?)
By William M. Pollette, M. D., Seneca Palls, N. Y.
Mr. H., 19 years of age, tall and thin, sanguine temper- ament, had not been feeling well for two weeks. On May 31st at midnight had a severe chill lasting several hours, followed in a short time by a temperature of 104. The fol- lowing morning, June 1st., temperature 104.
Symptoms — Dull pain in right leg, dull pain in back of head, dull pain in eyes, dull pain in middle of back, gurgling in right illeo-cecal region, great thirst for large quantities of cold water, no desire to move, keeps perfectly quiet, pro- fase perspiration at night, sleeps soundly nights. No de- lirium. Bryonia, 4x, 2m.
The above symptoms continued until June 8th; had a chilly feeling in back in afternoon, lasting about 15 minutes.
Symptoms as above mentioned, but on June 9th, three in the afternoon, felt a slight chill in back.
June 13, 10 a. m., a slight chilly feeling in back.
June 16, 11 a. m., a slight chilly feeling in back.
June 17, symptoms still as above mentioned, but has a pain in right leg and in knee, and a slight chill in back, 3:30 p. m.
June 19, pain in left knee has disappeared, but great pain in left arm and shoulder, impossible to move so painful.
June 26, pain in arm and shoulder (left). All above symptoms have disappeared since June 24th., but still has the thirst, great and profuse night sweats, or when even falling asleep; chill is slight at 3:30 p. m., in back.
88 THE MEDlCALr ADVANCE.
June 26 to July 11, fever of a malarial type; monxing' temperature normal, evening temperature 102 and 103; great thirst; profuse night sweats; lies i)erfectly quiet, don't want to move; sleeps soundly during the night, no delirium. Bry- onia 6, three hours.
July 20, complained of a pain in region of appendix, na bloating, no fever. As patient had been convalescent since July 11, think possibly pain due to over feeding. Gave Nux 6x. During the night passed a small quantity of bloody urine. China 6.
July 21, an uncomfortable night, nausea and pain in re- gion of appendix. Think I can detect a mass of fecal mat- ter in ascending colon. Temp, normal. Nux 200.
July 22, temp. 102 in forenoon. Symptoms same, does not pass gas.
July 23, temp. 103 in forenoon. Bowels feel sore. Pa- tient nervous, discouraged. No stool. Feet cold and clamr my. Gave high enema of oil. Nux 6.
July 23, temp. 103^. Gave high oil enema, tablespoon- ful of olive oil per orem.
July 24, morning temp. 102. Had a restless night. Massage abdomen gently. Complained of the pain and shortly had a convulsion. Slept an hour in the afternoon. Passed a large and very offensive stool.
July 25, temp. 102 in morning. During the night sev- eral large and offensive stools, and one during the morning.
July 26, temp, normal. Bowels moved natural since.
With the exception of China for a few days during the latter part of the patient's illness was under Bryonia in va- rious potencies, 3 to 200. I am of the opinion, as expressed by the society, that the remedy was not the true similimum.
There was something in the case that I failed to grasp — failed to observe, or was it faulty examination, for I realize that if the true remedy had been given several weeks of suf- fering would have been prevented.
I failed to mention the patient was constipated all through the illness. No diarrhea.
I doubt if this case will be very interesting, except for criticism. You can commit to the waste basket, or if you publish, a good name would be *'A Successful Blunder.'*
William M. Follette, M. D.
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100 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE,
DISCUSSION.
Dr. Grant considered that the case simply recovered; that the medication had little or no effect. This was con- ceded by all.
Dr. Johnson had had a similar case with profuse sweat in sleep; temp. 105, without variation for days, as a result of 'concussion of the spine.
Dr. Alliaume thought it more closely resembled a case in which a pus pocket and adhesions might have been found.
AM UNEXPECTED PROVING OF COCA.
By S. L. Guild-Leggett, M. D., Syracuse.
On Thursday, July 13th, having suffered sometime with a cousciousness of the heart, intermittent pulse, breathless- ness on fatigue, etc., I asked Dr. Follette to examine the conditions. He did so. I told him my objection to taking Lachesis, which had been suggested, when there were no leading indications, etc. I also mentioned a case of tachy- cardia, with no discoverable heart lesion, for which a con- sultant had prescribed Lachesis 30, which very quickly ended the patient's life. Afterwards a study of the medi- cine. Coca erythoxylon, had convinced me that Coca would have relieved the tachycardia, even though it was her third attack. She was not under my observation in the first two attacks.
After discussion Dr. Follette said he had the remedy in 2nd centes. potency made by himself, and as I desired to take a low potency to > the condition until something better was found, we decided upon a few pellets three times a day, which I took before meals.
I had felt sharp pain, not very hard nor frequent, short lasting, at the apex for some time.
After the first dose of Coca 2c there were little darting, shooting pains in various parts of left chest that always seemed connected with the heart.
After second dose but little of the shooting pain.
Continued the Coca with gradual improvement until the
I
AN UNEXPECTED PROVING OF COCA. 1^1
sensations were much > and I had once counted 85 and once 121 between intermissions, and then stopped the medication,
After two or three days of no medicine, on July 25th, I waked and found some interference with vision which soon resolved itself into running zig-zag lines of light, crossing the entire upper third of right eye and about two- thirds of the left eye, flashing between myself and the page or any- thing looked at, and lasting for an hour or more. Headache accompanied the phenomenon, especially of the left parietes, the headache lasting most of the day. Am unable to recall whether Coca had been taken the 24th, and no record was made further than to note the relief given. The eyes were much congested, looking and feeling like an attack of con- junctivitis, which soon passed away leaving a swollen sen- sation in the eyelids, some itching, and an eczema at inner canthi of left eye. A slight agitation of the heart led me to take a dose, it may be two, of Coca 2c.
July 26th. There had been a gradual increase of inter- mittance through) the day of the 25th, so took three doses of Coca 2c followed by an increase of pains, slight, shooting, quickly over, at various points, especially the apex; pains seemed < by respiration; deep breath; were irregular. The intermission was frequent and irregular. There was a sense of fulbess in left chest, sense of severe fatigue as if had held the breath too long; sense of hypostasis; there was a constant eructation of tasteless, odorless gas, often involun- tary—the air would just bubble up into the throat — at times the eructation was with effort for relief.
July 27th, Took trolley to Skaneateles for dinner,must walk carefully, carry self strictly, some motions hurt left chest. The symptoms of the 26th were more pronounced; there were frequent involuntary sighs with a moan; exces- sive fatigue; constant realization of the presence of a heart.
July 28th. Fewer pains, some sense of tumult in chest, some intermission < after exercise. Recalled the fact that on the 26th had had an hour or so of coryza of the left nos- tril, sour eructations. I soon became interested and jotted do^n the sensations. I should hardly call the sensation a
102 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
palpitation, it was rather a tumultuous sensation in the left chest, which when I gave attention and put finger to pulse, showed frequent irregular intermission. This, in lesser de- gree, I had before experienced.
DISCUSSION.
Dr. Pollette said that he had verified the proving by comparing with the original.
Dr. Alliaume had made an involuntary proving of Coca once, in college, when it was recommended by a professor for his cold. He continued it sometime and remembered distinctly th^ **furiou8 vertigo" from which he suffered.
Dr. Keese had had two cases of severe vertigo brought about by drinkers of Cocoa.
FERRUM SULPHURICUM.
By S. L. Guild-Leggett, M. D., H. M.
C. D., a patient of many years' standing, during my ab- sence from the city in 19—, suffered an attack of what was at the time pronovnced Asiatic Cholera, and which was cured by the homeopathic similimum, Secale.
The attack followed a business trip to Ithaca during the period of infection of that city and the epidemic of typhoid. He made inquiries and supposed his stay of two weeks was in a region outside of the infected district, but found after- ward that he was mistaken. Two weeks after his return home he was taken with a profuse watery diarrhea, accom- panied by coldness, blueness, cramps in the calves, and ut- ter exhaustion. An attempt to > the symptoms with heat applied was agonizing, and he suffocated so that it was ne- cessary to desist. The physician in charge gave Secale, and he slowly recovered, but was feeble for a long time. The account of his sickness shows that he was very near to death's door.
Upon a visit in the family during the spring of 1907, his wife, a strong homeopath and a pretty good prescriber her- self, said to me, **is it not a shame that my husband must look to Allopathy to cure him of these attacks of diarrhea,
FERRUM SULPHTJRICUM. 103
i^i^^h from the slightest error of diet, completely prostrate,
^^rupt his work and frighten me terribly/'
f^v 1 replied that * 'as I had had no chance to prescribe I
Vfc?^ not tell, but I did not doubt there was a homeopathic
i^edy for his case if it could be found, and if I were given
1 uV^ symptoms I would make the search, but would not sug-
} gest."
■ I was told the various remedies that had been taken,
prescribed both by the doctor and himself, without effect. He came into the room and reluctantly gave the following symptoms, saying that he *'had resolved to hereafter depend upon blackberry cordial which relieved, but that nothing prevented the recurrence of attacks under certain circum- stances/'
There were no other symptoms than: • Stools: watery, odorless, profuse, painless, daytimes only, with rapid exhaustion and emaciation.
The diarrhea was brought on by eating meat, potato, chicken, fresh or .shell fish. His diet was confined to the simplest foods, toast, cereals, etc.
A study of the various medicines having the several indications mentioned above showed me that Ferrum sul. had watery, odorless, painless stools, with emaciation and <iV€mon to meat.
On May 17th, 1907, I sent him a graft, he knew how to prepare, telling him to take a dose, and to repeat, after an attack.
On August 29th., he reported, no further attacks. In *^^ meantime I had prescribed Nux cm. (H. S.) for a severe bronchial cold, which, at the time, I had feared might inter- |.upt the action of Perrum sul. but which seemed not to have done so.*
DISCUSSION.
Dr. AUiaume thought all had to fight the tendency to group remedies to the name of a disease, and called atten- tion to the infinitely better way to search for indications.
*Have since been told that the patient now can eat everything but Iruil and is better than for years. H j had but three doses of Ferrumsul
104 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
A STUDY OF LTCOPODIUM.
By Walter W. Johnson M. D., Rochester.
No drug in the homeopathic pharmacopea so well illus- trates the biblical figure of the stone rejected by the builders becoming the corner stone of the temple, as Lycopodium. For while it may not be the corner stone remedy, it is at least so useful that a homeopath would be at his wits ends to tind a substitute.
By the genius of Samuel Hahnemann it was elevated from the **damp bottoms" of arising generation to an import- ant place in the homeopathic materia medica.
Lycopodium is the spores of the club moss. If you examine this moss you will find the spores like an impalpable dust clinging to the under side of the leaves. The spores are spherical and hollow, the envelope composed of a dense, tough, fibrous tissue, and the interior is filled with a volatile oil which has a peculiar odor, and which is irritating to the skin wherever broken.
It was the poisonous effect of the Lycopodium when used as a dusting powder in certain isolated cases that attracted Hahnemann's attention, and caused him to prepare and prove it. The proving was very thorough, and was made by Hahn- emann and seven or eight of his followers, and has since been verified and amplified by a number of others.
Lycopodium is mainly indicated in those persons whose mental development is greater than the muscular. This is particularly noticeable in children.
The main predisposition is to liver and lung troubles In the liver troubles the whole digestive tract is disturbed. The tongue is coated, there is a sour or putrid taste in the morning. There is also canine hunger, but a few mouthf uls fills him up. This symptom in the Lycopodium patient is not caused by the fermentation of food in the stomach, but is frequently caused by the unconscious swallowing of air with the food. It will be noticed that the fullness immedi- ate/?/follows the eating, while in Nux it takes place some hours after. This is one of the keynotes of Lycopodium.
LYCOPOCIUM. 105
There is discomfort to any pressure of clothing about *^^^ ^^aist at this time, differing from Lachesis, which has ^"^ discomfort all the time. The Lycopodium flatulence ^^^<is upward.
There is a great deal of fermentation in the bowel with
'^^harge of great quantities of flatus which may be accom-
^^^ied by diarrhea, but the general condition of the Lyco-
^iucQ case is constipated with the sensation as though a
^t quantity remained in the rectum. I The varices of Lycopodium are large in the rectum, *%vv\; the genitals and varicose veins of the legs, especially tVe right.
In the throat we have a diphtheria beginning on the right side and spreading to the left. The nose also is al- ways affected in diphtheria so that breathing is difficult. There is constant desire to swallow almost like a spasm with sticking pains, > by warm drinks,
Do not forget Lycopodium in the red sand in .the urine symptom; children wake up crying and this red sand ap- pears in the urine. Lycopodium clears up such cases at once.
In the proving it has seemed not to have had much in- fluence on the blood, but in its clinical uses it works won ders. In typhoid conditions it is phenomenal, and is most likely to be indicated late in the case. In various livpr dis- turbances it has a wonderful sphere.
A case illustrative of the latter condition was relieved entirely. It was a woman, large, strong, jaundiced, who had been from one specialist to another, and all advised an operation, probably expecting gall stones. She came to me, the symptoms indicated Lycopodium. She may have re ceived six or seven doses, when she was apparently cured. Seven or eight years later she died of cancer, but not under my care.
DISCUSSION.
Dr. Alliaume mentions the record of Hering which states that Lycopodium should not be used in the beginning of treatment in chronic disease; he questioned the correct*
106 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
aess of that view. [Unless undoubtedly indicated the treat- ment of chronic diseases sholild not be commenced with Lycopodium; it is better to give first another antipsoric rem- edy.— Herhuf. This observation of Hering has been so often clinically verified — twice in this report — that it will stand i'he test of time. If undoubtedly indicated no other should be J^hought of. Ed.]
Dr. Grant believed that Lycopodium was prominently useful in the later stages of chronic disease, and less often in the earlier stages, but he believed most thoroughly in using Lycopodium whenever it was indicated, be it first or last. He verified the symptoms of Lycopodium in two re- markable cases which had been placed before the profes- sion, one through the I. H. A., and the other through the State Society.
LYCOPODIUM IN TUMOR. (Maliguant?)
: By Wm. M. Follette, M. D.
Jan. 1, 1906. Mrs. F. M. B., about 70. Tall, large bones, grey eyes, brown hair.
Family history: Father died of consumption. Mother* died of consumption. Sisters; three, died of consumption. Brothers, one died of consumption; one of some brain trouble; one of peritonitis.
Personal: Never has been in good health. Had typhoid fever 35 years ago. Erysipelas of face affected eye sight. Good deal of muscular rheumatism.
Present: One year ago had a growth removed from ramus of jaw, left side, larger than a goose egg. Operation done at St. Mary's Hospital, Rochester. Said by patholo- gist to be sarcoma. Consults me in regard to three tumors in axilla of left arm. Over each tumor skin is red and ad- heres to the growth. Pain of an itching, stinging, like a bee sting. Has to hold arm away from side as tumor is painful to pressure.
Stomach: Sickness, nausea at all times.
LYCOPODIUM N TUMOR. 107
Bowels: Irregular; desire for stool, often during the day.
Appetite: None, considerable thirst. Has a gone sen- sation at pit of stomach mornings. Head: Aches, vertex nights. Vertigo: When lying down and on rising. Limbs: Dull, heavy ache which comes and goes. General: Every other day < in the afternoon. Sul- phur 200, one dose.
Jan. 16. Feels better generally, but am very sore. Sul- phur "200, one dose.
Jan. 27, Thinks she feels a good deal >. Pain under arm less. Placebo.
Feb. 17th. Is better in ever3^ way. Tumor under arm growing smaller. Feels cold every p. m. about 4 o'clock, lasts-two or three hours.
Vertigo on rising in the morning, also first lying down at night. ^
Headache on vertex, dull and heavy at night. Lycopo- dium 1 m, one dose.
March 13th. Much better in every way. Tumors under arm about gone. Complains of gas in abdomen. Heart pal- pitates in afternoon. Lycopodium cm., one dose.
April 12th. Bloats in stomach as soon as she takes a
mouthful of food; full feeling. Has a sore spot below heart.
Dull, heavy feeling in occiput. Lycopodium cm., one dose.
May 26th. Better in every way. Gas very little.
Slight headache on vertex, night. Placebo.
At the present time this patient is in good health.
DISCUSSION.
Dr. Follette had questioned the malignancy of tumor. Dr. Johnson believes the condition of Dr, Follette's patient to have been malignant.
108 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
LYCOPODIUM IN RECURRENT APPENDICITIS.
By S. L. Guild-Leggett, M. D.. Syracuse.
April 24, 1905, H. K. P., 39 years, single, a farmer, dark skin, eyes and hair, recbmmended by his cousin, came to me with the following conditions and symptoms.
Three years previously had suffered an attack of appen- dicitis. The attack occurred ^during his year of school teaching, and followed a walk of two miles in a heavy snow the week previous. He was in bed ten days, and out of school a month. He thought the attack attributable to strain.
He had been constipated his entire life, taking cathartics of various kinds. He had had two attacks of grippe, suc- cessive years, lasting three weeks each. An attack of measles at twenty-one, was very severe, but without^equelle.
Since first attack of appendicitis he had had frequent threatenings of return, and was told by both physicians and surgeons that there was no help except through operation. He had discussed the question with several, and all had pro- nounced it recurrent appendicitis, and had given the same prognosis.
Since first attack, constant soreness in region of cecum, weakness of abdomen, much < after catharsis. This sore- ness was worse from over exertion, and would sometimes increase without cause.
Abdominal and sacral pains were < from lying, and his sleep was best on the right side.
The stomach, always weak, was tender to pressure, eat- ing was followed by relief for an hour, and if he had eaten a food causing distress, it would come after that time. The distress was described as a weakness and faintness. The foods disagreeing were, sweets, fat, soups, bread and milk, any liquid food, cabbage, turnip. The foods that agreed were dry; eggs, potatoes, meat, cereal, sweet apples, etc. The latter somewhat > constipation. He ate well, with appetite, but food gave no strength. Drank at least two quarts of water, no tea or coffee.
LYCOPODIUM , TN RECURRENT APPENDICITIS. 109
Flatulence, abdominal, considerable, with distension, < at night, gas not passed freely. Urine, two quarts, varying in color, rose once or twice in the night.
Mornings; after one-half hour began to feel weak, tired, unrefreshing, < by breakfast.
Afternoons; after some hours of work strength increased, could work mora and battar, was > by exercise, if was care- ful not to do too much.
Since appendicitis he had been cold, rarely too warm, in ^un, or hot weather, and had cold, moist hands and feet.
The constipation almost seemed to him, **to be rectal", there was no expulsive power for stool which was hard and dry. .
The abdomen and self were both < if a day passed with- out stool, but if two or three days passed without stool he was sick all over. He was better in the open air.
The > from continued motion; lying on painful side; in open air, included Ambr., Bry.y Carbo v., Caust., Kali, Lye, PtJLS., Rhus, Sep., SiL.
Disposition to sprains: Bry., Carbo v., Lye, Rhus,
Coldness > by warmth: Bry,^ Carbo v.. Lye, Rhus.
Soreness in illeo-cecal region: Bry., Lye, Rhus.
Great general weakness: Rhus.
The coldness, great relief of debility from motion long continued, and the possible sprain, probably influenced the prescription of Rhus, although I filled pages with compari- sons of remedies from every aspect of the case I could find.
On April 23, 1905, he was sanb one dose of Rhus tox cm.
May 8, 1905, reported that by eating much fruit, taking suppositories, and placebo he had managed to keep bowels open, but that they were neither regular nor active. For a week the condition had been quite serious! Worked moderate- ly, had cold, sore throat ani cough. Five years previous was laid up with rheumatism of right shoulder. Had often handled poison ivy without effect.
Continuing the study of the three prominent remedies, Bry., Lye, and Rhus., Lye seemed best to include the rheu-
110 TRE MEDICAL. ADVANCE.
matism of the right shoulder, or such a tendency, and Lye, 6 m. (J) was sent.
June 12, 1905, reported that for nearly two weeks he had had a regular daily stool, which was described as more normal. He was much better of the soreness and tender- Qess in the region of the cecum, and much encouraged. Placebo.
July 4, 1905, no medicine in two weeks, still quite well, careful of food attending to Equality" instead of quantity. Stool daily, with one or two exceptions. Stomach seemed stronger, thought side better, could work with less suffering and tenderness. Placebo.
Jan. 2. 1906. Less well, out of doors less, less exercise, felt the cold. For three or four weeks increased sofeness in side, overwork before <. More inclined to constipation though usually a daily stool. Stomach again weak, sensitive to touch. Lye. cm. (F.).
Never a dose of medicine since, but reports from his cousins and various accquaintances, some of whom he recom- mends to my care, say that he is well and remains well.
Now the case (ts reported was more strongly representa- tive of Rhus than of Lycopodium and nothing but the closest comparison of remedies could decide the homeopathicity. The abscence of the usual belching, distension from eating, and during eating, also the apparent lack of uric acid deposit, which belongs to the ''red string" of Lycoix)dium as well as the relief from eating, (continued motion), poldness, the re- gion affected, all pointed to Rhus, even though comparison, after minute study of every symptom, showed that in:
NUMBER. STRENGTH.
Lycoix)dium 11 14
Pulsatilla 10 16
Rhus 8 10
Bryonia 10 11
My patient lived in a small village some distance away, and I had to depend upon the symptoms gathered at the first examination so solve the problem. The old rule, *'the remedy covering the greatest number of symptoms," irre- spective of key-notes, cured the patient.
THE NECESSITY FOR ORIGINAL WORK. Ill
DISCUSSION.
Dr, Grant desired to say that he thought the 6m (J.) of Lycopodium a^ wonderful potency, as also the cm. of Pincke, and the most wonderful of the three was mm- of Pincke. He also considered the Rhus cm. (H. S.) a splendid potency.
Dr. Johnson had suffered from appendicitis four times, but the last attack treated by Rhus had seemed to wipe out the whole condition, and he had never had a touch of the old pain in that region until the pre\ious week, when if he had been easily frightened he should have thought he was again "in for it." Bryonia> at once. Before Rhus he had been subjected to yearly attacks. [A plain indication for Rhus. Ed.]
Dr. Alliaume had frequently observed during operative measures in cases that had previously been cured of recur rent appendicitis, there were found adhesions and oblitera- tion of the appendix.
THE NECESSITY FOR ORIGINAL WORK.
By Henry C. Allen, M. D.
Fellow Members: — I am proud of my honorary mem- bership in the oldest Hahnemannian society in the world; one that is noted for its adherence to principle, its faithful- ness to duty, and its persistence in good work. Its labors in behalf of Hahnemannian Homeopathy in the past— and especially for the last decade— have not been excelled by any similar society in the homeopathic world.
But in the twentieth century, when efforts at amalga- naation with empirical methods, in whatever school, are so loud and persistant; when it is claimed that the *'two schools are coming together," despite the truth of natural law in the medical world, there remains for us much to do. And ^hile we do not dispute the honesty of those ijiaking the assertions, or their labor which they claim is for the welfare of the profession and the good of humanity, we who are cog- nizant of the truth about the curative power of Hahnemann's methods know that their well intentioned efforts are serious
112 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
mistakes; we can only protest the absurd claims and re-' double our efforts in behalf of scientific therapeutics.
While the work of this society in the past has largely been an experience meeting for the mutual improvement of the members in the study of the materia medica and philo- sophy of our science, all valuable and exemplary so far as they go, has not the time arrived when we should do some original work? when we should follow the lines mapped out by the master during the years of his productive labors?
Running through the Organon we meet on nearly every page, pertaining to the scientific application of similia, an apology to science in behalf of the defective materia medica and the deficiencies to be found in our armamentarium.
In § 152 is an example:
The worse the acute disease is, of so much the more numerous and striking symptoms is it generally composed, but with so much the m re certainty may a suitable remedy for it be found if there be a sufficient number of medicines known with respect to their posiiive action to choose from .
BOnninghausen makes a similar complaint in his lesser writings; where he says: *'I cannot escape the conjecture that there must be some remedy beside Thuja which like Sulphur in psora and Mercurius in syphilis may yet better correspond to the whole extent of sycosis and may possess the power of curing this disease (sycosis) in its entirety."
This same want has been expressed by every leader in the history of our school, from the time of Hahnemann to the present day. And every member of this society has felt it, and many of them have voiced it in our meetings, and in our practice have felt the need of a more complete ar- mamentarium. While our list of remedies is large and seems amply sufiflcient when compared with the 103 medicines with which Hahnemann had to work when he gave us his Chronic Diseases; or the 125 with which BOnninghausen compiled his immortal therapeutic Pocket Book, we still look forward to the time when better work can be done, because of better remedial agents at our command, or remedies with more complete pathogenses.
Hahnemann met an almost insuperable obstacle to the
i
THE NECESSITY FOR ORIGINAL WORK. 1 13
cure of the chronic sick — the constant tendency of disease torelapse— and after twelve years of constant work and such careful observation as has rarely been seen, he discov- ered and promulgated his theory of chronic diseases — the greatest discovery in the history of medicine — one fraught wit'i greater posibilities for good, and one destined in the future to revolutionize the practice of all schools of medi- cine.
His discovery of an underlying cause and the proclaim- ing of his theory that we had to combat and eradicate con- stitutional ailments or miasms which he termed psora, syco- sis and syphilis, before which even with our increased facil- ities in therapeutics, with the enlargement of our materia medica by the addition of several hundred remedies; with our increased knowledge of bacteriology to explain the path- ology or chronic affections, we still have increased obstacles to overcome which Hahnemann clearly perceived but did not live to develop. In addition to the miasms which he gave us, we have others equally important in tuberculosis, vaccinia and modern drug diseases.
Every member of this society knows full well that cases of psoric diseases are constantly met which AUumina, Cal- carea. Graphites, Lycopodium, Sepia, Silicea, Sulphur, or the best selected remedy will not eradicate; also that the Thuja of Hahnemann's time, with the added symptomatolo- gy of Sabina, Natrum sulph. and many other remediesi has left many cases of sycotic disease which we are un- able to cure.
That the Mercuries, Kali iodide. Nitric acid, Phytolacca and other additions to our curative agents fail to eradicate the syphilitic miasm from many of our patients.
There are acute cases of pyemia and other septic affec- tions which Arsenic, Baptisia, Carbo veg., Silicea and the best selected remedies fail to readily control.
For the last twenty -five years a number of very valu- able additions to our materia medica in both acute and chronic affections have gradually found a place in the con- fidence of the followers of Hahnemann who have put them
114 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
to a practical test. Like Schussler's remedies, which had clinical demonstrations of successful use before provings were instituted, this class of remedies has done us many a good turn when prescribed on a clinical basis. The more thoroughly they have been subjected to the test of a com- plete proving the more valuable they have become as thera- peutic agents, and it is for a more complete proving of some of these valuable agents- that I now appeal to the society. I send a few potencies to the secretary for distribution among the members, and trust that they and some of their enthusiastic supporters, lay or professional, may be induced to join them in the proving under scientific control, so that the pathogenesis may be undoubted. These provings and tests were recommended by the president of the I. H. A. in his annual address. The recommendation was adopted by a vote of the association, and $100 appropriated to pay for the laboratory work required. I would consider it a great favor if the society will appoint a member to superintend the work, and perhaps employ Dr. Bidwell to make the labora- tory tests.
DISCUSSION.
Dr. Leggett said that aside from original work in prov- ing* there was another need of the homeopathic profession in the careful record of cases, and of the indications seized for choice of the remedy, which reported would show plain- ly the homeopathicity, and collected would prove the many- sidedness and possibilities of each medicine.
After reading of Dr. Allen's paper his recommendation to the society to institute provings of certain remedies, was discussed, and three of the members volunteered their ser- vices for the purpose. Dr. Leggett was put in charge, the physicians preferring not to know the remedies proved. Dr. Bidwell was given charge of the laboratory work.
A vote of thanks was extended to Mr. Ijewis Merrell, and to Drs. Kent and Allen for their interesting and able assistance in the discussions of their subjects before the so- ciety.
The officers elected for the coming year were:
^ I
A CASE OP ECTOPIC GESTATION. 115
A. C. Hermance, President. J. M. Keese, Vice President. S. L. G.-Leggett, Secretary and Treasurer. Grant, Alliaume, Follette, Censors. The committee upon subjects for the next meeting re- ported:
Organon XXX— XXXIII, Dr. Hussey. Gonorrhea, Treatment and Sequellae, Dr. Fritz. Thuja. General applications. Adjourned.
S. L. Guild- Leggett, Sec'y-
A CASE OF ECTOPIC GESTATION.
By Robert N. Morris, M. D., Chicago.
On Saturday, January 11, I was called in consultation with Dr. W. K. Yorks,to see a lady presenting the following history and symptoms:
She was born in 1871, her early life had no abnormal data. She had the usual diseases of childhood, from all of which she made good recoveries. Was married in 1891, be- came pregnant soon after and induced abortion in three months. The following April she again became pregnant, went to full term and was delivered of a healthy son who is now living. Two years after the birth of this child another miscarriage at three months, and again the following year a two months abortion, both of which were induced. Since then there has been no pregnancy and the menstruation has been regular and normal. October 3, 1907, at the time of the regular menstrual period a slight watery flow occurred accompanied by an unusual amount of pain in the right iliac region and the sacrum. This flow only lasted a short time but the pain continued with periods of apparent ease, under the administration of the indicated remedy, until about De- cember 20, when she had an unusually severe attack of pain Mlowea by what she described as a "sinking spell'', becom- ing very pale,pulse rapid, extremeties cold, loss of strength, being unable to sit up, and the pulse as high as 140. During
jl 116 THE MEDI J AL ADVANCE.
the time from December 20 to the time of my visit, there had been several such attacks, each preceded by severe pain and followed by extreme prostration and rapid pulse.
I found the condition as follows: face pale, jaundiced; pulse weak and thready, 140; temp. 102; voice weak; talking an effort; extremeties cold; abdomen distended, pale and sen- sitive; feared that the examination would cause pain; a firm elastic mass was found pressing into the right vaginal vault. A diagnosis of extra uterine pregnancy was made ' and the patient removed to the hospital. On January 13, in
I ' the presence of .several physicians and surgeons, the patient
• was anesthetised and the abdomen opened. The cavity was
I filled with blood clots; the hand was iuserted the uterus
seized and lifted up. The right broad ligament, fallopian tube and arteries were grasped by forceps and the fetus was removed. The placenta was attached to the ruptured fallo- pian tube. As hemorrhage was now controlled, as many of the clots as could be taken out readily were removed and the parts inspected; the broad ligament, ovarian artery and tube tied with chromocized catgut, cut off as close as possible to the uterus and with the right ovary taken out.
An inspection of the appendix disclosed the fact that it had been ruptured during some former inflammatory process; appendectomy was performed. Many of the clots had under- gone partial organization and had attached themselves so intimately to the omentum that it was impossible to re- move them. A portion of the omentum was tied off with chromocized gut, cut away and the remainder replaced. The cavity was irrigated with normal salt solution and the wound closed in the usual way with three layers of catgut sutures and four silk worm gut stitches. A rubber drainage tube was inserted near the lower edge of the wound.
When the operation was completed the patient was found to be in a state of collapse. The pulse at the wrist was lost, the carotid pulse was 200, very weak and irregular. The patient was deathly pale, skin cold and had the appear- ance of immediate dissolution. Two infusions of normal salt solution were made above the breasts during the opera-
EPILEPSY. 117
tion. The patient was removed to her room, placed in an inclined bed with the foot elevated about 12 inches. A con- tinuous normal salt solution per rectum was kept up for 48 hours. Cinchona 2()0 in water was given every hour.
On the evening of the day of the operation the patient had rallied somewhat from the shock. The radial pulse could be felt, the rate was still about 160. There had been no vomiting and some hope was entertained of her recovery from the shock.
Five days after the operation the drainage was removed and the parts dressed with sterile gauze. A discharge de- veloped on the removal of the drainage tube, which seeins to be about the usual character of abdominal wounds which are allowed to heal by granulation.
The eight day after the operation the menses appeared, lasting lour days. The patient suffered little if any on this account, and at the present time, sixteen days after the ope ration, presents a very hopeful appearance, and should no unforseen accident occur, will make a rapid and uneventful recovery.
At present she is able to sit up, andtakes an abundant sup- ply of nourishment. The bowels are normal; sleep is good and restful; temperature normal and in every way presents a most gratifying appearance.
EPILEPSY. A CLINICAL CASE.
By Dr. Chiron.
Translated from Bevue Horn 3opathique Fraacaise. By Horace P. Holmes, M. D , Sheridan, Wyoming.
Epilepsy is considered, and with good reason, as one of tie most rebellious diseases to all treatment. The medical literature is not rich in cases of recovery from this terrible neurosis, and even examples of real amelioration are rare. Therefore I am happy to be able to bring to you this evening the interesting results which I have obtained in an epileptic, especially as these results are due to a single homeo- pathic remedy.
This is the cease:
118 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Madam X, 34 years of age came to consult me March 25, for attacks of epilepsy, the beginning of which dated back ten years, but which for two .or three months had redoubled in intensity.
The daughter of a father who had died of some bacterial infection (the information was vague on this line), and of an excessively nervous mother. She was always very healthy throughout her childhood, and she cannot recall having bad any serious disease except when from fifteen to twenty years of age she had quite a pronounced anemia which was treated with iron. The appearance of the menses at fifteen brought on attack3 of somnambulism, which continued for a long time, showing itself especially some days before the menses. From her youth there still remains to her the keen remembrances of numerous corrections from her mother, corrections which at times went so far as being struck upon the head with a stick.
Married at the age of 26, she has a child now four years of age and which apparently shows no nervous stain.
She dates the origin of her present trouble to a fright she had at the age of 24 years. A thief entered her house one evening while she was alone; this caused great excite- ment and fainting, but no nervous seizure. But she was un- well at the time and her menses were arrested. At the menstrual period following she had her first attack.
These attacks took place principally at the time of her menses, before, during and after, and also, as she declared to me, at the new and the full of the moon. They are ex- clusively nocturnal and frequently she has several attacks during the night, but rarely before midnight. The aura is characterized by a violent cramp in the calf and left foot. That cramp seems to rise the length of the leg and thigh, then the left arm is seized in turn and the thorax feels com- pressed. Instinctively the patient places 'her right hand before her head, cries out and falls unconscious. Her face becomes pale and her eyes seem forced out of the orbits. She grinds her teeth, bites her tongue and a foam, at times reddish, is seen on her lips. The entire body is agitated by
EPILEPSY. 119
a violent subsultus. At the end of a few instants tlie agita- tion is terminated; the patient becomes calm * and snores noisily. The entire duration is about five minutes. When she becomes conscious she remembers nothing of the attack, but experiences a dullness in the head and a general extreme lassitude while at the same time her heart beats violently.
During the day she has at times twinges and cramps in the left leg followed by flickering vision and vertigo for some seconds at a time, but she never loses consciousness.
These attacks have exactly the same characteristics as they had ten years ago. They vary only in their intensity and number. Sometimes the patient goes for a fortnight without any discomfort, then for a fortnight following she will have one, two, and even three attacks a night, always worse at the time of the menses. Just once she went a month without an attack. Pregnancy had a happy influence on these attacks which diminished in number and intensity to return immediately after the accouchment.
After two months there was a recrudescence of her trouble. She had not passed a single night without a spasm which prevented any sleep. She was also greatly weak- ened.
Of medium stature, blond hair, she has a pale counte- nance, dark rings around her eyes and her features drawn. She speeks slowly and seems to search for her words. She appears to me to be very timid.
Her general condition appeared relatively good. She has little appetite, and yet eats reasonably. The digestion is easy, the stools normal, neither constipation nor diarrhea. From time to time in the morning on awakening she has nausea and vomiting of bile. Great thirst also in the morn- ing, but she drinks with difficulty on account of spasms of the esophagus. The head always feels a little dull. Neither cough nor expectoration. She lost a little flesh during the two months.
On examination nothing in particular was noted except- ing a slight dullness in the left supraspinous fossa, together with a slightretardation in perception all along the left arm
120 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
and an exaggeration of the pateller reflexes, especially of the left. No pharyngeal ansesthesis and no contraction of the visual field.
For ten years, from the date of her first attack, our pa- tient has submitted without success to the most diverse treatments.
The first physician called to attend her made the diag- nosis of hysteria. He paternally advised marriage, and while waiting for that happy event prescribed some gram- mes of bromide. At the end of several months, the attacks still persisting, a second confrere was consulted. For I know not what reason he attributed the state of the patient to an ignored syphilis and ordered Gibear's syrup. Result: recrudescence of the attacks and intense gastralgia.
She was then directed to the Salpetriere when the diag- nosis of epilepsy was positively given. Following this naturally came the saturation of the organism with bromide. The patient absorbed two fourteen grammes daily with out the least amelioration.
In the meantime a surgeon proposed trepanning. She indifferently smiled upon this operative proceedure and re- fused it.
Finally she knocked at the door of the Institut de Psy- chotherapie. There, hypnotism and suggestion were lavished upon her in large doses but they had no influence upon her volition. And the attacks still continued.
In despair she abandoned all regular treatment. She contented herself by taking from time to time a little valeri- anate of ammonia, when she heard Homeopathyp raised and came to see me.
After having examined her in detail and having taken her case, I was, I confess, a little embarrased over the choice of an appropriate remedy. A certain number are, in fact, cited by our classical authors as having given satisfactory results in epilepsy. Ck)cculus, Arsenicum, Opium, Calcarea, Causticum, Cuprum, Silicea, etc., are the principal ones. I allowed myself to be guided only by the symptoms observed
EPILEPSY.
121
appeared to me that Cuprum reflected completely the jnomy of our patient.
fact, Cuprum is the remedy for convulsions^ chiefly lie, next the tonic; convulsions occuring especially at coming on principally" at the time of the menses, pre- >y an aura which arises in the toes, accompanied by ig pains in the calves, especially on the left side. In irval of the attacks it also presents that particular !al and physical exhaustion with its aggravation from it mental exercise. Finally, when I shall add that it is symptoms a complete insomnia, you will decide with no other medicament than Cuprum could be indicated case.
rescribed Cuprum 30th, two pellets only, each morn- three days, cease for two days, and then take again, extsaw the patient the 3rd of April. There was not melioration. The attacks were always nocturnah they were coming later [three o'clock in the morning of at midnight], are less violent, and not so long, er, during the day there is no flickering of vision or . The patient is always tired and has little appetite, lued the Cuprum 30th in the following method: two in the morning at 10 o'clock and two pellets at 10 in the evening also without interruption, ril 24th. Since the 4th of April she has not had a ittack at night, v She sleeps well, but she dreams a eal and sometimes has nightmare. Once or twice she I slight attacks of dizziness during the day. The ap- s better, stools regular. The weight has slightly in- i. I stop giving the Cuprum for a week and then give fore.
ae 12th. The amelioration continues and is even ac- ;ed. Not a single attack since the last visit, even menses which come on normally, but with a little the left ovarian region. Meanwhile, .she is always a Dervated. She has not been able to give up the Cup- r more than three days at a time, for she feels her isness increase and experiences some vertigo during
I
1
122 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
the day. Appetite very good. Sleep excellent. No night- mare. Continue Cuprum 30th.
July 17th. Doing admirably up to the 10th of July. At that time she became over-tired which seriously affected her. She was also in some pain. Some nights she even had be- ginnings of the attacks, but without loss of consciousness. J She did not sleep as well and had anxious and fantastic
I dreams. She is also tired in the morning and has vertigo
with headache when she arises. The appetite is again rather I poor but she has a constant thirst. She is constipated. The
i .stools are hard and knotty, with the sensation that only a
' part of the stool is expelled and the rest recedes into the
rectum. There is also some vertigo during the day. Silicea 30th for six days and then return to Cuprum as before.
September 25th. The discomforts pointed out in the month of July suddenly disappeared and she passed two very good months without the slightest attack. The menses re- turned normally without any suffering.
In the month of August, going into the country for a rest, she was able even to give up the remedy for a fortnight. There was about a week that she was subjected to great an- noyances and after that she was very nervous and slept badly. She was greatly excited at night and feared she would have another attack, for she felt some cramps in the left leg. The flickerings of vision have returned in the day time and also several attacks of vertigo. Continue Cuprum.
[The potency should have been changed at each repetition, but only a single dose given, and much better results would have been obtained. A cure may yet be effected. Ed.]
That period of six months which elapsed without any attack taking place is evidently rather short a time to pro- nounce the word cured. Moreover I do not think it. I mean only, and so, I tell you of this case, to furnish a new proof of what Homeopathy may do, in cases where all other treatments have failed.
Dr. Leon Simon heartily congratulated the author on his very interesting communication; as well from the clinical as the therapeutical point of view that it permitted an Individ-
EPILEPSY.
123
tion of the medicament whose action had been very tble. A remedy he had frequently used during his jareer, and which, moreover, was recommended by jmann, is Stannum and yet he had never recorded a e recovery; the symptoms improved or disappeared : months, a year, sometimes two years, never longer, ►cyanic acid had not given him as good results as Stan-
r. Marc Jousset requested that the communications were to be made to the society should first appear in alletin; so that it would render the discussions easier. 5 case cited by Dr. Chiron, it seemed doubtful if one to a certainty make a diagnosis of true epilepsy; in Else the beginning of the trouble came at 24 years of age ce of fifteen or sixteen which is the rule. Moreover, ibject had previously had- somnambuhc attacks, and 'omide which had been given at the Salpetriere had not led them; he believed it was a case of epileptiform sei- manifesting itself in a somnambulist, as the case occa- ily showed. The epileptics treated by Dr. Marc Jous- ive never been benefited by a recovery; these cases asperate, for to an amelioration in the beginning always eds a relapse frequently decisive.
ind yet he recalled treating a young man with Cicuta I who was cured, but it was really a case epileptiform •es in a somnambulist.
>r. Chancerel cited a case from his clientele in which >atient, treated with Belladonna, was ameliorated but ired.
>r. S. R. Proust reported a case of Jacksonian epilepsy .vated by Cuprum which was afterward relieved by donna. Cuprum again given in a high dilution modified v^olution; the nocturnal attacks have disappeared; only vertigo during the day persists.
)r. Dupuy, from the standpoint of a surgeon, insisted the interest of this latter case; his confreres readily up the trepan when it is a case of Jacksonian epilepsy obtain favorable results. There would be an opportu-
124 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
nity before surgical intervention to try homeopathic treat- ment.
Dr. Steflfert reported several cases of epileptics ameli- orated but not cured. — Societe Francalsiv (V Ilomeopathie.
CHANGE OF INSTITITK MEETLNG PLACE.
Anx Akbok, Mich., Jan. 10, 1908. To the MemberH of the Amerwav l)iHtltute of Homeopathy:
Your executive committee met January 6th at the office of the secretary, five members being present and Dr. Reily being represented by a written report and proxy. The president and first vice president reported having visited Oklahoma City, spending Dec. Hoth and 81st in investigating its merits as a meeting plac(\ They were cordially received and cared for by the cliairman of the local committee and the other three members of the local pi-ofession.
As a result of their investigation, much as it dislikes to disappoint the enthusiastic and hospitable people of that thriving little city, your executive committee, by unanimous vote, has deemed it necessary to exei'cise the authority giv- en to change the place of meeting.
In determining this piohii m. your executive committee must, of necessity, count l| rn a n.< (ting of normal size. Our Oklahoma friends are ^^ww rl t* attractions of their com- munity would draw evtn n.cie tl ;in the usual attendance. For six years past the aveij.j^e ( f ii.i iiJ.ers and visitors has been ^75. If half this ncii.l ♦ r v( le lo attend a meeting at Oklahoma City, it would i <• n ].( .->;i)le to give to all com- fortable hotel accommodatior.s. * sj (cially dit!icult for a con- vention covering alincst a w^i .-: of time. There are but two so-called first-class hostt'.iits \\\ the city. The Lee, the leading one, is building a sevt ii s'^oi-y annc^x, which, as yet, is far from completion. It l.:is i;* tn expected that this hotel would furnish headciuart^rs :\vA committee rooms. At Jamestown special rates ai:d accoiiiinodations based on con- tract agreement, were i)r()i:!is^ <! at the Lee. To our sur- prise the proprietor of this hot*-!, in contradistinction to all other citizens of the city, shoved tht." members of the execu-
CHANGE OF IMSTITUTE MEETING PLACE. 125
»mmittee scant courtesy and refused' to accede in the test degree to the wishes or necessities of the Instifute. ntil after the departure from the city of the committee le local chairman and the Board of Commerce wring ling concessions fro a this proprietor. Even then the )roposed was far in excess of the contract agreement id at Jamestown, and stipulation was made that no ittee rooms should be used in the evening, v bt only were the proposed arrangements unsatisfacto- it also the accommodations possible far from adequate, agent upon the completion of the annex and contem- g too that at least two people should occupy each quarters for not to exceed two hundred guests was ost favorable promise of the Lee. Under similar con- s a hundred and fifty guests might be crowded into the 1 hotel. Bath rooms, much needed during dusty Okla- June, are scarce in both hotels. Were the attendance nbers, visitors and exhibitors to exceed three hundred 'ty, the second-rate hotels and boarding houses would o provide for the balance.
be ''White Temple" proved unavailable except possi- r the opening session. It was found that the meetings have to be held in different places, more or less re- Tom each other, It would be impossible to have all issions of the Institute, its bureaus and committees, lied societies and the exhibits under one roof. The rt of the places proposed, too, would largely depend :he temperature and barometric conditions, said to be dly objectionable in summer.
he usual reduced rates on the railroads are no longer ble because of the new Interstate law. The distance lahoma City, nearly four hundred miles from Kansas would make this abscoTice of a special railroad rate a ial burden to most of our members. The three general nger agents met at Oklahoma could promise nothing, i the journey were begun on Wednesday for our eastern >ers and on Thursday for the middle West, with no ssion at all for the far West. No through trains to
I
IflC) THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Oklahoma are run from Denver, Chicago, or the East. Un- less Pullman car parties of eighteen or more persons were arranged, eastern visitors going by way of St. Louis would
ihave to change cars there, and if they traveled by way of Chicago, would require a change at that point, and a second at St. Louis or Kansas City. In order to free those who presented the claim of Oklahoma we wish to say that the less liberal policy of the railroads as to rates and through trains is a recent move and, of course, was not anticipated last June. However, it is no less a disappointment and, in I view of the present financial stringency, a serious objection,
' in the opinion of your Executive Committee.
For these reasons and others which were discussed for I hours by your committee, it was thought best to have .our
meeting elsewhere. Invitations came from Hot Springs, Pittsburg, the State of Pennsylvania, Los Angeles and Detroit. We were not unmindful of the potency of the claims of each of these possible locations, and to the loyalty of -the members of our school in these places the Institute owes its thanks. We could not overlook the fact, • however, that the American Institute had recognized the justice of the demands of the West and South-west. That territory received our first and last thought. Kansas City, Missouri, is a western city and in eyery sense is the gateway to the South-west. The proffered invitation of our men in Kansas City was^ therefore, accepted and it was decided to hold the meeting there during the week beginning June 22nd.
It were perhaps a work of supererogation to speak of the beauties and attractions of this wonderful city, commer- cially, physically, aesthetically, it is second to none in these 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 mu- nicipalities form one great, restless, aggressive, progressive beautiful city. High bluffs, deep gorges, attractive ravines^ multitudes of rivulets, great rivers, high land and river bot- toms— all give themselves to natural picturesqueness and artistic possibility. Millions upon millions have been spent
CHANGE OF mSTITUTE MEETING PL.ACE.
127
n developing one of the finest park and boulevard systems n the world. This is, without doubt, one of the show cities )f America. The transcontinental tourist who has simply massed through Kansas City, and almost every American railway system touches it, knows nothing of the multitudi- nous attractions of this place. The railways, are in the valley out of sight and the city on the hill tops. One must ake the incline and view it from a high place to know that at its feet lies the pride of the West, beautiful Kansas City, Here are vast hotels, gorgeous theaters, great churches, palatial homes, wide gardens, inviting shade and cool re- treats. The hundred members of the local profession and the nearly two thousand of the states of Kansas and Mis- souri will give us hearty welcome-
The trip to Kansas City is easily and quickly made. It is a night's jcurney, twelve hours, from Chicago, six hours from St. Louis, over night from Denver, and can be reached from New York City with but one night on the sleeper.
To Dr. Hensley, the local profession, the Board of Com- merce, and the cordial people of Oklahoma City we express our hearty thanks for the courtesies shown and the hospi- tality offered. We regret that necessity rules our action, but, knowing their hearts and minds, we believe they will gracefully acquiesce in our decision and, in company with the membership of the American Institute, do all in their power to make the 1908 meeting at Kansas City a great and power for good to our beloved Homeopathy. Respectfully,
Royal S. Copelandi
W. E. Reily
J. Richey Horner
Prank Kraft
J. H. Ball
T. Franklin Smith
^ Executive Committee.
LOYALTY TO THE INSTITUTE.
■''he above action of the committee has called forth both ^ent and criticism from many influential members of ^^^titute. In behalf of our beloved science and the hom-
]
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128 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
eopaths of the South West and West no man did more earnest work than Dr. Hensley, of Oklahoma City; but like some others he was not working for self, as the following letter will demonstrate:
Oklahoma City, Jan. 17, 1908,
Dear Doctor Allen:— Inclosed find check for subscription to Medical Advance. I assure you it affords me much pleasure to assist in publishing one of the cleanest and strictest journals of our special school of therapeutics that comes ^o my table.
I suppose you have learned ere this that the executive committee has changed the place of meeting from here to Kansas City.
Now, doctor, you can well imagine how I feel over it. I think we won at Atlantic City, and as you know, it wm almost unanimous at Jamestown on first ballot and was made t»o by vote of the Institute: yet I am too loyal to our Institute to utter a word that would cause a ripple on the surface. I shall do all in my power to make the meeting at Kan- sas City a success. We must uphold the hands of those in authority and stand by our organization under all circumstance -«.
Fraternally yours, Joseph Hensley.
With Dr. Hensley we have a fellow feeling, for both at Atlantic City and Jamestown we did all we could to take the next meeting of the Institute to Oklahoma City. In behalf of our readers we thank Dr. Hensley sincerely for manfully standing by the executive committee, and we cordially join him in the assurance that the members of the Institute in the West and South West will loyally support the executive committee in whose charge we have placed the interests of the Institute.
Training in Medical Organization: The students of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School have formed an organization the purpose of which is to acquaint the un- dergraduates with the workings of the American Medical Association, after which it is very closely modeled. The various student societies take the place of the state organ- izations and elect members to a House of Delegates which transacts all the business of the association. An annual meeting is held at which papers are read by chosen mem- bers, thus encouraging original research and a scientific spirit. The organization is named The Undergraduate Med- ical Association of the University of Pennsylvania, and al- ready has over two hundred and fifty members.
HE Medical Advance
^. Monthly Journal of Hahnemannian Homeopathy A Study of Methods and Results.
we have Ui do with an art whose end is the saving of human life any neglect > make onrsei ves thorough masters of It becomes a crime,— Habnbmann,
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l^e believe that Homeopathy, well understood and faithfully practiced, ha» to save more 11vh» and relieve more pain than any other method of treai- ver invented or disctivered by man; Out to he a first-class homeopathic pre- ' requires careful study of both patient and remedy. Yet by patient care It made a little plainer and easier than it now Is. To explain and define and tracMcal ways simplify it is cur chosen Mork. In this good work we ask Bip.
0 accommodate both readers and publisher this Journal will be sent untU
i are paid and it is ordered discontinued.
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)lisher. The Forrest Pret.s Batavia, Iliinols.
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be addressed to the Kditor, 6142 Washington \ venue, Chicago.
FEBRUARY, 1908.
BbitonaU
"DERELICT AND OTHERWISE."
!^he above title is a record of clinical cases in a paper t>efore the Ck)Qper Club, London, by J. Roberson Day» ., physician of the department for the diseases of child- it the London Homeopathic Hospital. Tie paper consists of a number of cases, very good by the way, but with the exception of two or three 1 were cured with the sinp-le remedy, they are all treat- ' two or three or more remedies in alternation, of which allowing is an illustration:
ITJBERCULAR DISEASE OF BONES OF HANDS AND FEET.
rinefred R, age 17 months, was the Recond child in the family, rst child had died at six weeks old from wasting— the father was .te. She was brought to me July 20, 1905. She was a very deli- t)ottle*fed child, and for five months had been attending the Tot- ^n> Hospital every day, where "they kept on operating but gave no
i
i
180 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
mfidiciDe.** The second fin crer of the left hand had been removed, and there were two sinuses leading down to the fourth metacarpal bone, which was diseased. There was also a tubercular nodule on the outer aspect of the right foot. Silica 12, ter die and Tuberculinum 30 weekly, vTcre given.
By September 21st she was very much better; the ordule on the rtght foot had disappeared and only the sinus oh the left hand remained, which appeared much better, and generally she was greatly improved. On November 9th she was attacked wiih (rriping, offensive diarrhea, which so often occurs in these tubercular children, and Calcarea ars. 6, three hours, was now given, Tuberculinum 30 being continued in weekly liases. This was changed to the Fluoride of Calcicum 30 on November ITth, and by December 16th she was very much better and more lively. The following March. 190H. Silica 30 was again prescribed, and shortly afier the mother reported she was "in the best of health." She was trying to walk, and the foot continued quite well, although the sinus in I he hand continued to discharge.
On October r2Lh the di>charge ceased. For six weeks she had no medicine, and in January, 1007. she came again with a slight return of flt&charge, A further course of Silica 30 and Tuberculinum 30 was given lind there has been no return of this discharge. The sinuses are per- fectly healed, and the coDs^itution of the child has immensely improved Id fact, she appears quite well, although a delicate child bearing the scar of th'i amputated finger, the results of the Tottenham Hospital treatment.
Hahnemann says, Orj?anon § 271:
In no instance is it requisite to employ more than one simple medici- tial substance at a time. To which is attached the foot note:
Experiments have been made by 8ome homeopath iats in cases where, imagining that one part of the symptoms of a disease re- fjuired one remedy, and that another remec^y was more suitable to the other part, they have given both remedies at the same time, or nearly so; but I earnestly caution all my a<lherents against such a hazardous practice, which never* will be necessary, though in some instances it may appear serviceable.
We refer to these cases with regret because they are a i-ecord of treatment in one of the best homeopathic hospitals connected with our school of medicine, and because the phy- sician in charge is a representative man in an official posi- tion. , Like the late Dr. Skinner, Dr. Day is a convert from the other school of practice, and their early training in ther- jrpeutics was similar. It was polypharmacy from the be- ginning to the end. When Dr. Skinner became a convert he went directly to the Organon as his source of instruction.
EDITORIAL.
131
Hahnemann he took it first hand, and with him it was igle remedy every time and everywhere. With Dr. ^hile he makes brilliant cures, neither he nor any man can tell what did the cure work. It is against this larmacy, in the name of Homeopathy, that we protest, mixed or mongrel practice and should not be permit- our hospital work and published to the world as an lie of what Homeopathy may do. Hahnemann dis- ' says that such is a hazardous practice, that it will be necessary, though occasionally it may appear ad- e. A little more study of our remedies, a little more 1 the taking of the anamnesis, will render such work essary, and will vastly improve both the clinical ex- ce of the prescriber and the health of the patients in- d to his care.
I Great Britain there is no homeopathic college from students may obtain a knowledge of Homeopathy, ay himself may fully comprehend the difficulties en- ured by his allopathic colleagues who desire to obtain dedge of the better way. In his position as physician London Homeopathic Hospital he is practically a rep- ative teacher of Homeopathy, and Ithe best possible 3 convert a colleague of the other school is to demon- the possibilities of pure -Homeopathy. Skinner never have done such work had he occupied such a isible position. A different method of taking the an- is, of examining the case, Organon § 84 et. seq., using of the Organon so as to obtain the relative value of mptoms will soon revolutionize the practice, and no a Great Britain will be more pleased with the result )r. Day.
THE DEADLY ANTITOXIN.
pparently, to our friends of the other school, **every has its thorn." The diphtheritic serum has been 1 to the skies as the specific for diphtheria, but like bercular serum of Koch it is not always safe when to the sick, arid often fatal when used as a prophylac-
132
THE MEDICAT. ADVANCE.
tic. The following case has appeared under various guises in the daily press, and we give the particulars of the fatal occurrence which we take from a recent issue of the Journal of the America }t Medwal Association.
NORRISTOWN, Pa., Jan, 6, 1908.
To Hie Editor: -On the evenings of Dec. 12, 1907, Ely Weitzel, aged 34 years, a man of splendid physique and apparently in the best of health, came to my office and asked that I give him an immunizing dose of antitoxin, saying that he had on that morning kissed his little daugh- ter, who wa?» found, les^ than two hours afterward, to be suffering from diphtheria; both throat and nose beinir filled with the membrane.
A few minutes before 8 p. m., after having carefully sterilized the right side, I introduced the needle about four inches above Poupiirt's ligament, and slowly injected nearly all of l,OoO units of diphtheria anti- toxin. H } s lid that neither the introduction of the needle nor of the serum gave him any pain, but spoke of the "lump that raised'' when I withdrew the needle.
At the time of the Injection he was reclining in an office chair, hav- ing removed his coats and vest.- As near as I can judge he remained in the chair for from two to three minutes after the injection. Just as he got out of the chair he said: *'What is in that stuff? I feel as though it were blistering me." He reached for his clothing, and as he did so he said: ** My scalp and face itch and burn terribly," and with both hands he began to scratch his head vigorously. His next remark was "I can not breathe." I observed that his expression denoted anxiety^ and that his lips began to swell and turn dark. I told him to sit down which he did. He then complained of the itching all over his body, and in a moment said: 'I am on fire inside." His breathing was now very labored; his lips, face and neck were much swollen and very dark. A thick, heavy froth began pouring from his mouth. He was apparently paralyzed, for he made no voluntary motion of any part of his body. He had a slight convulsion lasting but a few seconds, after which he ceased to breathe. The action of tbe heart continued for a considerable time after the breathing ceased.
Soon after he sat down I realized that his condition was alarming- and had three physicians called, all of whom live within a few yards of my office. Tney responded immediately, and we used all the recognized means to re-establish breathing, but did not succeed.
The time elapsing between the introduction of the serum and his death was not over five minutes. He did not speak again after sayings **I am on fire inside," except to mutter: '*!— am— dying," nor did he seem to be conscious after that.
The serum used was sent to my office a few minutes before I injected it. from a neighboring drug store. The date limit was "March 7, 1908. *»•
EDITORIAL.
133
ve used diphtheria antitoxin in over sixty cises and have never r unto ward syraptoins, «xcept in one instance— an attack of urti-
nutropsy was made in this case. I might add that this man from
)d could never be abjut horses wi&hout suffering from symptoms
la.
ould b3 a Herculean task to answrer personally the many letters
jeiving from physicians in all parts of the country; so I trust this
wer ihem through your columns.
S. N. Wiley. homeopathic practice Diphtherinum, the antitoxin of eria, as prepared by the homeopathic pharmacy, is re both in the treatment of the sick and as a prophy- and its use is entirely devoid of such an unfortunate nentable occurrence as is here noted.
E ELIMINATION OP SKCTAUIAN 1>0GMA FROM SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE."
the November issue of the Monthly Cijrlojjedia of Prac- 'edkirie in its editorial department, there is an article tie above title signed by Henry Beates, M. D., Jr., ent of the Pennsylvania State Board of Medical Ex- rs.
is paper opens with what nearly every homeopathic ;ian will recognize as a direct quotation from the Or- , viz;, *'The highest duty of the physician is to treat id fellow beings with the best known means to effect re- id cure."
n this question of **best known means" there evidently fferenc^ of opinion, but there ought not to be any dif- em the understanding of what sectarianism and dogma The Century Dictionary defines both dogma and md in these definitions Dr. Beates will find that he le earmarks of dogmatism, and like many others is a •ian.
ihis article he assumes that in Pennsylvania the *'law nizes three so-called schools of medicine, the allopath- meopathic and eclectic;" though the doctor claims that e never was and never will be an allopathic physician."
134 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
A correspondent in the January issue of the Medkal World also complains that * 'there is no school of medicine calling itself allopathic. I do not think there ever was one. The regular school has never *dubbed' itself anything. When sectarians arose with distinctive names, the conserva- tive needed no special name; they just referred to themselves as regulars."
Hahnemann gave them the distinctive name of allopaths, based on their practice contrdriu contrariuH cnrautur, that is opposite conditions are to be treated with opposites; just as much sectarian as any other.
In the time of Hahnemann and ever since they have been attempting to cure constipation with cathartics, and for this reason he gave the school a distinctive name from which it has never been able to liberate itself, and never will until the ;>ractice changes.
In the January Medical Crntiiry Dr. R. S. Copeland re- plies to this attack of Dr. Beates, and closes with the fol- lowing stinging remarks:
''You are an ignorant man, Dr. Beates, if you speak of Homeopathy as 'a method of treatment which is based upon mere theory and dogma, known to be at variance with the fact.' The testimony of such men as von Beliring, the win- ner of a Nobel prize; Cabot, the dt^an of Harvard Medical School: Sir A. E. Wright, the most talked of man in medi- cine today: Robin, of Paris, and many other broad minded men of your own st-hool, gives tlie He to your cavilling re- marks. You know little of Hom(^opathy which your igno- rant mind pictures as a system of medicine and surgery, in- stead of the (/(rn/prfific-sjtr('i(flf{j which it is. You think, or profess to believe, that because one of our practitioners ex- tracts a cataract by surgical methods, or disables the Koch- Weeks bacillus by the installation of zinc chloride solution, or uses the obstetric force]:)s, or makes a skillful trachotomy, or antidotes the diphtheria toxin, or neutralizes the ingested carbolic acid, or does some other sensible thing by a method known to you — you set him down as 'unfaithful to avowed professional princii)les.' You poor, innocent, ignorant assl
EDITORIAL.
13c
the Organon of Samuel Hahnemann, or forever after ^our peace! The thinking, reading, progressive, truly ed men and women of your own school repudiate such ng as yours."
OBITUARY.
ichmond, Va., has recently lost two of its most promi- lomeopatlis, Dr. George A. Taber and Dr. George L. , both of whom were successful practitioners and had :ensive practice, r. George Taber was born in Cayuga county. New
graduated from the homeopathic department of the rsity of Michigan, 1877, was assistant to Prof. S. A. , and instructor in Materia Medic*a for two years, iced in Victory, New York, until I^^s^), when he re- 1 to Richmond, Va., wliere he resided until his death, 4, 1907.
r. George L. Stone graduated from Cleveland Homeo- : College; practiced in Ann Arbor, Mich., for several
and moved to Richmond, Va., in IH-^O, where he con- . in active practice until his death, Jan. U, 1908. He f chronic interstitial nephritis, from which he was a ?r for many years.
ropaiandism of Homeopathy:- Recent issues of the does Advocate contain a series of articles on Popular apathy, explaining the principles of the science a-nd dications for many of the principal rem<*dies in the try derangements of a family: indigestion, catarrhal ons, influenza, ague, etc., by Mr. J. C. Roberts, a ament official and an enthusiastic advocate of Home- V. Mr. Roberts has a homeopathic depot in Palmetto e, Bridgetown, where the people may obtain homeo- ' remedies. In the series of articles on Homeopathy, -oberts is conferring a ; : -nit boon on the public by these s illustrating the practical value of domestic medicine,
I this way conferring a blessing on the people at the
time. It is in this way that the pioneers of Homeopathy
erica first introduced this system of medicine, and no
way to instruct the people yet been found. It would
II for Homeopathy that some vigorous efforts in this ion were again taken up.
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
THERAPEUTICS OF VIBRATION: THE HEALIXH OF THK SICK AN EXACT SCIENCE. By Wm, Lawrence Woodruff, M, D , Member of the American Institute of IJomeopatliv, the Cal- ifornia Homeopathic Medical Society, the SouUi California Home- f opathic Medical Society, I^os Angeles County Homeopatliic Society,
South California Academy of Sciences Author of Climatography of the Salt River Valley Region of Arizona. J. V. Elwell Publish- ' ing (Jo., 247 liroadway, IjOs Angeles, Cal.
I This work on vibration by a homeopathic physician of
I Long Beach, Cal., must be carefully read to be appreciated.
Tlie author claims t^rat vibration is the primal law of the universe, nothing being exempt from it.
The wonders produced by electricity have been nothing short of marvelous; yet vibration will so far surpass it in every field as to make it seem ordinary in comparison. Here is one of the conclusions:
"Twenty -five years of chasing the microbe ha^ yielded but little except to increase mysticism and confusion, and make a babel of tongues. Hahnemann, seventy-five yeai'S ago, in his thesis on chronic diseases, gave us all and more than has yet been revealed by bacteriological research; in- deed, he forstalled every fact so far determined, defining its limitations and indicating their practical application in the relieving of diseased conditions."
The author goes just a little further than Wright and Von Behring who, in explaining the opsonic index, have verified the law of similars and possibly have given us the best explanation of its scientific action yet discovered. But he goes one step further, and in his theory of vibration, ex- plains why and how the homeopatliic dynamic remedy does its marvelous cure work. Volume II to complete the work is promised in June.
TRK.VTMIliNT: A companion v ihime to DiA<;nosis in Clinical Medi- cine. Clarence Bartlett, M. I)., Philadelphia.
Boericke & Tafel have in press a work from the pen of this busy author. The book has the concise yet thoroughly
NEW PUBLICATIONS. 137
uive title, '^Treatment." It will be in a class by itself, full treatment for practically every known disease; rapeutics only, though this branch is fully gone into, itment in its broadest sense. It will make a work of 200 large octavo pages and be ready for delivery early
^rHCS[ASMOF[IU-MI']()PVTriY, withtheatoryof a(;[lKAT rHrNFAST. By John H. Clarke, M. I)., Londoa. Kngland. neopathic Publishing Co ,12 Warwick Lane, K. C. 1907 . is small work of fifty pages is a reprint from the lofthe British Homeopathic Society of the author's presi- address. The "story of a great enthusiast" here ned is a brief biography of, and the original propa- n of Homeopathy, by Dr. Mure, best known by his in provings forming the Materia Medica of Brazil, any another converted leader in our school Dr. Mur3 I to study Homeopathy after being cured of a so-called )le disease, phthisis pulmonalis.
ery homeopathic physician should have a copy of this ork, if for nothing more than to read this beautiful tory of the "fiery Dr. Mure"
e Physicians List. 1908. 57th year of its publica- Philadelphia. P. Blakiston's Son & Co., 191-J Walnut lis old reliable friend of the busy doctor for 190H is ced by the publisher. A sample announcement is all necessary, for every doctor of every school is familiar J advantages.
NEWS NOTES.
Dr. A. W. Vincent, St. Johns, Oregon, has another l)[i\)er in the MediaU World, under the catching title, "Are We Becoming Homeopaths?" The doctor writes a very live, logical and convincing article, which is evidently doing its work.
1^ Dr. C. M. Sommer has removed from Omaha to Boul-
' der, Colo. This city in the mountains has now one homeo-
pathic prescriber — we do not know how many more.
Dr. Theodoni W. Krichbaum desires to announce that *1 bi'ginning January 1st, VM)^, she will dovoto her entire at-
tention to the diseas(»s of infants and chilJion giving special , Consideration to the subject of infant feeding and the hygiene
fl of child life, 155 PuUerton Ave., South Montclair, N. J.
Office hours 10 A. M. to 1 P. M.
Dr. H. E. IJeebe, Sidn(\y, Ohio, announces; after Jan- uary 1st, lUO*^, his son. Dr. Hugh M. Beebe, will be associat- ed with him in ]n*actice. This will make a strong homeo- pathic team.
The Woinaii's Southern Homeopathic Hospital an-
^ aounces tluit there' will be two vacancies, for two women
graduates, 7'J4 Spruce St., IMiihuh'lpljia, Pa. There is a salary and tine experien-e. Toriu ot otti 'e one year. For further particulars address Di*. Aui *lia L. Hess, llUlMt. Veron St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Dr. Mary E. Hopkins, Secretary of the Kentucky State Homeopathic Society, has issued an a[)peal to the members for the next session which will be held at Lexington in May, UJOH. After paying a tribute to tlie olUcers of the society for tlieir etforts which secured the successful ses.sion of 1907, • an appeal is made to every home()[)ath in the state to take up the work and contribute* his mite, as well as his presence, that the meeting at Lexington may be a successful one.
A.C.Stone, 31. D., announces that he has located at L105 Milwaukee Ave., near Robey St. He is a graduate of Hering, 11)07, and we predict will make his mark as a suc- cessful i)ractitioner.
NEWS NOTES.
139^
Brs. Thomas G. and Josephine M. Roberts desire to an- unce that they have removed their office and residence II18760 Lake Aveenue to 229 East Forty-Second Str^^et.
The Minnesota State Homeopathic Institute will hold regular meeting in Minneapolis, May 19th. 2()th, 2Ith, \ The Secretary, Dr. H. O. Skinner, is notifying the mbers thus early to prepare their papers and get ready a successful meeting. Kentucky and Minnesota are two the earliest in the field. They certainly deserve what, no ubt, they will receive as a reward for their enterprise, a W attendance and a good meeting.
The time is at hand for receiving tenders of meeting ices for the American Institute of Homeopathy in 1909. Wress all such letters to Dr. Frank Kraft, Secretary, 2055 St Doth St., Cleveland, Ohio.
January ;}, 1909. (nh/l 3Ie(Unfl Advtmre.
Will you kindly insert the following in your journal giv- s prominent a place as possible V
The Writer desires information regarding any alleged '^'eries or cures of inoperable or recurrant carcinoma of mammary gland.
^f any case or cases are known to anyone who reads this ^^^ and can be authenticated by facts as to the history '^^dition prior to recovery and the length of time which '^^Psed .since recovery such information will be nmch sciated and dully acknowledged.
^^y well-authenticated reports of recoveries from car- ^^ located in other parts than the mammary gl:ul Vvill be mned.
laticer paste cures, X-ray cures, radium cures, or cures ^sult of surgical operation are not wanted, hearsay cases are not wanted unless accompanied by "^^ and address of person who may give knowledge first ^^- Address
Horace Packard, 470 Commonwealth Ave., Boston" Mass.
140 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
THE TIMES OF AGGRAVATION AND AJ^ELIORATION.
The following letter was recently received and is self explanatory:
Salt Lake City, Utah, October 26th, 1907. Dear Doctor: — **Can you tell me where I may find a list of the times of aggravation and amilioration without having to dig it out of the Materia Medica? I am sure some one has
I made such a list, and I need it both in study and practice,
4 as the following experience with Lycopodium, with regard
to its wellknown time of aggravation will prove:
**A friend visited the Portland Exposition a few years ago, returning with a serious attack of typhoid, through which he passed without harm, except that his heart ached, . ' and had pain in back for two or three years after. Every
summer and autumn at the same season that he had typhoid a fever appeared at 4 p. m. I did not attend him during th6 attack of typhoid, but this summer he described his con- dition, and as an intimate friend I suggested a remedy and gave him Lycopodium 54. The next day the fever did not return, nor has it since appeared, and to say that he was delighted is to put it mildly, for he was under a constant cloud mentally on account of this annual recurring fever. Many other symptoms, especially the urinary deposits of Lycopodium were present, but it was the 4 p. m. aggrava- tion which led me to give it." A. A. Ramseyer.
The refcent translation of Dr. Ide's paper on the **Times of Aggravation and Amelioration of Our Remedies," by Dr. Boger, will fill this bill. The doctor will find here an ex- haustive resume of the remedies of our Materia Medica as to their working time and hour. Write the publisher of the
'j Advance for the little book which can be carried in the
■^ IKXjket.
E Medical Advance
II.
BATAVIA, ILL., MARCH, 1908.
No. 3.
ACCINATION THE QNLY SAFE AND SANE PROPHYLACTIC AGAINST SMALL POX?*
George E. Dienst. M. D., Naperville, IlL sident, Ladies and Gentlemen:
old Kentucky physician with his alum and rosin simplest, and, to him, most philosophical system of a known in his day and neighborhood. ''Disease,'* '*was a loosening and unjointing of things general- bo get the parts together and hold them there was e of medical skill." When asked by a more recent e of a medical college why he used these two agents m only he replied, '*I used alum Sah, to pucker the gether, and rosin, Sah, to seal them up after they kered together." On looking over the therapeutics phylactics of today, we sometimes wonder if we have 3d very much upon the old Kentucky doctor, tudy of prophylaxis brings to our attention several .nt points. You will certainly pardon me if I become prosaic or appear somewhat cynical, as the subject onsideration stimulates to either condition. 'nition: Vaccination, technically means *'the art or • of inoculating persons with the cow pox.*' '^(■nate, from the Latin vctccay a cow, means to inocu- ^ the cow pox (with especial emphasis upon coiv) or taken from cows called vaccine matter. cinated — Inoculated with the cow pox. I will observe that there are two things necessary in *ess of vaccinating, the manner and the matter. There
iblic address delivered at the January meeting of the Regular thic Medical Society, Chicago.
142 THE MEDICAL. ADVANCE.
can be, according to these definitions, no two ways of vacci- nation. It must be by inocculation, and it must be with the cow pox. In this I am sure I am technically and legally correct.
But the question arises right here as it has often done -- how about taking a scab or some virus of a variolous nature from one person and therewith inoculating another? Is this vaccination? Many so practice it, but in truth it is not vac- cination. The only part about the process that simulates , vaccination is inoculation. It is not vaccination pure and
simple because it is not done with cow'pox. If it is not vac- cination, technically, then what is it? The word vaccinate is derived from, as stated "above, vacca, a cow. In the pres- ent instance it cannot apply, for the virus is taken from a human being, and man in Greek is Homo, and the noun form must, therefore, necessarily be homocination, while the act can be no more nor less tlian homicide.
Here you have the whole process in as simple English as it is possible for me to state it. The above being true (and you cannot question it for a moment) there can be no ' I more reason for vaccination than for homocination, and no
more reason to commit the act, to vaccinate, than there is ^ to commit homicide. If the one act is criminal the other
should be, if one is illegal and disastrous to human life, the * other should be classed in the same criminal list. But, se-
riously, ladies and gentlemen, in this matter of marked con- tention, we are not, in fact, so much exercised about some of the crude, repulsive, and barbarous technicalities as to the results to be obtained. While some of the crudities of niedicine are little less than shocking in their administration it is, after all is said, results that we desire; not fleeting, ephemeral, Roman-candle like results, but lasting, effectual results with the least possible danger to health and life. Let us not inflict pain to prevent pain when it can be pre- vented by a more rational procedure.
THE trup: meaning.
Our most ardent desire is to find a true, honorable and honest means by which to obtain pure, harmless and lasting
lCCination the only preventive of small pox? 143
ts without exposing our stupidity by being blind fol- rs of the blind in every crudity that comes along. Be-
3 Mr. accidentally swallowed a beetle and wasthere-
ilieved of an attack of entero-colitis which was afftict- lim so severely at the time that he could not close his h, does it follow that we must prescribe the same kind beette to every man suffering from a similar affliction :dless of every other condition, to obtain relief from a ar attack of colic?
SVhat is it that we want to obtain in the matter of vacci- ►n, and the administration of internal remedies? A hylactic. And what is a prophylactic? In the verbal it means ''to prevent, to guard against, to preserve." le noun form it means a medicine which preserves or ids against disease, '*a preventive." There is nothing in the dictionary about what kind of medicine prevents low the medicine is to be given — per orum (by mouth) or sutaneously. This being true it is obvious that, in a stu- f prophylactics and their administration, ill advised fan- sm has played first base to the injury of the e.
Judgment, acute observation, unprejudiced investiga- have played but little part in some of the preventives of past. A remedy, or a combination of remedies has been ited before the public and the profession; results have I lauded to the high heavens, and all have fallen into ching columns and blindly followed these laudations un- ome master mind has proven them worthless; when sud- y th^re is a flanking movement to follow another U/nus. ti has been the trend of medical science until Osier and (rs have become atheistic.
As rational beings it is the prevention or the preventive icine we want — a remedy well proven and certain to luce results — and not the manner of inoculating human gs with a poison the results of which, in so many in- ces, have proven positively hazardous. It is not wise it a tree down for fear that some future storm may blow 'er. Our forests are already sadly depleted by such
ll
.1
M4 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
For the sake of argument let us suppose that the dis- coverer of quinine as a prophylactic against malarial fever fwhich is not admitted) found, by mere accident, that ten fn^ins dissolved in one-half glass of warm water, the whole amount of it taken at one dose on retiring prevents a chill on the following day; and then suppose that one hundred years later another observer found that two grains put into n gelatine capsule or encased in sweet chocolate, and taken on retiring, accomplished the same results without the nau- seous taste and annoying deafness as a sequela; does it fol- low that we (or any one for that matter) must take our qui- nine in the manner and quantity prescribed by the first ob- server? Would it be sane to pass a law compelling people to take their quinine in such a manner at the caprice of a health officer or some one else in authority, when a simple and milder and infinitely less injurious method had been dis- covered? Has any officer of the law or any combination of officers of the law for that matter, any authority, whatever, bo compel me to take my quinine in the manner as given by aamber one, and this too when I had no malarial chills or fever, and, though living in a malarious climate was not Tifflicted with its ravages? No one but a fool would say yes. One thing is true — if I had to take my quinine as prescribed by number one there would be two emphatic doses instead of one — one down and the other up. And if I choose not to take it at all what concern is that of his? And I am sure that this particular form of taking quinine- could never be legalized in Kentucky, Chicago and St. Louis wh^re water jf4 so seldom used internally.
CAUSING DISEASE TO PREVENT DISEASE!
I beg pardon, in matters of life and health the more ra- tional and reasonable we are the safer the public in general will bie; for to some of us at least it does not seem rational to create one evil in order to prevent another, to injure health in order to prevent an injury to health. But what has this to do with vaccination? Much every way. Let us isee. The original idea was, and the modern practice is to inoculate the human blood with a diseased product, practi-
IJCINATION THE ONLY PREVENTIVE OF SMAL.L POX. 145
crude, a poisonous substance obtained from a cow — •eed is not mentioned — in fact a scab from a putrifying a virus, a diseased product without regard to the age position of the cow, without any consideration as to ler she is docile and a good milker, or whether she is sh and ready to kick or butt the green cheese put of the . There is no question as to whether the cow is white Lck, a Jersey or PoU-angus, or simply the old bob tailed le fresh from the wood's pasture. There is absolutely estion asked as to the influence of this inoculated virus the human family and its disposition, and possibly this necessary; but judging from what we have seen, we >rced to the conclusion that the vast majority of the n race must have been inoculated with the virus taken the most celebrated kickers in the herd, and that the y practically was left out of the question, •eriously, this virus or cow pox is supposed to be taken healthy cows so declared by an experienced veterinary; teriiized, foul matter is supposed to have been elimin- and with glycerine as a bas^ it is put into hermetical- iled glass tubes or upon ivory or bone points. This is supposed to contain nothing but the pure unadult- d cow pox^ which, if inoculated into the human body ices a condition and an array of symptoms supposed to I that body immune against small-pox. It is in fact the iss of producing one disease in an active form in order event another. It is changing a normal for an abnor- iondition in an effort to prevent abnormality. It is en- ag one diseased condition with all its complications and 3lae in an effort to prevent another in an individual who nob be susc3Dtible to it. If enforced as some desire, it lited in its operation, in its ravages, by the limitations rrestrial population only; while the disease it is sup- d to prevent is self limiting in its nature, and never be- 5s universally epidemic. It is making a drunkard of 1 to prevent his becoming a thief, even though, he has T shown any tendencies to kleptomania, regardless of vital question as to whether John is safer, a better and
1
I
146 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
a decidedly more moral man as a drunkard than as a thief. This is not overdrawn, but is a living issue right in our midst at this very moment.
Let us suppose for a moment that the cow from which the virus is taken is perfectly healthy, does it still follow that inoculation by this virus to produce sickness where none exists, in order to prevent one the patient may never have, has any enduring or prophylactic properties? If not is it rational to produce every six months, one year, two years or more a disease in a healthy body, or keep enforc- ing a diseased condition in a body already depleted by pre- ceding inoculations, to prevent another disease often less injurious than the inoculated disease? What will be the final results of this im]>edunent or repeated impediments to the vital forces — this deadening of strength and poisoning of the blood? What would you think of the man who pro- duces by severe remedies a depleting dysentery every three, four or six montlis or even a year tD prevent a constipation he did not have and possibly would not have, but feels he might have? Is he preventing or producing the thing he feared? Would you not say that he was a fit subject for Dunning or the FooFs cap. The theory and the practice, therefore, of this entire problem seems to me void of every vestige of correct reasoning.
cow POX A MIXED INFECTION.
Nor is this all. The cows are not all healthy. There may be latent tuberculosis, anthrax, tetanus or other disor- ders, for we know that these are common among cattle. These various diseases may b3 ready to blossom into action and still be unnoticed by the veterinary until the tubes have been filled and the points medicated and sent abroad in the land. Then what? Sup])ose that out of a herd of fifty cows on a vaccine farm there is one tubercular cow — a thing very probable — and suppose that from this cow there are 500 tubes and points prepared and sent to various parts of the world and used in vaccinating people. Now then, it is not at all improbable that out of every fifty persons vaccinated there is one of a tubercular diathesis, or predisposition to tuber-
INATION THE ONLY PREVENTIVE OF SMALL. POX? 147
Will not the infection with these tubercular germs t were, the entire system on fire with tubercular hasten its development, increase the sufferings of the lal, shorten his life and make it more impossible to
ameliorate than if he had not been so inoculated? iing of very combustible fuel to a fl^me increases its i makes it more dangerous.
; you say this is a small percentage of what may be ^, and if forty-nine cases can be saved or forty-nine ■ small pox can be prevented we should be willing to I one out of fifty. But does it prevent? Suppose s one to be sacrificed is the only son of a wealthy or ial family, and vast interests are at stake, which in rse of time he is to assume, and with which he can imself a blessing, to the whole family, does it still hat it is wise and in the interest of science to sacri- B in fifty to maintain the prophylactic properties of tion? Suppose further, that this one out of fifty is ily son or only child and you know that under ordi- rcumstances he or she will live to comfort your de- years, do you still want to sacrifice this one to main- doubtful prophylactic? Ah, this is * 'sentiment not *1 Let it be sentiment, but is it not a stern fact that, ome of these things come to our homes and ruin them ik a trifle faster than when they ruin our neighbor's
And yet in spite of all this there are few prophylac- nts used so indiscriminately, as vaccination.
MORE A FAD THAN SCIENTIFIC.
f^ are forced to think that it is more a fad than a care- udied scientific prophylaxis. Think of it I as a rule there question asked as to age, sex, occupation, previous on of health, environment, present State of health, ^on of the skin or any other part of the body. The law state provides, timidly, certain limitations in the ' of vaccination, but it is a mere apology for a limita- Orders are issued by Boards of Health, often prompted 'Onscienceless health physician that, all the school -h in a certain school or schools must be vaccinated.
U8 . THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
and in some instances this same health physician, or some one appointed by him to do the vaccinating,proceeds to said school or schools and without a word from the parents, for or against the procedure, vaccinates every one who has not been recently vaccinated and in doing so hopes to enhance his own reputation and the popularity of his prophylactic. Indeed, in some instances school boards and teachers and influential patrons of the school laud such a physician and board of health to the heavens, never for one single momeni tarrying long enough to think of the many serious and fatal diseases produced by the process. It is the fashion and must be followed at any cost.
There is never a question asked as to how this inflated theory and practice will affect the future of the child. There is never a question as to the^ sore arms (that is what they ex- pect), feverish nights, pain, ulcers, necrosis, erysipelas, im- paired hearing, impaired vision, decayed teeth, every con- ceivable form of nervous irritability, anemia, languor, en larged glands, atrophied muscles, melancholy and a thousand other ills that follow in the train of this great destroyer of human health. Is this over-drawn? Has imagination played too many pranks with facts? Possibly! I have in my own family a daughter who, after being vaccinated at three years of age, had necrosis of the left side of the lower jaw from which I removed a piece of bone as large as a filbert, and soon thereafter removed a similar piece of bone from the lower i)osterior angle of the right jaw. This is but one instance, but being in my own family makes it all the more important to me.
AN INVASION OF PERSONAL RIGHTS.
The strange feature of the matter is this that, in spite of open and glaring facts stigmatizing this as a barbarous prac- tice, and in spite of the opposition of some of our most liearned observers, crafty individuals continue to practice it and urge its practice among the laity and, indeed, try to pass legislative measures enforcing the practice against the free, full and better judgement of the sane population.
Think of it I trying to pass laws obligating physicians to
:CINATION THE ONLY PREVENTIVE OF SMALL POX. 149
late indiscriminately the high and the low, the rich and X)r, the sick and the well, to prevent a disease which, ? the introduction of vaccination was comparatively a disease — to pass a law compelling physicians to vacci- :he inhabitants of our fair and healthy land with a dis- >roduct to produce a diseased condition; to engraft on ric, tubercular or other miasmstic base, another miasm, by complicating the existing and constitutional state lucing new symptoms and causing a new disease nomen- 'e. It is lowering the vital forces of a nation, imped- lysical, mental and normal development, endangering nd augmenting general suffering, and all this to pre- -to prevent — Ah me! to prevent a mole hill and create mtain, to prevent a spark and cau^ie a conflagration, is civilization, enlightenment, Christianity! This is e, progress, the acme of human prophylactics. Great prevention of the progressionists!
J^hat right has any man to come into my home and in- be with the cow-pox any' member of my family now in health and not in the least exposed to a contagion of dnd to prevent something not even now epidemic, and ng so cause pain, fever, sleepless nights, inability for d or physical labor, for three or four weeks, or engraft by on the constitution a disease far more insidious in erations and deadly in its ravages than small-poxV Did ver hear of or see anything quite so barbarous? Yet 5 being done many times and were it not for the oppo- it would be done more frequently.
tut it has been proven that vaccination is a preventive lall-pox. Is it true, in the spirit in which these words dually uttered? Is it true, or is it building a super- bure upon false foundations?
^he whole problem is as reasonable as it would be to ce the use of some particular brand of limburger cheese istry dyspeptics, or some special brand of macaroni ailway employes, or some particular species of birds- joup for the gout. Talk about trusts and graft! f all these things are true, is it not appalling that men
150 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
it in this age of the world insist upon and practice such disease
and death dealing blows as vaccination?
,, WHAT DOES HOMEOPATHY OFFER.
1 1 But the question arises — what have you to offer that will
*J prevent small-pox and not endanger health or life? We have
,1 everything reasonable to offer. Observe the following which
"l has been proven most effective, very easy to obtain and is
'. practiced by many of our most enlightened physicians.
^ First: Cleanliness — personal, in the home, on the table
\ — in every way.
X Sec6nd: Courage, in opposition to fear. Fear is pro-
ductive of many contagions and particularly small -pox.
Third: The indicated remedy in each individual case. By this I mean that every individual with an ache or pain or susceptibility to disease should have the homeopathic re- " niedy suited to his or her particular disease tendency and
4 this tendency removed. Such an individual restored to
j-I health by the true homeopathic method has absolutely noth-
^B ing to fear from cx)ntagion. He is healthy and health is in-
imical to contagion.
Fourth: Particular remedies in case of danger from small-pox. These remedies are — Malandrinum, Vaccininum and Variolinum. These are all true, safe and tried prophy- 'f Ifictics.
j Time forbids me giving statistics and results which are
abundant. The subject is now before you for discussion.
[In the August issue of The Advance, (Appendix), can be found an article written by Dr. C. W. Eaton, of Des Moines, Iowa, giving some very interesting statistics which show the results in over two thousand cases where the hom- eopathic prophylaxis of small pox was successfully used. A reprint of this excellent paper can be obtained for five cents a copy by addressing The Advande. Ed.]
ELATION OF VACCINATION TO TUBERCULOSIS.
151
ILATION OF VACCINATION TO TUBERCULOSIS.
BY W. P. Roberts, M. D., Chicago, ig seventy years **young", a cured consumptive, a and holding a diploma of one of the recognized athic Medical Colleges chartered under the laws of * 'Please can I speak"?
856 I was doomed to die of consumption — phthisis iris — in my native state of Maine, by five as eminent ,ns as the state then afforded.
as my good fortune at this time to have a brother > building a railroad from Peoria 111., to Burlington [t happened in the month of September of that ble 1856, when the old time western autumns were so lightful, that I landed at my brother's comfortable Peoria so feeble I could not walk a block without ? to rest. My feet were swollen, I had night sweats ^ry distressing cough, not to mention the filthy sputa s so disgusting to well people, and a most annoying to the victim whence it came.
i doctors who had doomed me to die within six . made no mistake in their diagnosis I am sure, but mewhat off on their prognosis, for here I am very live over fifty years later.
iice, now to say, that inside of two months after adopt- leer railroad camp life I was a cured consumptive, or ly cured that I was placed on the pay-roll and took terest in helping complete the track into Galesburg the winter. Passing the troubles of those days I nyself on a farm in Linn County Iowa, where I pros- orsix years, and was the neighborhood "Man nurse", with a box of homeopathic pellets and Small's domes- i bo'jk, doing the best I knew free gratis to care for f, being the nearest to a full fledged doctor within es of the little town called Fairfax. In 1h7)] I sold II, moved to Chicago, bought a perpetual ticket in nann College and took my lectures, until in 1876 the deemed me qualified to practice medicine and surgery ^6 me the medical degree.
152
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
[
KOCH'S TUBERCULIN ANNOUNCED.
One sees a variety of conditions and has many ex- periences in an active medical practice covering a period of nearly forty years.
In 1890 during the'greatKoah treatment for tuberculosis I grew intensely interested, and in tlie midst of that wonder- ful excitement when the newspapers were giving it the widest free advertising, some Milwaukee doctors journeyed all the way to Koch's headquarters in Germany, to secure the material, and instruction how to use it. I got more and more on the alert to keep **tab" on reported results.
It did not take very long to prove it to be another **Fadilinkdum" — for according to published reports many a poor sufferer with tuberculosis took the limited fast train out of Milwaukee for the '^Kingdom come." The victims flocked there from far and near only to be hurried into their funeral wardrobes and "wooden overcoats."
About this time I ventured to furnish a short article for my daily paper, the (liiciujo later Ocean. It found a welcome, and brought me compliments from some brother homeo- pathic practitioners. In that article I ventured to compare the difference between the two schools of medicine, making the story good by giving the many persecutions our great founder, and Master of Homeopathy — Samuel Hahnemann — passed through, and finally driven from his '*Father-land' into a foreign country where he was given a chance to prove the science of Siniilia SlmUibus Curantur. One hundred years later an old school doctor without havltif/ proved anything definite had, mushroom-like, gained great applause through every printing oftice throughout the world. I ventured to predict that it would not last long. My prediction came true, for it was only a short time until one of his own school, a scientist, Virchow by name, pronounced his opinion on th e Koch treatment, and it went out like a summer snow.
This disappointment to the medical profession was the means of setting the gray matter in my cranium into a ction. In April of 1<^90, I was able to get to Chicago where I found an old friend in Dr. T. C. Duncan ready to take a
iLATION OF VACCINATION TO TUBERCULOSIS.
153
ith me, and we inaugurated the first crugade along of the **Open-aJr'' means of treatment or a similar by which I had been saved, way back in 1856. In n three months we had organized the ** American Resort Association," and secured a charter under the regulations.
Qy wanderings over New England and New York I I funds and distributed Jour literature amongst two viz.: the doctors and editors.
BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS.
ile on a trip through western New York in 1893, I in Syracuse and chanced to see in the morning notice of the state annual meeting of the veterina- id found that they would have a paper on bovine losis read and discussed. I found the hall and was hearty welcome and invited to have a part in the on from the standpoint of a medical man. pas definitely proven by the veterinarians that near- le native cattle in the great Empire State were afflict- tuberculosis, and if they were allowed to live to a ears old, the most of them would die of tuberculosis, lem of the experiences of the Rhode Island people at ate farm where it was discovered by the secretary of te Board of Health, that the herd was affected with losis, and an expert veterinarian from Massachusetts ployed to examine the herd. After making a care gnosis he decided that about one-third of the seventy irely affected, one-third he was doubtful about, and •d he thought did not have any tubercles. But after emor held a council with his staff, it was decided to er the whole Jierd, and it was found that even the at heifers, and six months old calves showed the tu- in their lungs.
lention these experiences to prove what came to my dge later relating to bovine vaccination, more espe- he so-called '*pure calf lymph," which was then, and 30 much lauded by the pro- vaccinationists.
154 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
COMPULSORY VACCINATION IN MASSACHUSETTS.
During the attempt to abolish compulsory vaccination in Massachusetts a few years ago, it was my privilege to be present at four of the five hearings before the public health committee in the state legislature. I learned many things regarding the methods of securing the poison com- monly called vaccine virus, or *'pure calf lymph." I being an anti-vaccinationist since 1883, was deeply interested to learn, and if possible, to know if I had been making a mis- take along these lines, but the more information I obtained the stronger I became convinced I had not made any mis- take in taking this stand. I learned one point not generally known, viz.: that instead of the virus being kept alive and handed down since Dr. Jenner's time, that some twenty years ago, a brand new and fresh source of supply was se- cured somewhere in France from a cow which was sporadi- cally affected with "cow-pox." This opportunity was seized upon to begin anew. This news came as a surprise when one legislator on the committee put the question to the sec- retary of the state board of health. I was requested to help the public health committee think of pertinent questions to to draw out information. This gave the anti- vaccinationists opportunities to discuss them, either pro. or con. I took the ground in the discussions that all bovine vaccine virus was nothing but "rot"' of broken down animal tissues, and it was unconstitutional for any body of officers, municipal, or other wise to make ordinances, or pass legislative enactments to endanger the health and lives of innocent children, and that the so-called protection against small-pox by bovine vacci- nation, was not only dangerous, but depleted the victim, making them more succeptible to small-pox and other dis- eases. And, since all cattle were liable to have tuberculosis, and since the majority of the people are forced to be vacci- nated it was one, if not the most prolific cause of consumption — tuberculosis. In my judgement the sooner vaccination is abolished the sooner will begin a decrease in death rates from tuberculosis.
We learn in the Good Book that the Prophets inform us
VARIOLINUM IN THE TREATMENT OF SMALL POX.
155
le terrible troubles that must precede the beginning of Millennial age. Part of this work of the Devil began by inating the human body with filthy virus to prevent loathsome disease. God's **Moses" Dr. Creighton, set e pace for abolishing this diabolical fallacy even though i^lit add to the terrible troubles predicted and it is the of those who do not believe in the fallacy to act as ors, not so much by instituting suits in civil courts of at by insisting on teaching the better way as laid down r Masters in Homeopathy.
OLINUM IN THE TREATMENT OF SMALL POX^
By Dr. Fkank A. Gustafson, Aurora, III.
ofessor of Materia Medica, Hering Medical College, Chicago, larly this spring it was my fortune, or misfortune, to an experience with small pox such as is rarely encoun- by the medical man in general practice today, he disease found its way into the school of the little e in which I then i;esided, and before we were through t we had some fifty-five cases in all, mostly confined ( children of the primary grade and their smaller broth- id sisters, although there were a number of adults af- l.
f the fifty- five cases reported none died. This may been due in part to the fact that in the majority of the disease was very mild, but there is no question in ind but that the remedy had a good deal to do in mod- ? the type of the disorder; since otherwise there is no .nation for the recovery of some of the cases of the severe type. The great majority of those afflicted not very ill after the appearance of the eruption; some scarcely ill at all after taking the medicine; others very ill with a severe confluent type, and one or two ly escaped death.
rhere is no question as to the diagnosis — the officers of State Board of Health confirmed that, and were fully feof the gravity of, at least two of the cases. So we
1
156 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
have to deal in this report with variola vera, not chicken pox, or some other hybrid disorder simulating it. We have to deal with a disorder described in warning circulars sent out by the health officials of the state as having resumed its former malignancy and claiming its victims by the score.
With but few exceptions the stage of invasion was sim ilar to that described in the books; headache, backache, sore throat, furred tongue, high temperature, great drowsiness, etc- , persisting for some two or three days, with an erup- tion of a pustular type appearing upon the face, extremities and other parts of ^he body in due order.
But with the second stage there was a departure from the discription of the books. The patient, as a rule, and with one exception only, failed to develop a secondary tem- l)erature, and that too in severe confluent cases. Moreover, the disease was shortened by many days, in- some cases as many as ten or twelve days, and but two cases ran the fuL four weeks of the unmodified disease. And in this reckon ing I count from the date of the initial chill or fever to the end of the stage of desquamation, or until the skin was en- tirely clear of crusts.
Case I. E. B. Ten years of age, the first of the cases of any consequence. Taken ill as stated above with head- ache, backache, high temperature, etc., eruption on the third day, decline of temperature with appearance of eruption.
Treatment — Atimonium tartaricum because of charac- teristic eruption and other symptoms. On the seventh day she was given Variolinum Im. in water. This was one of the most perfectly developed confluent cases of the whole epidemic. There was not a patch of skin on her whole body free from pustules — sometimes a mass of eight or ten pus- tules coalesced. On both feet were patches as large as fifty- cent pieces. Notwithstanding all this pus her temperature never exceeded QQi"^ after the decline of the primary tAn perature, and this only for a day or two. Nor was she at all ill, she felt well, would have been up and about her room but for the tenderness of the soles of her feet. This is truly
lRiolincm in the treatment of small pox. 157
:able state of affairs in confluent small pox. And
E II. R. B. Twelve years of age. Severe conflu- 1 pox, pronounced by visiting physicians in a preca- idition. His temperature remained between 101° for seven or eight days. The eruption was slow in Lg, temperature delayed in declining after appear- iruption, secondary temperature of 103^. But un- olinum Im. and later 5cm., he made a good recovery y days, and there are no pits, nor scars to tell the
E III. G. G. Forty-seven years of age. Confluent >x, high temperature, higher than any of the others, from the beginning; so ill that I bad no thought of lim. Even after the appearance of the eruption the ture continued above 103°. He was tall, lean, shouldered, red faced, a great eater, and not overly ar as to his personal appearance. And Variolinum )n these symptoms he was given three doses of Sul- ?h, followed in twelve hours by Variolinuxti 5cm. cided amelioration. Within twenty-four hours his tture dropped to normal and he made an uneventful
y.
Dy other cases might be cited, but these suffice for
tion.
lowever, wish to report the following in evidence of
^er of Variolinum to cut short the duration of the
SE IV. R. B. Fourteen years old. Confluent pus-
tt ninth day, crusts on eleventh day, complete dequa-
on the twentieth day.
eatment — Variolinum Im and cm.
SE V. G. B. Four years old. Confluent papules
y, pustules eighth day; clear skin in twenty-one days.
^um Im.
SE VI. G. G. Fourty-seven years. Confluent.
ton in twenty-one days. Variolinum cm, 5 cm, and
r cm intercurrent.
158 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Case VII. L. S. Four years. Severe, discrete crusts on seventh day; clear skin on fourteenth day. Variolinum Im.
Case VIII. Baby S. Seven months. Severe, discrete clear skin on the fourteenth day. Variolinum Im.
Case IX. Mrs. B. Seventy-four years. Discrete, clear skin on twelfth day. Variolinum ocm. Never had been vaccinated.
Case X. L. B. Five years. Severe, discrete; clear skin on fourteenth day. Variolinum Ira.
Cask XI. L. S. Five years. Discrete; clear skin on tenth day. Variolinum Ira.
Case XII. \V. M. Sixteen years. Clear skin on six- teenth day. Variolinum cm.
Case XIII. S. S. Ten months. Discrete; clear skin on thirteentli day. Variolinum Im.
Case XIV. F. B. Four years. Clear skin on thir- teenth day. Variolinum im.
This case was a very mild one, indeed, although her brother and sister had the disease very severely. She had as a prophylactic Variolinum liOO, but none of those to whom I gav(^ the 200 potency escaped the disease when thoronghly expostnl. After st^curin^ the Im and pushing it every two hours until headache developed in this instance, and in many others in this epidemic, it seemed to stir up things and cause an explosion, as it were, of the sickness. She became very ill for two days, but after that romped and played all day. There w(»re but three or four pustules and these on the face, no scars or pits.
Many other cases have points of interest, but I forbear further citations.
It is my experience from observation in this epidemic that Variolinum is an almost unfailing curative remedy in small pox; that wiien given early enough it modifies the se- verity of the case; that if given persistently it prevents the secondary fever, or so modifies it that it is scarcely to be considered; it shortens the course of the disease, and pre- vents unsightly pitting, there being in the whole fifty-five
VARIOLINUM IN THE TREATMENT OF SMALL POX. 159
ses but very few pits indeed, and in my judgment these e due solely to scratching off half- ripened crusts, and even en these scars are hardly noticable.
I find further that the Im potency is'well suited to child- n and did better work with them than did any other po- licy. The two hundreth failed completely. With adults I ad more satisfaction with the 5cm.
I find, further, that to obtain the best results it isneces- try to continue the use of the remedy at frequent intervals orn day to day until the pustules begin to ripen, then dis^ mtinue the medicine altogether.
I failed to find any remedy of sufficient power to per- ^ptibly influence the initial fever.
I am unable to verify the statements of Dr. A. M. Linn, Des Moines Iowa, reported in the Advance in February •04, page %, that if exhibited from the date of exposure ariolinum will check the disease before its eruptive stage; at it will abort the disease before the vesicular stage if ven continually from the time of the initial chill, and that given from the date of the eruption it checks small pox by e time it reaches the pustular stage. Such is not my ex- ?rience. The remedy is powerful and does great things. Lit I fail to see things in this light.
I am fully convinced that at times it is necessary to terpose constitutional remedies; e- g. note cas(; of G. G, herein Sulphur prepared him for Variolinum even when ariolinum had failed; Sulphur being prescribed in this stance not because Variolinum had failed but upon general id constitutional symptoms which could no longer be ig- 3red.
I find further, that Variolinum if given as a prophylactic 1 sufficient degree of potency will either prevent small pox efore and after exposure, or seems to have power to ex- >locle the case within a very few days after the remedy has >^en taken in those too far gone to escape, and in these cases modifies the whole disorder to a considerable extent ^ith exception of the initial fever, which seems to be un- changed to any perceptible degree.
I
160 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
At a later date I shall report something of my experience with Variolinum as a prophylactic.
[This report makes good the claim that the Hahneman- nian treatment of variola is just as superior to that of '*old physic'' or the alternating palliative treatment— yclept hom- eopathic— as it is in pneumonia, diphtheria, dysentary, ty- phoid or anything else. Where can be found a 'report of 55 cases of variola — discrete and confluent as they occur — un- der any other method of treatment without pitting or with- out a death. Ed.]
WHAT 18 THE STUFF VARIOUSLY TERMED ^^VACCINE
VIRUS," ^^BOVINE VIRUS," "ANIMAL LYMPH,"
^^CALF LYMPH," "PURE CALF-LYMPH," ETC.
By J. W. Hodge, M. D., Niagara Falls, N. Y.
Niagara Falls, Dec. lu, J907. Editor Mfdical Advance: —
At the request 6f the editor I sent the Critique a paper on vaccina- M<m, who after holding it a long time, published it in December, 1907, *ri an emas emulated form. I wfis greatly disappointed, for as printed, the paper was worthless. The correspondence with Parke, Davis «Sc Co. I36neerning the nature and origin of th» ir vaccine "lymph" was omitted. On examiting the first cover page of the December issue of the Critique^ jou will find a half page advertisement of Parke, Davis & Co.'s anti- diphtheritic serum, which no doubt accounts for the omission of all ref- erence to that firm and the consequent i-masculation of my article. An. editor has a right to accept or decline an article, but no right to emas- culate it for fear of offending an advertiser. D )es the drug advertiser CttBtrol the principles of a homeopathic journal?
J. W. Hodge, M. D.
[In behalf of fair treatment and the interests of homeo- pathic journalism, we republish the paper. Eb.]
For many years the writer has earnestly endeavored to ascertain the character and discover the original sources of the various disea';e products sold by vaccine propagators under the above mentioned names.
During the past year I have repeatedly attempted through correspondence with the various vaccine establish- irients in this country to learn what these substances consist of, and from what sources they were originally derived be-
i
WHAT ARE THE VARIOUS VIRUSES?
161
being inoculated upon the cow or the calf. In my per- Dt efforts to procure some information on these obscure :s, I addressed letters of inquiry to all the principal pox factories doing business in the United States. From
of these disease factories I have been unable after fre- t requests to elicit any reply whatever. For instance, Iressed four letters on different occasions to the Nation- iccine Establishment, of Washington, D. C, of which h Walsh, M. D., is director and manager, enquiring as e nature and original source of the National Vaccine blishment's output of * 'lymph." The gentleman above id refused to answer any of my questions or to give me nformation whatever regarding the disease products out from the National Vaccine Establishment as "pure ine virus." I finally abandoned all hope of receiving [nformation from this vaccine-grafter as to the formula e disease-bearing material sent out by the establish- ; he represents. The formula of the National vaccine 'um is a trade secret not to be divulged to members of nedical profession.
Prom other vaccine propagators I received vague and ive responses to my specific questions, but have never
able to get from any of the cow-pox factories any de- >tion or definition of the material misbranded "calf )h."
[ have had correspondence with the following named erns: the H. H. Mulford Co.. of Philadelphia, Pa,; :e, Davis & Co., Detroit, Mich.; New England Vaccine pany, Boston, Mass.; Dr. H. M. Alexander & Company, etta. Pa.; Frederick Stearns & Co., Detroit, Mich., and rs. From none of the above concerns have I been able licit a frank, straightforwai'd and unequivocal reply
the two exceptions of Parke, Davis & Co., and Alexan- k Co.,. in answer to my questions, "What is the charac- .nd original source of the seed -vaccine used for inocu- g calves in your propagations?"
Alexander & Co. replied under date of Oct. 2oth, 1906, >llows:
K
i:
i
162 the: medical advance.
The Lancaster County Vaccine Farm, Marietta, Pa. Dear Brother Hodge:—
III response to yoiir inquiry of the 25nd inst., we be^i: to state that vaccine virus or its active principle is a subject about which very litile 18 definitely known. We are only able to arrive at the results obtained from certain conditions.
It was thought by Dr. TI. M. Alexander, the founder of our estab- lishment, that he had discovered a cas*^ of spontaneous cow-pox, and we have been iisin^'- as one of our striaus of seed-virus this source for nearly twenty year?*. It later developed, however, that the case referred to evidently was inoculated by a trarpp having small pox and who slept in the stable.
We rei]:ret our inability to give you more difinite information on the subject, but trust the above may be of some value to you.
(Signel) Dr. H. M. Alexander *S: Co., Inc.,
By K. C Eoglti, Manager. In its advertisements a few years ago Dr. H. M. Alex- ander & Co. made the following boastful announcement: **Our farms are the largest, chnmest and most complete in the world. Our vaccine sourc(» America's only authenticated case of spontanious cow-pox." Now the Alexander Compa- ny admits that the **only authenticated case of spontaneous cow-pox" was caught from a tramp having small pox. How many other disease taints this tramx)-vaccinifer harbored in his system is not mentioned. -The tramp is justly regarded as the lowest and lilthiest s])ecim(m of the Imman, race. What a delightful source from whicli to secure '*pure calf lymph" for the purpose of inoculating the wholesome bodies of innocent babes I
My obj(*ct in calling your attention to these facts is not to disci-edit the vaccine stock of the Alexander Company, as compared with that of other proi:)agators. There are many reasons for believing that the outinit of this company is far from being as (lang(M"ous as is the vaccine propagated by- rival establishments in the pox nranufacturing business, for it received the only award grantt^d bovine virus at the World's Fair, Chicago. The results of a very thorough an- alytical t(\st made by the Columbus Medical Laboratory of Chicago, of the vaccines from all the known propagators of this country, showed that of these vaccines which were
WHAT ARE THE VARIOUS VIRUSES:
163
Kht in the open market, the product of the Lancaster ^^ty Farms was the only one which was free from pus ^^ria and other pathogenetic micro-organisms f.ound in vaccines of other propagators. It is evident therefore ^ the tmmp-derived vaccine is not the worst to be found.
MORE ''spontaneous" SMALL, POX.
1^1 response to my inquiries concerning the character ^he original source of their seed- vaccine, I received ^ Parke, Davis & Co. the following reply: ,
rr ^ Detroit, Mich., Oct. 23rd, 1906.
• ^odge. Niagara Falls, N. Y.:—
^^»r Sir.
*Q reply to your inquiry of the 2 1st inst. we beg to say that our ^ceine was obtained from spontaneous cases of cow-pox in Germa-
Q Switzerland. Yours very truly,
(Signed) Parke, Dav'is & Co.
^^^^ according to Dr. Edward Jenner, the founder and ^^^ator of vaccination, these radically different viruses iCated and supplied by these two ostablishments, are ^^^l5" worthless and non protective against small pox. '^ <^*lassed ''spontaneous" cow-pox among the "spuri- varieties of that disease. He also declared that the ^'^ceine virus which is effective against small pox is ^'^I'iety derived from horse-grease.
^y a perusal of Dr. Jenners works I tind that when he iblished vaccination he was particular to point out and phasize the importanci^ of using only a certain kind of as. The cow-pox to which he ascribed mysterious anti- riolous virtues was a tilth-disease communicated to the its and udder of the cow by dirty stable-men whose hands re soiled with the matter from the greasy heels of ill-kept rses. Grease is a disorder resulting from, inflammation of ^ sebaceous glands of the skin about the heels of a horse d is technically termed eczema puMtdoHion. Scientific vete- ttarians inform us that this disease of the horse sui)erven(^s [>on exposure to wet, and from subsetpient lack of cleunli- ess, and is invariably the result of carelessness or incom- entency of the groom. The discharge from these pustules ' ^ften profuse, is very irritating to the surface over which
I
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164 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
it flows, and is fetid. This purulent discharge carried on* the dirty hands of farm-laborers to the teats or other sensi- tive parts of the cow, produces the disorder which has been ciisnamed cow-pox. What Jennerian lymph Is or was de- scribed thus in Dr. Jenner's original work, published in 1801, I dated Berkeley, Gloucestershire, December 20, 1799. The
^ title of this work is, '*An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects
* of Variola3 Vaccinae, a disease discovered in some of the
j Western counties of England, particularly Gloucestershire,
and known by the name of the cow-pox".
On page two of that work, the following description of vaccine virus is found:
There is a disease to which the horse, from his state of domestica- li(^n is frequently subject. The farriers (veterlnaries) have called it,the preas'^ It is an intlamation and swell injj^ of the heel, accompanied at its commencement with small cracks or fissures from which issues a limpid If fluid, ])ossessinor propertit^s of a v.^ry peculiar kind. This fluid seems
capable of ereneratin^ a disease in the human body (after it has under- gone tilt* modification I shall presently speak of) which bears so strong 1^ resemblance to the small-pox, that I think it higfhly probable it may he the source of that disease. This disease has obtained the name of the cnw-po\. It appears on the nipples of the cow in the form oi* irreg* ular pustules. Th»^se pustules, unless a timely remedy bj applied, fi'equently degenerate into ulcers, which prove extremely troublesome.
When this disease has been transplanted from the cow's trnits to the hands of the milkers its course is described by Dr. Jenncr in the following language which I quote from his inquiry, (loc. cit.)
Inrtimed spots now beg^in to appear on different parts of the hands of the domestics employed in milking, and sometimes on the wrists which run on to suppuration, firsl assuming the appearance of small vesications produced by a burn. Most commonly they appear about the joints of tlie fingers, and at their extremeties; bat whatever parts are effected if Uie situation will admit these superficial suppurations put on a circular form, with their edges more elevated than their centre and of a color distinctly approHching to blue. Absorption takes place, and tumors ap- pijar in each axilla. The system becomes affected, the pulse is quick- em^d, shiverings succeeded by heat, general lassitude, and pains about the loins and limbs, with vomiMng come on. The head is painful, and the pi^tient is now and then even affected with delirium. These symptoms, varying in their degrees of violence, generally continue from one day to three or four, leaving ulcerated sores about the hands; which
WHAT ARE THE VARIOUS VIRUSES.
165
sensibility of the parts are very troublesome, and commonly ^ slowly, frequently becoming phagdenic," like those from jy sprung". During the progress of the disease, the lips, nostrils, id other parts of the body are sometimes affected with sores, at more faithful word-picture of septic poisoning I desired than is portrayed in the above quoted lan- f Dr. Jenner in his description of the manifestations -pox" in the human subject? rther quote from Dr. Jenner's * 'Inquiry" thefollow-
the disease makes its progress from the horse (as I conceive) )ple of the cow, and from the cow to the human subject. Mor- ir of various kinds when absorbeil into the system, may produce some degree similar. Bui what renders the cow-pox. virus so r singular is that the person who has been thus affected is forever ire from the infection of the small-pox; neither exposure to the effluvia, nor the insertion of the matter into the skin producing mper. In support of so extraordinary a fact, I shall lay before rs a groat number of instances. But, first, it is necessary to hat pustulous sores frequently appear spontaneously on the f the cows; and instances have occurred, though very rarely, of 8 of the servants employed in milking bjing affected with sores [Uence, and even of their feeling an indisposition from absorp- ese pustules are of a much milder nature than those which arise t contag on which constitutes the true cow-pox. No erysipelas them, nor do they show any phagadeuic disposition, as in the je, but quickly terminate in a scab without creating any ap- isorder in the cow. But this ditease, says Jenner, is not to be 3d as similar in any respect to that of which I anni treating, as it ble of producing any specific effects on the human constitution. ', it is of th*^ greatest consequence to point it out here, kM the liscriminatioyi nhould occasion an idea of security from the infection ill-poXy which mifjht prove delusive.
the foregoing quotation we have a full and complete fcion of Jennerian virus as given in Variolye Vaccina), Jenner himself . Epitomized, we have: — First, anill- rse suffering from eczema pustulosum, a filth disease. »ndly we have the purulent matter exuded from the 1 its diseased heels. This matter transferred to the ^d udder of the milch cow, therein maturing into enic ulcers.
irdly, matter from these ulcers is transplanted into k-maid's body.
166
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Fourthly, we have the constitutional disturbances which result therefrom, and a description of the local suifering of those who are thus affected.
So much for the true and genuine cow-pox virus. Dr. Jetiner emphatically avers that the ^^spontaneous" cow-pox is not protective. '*The pustules are of a much milder na- ture," he declares, '*than those which arise from that con- tagion which constitutes the true cow-pox." Furthermore **no erysipelas attends them," declares .Tenner, "nor do tliey show any phagadenic disposition as in the genuine cow pox." He strongly cautions his confreres against the Tise of "spontaneous"' or natural cow-pox, "lest the want of discrimination should occasion an idea of security from the infection of small pox which might prove delusive."
I have ihus far (luoted from the original work of Jenner himself. A perusal of Baron's life of Jenner not only cor- I'oboratcs all this, but leads us to an ac(iuaintonce with de- tails not at all comforting to those of us with whom cleanli- nt'ss is a part of our religion. Baron says:
Although thon^> is now no room for siny doubt that variohv^ may be thus derived ( from the fissured heol of the liorse), yet it is probable thit the ''greast'," as it is called in the horse's bed, is only the mode in which the disease commonl^^ exhibits itsdf in that animal. (Vide Bar- on's Life of Jenner, Vol. I. p. 242 >.
The following words of Dr. Jenncn* himself will best il- lustrato Baron's statement:
The skin of the horse is subject to an eruptive disease of a vesicular k'iharacter, which vesicle contains a lim|>id tluld showing itself most commonly in the heels. The lejjrs lirst become (t'dematous, and then fibsures are observed. The skin conti<]^uous to these fis-rures is ^een Htdd ied with snail vescicl s. surr.^uQ le:l by an areola. These vesicles t*ontain the s])ecifie tluid. ft is the illmanafromect of the horse in the stable that occasions the malady to app»'ar more freqtiently in the heel than in other parts. 1 have detected its connt»ction with a sore in the neck of a horsr, and in t\\e thi^j^h of a colt. ( See Baron's Life of Jen- [it*r, vol. r, p. 241).
Dr. Baron adds: "It has been established by unques- tionable evidence that matter from a horse does produce a pustule similar in appearance to the vaccine; and likewise possessing the same protecting power; and that without
WHAT ARE THE VARIOUS VIRUSES?
167
passed through the constitution of the cow." Baron
sa^^s:
17 Jenner inoculated direct from the horse without the inter-
if the cow, and with this matter he supplied the National Vac-
blishment, and it was extensively distributed in England and
(Vide Baron's Life of Jenner, vol. II, pp. 2r)5-()). is process Jenner called equination. itin^ from Berkley on Aug. 1, 1813, to James Moore, r of the National Vaccine Establishment, Jenner
7 Moore— I have been constantly equinating: for some months, leive not the smallest difference between the pustules thus pro- id the vaccine. Both are alilj:e because they come from the irce. (Vide Baron's Life of Jenner, vol. II, p. 3.S8i.
s surely unnecessary to adduce farther evidence of enner's mature faith and deliberate practice was. Vol. II, p. 185. of Baron's Life of Jenner we read ^ said Jenner," pointing to a horse with greasy heels, is the source of small pox." It is manifest through -
writings that to the end of his career Jonner held )x in the cow was not only derived from grease in the but that it was exclusively derived from that source, at apart from the horse cow-pox would cease to ex- fter having tested * 'spontaneous" cow-pox he dis-
it as being non-protective and useless. If Dr. Jen- oved anything it was that ''spontaneous" cow-pox > defense against small pox and because it was no de- 10 discarded it forever. Notwithstanding Dr. Jen- tter rejection and emphatic denunciation of "sponta- ^mall pox as "spurious,'' and "non-protective,'' we Lrko, Davis & Co. driving a roaring 'trade with the HIS mob in "spontaneous" cow-pox under the banner immortal Jenner.
^1' many years Dr. Henry A. Martin, of lU)ston. Mass. 10 leading propagator of vaccine virus in this country, pplied to the trade a strain of vaccine stock of "un- od merit'' which he declared was derived from a case >ontaneous" cow-pox discovered in Beaugency, France. ^' Jenner discarded all "lymph" that was not capable
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168 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
I of producing erysipelas. Such lymph, he said, was useless
i' and had '*no specific effect on the human constitution." la
direct conflict with these emphatic declarations of the pro- i mulgator and founder of vaccination* Parke, Davis & Co.
boldly announce to the medical profession in their adver- tisements in the medical journals that their "spontaneous" cow-pox virus is "unquestionably the best vaccine virus on the market today," that "it affords ample protection against small pox without the accompaniment of painful arms and disfiguring ulcers," that is to say, without "erysipelas" which Jenner declared was an essential in every protective vaccination.
To cap the climax of audacity and absurdity this enter- prising firm concludes its summery of false assertions with the monstrous misstatement that its virus "produces the typical Jennerian vaccine vesicle^." Shades of Ananias! Think of that in the face of Jenner's emphatic declaration that "spontaneous" cow-pox is ab.solutely devoid of protec- tive power against small pox; and for once Jenner was right.
From all my correspondence with the propagators of vaccine "lymph," I am firmlj' convinced that not one of them has any definite or exact knowledge as to the real na- ture, composition or original source of the complex poison- ous mixture which they foist upon gullible doctors as "pure calf lynipli," which the latter in turn inoculate indiscrimi- riately into the bodies of the credulous mob under the pre- text of protecting them from small-pox infection. More than a dozen different strains of vaccine "lymph" derived from various and anomalous sources are on the market at the present time. What any of these stocks is or whence it Came nobody is able to tell us, yet each and all of them are guaranteed to work the miracle of avoiding a filth-disease without removing its contributing causes. What confusion! Yet what mystical properties are, nevertheless, attributed (■ to all of these various kinds of "lymph." It is passing
v»| strange that large numbers of medical men can be so easily
imposed upon by the artful schemes of enterprising disease
i
WHAT ARE THE VARIOUS VIRUSES?
169
^rs who manufacture and vend these undefined and in- ble poisonous compounds of effete matter derived from seased bodies of men and beasts which they audacious- le Vpure calf lymph." Is it any wonder that the hu- ace is groaning under an increasing burden of mala- 5uch as cancer and tuberculosis, when medical men ught to be the guardians of the public health deliber-
engage in a practice which defiles at frequent inter- he blood of the rising generation with the blended ie-products of men and beasts?
''hat is the specific character of any one of the numer- )w-pox nostrums, miscalled **calf lymph", now placed the market by enterprising ''lymph mongers," it is im- )le to state.
[ost of the vaccine virus in cuiTent use in this country ioubtedly derived mainly from human small-pox. The •lymph" before being inoculated upon the calf had d through numberless small-pox patients who were 2\s of other diseases besides small -pox. In view of probabilities, what are we to think of the boastings and Ificates of purity" publicly flouted by '*lymph" manu- :ers and doctors having pecuniary interests in the ice of the Jennerian imposture? a considering the subject of vaccination one is naturally
a consideration of its predecessor, variolous inocula-
During the greater portion of the eighteenth century octors of ''scientific medicine" were diligently engrossed e criminal practice of inoculating the bodies of the n race with small-pox pus under the preposterous pre-
of banishing this loathsome disease from the face of arth. What was the result? Small-pox became a uni- 1 pestilence, and all Europe a lazar-house. Under the ring care of the exponents of "scientific medicine", -pox spread like a prairie fire so that it was the excep- tor any country to escape frequent invasions of the a.d disease" which was being spread broadcast by the ilators. Had the doctors of "scientific medicine" not ted the insane notion of disseminating the contagion of
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170 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
small-pox, it could never have become the scourge it was. It would in all probability have disappeared with its kindred filth diseases, before the advances of hygiene and sanitary science. But when '^scientific medicine" turned .its eagle- eye toward small-pox and began to ''mitigate" it, the result was most disastrous to the public health, -and then followed the awful "horrors of small-pox", which we now hear so much about when we protest against the filthy fad, called vaccination. Medical history records that uj) to the time of small-pox inoculation, variola had not been looked upon with particular disfavor, and was not considered any more danger- ous than measles. Indexed, in the health reports these diseases were classed together, but after the introduction of variolus inoculation, the ravages of small-])ox increased not only directly as the result of inoculation, but each new case became a focus of infection from which the disease spread in all directions, often with great virulence. The practice of inoculation spread small -pox just as the natural disease did. In this way, not only the number of cases of small pox, but also the general mortality from that disease was enormou.sly increased. Although it was obvious that epidemics of small-pox often started from an artificially in- oculated case this disastrous practice continued to flourish for nearly one hundred and fifty years.
"Instead of being the entirely harmless invention that it was claimed to be in 1721, inoculation was found to be so pernicious a custom, and so destructive of public welfare, as to be branded a crime by English parliament in 1840.'' (See The Value of Vaccinatian, by Geo. W. Winterburn, M. D., Ph. D., p. 19).
At the time of its introduction small-pox inoculation was hailed by the doctors of "scientific medicine" as the greatest of medical discoveries, and the encomiums lavished upon it equalled those that have since been so gratuitously bestowed upon vaccination.
In allopathic works on the practice of physic variolation was always spoken of as "one of the best established facts of medical srience."
THE SIMPLICITY OF THE HOMEOPATHIC LAW.
171
ren as late as 1754 small-pox inosulation was sanc- [ by the Royal College of Physicians, the representa- ody of the allopathic school of physic, who pronounced 3e * 'highly salutary to the human race." accination is destined to meet the same fate that befell edecessor, inoculation.
.s variolous inoculation had to be abandoned because it d the diseavse it was presumecl to prevent, so will vac- on be repudiated upon the same grounds, with the ad- al charge that it not only makes a more propitious soil lall pox, but is the direct and immediate cause of other 'orse diseases than the one it affects to prevent.
E SIMPLICITY OF THE HOMEOPATHIC LAW*
By G. E. Clark, M. D., Stillwater, Minn. 1 $ 3 of the Organon, Hahnemann has in concise lan- ? set forth the qualities that must be poss(^ssed by the 'master" of the healing art. This consists in 'irst: An exact knowledge of the individual trouble to moved.
Second: An equally exact knowledge of the remedies to iployed.
jastly, but not the least important in effecting a cure, the prescriber be governed in all his therapeutic ope- Qs by "clearly defined principles."
I ere is one of the most important features of our hom- thic law. We do well to lay repeated emphasis on a Lcteristic of therapeutic operations not possessed by )ther system of medicine. The homeopathic student )ractitioner is permitted to proceed in all curative mea- i according to *'clearly defined principles. It is not 5sary for him to grope about in the guesswork of empi- n, now looking to this authority, and now to that, but ig all as shifting as the changing sands. We have one le law to be used at the bedside and in the laboratory; :hat even the tyro can with assurance apply and th6
linnesota State Institute of Homeopathy, May, 1907.
fl
t
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172 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE
practitioner caa use with that certainty that enables him to t*ay I know I have the right remedy for that particular case.
But let us see what our homeopathic law presents to the enthusiastic student to verify the simplicity of its ap- phcation.
First: — The simplicity of the totality of the symptoms as a basis of the therapeutic procedure, as compared with any other system. Symptoms can be known, collected, written out and positively relied on. They can be discovered and arranged by all who will take the necessary pains. They are not secured by an elaborate • and complex chemical or mechanical procedure, that few are skilled in, and necessar- ily subject to widely varying opinions, as is often true of the pathology of any given case. Any ten men following the law of Hahnemann would get the same clinical history and the same totality of the symptoms on which to base a remedy, though every one of them might vary in the matter of the diagnosis. Do we realize the inestimable value of an ever present and always reliable law, as a guide in all therapeutic operations and what this possesion means to the physician who is vastly more concerned for the patient and his per- manent recovery than he is for any ulterior motive. How like a Polar Star is a plain demonstrable procedure to the student who finds himself floundering in the quagmire of con- flicting medical opinions, basing the treatment on every new .opinion that is as elusive as a will-'o-the-wisp. Let me repeat, though we may not be certain of the diagnosis, we can be certain of the presenting symptoms and on these we can predicate a certain remedy and have no guesswork in selecting our curative measure. Let me be rightly under- stood, the diagnosis is desirable and should be determined, but as the basis of a therapeutic law, it is uncertain and unreliable; it is not a fact, it may be a mere matter of opinion, and often illusive, and not to be de- termined. Hahnemann's rule gives us plain demonstrable facts, which all can always see anJ read, and as a the- rapeutic guide is infinitely superior in curative -results to any other known procedure, however popular and seduct-
THE SIMPLICITY OF THE HOMEOPATHIC LAW.
na
it present may seem to be. The wonder grows how
)llower of Hahnemann who has really ever known and
the better way can degenerate to a system with no
ly defined principles" and to one producing inferior
?cond: — None'the less simple and plain are the direct* )f Hahnemann^ for the curative application of the
y.
lie disea.se symptoms to be removed are carefully cot and written out in order, that they may be studied ►mpared with the Materia Medica till a remedy is foujid as produced symptoms in the healthy person that is act similitude, or as near so as possible, to those pre- g in the sick person. Here is a procedure that is as and simple as a mathematical problem. With marvd- ipidity and certainty do those sick symptoms hide elves away cito, tute et jacunde. No argument is nqed- the enthusiast who has tried and knows. But for who still cling to a pathological or a physiologicssl for the administration of remedies, let me suggest a ' way, one of more permanent results and attended by omplications by the way.
bird: — This brings us to the 3rd feature in the argu- for the simplicity of the Homeopathic law, and that all call results.
I the prescriber has carefully collected the symptoms nting, and which he aims to remove, and with equal las selected the similar remedy and has administered it m and manner suitable to the case, results will follow I orderly and systematic manner. This order of reced- of the symptoms is valuable as showing one of three s; a probable cure only palliative or a wrong selection, 5ut I wish to lay special emphasis on the quiet, silent,yet 'al and prompt return to a natural condition. The very licity and unostentatious manner of the going of the j>ymptoms is the pride of homeopathic practice. Enemies sneer at the genuineness of the medical action, or doubt ickness of the person, but abundant experience will
174
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
verify four tilings as characteristic results of Hahnemann medication.
They are these:
(1) Quiet recedence.
(2) Fewer complications and digressions
(3) A more speedy recovery.
(4) Greater permanancy of results.
Let me illustrate the three points T have made, in which the simplicity of the homeopathic law is well exemplified, viz:
(1) The totality of the symptoms as a basis of a thera- peatic law;
(2) The application of remedies according to the law of sznilars;
(3) The peculiar results obtained, by two cases treated m that manner.
Case 1. O. W,, section foreman on Ry., age 40. Much exposed to weather. Is obliged to eat a cold dinner. Has liad trouble with his stomach for last three years. Present ^irmptoms: Dry cough, white coated tongue, no appetite, &«}uent bloating and pain in the stomach, generally worse &om food. Cardiac end of the stomach full and tender- is the seat of sharp cutting pains extending through to the back. Is loosing flesh rapidly and is too weak to get around. Has had considerable catarrh of the throat in previous years; the sputa was tough and stringy. Has 'had rheumatism of the left shoulder; the pain left that part and appeared in the stomach.
This case presents strong suspicions at best of a severe affection, and would likely excite a variety of opinions as to the diagnosis — indeed it is doubtful if that point could be positively settled for a time at least, but of the remedy no (Hie who has any knowledge of Kali bic. can have a particle of a doubt. The results abundantly verified- the selection. A quiet but steady improvement at once set in, the pains be- came less severe and less frequent, the appetite and strength b^an to improve, and has now resumed his former occu- paition.
Case II, This case is most interesting from a thera-
THE SIMPLICITY OJT THE HOMKOPATHIC LAW.
175
I standpoint from the fact that asthma is considered an stable affection.
;uth M. is now four years old, of pale face, blue eyes, ecidedly scrofulous; several members of the family g had asthma, consumption and bronchitis. The first c of asthma appeared in June last when she was found I the yard in a violent convulsion; the eyes were rolled id jerked back and forth. The left leg was drawn up ras not able to stand on her feet for several days, this was violent screaming because of an agonizing in the epigastrium and right groin. Following this a the asthma appeared and has been coming with in- ing frequency and severity for the last eight months, ^h under the best allopathic attendance they could ob-
In February last these symptoms presented: /^ery pale and nervous; cries easily and frequently; J frightened or annoyed when asthma is likely to ap-
The other begs for some relief from that terrible in the epigastrium, which is always present at the time e asthma. During the attack vomits quantities of white y mucus; has a harsh, dry cough, like whooping cough; Is are large and teeth late in coming; likes open air. lere was a proposition for the pathological prescriber; id on that line no relief had been afforded in the last i months. Hahnemann's method was the only avenue ach and remove those violent symptoms, expressing perverted vital function within. The adaptation of 5 prominent symptoms to the similar remedy is a most tiful illustration of the genius and practicability of our K)pathic law. What a boon to that little sufferer that ad a law that could point out a remedy; that could and emove that terrible agonizing pain. What a comfort to loctor to be able to say I know I have the similar rem-
A. search of the materia medica showed two things; the rising similarity of Cuprum met. and the large number rmptoms suggesting Calcarea, which is the compliment lis remedy.
176 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
The asthma is not yet gone, but that violent pain did disappear in a few days. A persistent use of the remedy will make a wonderful improvement in the growth and de- velopment of that child.
In a homeopathic medical society there should be needed no apology for presenting a paper of this kind, but in the present scramble for modern scientific attainment, the real purpose and mission of our school is largely lost sight of. In the curriculum of our own university no attention is given to homeopathic philosophy or teaching, till the third year and then the mind is so filled with the dominent teach- ing that there is little room or desire for the law of similars as a method of cure. And even after reaching the third year it was found that too much time was being given to homeopathic instruction and that also must be cut down. Is it any wonder that the rising generation is so indifferent to pure Homeopathy. Is there any wonder there is so little enthusiasm everywhere over the purposes and mission of our school of practice. Do you marvel that young men find their way to the more popular schools of instruction? How much in the common every day walks of life do the public see of that Homeopathy that in the hands of a Hahnemann, BOnninghausen, Lippe, Guernsey, Dunham and a host of others, made our school glorious by the unheard of results that were accomplished, and turned the world upside down with their marvelous method of cure?
When our school ceases to stand for and be known by its devotion to its law of cure, we have lost our identity and have no further reason for a separate and individual exist- ance as a school of medicine.
REVISED COLLEGE INSPECTION SCHEDULE.
1. General success before the State Medical Examining Boards of only those who have graduated since examinations in the individual States have been obligatory upon all candi- dates for licensure. Those States that require examination in materia medica and therapeutics should entitle the candi-
REVISED COLLEGE INSPECTION SCHEDULE.
177
and hence his college, to a better rating than those 3 where examination in those branches is not required, idual students failing more than once in the same state, two different states, should not discredit their college more than one failure. State boards are urged to re- each applicant fbr license to certify to every examina- Defore state boards that he may have taken stating of the board and the result in each instance. Five
. The question of requirement and enforcement of a actory preliminary education. This is to be a four ' high school education, or its equivalent. In case the nt should not enter on a diploma from a high school ;his examination be conducted by the Council of Medical ation of his state, or some similar body, and that the ination papers be kept on file in the office of the secre- 3f the medical faculty for inspection by the State Ex- ing Board. Fifteen counts. . The character and extent of the college curriculum.
provided by the National Association of the School of cine which the college represents, to be taken as a ard, modified by the law of the state wherein the ?e is located. At least forty months should have elapsed sen the dates of matriculation and graduation. Fifteen :s.
. The medical school building. The buildings should nitary and commodious, allowing ample space, accord- 3 the size of (tlasses, for laboratories, amphitheatres, ining and recitation rooms. Five counts. . Laboratory facilities and instruction. Ample labor
facilities and apparatus, according to size of classes, id be provided for the work in the following subjects: omy (including histology and embryology), Physiology, macology (including drug pathogenesy). Bacteriology Pathology. These to be in charge of trained men. en counts.
K Dispensary facilities and instruction. The dispen- material available should be in proportion of 100 patients ear to each senior student. Should a patient be pre-
178
THB MEDICAL ADVANCE.
I
sented to the entire senior class or part thereof, it should count one for each student present. The main dispensary should be under the control of the college. Five counts.
7. Hospital facilities and instruction. Hospital standard to be access to and constant use of one bed for each member of the senior class during the year. Fifteen counts.
8. Extent which the school devotes to experimental re- search in the varied fields of medicine and allied sciences, especially in therapeutic research and the development of drug therapeutics and the methods of teaching experimental drug pathogenesy. Fifteen counts.
9. To what extent does the commercial or scientific spirit dominate with reference to the various chairs, and in the institution as a whole, also extent to which members of the faculty devote their time to teaching. The published re- quirements of the college. should be scrupulously observed, and a complete list of the matriculates pilblished each year. Five counts.
10. Supplementary facilities, such as library charts, electrical apparatus, models, museum, etc., judged according to conditions and use of same by the teaching corps and students. The library should have at least 500 volumes, in- cluding modem text books and chief periodicals of the school of medicine to which the college belongs. The museum should be kept up to date and specimens properly labeled and indexed. Five counts.
RAPID RESULTS FROM TUBERCULINUM.
Lydia Webster Stokes M. D., H. M., Philadelphia Pa. Case I. Miss R.,a slender young brunette of a nervous temperament had been suffering from tonsillitis for several days. When I saw her both tonsils were covered with dirty white patches, the left had been the most painful and the left ear ached; the tongue had foul coating and the mouth was full of saliva. The patient perspired very profusely, her temperature was 102, she was < at night and suffering very much.
RAPID RESULTS FROM TUBERCULINUM.
179
Greatly to my surprise Merc. j. r. failed to relieve, the lition, Merc. viv. did but little good and Lach. none at This was not according to my usual experience with I cases,one prescription often clearing off the tonsils and pating the fever in 24 hours. What to think of this girl I not know; her throat was not 90 painful, except on lowing, and her ears ached less but felt full and stopped; W3S still annoyed with a quantity of mucus, greenish bloody at times, collecting and choking her, especially ght; all her salivary glands were so enlarged and sore they caused great difficulty in opening the mouth and ng, and her temperature stayed above 100. By the time several powders of Sulphur had proved to t no moso use than so much placebo, I conclued that the ition was a tubercular one and I believed that Tuberculi- would arouse some reaction. In all, four powders of JOOth. potency were given and the result was magical; y symptom was better the next day and continued to •ove and disappear, until the patient left the hospital lays after the first dose of Tuberculinum. Case II. E. S. age five years, fair and happy; had imonia following measles when two years old, otherwise irdy little girl. In May, 1904, she had a well defined attack leumonia of the left lung; the symptoms looked typica^ ryonia, which was given and seemed about to clear up lase promptly. But three days later the child grew je and a Rhus condition developed; restlessness; hurting ver; cough painful, tearing; temperature 103.3, pulse respirations 60. Rhus caused improvement for a few i, when another aggravation occurred, and the child led very ill, moaning and talking in her sleep, nervous starting at the least noise, full of pains in chest, abdo- , head and limbs, still carrying high temperature with i pulse and respiration. The outlook was most alarm- but three powders of Tuberculinum saved the little life, Qy visit 24 hours later, the change was nothing short of vellous, and the child was up and about the room in five 5. She received two more powders of Tuberculinum
180
THE MEDICAT. ADVANCE.
and needed nothing more for six months and very little since that time.
Case III. Gastritis and ehtero-colitis, followed by marasmus. Baby George, colored, was four months old and weighed sixteen pounds when he was brought into the hos- pital on March 22nd., during my service in the medical ward. Ht* had been fed on condensed milk and for a week was having green mucus stools and vomiting of curds, was loosing weight, had fretful cry or slept a great deal, a heavy sh^ep, almost as if drugged. His temperature was 102. He was given a few doses of Chamomilla 30 and put on albumin water.
On the 25th, he was about the same, except his temper- ature had come down. Under Sulphur 200 and oil rubs, the baby began to brighten, but kept on loosing weight; and on the 27th still vomited some feedings, immediately after tak- ing, but seemed hungry and thirsty. The stools were no br tter dark or light green, slimy, offensive but not excoriating.
The baby was too good, lay quiet most of the time, ex- cerpt occasional rolling of the head and crying when handled. His temperature suddenly dropped at noon to 96, but Phos- phorus 200 brought it up in a few hours to 100, and kept the baby alive for a few days; but he continued to loose weight rtipidly — twelve pounds for three days — then a sudden drop to nine and one half then nine.
On the suggestion of our pediatric specialist, we gave Baliiie lavage of the colon daily, which brought away horribly offensive fecal matter, and changed the food to whey and barley water equal parts, which was mostly retained.
On March 30th the baby ran a temperature from 96.2 to l(i5, there was mucus and froth from the mouth, the lips were sore and peeling, tongue coated and bleeding when wa.^hed, discharge of pus from the eyes; grasping of thumbs and rolling of head and eyes; the odor of the stools, which were brownish in color, were putrid. It seemed as if there WHS no hope of saving the little life in spite of all our work and careful nursing; but Tuberculinum 200 wrought a wonder- ful change.
t
PERNICIOUS INTERMITTENT FEVER.
t8l
3n April 1st the temperature ran only from 98 to 103^ itools were less offensive and less rancus, and in another ihey were, yellow in color. The feedings were all re- d, even when cream was added to the whey and barley r. One half pound was gained, and baby George seemed iter and better in every way, though he had good and lays and fever now and then for a week. On April 10th we put him on a milk formula. He had sional doses of Tuberculinum until April 24th when he led to stop gaining, and I gave Calcarea phos., which ght a further increase of flesh (12 lbs.) and a lively, bing baby, the pet of the parents, nurses and doctors, ras then sent to Atlantic City, where he continued to
PERNICIOUS INTERMITTENr FEVER.
By Francisco Valiente F., M. D.
Cartagena, Columbia, 8. A., February 12, 1908. H. C. Allen, M. D., Chicago, Dl. Dear Doctor:
I know you, not personally, but by your works, which )f unquestionable merit. I love you with the same love eel for our teacher.
Your work **Therapeutics of Fevers*' is a masterpiece, actical work based on the true doctrines pf Hahnemann, aining such a valuable lesson on materia medica, that ind in it any case that may occur in our clinic. As a satisfaction to you I desire to relate to you a case* happened to me once, not for want of knowledge, but ccount of a well based fear that I should lose one of my vea daughters, in which case I for a moment tried to iway from the line traced by the law of similia. In 1904 1 was living with my family at the city of 'anguilla, and at that time they were cutting a mel in order to. make a passage for the Magda- river steam boats. One of my daughters, named ba, fell victim of a violent fever. As she had taken a
182 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
krJB long bath in the mommg of that day I began treating her^
' " using Aconitum and then Rhus, getting as a result that the
. fever disappeared. But three days afterward, while I waa absent attending to my practice, I was notified that the girl was suffering from a pernicious attack, and returned in all possible haste. I found the dear little girl in a decubitus supino; her face was Hyppocratic, cold like marble. She had just experienced a fearful paroxysm of intense cold (a con- gestive chill) lasting a very long time; she vomited, com- plained of cutting pain in the abdomen; her forehead was covered with cold perspiration; she was intensely thirsty; the point and edges of the tongue were red; pulse small, weak and slow.
Several friends who were at my home called my atten- tion to the fact that several children had passed away on previous days from the very same sickness, due to the cut- • . , ting of the channel. Fever was diminishing and it was my
fM wish to give her, as soon as the paroxysm was over, a high
potency dose of Veratrum album. But being sure that my daughter would die, w! ei the next a?ces3 woald come next day, I hesitated. ..^iM Dr. Gatcheirs Medical Practice, page 77, says:
' '^m Treatment must be prompt and energetic. Quinine must be pushed
^B tlli the patient is thoroughly cinchonized.
^H Dr. Vincent, in Vol. II of the United States Medical In-
^* vestivator, says:
[ consider intermittent fever as an exceptional sickoess. Very rarely have I been able to cure one of these affections using high poten- cies nor by means of any attenuation. Even the best selected medicine •has failed in the majority of cases. My own experience in intermittent fever is the very same as that of twenty praciical celebrities of our school.
Dr. Hughes, in his Therapeutics, letter VIII, page 108^
says:
I furthermore believe that in all cases of recent intermittents yoa will find the best practice to be to give Quinine during apyrexia, as or- dinarily practiced and recommended by Joustet.
The very same Dr. Hughes, a little further on, says:
In cases of pernicious fever I may say that since a Homeopath, Dr. Charge, of Marseilles, so fully admits that we must resort to Quinine^
PERNICIOUS INTEEIMITTBNT FEVER.
183
Ast not be frightened by such or such quantity, but we must admia- 18 much as required for a rapid healing pf the paroxysm.
;n this same way I knew the opinion of other noted 3rs, and on account of them I confess I hesitated for a 5 and ordered the Quinine to be brought in 10 p-ain rs.
;t was 10 o'clock in the evening; I was stepping into the where the little girl was sick, and suddenly I thought >ur work on fevers; I went for it and began reading it 3usly, and soon on page 374, Veratrum album I was ing the scolding I deserved. I at once called my good and read to her the parapraph, as follows: he above makes one of our best pictures of the sinking, con^restive •nicious forms of intermittent fevers. The patient thinks he will ad the physician shares his fears. The allopath now resorts to lants for the present, and Quinine to prevent the return of future ysms. Shall we on that threadbare plea of pseudo-homeopisthflf 'there is no time for homeopathic remedies to act,'* follow his ex- ? Those are not lacking in faith but in knowledge, who desert colors under fire. The homeopath who knows his materia medica ure such cases without resorting to rational ( ? ) uncertainty. If is not know his materia medica he is Justified in resorting to any- to try to save his patient, but the treatment should go by its right and the failure to cure should be properly credited. Every hom- h is responsible for not knowing what he professes to practice.
\shamed by such a well-timed reprimand, I rushed to
he thermometer to the little sick girl, marking 37i C.
lidnight there were only 361 C, and then I put on the
ue of the girl all I could get on the point of a pen knife
ed Veratrum album 200, and full of hopes we let time
away.
^ext morning at 6 o'clock, at the same hour, the access
\ again but slight; little cold, little hea^, perspiration on
orehead.
[ expected it the next day and the access came a little
iger this time, and I being her father knew very well
inamnesis of the case. I remembered then what ought
i printed in golden letters in the mind of all homeopaths:
B patient, not the disease."
[remembered what you say on page 10: **A11 fevers
184
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
that tend to a protracted, low or malignant type oc- cur in the psoric or tubercular patient, and the more deeply psoric the more malignant the attack," and I resolved to give the patient at the end of the access Sulphur 200, which gave a wonderful result. Pour days after we considered her free of the sickness, and at the same hour she felt some heat which was followed by a cold perspiration, and I then put on her tongue Psorinum 1,000, and since that time, four years, she enjoys perfect health.
Let Allen's **Therapeutics of Fevers" be blessed! Let Hahnemann be blessed!
This was the time when I felt for the first time a con- geniality towards you.
Your invaluable work has enabled me to heal since that time numberless cases which have given me a name and fame.
EP1LEP8Y.
SOCIETE FRANCAISE D'HOMOEPATHIE. Translated by Horace P. Holmes, M. D., Sheridan, Wy. The order of the day took up the treatment of epilepsy, First: Dr. Chiron asked permission to speak about Turbher information of the patient whose case he had com- ruunicated. He saw the patient again the 8th of November. She passed an excellent month during October, without the least epileptic attack. The menses came on normally the 24th of October and caused no trouble. But the 6th of No- vember, after getting very angry, she had that night a very slight seizure with loss of consciousness which lasted three or four minutes, and was followed by profound sleep. That little seizure caused repetiton, with less intensity, of the old conditions; cramp in the left leg, extending to the pelvis and left arm, compression of the thorax, etc. The next day the patient had no bad feelings and the following night her sleep was in no way disturbed.
Upon the whole, the complete recovery then has not l>een obtained since a short attack took place at the end of seven months.
EPILEPSY.
18&
A.nd yet, the case remains not less interesting from the notable amelioration due to the single homeopathic dy.
Dr. Chiron's patient is not cured, and will not be until pescribes for and cures the constitutional ailments. See Demann's directions for the cure of the insane after they been discharged from the Asylum Organon §222. The J advice, applies to epileptics. EdJ Dr. Jousset, Sr. has treated numerous cases of epilepsy, a disheartening disease which is very difficult, if not to impossible, to cure. Under the influence of treatment attacks diminish and disappear sometimes for several ;hs, a year, two years even, then reappear anew. He led among others the case of one of his patients who, r the influence of Nux vomica 30th and Belladonna 30th ined two years without an attack. He thought it cured, he attacks returned later, at first once a year, then y month. He had read of cures, but they were hard to ve. And yet, Homeopathy permits us to obtain mar- us results in certain attacks of epilepsy. Thus in those 5 in which the paroxysms follow each other rapidly, we I positively prolong the period. The remedies which he best are those for cerebral hemorrhage. Opium and idonna in low dilution.
For the disease, it has been observed on the contrary; :ures have been obtained with the higher dilutions given ngthened periods, every ten days for example. He rapidly reviewed several remedies: Opium, Cuprum, idonna, Silicea, Calcarea and Causticum, i^ointed out by linghausen as very important and which furnish in their ogenesis only a small number of symptoms that one can y to epilepsy; Plumbum, on the contrary, has many ;ptic phenomena and does not cure epilepsy. Lastly, ad particularly studied Picrotoxine which had given one case of recovery.
Picrotoxine in the warm blooded animals produced verit- epileptic spasms. When the dose is strong these spasms e nearer and nearer together and produce death of the
186
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
animal by asphyxia daring convulsions, and by syncope during the collapse; the attacks draw nearer together and become stronger and stronger, as in fatal conditions; or the attacks grow farther apart and the animal recovers.
Spasms, prostration, restlessness, tonic convulsions in the fore feet, opisthotonous, then general clonic convulsions, froth at the mouth, biting the tongue. Cyanosis of the lips and tongue, excretion of urine and feces. Then collapse, prostration, relaxation, respiration and circulation; lowering of temperature.
Cocculus indicus, in men:— Hahnemann noted vertigo when sitting up in bed. Partial convulsions with turning in of the thumbs.
A note from Gross in Hahnemann's Materia Medica con- tains the following symptoms: The subject stares for a long time at one point, then falls unconscious and cries out; the limbs and entire body are shaken by convulsive shocks, the upper limbs in extension and supination, froth at the mouth; hi voluntary urination; face and extremities covered with cold sweat; features convulsed; the eyes protruding beyond the sockets.
To the convulsive period succeeds a sort of alienation. The patient stands up, remains silent, grinds his teeth thrusts out his tongue, flies into a rage, tries to strike, at last he sighs, regains consciousness. The attacks lasts a quarter of p.n hour.
That note would be very important if the symptoms had been produced in a healthy man by a dose of Cocculus indicus. But if it is simply a description of an attack of hystero- epilepsy in a patient, then the case, even though it had been brought on by the remedy, loses a large part of its value.
To sum up, in counting the experiments upon the ani- mals referred to above, and which demonstrate that the Picrotoxine has an incontesable epileptogenic action, we say tbat this medicament is indicated in epilepsy, especially when the attacks take place in the morning at the moment when the patient quits the horizontal position; they are ag]
EPILEPSY.
187
ated by the out-door air and especially by the cold air, ating, from the action of coffee and tobacco. I shall recall that Picrotoxine is customarily employed ur allopathic confreres who continue *'to make prose out knowing it." Do they cure epilepsy with Picrotox-
Do we cure it with Cocculus indicus? Dr. Cartier did not believe that we possessed a remedy ir Materia Medica that was really curative of epilepsy, ^hat we can do is to lengthen the interval of the attacks, is practice, he generally employed two or three remedies 5h have always rendered him good service:
1. Oenanthe crocata (mother tincture), two drops daily le epileptics with frequently repeated spasms:
2. Solanum carolinense (horse nettle, mother tincture), ;h follows Oenanthe well:
3. Lastly as a preventive of the attacks, Kali bromatum especially in women who have the periodical attacks at bime of their menses. He reported the case of an epilep- )ss, in whom the aura came on an hour before the ire. She immediately took Kali bromatum and thus ded the attack.
Dr. Jousset, Jr. — Oenanthe has been employed for a time. Hermel used it but he prescribed it in the sixth ncy.
Dr. Leon Simon. — I can speak from experience on the acity of Cocculus against sea sickness, for I had the oc- 5n to verify it on myself. Never having sailed except le months of July, August and September, I have by ice never been in a tempest. And yet, I have several s, notably upon the Zuyderzee and upon the British Dnel, seen the sea rough enough to make almost all the lengers sick, myself included. In 1901, I went into istine the journey lasting six and a half days, thirteen J going and coming. Knowing myself to be vulnerable, )k my precautions. The Weber pharmacy prepared me e pellets of Cocculus and Tabacum, each in the third mal. Not being a smoker, I counted particularly on the 5r, which is incontestably homeopathic. The boat raised
188 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
anchor the 28th of August at three o'clock in the afternoon. The sea was jvhite-capped to the horizon, and the rolling was so great that a^flower-vase placed on the table fell off several times. Having been careful, since morning, to take alternately every three hours one pellet of each remedy, I bore myself admirably and dined with as good an appetite as if I had been in myjown dining room. The next day the sea still foamed, but the ship rolled much less; the passage of the strait of Bonifacio was easily made. I took my two remedies at longer intervals. The 30th of August, the sea being as caim as a lake and the ship in an equilibrium as stable as the bateaux-mouches upon the Seine, I judged it useless to drug myself. Unfortunately we traversed the strait of Messina in the night of the 80th and 31st, and the next day we voyaged upon the Ionian sea, where the winds and the waves are permanent. The surges broke over the vessel and more than onelbroke upon the bridge. This day I did not escape sea sickness, and passed a lamentable day. Then I retook my two remedies,'with a feverish activity, two or three pellets every quarter"of an hour, frequently even Livery ten minutes. At the breakfast hour I already felt myself better, but I did not long to pay the imprudence of being placed at the table. I.continued all the afternoon to atiminister my two remedies larga manu and, at six o'clock I was definitely cured 'since I was able to dine as if nothing had happened; and yet the sea was just as rough. The next day, September 1st, the rolling and pitching had in no way diminished, on the contrary, as the steward judged it prudent to place the violins'on the table. However I did not have an instant of uneasiness, and yet it hapi>ened in the after- noon, while I was promenading upon the bridge, that I received a wave all over me. But I made frequent borrow- mgs (about every two hours), on my vials of pellets. The 4th of September, before day, we were in sight of Jaffa.
The return voyage, from the 14th to the 20th of Septem- ber, was delicious. Instructed by experience, every day I took two pellets of Coccu/?/.s,'although the sea was as calm as a l^ke. To be sure thelbreeze freshened upon the Ionian sea
EPILEPSY.
189
i there were some sick ones while we were traversing it. 7as not of the number; I walked staggeringly, because I I not have my sea legs, but my heart, or rather my )mach remained firm.
Contrary to my expectation, I did not notice any appar- b relief after the doses of Tabacum,whi[9t those of Cocculus jed manifestly upon the nausea. Therefore I finished by dng the latter alone and laid the other aside. The use of
0 remedies in alternation is habitual with the North Qericans.
Dr. Boyer, Sr. ,had advised the use of Cocculus in several rsons who had taken voyages and all of- them had done U on it. I have praised it to many people and I gave it to 3 ol my nephews who, at the age of sixteen years, set out a vogage to the island of Mauritius. He got along nicely i was only sick one day, on account of very bad ather in the Indian ocean.
However, it should not be considered an infallible speci-
- A lady, who frequently goes to the island of Jersey i who is always very sick, took it once according to my nee, but experienced no relief. It should be said, in ex- ^ration of Cocculus, that it was during the spring equinoxes i the sea was very wild.
[We are pleased to observe that Dr. Simon saw that bacum was useless. But why did he use two remedies in ernation? Was it because it '*is habitujal with the North Qericans" or the Parisians? We fear it is habitual with meopaths who never knew or have never practised the >meopathy of Hahnemann. They are indigenous to both ance and America. When will our esteemed colleagues rn that Homeopathy has no remedy for either epilepsy or
1 sickness; it is the patient, not the disease. EdJ
An abscess of the right ovary may give the same signs i symptoms as acute fulminating appendicitis. If an in- ion for appendicectomy is made, it should be of sufficient igth and low enough down to allow of careful examination the right adnexa. — Amei-ican Journal of Surgenj.
190 THE MEDICAL, ADVANCE.
ANTITOXIN: AN INVOLUNTARY PROVING.
By J. E. Prash, M. D., Logan, Ohio.
Girl, aged 8, exposed to diphtheria Wednesday, Nov. 13, 1907.
Thursday, Nov. 14, began powders, two each day, for eight days, then one daily for two days.
Saturday, Nov. 23, complained of being tired, sat down to rest three times.
Sunday, Nov. 24, would lie down because tired, but after a while felt playful.
Monday, Nov. 25, temperature 103, pulse 148, full, with throbbing of corotids, eyes bright, face flushed, with center of cheeks almost purple.
Throat dark red, no membrane, but on back wall of throat, yellow, dirty cream color, dry membrane in folds, up and down.
Monday night talks in sleep, with eyes wide open. Wanted imaginary objects taken from room, and to **make those people get away". Sat up and picked among bed- clothes for strap for her school books.
Tuesday, 26, temperature 101.2, pulse 116, membrane lighter and moist, thin in middle of throat.
Wednesday, Nov. 27, temperature 99. 2, pulse 100. Throat clearing from middle. Jerking of single limb, or shoulder, or*finger.
Thu2 day, Nov. 28, temperature 101^2, pulse 116. Desired to have mother hold her hand. Tongue whitish, with ex- ceedingly red tip (moist).
Friday, Nov. 29, temperature 101.2, pulse 116.
Saturday, Nov. 30, temperature 99f, pulse 100. Membrane white, and showing more to front. Clearing from center of back wall of throat. Tongue coated whitish, with red papille, very red tip, with a dark red spot in center of red tip. Slept well last night, until 4 a. m., then was restless and wakeful; moved and changed position, moved arms and legs often, snored and fan-like motion of ala nasi. Skin seemed dry, forehead moist along edge of hair, when first falling asleep.
i
A DIPHTHERIA CASB CURED WITHOUT ANTITOXIN. 191
Oeneralities: Fluctuating temperature, very little pain, ibrane in folds up and down on back wall of throat, n the membrane first appeared, spreading forward as IS behind the tonsils, and also began to fade and disap- first from center back wall.
In center of the tip of tongue was a very dark red spot, very dark red, or purple spot in center of very red iks.
Aside from the above symptoms, there was nothing un- 1 that I could elicit.
IPHTHERIA CASE CUBED WITHOUT ANTITOXIN.
By Richard Blackmore, M. D., Bellevue, Pa.
M. D., age 35, rugged and strong, * 'never sick a day."
Oct. 12, W complained of being sore all over and cannot
B^ann; pulse 88, temperature 102.4.
Examination of throat revealed a deposit on posterior
ial pillar, right side, dirty looking as though decayed in
middle; detached patches near by; rest of mouth clean
bright red. Tonsils swollen and red. Difficulty in
lowing disproportionate to the amount of faucial in-
ement.
Jaws stiff so that the mouth is opened with difficulty.
L hot and dry. Cold and cannot get warm, in spite of
iased clothing and hot fire.
Advised cold pack around throat and gave Merc. i. f .
One dose on tongue and another in divided doses in \v.
A culture from the throat was positive as to the Klebs ler baccillus. The case went along improving daily with k return of the patient's virility until the 16th, on which
as there had apparently been a **stand still" for 24
rs, another dose of Merc. i. f. Im. was given and on the
the throat was entirely clean. The patient felt **better
L for months." A culture taken proved negative and the
I was discharged.
192
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE
A GEL8EMIUM HEADACHE.
By J. FiTZ Matthews, M. D., West Sound, Wash.
Mrs. S., of Tacoma, Wash., brunette, aged 55.
Severe pain arising from cervical spine region to occiput, more or less constant.
Occiput and cervical spine sore to touch, especially a spot between the shoulders.
Pain in occiput is steady and boring < stooping, noise and light; had to be in a dark room; occasionally > lying on back of head.
Face hot, head feels as though it would burst.
Occasionally pain affects whole head and glands of neck. It comes on suddenly, and then ceases suddenly after profuse urination (Gels. Sil.)
Jumps and twitches during sleep, and when awakening.
So nervous that the least exertion makes her tremble like an aspen (Gels.)
Back of head worse.
Better from 10 A. M. till 1 to 2 P. M.
Pain never stops in finger.
Inclined to chilliness in bed.
Grieves about nothing now but her condition. Years ago great grief about an accident to a child, crippling it. The nervous condition dates from this, 21 years ago. Septic condition after child birth.
Irritable; cannot write or think when pains are severe.
OBSERVATIONS.
It required several letters to get these symptoms. At first I gave Belladonna 200, with some relief, especially sleep, but relapsed. Then the marked sensitiveness to air blowing on head induced me to give a dose of China 200 ( Dunham,) with no relief.
Then, on further symptoms sent, I gave Gelsemium — potency not known — followed by Gelsemium 200. Com- menced on Nov. 22d; no better up to Sunday, then worse, when, following my instructions, she stopped.
On Sunday evening the pain and pressure in head dimin-
BUREAU OF HOMEOPATHY.
193
[. Slept well after midnight, but was so weak and light- ed.
Dn Monday morning awoke with a clearer head than in J weeks. **The relief continued all through the day and : and I am feeling fairly well, and have, as instructed, •ntinued the medicine."
rhe patient has suffered greatly for a long time, and jr remedy failed, so she was induced to try Homeopathy, digestive organs are in good order, and Homeopathy not fail.
Supplementary observations: — Refer to patients letter, ' Belladonna 200: '1 am feeling quite a little better, in head relieved, sleeping better.'' After this relief, )sed, as stated, Gelsemium and Silica are strongly in ;ed.
rhe pains in finger and toe are remarkable features in case < when tired, and > When head and general con- n are relieved.
BUREAU OF HOMEOPATHY A. I. H.
For the Meeting Kansas City, Mo., June 22, 1908.
L. Sectional Adress — Dr. R. F. Rabe, Chairman. I. Drug Pathogenesis, what should it embrace? Sub- v^e and objective symptoms. Pathology, its relationship 'ug pathogenesis. Is pathological prescribing possible, if so, how and when? What part must it i^lay in the [deration of the totality of the case? Its subordination bjective symptomatic prescribing. — Dr. George Royal. Qssed by Thomas G. McConkey and E. A. Taylor. J. (a) What must the anamnesis of the properly taken include? Is diagnosis to be considered, and if so, to i extent? Its subordinate part in the homeopathic pre- >tion. (b) Taking the case: The acute case; the nic case. — Dr. T. H. Hudson. Dicussed by H. C. Allen Prank Kraft.
4. To find the Similimum — The use of the Repertory ractical every-day work, with graphic illustrations, (a)
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THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
in the acute case; (b) in the chronic case. — Dr. H. C. Allen. For general criticism.
5. The remedy, when to give and when to stop. Repeti- tion in: (a) the acute case; (b) the chronic case; (c) in the in- curable case. Homeopathic palliation, its sphere of useful- ness defined; why superior to so-called physiological pallia- tion? The selection of the suitable potency; what factors inter into its consideration. — Dr. H..A. Cameron. Discussed by E. E. Case and E. B. Nash.
6. Homeopathic aggravations defined: Their causes and management. Methods of controlling them. Curability or incurability of a case, after watching the effect of the Sirailimum. Influences, extraneous or otherwise, which interfere with the action of the remedy. — Dr. J. B. S. King. Dicussed by Maclay Lyon and Joseph Luff.
7. The limitations of remedial activity. When does surgery become necessary and why? The importance of liomeopathic prescribing in the preparation of the patient for operation. Homeopathic after treatment In surgical cases. Disease itself, distinguished from disease results. The pathological end product, why not always curable? Hahnemann's advice concerning the curable in disease and the curative in medicines I The patient to be prescribed for always, not the disease. — Dr. J. C. Pahnestock. Discussed by H. C. Allen and A. P. Hanchett.
8. A consideration of the Miasms in the treatment of disease. Psora, Sycosis, and Syphilis, their combinations and their importance as causative factors in the production of sickness. — Dr. Thos. G. McConkey. Discussed by H. R. Arndt.
9. The importance and necessity of keeping accurate records in the treatment of chronic diseases. — Dr. G. P. Waring. Discussed by Lewis Pinkerton Crutcher.
10. The Homeopathy of Hahnemann. — Dr. E. A. Taylor. Discussed by W. J. Hawkes and Willis A. Dewey.
BRYONIA IN ASTHMA.
195
BRYONIA IN ASTHMA.
By J. B. Campbell, M. D., Brooklyn, N. Y.
Not alone in asthma which is markedly agf^avated by iantary exertion is Bryonia of great value; for as a matter (act, almost all asthmatics are distressed by exertion. It 1 be seen however, that in this affection the scope of ^onia is more extensive than some of us have realized. In riag's Condensed Materia Medica this drug shows under reathing:"
'^Respiration impeded. Frequent desire to take a full piration which cannot be done in consequence of a feeling if there was something which should expand but would
But nothing is said about asthma. In the Guiding mptoms it is stated thus:
"Asthma, with a feeling as if there was something which mid expand," etc.
If we modify any lurking prejudice concerning the limi- ions and pleuritic predilections of Bryonia, and identify it well with other chest affections, we shall be able to per- ve in connection with asthma an important aspect of this sty old polychrest, and construe the symptom picture en above to the advantage of the asthmatic patient. If 5, we consider that the very act of breathing (itself in- ving exertion) makes the patient feel worse, that is, more lausted, and that feeling worse, he in turn, breathes with ater difficulty, we can see the appropriateness of Bryonia. I asthma may accompany vesicular emphysema when the st walls are immovable; or it may be of the cardiac vari- in which, by the way, diphtheritic antitoxin seems to e a homeopathic relation and has been administered with nounced benefit. Wheezing breathing; the patient has a Javy head" and does not want to exert himself. (Elaps . cured a case of asthma with heavy head of years* ading). The heart labors with the effort which tires the ient who, as has been said, breathes with greater diffi- by because he is tired. In cases of asthma, where this
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THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
fatigue feature can be confirmed, Bryonia will render excel- lent service.
A PHOSPHORUS CASE.
By R. F. Rabe, M. D. 616 Madison Ave., New York.
The following case had existed for several days in the liands of a homeopathic physician, growing constantly worse under Belladonna, Arsenicum and Bryonia. It was one of acute gastroenteritis, becoming typhoid in character. For a time the diagnosis of typhoid fever seemed justifiable, but when the case was seen in consultation, there existed no doubt as to its real nature. The temperature fluctuated greatly from 99 to 103; pulse 100 to 130. Under Phos- phorus an immediate though very gradual improvemet be- gan. The stomach was very intolerant of even the blandest nourishment. This was soon changed under the action of the remedy.
The symptoms, recorded at the bedside were:
M. F., female, age 8 yrs. Vomits greenish mucus and bile Nausea '> by vomiting. Pain in stomach and abdomen < by motion. Lies on back mostly; on leftside occasionally. Wants to be quiet; avoids motion. General < afternoons and nights. Wants abdomen gently rubbed. Wants ice cold drinks, but not very thirsty. Vomits after a while; after several drinks.
Delirium at times, sees things. Hands hot; feet hot or cold. Abdomen sensitive, cover <. Tongue coated whitish 3'ellow, red edges. No straining with stool, stool involuntary vnless relieved at once; cannot retain stool. Flatus with stool. Clots of blood in stool. Wants cool air. Says abdomen feels cold. Looks very weak, face is pale; eyes sunken. Apathetic.
Phosphorus 1000, (B. & T.) 3 doses at intervals of one hour. Complete recovery followed, no further medicine was required.
AUXILIARY APPOINTEES.
197
:iLIABT COMMITTEES OF THE COUNCIL ON ME0ICAL EDUCATION.
Pursuant to the resolution passed at the meeting of the icil on Medical Education held in Chicago on October 25, , to appoint three physicians in each school from each S the following have been appointed to represent the leopathic school:
Maine— W. E. Fellows, Bangor; J. F. Trull, Biddeford; J. Thompson, Augusta-
New Hampshire — C. Bishop, Bristol; C. A. Sturtevant, Chester; W. Tuttle, Exeter.
Vermont— C. A. Gale, Rutland; E. W. Kirkland, Bel- Falls; G. I. Forbes, Burlington.
Massachusetts — J. P. Rand, Worcester; E. H. Copeland, ;hampton; G. F. Martin, Lowell.
Rhode Island — H. A. Whitemarsh, Providence; Jno. aett, Pawtucket; H. M. Sanger, Providence. Connecticut — E. B. Hooker, Hartford; E. H. Linnell, t^alk; C. H. Payne, Bridgport.
New York--H. D. Schenck, Brooklyn; A. R. VanLoon, my; D. G. Wilcox, Buffalo.
New Jersey — M. D. Youngman, Atlantic City; A. Drury, irson; V. A. H. Cornell, Trenton.
Pennsylvania — T. H. Carmichael, Philadelphia; E. M. nm, Philadelphia; E. R. Gregg, Pittsburg. Delaware — J. Adair, Wilmington; I. W. Flinn, Wilming- C. A. Ritchie, Middletown.
Maryland — A. P. Stauffer, Hagertown; G. E. Lewis, Ijville; C. L. Rumsey, Baltimore.
Virginia — G. F. Bagby, Richmond; H. E. Koons, Dan- ; C. E. Verdier, Norfolk.
West Virginia — A. A. Roberts, Wellsburg; W. R. An- ?s, Mannington.
North Carolina— A. W. Calloway, Asheville; W. E. m, Wilmington.
South Carolina — A. L. Smethers, Anderson. Florida — A. S. Munson, DeLand; A. L. Monroe, Miami; I Lamer, Tampa.
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THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Alabama — A. M. Duffield, Citronelle; R. D. Brown^ Mobile.
Mississippi— G. W. Crock, Vlcksburg; C. A. Harden- stein, Vicksburg; J. C. French, Natchez.
Louisiana — E. Harper, New Orleans; R. D. Voorhies,, Lafayette,
Texas — W, D. Gorton, Austin.
Kentucky--0. L. Smith, Lexington; C. A. Pish, Frank- fort; E. L. Eltinge, Louisville.
Tennessee— W. A. Boies, Knoxville; F. Freeman, Chat- tanooga; G. A. Coors, Memphis.
Ohio- M, P. Hunt, Columbus; G. J. Damon, Akron; L. Phillips, Cincinnati.
Michigan--R. S. Copeland, Ann Arbor; M. C. Sinclair, Grand Rapids.
Indiana— J. H- Baldwin. Jeffersonville; D. H. Dean, ^ Rushville; F. J. Schulz, Ft. Wayne.
Illinois— O. B. Blackman. Dixon; J. P. Cobb, Chicago; E* A. Taylor, Cliicago.
Wisconsin's. R. Stone, Rhinelander; E. W. Beebe^ Milwaukee; F. A. Walters, Stevens Point.
Minnesota^G. F. Roberts, Minneapolis; O. K. Richard- son, Minneapolis; L. G. Wilberton, Winona.
Iowa — C. W. Eaton, Des Moines; F. Kauffman, Lake City; T. F, H. Spreng, Sious City.
Missouri- W. E. Reily, Fulton; H. W. Westover; St. Joseph; L. E- Whitney, Carthage.
Arkansas--M. R, Regan, Eureka Springs.
Oklahoma— J. Hensley, Oklahoma City;M. Vandervoort, Guthrie; W, T. Kimberley, Guthrie.
Kansas— M. E. Kemp, Cherryvale.
Nebraska -E. B.Woodward, Lincoln; G. J. Goodshaller^ Lincoln; H. R. Miner, Falls City.
South Dakota — A. A. Cotton, Vermillion.
North Dakota— J G. Dillon, Fargo.
Colorado"S. S. Smythe, Denver; J. P. Willard, Denver; L. P. B'aust, Colorado Springs.
New Mexico — J. S. Keaster, Roswell; A. P. White, Hope*
JLYCOPODIUM IN ENURESIS.
199
Arizona— J. W. Thomas^ Phoenix; H, T. Southworth, ^cott; A. G. Schnabel, Tuscon.
Utah— E. P. MiUs, Ogden.
Idaho— H. V. Holverson, Boise City; W. N. Semones, mpa; P. S. Peck, Genesseo.
Nevada — C. A. Crockett, Reno.
Washington— E. W. Young, Seattle; C. E. Grove, okane.
Oregon — C. A. Macrum, Portland; C. H. Atwood, Port- id; J. P. Titus, Eugene City.
California— P. R. Watts, Sacramento; E. C. Buell, Los Lgeles; G. E. Manning, San Francisco.
LYCOPODIUM FOR ENURESIS.
E. H. Fenwick states for this distressing complaint, whether sud- \\j developed as the result of accident or operation, or in other cases ere the incontinence of urine had been of several years' standing, he 9 Acquainted with no drug which gave such entirely satisfactory re- ts as the tincture of lycopodium. He had first given it to check the itumal enuresis of children; but finding it so surprisingly successful, next employed it for adults, with the result that micturition was ckly reduced from six or ei^ht times an hour to once m two hours, se— 15 minims to one dram. Medical Summary,
[Dr. Fen wick has made another discovery! It is true \\i Lycopodium will cure nocturnal enuresis, either in ildren or adults, when called for by the totality of symp- ns, but it will fail, like any other remedy, when not indi- tied. Lycopodium can never cure a Sepia case, and vice '8a, If our esteemed colleague will investigate a system medicine b^^sed upon natural law and whose practice de- .nds individualization of every patient, he will soon learn it Lycopodium never fails to cure a case of enuresis when X)rrespond8 to the symptom of the patient, and that it 72LJS fails to cure enuresis when this correspondence is 'king. Why not recognize the fact that every remedy like 3ry patient is an individual. Ed.]
The Medical Advance
A Monthly Journal of Hahnemannian Homeopathy A Study of Methods and Results.
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,— Hahnbmann,
Subscription Price
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We believe that Someopathy, well understood and faithfully practiced, ha« jKJwer to save more lives and relieve more pain than any other method of treat- ment ever invented or discovered by man; but to be a first-class homeopathic pre- wcriber requires careful study of both patient and remedy. Yet by patient care it e&Q be made a little plainer and easier than it now is. To explain and define and In all practical ways simplify it is cur chosen work. In this good work we ask your help.
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MARCH, 1908.
EMtodaU
**HIGH POTENCY HOMEOPATHY."
Strange as it may appear, there seems to be many and varied understandings of what Homeopathy is, not only in our own ranks but in the ranks of our allopathic colleagues. Those who are well read in medical lore should know better, at least there is no excuse for such an unpardonable blunder or careless use of the term **High Potency Homeopathy."
In a recent issue of the Medical World, the editor, when commenting on a paper, **Are We Becoming Homeopathic." by Dr. A. W. Vincent, uses the following:
**This is a very skilful defense of High Potency Hom- eopathy."
The paper in question is a very able and skilful defense of Homeopathy; but where does the high potency come in? We are very much surprised that one of the ablest editors,
EDITORIAL.
201
^^of fche most lucid writers, and a very liberal man, should
^^3> rrkistake the science of therapeutics, fl^ahnemann demonstrated a century ago that there is ^^(^ oixc^ natural law yet discovered in the medical world, JDStas tlere is only one law in chemical affinity, and that is 'hehMr of similars.
^t^ ^re is only one Homeopathy. There is no such thing as low I>cz^-tency' or * 'high potency" Homeopathy. The potency r tn^ ^iose is only a corollary of the law. But perhaps the '^^^ ^^^^tended in this way to distinguish between pure and
^^^T* mongrel Homeopathy?
i3ce4
^^nemann says; Organon. §272. '*In no instance is t^^^i^ite to employ more than o?ie simple medicinal sub-
vj^T/^^— Experiments have bf^en made by some homeopathists iix cases
^» Imagining that one part of the symptoms of a disease required
OU^ t'ct^edv, and that another remedy was more suitable to the other
^•^YV they have given both remedies at the same time, or nearly so;
but I earnestly caution all ray adherents against such a hazardous
pracUoe, which never will be necessary, though in some instances it
may appear serviceable.
Homeopathy, based on the law of similars, pure, simple, plain every-day practice — similia similibus curantur, with simplex simile minimum — was the Homeopathy of Hahne- mann, and is the Homeopathy of today. All deviations in practice from the simple law and the single remedy are so many adulterations. Palliative drugs, combination tablets, mixed or alternated remedies are adulterations, and should be dealt with accordingly.
The Pure Pood Law, which includes the pure drug law, should be applied to the law of similars. The more adjec- "^ives there are before the word Homeopathy, the less pure IS the practice thereby expressed. In the time of Hahne- '^aun those who applied allopathic palliatives and other a-bominations, he denominated as the **mongrel sect." They "^ere not practicing Homeopathy but an empiric system of ^^dicine; and the same is as true today as it was in the <Jays of Hahnemann.
K our cotemporaries, when writing of Homeopathy,
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THB MEDICAL ADVANCE.
would be a little more explicit, a little more accurate in their statements, it would be infinitely better for their readers. '*A little learning is a dangerous thing."
THE SEBUM THERAPY PROBLEM.
Our friends of the dominent school of therapeutics have apparently reached the parting of the ways. The antisep- tics of the last decade are now quite forgotten; the antitox- ins which succeeded antiseptics are practically limited to one or two diseases; the anti-sera, once so promising a few years ago, are very uncertain today. Serum therapy is rapidly forging to the front. The product of infectious dis- ease is now being administered for its cure; in other words, so-called scientific medicine is taking up the Isopathy of Lux, that never was accepted except by a few in the hom eopathic school and by them abandoned half a century ago.
In 1832 Hering began his experiments with the virus of the rabid dog, which was potentized and tested on the healthy as every other remedy has been. Forty years later Pasteur made his wonderful discoveries and the serum treat- ment of hydrophobia began.
In 1833, J. J. W. Lux, of Leipzig, a homeopathic veteri- nary surgeon, published a work entitled **The Isopathic Theory of Contagion, or Every Contagious Disease Con- tains Its Own Contagious Matter, the Remedy for Its Cure.'* Seventy-five years later Sir A. E. Wright, with his vaccines and opsonic index, obtains world-wide popularity as a dis ooverer in therapeutics. But it is Isopathy. Neuberger, in his recent work says: * 'Today, in serum-therapy we see this ridiculed and despised idea triumphant over all others."
Swan's generalization that **the potentized virus was the homeopathic similar for all diseases, except those of the pa- tient from whom it was taken," was never accepted by the homeopathic school, yet it has now become a comer stone in serum therapy.
Koch and Pasteur, Von Behring and Roux, Cabot and Wright are now the acknowledged leaders in the school of serum therapy, the discarded system of Isopathy promul-
EDITORIAL.
203
id by Lux. Hahnemann criticised the system and de- ed to include Psorinum in his **Chronic Diseases," be- 36 it was an Isopathic remedy until it had been tested he healthy. All remedies of this class, when properly mtized and proved on the healthy, become very valuable rapeutic agents, not only for the diseases from which f were taken, but for many other diseases, without ref- ice to origin. Thus Anthracinum, Medorrhinum, Psori- 1, Variolinum, Tuberculinum, etc., after a thorough ^g, are among the most valuable remedies in the horn- sthic pharmacopeia for the cure of acute or chronic ^ases. But like all other remedies they must be prescribed iheir symptom complex.
The announcement of Koch's tuberculin serum, in 1890, its use, both in the cure and prevention of tubercular ctions, in the massive doses in which it was given, has ved a greater curse than a blessing. The unfortunate ares and fatal experiments have condemned this as it I many others to the list of dangerous remedies. The irmaceutical preparations of the old school must be en- ily changed before serum therapy will ever become suc- sful; while on the other hand the homeopathic dynamic encies are as active today and as harmless as any other ledy.
To the homeopathic physician who has made any study I history of medicine, it is a little amusing to see our jntific colleagues rushing with one will, almost unani- Qsly, into the arms of Isopathy proclaimed by Lux, in rmany, fifty years ago. What the next turn in the ka- loscope of allopathic therapeutics will be no man can tell
ALKALOIDAL THERAPEUTICS.
In the February issue of our esteemed contemporary, J American Journal of Clinical Medicine, we find the fol- ^ring motto: ** Shall we cling to the old outworn and il- ^cal method of treatment, thus following in the footsteps authority, or the better^ way, meet each indicated condi- n with the indicated remedy?"
204
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
The following illustrations are given as an advance in therapeutics:
A wealthy banker in, Iowa was attacked with a paroxysm of g%\\- stone colic. For this his physician administered a hypodermic contain- ing^ i grain of morphine. This was repeated every twenty minutes un- til he had taken four doses. Immediatly aftar the fourth dose was taken the pain instantly ceased, the supposition being that the stone had either rolled into the duodenum or dropped back into the gall-bladder. Then they had a case of morphine poisoning to handle, and for some hours it was doubtful whether the man would live or die. It was one week before he recovered from the effect of the treatment sulBciently to return to his business.
No treatment being instituted in the interval, in due course of time the patient had a similar attack; buMiot being satisfied with the treat- ment he received on the first occasion, he called in a physician recently settled in the town, who happened to be somewhat acquainted with the active priuciples and the methods of treatment based upon them. Fol- lowing Dr. Abbott's oft-repeated reiteration of Burggraeve's teachings of many years ago this physician gave his patient one granule each of Hyoscyamine, Strychnine arsenate and Glonoin; this was repeated in half an hour, the pains having been somewhat obviated in the mean- time; again in fifteen minutes the dose was repeated, and by the end of an hour the man was so fully relieved that he ceased begging for hypo- dermics. The pain ceased with the same suddenness as in the preceding instance, but no toxic symptoms followed. Next morning the banker was back at his place of business, fully competent to fulfill his duties. The doctor had made a gopd customer, and the active principles had scored another triumph.
We frankly admit that there is an advance in the ques- tion of dose in the reformed therapeutics of the dominant school, but so far as a system or principle of treatment is concerned, we are unable to detect any difference. The i grain dose of morphine every twenty minutes, or the gran- ule composed of hyoscyamine, strychnine arsenate and glo- noin every fifteen minutes, is only palliative at best. True, there may not be so much of a tendency to produce a mor- phine fiend, but we do not know what the continued repeti- tion of the combination granule will do. Experience in its use is not sufficient to warrant an opinion. In each ca^e the practice is empirical. There is no law or guide, no princi- ple involved, nothing by which permanence in practice can be established. The simple change in the size of the dose —
EDITORIAL.
205
[[iving of the alkaloid instead of the crude drug does, not e slightest degree change the principles which underlie prescription. It was empiricism before, it is eiUpiricism ; nothing else can be made of it.
Why will not our enthusiastic alkaloidal brethren test B remedies on the healthy, and then they will know ab- bely under what conditions they may be prescribed, and »d of using the combination granule use each one sing- ,nd in this way establish science in therapeutics. The dixit of experience has long passed, we should know do something better in the twentieth century.
THE M£DICAL COLLEGES.
The American Journal of Clinical Medicine in its Jan. issue iislies an address delivered before the Medical Depart- t of Syracuse University by Dr. Gould which states e plain facts in his plain matter of fact way, from which ilip the following:
'*For professional education and medical progress one 11 medical college, especially if located in a small, instead large, city, is worth any two big medical colleges. As le, the greater the size of the classes, the more famous professors, then the more unture the teaching, the more oral both teachers and taught. Success, ambition, poli- greed, conservatism, the dirty kind — are more certain lie the minds and kill the hearts of the men in control of huge institutions than those of the small ones. This is kuse the ambitious self-seeker and medical politician anes for and gets the professorship." **The duty of the rich and of the endowers is, therefore, s^oid helping the unwieldy and inethical schools with r (often) ill-gotten wealth; they should help the little jges. The more the money the less the therapeutics, ryonewho may influence a young man beginining the y of medicine should do his best to keep him out of the [Allege and to guide him into the small one. The great- le student body, the worse the teaching. The more pous the professor, the quicker he should be laid aside.
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THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
The greater the boast of ^science/ the more really unscientific. When professors are paid enormous salaries by lay commer- cial companies, their science is pretty sure to be unscience. Did you ever hear of a professor in a huge political medical college making any valuable medical discovery? If you have heard of such cases, did you ever personally know of one? And, according to some of the members of the Council on Medical Education of the A. M. A., three-fourths of the 4,000 annual graduates of American medical colleges are too poorly taught to practice liiedicine intelligently. The chair- man of the Council says 68 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."
DO EPIDEMICS FOLLOW INFLUENZA.
Editor Medical Advance:
Th^re is at present in this neighborhood a pronounced epidemic 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. Prom 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 ma- lignant epidemic of some form in the following fall. I do not connect them as cause and effect, but if the fact is uni- versal they point to some common cause.
Will you invite the profession to report to you their ex- perience as to the prevalence of influenza, and communica- tions 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.
NEW PUBLICATIONS,
207
NEW PUBLICATIONS- ELEMENTS OF HOMEOPATHIC THEORY, MATERIA lEDlCA, PRACTICE AND PHARMACY. Compiled by Dr. '. A. Boerioke and E. P. Anshutz. Second Edition. Boericke cTafel. 1907.
Po a recent review of this work in our January issue, esteemed contemporary, The Homeopathic Recorder, takes olio wing exception:
0 runs the Advance's review. Many, very many, attempts have made by writers to give information to the allopaths and to the B, and of all of them "Elements" is by far the most successful if tha ler of copies sold is to be taken as a criterion. It is not claimed \ better book ( in same compass ) on the subject could not be written, ) far none better have been offered to the publiihers. The thera- cs criticised above are a fair sample of all this section of the book, the reviewer will write us in about the same space a better the- ilics of whooping cough or put it in better form no one will wel- it more heartily than'the builders of "Elements," for nothing could )re to further their work. Or if any of the readers of the Becorder fTer anything to better that little book the suggestions will be rfully received. The book is designed to give in a concise and low i form a general knowledge of Homeopathy something in which all iterested who care for the spread of Homeopathy. To say that and such a part is bad without pointing out wherein it is bad and t might be bettered is like slapping a blind man on the back and ing, ''Here, you fool, don't you bee you are going wrong!" and then f your way.
In Elements of Homeopathy, Materia Medica and rmacy we have one of the best works that has been writ- is a stepping stone to homeopathic practice for the be- er— for our allopathic and eclectic colleagues — and it is the chapter on Practice to which we took exception. 5 every work that has ever been written on homeopathic :tice, it teaches how to treat the disease and overlook patient; teaches the student and beginner how to gen- ize instead of how to individualize; e. g. **Sulphur 6 is best general remedy for acne" would be correct if called 3y the symptom totality of the patient. But there are y *'best general" remedies for acne beside Sulphur, y equally good and as frequently called for. There 10 similar to a disease, and this is the first lesson
208
THE MEDICAL, ADVANCE
4
our colleagues should learn, for it is the distinctive dif- ference between Homeopathy and all other systems of prac- tice. No one can write **a better therapeutics" than is here found; it is the system, the principle on which it is built that is defective. It is not homeopathic treatment simply because homeopathic remedies are used for a disease. Our allopathic colleagues have been treating the disease instead of the patient all their lives, hence their failures. The first element of a homeopathic prescription is individualization and a convert to pure Homeopathy made in this way be- comes enthusiastic over his work.
Now about the dose. Organon, note to §246 says: I say the smallest dose, isince it wiU btand good as a homeopathic rule of cure, refutable by no experience whatever, that the best dose of the rightly selected remedy is ever the smallfSt, and in one of the higher developments ( 30th ^ for chronic as well as acute disease, a truth which is the invaluable property ot pure Homeopathy.
If the potency of the remedy is to be aflxed to each, why not adopt the above— the experience and observation of Hahnemann — as a rule of dose? We cannot have better au- thority. Besides it has been verified for 100 years by all who have put it to the bedside test.
TRAN:^ ACTIONS OF THE HOMKOHATHTC MEDICAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK, For the year 1907 pp. 511.
This splendid volume of over 500 pages is the record of the professional work of the Homeopathic Medical Society of New York for the year 1907. It includes the papers and discussions of the Fifty-fifth annual meeting and the Porty- lirst semi-annual. The volume is replete with able papers in the various departments, and this is especially true of the report of the Bureau of Materia Medica. Here the pai)ers of Close, Coleman, Stearns and Rabe are alone worth the cost of tTie book. Not only the papers but the discussions demonstrate that our colleages in New York are alive to their responsibilities and are certainly doing good work as a society. It seems too bad that so many of the homeopaths of New York still remain outside the fold as members of the society.
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
209
T-BOOK OF PSYCHIATRY. A Psyohologioal Study of Tnsan- tj for Practitioners and Students. Bj Dr. E. Mendel, A. O.^ i^rofessor in the University of Berlin. Authorised translation, ildited and enlarged by William C. Krauss, M. B. , Buffalo, N. Y. , i^resident Board of Managers Buffalo State Hospital for Insane ; ledieal Superintendent Providence Retreat for luBane ; Neurologist 0 Buffalo General, Erie County, German, Emergency Hospitals, to. ; Member of the American Neurological Association. Pp. 311. Jrown Octavo. Extra Oloth, $2.00 net. P. A.Davis Company, Publishers, 1914 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
rhe author of this work has for many years been in the b rank of the German men of science and his investiga- \ in mental diseases have added important data to this plex study.
Por years visitors of his clinic and polyclinic have re- id the utmost courtesy, and in consequence many warm dships have been established and the author's methods
generally adopted.
This volume is the result of a life-tim3 of observation, from beginning to end bears the stamp c'l thorough and itific observation. Some of the chapters, especially B of degeneracy and heredity, have been enlarged, and p additions have been made, especially the substitution e New York State Laws relating to the insane instead le German procedures. The translator has evidently
at his work con amore^ and after thirty year's work in eaching of psychic diseases he is certainly a competent ority, and his translation of one of the most practical M of our German colleagues is timely and should be ulted by the neurologists of this country. We heartily nend the volume.
S. P. PUTNAM'S SONS announces the combination Putnam's Monthly of The Reader, which has come rapid- ► the front under the energetic management of the >s-Merrill Co., Indianapolis. The editors of The Reader '. given special attention to fiction and descriptive arti- and the new monthly will present a larger number of es and descriptive articles than before, while the lite-
210 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
#
rary quality, which has been the distinguished characteristic of Putnam's, will suffer no impairment.
Of all the states known to dwellers on the Atlantic sea- board as ** Western,*' Indiana has probably made the broad- est and deepest mark in contemporary literature, and in an alliance with a magazine whose main strength lay in the eastern states, the publishers of the chief literary organ of that commonwealth turned naturally to the publishers of the most literary of American illustrated monthlies. This combination will place Putnam's magazine among the most i:>opiilaf of our illustrated monthlies, with a corp of writers, isecond to none in America.
NEWS NOTES.
The New Postal Law.— Under the new law which takes ettect June 1, 1908, no monthly publication will be allowed to go through the mails as second-class matter more than four months after the time for which it is paid. On the ad- di^ess label of every wrapper is the date to which the sub- scripton is paid, and every subscriber may know from this why his journal fails to appear, if he does not receive it. Tlie piit)U3her is compelled to cancel all subscriptions four months after the date to which they are paid.
Fiiicke's Potencies.— Those who have been left in charge of Pincke's potencies, so well-known wherever Hom- eopathy is known, will be pleased to know that they are being catalogued and arranged so that the profession may have access to them. Already 961 remedies have been cata- logued, the various potencies of which amount to about 30,000. Few members of the profession realize the full ex- tent of the life work of the late Dr. Pincke, nor have they but little knowledge of the various provings and writings left for the future. We trust that some of these may be given the profession at an early date. Up to the present date no one has been intrusted with nor had any lawful right to sell these remedies- Those obtained direct from headquarters are reliable, for they work every time and everywliere, when the medicine is indicated.
'•^•*r ^^
NEWS NOTES. 211
The New Jersey Homeopathic Society will hold its spring meeting May 5, 1908, at the Princeton Inn, Princeton. The meeting promises to be the largest and most enthusi- astic one ever held in the state. President Wilson, of the University; has promised to address the society, and as this city is historic ground, it is fondly hoped that Homeopathy wiU receive a new impetus. Every homeopath in New Jer- sey should make a special effort to put in an appearance.
Illinois Medical Colleges Not Recognized.— Informa- tion comes to us from Dr. J. A. Egan, secretary of the Illi- nois State Board of Health, that the following medical schools of Chicago have been declared not in good standing:
National Medical University.
Reliance Medical College.
Jenner Medical College.
American Medical Missionary College.
College of Medicine and Surgery (Physio- Medical).
This information indicates that the Illinois Board of Health will do its share in bringing about fairer standards of medical education and licensure. In taking this action the board will doubtless have the endorsement not only of the medical profession and the various state examining boards, but of the public also. — Journal of the A. M. A,
Yiflseetion: The last volume of the Minutes of Evidence given be- fore the Royal Commission on vivisection contains the evidence of Dr. Burford of about ten pages. Dr. Burford was able to show to a hostile and critical bench of judges that Homeopathy was something very dif- ferent from wbai they imagined it to be; that it was able to dispense with all vivisectlonal methods and yet discharge its functions as a com plete system of medical treatment. He achieved a notable day's work for Homeopathy and humanity on May 29th. — Homeopathic World,
The knowledge obtained by vivisection is on a par with that gained by testing drugs on animals, both unreliable and unscientific and in the interest and welfare of humanity should be abandoned. The scientific proving of drugs on the healthy instituted by Hahnemann over one hundred years ago, have complied with all the demands of science, and demonstrated that there is a natural law in the medical
212 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Tvorld. The size of a vaccinal cicatrix is no evidence of prophylaxis.
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH, CITY OF VE8 MOINES.
Des Moines, Iowa, October 25, 1906. To whom it may concern:
This is to certify that the use of **Variolinum" is recog- nixod by the court throughout the state of Iowa, and can be taken in preference to the usual vaccination if so desired. James Morgan, G. W. Mattern,
Secretary, President.
James E. Miller,
Physician to Board of Health.
Charles Woodhull Eaton M. D.— Died at Des Moines, litwa, Feb. 27, 1908, aged 53.
Dr. Eaton was born in Lancaster, Wis., March 28, 1855, was educated In the public schools of Lancaster, and obtained his literary education under the home training of his father the Rev. S. W. Eaton. He began the study of medicine under his preceptor Dr. S. E. Hassell of Lancaster, attended Hahnemann Medical College, Chicago 1876-77; New York Homeopathic Medical College 1877-78 and Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago in 1878-79, from both of which he received the M. D., degree. Dr. Eaton's paper on the Facts About Variolinum at the Jamestown meeting of the A. I. H. has been extensively read and his address before the Chicago Regular Homeopathic Society Feb. 4th, on Vaccination in Iowa will soon appear. He was the Chief Medical Director of the Des Moines Life Insurance Company, perhaps the only homeopath in America to hold such a posi- tion. Iowa and Homeopathy have lost one of their ablest exponents.
Ihe Medical Advance
^olXLVI. BA.TAVIA, ILL., APRIL, 1908. No. 4.
IS THE PRACTICE OF JENNERIAN VACCINATION
PERPETUATED BY THE USE OF BOGUS
STATISTICS?
By J. W. Hodge, M. D., Niagara Palls, N.. Y.
Having recently picked up a copy of a standard old school text book entitled '* Acute Contagious Diseases." by Drs. Welch and Schamberg, and casually turned to page 121, I was astonished to find the notorious old Franco-Prus- sian war fable resuscitated and dressed up as a living per- soniftcation of truth. My amazement on finding this over- worked fairy tale retold in a late text book for the *'practi- <^a,l guidance of students of medicine," can hardly be imag- itied. In order to ascertain, if possible, how and why Drs. Welch and Schamberg had given currency to this of t-ref uted yo-ni, I at once addressed the following letter to Dr. Scham- berg:
Niagara Falls, Dec. 22, 1907. Prop. Jay F. Schamberg, M. D, Philadelphia, Pa. ^ear Doctor:—
On pages 121-122 of the work on '*Acute Contagious
s^S^^^^" by Welch and Schamberg, I find the 'following
QJent under the caption ** Value of Re- vaccination as
^ated in the Comparative Small Pox Losses of the
^ench and German Armies in 1870."
. '^^ entire German field army which numbered over a
'i\ ^^^ .^^Idiers, although exposed to a raging small pox ep-
emic m France, lost by death from this disease 297 men;
^ rench army qp. the other hand suffered the enormous
OSS ot 23,469 men from small pox. (It will presently be
^14
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
sh^wn that the German troops were well vaccinated and the French sDldiers poorly vaccinated).''
Will you kindly inform me where the authority for the figures above given is to be found? Will you also please advise me as to the authority for the statement that in 1870 t he French soldiers were poorly vaccinated?
By cDJn )lyin2: with the above request you will confer a favor for which I shall feel duly obligated.
Fraternally yours,
J. W, Hodge.
Dr. Schambehg's answer.
Philadelphia, Pa., Jan. 2, 190^.
Dr. J. W. Hodge,
Niagara Palls N. Y. Dear Doctor: —
Your letter of Dec. 22nd is before me. The authority tor the statement that in 1^70 the French soldiers were poor- ly vaccinated will be found in the Minutes of the Proceed- ings of the Royal Commission on Vaccination. If my mem- ory serves m^ correctly, the number of soldiers successfully vaccinated during a number of preceeding years is there given in evidence. The number of French soldiers who died of small pox was unofficially estimated by the PVench minis- ter of war to be 28,400.
It is stated by Edwardes that in the town of Langres alf>ne 884 died. Colin reported 1074 small pox deaths among rtofdiers in one hospital, Bicetre in Paris. You will also find reference to the same figures as quoted by us in Nothnagel's Encyclopaedia of Practical Medicine, in the article on vaccination by Dr. H. Immermann of Basel. The latter refers to the Wiener Med. Wochenschr., 1872, p. 896, which pub- lished the mortality of the French troops during the war. Immermann says during the four years of peace, 1866 to 1869, preceding the outbreak of the war, the French lost 880 men fi'om small pox, and in the year 1h69 lost 63, while the Prussian army in the thirty -five years after the introduction
JENNERIAN VACCINATION. 215
of CDnpalsory vi33iiii.bioa, 1S3) tD 1839 lo^fc albD^3th3r 77 men.
I beg to remain very truly yours,
(Signed) Jay F. Schamberg.
DR. HODGE'S REJOINDER TO THE ABOVE.
Niagara Falls, N. Y., Jan. 7th, 1908. Prof. Jay F. Schamburg, Philadelphia, Pa. Dear Doctor: —
I am in receipt of your esteemed favor of the 2nd inst, in which yoa s^y: **T.i3 aafch^rity for the statement that Id 1870 the French soldiers were poorly vaccinated will be found in the minutes of the proceedings of the British R3yal Commission on Vaccination." I have searched for the "minutes'' to which you vaguely refer and have failed to find anything like ^'authority" for the ^'statement" referred to in your letter. By consulting medical history I find ab- solutely no authority for the assertion that the French army was poorly vaccinated in 1S70. On the contrary I find the best of authority for the belief that it was not only well vaccinated, but also re-vaccinated. Di\ Biyard, of Paris, a French authority on the subject Wi-iting in 1872 uses the following lan^aiga: *'Re-vacclnatioa originated in France. Every French soldier is re- vaccinated on entering a regiment. There is no excepolon." Dr. Oidbmann, staff-surgeon of the Imperial Germi-n Army, and chief physician to the hospitals at Verdum and Sfc. Qientin, during the Franco-German war says:*'Shorbly before the war with Germany, the whole French army was re- vaccinated. This general vaccination tended rather to extend smallpox than to protect against it." Re- ferring to Germany Dr. Oidtmann says: "Our German manicipil I'ecords show thousands of cases of attack and death from saaall-pox, even in newly vaccinated persons." (Address to the Reichstag). For an able and impartial dis- cussion of the real facts pertaining to the Franco Prussian war statistics I respectfully refer you to an English work entitled *'A Century of Vaccination, and what it teaches'' by W. Scott Tebb, M. A., M. D., (Cantab), D. H. P., London, England, 1899, published by Swan Sonnenschein & Co.,
41
216
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Lim. On pp. 237-238 of the above mentioned work the au- thor, Dr. Tebb says: **Now, there does not appear to be any authority for saying that re-vaccination was not enforced in the French Army, and exception must also be taken to the 23,469 French soldiers reported to have died of small pox. Mr. Alexander Wheeler followed up this statement as soon as it was uttered, and he received assurance from the French war office that there were no official medical statistics taken out during the period of the war in 1870-1871." '*Earl Gran- ville then in Paris, reported that the small-pox deaths in the French army during the years 1870-71 were unknown; that the confusion at that time was too great for registry." (Loc. cit. p. 239). Now, as to the number of deaths from small-pox in the German army let us see what the facts are. In reply to a letter of inquiry as to the number of deaths from small-pox in the German army during the war with France addressed to the War Office of the Army Medical Department of Germany, by Mr. G. S. Gibbs, the following answer was received in a letter from the German war office, dated Berlin, July 30, 18S3: *'For the time from July, 1870, to June 1871, (the twelve months of war) the numbers wished for are not recorded, and regret is expressed that on this account the desired information cannot be given,"
Signed, Toler Lisouke. **To Geo. S. Gibbs, Esq., Derry Lodge, Darlington."
In view of the above facts, I ask what are we to think of the notorious Franco-Prussian small-pox tale?
Now, Sir, you have further stated in your letter of Jan. 2nd that "the number of French soldiers who died of small- pox was unofficially estimated by the French minister of war to be 23,400*\ but you have failed to supply us with any of the data upon which this unofficial estimate was made. Do you consider such an estimate of any great-er value than a random guess? Such a calculation is a mere assumption and is not in my opinion entitled to the confidence of anybody who aims at accuracy of statement. Still Dr. Welch and yourself seem to regard numbers "unofficially estimated" as proper statistical evidence for exploitation in
JENNERIAN VACCINATION. 217
n text book which in its preface professes to be *'a practical treatise for the guidance of students and practitioners of med- icine". The Standard Dictionary defines the noun estimate as follows: **A valuation based on opinion or roughly made from imperfect or incomplete data". Dr. Hopkirk, a believer in vaccination, informed the Royal Commission that he believed the confirmation of the French and German war statistics tq be an '* absolute fact" (Q 6,774): but when he was confronted with the French Office records, in which it was stated that the medical statistics in 1870-1871 were want- "ig (Q. 6,778 and 6,782), he was obliged to admit that he was not aware of any figures on which the calculation was based (Q. 6,787).
I now call your attention to the following letter which appeared in the Lancet (London) of June 8, 1901. ^'To the Editors of the Lancet:
Sirs: — Surely a journal with the reputation of the Lancet owes some explanation to its readers for reproducing in the an- notation on aseptic vaccination the oft exposed fable regard- ing small-pox mortality in the French and German armies. This statement was withdrawn by Dr. W. B. Carpenter who originally promulgated it in this country. Its falsity was admitted by Lord HerschelFs Commission. But the marvel- ous comparison keeps 'popping up' again, as the old lady said of Mr. Gladstone. In 1899 Mr. Rider Haggard used it in a little lecture to a conscientious objector, and afterwards withdrew it. The Jenner society obtained through the foreign office an official statement from the French authori- ties on this subject. In this, the estimate that 23,400 soldiers had died from small-pox was stated (as a little re- flection would lead one to expect) to be * 'greatly in excess of the reality", so greatly that the 23,400 was brought down, *not to exceed 6000. An estimate worth little at the best has thus suffered an official abatement of nearly 75 percent. But the story on the authority of your review is still doing service in the newest pro- vaccination literature, and the Lancet has unaccountably given the lie one more start in this country.
I am Sirs, yours faithfully."
(Signed) Alex Paul.
2 IB THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
On this letter the editor of the Lancet commented as follows: **The figures escaped our attention. We regret to have published them, as their falsity has been established.
Editor of the Lancet,''
Now, Sir, it remains to be seen whether you will evince a like candor by promptly renouncing these bogus statistics which you have vouched for by giving them a conspicuous place in your text book much to the discredit of that work. If the statistical evidence in favor of vaccinal prophylaxy is 90 direct and overwhelmingly convincing as you seem to ima- gine,! cannot understand why Dr. Welch and you should have found it necessary or expedient to resort to these ancient, discredited and oft -refuted figures as an illustration of the value of re-vaccination. Finally, in view of the fact that the falsity of the statistics of the comparative small-pox losses in the French and German armies in 1870, has been admitted by nearly every pro-vaccinist of note in the world, and believing that you and Dr. Welch have no intention of giving currency to spurious statistics and that you are as desirous as myself that the facts be known I ask in the name of truth and accuracy that the fabulous statistics here referred to be wholly omitted from all future editions of your work on **acute contagious diseases".
Sincerely yours, J. W. Hodge.
Having waited two weeks without receiving a reply, I again wrote Dr. Schamberg as follows:
Niagara Falls, Jan. 20, 1908.
Prof. Jay F. Schamberg, M. D. Dear Doctor: —
After waiting for some time I have been disappointed in failing to receive some sort of reply to my letter of Jan. 7th addressed to you. In that letter I asked some pertinent questions which I hoped you would be able and willing to answer. In your reply of Jan. 2nd to my question asking for your authority for the French and German army small pox statistics paraded on p. 121 of your book on ** Acute Contagious Diseases." You vaguely referred me to the '^Minutes of the Proceedings of the British Royal Commis-
JENNERIAN VACCINATION. 219
sion on Vaccination'* for evidence as to the alleged author- ity.
Your loose reference just quoted has furnished no means of verifying the figures and statements given in your book.
In view of the voluminous character of the **Minutes of the Proceedings of the British Royal Commission on Vacci- nation." your indefinite allusion thereto appears to me ab- surd. You might as well have said ' 'the needle is in the hay stack" as a clue to its whereabouts.
As you have failed to reply to the questions in my last letter, I trust you will pardon the liberty I now take in making some further inquiries along the same line of invest igation.
In the recent work entitled ** Acute Contagious Dis- eases," by Welch and Schamberg, on page 132, under the caption * 'Ravages of Small-pox in Countries where Vacci- nation is Neglected," we read: **Hungary had 12,241 deaths and Italy and Austria each over 11,000 deaths from small pox in the five years from 189:^1-1898."
Now sir, I submit that in classing Italy with the *'coun- tries where vaccination is neglected," you have grossly erred.
There are good and sufficient data in the shape of offi- cial government records for the belief that Italy was at the period (1893-1898) mentioned in your book and had been for many years prior to that period, one of the most thoroughly vaccinated countries on the globe, To the statement in your book that vaccination was or is neglected in Italy, I will here oppose the testimony of a distinguished profes- sor of hygiene in an Italian university. In the Neio York Medmil Journal of July 22, 1899, (pp. 133-4) was printed an article entitled "Vaccination in Italy," from the pen of Charles Ruata, M. D., Professor of Hygiene in the Univer- sity of Perugia, Italy; Visiting Physician to the Convict Prisons; Editor of Tai Salute Fablica, etc. In this article Prof. Ruata says; **Italy is one of the best vaccinated coun- tries in the world, if not the best of all, and we can prove
u
220
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
that mathematically. All our young men, with few excep- tion**, at the age of twenty years, must spend three years in the army where a regulation prescribes that they must be dhfclly vaccinated.'' '
"The official statistics of our army, published yearly, sliow that from 1885 to 1897 the recruits who were found never to have been vaccinated before were less than 1.5 per cent, » the largest number being 2.1 per cent, in 1893, and the smallest 0.9 per cent, in 1892. This means in the clear- est^ way , that our nation for twenty years before 1885 was vaccinated in the proportion of 98.5 per cent. Notwith- standing this, the epidemics we have had of small pox have been something so frightful that nothing before the inven- tion of vaccination could equal them. To say that during the year 1Hh7 we had 16,249 deaths from small pox, 18,110 in thf^ year 1888, and 13,413 in 1889 (our population is 30,- 000,000) is inadequate to give a faint idea of the ravages produced by small pox."
According to these official government statistics there occurred in Italy in the three years, 1887, 88, 89, 47,772 deaths from small pox. Commenting on these figures. Dr. Ruata asks, '*Can you cite anything worse before the inven- tion of vaccination?" **Our population,*' says Dr. Ruata, *'ls perfectly vaccinated as we have already proved. I ob- tained from the government authorities a declaration that vaccination has been performed twice a year in the most satisfactory manner for many years past."
If I may be permitted to digress, I will here ask if you and Dr. Welch have placed Italy in the category, of **Coun- tries where Vaccination is Neglected," because the Italian nation is regularly vaccinated but ** twice a year in the most satisfactory manner?" If universal vaccination regularly repeated every six months constitutes neglect of vaccination, will you kindly inform us how frequently, in your opinion, the rite should be repeated in order to constitute a proper observance thereof? In other words, at what intervals should tjie vaccine operation be repeated to **secure immuni- ty from small pox?"
JENNERIAN VACCINATION. 221
Retuming to Dr. Ruata's article in the New York Medical Journal, we read: **Happily, in Italy, we are able to prove that re- vaccination has not the least preventive power. I only give a few figures: During the sixteen years, 1882- 1897, our army had 1,273 cases of small pox with 31 deaths, 692 cases with 17 deaths happened to soldiers vaccinated with good result, and 581 cases with 14 deaths happened to soldiers vaccinated with bad result. This means that of a hundred cases of small pox, 54 were in persons vaccinated with good result, and only 46 in those vaccinated with bad result, and that the death rate of those vaccinated with good result was 2.45 per cent, and only ^.40 per cent, in those vaccinated with bad result."
** Vaccinationists say that when vaccination does not 'take* the operation must be repeated, because no result means no protection given. Now, we see that soldiers not protected because vaccination did not *take' were less attacked by small-pox than those duly protected by the good result of their revaccination; and that the death rate in those vaccinated with good result was greater than among those in whom vaccination did not *take' ".
Dr. Ruata proves by the official statistics of the Italian army that during six consecutive years in which only animal lymph exclusively f urnishedjby the Government Institute for the production of lymph was used in the army, that '*the duly, ^protected' soldiers were attacked by small-pox in a proportion double that among the unprotected".
Dr. Ruata concludes: '*As you see these are official statements, extremely trust- worthy, because made in a country where and at a time when no one thought that it was possible to raise a doubt against the dogma of vaccination."
"In our country we have no league against vaccination and every father thinks that vaccination is one of his first duties. For these reasons no bias could exist against vac- cination in making these statistics."
The statements in Dr. Ruata s article, although printed in the New York Medical Journal more than eight years ago, stand unchallenged and unquestioned at the present time.
222
THE MEDICAT. ADVANCE.
In your book on ** Acute Contagious Diseases" I find nu- merous other figures and statements which do not merit the approval of any one wh3 has carefully inva^tig ited the facts. On p. 122 of your work referred to, I find the following questionable statement in reference to the Franco-Prussian war of 1870: **The mortality rate from small. pox of the German soldiers in the field was 5.97 per cent." In view of the fact that the officials of the war departments of both France and Germany have announced that there were no official medical statistics made or recorded in either army during the war between these countries (in 1870-1871) I can- not understand how this percentage (5.97) was figured out. On the same page (122) of your book it is stated: **The number of cases in the French army is not known, but the death-rate was forty-nine times greater than in the German finny.'' Since no official statistics at all relating to small- pox or vaccination were taken out in either army I am curi- ous to ascertain how the number **forty-nine" was arrived at.
Such figures can pass muster only when addressed to uncritical ignorance and unquestioning credulity, and are in niy judgement very much out of place when paraded as genuine statistics in a medical text book which professes to be * 'a practical treatise for the guidance of students and practitioners of medicine."
In your work referred to, I find numerous other figures and statements in support of the alleged prophylaxy of vac3Lnation which do not cominand my assent, bat I shall not specify them at this time.
Trusting that I may be fav^ored with the courtesy of an answer to this letter.
I am very truly yours.
J. W. Hodge.
DR. SCHAMBERG'S S i:COND REPLY.
Philadelphia, Pa., Jan. 23, 1903. Dr. J. W. Hodge, Gluck Building, Niagara Falls, N. Y. Dear Sir: —
. Your registered letter of Jan. 20 has just been received.
JENNERIAN VACCINATION. 223
I had intended to consult the figures in the Wiener Med. Wochen. of 1872, before answering your note of recent date.
The estimate of 23,400 deaths from small pox in the French army during the Franco-Prussian war was, as you doubtless know, given in a report of the minister of war to the president of the French republic June 17th, 1889. These figures it appears were based upon material presented at the St, Petersburg Statistical Congress of 1872.
The statement of Colin, who reported 1074 deaths from small pox among the French soldiers at the hospital Bice- tre; the 1963 deaths among French soldiers on German ter- ritory; the deaths at Langres, not to speak of numerous other garrisons, indicate an enormous mortality among the French soldiers from small pox. Thiers and Laurencie state that the * 'small pox was even worse than the war.*'
Admitting for the sake of argument that but 6,000 sol- diers died from small pox in the French army during the war, there still remains an enormous discrepancy between the Prussian and French losses. The statement in our book that the small pox mortality rate among the German sol- diers in the field was 5.97 per cent, is based on the statement of Prof. Immermann, of Basel, who says that there were 4991 cases of small pox in the German field army of which 297 died, making a mortality of 5.97 per cent. I shall look into this subject further, and if before the publication of a second edition of our work I find more reliable information concerning the figures quoted, we shall of course correct them.
In the little folder which you sent me I find the follow- ing, * 'after several years of reading, observation and expe- rience, I became fully convinced that successful vaccination not only fails to protect its subjects from small pox, but that in reality it renders them more susceptible to this dis- ease, etc.'' Personally I would be willing to permit the practice of vaccination to stand or fall u])on the falsity or truth of this assertion. This statement is so far from the truth that it becomes evident to any physician of experience with small pox that your personal acquaintance with the
224
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
disease must be small; for no man who has observed anjr considerable amount of small pox could honestly make such a statement.
I note in the circular entitled "Does Vaccination Pro- tect'' numerous references to the percentage of vaccinated persons admitted into hospitals with small pox. It must be patent to you that this proves nothing against vaccination, save that one vaccination does not protect for life. If 95 per cent, of the population were vaccinated and 90 per cent, of the small pox admissions are among the vaccinated, what would the argument prove?
I have neither the time nor the inclination to discuss the article of Dr. Charles Ruata; suffice it to say that the figures which he quotes do not seem to have changed the official attitude of the Italian government or the govern- ments of contiguous countries towards vaccination. Prance has recently increased the rigor of her vaccination require- ments.
A point antivaccinists either unwittingly or wittingly overlook is that the existence of a vaccination law does not necessarily mean the enforcement of that law. Until recent- ly thousands of school children in the country districts of Pennsylvania remained unvaccinated, although a state law provides that every child attending school must present a certificate of successful vaccination. If small pox had brok- en out among these children it would have been contended that they were successfully vaccinated because they could not otherwise have attended school. Arguments of this character have been brought forth to prove that the French soldiers prior to the war were well vaccinated. In our book is given the percentage of unsuccessful results. It is not the mere surgical procedure of vaccination which gives protection against small pox, but it is the development of vaccinia- If you want to read convincing evidence in favor of vaccination, and I am not sure that you do, I would ask you to look over the pamphlet on vaccination and the statistical maps therein contained, issued by the G.erman govemment- at the St. Louis exposition several years ago.
JEWNERIAN PAjCCINATTON. 225
I do not care to continue an epistolary contrbversy on the subject of vaccination, for my experience has proven such a coarse to be fruitless. Your own attitude as evidenced in tiie printed folder and mine are diametrically opposed and absolutely irreconcilable.
I beg to remain, very truly yours,
Jay S. CHAMBERG.
Dr. Hodge's reply to the above:
Niagara Palls, N. Y., Jan. 27, 1908.
Prof. Jay P. Schamberg, M. D., Philadelphia, Pa. Dear Doctor:—
Your letter of the 23rd inst., has been received and its contents noted with some surprise.
I was astonished that a medical man of your pretensions and standing in the profession should have found it necessary to resort to the use of notoriously false statistics in an effort to bolster up a discredited and waning clause. I am amazed that after your attention has been called to the bogus char- acter of the discredited figures and statements, you still hesitate to disown them.
I prefer to look upon those who give currency to spur ious statistics as being deluded or mistaken rather than in the uncharitable light of being dishonest. In my letter of January 7th, I cited evidence which should be sufficient to convince any fair minded, intelligent man who is seeking truth, that the number of deaths from small-pox in the French and German armies as given in ** Acute Contagious Diseases'' , is so monstrously false as to appear fabulous on its face. I am aware that the promoters of vaccination have used these statistics to an endless extent in drumming up recruits for the Jenner forces; yet not one of them has taken pains to inquire whether the anonymous statement which first appeared in an Austrian medical journal had any foundation in fact.
Prom the opening paragraph of your letter, I quote: '*I had intended to consult the figures in the Wiener Medical "Wochen. of 1872 before answering your note of a recent date." May I inquire what you hoped to prove by an anonymous
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paragraph in a German medical journal? The figures yoir refer to in the Wiener Med. Wochen. were reprinted in the British Medical Journal and afterwards retracted by that journal which apologized handsomely for having given cur- rency to the false statistics.
In the second paragraph of your last letter, you say: *'The estimate of 23,400 deaths from small-pox in the French army, as you doubtless know, were given in a report of the Minister of War to the President of the French Republic June 17, 1889." My answer is, I do not know anything of the kind. Then you go on to state: "These figures, it ap- pears, were based upon material presented at the St. Peters- burg Statistical Congress of 1872." Here we have more loose statements — ''Material presented;" What was the ^*material" pray, and by ichom was it ''presented?" Where is the argument in such indefinite statements? The (Lon- don) Anti- vaccinator of Nov. 1, 1872 took up the Franco- Prussian War tale and proved by the records of the French War Department that the French Army was completely re- vaccinated in 1870-71, and that, if as was argued by the pro- moters of vaccination, 23,469 French soldiers fell victims to small-pox, no more conclusive .proof of the uselessness of re-vaccination could be desired.
In your letter, you next refer to the statement of Colin regarding the alleged small-pox deaths among French sol- diers at the hospital Bicetre, etc. The citation of Colin as authority for any statement or figures mentioned in the Franco- Prussian War statistics is unfortunate for your side of the case, for the reason that these statistics are neither ill Colin's book, (Da Varicle,) nor is Colin in any way re- sponsible for them. Colin being aa impossible authority, it will be necessary for you to look for another.
Again, you say, "Admitting for the sake of argument, that but 6,000 soldiers died from small-pox in the French Army during the War, there still remains an enormous dis- crepancy between the Prussian and French losses." A re- duction from 23,469 (the figures paraded in your book), to 6,000 is a generous concession even "for the sake of
\
JENNERTAN VACCINATION. 227
argument;" still, even the last asserted number (6,000) is probably in excess of the actual figures. I do not now deny, nor have I at any time denied, that the French soldiers suffered more severely from small-pox than did the Germans. So much was to be expected. The influence of the mind on disease ought never be forgotten or overlooked. In Holme's System of Surgery, Vol. 1, p. 174, we read: **Extreme mental depression has been thought to predispose to the oc- currence of pyaemia. In the Franco- German War, pyaemia was more prevalent in the French than in the German hospitals." Had the French rolled back the German hosts on Berlin, crushed, disheartened and demoralized; with the sick and wounded huddled in barracks and hospitals, the incidence of and mortality from small-pox might have been reversed in the two armies whether the Germans had been vaccinated, re- vaccinated or un -vaccinated; and yet, perhaps, not altogether reversed, for the reason that the Ger- mans had mastered the first principles of military hygiene. Probably in no other great war was any army so free from fatalities from sickness, unless it was the Japanese army in the late struggle with Russia, as was the German army in 1870-71. It was far otherwise with the French soldiers. Those whose lot it was to minister to their sufferings have appalling stories to relate, of ignorance, mismanagement and neglect. The French were put upon the defensive, crowded and huddled together, and besieged; while the Germans were marching in the open, with choice of camps.
Dr. Colin whom you quote as an authority, remarks: Virulent diseases, especially the eruptive fevers, are more especially developed by troops in garrison; and, on the con- trary, they become mild or disappear, by life in the free air and in camps." Hence Colin tells us that when the Gardes Mobiles were suffering from small-pox in 1870, he recom- mended that they should leave the barracks and go into tents so as to have full benefit of the fresh air. Where, then, is the force of your argument that the discrepancy of of the small-pox death-rates between the French and the Ger- man armies was due to neglect of vaccination in the French
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I
army? No more pronounced experiment than this on a large scale could have been made in dis-proof of your claim that the French soldiers died of small-pox because of being ixx>rly vaccinated.
The asserted conditions of the experiment as given In "Acute Contagious Diseases" have been proven untrue, whilst the real conditions vrould fully account for littte small-pox on one side and muph small-pox on the other, ir- respective of vaccination.
The French soldiers, defeated, disheartened, half starved huddled, crowded and cooped in unsanitary barracks, would necessarialy fall easy victims to a filth disease like small-pox. The marvelous statements contained in the Franco-Prussian War tale have always made the yam ap- pear fabulous on its face; but such is the unlimited credulity of the advocates of vaccination, that it seems impossible to over tax it. Alluding to Prof. Ruata's testimony, you say: "I have neither the time nor the inclination to discuss the article of Dr. Charles Ruata." I am surprised at the non- chalance with which you attempt to brush aside the facts and figures which I quote from Dr. Ruata's paper in my last letter. The testimony of a distinguished teacher of sanitary science in an Italian University ought surely be entitled to some consideration as regards conditions existing in his own country, especially when he submits in support of his con- tentions the official government statistics of that country In thus summarily evading Dr. Ruata's testimony, you have avowed your belief in the trite saying, **Discretion is the better part of valor/'
Not one of the great army of apologists for vaccination has ever had the hardihood or the temerity to tackle Dr. Ruata's article, although it has been staring them out oi countenance for more than eight years. Through a con spiracy of sphinx-like silence on the part of the defenders oi the Jennerian faith, Dr. Ruata's arguments have beei utterly disregarded. In their presence, the intrepid cham pions of the **Jenneration" of disease have remained s* speechless as Egyptian mummies.
JENNERIAN VACCINATION. 229
In exploiting these ancient, notoriously-false and oft refuted small-pox statistics in **a treatise for the practical guidance of students of medicine," Dr. Welch arid yourself haTe shown yourselves no more critical and circumspect than a couple of grannies. Prom my writings, you have quoted a part of a sentence as follows; * 'After several years of reading, observation and experience, I became fully con- vinced that successful' vaccination not only fails to pro- tect its subjects from small pox, but that in reality it renders them more susceptible to this disease." In your comment on the above quotation, you say: *'This statement is so far from the truth", etc. I am sorry to note your violent language. How did you ascertain the alleged untruthfulness of my statement? Are you a clairvoyant or a '*mind-reader", that you assume the ability to devine my convictions? I will here remind you, sir, that the strength of a man's position depends not upon the violence of language used in its support, but rather upon the strength of the evidence adduced in its favor. To asperse an opponent's motives because his con- victions do not happen to tally with your own is atrocious. To impugn a man's veracity when unable to answer his argu- ments Is far from being honorable.
In the closing paragraph of your remarkable letter, you have this to say: ''I do not care to continue an epistolary controversy on vaccination, for my experience has proved such a course to be fruitless." Now, doctor, if , after you have '^looked farther into this subject," as you profess a willingness to do, you should become convinced that the Franco- Prussian war statistics and some others which you have approvingly quoted in your book, are fictitious and un- * worthy of credence, will you still persist in your opinion tliat this "controversy" is fruitless? You are probably un- aware of the fact that Dr. W. B. Carpenter, away back in 1BS3, trafficked extensively in these astoundingly false statistics; and according to his habit of being serenely con- fident thatwhathet^is/iestrue /strue, he indiscreetly pledged himself to his opponent, Mr. Wheeler, to substantiate the figures or withdraw them. It was a rash vow. Earl Gran-
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ville was appealed to and the resources of the French war office brought into requisition; but all in vain! The French authorities had to admit that the number of deaths from *small-pox in the war of 1870-1871 was unknown. *'The con- fusion was too great for registry." Dr. Carpenter was, therefore driven to retraction, which humiliating and pain- ful ceremony he performed in a letter to the Daily News (London) of Aug. 7, 1884. saying: *lf I have erred in adopt- ing, without sufficient authority, a statement which had every appearance ' of being trustworthy, my opponents should remember that they too are fallible." It is some- times disagreeable to face the truth, but always cowardly to evade it.
In your book on * 'Acute Contagious Diseases," I find
many other gross misstatements — all in favor of vaccination
-which should be eliminated from all future editions of a
toxt-book designed for "the practical guidance of students
uf medicine."
Regretting exceedingly that you *'have neither the time por the inclination" to discuss a practice so gravely affect- ing the lives and health of the rising generation, I now con- t'lude my letter which has already exceeded the usual limits of an epistolary communication.
Sincerely yours,
J. W. Hodge.
Comment: Having refuted the Franco-Prussian war statistics scores of times in newspapers and in medical journals it seems like slaying the slain to repeat the task. It seems almost impossible to kill and bury a statis- tical falsehood when its testimony favors vaccination. These statistics have been denied, disproved, retracted and dis- owned by some of the world's ablest advocates of vaccination. Yet in spite ojf all these exposures, and with drawals, the old lie keeps marching on. It is not at all likely that we have beard the last of it. It is far too impressive and too useful to the vaccinists to be abandoned. It will continue to be re- suscitated whenever a promoter of vaccination finds himself bested for argument, when face to face with an audience which has not access to original records.
J. W. Hodge.
i
TUBERCULOSIS PROBLEM IN NEW JERSEY. 231
SOME ASPECTS OF THE TUBERCULOSIS PROBLEM IN NEW JERSEY.
By R. p. Rabe, M. D.
The wide-spread prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis- particularly throughout the civilized world, is a fact which needs no proof. On every hand are the ravages of this disease so plainly apparent, that the question of its con- ^ trol has ceased to be a professional problem only and has imposed itself upon the minds of public economists, states, men and all who have the civic welfare at heart.
As is common in all diseases which are difficult to cure, the remedies for this one are legion, until at the present time the pendulum has swung from the extreme of drug therapy to that of nature alone, whose crude and rigorous efforts are sometimes copied with a much gi-eater zeal than is con- sistent with the best wishes of the hapless patient. In spite of the advances made in hygiene, sanitation and other cor- related sciences, the increase of tuberculosis goes mockingly on until one is forced to the conclusion that an advancing civilization exacts her penalties with a grasping hand.
In the laudable efforts which are everywhere put forth, to stamp out this justly dreaded disease, some appear to approach the ridiculous in their absurdity of reasoning and performance. Others are at once nullified by the very causes which called them forth. These causes themselves are frequently found rooted in the foundations of society where the progress of evolution is slow though inexorable, To eradicate such causes means the reformation of society itself, a task, the supervision of which is given to no man to control.
To the Hahnemannian philosopher much is clearly visible, which to the mind ignorant of homeopathic prin- ciples, is densely clouded or entirely lost in mystery. The materialistic mind grasps eagerly at any tangible theory which promises a solution of the problem, hence the ready acceptance of the germ origin of tuberculosis, an assertion by no means proved to the satisfaction of thinking minds. In the study of the symptom phenomena of this disease one
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is Struck by the important part played by Hahnemann's Miasms in their production. The systemic effects of Psora, Sycosis, Syphilis and their combinations are so intimately interwoven with the disease under consideration that a study of the miasms reveals the key to the solution of the tuber- culosis problem. And the key is this, that, were Psora, Sycosis and Syphilis truly cured in the way pointed out by Hahnemann, instead of undergoing constant suppression, as is now the case, future generations would be so free from disease susceptibility that tuberculosis as such would rapid- ly become extinct.
All other efforts which have for their object the efface- ment of the disease product, tuberculosis itself, by attacking the pathological end-product or by opposing its accompany- ing germ-life, are doomed to failure. In so far as the efforts of physicians have been directed at the patient himself, they i lave been succesful, whereas the opposite must be said of all so-called specific treatment. That this truth has at last dawned upon professional minds is evidenced by the ten- dencies of modern Sanatorium treatment, which aims at the ]>atient rather than at his disease, although even yet a blind dependence is here and there manifested, upon unrelated, misdirected drug therapy. The key-note of Sanatorium tn atment is embodied in the phrase **right living" and this consists in the observance of all those hygienic and dietetic measures which are the dictates of sound reason and judgement.
In this consideration climatology is but one element and no longer holds the supreme place which hitherto has been allotted it. One of the greatest features of Sanatorium life lies in its power to inculcate in the minds of the inmates luibits of correct living, and this lesson once learned, is of the highest value to the patient and those about him, when he has gone back to his ordinary life and vocation. Such education as is imparted to those within the Sanatorium, sliould however, be given to the thouscinds who are with- cait it.
In our own state something of the sort is being done
/ ' TUBERCULOSIS PROBLEM IN NEW JERSEY. 233
under the auspices of the. the New Jersey Association for the Prevention and Relief of Tuberculosis. This association reports as probable the existence of twelve thousand con- sumptives in the state to-day. Three thousand five hundred and eighty-seven died of the disease in thi^ state in 1905. The Association is doing excellent work and has already made use of a traveling Tuberculosis exhibit in its campaign against the disease. This exhibit has been shown to ten thousand four hundred people in seven cities and towns of the state, and during the last year thirty-five lectures have been given to a total of twenty -five hundred people.
In 1902 the state legislature passed and the Governor signed 'an act to establish a Sanatorium for persons aflict- ed with tuberculosis diseases, and to provide for the select ion of a site and the erection of buildings therefor and the government thereof."
After an inspection of several sites in various parts of the state, Glen Gardner, on the New Jersey Central Rail- road, in the county of Hunterdon, was selected as most de- sirable and five-hundred acres of wood and upland purchased by the Board of Managers, which board had been appointed by the Hon. Franklin Murphy, Grovemor, and whose officers consisted of Dr. Charles J. Kipp, President; Dr. Austin Scott, Vice-President; Col. E. A. Stevens, Treasurer and Dr. Jfimes S. Greene, Secretary.
To quote from the first annual report of the Board: **The land adjoins the Central Railroad and the proposed site of the buildings is located less than three-quarters of a mile from the station. It is easily accessible and at the same time secluded; the air is very pure; the soil is dry and porous and there is plenty of good water on the place. It has a southerly slope, amply protected from north-easterly winds, on which it is proposed to build. From here is ob- tained an extensive view of attractive landscape. The place is about 950 feet above tide water and includes about two- hundred and seventy-five acres of woodland. We regard it as an ideal place for a Sanatorium."
In 1905 excavation for the Sanatorium buildings was be
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gun and the buildings, after much delay, finally completed in the fall of 1907. The Sanatorium consists of a large Ad- ministration building containing rooms for the resident phy- sicians and nurses, laboratory, drug room, treatment rooms, offices, board room and so on, and is connected by large covered passageways with the separate ward buildings of two stories each, for male and female patients, and with the large dining room and service house in the rear of the Sanatorium buildings proper.
The upper floor of each ward building consists of one large ward with numerous windows and containing twenty- six beds. The lower floor is divided into, smaller ward 1 ooms for three to four patients, and is designed for those who may be afflicted with noisy coughs likely to disturb other patients. On each floor are rooms with baths, wash basins and showers of all descriptions. The medical sup- erintendent of Glen Gardner Sanatorium is Dr. S. B. English, who is ably assisted by Dr. Henry B. Dunham, formerly of tiie Massachusetts State Sanatorium located at Rutland, Mass.
At the present writing the Board of Managers, all ap- pointed by the Governor, is made up of Dr. W. S. Jones of Camden, president; Dr. Elmer Barwis, of Trenton, vice- president; Dr. John H. Moore, of Bridgeton; Dr. Theodore Senseman, of Atlantic City; Mr. Abram L. Beavers, of Glen Gardner, secretary; Mr. J. Walter Ingham, of Phillipsburg; Mr. Chester N. Jones, of Summit and Dr, Rudolph P. Rabe, of Hoboken. Seventy-one patients to date are under treat- ment at the Sanatorium, which will very soon be filled to its capacity, one-hundred and four patients.
Glen Gardner Sanatorium is designed for the reception and care of curable cases only, the intent of the law being interpreted to mean incipient pulmonary tuberculosis. Ap- plicants for admission are at present examined by physicians a]>pointed by the board, throughout the state and are ad- mitted after final examination and acceptance by the medical officers of the Sanatorium. Doubtful cases are kept for one month on probation and all those who do not show a reason-
k
TUBERCULOSIS PROBLEM IN NEW JERSEY. 235
able degree of improvement within this time, are asked to return to their homes.
This provision is in accord with the policy of the greatest good to the greatest number, since it is held to be better to cure four cases in one year than arrest one or two cases in the same time. For these cases which are in the second stage of the disease a separate State Sanatorium should be built or the various counties should take care of such cases in sanatoria of their own, located at convenient points. The need for such retreats is a real and crying one, for it is almost inhuman to turn away such cases, susceptible of im- provement if not of cure. At present however, there is nothing else to do and many a case goes to an untimely end for lack of such provision.
Patients at Glen Gardner are of two kinds, indigent and pay; the former are sent after examination by the medical examiners and officers upon recommendation of a judge of a court of common pleas, who has been satisfied of the indi- gency of the applicant. Pay patients are received at the discretion of the Board of Managers, pay a weekly fee of five dollars and are treated in every respect the same as the 'ndigent patients. They undergo the same preliminary medical examination.
Shacks and out-door camps, for which there is ample room, are in contemplation, a sun parlor and a recreation pa villion for use in inclement weather will also be. erected. The farm land will be used and cows purchased to insure an abundant supply of wholesome milk. An iceplant will also be constructed.
And now that the state of New Jersey has made so ex- cellent a beginning in the fight against the great white plague, it behooves all citizens, both lay and professional to aid the work in every possible way. Tuberculosis should be placed in the list of notifiable diseases, for no matter wheth- er we accept the theory of the germ origin or not, we can and do admit the infectious nature of this disease, whose prevention is of so great economic and social interest as to -enlist all public spirited men and women.
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In this work, efficient but not obnoxiously overzealous local boards of health can be of great service and to them belongs the supervision of factories and tenements, sewage disposal and kindred matters. Personal hygiene und knowl- edge of sanitation must be taught to some extpnt at least in the schools and the warfare against patent medicines and other nostrums relentlessly carried on. In this work we can as physicians, and especially as homeopathic physicians, do much, for it is given to us to distinguish clearly between disease suppression and disease cure, if we are but mindful of the teachings of the founder of our school. For after all the law of similars offers the greatest aid in the warfare against tuberculosis in all its forms.
A CLINICAL CASE.
. By Dr. P. Jousset. Translated from Revue Homeopalheque Francaise, by Horace P. Holmes M. D., Sheridan, Wyoming?.
Rheumatic endocarditis. Mitral insufficiency and mitral stricture. Hyposystole; Cactus, Digitaline, Theobromine, Apis, Ledum, Strophantus, Vipera torva. Calomel, Spigelia^ Colchicum, Aconite, Serum d'anguille (eel's serum.)
Madam X — , aged 28 years, entered the hospital Saint- Jacques October 31st, 1907, and was placed in bed No. 7 of the large ward.
This women has already had two attacks of acute artic- ular rheumatism. The first dates back ten years, was along siege and the patient kept her bed for two months; the large articulations were successively attacked, red, swollen and painful. Avery slight bruit de souffle should ha*re been noticed at that time.
Two months ago there was a new attack which only last- ed three weeks, but was cortiplicated with a grave endocard- itis, characterized by a considerable dyspnoea, anxiety and pallor of the face. At the time of her entrance into the hospital, they verified the existence of a grating systolic souffle and a presystolic souffle. The jugulars beat strongly; the pulse was small and irregular. The liver painful and congested.
A CLINICAL. CASE. 237
October 31st. Cactus Ix, 10 drops, was prescribed; but by evening, signs of asystole appearing, the interne on duty prescribed Digitaline 1- 1000th, 20 drops. The next day, the patient being better from that dose, 30 drops of the same preparation of Digitaline was prescribed, and the urine, which measured only 300 grams, reached 1500 grams the next day.
The 2nd and 3rd of November, three doses of 50 grams of Theobromine were given. November 4th, rest. The nrine reached 2500 gram^. On the 5th, Apis 6x and Ledum 6x were given in alternation. Prom this time the urine di- minished greatly and fell from 750 to 300 grams. The trouble of asystole reappeared. Strophantus, in mother tincture, Vipera torva 2x trituration, Calomel, Spigelia, Theobromine, had scarcely any effect. The patient, extremely oppressed, was obliged to remain in a sitting position; the pulse was small and arythmic.
This was the condition in which I found the patient on the Ist of November. The Digitaline was again indicated by the state of the pulse and urine; but, as this remedy had only brought about a transient amelioration, I prescribed Serum d'anguille 1st, 10 drops, although the urine did not show any albumen; the next day the urine had doubled in • volume and the day following had attained 1100 grams; at the same time the functional symptoms were greatly ameli- orated.
December 9th, the patient was but very little oppressed and slept well; the urine had increased to 1500 grams; the pulse had become regular but the bruit de souffle persisted with the same intensity. I prescribed Colchicum, mother tincture, 40 drops for four days. This remedy had no effect; then I prescribed Aconite Ix trituration grams 0.20 in 200 grams of water. The patient improved and could walk without notable oppression and the 22nd she asked leave to return to her home affairs.
This case give us an opportunity to bring before you the .indications for Digitaline and Serum d' anguille.
Digitaline is^a common and classical remedy; we have
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f
nothing to inform you regarding its action in cardiac affec- tions. And yet, I desire to recall to you that three symp- toms indicate its employment; weakness of the cardiac muscle, revealed by the smallness and intermittenc^ of the pulse, oliguresis and anasarca. In our patient, two symp- toms only existed, weakness and intermittence of the pulse and the oliguresis; nevertheless, the action of the remedy was immediate and from 300 grams the quantity of urine rose to 1500 at the end of forty-eight hours. Crystallized Digitaline in the dose of 30 to 50 drops of the 1 1000th solu- tion given twice a day advantageously replaces the decoction of the leaves we formerly gave. Its action is more certain and rapid, and its administration easier. Habitually, at the end of twenty-four hours, the increase in urine and the amelioration of the general symptoms announce the good effects of the Digitaline. But a fact to which I particularly call your attention, is that the favorable action of Digitaline, when the remedy has been administered in a sufficient dose, 30 to 50 drops during the day, continues during four, six, eight and twelve days; but with the condition. that the inter- current adm instruction of another remedy does not interfere with its action.
Digitaline is the type of the good remedy; first, it is ab- solutely homeopathic, since it cures the asystole which it l^roduces; next, it constitutes a brilliant demonstration of the Hippocratic adage: natara mecllcatrix. Its action, in effect, is not directly upon the disease, but it modifies the organism which through its own particular forces, combats the mor- bid process.
Serum d'anguille. The remedy is new, and I believe I am the first and only one who has used it in the treatment of affections of the heart and kidney.
Mosso and Phisalix had experimented with the serum d'anguille on animals before I did. It was because they demonstrated the great analogy of the serum d'anguille and viper venom, that I was led to study this medicament.
The experiments I made in the laboratory of the Hospital saint- Jacques will be found in the July,1899,number of I'Art
A CLINICAL CA3E. 239
J; and more completely, regarding the histological lesions, in the Bulletin de la Bociete anatomique of May 1899.
The serum d'anguille acts very energetically upon the rabbit Injected, in the dose of 3 drops, mixed with physio- logical serum, into the marginal vein of the ear, by the fol- lowing day causes the urine to become albuminous and san- pinolent; the pulse slows down to rise afterwards; from larger doses, 8 to 10 drops, it becomes intermittent. The urine is very abundant from the first and always albuminous. When 8 to 10 drops is attained, the urine diminishes, then anuria develops at the same time with the diarrhoea ahd the rabbits succumbs.
The lesions are especially intense in the liver and kidney; the two principal conditions they may cause are: necrosis from coagulation and vascular degeneration.
The heart also presents a certain number of lesions, though much less advanced these are rare granulations upon ' some muscular fibers and in the walls of isolated capillaries; a certain degeneration of the muscular fibers, masses of round cells in the fibers with muliplication of the nucleus; upon a longitudinal curve, a quite positive stricture of the fibers, and on transverse section, vacuoles in ^ certain number of muscular fibers.
Translators note: My object in presenting to the readers of the Medical Advance this interesting article from the pen of the gifted Dr. Jousset, is three-fold:
First, it is absolutely worthless from a homeopathic pouat of view.
Second, it shows the tendency towards serum-therapy, in which Dr. Jousset hopes for great results in the future treatment of diseases.
Third, it serves as a splendid text for a discourse upon true homeopathic prescribing.
I concede to no English speaking physician a greater regard for Dr. Pierre Jousset than I myself hold. One of the regrets of my professional life is that I have never met him.
For the last twenty years I have read largely from Dr.
240 THB MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Jousset and have given many translations of his writings tc the Medical Advance. He is one of the most voluminotK and original writers of the homeopathic school. He is deep ly scientifici always abreast of the times in medical research microbiology and serum therapy, a splendid diagnostician a lucid teacher, and a devoted partisan of homeopathy, can thank him for many, many good things I would bav( found nowhere else and many things I would not have rea( until months later. His advice against the use of quinin( in la grippe in the great epidemic of 1888-1889, before it hw fairly gained a foot-hold on the American continent; his ex plosion of the Bourgeon rectal gas craze long before oti American physicians bought their useless apparatus; hi killing review of Koch's tuberculin as a cure for consump tion; his most thorough and masterly demonstration of th proof that tuberculosis is non-contagious through the mos intimate family association, from the use of tuberculous mil or meat, a fact now accepted by the French congress of tx berculosis; and, latterly, his interesting articles upon the var ous sera-therapy, are a few of the especially goods things read first from his pen. And so, if to Dr. Jousset i*^ due th incentive which led me to wish to read the French medico text, I am certain he will take kindly a criticism from m upon his unhomeopathic prescribing as compared with th teachings of our beloved master, Samuel Hahnemann.
Dr. Jousset does not "take'' his cases as Hahneman recommended. He gives a few diagnostic symptoms, but n modalities nor mental symptoms. To him a case of pnei monia is a case of pneumonia, and so he says in * 'Lecture on Clinical Medicine.*' page 98: '*Tessier formulated a trea ment for this disease which is classical. It consists in th administration of Bryonia during the day, and of Phosphori during the night." Much of his practice is on this empir plan as far as one can judge from his writings. Take tt case he reports in this translation; there is not one sing] symptom given on which one could base a homeopathic pr scription. Basing his treatment on his diagnosis he flies \ once to empirics; Cactus is known to be useful for hea
A CLINICAL CASE. 241
trouble; Digltaline also. And so they are first thought of and given without asking if they are homeopathic to the case. That is eclectic treatment, pure and simple, not homeopathic. These remedies were not indicated or they would have acted fovorably. The same can be said of the seven other remedies, none indicated and none curing. It was little wonder he resorted to eel's serum! It would be in- teresting to know what a true homeopathic remedy — the simillimum — would have done for this patient. However, it is fair to say the patient did not have homeopathic treat- ment and there can be no claim that serum-therapy suc- ceeded after Homeopathy failed.
What should Dr. Jousset have done? Hahnemann taught ns to pay attention especially to the peculiar, prominent and uncommon symptoms, and it has been successfully fol- lowed by the masters of our school; also give especial at- tention to the mental symptoms and the modalities. In my own practice I aim particularly to draw all these out in the picture of the case, and I consider them of more importance from the standpoint of the cure than I do the diagnostic symptoms. Diagnosis counts for little in choosing the curative remedy, and Hahnemann so taught and practiced. Now please Mr. Hothead, do not fly up and say I ignore diagnosis: But I do mean that diagnosis is practically use- less when it comes to selecting the curative remedy — the remedy that must cure. If one is not convinced, let me ask him what remedy homeopathic to the case would he give for bronchitis, for pneumonia, a diarrhea or dysenteiy, a rheu- matism or a sick headache, erysipelas, cystitis, etc.? For- get your diagnosis, be a homeopathic prescriber, and give the indicated remedy.
On this particular subject read what Dr. Franz Hart- man said of Hahnemann's prescribing in Dunham's Lectures on Materia Medica, Vol. II, page 392, where he saw Hahne- mann cure a case of figwarts in fifteen days. Not being able to diagnose the remedy, Hartman asked Hahnemann what he had given and was evasively answered by being told to '*study Materia Medica." Being unable to contain
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his curiosity after the cure was affected, Hartmann stole in- to Hahnemann's study at an early hour and examined the record book. ^ Much to his surprise he found that Chamo- milla 30th, three powders, had cured the condylomata. He confessed his fault to Hahnemann and begged to know why Chamomilla had been selected. Hahnemann replied: **Then take the book and read further, read the Symtomen-Codex and see if it were possible to give any other remedy than Chamomilla when such symptoms were present."
In contrast to this loose method' of Dr. Jousset, compare the report of Dr. Chiron in his case of epilepsy in the Feb ruary Advance, page 117. Every symptom, diagnostic anc personal pointed to the single remedy. Cuprum. That is the kind of work we want. That is homeopathic prescrib- ing.
NOTES FROM HAHNEMANN HOSPITAL, Rochester, N. T
'*Mrs. Lydia Hoag and her daughter, who have beei members of our hospital family for nearly four years, we ar( happy to learn are restored to health, and left the hospita! on the 16th inst. for a trip to California. They have th( best wishes and love of the entire household."
Dr. H. C. Allen, Chicago, 111. Dear Doctor:
I enclose clipping which in a way explains itself so fa: as a cure under homeopathy is concerned. The above cas( has been under treatment by some of our best men for i long time without being cured. She had not walked for fiv( and a half years; had been in bed nearly four years. Di Biegler turned the case over to me one year ago. At firs she continued to decline as she had been doing for mor than three years. Finally the remedy was found and th< case went on to complete recovery. Today she is enjoyinj perfect health; can walk five miles which she does nearl; every day, and is feeling better than she can everremembe of being before. The case was cured from the fact brough forth one day that she had never been well since scarle fever at age of three years, and that atropine had been use
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for ten years to dilate the pupil of one eye. Not only is she well generally but sight in this eye is better than in years. Needless to say that atropine was discontinued.
Am proud of results in this case from homeopathic work. Thought you might be interested to know that Her- ing's teachings were bringing results for me not alone in this case but many others. Have three allopathic physici- ans who employ me for themselves aild families when medi- erne is needed.
Best wishes for a prosperous year for Hering. I am Very truly yours,
Glen I. Bidwell, M. D.
USEFUL NOTES
From J. F. Edgar, M. D.
Tobacco. — An elderly man, accustomed to railroad or excavating and grading work, complained of **intense aching in his testicles after use of tobacco, either in chewing or smoking form.'' The only concomitants I could secure from him: he was not very active sexually; had the mental desire but poor physical capacity; irritable bladder when the testi- cles are aching; desire to urinate but slow, intermitting evac- uation. I gave him one dose Conium Im (B. & T.,) and after- wards studied the condition. The Conium did not relieve. My three repertories gave not much help.
Tabac., Solan, nigr., Lyssin, Lobelia werp suggested generally. Using the last symptoms in section 15 — Lyssin, and the general ones of sections 21 and 22, I administered Lyssin 30, the only degree of fineness I had in stock.
The relief was prompt and has continued so, now over three months. I have added to the last symptom in section 22, Lyssin in Guiding Symptoms, or tobacco, so that it reads "complaints resulting from abnormal sexual desire or tobac- co," and I reix>rt this to the profession for verification.
Yawning, Gaping. — I have three of the largest reper- tories. When I want to follow up a symptom that may be a leader, ani the repertory gives remedies that are not cor- roborated in Guiding Symptoms, I then take the entire ten
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volomes and go over that section in each remedy and verify my repertories.
With Bering's Guiding Symptoms we have authority that is nearer to certainty than any I know of. The follow ing remedies are verified from that authority, and I offei them to the profession who care to record them in th6ii repertories and save themselves the three or four days o1 work I have given to it. This does not include the gasping for air in dyspnoea.
Acet. ac; Actea rac.; Aeon.; Agar.; Ammon. br.; Ant crud.; Apoc.; Arg. m. and n.; Ars,; Atrop.; Aur. mur.; Bor. Bry.; Calc. phos.; Camp.; Carb. ac; Citrus Lemon; Croc. Dig.; Dros.; Fer. lod.; Glon.; Hell.; Ign.; Kob.; Kreos.; Lac add; Lact.; Laur.; Lil. tig.; Lob.; Lyc.;Lycop.; Lyss.; Med. Merc. V. and cor.. Mez.; Mosch.; Mur. acid.; Natr. s.; Nu] mos. and vom.; Clean.; Op.. Paris; Phosp.; Phys.; Pod. Prun.; Puis.; Ther.; Val.; Xan.
CALCAREA SULPH; IN INFANTILE ERUPTIONS.
By W. H. Freeman, M, D.
Baby M., age six months, weight 11 pounds, bottle fed Sandy hair, blue eyes, delicate, scrawny, abdomen enlarge( and bloated.
Perspires all over copiously, on head especially, whil eating or when excited. Much vomiting, diarrhea and indi gestion, with intolerance for milk especially, since birtl (helped greatly by Aethusa 200, frequently repeated as ne cessary).
Has gained in weight very slowly and only by spells remaining stationary for weeks at a time.
At present being fed on a mixture of milk and a pat ented proprietary food recommended by some friends whicl seems to agree better than anything previously tried.
Eruption on trunk and buttocks since birth, worse noT than ever before, of many discrete, impetiginous, non-iE flammatory, round, superficial blisters filled with yellow pus
Calcarea sulph. 200, four powders to be given twelv hours apart. No change in the food. Result — relief c
CAN SURGERY AVAIL. 245
symptoms and gain of two pounds in weight within two weeks. .
CAN SURGERY AVAIL IN THE SELECTION OF THE HOMEOPATHIC REMEDY?
By Lawrence M. Stanton, M. D., New York. (Read before the Bayard Club, of New York, October 16, 1907.)
We who seek to live up to the full stature of Homeo- pathy take the position that while surgery for removal of a pathological product may be at times a necessity, it is always, short of such necessity, deplorable.
Let us examine into this position and see if it be tenable.
We believe, and rightly, that pathological expression is but the outward disturbance; that it is not itself the disease but merely one manifestation of disease; that if we remove by surgery this expression — this tumor, this appendix — we have cut away part of the picture ^whereby disease makes itself known to us, have cut the ground from under our feet and are left with no information upon which to base the homeopathic remedy.
But, while the soundness of this position is not to be gain-said, there are many times when we cannot to the patient's advantage make a practical applicalion of our phi- losophy. A case comes to us first hand, has not been tam- pered with, yet even here we get no picture, we get no in- formation. We are not going to cure this case, and we turn in some other direction, perhaps to surgery, for help. But if we have recourse to surgery, are we abandoning our case to it; or are we merely asking its aid in order that we may, with a fresh start, continue our work upon homeopathic lines? Are there not cases where the intervention of sur- gery enables us to discern more clearly the indications for the homeopathic remedy?
The question stated thus baldly is somewhat confusing, and in order to make my meaning clear it is necessary first to make some classification of cases presenting this tangible pathological aspect. We will divide them broadly into those where the indications for the selection of the homeopathic
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remedy are suflficient and those where they are not; Class A. and Glass B., respectively.
Class A. falls into three sub-divisions. First, there are those cases where all the indications for the remedy are found in the patient, the pathological manifestation giving us no suggestion of the remedy.
The second subdivision is the antithesis of the first. The patient himself, escaping scot-free, presents not a flick- er of a symptom which posesses value, and we must turn for information to the pathological explosion. Here there is enough in objective appearance or in local symptoms to en- able us to select the homeopathic remedy.
The third subdivision comprises those cases where the iodications for the remedy are found partly in the patient, partly in his pathological condition.
We may therefore dismiss Class A., in its three sub- divisions, from our discussion, finding there as we do in one way or another sufficient indications for the selection of the remedy. It would not have been considered here at all but to clear the way for a better understanding of Class B., namely those other cases where indications for the remedy are lacking.
Class B. is made up of two subdivisions. In the first are those cases where, after looking far and near, after searching the patient and searching the pathological lesion, we find nothing anywhere suggesting the remedy. The patient seems in perfect general health, and though disease has expressed itself pathologically there is absolutely nothing characteristic in this expression. It is dumb so far as the remedy goes; there is no pain, or none of any charac- ter, and as for the objective aspect of the lesion fifty reme- dies if any, come to mind. We are baffled, or aught to be, and declare the case is not one for Homeopathy.
The second subdivision is equally disconcerting. Here is a tumor which, on account of its size or position, is press- ing uxDon nerves, blood vessels or some neighboring vital organ; or there are adhesions, say, compressing, constricting distorting— in either case we have an array of symptoms, tc
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be sure, but they are reflex and in no way indicative of the real disease for which we are endeavoring to find the remedy. Again our search is vain and again we say it is no case for Homeopathy, perhaps it is one for surgery.
But in so saying we are both right and wrong. Right, in that these cases, mentioned under Class B., may be surgi- cal for the moment, but wrong in thinking that they are not In the end cases for Homeopathy. And this brings us to the point, to the question: Can surgery avail in the selection of the homeopathic remedy? When the statement is made concerning a case that the indications for the remedy are insufficient, the fact is asserted only under existing condi- tions and with the reservation that under other conditions indications for a remedy might very well appear. Now may they not be forced to declare themselves?
If the expression of disease, either general or local, is inadequate for the purposes of a remedy, or if the symptoms presenting themselves are nothing more than reflex symp- toms, may we not by the aid of surgery * bring about a new situation, a new utterance of disease from which the remedy is now evident? From a patient otherwise so well that he presents no symptoms, we remove, say, a perfectly dead mass, that is, dead to the remedy; or we remove a tumor that is mechanically giving us only reflex symptoms; in do- ing so we are creating an opportunity for the chronic disease to express itself anew. It may now manifest itself in some other part or organ and with symptoms no longer vague. We study the patient with ffew eyes, and now the homeo- pathic remedy covers the case where before there was no hint of its applicability. Our resort to surgery has not been a last resort but an intermediate step in the discovery of the homeopathic remedy.
At times then, it seems to me, there are cases where we must decide to play the waiting game no longer but must endeavor by surgery to reach a vantage ground from which the homeopathic remedy is discernible.
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REPLY TO DOCTOR BOFFIN.
Dear Dr. Boffin:
It gives me pleasure to reply to the questions you aske< so courteously. The best answer I can give to the firs questions; namely: **Hahnemann, defended vaccination;' was he not also the promulgator of the minimum dose? '. might reply that Hahnemann did not discover any inconsis tency between vaccination and the minimtm dose. Isi necessary for me to defend Hahnemann in the Advance?
You ask if the Jennerian vaccination is in advance of th( internal method of homeopjtthic prophalaxis with the attenu ated virus. Yes! When I vaccinate by scarification I an able to tell by the size, shape, etc., of the vesicle, whethei the operation is successful or not. If not I can repeat unti I am assured that the patient is protected. Can you? An other advantage is that in the experience of a century W( have the power to know when the protection is so far weak ened that re- vaccination is necessary to avert the danger o the patients being liable to varioloid. With so-called, in ternal vaccinationon [There is no such thing.— Ed.] no evi dence has, to my knowledge been adduced to show how lonj the protection lasts.
You ask *'if crude vaccination immunizes without jeep ardizing the individual's subsequent health." The danger o vaccination with the pure bovine virus is very remote, am to the homeopathic physician is very easily averted. Se( Kent's repertory, page 1337.
Let me ask a question. What homeopathic remedy wil you administer as a prophalactic for small-pox? One says Vaccinum. Others say Variolinum, Thuja and Tartar emetic Sarracenia, or Malandrinum. Will you choose any one o: these indiscriminately? Are all equally efficaceous? L it good homeopathy to have eight or ten remedies any on( of which may be administered in a case? Hahnemann die not think so. Do you?
You speak of Hahnemann being imbued with the spirl of progress. I grant it. Your question is a superannuatec argument for mongrelism.
COMMUNICATIONS. 249
I have only given the outlines of my defence of vac- cination.
If you want a more extensive one, please turn to the transactions of the I. H. A. for 1893, in which I go into de- tails. This paper although published fourteen years ago, has never been noticed by any anti -vaccinationist.
I thank you for the courtesy you have displayed to me. It is much different in that regard from the usual anti-vacci- nation articles which are neither courteous nor civil.
A. McNeil.
PSEUDO-HOMEOPATHIC JOURNALS.
Editor of The Advance:
Verily this is an age of unblushing counterfeit present- ment. I have before me a journal called '* Homeopathic" — there are others — with nothing homeopathic about it except the title page. The self-styled broad-minded editors of such fill their pages with excerpts from the regular antipathic journals, cases treated in violation of all the principles of homeopathy by men posing as **homeopaths" and for reve- nue, advertisements of nostrums which should be excluded from a homeopathic journal. We get all we require of this sort of medical practice in our allopathic journals. When we subscribe for a homeopathic journal we have a right to expect it to be what it is named. When we go to the gro- cer for cow-butter we don't tolerate oleomargerine under the name of the former. The editors of such journals are no doubt very honorable gentlemen, but why do they print '^Homeopathic'* on their journals when they seem not to believe in or practice homeopathy, and certainly don't teach it, and often sneer at those who adhere to the principles of Homeopathy.
It is no wonder that our allopathic brethren say: well, there is little difference in our respective practices now. The influence of such journals upon medical students, young practitioners, and indirectly upon the laity is pernicious. It seems to me that systematic efforts have been made for years by such journals, and by pseudo homeopathy to de.
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grade the practice of homeopathy and to destroy the confi- dence of the laity in its efficiency, and slowly but surely not only preventing the advance and progress, but crushing the life out of pure Homeopathy as a school and substituting a ''bastard."
Personally I care not what a man's practice is if he be honest and consistent. If I found any system of treatment giving better results than Homeopathy I would adopt it. It would be right that I should do so; but then honesty would dictate that I ceased to call myself '^homeopath," and end my affiliation with a **homeopathic society. We respect our learned brethren on the opposition benches who differ from us, we can forgive their persecution in the past and present in a modified form. We know that from time to time some one of them will get the light of "truth" and become a pil lar of strength in our ranks; but we can have no resi>ect foi the **pretender," and we should show no consideration foi the vender of spurious homeopathy. Verily we have come to the "parting of the ways." It is better that our ranks should be decimated again and again than that we shoulc tolerate practices and precepts which are removing th( ground upon which we have been standing from under oui feet.
Jos. FiTz Matthew, M. D.,
West Sound, Wash.
LETTER FROM I)R. R. E. BELDIN6.
Troy, N. Y., March 6th, 1908. H. C. Allen, M. D. Dear Doctor:
I notice in the January number of the Advance a state ment that Isaiah Dever was the only physician known t< you who had the names of Hering, Lippe, Guernsey, Rau( and Frost on his diploma.
These names are all on my diploma. I was graduate( from the same college as he, in the same year.
Yours truly,
R. E. Belding.
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CLINICAL CASES. 251
CLINICAL CASES.
By J. B. S. King, M. D.
The following case contains points worthy of notice:
Mrs. C. — Spare, blond, 38 years old.
History — Subject to attacks of neuralgia on left side. Suddenly lost sight of left eye two years ago. Left eye pro- trudes when excited. Teeth decayed at age of sixteen.
Present State — Feels well during day but has horrible nights. Wakes up usually at or before midnight in a terri- bly excited, nervous condition.
She fears she is going to die.
She fears she is going to lose her breath. Then comes a sensation as if '*roof of mouth was being gripped and pulled up towards her brain." *' Something seems to all come together in head and affect the mouth with a drawing sensation.'' At this climax she loses breath and becomes unconscious for a short time. She feels badly frightened afterward and tosses around restless the remainder of the night, falling into a heavy sleep toward morning.
Dull ache between eyes.
Dull ache in top of head.
Dull ache in occiput" all worse on cold windy days. Pro- tects head from cold by high fur collar. Is very prone to chilly sensations up and down back; wears an extra cover over spine on this account.
Appetite good. Bowels regular; menses normal.
Conditions and surroundings were cheerful.
On account of the fear of dying, fright, chills in back, aggravation from cold wind. Aconite was prescribed. There was immediate relief lasting ten days. The peculiar symp- tom of the brain, occurring most nearly under Glonoin, that remedy was given, although there was no history of sun- stroke or any trouble from heat, and the modalities were different. The trouble left the first night and she has re- mained well, except that some months later she had a few symptoms that called for Sulphur.
After the Glonoin her letters were full of such phrases
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as ''sleeping perfectly fine," *'sleep all right now/' **have no trouble with anything."
I was unable to get word from the oculist who attended
• her for the loss of sight. There was no pain; she first no-
ticed a mistiness and in a few days sight was entirely gone. Mrs. A. Complains of bloating of abdomen; great drow- siness and headache. On interrogation I found that the headache and bloating were both worse after eating and at the menstrual period. Menses irregular, sometimes late,
i sometimes early, sometimes slight in amount, sometimes
I heavy. She frequently felt like fainting although she had
^ never fainted. Nux machata 30 cured.
The following singular incident following this cure shows that domestic medicine sometimes makes a bull's eye
I hit. Some two years after the above cure this patient was
traveling in the South, and during the trip was affected with a return of some of the above symptoms. She wrote to me for medicine, but before it arrived was induced to consult
Ian old negro woman who had some reputation as a doctor. The old mammy asked her a few questions and said, **honey, I specs you need a little nutmeg." j My patient laughingly told me at a subsequent inter-
view that before my medicine arrived an old darky womaD had cured her with a little nutmeg grated into hot water.
Now, how did that venerable colored "pusson" know what medicine to give?
Mr. K. complained by telephone of a severe cold with stuffed nostrels and shooting pain in and around the left ^ eye. I sent him a powder of Belladonna 30, with directions
to see me if not relieved soon. He came in 24 hours, saying that he thought it had cured him because the pain stopped towards evening but had come back with full force the next morning.
The pains were sharp, stabbing, in the eye-ball, aggra- vated by moving the eye-balls, by stooping. There was profuse lachrymation but no redness. Looking around for Spigelia symptoms, I took a dentist's probe and made a mo- tion as if I was going to touch his eye brow with the point.
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CLINICAL CASES. 258
'*Hold on," he said. **I hate pointed instruments and can't bear to have them around, especially now." That settled it. He received Spigelia 200 and had no more neuralgia, but complained that his nose was just as stopped up as ever or even worse. He said that for at least a year his nose had got stuffed up, whenever it rained or was damp, but since this recent cold there had been no air passing through his nose at all. A slight examination revealed large, gray, gel- atious polypi in both nostrils, and there was total occlusion. Lemna minor 3x, a dose four times a day until distinctly better. In four weeks he reported himself well, and the poljrpi were no longer visible.
NosQ stuffed up at every rain or spell of damp weather ^th or without polypi is a strong indication for Lemna.
The following case of Dr. Ashton's is an old one and has been published before, but it is well worth studying:
A woman aged 45, mother of six living children, suffered from bronchocele which had been in a prograssive state for at least fifteen years. She had excellent health, with ex- ception of this deformity. The enlargement was in the right lobe and was bounded above by the inferior margin of the lower maxilla, extending from the symphysis to the angle and inferiorly by the clavicle, filling completely the intervening space and presenting externally as much con- vexity as might be equivalent to the concaxity naturally ex- isting within the bounderies described. The tumor gave no inconvenience except the mechanical ones of weight and lim- itation of movements of the head. Bromine 2x every night for three weeks: then every other night for a week; then twice a week for two months. At the end of the third month the tumor was gone.
It is to be regretted that Dr. Ashton did not give the complexion and history of the patient. It was aii excellent cure, but there is nothing given which could make it more than a lucky hit, a bull's eye in the dark.
A young man of robust appearance, well muscled and vigorous was afllicted with goiter since early youth, during which time he had been under treatment by a skillful and
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experienced homeopathic prescriber. His respiration was much impeded by the growth and operation was decided upon. The isthmus of the gland and a portion of left lobe was removed, the remainder being left for a subsequent op- eration.
This operation relieved the distressing dyspnoea, but the neck was still so large that he wore a 20-inch collar. With the hope of obviating another operation he applied to another physician who convinced that evei'y remedy indicat- ed by his symptoms had been given in the high and highest potencies, resolved to give the low potencies only. Ac- cordingly small but material doses of Kali iod. were given repeatedly. It had a strong but not curative action. The nose ran and became red; the tumor grew hard without di- minishing. All medicine was stopped and in two weeks everything was back to its usual csndition.
Lapis albus 3x was now given four times a day. The tumor now began to diminish. It finally got to where he could wear a 17-inch collar and there stopped. This too was merely a lucky hit.
HOW THE DYNAMIC REMEDY WORKS.
By H. p. Hot.mes, Sheridan, Wyo.
I wish to offer a th6ught on a possible explanation of the action of the homeopathic remedy, one which I have never heard given and which at least is original as far as I am concerned.
The most ultra microbiologists today claim that health is maintained by phagocytic action. In plain words if a microbe, carrying on its back the disease producing toxine, enters the system, the phagocytes hasten to the defense of the organism. If powerful enough they devour the microbe and neutralize the toxine. If not strong enotigh to put up a suitable resistance, they back up, so to speak, and begin to form barriers at more distant points, call for^reinforcements and seek to effect control by a sort of time limit game, hold- ing the fort until the attacking party exhaust their amuni- tion and become defenceless to the powers of the phagocytes.
SUGGESTIONS IN HOMEOPATHIC PHILOSOPHY. 255
The besieged win, the besiegers are defeated and peace fol- lows in the form of health restored.
The indicated remedy excites, multiplies, reinforces the phagocytic action. It hastens the defense at every point by restoring the very soul of the defenders. In our every day work we know it does it so quickly that it proves the pha- gocytes do not retreat to form barricades in more defensible localities. The indicated remedy, especially in the more acute affections, cures at once and the only microbiological explanation is that it so fortifies the phagocytes that the enemy is overwhelmed at once and the microbe and its load of toxine is whipped at the gates.
I do not know if I am putting this in the best form, but we know that Homeopathy has ever dealt with the microcos- mic and I believe we are justified in resorting to micrologic reasons to explain the action of the potency in the cure of disease. This absolutely answers the scientific man and we homeopaths know the action is true. But, to you and me, the old explanation of the ** vital force" and the * 'predisposi- tion" covers the same thing. What think you?
[Wright's opsonic index simply measures the resisting power of the *' vital force" of Hahnemann. The homeopaths have been using it 100 years and have verified it on many a battle field. They have been writing prose all these years without knowing it. Homeopathy is certainly scientific. Wright says so. Ed.]
SUGGESTIONS IN HOMEOPATHIC PHILOSOPHY.*
By W. a. Yingling, M. D.. Emporia, Kansas. Order being the first law of nature, it must be presumed that there is a law governing the law of sickness and suf- fering. We find law in every other department of nature, law governing every other great interest of humanity, hence we must expect to find a law governing the domain of medi- erne. The fact that this law remained unknown for millen- niums, that it is directly contrary to experience and the ex- pectation of the majority, does not militate against the reason- ableness of the expectancy of such a law. The rejection of
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the law by the majority does not prove the claim of dis- covery of such a law unworthy of credence. None are so blind as those who will not see. The greatest cause of opacity of vision is self-interest and ignorance. The asser- tion, This is a Law, does not make it a law; neither does the denial, There is no law^ destroy the credibility of experience.
As we can reasonably presume the existence of a law of cure, it behooves us to lay aside prejudice, bias, self-interest, blinding ignorance and still more blinding jealousy, and honestly investigate. In such a field of science experience alone can be the arbiter.
The Law of Cure as recognized by the followers of Hahnemann is simple, reliable, invariable and never dis- appointing; the uniformity of good results is one of the greatest proofs of its genuineness. The law is that a similar symptomatic condition to that induced upon the healthy human organism by a toxical potential substance, will be re- lieved or removed from the sick organism by the dynamic power of the same remedy in ratio to its degree of similarity. It must be born in mind that the law is not that of identity, but of similarity; it is the law of Similia.
The medicinal substance invariably produces symptoms similar to those of the disease that it cures. It has been noticed that a drug or plant having renown among the laity or profession for its reputed virtues as a sure cure for a given disease invariably develops in its provings marked symptomatic features of that disease, thus showing it tc have a reason within itself, according to our Liaw of Cure, for its healing powers in such diseases. It was from this very inherent power in Peruvian Bark to produce upon th€ healthy similar symptoms to the disease it was known tc cure, that led Hahnemann to the Law of Cure. The recog nition of similarity was the first step in the discovery of this invariable law.
This similarity is not necessarily in the pathologica state resulting from disease, but in the expression of th( diseased condition in sensations and modalities as varied bj conditions. The presence of disease is only known by th<
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SUGGESTIONS IN HOMEOPATHIC PHILOSOPHY. 257
nee of symptoms; where there are no symptoms there disease. Only the healthy, diseaseless man is without toms. By the proper recognition of this law of simi- premonitory symptoms, though very simple in them- 3, and even when apparently too trifling to be no- may, when properly understood, show the ten- es to diseases considered incurable, which, by the iy having similar symptoms, can be eradicated and the 56 prevented. Hence, preventive treatment is only ble under the law of similars, for by this law alone we the curative remedy plainly shown in the gathogeneses p materia medica. The little ailments of life, those Did Physic says the child will **outgrow," or which must rne with grace and fortitude, though so annoying and distressing, may point to the future conditions of in- ile disease; yet these very things for which our friends I **regular" system have no possible remedy, are easily able to the potentized homeopathic remedy, and in a ays or a few weeks the possible sufferings of a lifetime e ix)sitively cured.
he writer hereof when an allopathic physician, even with roffered wisdom and experience of his colleagues, was elled to grit his teeth and endure a most troublesome ig of the shinbones for years. When he became a opathist and a student of the homeopathic materia la, he was speedily and permanently relieved by poten- Rumex (Yellow Dock).
L certain grandfather suffered a lifetime with intense istressing itching of the end of the coccyx under *'reg- means; the son and grandson having the identical itch ere speedily cured by the dynamized similar, Bovista. 'he family of an otherwise well man was compelled to e the penetrating odor of stinking feet for many years, bhe little children in the evening would run, holding Qoses and crying, **Papa is taking off his boots! Papa ing off his boots!" Potentized Sanicula brought joy ^mfort to that home by doing what thrice daily wash- ^rere unable to do.
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A handsome lassie from Missouri was annoyed by tt unsightly appearance of hands literally covered on tl backs with warts of all sizes, big and little, in a stage of ma uratio^n so thickly studded that the end of the finger ecu! not be placed between them. After the administration < dynamized Veruccinum she wrote a letter of blessing ar thanks, stating that her hands were as clean and smooth i anybody's.
A doting mother grieved that her boy's tender skin coi tinually blistered in the sun, great vesicles as large as dc lars would form in a very short time in spite of cow's crea and sunbonnets. Camphor in potency internally enable the child to play in the Kansas sun with impunity as well \ pleasure.
A buxom country lass was so sensitive to poison i^ that, by simply walking along the highway in the ear" morning or late in the evening with the wind blowing off tl dew-ladened vine, she would be seriously affected. As a r suit of sugar of lead lotions her face, especially under h( chin, was bedecked with a crop of whiskers the envy of tl neighborhood youth. Berrying and fishing were spor positively denied her, as for her to touch or crush the leav< with her hands was days of torment and suffering. High] attenuated Rhus toxicodendron (mm), removed from hi young life the dread Of a perpetual menace and danger, ar enabled her to even handle the poisonous leaves with impi nity.
The European scientist, Carl von Nagali, has disco ered a **new force," which he has dubbed Oligodynami Being a scientist so-called, and of the **regular" persuasioi this *'new force" will be accepted by the people of all faitl and in a few years' time the * 'regulars" will be callir names at the homeopathic dilutionists for their crudity ai materiality. This **new force" is no more nor less in effe than the potentiation or dynamization of Hahnemann Greek costume, though not on the centesimal scale. Tl ''new force" is, in common parlance, the energy or pow< of the minute or infinitesimal. Nagali's conclusion regar
SUGGESTIONS IN HOMEOPATHIC PHILOSOPHY.
259
s experiments with copper one part to as high as Qillion parts of distilled water, is that the concentrated 3ns of copper have a chemical poisoning effect, while ghly attenuated solutions have a sick-making effect, ivould go not only to prove the efficacy of the dynam- :emedy, but also show the superiority of the proving igs with the potencies. If the higher attenuations the "sick-making" properties of substances, they must id in provings, for it is the similitude of the sick con- that we must have in the selection of the one remedy er the totality of symptoms in the patient, his scientist has demonstrated that there is energy or ' in one part of the substance to 1000-million parts of . This carries the potency somewhat higher than the gQ homeopathic physician. The maimer of potentia- f Hahnemann would make the same degree of attenua- nore dynamic owing to the succession of centesimal and to succussion. But Nagali has verified even the 1 potencies. He says: ** Glasses with oligo-dynamic effect lose their power very slowly, after being repeat- efllled with neutral water, which is allowed to stand m for a while." He goes on to show that even boiling a.sses in water does not destroy the * 'after-effect" or rence of potency to distilled water, his is startling and strange news to the scientific but it is a commonly known fact among homeopathic iians who read the Organon and other literature of the sion. Homeopathic physicians are leaders, others are ers, and in this instance a hundred years behind the
le writer has had some experience in potentiation and perimented with all degrees from the mother tincture bhe four-millionth potency. Brilliant cures have re- from some of the highest potencies. The use of po- j is a mere matter of experience, and is not the gauge lity to the true principles of the Hahnemannian art of g. The sole gauge of fidelity to Hahnemann's, teach- the law of cure and the single remedy.
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f
A gentleman of leisure scratched every night for man years from the first cold spell in early fall till the wan weather in late spring. If in New York City scratching lih a good fellow he would have immunity after three day residence in New Orleans. If in New Orleans free from th trouble, the intense itching would begin on reaching th cold line on his northern journey. After the exhibition ( Sulphur mm. (million), he had no more itching for a yeai though his residence was in the north. Upon the sudde return of cold in the early fall of '98 his itching retume with some force. After Sulphur 4mm. he has not had an trouble during the past long cold winter. I gave him th; high attenuation from the fact that he had taken treatmei from some of the best homeopathic prescribers in New Yor City, Boston, Chicago and other places in past years witl out the slightest effect, and I knew some of them must ha\ given him Sulphur in varying potencies. He had trie without avail all the nostrums known to the ''regular" pra tice. The oligodynamic power of Sulphur has made him happy man and a staunch friend of the principles of Hahn mann and has shown the efficacy of the highest potencies.
A CLINICAL CASE.
By E. a. Taylor, M. D., Chicago.
Mr. G. B., age 23. Intermittent fever.
A year ago was living in the South where he had inte mittent fever which still continued notwithstanding the li eral use of quinine and its alleged specific action on the i tercorpuscular haematozoa.
Symptoms: — Chill every other day at 2:30 P. M.; begii in the knees and is accompanied with a desire for cold wat€ Peels best in a warm room near fire; wants left side to rac ator; knees get cold and weak, can hardly walk. After tl chill has lasted some time gets a severe headache across tl eyes and temples, **feel'^, as if struck a stunning blow on tl head." The chill is followed by sweat without previo heat except the face which feels hot all the time but is d
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He sleeps during the sweat which is profuse and re- » the headache which accompanies the paroxysms. He given Thuja Im. The next paroxysm was very light he had no more.
The chill beginning in the knees, with thirst during the , belongs to both Apis and Thuja, but the Apis patient Drse in a warm room; cannot bear heat of stove; while turning heat of the face, the relief of the pains from piration and the chill more marked on the left side •)y indicate Thuja.
POST TENEBRIS LUX, (After darkness light).
By Alexander Vertes, M. D., Ph. D. Late Superintendent, Long Branch Surgical Sanitarium. A.S the Hindu in telling the points of the compass faces last, so we are very fond of tracing the development of cine from the time of Hippocrates, and while it is true his clear conceptions of the duties of a physician as meed by his **oath'' and his classical aphorisms have Mi as a basis for medical ethics, medicine in his time lothing more than the practice of magic and sorcery, irt was to combine a number of preparations, and to this a fanciful name. Pliny mentions in his Historia ralis a preparation called *'Theriaca" with 600 ingredi- in it.
Vhile the tendency of the dominant school of the day force itself from polyi^harmacy and to write extempore, pharmaceutical, galenic preparations, we still find, ially among the proprietary medicines, that most of contain from five to ten or more ingredients. ?hey have no law to guide in selecting a remedy, and nistic teachers who have no faith in their own method says: * 'there is no medical treatment of append! - So impressed am I with the fact that we physicians ives by temporising with certain cases of appendicitis, ; prefer, in hospital work to have the suspected cases ted directly to the surgical side." Do you then wonder ivhen a medical student finds that he is not on terra
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>
firma in medicine that *'ab asin© lanam" (wool from an ass ha cannot get, becomes either infatuated with surgery or i nihilist in therapeutics.
During my short career in medicine I have seen th trend from antisepsis to asepsis. That clean hands, a clea field of operation and clean instruments give better result than when Carbolic Acid, Lysol, Bichloride of Mercury c other antiseptics are used. That some of the antiseptic cauterize the parts, others suppurate, and in, all cases heai ing by first intention is delayed by their use. That th blood is the most powerful bactericide. That when werais the vital resistance of our patients we have raised th bacteriolytic power of the blood also. That vaginal ant septic douches in normal labor are injurious. That Quinir and Aspirin are poor antipyretics; that the coal tar antip: retics are dangerous to use. That the alkaloidal medicatio is another form of polypharmacy. Take, for instance, th prescription for pharyngitis as an example by an authoril upon alkaloidal medication: **Calomeland Podyphyllin ha hourly for six doses with Aconitine and Atropine one of eac every half to one hour; one granule of Potass bichromai added to the above with advantage. Nuclein one tabl every one or two hours, with Calcidin is very helpful. Me cury biniodide should be added if glands are involved." Th for acute cases. For the chronic form the same authoril recommends bichromate of potassa two, and Strychnii arsenate one granule, every two hours. Nuclein solutic gtts. X — XV every two hours. Calcidin as alterative t some days, Saline laxative, Hydrastine, Macrotin, Hamam lin '^Intestinal Antiseptics'' to effect. What a chaos! Wh( . you are through with the case, can you tell which oft! medicines acted curatively? I really think that I wou prefer to take the nauseating but simple infusions and d coctions of the ancient Greek physicians and receive in h tabernae as good measure his mysterious incantations. Th( are at least not concentrated poisons. **When we know oi enemies, we can fight them intelligently.'' What a deligh ful Baconian phrase to a lover of sound reasoning! But it
POST TENBBRAS LUX.
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iding in medicine. It has caused to make diagnosis iol. Perhaps there is no question which is capable of ng such diverse opinions and engendering such bitter )ns as that of diagnosis. The difference in politics and on fade into nothingness by comparison. The larger aiversity the more pompous magisterial the teacher, times have I been taken in by the impressive manners Qe of the lecturers and thought he has it all. A mis- n the diagnosis is impossible; when de facto at post m I reached a different absolute diagnosis. Diagnosis 'ails to stand the test.
iter Jenner, Lister, Tyndall, Pasteur, Neisser, Koch, ng, who will light the torch next? Have we not over- i already an important discovery in medicine? We that the discovery of vaccination was a curse instead lessing; that antisepsis when strong enough to act as ericide destroys the bacterialytic power of the blood; foch's tuberculin failed to cure tuberculosis; that anti- 5 are unreliable; that the physiologic action of medi- is to suppress disease and the patients recover but )t cured by them. We all have seen that the sequalae inine is tinnitus aurium; that of Aspirin is heart lesions; b is criminal for instance to suppress a case of gonor- 3y injection, that this produces metastasis. According jisser only about 15 per cent of gonorrhea cases are cured, and Ricord corroborates his statement. They nly had experience with topical applications, but they b know that gonorrhea is not a local disease. That all of gonorrhea can be cured without sequelae by consti- lal dynamic medicines.
1 search for new remedies because the old ones have disappointing, enterprising manufacturing chemists taken up the serum idea. Almost every six months !ar of the extension of the serum idea into new fields. 5 have now Behring's diphtheria antitoxin, streptococ- ititoxin, syphilis antitoxin, Fraser's antivaccine, ty- antitoxin, Beitere's vaccinia antitoxin, and so on ad am. These are all very well-known, as the manufactur-
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264 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
ing firms are interested; that the medical profession and th( lay press are well supplied with literature upon the subject And now comes the latest from Dr. Ren6e Quinton, the as sistant du Laboratoire de Physiologic-patrologique dei Hautes-Etudes an College de Prance. As this is almost un known in the United States I will give a short resume o: same. Dr. Quinton in his **L'can de mer milien organigue' which he has dedicated to the celebrated Professor Marej of the college of France, gives a philosophical reason fo: his normal serum or Isotonic sea water treatment. In Parb a number of hospitals have adopted this form of treatment and it is claimed by some that it will shortly supercede al other forms of medications. Well, we have seen the claims of the Hydropaths, the Hypnotists, etc. As an exclusive form of therapy let us see what reasons Dr. Quinton givei for his system. Having in mind the thought that in th( most elementary form life has sprung up from sea water which is the life element of the simplest forms of anima and vegetable beings and the perfect success with norma salt solution in acute anemias or where great loss of bloo( was sustained; he bled dogs until almost the last drop wa gone', measuring the quantity of the lost blood; he thei hypodermically injected the same amount of seasalt serum The result was a perfect success. The dying animal wai not only restored to life again, but in a few days entirely re covered from the loss of blood and was even more vigoroui than before. He then to distinguish from the normal sal i solution, named his normal serum. The method of prepara
tion is as follows:
Take sea water several miles from the coast line, steri lize andjreduce with distilled water to the condition of th( blood, lymph, etc. It will then keep for three weeks.
Modus operandi: After the parts have been asepticise< inject subutaneously 25-100 grams every other day. Po children in proportion.
Dr. Quinton has found that the normal serum will in crease in metabolism. In phthisis, malaria, gastritis
POST TENEBRAS LUX.
265
ritis, icterus, insomnia, etc., appetite improves and there rapid increase in weight.
In skin diseases it has a marked result and the cos- que effect in all diseases improves. In marasmus and ma of children injections are Riven daily. Dr. Quinton js that more than one-third of the children perishing in epsia could be saved. When we compare this aqua na serum with the antitoxins, their wide applicability, ' cheapness, must we not ask the question whether the jlixir of Bombastus Paracelsus had been found? Many other empirical methods have been tried, praised then dropped into oblivion as soon as the secondary t was discovered.
Save we then no better way to discover the action of idies than by bleeding dogs? Are we then still groping e dark? Are we still leaning upon the knowledge of mcient Egyptians? who learned from dogs the use of bives and from the hippopotamus the art of bleeding, rhe ancient Greeks made ^sculapius the God of medical bhe twentieth century makes diagnosis the God. Both es are unreliable. The most painstaking methods are ioyed to make a careful diagnosis. But as no two ; are alike, so no two cases of diseases will be the same, not folly then to label them as being the same and pre- >€ for diseases instead of individualizing and prescribing he patient.
Vesalius, the father of Anatomy, and Hahneniann, the ?r of scientific medicine, are the two great lights, the g^reat martyrs in medicine. Vesalius laid the foundation rgery and Hahnemann rerjium donum (royal gift) to man- , in the Organon, points cut the way that internal cation can be made as positive as surgery. N^ot Alexander the Great, Caesar and Napoleon, but tlius and Hahnemann are the real heroes of civilization; je work is elevating, developing and advancing human- rhile increasing the happiness of the race. [n the dominant school very little thought is given to ipeutics; diagnosis is the main desideratum. On the
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other hand all a patient is interested in is to get well; that 13 why he seeks medical aid. Hahnemann like a prophet that he was saw in which direction medicine was drifting, therefore in the Organon he put as one of the axioms: '*Th€ physician's^ high and only mission is to heal the sick— to cure as it is termed."
The practice of medicine according to old school methods la easy. Make a diagnosis firsts find out what a patient wants and please him. If he has a skin trouble, drive it in- to his system with ointments. If he has gonorrhea, sup t^ress it by injections. Make him comfortable. Plaster th€ signs of the disease from the surface. No worry. He will be back soon with a number of other troubles, then you car ^ive him a tonic. When a patient has fever use "antipy luetics." If he has convulsions '* Antispasmodics." If h( has a cough **Pulmonary sedatives.'' If his mouth is dry use **Sialagogues." If his mouth is too wet, paralyze it wit! '^antisialics." If his heart beats slowly, give **Cardia( stimulants." If his heart gets excited "Cardiac sedatives.' If he feels like vomiting, use * 'Antiemetics." If his stomacl is out of order, '^Carminatives," and so on ad libitum. Ii one word, if your patient is warm, cool him; if he is cool warm him; if he is wet, dry him, and if he is dry, wet hira And there you have your much boasted "Rational Thera pen tics."
Prom the palliative measures used by the dominan school Hahnemann nicknamed them "Allopaths," that pract ice by contraria contrariis curantur.
Because therapeutics have been neglected we have th surgical fad. By cutting away an organ that is diseases we only take the ashes away; the fire is still burning and i will produce ashes again. When we give a dynamic remedy well selected, not only will the ashes be eliminated througl the natutal excretory organs of the body, but the fire whic produced the ashes is put out also, and the patient is cured By the antipathic treatment patients recover of a disease i: spite of the treatment, if they recover.
Mark Twain, speaking of his childhood days, said:
THE HAHNEMANN ROtJND TABLE.
267
WSL8 a sickly and precarious and tiresome and uncertain cbild, and mainly on allopathic medicines during the first seven years of my Only the largest persons could hold a whole dose. Castor oil was rincipal beverage. The dose was a tablespoonful with half a dip- of New Orleans' molosses added to help it down, and make it taste which it never did. The next standby was calomel; the next jalap le next rhubarb. Then they bled the patient, and put mustard rs on him. It was a dreadful system. The calomel was nearly ^ salivate the patient, and cost him some of his teeth, were no dentists. Wh6n teeth became touched with decay or )therwise ailing, the doctor knew of but one thing to do; he fetched ags and dragged them out. If the jaw remained, it wasn't hiii
low many of us have a similar recollection! Had he had Qeopath as a family physician there would have been itter, disagreeable and nauseating drugs; but a pleasant mbrance of sicknesses of short duration and the eager- net to miss a dose of the pleasant medicines, lahnemann says: ** When we have to do with an art e nature is the saving of human life, any neglect to 5 oui'selves masters of it becomes a crime." ie tore down the narrow idea, that only massive doses ude drugs are effective. His reformation compelled the nant school to abandon venesection and massive doses, emonstrated the fact and it is daily verified by hundreds nscientious physicians the world over; that the curative T of medicines is developed by potentization; that the er way to discover the action of medicines is to prove st them on healthy persons, and that our guiding star is aw similia similibus curantur.
E HAHT«EHANN KOUND TABLE: PHILADELPHIA.
rhe regular monthly meeting was held on the evening larch 28th, 1908. A paper on **Dynamics," by Dr. ge M. Cooper was read by the secretary. Dr. Frede- b E. Gladwin presented a brief review of Conium before ducing a patient having cancer of the right breast who been under treatment for six month, rhe history of the case was most interesting. Two bhs after the sudden death of a dearly beloved sister
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she awakened one morning to find her hair scattered about her pillow and on looking in the glass discovered that she was absolutely bald — every vestige of hair all over the body, eye brows, eye lids, axilla, etc., having come out. Massage and electricity being resorted to the hair gradually gre^ again, but it came in absolutely white which finally turned brown. Under the action of Conium the breast was soften ing; the nipple which had been retracted was forcing itseli outward, and the pains which had been intense had abso lutely disappeared. The prognosis was considered grave by those present, but the action of the remedy thus far was an additional illustration confirming the Jaw of similars.
Dr. Margaret E. Burgess reported the two following cases — the first as a demonstration of repertory work.
Mrs. E. T. W. Age 46. After having domestic frictior presented the following symptoms, which had been of sev eral weeks' duration:
Awakens gasping, with choking feelings, also gasping on going to sleep and on first lying down.
Breathless on going down stairs.
Weeping and hysterical. Sighing.
Very sensitive to all impressions; frightened easily jumps at sudden noises.
Restless; must move feet all the time.
Sleepless; because as soon as she falls asleep is awakene<3 with gasping for breath.
Blue around mouth during the * 'heaves" as she calls them. The repertory work was as follows:
Sensitive; over sensitive — Aeon., Am.. Ars.., Asar., Arn., Bell., Bor., Bov., Calc, Canth., Caust., Cham., Chin., Cina, Cocc, Coff., Crot. h., Gels., Hyos., Ign., lod.. Kali c, Lach., Lye, Merc, Nat. m., Nat. s.. Nit. ac, Nux., Phos., Phy., Plb., Puis., Seneg., Sep., Sil., Staph., SuL, Tar., Valer., Zinc.
Starting at noises — Ars., Bor., Calc, Cocc, Kali c, Lach., Lye, Nat. c, Nat. m.. Nit. ac, Sil.
Frightened easily — Aeon., Am,, Bell,, Ars., Bor,^ Calc.
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THE HAHNEMANN ROUND TABLE.
269
ist., Cham., Ign., Kali c, Lach., Lye, Nat. m.. Nit. ac. X, Phos., Sep., Sil., Sul.
Sighing — Aeon., Bor,, Calc, Cham., Ign., Lach., Lye, [)s., Sil.
Durmg sleep < — Aeon., Am., Ars,, Bell., Bor., Cham., ., Kali c, Lach., Lye., Nat. m., Phos., Sep., SIL, Sul.,
Descending < (as on going down stairs; on lying down) iCon., Bell., Bar. Lye., Sul.
Breathing difficult, waking one from sleep — Am., Bell., c, Kali c., Lach.
Breathing, gasping — Aeon., Ars., Lye., Phos. Feet restless — Ars., Nat. m., SuL,Zinc. The result — Aeon., Sul., Ars., Nat. m., Kali c. Lach., 5., Borax,
Because of the absence of digestive symptoms and * the minence of the peculiar symptom or gasping for breath ?oing down stairs, Borax was given and to use the pa- t's own words, **acted like magic." One month later for icurrence Borax was repeated, which cured without a irn.
Mrs. M. A. D. Age 72. Washington, Author.
April, 1898. By mail. Sensation as of want of action tomach and an obstinate constipation. Head feels as in sickness — not exactly dizzy but uncertain; can neither k nor write straight during spells of indigestion.
Stomach feels shut up. Some eructation. During in- 6stion, palpitation, hard pulsation, not more rapid, with ebbing in head at those times.
Attacks of indigestion every three or four weeks; cake i pastry disagree.
Constipation; will go three or four days without stool; inclination.
At beginning of attack of indigestion, bowels apt to be se and urine more profuse.
Chilliness, slight; feet wai;m; hands cold; rarely per- ^6s except from excitement.
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m^'
Some catarrhal symptoms; expectoration and coughing. Hydrastis 200.
May 18. Bowels moved regularly first day after taking medicine. ''Never had such free movement." Has been doing a great deal of literary work and has had no head trouble. The complexion was sallow, now much clearer. During last week, however, has been getting a little worse. Hydrastis Im.
July 31st. Well and strong until last week, then a bad attack of indigestion. Weak and prostrated. Sensation of tightness in stomach which nothing >. Sensation of a big bunch of worms in stomach. Hydrastis Im.
Later — "I can't tell you how thankful I am that my bad symptoms are disappearing fast. Everybody sees the change in me." Bowels regular.
June, 1902. Has been perfectly well, now a recurrence. Hydrastis cm.
Has been perfectly well; has become an enthusiast in Christian Science that has kept her so well; in fact has written a book which brings the subject in prominently to the delight of the advocates.
Oct. 21, 1907. I received a letter from Mrs. D. asking for assistance for a return of the old trouble with which she had been battling for a number of weeks. Hydrastis 200.
A report indirectly three months later to the effect that she was perfectly well.
Uterine fibroids may be differentiated from disease of the tubes or ovaries by noting whether or not the cervix moves in the opposite direction when the tumor is pushed from side to side. — American Jouimal of Surgery.
'he Medical Advance
A Monthly Journal of Hahnemannian Homeopathy A Study of Methods and Results.
a we have to do with an art whose end is the saving of human life any neglect M) make onrselves thorough masters of it becomes a crime,— Hahnemann,
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BbltodaU
THE OPSONIC INDEX.
There is a tendency in human nature to exaggerate the le of a new discovery and to attribute an importance to 7hich in all fairness it does not possess. One of the J new things in which this tendency is visible is the op- :c index. It has been called the most important event in iicine since Koch discovered the tubercle bacillus. It also been said that it is a discovery that will revolution- the whole system of medicine. Much is said of its it value in medical journals, and that literary quack and mteback, Bernard Shaw, has made it the central feature ne of those poor but strangely popular performances ch he is pleased to call his novels.
Now what is the opsonic index? It is simply a methoTi leasuring the resistant power of the blood against mor-
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bific invasion. It is nothing new that the power to resist disease is different in different individuals. It is well known that certain individuals are insusceptible to small pox, no matter how great the exposure; that certain other individu- als are immune to measles, others to gonorrhea and so on through the list. In showing this the opsonic index shows nothing new. Moreover it is no new thing that the resist- ant power of an individual varies at times; is stronger at one time of day than another, at one time of year than an- other. One's resistant power varies with the state of di- gestion, with the quality ol the blood and the rapidity of the circulation, under the action of a homeopathically indicated remedy, with the intensity and character of the emotions. The opsonic index may show all this and if it does it is in- teresting, but it is not new and it is not so very important. One does not have to make a tedious blood count to find out whether Ferrum met. or Natrum mur. is benefitting a patient or not. If he has eyes can he not see it in the returning color in the cheek, the brighter eye, the freshened look of the face?
If the doctor has judgment and a trained mind, c^n he not tell that a patient is getting better or worse by the char- acter and sequence of symptoms, and thereby estimate the resistant power of the blood without resorting to an exami- nation to ascertain the opsonic index. If he cannot, he had better get into some other business than treating sick people.
We have no quarrel with microscopic examinations, op- sonic, indices, chemical analysis and instruments of precision in medicine, but we desire to maintain that the importance and practical value of these aids should not be exaggerated. "Who ever depends upon the diminished quantity or absence of chlorides in the urine to make a diagnosis of pneumonia? Who cannot see in the face and eye and observe by the signs in the chest which way a pneumonia patient is going, and see it so plainly that the quantity of chlorides in the urine could add nothing to it.
The physician above all men should be expert at read
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g the human face, and possess full knowledge of the eaning of both objective and subjective symptoms, elicited J interrogations and physical examination, with the unaid- 1 or slightly aided senses. Next would come the special aining with instruments of more elaborate construction an the stethoscope,and finally the aids derived from chem- bry and microscopy.
The so-called advanced medicine or modern medicine 5 done much towards tracing out the causes of diseases id toward preventing their spread and occurrence, but its rative work has been very small and we should not exalt out of its proper place or give exaggerated value to its suits.
J. B. S. K.
[E DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BELIEF AND PRACTICE
It is a very common thing to hear a homeopathic col- tgue remark, **I firmly believe in Homeopathy." But, 3tor, what do you practice? Of what benefit to your pa- nt is your belief in Homeopathy? Belief will not help ect the remedy, and faith in the law of similars, while a practice everything but Homeopathy, will neither cure ur patient nor advance your cause.
Because therapeutic nihilism is rampant in other schools medicine, because they have no law or guide in thera- atics, is no reason why the homeopath should abandon i principles and his school and become a nihilist, while )fessing to carry the banner of similia in his daily work.
The law of similars is just as universal as that of chem- 1 aflBnity or of gravitation, but it will not work alone. It St be scientifically and accurately applied.
To profess to be a homeopath and then not practice meopathy according to the law is a fraud on the public 1 a disgrace on the part of the doctor, as well as. a serious ury to the cause he professes to maintain.
The pioneers of Homeopathy established it on a pretty id foundation and for many, many years the veriest tyro J been able to go out and build up a successful practice
f-..^2 .1-11
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under the name of Homeopathy. But the average homeo- pathic practitioner has seemed just enough ashamed of his profession to maintain silence about Homeopathy when ever possible. He has advocated everything but pure Hom- eopathy. He claims to be liberal, until now someone must take up the burden as did the pioneer, and re-establish the school in many places. There is practically so little differ- ence between the practice of some homeopaths and their al- lopathic colleagues that the public are unable to decide which is the homeopath. Empiricism, the ipse dixit of a successful colleague, appears to be the guide instead of si- milia similibus curantur.
The older members of the profession remember the gal- lant battle fought by many a pioneer and speak of it with pride. Drs. Pulte and Ehrman, in Cincinnati; Dr. O. P. Baer, in Richmond, Ind.; Dr. John Ellis, in Detroit; Dr. John Hall, in Toronto; Drs. Williams, Beckwith and Wheel- er, in Cleveland; Dr. D. S. Smith, in Chicago, and so we might fill a page with the gallant work of these able men ir their respective fields, the benefit of whose labor many oi us are now reaping.
They hired halls and gave public lectures. Used the columns of the local papers, even paid for the same at ad- vertising^rates and fought the battle single handed until Homeopathy was thoroughly known in their localities. But they practiced Homeopathy, not empiricism, and that will make a rei^utation anywhere in the world for the cause.
In Great Britain, and in many places in America, ap- peals are constantly being made to the other school to in- vestigate Homeopathy. Successful cures are reported. Logic and*argument are freely used. Propositions stated that are practically unanswerable, and many, many of our allopathic colleagues believe in Homeopathy as a law oi cure, but they never put it to the test at the bedside. It is the rarest occurrence when an allopathic physician is con- verted to Homeopathy by logic or argument. Like **the tiery Mure" or the indefatigable Skinner, they become con- verts very often when they themselves have been cured oi
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le so called incurable disease; some disease in which the rapeutics of their own school was impotent. Thousands of cases have been cured by homeopathic sicians after patients have been abandoned as incurable, the f ozrmer attending physician has not been converted Ms attention been called to it, except to say **I must ; made a mistake in diagnosis."
The field is larger today than it was fifty years ago. re are many more people sick and many more to be id, and it is the fault of no one but the homeopath that field is not occupied. The people are anxious and will- to learn. The seed has been sown, the harvest is ripe, the reapers are few. What are you doing, doctor, for rself , your cause or for humanity?
As a school we are not true to . the principles of the ^r- We do not practice what we preach. Like the bting Thomas, so many of us will not believe until we put our finger in the wounded side. There must be mething rotten in Denmark."
Watchman tell us of the night. What the signs of promise are.
THE REPETITION OF THE DOSE,
Editors Medical Advance:— In the Medical Advance, ^^- 1906, is a report of an X Ray case, by the late Dr. riihard Fincke, and the resulting discussion:
I knew of this case and saw the horny product in the le of the late Dr. Fincke, a man whom I loved and ad- 3d despite the fact that we never agreed on the repetition ?e dose. I argued your side, which also was the practice ippe. Bayard, Wells, James, and many others, of giving dose and waiting; while the doctor believed in frequent tition of even the highest potencies, an illustration of sh is given in this X Ray case. Now, do you know or j'you heard the finality of the X Ray patient? Well, on '- 13, '04, while visiting the doctor at his home, on in- ing, he told me that the X Ray patient had since died of ^r of the stomach.
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Comments: — More earnest discussion for and against : quent repetition. I contended, then, that ninety X ] powders, ranging from 45m to 2cm transferred the mi skull lesion to the vital organ, the stomach, with fatal resu
Your students, at Hering Medical College, must h the single dose, esi>ecially in chronic cases, brought hom< them in some striking manner. They should never fai remember to give one dose of a high potency, in chK diseases, and wait.
Fraternally, Wm. H. Kaercher, ^Philadelphia.
[Nothing more practical has ever been given on the petition of the dose than the experience of Hahnem Organon § 245:
Both in acute and chronic diseases, every perceptible improvei that takes place making- continual progress, though of ever so feel nature, is a state which, as long as it lasts, firmly forbids the repeti of any medic iae what ever, because the one already taken by the pal has not yet produced all the good that may result from it. Every f dose of remedy even of the one last administered, and which had tilli proved curative, would have no effect but of disturbing the operatic the cure.
Those who have not adopted Ha];inemann's method h failed to grasp the great practical value of his observati and have failed to cure many cases even when they had lected the similimum. This is the essence of practical H eopathy. Ed.]
NEWS FROM THE INTERIOR.
A Scientific Bacillus once met a wandering microbe the splenic flexure of the colon.
** Whither away, my friend," quoth he.
**I am trying to discover a Northwest passage to stomach," answered the microbe, **where I hear there great store of good things."
'*You had better avoid that region, my unlear friend; the organism appertaining to us is undergoing tr< ment and large doses of pernicious drugs are being pou into the stomach, which it is dangerous for us to come i
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intact with. Hare you are comparatively safe, and esire, I shall be pleased to conduct you to the flour- »lony of Microburg, pleasantly situated in a recess escending colon, where you can find comfortable 3 at a hotel/' So saying, the courteous old bacillus ed his new found friend southward, discoursing on most charmingly upon the late discoveries of Sci- d their probable effect upon the microbian world, fety depends upon the fact that we are a little than the organism upon which we live. Just notice helium around us; how livid its color; how dry and ly its surface; this unnatural condition is owing en- the strong doses of those gizzard-fretting, cell-irri- ermicides which the doctors are pouring into this ;he vain hope of destroying us, as the cause of his
His system is being racked, but we are quite com- , I believe," said the bacillus smilingly eyeing his r.
quite so, I assure you," acquiesced the microbe . me tell you Something; unless you want a severe sibly fatal jolt to your system, keep away from any- der treatment by one of those doctors who carry a cket case of medicine in the form of minute pills. ! Very often one dose of those horribly powerful 1 destroy a whole vast colony of microbes, without to injure in the least the organism which is its
Those fellows who call for two glasses of water, 1 they dissolve medicines, to be given alternately do iamage, and are much more to be dreaded than those have heard called allopathic dopers, but they are to the kind first described. Take my word for it, I ich travelled germ and I know." lank you for the information," replied the Scientific , "it explains some wonderful phenomena that have me of late, where I have noticed a dose of extremely idicine increase the Opsonic Index to such a degree whole corps of Scientists were nearly destroyed." seems to me," said the wandering microbe, *'that
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this tx)wn of Microburg is too near the rectum for safet; What is to hinder a one in two thousand bi-chloride inje tion flooding its streets? What's the matter with starting new colony right here?"
''Nothing at all," assented the bacillus, and immediat ly he grew constricted at the waist line and finally divide into two. The microbe did the same. This process of coi striotion and multiplication continued for five minutes, h which time the colony numbered some ten thousand. Thi] was formed the thriving city of Bacillopolis, at the junctui of the descending colon with the sigmoid flexure.
J. B. S. K.
OUR STATE SOCIETIES.
It is time that the missionary work for our State Soci< ties should become active. Dr. T. M. Stewart, of Cincinnat makes a vigorous appeal to the homeopaths of Ohio and tt members of the Ohio State Society. There are 952 home pathic physicians in Ohio, but only 218 belong to its Stal Society; so there is evidently some work to be done in Ohi<
In Illinois there are over 1250 homeopathic physician 550 of whom are members of the Homeopathic State Societ: At the annual meeting last year there was a larger attenc ance than at the Allopathic State Society, 'which has doub the membership. We are certainly doing better in our Sta1 Societies than our allopathic colleagues, but that does n< say very much for the interest that either profess to have i the professional work of their school.
Dr. Stewart's appeal is very striking. He says: Do not worry about those who are sliding over to the other sid They, will all come back and be better homeopaths as soon as they fir out through experience that "all is not gold that glitters;" when ther peutic uncertainties confront them and their results are not what th< expected they will return to that which led them to expect and get r suits. The best homeopathic physicians in the old days were recrui from the old school, and history will undoubtedly repeat itself. It tat a wise man to appreciate wisdom.
Every homeopath, to do justice to himself and his cl entele, should keep abreast of the times. He should I
OUR STATE SOCIETIES.
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*Qsted in all that pertains to the welfare of his patient. ^^^^ physician who ;attends a State or National Society ^ learn something from every paper that is read. These ^^tings are practically as good as a post-graduate course, ^d are money and time well spent. We cannot stand still; ^e must progress, improve, or fall in the rear of the proces- bn. The man or woman that fails to take advantage of lese annual gatherings deserves to be, as very likely he ill succeed in becoming, a failure in the profession. Let ; double the membership both of our State and National xjieties this year. If every member will bring one recruit, id we can do it if we try, the so-called impossible feat will J accomplished. If the physicians knew what they lose 'ery year, the new members will thank you for showing em their duty and inducing them to follow a better waj'.
The International Congress of Tuberculosis, which invenes at Washington, D. C, in September, 1908, will be noted event. It meets once every three years, and this is le first time it has met in America.
The intention is to make this really a World^s Congress. . here will be papers and public discussions in full on the iberculosis problem by many of the most eminent authori- Bs on the subject in this and other countries for three eeks. Official delegates from nearly all civilized countries ill be present.
The congress will be divided into seven sections, thus fording ample scope for both scientific and lay discussion, linics and demonstrations will be held throughout the en- re three weeks, thus giving both the people and the pro- ssion object lessons on the cause and prevention of the reat White Plague.
The transactions will be a very important item. Those : the last congress were published in three volumes, and it expected that it will require four volumes for the present ae. These of course are free to all members of the con- ress who have paid their membership fee of Sj. The ex- enses of the congress will far exceed the revenue derived
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from fees, and the excess will be provided by the National Association. There are two classes of membership, active members who pay a fee of $5, and associate members who pay $2, and who have all the privileges of membership ex- cept the right to vote and receive the printed volumes.
Dr. A. E. Smith, president of the Illinois Homeopathic Medical Association, of Freeport, is special agent for the homeopathic profession of Illinois, from whom all informa- tion as to membership and program may be obtained.
NOTICE.
A very pleasant, quiet and restful way of going to Kansas City to attend the American Institute meeting, is by boat from Peoria, 111. The steamers are clean and com- fortable, with plenty of deck room, and one experiences the l>eculiar sensation of gliding over the corn and oat fields of the great state of Illinois.
At St. Louis passengers change to a boat of the Kansas City Packet Line which ascends the Mississippi, turns into the Missouri and glides through the rich Missouri Valley, crowded with culture, to Kansas City. Fare $11.50, incLud- iug meals and berths; time of trip four nights and three days. The trip may be taken either way or may be short- ened by rail if too time-consuming for the medical vacation- ists. Dr. J. B. S. King will give particular information to those thinking of making a river trip.
1 PERSONAL TRIBUTE.
The following tribute to Dr. C. W. Eaton has been re ei?iv^ed:
Des Moines Life Insurance Company Office of the President l>€nr Sire- It is with a feeling of inexpressible sorrow that I inforna you of the death of our Medical Director and beloved friend. Dr. Charles Woodhull Eaton, which occured at morning's dawn the twenty-seventh inst. For nearly twenty years Dr. Eaton has filled the postion of Medical Director of the
I
A PERSONAL TRIBUTE.
281
les Life, safeguarding the interests of the Company, )yal, true and uncompromisingly honest in every- Se has been almost a daily associate of mine for ^0 decades and my knowledge of his high character ty, almost appalls me with the magnitude of our is like gilding pure gold to praise his character and jssary to those who knew him. His pure and blame- was a grand example and inspiration to us all. oves a shining mark'' but this untimely call by the laper is a very great personal loss to me, to the ^ and to the best citizens of our city and statq^ of 5 was of the higher type. While humbly bowing to "doeth all things well" I will ever cherish the s of this grand man.
Very sincerely, C. E. Rawson,
President.
CHARLES WOODHULL EATON, M. D.
following resolutions were unanimously adopted at meeting of the Des Moines Homeopathic Medical Vlarch 28, 1908:
3rt of Committee: — At the noon day of a noble life, idst of his labor, and at the zenith of his success ulness, our honored associate and co-worker, Dr. WoodhuU Eaton, has been translated to life eternal, recognize in his death the loss of one who has been 3f strength of the Des Moines Homeopathic Medical md an influential support to the cause of Homeo-
ay be said of him, his personality was the charm eared him, his earnestness the inspiration to others, )r the magnet, and his faithfulness to the end his parting with him is like bidding good-bye to sun-
revere and cherish his memory. His invisible will long continue to be a blessing to us all, and
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we pray that the influence of his life may inspire us to hij er purposes and larger faithfulness in our work.
Harriette E. Messenger, M. D. George Royal, M. D. Erwin Schenk, M. D.
Dr. Chaster G. Uigbee, St. Pq.u1, Minn., died April 3 aged 73 years. As we are going to press the daily pap announce the death of this veteran who for thirty-four ye has practiced in St. Paul and is well known in all parts the country.
J)r. Higbee was bom Aug. 5, 1835, at Pike, N. Y., ceived a common school education, taught school for six seven years and later studied in academies in Wisconsin, was a graduate of Hahnemann, of Chicago, and the St. Lc Homeopathic College. He took post graduate work in g ecology at London, Birmingham, Berlin and Paris. Bej practice at Fon du Lac, Wis., and in March, 1866, remo^ to St. Paul.
From 1861 to 1865 he served in the Union army. ] gan as a private and ended with the rank of captain.
In 1.^89 he was vice president of the American Institi In 1871 he organized the first homeopathic medical soci in St. Paul. For years he has taken a prominent pari the work of the American Institute, of which he was a s( or, and his death is a sad loss^to the profession.
NEW PUBLICATIONS- TEXT-BOOK OF CLINICAL MEDICrXE: TREATMENT. Clarence Bartlett, M. D. , Professor of Medical Diagnosis and C ioal Medicine in the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelp] Visiting Physician to the IXahnemann Flospital. Pp. 1223. CI $8. Boericke & Tafel, Philadelphia, 1908.
This splendid volume of over 1,200 pages, thecompan volume of Diagnosis, which appeared in 1903, are mo ments of the indefatigable labor and perseverence of distinguished author. He gives credit to .a number of colleagues in Hahnemann Medical College, Philadelpl for the assistance rendered him in their specialties, and 1
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ed a chapter on the Opsonic theory which is certainly an Dvation in a work on treatment. Although he adds, **We $t all admit that much good work has been done in this ttment without attention to the Opsonic Index as a guide, eed there are many expert clinical laboratory workers > deny that the Opsonic Index possesses a practical clin- value."
In the Preface the author states his position very fairly be following:
rhe ultimate object of medicine is successful treatment. Let diag-
( and pathology advance to any extent and it avails us nothing aside
its scientific interest, if it does not aid us in the prophylaxis and
of disease. Fortunately for humanity, pathology and diagnosis
done much to rob disease of its terrors; still there remains much
I done before the medical world will reach its highest standard of
ency. Of laie years the advances in surgery have so overshadowed
i of medical treatment (in other schools) that the latter have ap-
Qtly escaped the attention they deserve. So it is that young men
nany experienced practitioners have aspired to surgery and the va-
I specialties to the neglect of internal medicine. This we hold as a
us error, for unless general medicine and therapeutics retain their
linent place at the head of the healing art, the specialties and sur-
will suffer thereby.
No better explanation perhaps can be made than is here in for the production of such a work on treatment. The panion volume, Diagnosis, is not excelled by any work le history of medicine. It is a volume which every eopath all over the world may point to with pride, ling better has ever been written.
We wish we could say as much for this volume on treat- t. It embraces everything that is known about all tiods of treatment of every school of practice — regular, ^ular, empirical, eclectic — all modes but that of Hahne- n. "You buy the book and take your choice." Yet chapter XXX, especially on Hydrotherapy, is a val- e addition to any work, and every practitioner can not learn much from it, but be able to apply its principles I success.
But when it comes to the treatment of diseases of the , chapter XXVI, many pages of external applicati ons
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ini^ht be omitted with benefit to the work as well as the homeopathic profession. The topical, medicated applica- tions recommended are abominable, just the opposite of what should be used in the treatment of skin diseases. Here i^ a sample: ** Sulphur is another very valuable remedy, and to my i6ind it is especially so when applied in combina- tion with Salicylic acid. The formula is the following: Salicylic acid. Sulphur precipitat, Vaselin.'' And yet,the author has undertaken the impossible when he essays a work on the treatment of Disease and overlooks the treatment of the patient on which Hahnemann lays so much stress from the beginning to the end of the Organon. But this is a work on '^Treatment," not homeopathic treat- ment, by the professor of clinical medicine in our oldest homeopathic college.
Boericke & Rnnyon Announce A MANUAL OF PRACTICAL OB- STETRICS in Press. By Frederick W. HamUn, M. D. Profes- sor of Obstetrics, New York Homeopathic Medical College and Hospital ; Visiting Obstetrician to Hahnemann Hospital and Fowler Hospital.
A practical book for practical men, all theory omitted. The essential facts of obstetrics presented in a clear, con- cise, readable manner. A book designed for ready reference by the busy practitioner. Homeopathic therapeutics wher- vvev available. ,
NEWS NOTES.
Small Pox In Japan.— Dr. H. W. Schwartz, Sendai, Japan, writes March 10: Recently quite a small pox epi- demic has broken out in some parts of the country, and the newspapers are calling attention to the fact that for at least a generation compulsory vaccidation has been rigidly ob- served— and that means everybody, for they have a most perfect census — every move must be reported to the police ^50 they know always where everybody is. Besides the peo- ple are so used to being governed that they never think of evading the law. Probably every one, except infants, has been vaccinated, several times, and this fact the pa-
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285
jrs mention and say: '*Yet small pox is here. Is it possi- e that vaccination is not the protection^ we have been ught to believe?"
For thoroughness in vaccination perhaps Japan is not :celled by any nation and yet small pox is epidemic.
A Foetal Phenomena.— W- H. Stover, M. D., Tiffin, O., rites: Some time ago I had an unusual experience in an )stetrical case. The labor was normal, A plump girl iby was bom, but on delivering the placenta I found an- her child attached to it. The legs were free but inclosed a separate membrane, and about two and a half inches ng. while the body of the child from the hips up was im- idded in the placenta and felt like a small string of bones ider the hand.
The Seriousness of Gonorrhea.— The prevalence of true morrhea or sycosis and of so-called **cured'' cases is simp- alarming when we view the statistics of some of the latest riters on the subject. The old school is realizing more id more the seriousness of this disease, even if they do fail recognize it as systemic and not a mere local inflammato- ^ process. Pitch states, that out of every 1000 men, 800 are fected and 90 per cent of these remain '*uncured." In fact J is inclined to believe that it is incurable. So-called atent" gonorrhea in the male, he says, is capable of pro- icing in the female metritis, parametritis, salpingitis, raritis, ophthalmia neonatorum, sterility, pleuritis and leumatic affections of the joints. This of course does not iclude the cases of anemia, general dibility, etc., induced y genuinely suppressed cases, and recognized as such nly by the homeopath who understands the inner workings f the chronic miasms. •
According to Dr. Jos. T. JohnsoniJour. Am. Med. Assoc, [arch 11), the mortality from gonorrhea, if it could be ac- iirately ascertained, would probably exceed that of pneu- lonia, typhoid fever and tuberculosis combined. Mental Clinics, by William George Gordon.
ORTHODOXY IN EPIGRAM, bearing: a ready made uniform of belief.
2^6
THB MEmCAL» ADVANCEL
Thinkingf alonf? the lioes of least resistance.
Tbe one word adopted as a trademark by each creed to distinguish
from tbe others. Keeping in step with the rear guard. Comfortable conservatism in the world of thought. Fighting on the side of the biggest battalions of belief. Living In an atmosphere of thought guaranteed by authority, traditic
and respectability. Sterilized mental food put up in cans. Arrogant assumption of the sole infallibility of one's faith.
— SuJiday Magazine, Compulsory medicine, by Health Board physician might be added to make the list more complete and bring up to date.
''Medical politics are the intimate concern of all citizer of the state. Questions of science must be relegated to e: perts; practical applications are for men of affairs. Oi civic duty is the extension and development of Homeopath in the national service. Whatever lessens or tends to lesse the duration of disease; whatever preserves lives valuaW to the family or tp the national interest; whatever lowei the cost of illness, entirely wasteful from an economic stam point; whatever does these, not only enriches the state, bi is insurance for individual safety and well-being. To th estent that it does these, any such power demands the sui port of every citizen of the commonwealth. And these, w claim, are the daily issues of the practice of Homeopathy.''
Ci^M ^51 1p '^^ ^ recent graduate or any reliabl * ^^* Afc^CtlV Homeopathic Physician young c middle aged, who has $15000,00 to invest in the purchase c a physicians home, continuing his excellent practice estal lished over twenty years, in a beautiful, high class, pr( gressive suburb of Philadelphia, located in New Jersey.
A splendid opportunity at very reasonable price, $10 000.00 cash, $5,000.00 on mortgage. All other offers rejectee Particulars given. Address, Physician, Sub. P. O. Station No. 2(
Philadelphia, Pa
The Medical Advance
^OL. XLVI. B ATA VIA. ILL., MAY, 1908. No. 5.
TRANSACTIONS OF THE CENTRAL NEW YORK SOCIETY.
Masonic Club, Rochester, N. Y., Dec. 12, 1907.
The quarterly meeting of the society was called to order »y the president, Dr. A. C. Hermance, at 1 p. m.
Members present: Drs. Bidwell, Fritz, Graham, Grant, lermance, Hussey, Johnson, Leggett.
Visitor: Dr. Hagaman.
The minutes of the annual meeting were read and ap- proved.
The following paragraphs of the Organon were read by )r. W. W. Johnson.
§ 30. Medicfaes (particularly as it depends on us to ary the doses according to our will), appear to have great- r power in affecting the state of health than the natural aorbific irritation; for natural diseases are cured and sub- lued by appropriate medicines.
§ 31. The physical and moral powers, which are called Qorbific agents, do not possess the faculty of changing the tate of health unconditionally;* we do not fall sick beneath heir influence before the economy is sufficiently disposed -nd laid open to the attack of morbific causes, and will allow tself to be placed by them in a state where the sensations vhich they undergo, and the actions which they perform, tre different from those which belong to it in the normal rtate. These powers, therefore, do not excite disease in all nen, nor are they at all times the cause of it in the same ndividual.
•When I say that disease is an aberration or a discord in the state of health, I do not pretend by that to give a metaphysical
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explanation of the immediate essence of diseases generally, or of any morbid case in particular. In making use of this term, I metely intend to point at that which diseases are not, and cannot be ; or to express what I have just proved, that they are not me- chanical or chemical changes of the material substance of the body, and they do not depend upon a morbific material principle, and that they are solely and spiritual dynamic changes of the animal economy.
§ 32. But it is quite otherwise with the artificial mor- bific powers which we call medicines. Every real medicine will at all times, and under every circumstance, work upon every living individual, and excite in him the symptoms that am peculiar to it, (so as to be clearly manifest to the senses when the dose is powerful enough), to such a degree, that the whole of the system is always {unconditionally) attacked, and in a manner infected by the medicinal disease, which, as I have before said, is not at all the case in natural dis- seases.
§ 33. It is therefore fully proved by every experi- ment* and observation, that the state of health is far more siisceptible of derangement from the effects of medicinal powers than from the influence of morbific principles and contagious miasms, or what is the «ame thing, the ordinary morbific jyrinciples have only a conditional and often very sub- ordinate i)ifluence, ivhile the medicinal powers exercise one that IB absolute, direct and greatly superior to that of the former,
*The following is a striking observation of the kind directly in point: previously to the year 1801, the genuine smooth scarlet fever of Sydenham prevailed, epidemically among children, and attacked all, without exception, who had not escaped the disease in a former epidemic ; whereas every child who was exposed to one of the kind which came under my observation in Konigslut- ter, remained exempt from this highly infectious disease, if it had timely taken a very small dose of belladonna. When a med- icine can thus evince a prophylactic property against the infec- tion of a prevalent disease, it must exercise a predominating in- fluence over the vital power.
§ 34. In artificial diseases produced by medicines, it is not the greater degree of intensity that imparts to them the
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Yer they possess of curing those which are natural. In ler that the cure may be effected, it is indispensable that I medicines be able to produce in the human body an arti- al disease, similar to that which is to be cured; for it is 3 resemblance alone, joined to the greater degree of in- sity of the artificial disease, that gives to the latter the ulty of substituting itself in the place of the former, and s obliterating it. This is so far a fact that even nature self cannot cure an existing disease by the excitement of ew one that is dissimilar, be the intensity of the latter IT so great; in the same manner the physician is incapa- of effecting a cure when he applies medicines that have the power of creating in the healthy persons a morbid te, resembling the disease which is before him. An essay upon the subject was read and commented m by Dr. E. P. Hussey.
THE ORGANON,
The statements in §§ 30 and 33, ladies and gentlemen, , without question and to us, very evidently true. Be- es what is so very evident in them they open up a large d of thought to the homeopathician. The very founda- is of homeopathic practice rests upon them. If they re not true there would be no value to our provings, nor tainty in prescribing. We know that so well that it is lecessary to enlarge upon it.
But the next §, 34, contains statements about which I aid like to say something. Sentence 2, §34:
In order that they may effect a cure, it is before all things requisite t they (drugs) should be capable of producing in the human body artificial disease as similar as possible to the disease to be cured, in er, by means of this similarity, conjoined with its somewhat greater ingth, to substitute themselves for the natural morbid affection, and reby deprive the latter of all inflence upon the vital force.
We see that it says in order to cure, drugs must possess i power of producing in the healthy body an artificial dis- J€ most similar to that which is to be cured. That leads to the question, what relation in size or strength must 3 curative dose bear to the one capable of producing the
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artificial analogue in the healthy body. As the prescril is about to administer the similarly acting remedy, he m remember that the patient's sick nerves, functions, orga have been disturbed and made irritable and sensitive by 1 disease, or perverted action of vital force, etc., in a cert way. How can he know just what dose of the similarly a ing medicine will be the right one to meet the diseased o dition and stop it, and at the same time not increase it b] too powerful action in the same direction? Frankly, ui experience teaches him, he cannot.
With the endless differences in individualities and grees of susceptibility in patients, and in the character a intensity of disease action, he can only learn and estimi the former, and judge from experience of the latter, and form an opinion as to the strength and preparation of me cine which he should give.
It is because of the sensitiveness of the diseased^ con tion to the similarly acting medicine, that the higher pot cies are so uniformly more applicable and safe. How ofl instead of a cure the patient has been worse, suffering p longed and premature accessions to cemeteries made, fr the effect of too powerful doses of the really homeopat medicine, will never be revealed. Partly because the p scriber guilty of such blunders does not know himself.
Another reason occurs to me, why the higher potenc should be most uniformly used. Without going into deta: with which we are all familiar, we recognize the theory tl all physical phenomena are recognized by the vibrations the atoms of which substances are composed, and it see that the vibratory action in high potencies of drugs must on the same plane, or more like the vibratory action in 1 function, controlling nerves which are deranged in disea than is that in the low potencies. This idea arises in : mind from many experiences which I, and I am sure all us, have had, and which I have long wished to formul and present to this society for discussion; and which n perhaps be best presented by the question, "what eff does a crude drug taken into the system have upon the :
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on of the homeopathically prescribed medicine in potency, iken at about the same time?"
My experience leads me to say that the action of a Tide drug is not homeopathic to the diseased condition •esent, can have no inhibitive effect upon the curative ac- )n of a drug in a high potency which is homeopathic to the se, unless probably the drugs were antidotal, or inimical each other.
This seems to open the door to polypharmacy, and the nominations of '^combination" and **mixed" prescriptions, aich we deprecate so heartily, but, as I will show later, it >es not quite do so.
We can surely speak from such abundant experience at there c^n seem to be no question.
Never can we be sure that our patient is at any time le from the effect of some drug which we did not prescribe, is hardly necessary for me to enumerate the many sources )m which that comes, a little reflection will show it to you well, but I will mention a few which you will readily re- gnize. The habitual tea, coffee, tobacco, drugged drinks the soda fountain and bar, drugged and adulterated foods, itches, cosmetics, hair lotions, drug habits; camphor in iluloid utensils, antiseptic tooth-powders, medicated soaps, tiseptics everywhere. It is nearly impossible to find an i that is not preserved by carbolic acid. It is impossible keep our patients free from the effect of crude 'drugs, and I may as well use no effort to do so, but simply prescribe i indicated remedy and say nothing. If we have ever m sure that we have cured a case of disease with a hom- pathic prescription we may be equally sure that we have tie so in spite of the effect in the patient of innumerable igs in the crude form.
Whether the drugs are taken accidentally, incidentally, entionally, cahnot make the slightest difference in fact or ect. Another phase of the same principle is shown in the lults from homeopathic prescribing for acute ailments, len they arise in a patient during our treatment of a chron- iisease. We do not fail to get our response to the reme-
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dy temporarily indicated, be the acute trouble ever so nar- rowly circumscribed, or the chronic disease ever so serious. So it appears that the indicated homeopathic remedy ad- ministered in the proper potency will act effectively in spite of the presence of crude drugs, which are not homeopathi- cally indicated, or of deep-seated morbid con"ditions of th€ patient, which ate not considered in the prescription, and to which the latter has no apparent homeopathic application. Whether the effect of the homeopathic remedy would be the same if it was not potentized, I do not know, but I an strongly of the opinion that it would not. If my opinion is correct, our established objections to i>olypharmacy are up held.
Trusting that although this paper is short, it may starl a discussion, as does the spark a fire. I ask for your expe riences, and the deductions therefrom.
E. P. HussEY, M. D., Buffalo, N. Y.
Discussion.— Dr. Grant said it was evident that th( properly indicated and potentized remedy would act, as saic
by the late Julius G. Schmitt, *'in spite of the d 1,'
whether alternated with other medicines, disturbed by ca thartics, surrounded by soaps, perfumes, et)c., except ii cases where it was absolutely, or partially antidoted. H< said the man who mixed or alternated was seldom sure h( had not antidoted one medicine with another. He belie vec that the single remedy, the exact^similar, or as near to it as he is able to find, gives to the physician the best results though often seeing good results, even by mixers, we als( see bad. When there are good results the vibratory action of the mixture did not interfere with the similar; when i does the mixer fails. Ill effects of mixing drugs com< through irritation or interruption, causing new direction t( the vibrations. He believed with Dr. Hussey that the po tentized medicine acted through anything not inimical.
Dr. Johnson thought Hahnemann showed plainly tha the crude drug acted more deeply, creating deeper disturb ance than natural sickness. The, final working out of th< idea took many years. At first under old school influeno
p
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lemann gave the similar crude drug and killed many, tien began to divide doses and seems to have continued and more to divide for many years. But even in the i drug the similar gave wonderful results. The great- -ouble we have in applying the similar is to find the indication, and here. is just the objection to polyphar- , it blinds the indications. He considered the sections most important. ■■■
)r. Hussey inquired if the low potency would act as Eis the high, with these interruptions and interferences. )r. Graham said his practice was largely hospital prac- rhere hypnotics must be frequently used to prevent atient disturbing another, yet the proper remedy acted 5 majority of cases recovered. He said that in these low potencies were used. He could not answer for the
)r. Hermance said he used the single remedy, and of he high potency. He considered that a physician using ibination or alternation of remedies, never advanced in ledge of the therapeutic powers of medicines, never why or what cured his cases, and was never sure of acy; cathartics were necessarily obscurative, and so erred with the accuracy of the prescription. He said uestion of polypharmacy frequently came up and had met; potencies acted better than crude drugs, and had been proved.
►r. Leggett wished that homeopathic physicians, espe- those understanding the deeper principles of the pro- n, and using the higher potencies, would change the of saying the medicines **acted" so and so, when pre- d and taken in proper potency. She believed that the remedy was introduced homeopathically into the n in the proper potency, it was placed upon a plane iin the vital force made use of it, as it does of other iderables from which it selects among its environments •om its various ingesta, sufficient for the up-building of nanism; therefore the vital force **acted." he thought that whereas we might say of a crude
1 ;
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drug or a blow, that it '*acted" so and so, or mechanica produced such and such conditions, the potentized dri suited to the disturbance, was elevated to such a position made it possible for the life force to '*act" in such a man] as to adjust the warring elements even when in crude s stance it was inimical to the organism.
What other is the opsonin theory or the ''arousing the defensive action of the body,'' than the restoration the normal action of the life force by the simillimum? J .^ * we to allow that the old school man is in a fair way to
come more homeopathic than ourselves?
Dr. Fritz asked what Hahnemann would do in a cas€ mania a potu^ who had been insane two or three days. '^ Dr. Grant could see no reason • for polypharmacy e\
' I, in that case. He had had but few cases, and in those 1
been able to find the specific remedy which controlled i
*! condition;, there were generally indications for prescript
! in these cases, but if not found, one necessarily resorted
'* a palliative. He had seen incurable cases of cancer in wh
the patient suffered great pain, relieved until the end by medicine homeopathic to the case.
Dr. Johnson had had several cases of mania-a-p '. which yielded to the indicated remedy, some while he '^
• using only the moderately high potencies.
Dr. Fritz was then invited to read the following pa] on:
GONORRHEA.
I will not take up your time by giving you a long pa on the symptoms, treatment, etc., of this disease, wi might be a copy verbatim from some book on this s ject.
I only wish to say a very few words regarding the b eopathic remedies indicated, and the sequelae.
There are points which I would like to bring out impress deeply, and on which the laity, and I am afr ^ even some physicians do not realize, is the far read
% effect of this go very common affection.
C Keyes has stated that more people die from gonorr
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than syphilis, of course ii6t meaning directly from gonor- rhea itself, but its sequelae.
It is treated too much as a local disease, and the laity is constantly told by newspaper and billboard advertisements, that it can be cured in 48 hours by an injection which will leave no stricture, and which is perfectly harmless. If such advertisements, which daily confront us, are not more than criminal then nothing is criminal.
The first thing the unfortunate patient asks you when becomes to you is, * 'doctor, how long will it take?" When you teU him it will take at least six weeks or longer, he is horrified, and tells of all these '*ads" that he has read, and wants to know why you cannot **cure" him right away, and may be some of us will hurry the treatment and perhaps suppress the disease, opening the way for grave complica- tions, beginning anywhere from a simple phimosis to an . ascending pyelitis, fatal general infection, fatal peritonitis from seminal versicular or periprostatic suppuration, with extensive burrowing abscesses. Add to this the ocular and articular complications, the far-reaching influence of the dis- ease upon the uterus and its adnexa, the sterility to which it gives rise to both sexes, the untold surgery it furnishes the gynecologist, and, quoting from Keyes, '^gonorrhea rises from its putrid source and becomes an object worthy of serious study for every conscientious surgeon and phy- sician."
I do not think I am ever a better homeopath than when treating gonorrhea, for in this disease it certainly will work marvels, and I can assure you that I have seen all kinds of treatment used and have noted the results. ^
I seldom resort to injections otherwise than for simple cleansing of the urethra (with sterile clean water).
I will give you a few of the leading remedies.^ The remedies mostly indicated in the first or acute inflammatory stage are:
Mercurius when there is much strangury, urine passed with feeble stream with cutting pains. Lips of meatus red and inflamed, swelling and burning. Glans penis dark red
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and hot, with burning, stinging, itching pains in the ui thra. Tenesmus, painful erections.
Argentum nit. Great burning in urethra, frequent d sire to urinate, constricted stitching feeling in anterior pc tion of urethra, Pains shooting from posterior part urethra to anus and testes. Dragging, burning, stabbi] pains along the urethra.
Cantharis: Much strangury and tenesmus. Bumin cutting, scalding in the lirethra during urination, with d charge of bloody mucus. Spasmodic pain in neck of bla der. Tenesmus is almost unbearable with constant ineffe tual desire to urinate, urine passed drop by drop. Dischar yellow and bloody. Priapism.
Other remedies in this stage are Belladonna wlie there are irritable strictures. Camphor: strangury not i lieved by urinating. Gelseminum, Capsicum and Copaiva
Aconite: When the disease begins to become subacui Great agony at the thought of urinating. Burning at ne of bladder when not urinating. Fever, urine hot and bui ing.
Cannabis sativa: Difficult urination with constant ui ing and sensation as though urine were tearing the tissu of the urethra. Phimosis with dark redness of the glai Penis feels sore and sensitive. Patient must walk with t legs separated. Urine spreads when voided. Swelling prostate.
Pulsatilla: Discharge of thick, milky mucus.
Other remedies in this stage are: Fluoric acid, Ang castus, Calcarea, Clematis, Cubeba, Kali bich.. Sane wood, Thuja.
When the disease enters the third or chronic sta^ called gleet, the following remedies are of great use. Fii and most important:
Sulphur: The discharge is thin but does not seem abate, and other remedies well selected seem to do no goc There is slight burning and smarting during urination. T urine is passed in a thin and divided stream, and there
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itching in the middle of the urethra. This remedy will often clear up the case.
Sepia: Desire to urinate with painful bearing down in the perineum. Prostatitis and stricture.
Thuja: Burning in urethra. Titillation as though a drop of urine was passing along the urethra. Discharge thin and green.
Other remedies to be thought of in this stage are, Au- rum met., Erigeron, Agnus castus and Cannabis sativa.
Given a fresh case with proper instructions to the pa- tient as to diet, hygiene and habits, and a well selected homeopathic remedy, and you can hope for brilliant results, unless you have to deal with a previously badly damaged urethra, when perhaps surgical interference, such as dila- tion of strictures, etc., may have to be resorted to.
A. A. Fritz, M. D.
Discussion. — Dr. Bid well mentions Psorinum as one of the indicated remedies in the tertiary or chronic stage of gonorrhea.
Dr. Graham mentioned Methylene blue as a remedy much used by his father, and very effective in chronic cases of long standing, with a scant, white, gleety discharge, and no other symptoms.
Dr. Johnson said it would seem that the principles of Hahnemann and pure Homeopathy ought to build up great practices in this direction, but that it did not. He cited a case as excessively virulent, that it > in two weeks; in four months there was a second attack which was more stubborn, and Dr. Brownell, who had seen the case with him, prognosed death for a third attack, or a typhoid, which * prognosis came true.
[Medorrhinum, acute or chronic, would probably have eradicated this constitutional diathesis or relieved the viru- lence of the disease, Ed.]
Br. Fritz thought the first attack was usually the most severely painful.
Dr. Hermance agreed, but resorted to no other treat- nient, than the strictly homeopathic, and had cured some of
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the most chronic conditions with Sulphur and Psorinun when indicated.
Dr. Bidwell quoted Dr. Allen as using Sulphur in acutx and Medorrhinum in chronic or sycotic conditions, and sai( that Dr. Taylor **banked" on Benzoic acid.
Dr. Grant had frequently found gonnorrhea to be fol lowed by mental depression. One patient of his with rheu matism, accompanied by mental depression, was cure promptly by Medorrhinum 10m.
THUJA OCCIDENTALIS.
Thuja being the medicine for discussion at this date the subject was continued,^ Dr. Hermance considering Thuji a very valuable remedy in these conditions.
Dr. Fritz mentioned its use in gonorrheal warts, cite( the case of a man having nine warts which had been caute rized and followed by complications, cured in three week by Thuja 3x.
Dr. Grant asked if Dr. Fritz had had experience in th cure of gonorrheal warts about the penis, as he had bee much disappointed with Thuja in those conditions.
Dr. Hermance said that Thuja as a remedy had deve oped several peculiar symptoms. The mental symptom **a if brittle," as if would break in contact with any substance was very marked. He recalled the case of an insane ma who moved very carefully * 'because his legs were made c glass." Thuja removed this mental symptom and cure the patient. He mentioned the sharp indication for its m in the **sweat of uncovered parts," and reminded the societ of its frequent usefulness in the '*ill effects from vaccini tion." He thought BOnninghausen had said that Thu; given in the stage of pustulation of small-pox preventc scars.
Dr. Hermance considered it a wonderful remedy in goi orrheal rheumatism caused by suppression of the primal lesion with irritative injections and said that it often r stored the primary discharge.
The committee appointed to select subjects for tl March meeting decided on:
REGULAR HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL SOCIETY. 299
Organon, § § 51-56 inclusive, Dr. Bidwell. The Early Diagnosis and Hygiene of Tuberculosis, Dr. Dake.
Homeopathic Therapy, of Tuberculosis, Dr. Hussey. The secretary was requested to invite Dr. W. C. Cooke, of Moravia, N. Y., to attend the March meeting of the so- ' ciety.
S. L. Guild-Leggett, Sec'y.
TRANSACTIONS OF THE REGULAR HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL SOCIETY.
- Chicago, Tuesday, Jan. 7th, 1908.
Dr. H. C. Allen opened the meeting with the following statement:
The general topic of our meeting this evening is vacci- nation, a problem which is not new. It has been on the docket a great many years, and is still here as unsettled as ever. We do not oppose vaccination; we favor and practice prophylaxis in scarlet fever, small pox and other contagious diseases. But we have an improvement over the old method of vaccination — something infinitely better — offering more protection and entirely harmless. We want the privilege of using it. Why not improve in this as in treating diphtheria by the use of antitoxin? All we ask is the right to use our license as physicians of Illinois; to give our patients and their children a certificate that will enable the children to enter the public schools. Our certificates are sufficiently authoritative in death; why should they not be in all instan- ces? It is merely a question of standing up for our rights.
THE "NEW YACCINATION" IN THE COURTS OF IOWA.
By Dr. Charles W. Eaton, Des Moines.
You will of course bear in mind that I stand here to- night not as an anti-vaccinationist, but simply as an advo- cate of homeopathic vaccination. We are advocates of the better way.
Away back in surgery there was a day when all hem-
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orrhages from amputation, excision, etc., were controlled b: the application of a hot iron and its resulting cautery. Tc day we who use the ligature are not opponents of surgerj We are simply the practitians of improved surgery.
In precisely the same sense I stand before you, we knowing that you and my Iowa colleagues are not opponent of vaccination, but are advocates and users of the prope vaccination.
The legal fight in Iowa for our proper recognition wa entirely successful; and it falls to my lot tonight to tell yo as accurately and briefly as I may, just what happene( First, was our small-pox epidemic of five years ago. Up 1 that time, outside of the great centers, I doubt if five p( cent, of all physicians had ever seen a case of small po: but then we all met it.
A goodly number of the homeopathic physicians in lo^ and in Des Moines were using the Variolinum vaccination- the internal method. On Feb. 14, 1902, the City Council ( Des Moines (for Des Moines was the first of three cou; cases in Iowa), sitting as a Board of Health at the instanc of our allopathic city physician, who was there promptir them, adopted a resolution requiring that vaccination shou be by inoculation.
The city physician and the school board were in cloj accord, and all principals of schools were instructed to a( mit no child who had not been vaccinated by scarificatic on the arm in the old way. A certain Doty Evans took h( certificate to school and was sent home. On the 17th ( February Mr. Evans accompanied his daughter to scho and presented her to the teacher and principal of the scho and had with him a certificate of vaccination showing thi his daughter had been successfully vaccinated within tl past two years as required, and this was her certificat **, January 31st, 1902. I hereby certify that I successful vaccinated Doty Evans, of 1175 11th street, Des Moine Iowa. C. W. Eaton."
The principal of the school and the teacher refused! permit her attendance at school; refused to recognize tl
**NEW VACCINATION" IN THE COURTS OP IOWA. 301
certificate, claiming to do so under the instruction of the school board, which was the fact. '
Mr. Evans, bein(? an attorney, at once filed a petition for temporary injunction in our district court, directed to the school board and against its individual members by name, the superintendent, the principal of that particular school and the teacher of that particular room.
Des Moines was on that day a very inspiring battle ground for Homeopathy. All of you who have ever been in ,the court room of a district court know the forlorn fringe of atoms that usually occupy the benches — poor, broken-down old men who look as if they had been picked up from the most desperately dissipated and poverty stricken regions of the city.* On that morning the court room was crowded with the best parents of Des Moines, and gathered within the region of the bar was the city solicitor, of course; but .the school board took an active part and had its attorney there; pronounced friends of the allopaths were there as well as those of the homeopaths. One of them who was a professor in the medical department of Drake University, had wired to the surgeon general at Washington to get am- munition to use against us, and had his reply in his pocket. Things were at the highest degree of tension. But now mark. The pivotal point was one entirely unexpected. Our attorneys had based their demand for injunction on the fact that Homeopathy is one of the established and recognized schools in Iowa and therefore its practice could not be pro- hibited, and no board of health had power to prohibit the practice of any method of the homeopathic school. It was by law an established school of medical practice, and its graduates recognized and licensed by the state.
The resolution passed by the board of health specified that the vaccination must be by inoculation. Of course that inimical city physician should have made it '*sctarification,'^ but he did not. The moment that we got into court the question came up as to what was * 'inoculation." The judge said; "If those certificates are by inoculation no power on earth can keep the children out of school." That started an
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THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
immediate mn for a medical dictionary which said that *' oculation was the introduction of a virus into the syster but did not specify the method. Now what happened? 1 opposition said, **We withdraw our opposition." They s immediately that they were beaten and they wanted as lit on the court record as possible. The whole case evaporai right there.
To show how alert they are and how quick they h the alarm, let me say this: When it became apparent h the case was going, one of our attorneys wrote out a cert cate that would bring it squarely to the question of scai cation. We did not want this decision by default, handed that certificate to me and said, **Get that rejec right away." I jumped into my buggy, drove to a sch which was within a half block of where two children li^ who were being kept out of school. I put the certifica into their hands and started them to school, and though I left the court house before the case was concl ed, those children could not get to the school quic enough. When I got there the teacher met them wit welcome. *'We are glad to see you." **We have just ha( telephone." In fact that same day the superintendent schools of Des Moines telephoned to one of the princip that he was to accept all certificates '*by the external,the temal or the infernal method."
Naturally we w^anted a case that did not go by defa OQ a mere definition We wanted a case that would be s cifically on scarification.
There was a school board in an independent school c trict partly within and partly without the city limits, wh president had been instructed by the city physician that oculation meant scarification. So some of the scholars that school were vaccinated by the 'internal" method, t their certificates presented to the president of this outly: board. He gave a written refusal to accept them because was not specifically scarification, (that may sound obligi: bat he was one of my best fi-iends and patients). That abled us to bring the issue squarely in the court, which
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did. The injunction was granted in both cases, and after a considerable time a final decree entered and the costs taxed to our opponents. The process was by injunction and the scarification question fairly raised and the decision made in our favor in both cases.
The next case was at Iowa Falls. For two years after this decision we ran along without molestation and began to take it for granted that the other side knew when they liad enough. But they forgot at the end of a couple of years, or else they had not heard the news in Iowa Falls. An allo- pathic doctor happened to be chairman of the school board there — a bad combination.
On November 7th, 1904, Roy Marks was excluded on the same ground that the child was excluded in Des Moines. The same day the father filed his petition for injunction against the board and against its individual members. The school board and its members individually filed answer, in- sisting upon scarification.
November 12th the judge entered an order for tempora- ry injunction.
On the 13th of March following the case was called for final hearing to make the temporary injunction permanent. The school board of Iowa Falls did not appear at all and the court entered the permanent injunction and the costs were taxed to the school board.
Case three was at Council Bluffs and this was not orig- inally our scrap; but we were drawn into it. In the spring of 1905 the trouble at Council Bluffs began between the City Board of Health ^nd the School Board. The mayor of Council Bluffs at that time was the most aggressive and the most successful allopathic physician of the city. Now by the Iowa law the mayor is, by virtue of his office, president of the school board. Mayor McCrae and his board issued an order that every teacher, pupil and janitor of the Council Bluffs schools should be vaccinated. The school board did not think that was necessary and did not want it done and so they fought the Board of Health. That was not our fight at all.
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After it was determined that under the law the Board ( Health had the power to order the vaccination, then it can up that Council Bluffs homeopaths were using the intern: method. This the City Board of Health refused to recoi nize. Popular interest was at a white heat. The last fe weeks of that school year the schools were practically di rupted. The pupils were out by hundreds. People won] not have them scarified and no other certificates were a cepted. With the coming of fall, at the opening of tl school year, the conditions which were supposed to ha\ made vaccination necessary disappeared. But both partic concerned were desirous to settle the thing in court so thi in the event of any future emergency arising there would I no further question as to the procedure. All parties agree to make the case on broad issues so that it should not I decided on some narrow technicallity as the Des Moin< first case, when they threw up their hands on the word **i] oculation." It was a distinguished trial. I do not kno that I dare say much about it, for your president this evei ing, was one of the witnesses at the trial.
It so occurred that the Missouri Valley Institute < Homeopathy was in session at Omaha and that gave not oi ly the opportunity to call the physicians of Omaha ar Council Bluffs, but also those in attendance at the meetini Dr. H. C. Allen, Dean of Hering College, Dr. George Roya Dean of the State University of Iowa, the late Dr. A. 1 Bowen, of Sioux City , were all on the witness stand and thei was also a deposition read from Dr. W. A. Dewey, of tt Michigan State University. The result was an honorab vindication of our rights. I quote verbatim from the decisic of the court:
1. That Boards of Health have the power to adopt and promnlga rules requiring those in attendance upon Public Schools, either as teac ers, pupils, employes, to be vaccinated, at times when an epidemic small pox is threatened or prevailing, and to enforce such rules a cordingly; and reasonable latitude should be given to such Boards their efforts to prevent the spread of such disease.
2. That Boards of Health do not have the power to specify and e
"NEW VACCINATION" IN THE COURTS OP IOWA. 305
force any reoognized method of yaccination to the exclnsion of others recognized and practiced by any standard school of medicine, authorized or established nnder the laws of this state.
3. That for many years it has been tanght by the Homeopathic school of medicine that treatment by the administration of Yariolinum, commonly known as the internal method of yaccination, is equally or moreeffectiye as a preyentitiye of smallpox than yaccination by the scari- fication method and that yaccination by the administration of Variolinum or the internal method, has for many years been practiced by the Homeopathic School of Medicine.
i. That the rules of the State Board of Health, as set forth in the cross-petition of the Board of Health of the City of Council Bluffs and its members, in the case heretofore pending in this Court, entitled "The Independent School District of Council Bluffs, by its Board of Directors, ^. D, MaCrae, Mayor, and Others," No. 14393 of this Court, were and we void, in that said State Board of Health had no authority under the constitution and laws of this State to make said regulations and in that the said State Board of Health had no power or au^thority to require vacci- nation at any time by the method prescribed by any school of medicine to the exclnsion of the method approved by any reputable, recognized and standard school of medicine.
5. That the rule of the Local Board of Health of Council Bluffs, Iowa, set forth in the cross-petition heretofore referred to was and is against public policy, unreasonable and void in that said Board of Health has no power or authority under the laws of Iowa to adopt the same and in that the same attempted to exclude children from the public school who were unyacoinated by the scarification method, irrespective of whether an epidemic of small pox existed or was threatened in Council Blnffe, or vicinity, and in that it attempted to require vaccination by scarificatiim to the exclusion of vaccination by the administration of Tariolinum, or the internal method, as approved, taught and practiced bj the Homeopathic School, which is one of the standard schools of medicine of Iowa and the United States.
6. That under the record herein, it appears at this time an epidemic of small pox is neither threatened or prevailing in this community and there is no reasonable apprehension for danger with regard thereto.
7. The Court therefore finds that the equities of this cause are ▼ith the plaintiffs, Ed. Canning and others, and that tbey are entitled the reUef prayed.
8. It is therefore considered, adjudged and decreed ))y the court that the decree heretofore entered in the said cause, 14393, bo and the
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same is hereby cancelled and set aside and the Mandatory Writ of i Injunction iisued thereunder is cancelled and annulled.
Let me call your attention to another opinion. It is be noticed that no appeal was taken in this or any oth case. These cases were all in the various district courts ai were not in Courts of Appeal — not in the Supreme Com Therefore no other court was bound to take notice of the decisions; but I am told by council that courts are apt take account of such decisions and that it is not unusual to do where no appeal has been taken for the reason that is taken for granted that when defendants take no appe they regard the decision of the court as being correct, whi( gives especial weight, because it means acquiescence on bo sides; and acquiescence on both sides means a concessii that the position of the court is correct.
Now this concludes the record of the new vaccination Iowa Courts. Just three times the issue has been joined fc fore the judge's bench and just three times Homeopathy h won.
In all three of these decisions, the two Des Moines, lo^ Palls and Council Bluffs, when the cases came to trial, tl contest inevitably narrowed down to just this propositic That Boards of Health have not the power to specify ai enforce any method to the exclusion of any other meth' practiced by a school of medicine which is authorized ai established under the laws of the state. It is probable th we will have no more cases, because the allopathic physicia realize that with three existing decisions against them three widely separated courts, it is scarcely within t range of possibility to secure a reversal of these decisio and secure a decision to themselves.
The immediate result of these decisions was that t patrons of Homeopathy were free to have their childr vaccinated by the internal method. But certain collatei results were bound to appear. For instance, the Boards Health served notice on the large employers, business hous and manufacturers, that they must have all their employ vaccii^ated on certain dates or else they would be closed u
k
**NEW VACCINATION" IN THE COURTS OF IOWA. 307
This was a phase involving large financial interests. In the case of two of these large concerns I vaccinated their em- ployes by the internal method under the agreement that if the cases that were then pending went against us, I would immediately vaccinate their force by scarification without additional charge. No matter how ardent a homeopath an employer may be, he cannot run any risk of the wheels of his factory being stopped or the doors of his stores being closed by the Board of Health. Thus, our legal status pro- tected not only the children in the school, but also the men and women of the business world. Furthermore, it has been able to protect numbers of families who have removed from Iowa to other states, because our certificates have been ac- cepted in many instances by school authorities of other towns of other states in cases of such removal.
Again, our * legal status is also adequate for the pro- tection of those who have been exposed to small pox and whose release from the resulting quarantine, — that is, of exposure — is conditioned upon their being vaccinated. None of us would think of these things in advance, but these con- ditions appeared in Iowa, and you can expect them logically and as a matter of course. This found an amusing illustra- tion in Des Moines.
Small pox having appeared in a family, and the patient having been taken to a hospital, it was required of the re- mainder of the family that they be vaccinated before quaran- tine be released. The head of the house presented a certi- ficate by the internal method to the city physician, a rabid allopath, who literally "fired" it. Our attorney then called upon the mayor who sent our attorney to the city physician. The city physician greeted him with scant courtesy, refusing curtly to pay any attention. The mayor consulted the city solicitor who advised him that there was no escape from re- leasing the family from quarantine. Then the mayor sent word by our attorney to the city physician to release the quarantine, whereupon, when the mayor sent this message,
the city physician replied: **Tell the mayor to go to !"
Our attorney delivered the message to the mayor, who fairly
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jumped to the telephone, called up the doctor, told him release that quarantine forthwith and the quarantine was c of the house within an hour.
Now, you see all that would have been impossible b for the decisions behind it.
Another factor in the Iowa contest was the attempt ( the part of the allopathic physicians to checkmate us I having the State Board of Health adopt a definition of va cination, specify the scarification as sure and poss^tive. resolution including such a definition the allopathic membe of the Iowa State Board expected to carry, as they ha"^ four members, the homeopaths two and the eclectics on In pursuance to these tactics, the Secretary of the Boai who was thoroughly in opposition to us, went to the Nation Conference of State and Provisional Boards of Health th: was held at Hartford, Connecticut. He was on the flcM once during that meeting and that was for the purpose telling the story of his Iowa tribulations from internal va cination, he asked the committee to formulate a definition vaccination, which request was complied with.
He came home and that definition was introduced' at meeting of the board for passage. It was practically d feated in the morning meeting. They adjourned for luncl and those of you who have been practical workers in the things know what terrible things can lie concealed in \ adjournment. The Board of Health of Iowa included in i members a vetrinarian and a civil engineer — very properl Evidently during the lunch hour these gentlemen were 1 bored with, so that at the afternoon session that definiti< was perpetrated upon the Iowa profession by a gain of the votes. So that we have in Iowa a definition of vaccinatic with all the authority behind it of a **horse doctor" and civil engineer, but it is ofticial nevertheless.
A bill was then introduced into the legislature effectii a definition of vaccination. The legislature shied so that did not get outside of the committee. Last year the Sta Board of Health undertook a revision of its regulations frc A. to Z., and among other things they encountered the abo
**NEW VACCINATION'' IN THE COURTS OF IOWA. 309
definition. Under the suggestion of our members to the board that some evidence had occurred that there were three decisions in the state which flatly contradicted their defini- tion, and that it could not stand; they passed it over and the Iowa State Board of Health does not promulgate any official definition of vaccination, and in fact has none.
Li 1902, or when the board was first considering this matter of definition, Dr. Linn, one of the two homeopathic members of the board, acting independently and not official- ly, requested the opinion of Mr. W. H. Bailey, a leading lawyer of Des Moines, upon the subject of the power of the board to enforce such a definition. This opinion is very in- teresting in the careful review that it takes of the situation, and of the principle already spoken of: That homeopathic physicians are licensed; that they are given special ques- tions at State Board examinations in Materia Medica, etc. , and therefore, being recognized by the law, their practice cannot be prevented or refused by the various or local Boards of Health, as well as by the State Board of Health. That opinion is in the hands of some of our friends here, and in the interest of time I will omit it altogether, although it is cogent and careful and scholarly, and very interesting.
Now a matter closely allied with the legality of the in- ternal method of vaccination is the proper form of the cer- tificate we should use. At all times we should take the ad- vice of our legal counsel as to the best form of certificate which, under the statutes of the state it is wise to employ. The local board of health rule demanded that the certificate should show two things: That the vaccination has been by inoculation and that it has been successful.
Now as to the word "successful." I suppose a vaccina- tion may be ''successful" if there is a visible scab. But we have no scab to show for our "successful," therefore what do we mean by it? Simply this: In a majority of the cases under the treatment by Variolinum, the patients will show a distinct reaction, such as fever, active, gastric and intest- inal disturbances, etc. Now then, if the preparation you nse has in any one produced those symptoms it shows that
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preparation to be active, and if you give an active prepar tion there is no doubt that it will impress the organism.
A demonstrated preparation that can produce distin disturbances is sure to be **successfur' to whomsoever a ministered, because what is administered by way of tl stomach always gains contact with the system. We nev give a dose of Prussic Acid with the idea that one will n "take.' We all '*take" in such cases.
One of my colleagues thinks that the certificate shou read, **inoculation per ora." He also insists upon himse administering the first dose. I also use a dose night ai morning or until reaction occurs or for two weeks, for in tl absence of any objectional reaction it is well to make thorough.
As my coUeage said, it is well to administer the fii dose yourself, because some people will get the Variolinu from a physician, and also the certificate, and never tal the medicine because they are opposed to that sort of thin
During the height of the small pox epidemic a lady we to a reputable and one of the well known allopathic phy ciansof our city to be vaccinated. She asked, **How mu( will it be?" and the physician replied, "One dollar." *'Bu1 she said, '*I want you to rub water on instead of vacci poison. I don't want it to take" '*0 well, that will be U dollars and a half," answered the physician. I speak this to call pointed attention to the fact that any dishones stich as I have mentioned is equally applicable to vaccir tion by scarification.
In Iowa doctors have quite generally used the thirtie potency for vaccination. I say this in anticipation of a qu( tion that may be in your minds.
I may have wearied you by being on the floor so Ion yet it is hardly possible to give a clear and definife accou of just what happened in the courts of Iowa in less tin As has been previously remarked, the unbroken chain decisions in our favor will probably preclude any furth appeal to the courts. Now and then there may be soi trouble in some outlying locality among those who are cc
**NEW VACCINATION" IN THE COURTS OF lOmA. 311
tumacious, but so soon as they are advised of what has transpired, they will accept our vaccination without more ado.
The homeopaths of Iowa are proud of their Iowa courts, who have said to the hosts of Allopathy, "You shall not de- ny the people everything that has not been approved by your own ignorance and your own prejudice. You shall not filch from little childfen their priceless heritage and healthy and untainted bodies."
THE' SCHOOL VACCINATION LAW A DEAD LETTER AT NIAGARA FALLS.
The following communication was printed in the New- burgh Daily ifews of March 16, 1908: *'To the Editor of the News :"
** Allow me to congratulate The News on its liberal and broad- minded policy in opening its columns to both sides of the vaccination controyersj. It is a deplorable fact that many newspapers habitually reject all commnnications containing statements of the fact to the dis- credit Df vaccination. If I may be permitted to prophesy, I venture the prediction that so soon as the people of Newbuxgh shall have learned the tmth about vaccination they will drive the filthy fad to the woods.
Through the good offices of The Daily Cataract Journal, the leading newspaper of this city onr people have been so enlightened on the sub- ject of vaccination that the degrading and dangerous rite has been driven from our city. We have a resident population of about 30,000 Inhabitants. During the summer seasons our city is annually visited by vast numbers of tourists and excursionists who flock here from all quarters of the globe. In consequence of this enormous floating popula- tion, small pox infection has been frequently imported into our city. Vaccination has been discredited and almost wholly neglected by our mimicipal authorities for many years past. So pronounced and de- termined is the popular resentment against Jenner*s fllthy nostrum that it is impossible to enforce the State vaccination law in our public schools. The consequence is that the pupils in our schools have not been subjected to vaccination during the past ten years. The process of inoculating the products of undefined disease into the wholesome bodies of school children is repudiated by our people as a criminal and cowardly outrage which they refuse to tolerate. Our people are too intelligent and progressive to pin their faith to an antiquated and barbarous medical practice which violates the fundamental laws of hygiene by implanting the seeds of disease into the healthy bodies of their children. I believe
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I am safe in saying that Niagara Falls is the least vaccinated city in i United States. Notwithstanding oar people's comtempt for and negl< of vaccination we have not had anything like an epidemic of small p in this city dnring the last quarter of a century, daring all of whj time I have been engaged in the practice of medicine here. Daring 1 same period we have had bat a single death from small pox in tl city. In the coarse of the last eight years small pox« cases have gain admission into oar anvaocinatd city on twelve or more different occasic ooming each time from the well vaccinated cities around us. £ach these twelve outbreaks of small pox in a non-vaccinated city was read controlled and its spread, beyond a few mild cases, prevented withe any ^ recourse to vaccination. I believe that no other city of its size the United States can boast of such immunity from small pox as have enjoyed, notwithstanding that our population is more exposed infection than that of any oj;her city in America. With a firm convicii in my belief, I have published over my name in many of the medi journals and leading newspapers of this country the following challen^
I hereby challenge any health officer or commissioner of health the the United States to mention the name of any thoroughly vaccinal and re-vaccinated city into which small pox cases have gained entrai for comparison with the unvaccinated city of Niagara Falls. If anyc will do so I will confidently undertake to prove by the official reooi that the people of Niagara Falls have during the last decade enjoyed far greater immunity from small pox and have had a far lower dec rate from that disease than has the thoroughly vaccinated and re-vac Bated city to be mentioned for comparison. Notwithstanding the fi that this challenge has been given widespread publicity in the medi and the lay press, no health board doctor or other partisan of \ Jennerian rite has had the temerity to accept it and for obvious reasc never will accept it.
In the presence of the above challenge the intrepid champions ^ ^protective" vaccination have remained as speechless as Egypt) inummies.
J. W. Hodge, M. O.
BLINDNESS FROM DRUGGING.
By Dr. G. P. Thornhill, Paris, Texas, Three weeks ago a lady came to my office totally bli in her left eye. Eight months ago she was confined a given Ergot to stop hemorrhage. Three months later s noticed her sight was impaired and went to a specialist. 1 put '*something" in her eye. That night she lost the sig
A CASE OP REMITTENT FEvER. 31?
completely. He treated her several months, finally exam- ined her with the X-ray and told her he * 'could see the optic nerve was dead" — and I suppose could see just as easily what she was thinking about — that there was no hope for her.
I examined her case closely, and I knew from her symp- toms Atropine or Belladonna was the ''something' put in her eye. Besides this as a key-note she had other strong Belladonna symptoms. Two doses of Belladonna cm. has completely restored her sight in three weeks. She can read the finest print with that eye, but of course is a little weak yet. Improvement began in 24 hours.
I find the most of my chronic work is,undoing allopathic dosing.
A CASE OF REMITTENT FEVEK.
By Ganga D. Banerjee, Howrah, India.
Case.— On October 10, 1907, I was called at Sulkea, Ho\Yrah, to see Babu Sinha, who had been suffering for 30 days with a low type of remittent fever and acute indura- tion of the liver. He was under the treatment of a regular (?) well-known physician of the locality for many days with- out any good result. The precious day the doctor, after trying his so-called' regular mixtures and plasters, declared it a serious one and wished to consult an old and experienced civn surgeon of the Calcutta Medical College. The uncle of the patient who had very little faith in Homeopathy, thor- oughly against his will, at the request of his relatives, came to me to see if any magical work could be done by Homeopa- thy in a day or two. My taking of the case presented the foUowing symptoms:
Temperature; highest 102 and lowest 100, which begins to rise at 9 a. m. every day.
Violent and continual stitching pain in the liver which is < at 3 a. m,^
The liver is so much enlarged and indurated that he can scarcely breathe.
The patient can not lie on right side, i. e., on the pain.
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ful side at all, and if he tries to do so the stitching pain is much increased that breathing is difficult.
Swelling of the upper eye-lids like a sac.
Complete aphonia.
Pressure in the chest.
Backache as if bruised.
Tongue coated white; taste foul.
Frequent urination at night with much pressure a scanty emission. Urine pale greenish.
Previous history: The patient was much addicted wine. Had syphilitic ulcers and gonorrhea some five yes before. Ten years before had eruption of itch suppress by some native ointment.
I told him to wash off the Belladonna plaster given the regular (?) doctor.
The stitching pain < when lying on the painful s and also the 3 a. m. aggravation, together with other syii toms lead me to prescribe Kali carb. cm., one dose, on 0 10, and three doses of Placebo, one every three hours.
Oct. 11. The patient is breathing easily, the stitchi pain is somewhat less. The fever as before. Placebo, eij doses, one every three hours for two days.
Oct. 13. The patient is breathing easily. Color of 1 urine is changed and he is urinating freely; temperature Previous day it rose to 100 instead of 102. Has had Plac< for two days.
Oct. 15. Patient says everything is all right. Then no backache, no hoarseness. He is passing stools regul ly. Temperature norihal during the whole day. At nij it rose to 99i with occasional perspiration. The ton^ takes imprints of teeth with salivation. He can not lie the right side yet. No stitching pain. The size of the li^ decreased. One dose Merc. sol. 200 given and Placebo two days.
Oct. 18. It is reported by the uncle of the patient tl he is now sleeping well, even lying an right side; no rise temperature. I have given eight powders of Placebo to taken twice daily. The patient is well. The family 1 since then become staunch supjDorters of Homeopathy.
STANDARD HOMBOPATHY. 815
^STANDARD HOMEOPATHY," A Seordiiiig Reply to an Editor.
By John Hutchinson, M. D., New York. To the Editor.
Dr. Egbert Guernsey Rankin chose a very interesting title for his paper in the March Chironian, **The Standard ot Homeopathic Therapeutics" implies a good deal, and sug- - gests the consideration of an important subject.
It appears according to the paper that our school of homeopathic practice is made up of two factions; a small minority in numbers that still respects the law of similars, a natural law as best stated by Hahnemann, being one faction and a very large majority of physicians that have progressed far beyond and away from Hahnemann and everything so remote and out of date as his views, composing the other faction. Meantime, no specific definition is offered for "twentieth century Homeopathy." Just what this new thing is must be learned from the paper, which seems to address itself wholly to * 'a small faction of extremists" — the intol- erable minority.
Advances in surgical art are outlined, but those per- taining to homeopathic therapeutics have not been traced. This omission is noteworthy because the two departments of medical science are wholly distinct. Surgical technique k no more Homeopathy than is internal medication surgical technique. Sometimes, however, somebody chooses between the two, for occasionally somebody knows that patients have died after being operated for appendictis, and that other patients have lived after homeopathic treatment for appen- dicitis without operation.
Electrology, bacteriology and radiology are extolled, and they are most attractive sciences, to be s\ire, but their re- lation to the correction of human ills is a long way yet from being safely understood in any therapeutic sense. It is true, as stated, that as these progress they and ''each new dis- covery requires a re-adaptation," which in the actual cir- cumstances almost reminds us of "recantation," as being more accurate.
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And here we seem to come to the point of the matt Homeopathic therapeutics sprang into being as an ineVital and a sound and a scientific protest against the irregul haphazard, unreasoning drug methods of that day. It now just as important a protest as ever, just as imperati just as necessary, and just as effective. So much so tl the best minds in other ranks announce their rejection all drugs as useless. Yet, curiously enough, nothing to place them has developed. An anomaly confronts us to-di Crude drugs are of no value, but they are prescribed, a the sick get them just the same. Now, if a man has a ethical right whatever to call himself a homeopathic pi sician he knows by virtue of that right that such medicat; is distinctly harmful to human life and health.
The phrase, **As medical science progresses," haj peculiar sound to one who appreciates its significance, a what bearing that progress has on the (?ure of human i Its beneficence is all in the future. Meantime, what ab curing the sick? They are everywhere about us clamori for help. They are told that medical science of to-day i wonderful thing, and they innocently suppose that it off some advanced therapy in the cure of tuberculosis, men gitis and rheumatism. They innocently suppose that pn monia is more successfully treated than heretofore. I they find that most of the progress consists of fresh i sometimes hot and sometimes cold, but always in exi ordinary dosage.
So, after all, the most help has to come from time-w< Homeopathy, which the careful students of its masters \ remember has incidentally covered the subject of hygi< very well. And these same patients still clamoring for h present in their illnesses every indication for the prec help they need. It is the help that we by this time sho know how to give, for we have been unable all these ye to discard one complemental remedy. Nothing has been ( covered to supplant it, and what was once good always mains good.
But to quote further: '*So is the unmodified Horn
■\
STANDARD HOMEOPATHY. 3 17 -
pathy of Hahnemann unsuited to this day." I read this original sentence with amazement. Others will read it with amazement. Where is the modified substitute that we should accept and welcome? How, where, and when shall we **em- brace the standards of modern advancement" as opposed to Homeopathy? Is the embrace to vary and fluctuate like the standard?
**He employes homeopathic therapeutics where common sense indicates its use." This is impossible. Common sense may be "common ignorance." The physician must have more than common sense to practice Homeopathy. ''A special knowledge of homeopathic therapeutics" is post- graduate learning. He cannot acquire a special knowledge with his common sense, nor until he has duly passed on — "All that pertains to the great field of medical learning [which] is his by tradition, by inheritance, by right."
But since "A homeopathic physician is one who prac- tices according to the law of similars," his must be a definite vocation.
The opinion of the majority have weiglit with the facts of science, and the facts of science have nothing to do with the opinion of the majority. If a man knows nothing what- ever of the law of gravitation, his non-belief is unimportant.
Millions of human beings may deny the law from pure ignorance, but the incident is quite irrelative. So-called ^'Christian Science" has large majorities, it grbws, and for all we know progresses wonderfully; but does that make the organization either Christian or scientific?
**As to our own college, it stands beyond criticism. True to the standards of the school." ... I do not pretend to understand these* statements. They are wholly incom- prehensible, since the author has established no definition for "standards." Were I to hazard a guess, I should hope, as an alumnus^ that it would not be true. Therefore, I can- not discuss these statements.
Instead let me submit the following propositions:
Homeopathy is not a shifting principle, and cannot be- come obsolete in any sense. Its oldest work is permanent
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and valuable like Greek or Roman architecture, paintii and sculpture.
A law of nature has no variable standard of stability.
A law of nature bearing upon all phases of a defin range of science requires the best gi*^^ sind most metbc leal system and form of elucidation.
Homeopathy is post-graduate medical knowledge- demands the best developed scientific sense for its grasp.
A college of Homeopathy should live up to its name.
It is also submitted that a '*fully equipped" physician something more than one **imbued with the zeal of heali the sick by any means which science has proved reasonal and experience has proved effective.'* Even any old co mon sense might assume that teachers of homeopatl medicine had decided beforehand that such medicine superior. Unfortunately, however, students are hardly 1 over the borders of the subject, to say nothing of not bei guided into the very heart of its profound study.
The college can never have again the worthy lead< who are dead. They were none the less able because th believed and taught the older laruths of medicine, most which are to be found, as far as therapeutics go, in Hom< pathy alone. They did their work well, and they are e^ honored for it. Yet away and beyond this supporting flection, we may asstlre ourselves that whatever our o' shortcomings, scientific truth is dependent in no particu upon our support for life or nourishment. Homeopathy, whatever name known, cannot die. Others may demonstn it unwittingly, or perhaps unwillingly. We may be unfai ful to our trust and miss completely our great opportnni It will net greatly matter for truth has its own vitality.
But as to its effect on ourselves, that is another . afh Returning to the previous quotation, it may be remarl] that a physician who aspires to the practice of Homeopat needs a much higher credential than "zeal." Zeal is all v< fine, but knowledge is better. — The Ghvronian.
ADDRESS ON DIATHESIS. 319
IN ADDRESS ON THE DIATHESIS; THE PERSONAL FACTOR IM DIMEASE"".
By Sir Dyce Duckworth, M. D.. Edin., LL, D. Edin,
P. R C. P. Lend,
CoDSTiHiiig Physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London, and the
Italian Hospital, Queen Square, London; Senior Physician to
the Seamen's Hospital, Greenwich.
The doctrine of the diathesis as applied to practical medicine is little in vogue in this twentieth century. It is now commonly supposed to be a survival, and a rapidly de- caying one, of mediaeval modes of thought applied to a hum- oral pathology, and now rendered effete and useless in the face of the revelations of bacteriology.
I do not stand here today to decry progress in any field of medicine. Our art can but die if it does not advance, and happily there are signs on all hands of progressive research- es of which some at least are sure to be fruitful. Let us always remember that research is only properly prosecuted for the sake of enduring truth and not merely to supply material for publication in ephemeral journals or contribu- tions to medical congresses and .societies. While therefore I am in full sympathy with all duly prosecuted research, I am not prepared to turn my back on all the solid acquire- ments of the past, to regard my great predecessors in medi- cine as unwise and ignorant men, and to believe that the microscope and the X-ray have heralded the dawn of an en- tirely new era. Truth is eternal and there can be no fashion in it. The tendency is to adopt the new revelation and to ignore or despise the old. I think this is a dangerous error. We physicians take perhaps too many of our novelties from the laboratories of the physiologist, and we repose, it may be, too seriously on* the pronouncements of men who, if not void of any clinical experience and instincts, certainly are not practical physicians in daily contact with the maladies of humanity.
•Delivered in French before the Faculty of Medicine of Paris, Feb. 18, 1908.
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The teachings of the clinical laboratory are the prope study of the physician. We need far more of these than ai provided for us. We have, as I say, to deal with humanity (tnd the problems presented by man, both in health and di; ea»e, can never be solved satisfactorily by experiments o the lower animals. We learn much from the latter and mui still pursue them, yet they must ever be inadequate to ai swer all the inquiries of the clinician. Our great study man from birth to death and all that relates to his habii and environment.
One result of our modern studies is to lead us to regai men as living units with an exact bodily conformation, a uniform trophic system and tissue metabolism, and to disr( giird textural peculiarities, definite proclivities, and variani of intimate metabolism. A very little consideration make it clear that this is not true, and multitudes of instances i once disprove this view which is evolved in the laboratoi of the physiologist and contradicted at the bedside. We a surely recognize that our fellow men are not all of one coi ^^titutional type, but we have ceased in late years to spea of the various temperaments such as the sanguine, the bi Mous and the nervous as described by our predecessors, would ask if such types have ceased to exist amongst us, o if not, is there no longer any significance in them? Are ^ jnt^pared to declare that the incidence and processes of d sease in any one of these are met in precisely the same wa and that the reactions and results are alike and common 1 them all? The fact is that we no longer think much aboi these human varieties and these personal qualities, ai rather act now as if we were following out experiments in physiological laboratory. Hence the outcome of errors ar strange teaching, as when, lor instance, after poisoning sma animals with pure alcohol, we are solemnly told that to tal a little good wine or beer is a most pernicious habit fc civilized men! That nonsense is to-day regarded by son members of our profession as an illustration of the progres of science, and as a contribution to knowledge which is t aid us in our art and to reclaim the victims of alcoholism!
L
ADDRESS ON DIATHESIS. 321
The clinician is always in face of the personal factor in each patient. The physiologist has a dog, or a guinea-pig, or some definite organ of an animal, but rarely a man, be- fore him. The problems are not the same, and never can be. The personal factor, then, demands careful study from the physician, for men and women are not so many wooden ninepins turned in a lathe as some would have us believe. This study was carefully prosecuted by the best observing physicians a century ago, and nowhere more profoundly than in this great school. Prom my early days in medicine this subject has had great interest for ma, and I was imbued by my dear master. Professor Laycock, of Edinburgh, with its principles. It is true that early dogmatic teaching sinks deeply, as it should do, and is not easily displaced in favor of other beliefs, but a long clinical experience has only served to deepen my confidence in the certainty of the doctrine of the diathesis or habits of body. The primal sig- nificance of this doctrine is that one man is not as another, that there are individual personal pecularities relating to tendency, to vulnerability, and to immunity. It can be shown that these qualities run in certain families, that they may be accentuated in the offspring of consanguinity, and diminished by alliance with a stock presenting none of these tendencies- We thus meet with many examples of blended constitutions, and witness the outcome in one member of a family of the peculiarity of one parent, and in another the special tendencies of the other parent, or we find the malign proclivity of one parent overcome by the more robust in- fluence of the other.
While we no longer speak of the several temperaments formerly described we may certainly recognize at least four special habits or types of body — the arthritic, the scrofulous or lympathic, the nervous and the bilious. In varieties of these I think we may find all the conditions which were differentiated by our predecessors. It becomes, therefore, a question relating to the soil or tissue-proclivity of the par- ticular individual that we have to consider. The modern investigator is solely occupied with the seed which he be-
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THE MEDICAL ADVANCE,
lieves to be capable of growing and developing its wi( spread powers indiscriminately on any individual. He gards the soil as of no importance. Those who, like n self, would call a halt in this narrow and limited conceptic while accepting to the full all the teaching of bacteriolo with gratitude, insist upon the vast importance of the s or special textures of the individual invaded by sped microbes. We have to reckon with seed and soil, not wi Si^ed only. Surely we have an exquisite analogy here in t sister vegetable kingdom which cannot be ignored. For < ample, let us try to grow roses in sand, or conifers oncha and watch the results. Hence we find no difficulty, but, the contrary, further enlightenment, in applying the n teaching of bacteriology to the several diathetic habits the body.
This question has recently been the subject of discussi in this city, ^ and in relation particularly to the existence a arthritic diathesis M. Guyot denied in this discussi the existence of such a diathesis and had regard to no e ment in the case of rheumatic maladies but the specific : fecting microbe. When reminded by M. Weber, of **] tares hereditaires, ou acquises," which created a predispo tion, M. Guyot replied that these were ''not indispensibh Such a belief is, in my opinion, inconsistent with an accurs clinical instinct and is contrary to common experience, f if it be true, any person may become the subject of rhe matic maladies which we know are not indiscriminate prevalent, even if widely spread. M. Guyot thus c fines arthritis: I have no objection to this definition bu' would add in order to complete the full conception of t pathogeny that, in order to secure the several manif estatio of the specific infection, there must be a special favourii proclivity in the tissues of the particular patient, in oth words a suitable soil for the development of the infectii element. Such patients may be regarded as rheumatical disposed and it is a matter of common knowledge that su<
1. Bulletin Offlciel des Societes Medlcales, Feb.. 1907«
■v-"^^
ABDRESS ON DIATHESIS. 328
persons exist and are distinctly more liable to rheumatic infection than others. I have no doubt as to the existence of this proclivity, and I have long accepted the doctrine of the basic arthritic diathesis of Bazin. Those who are the subjects of this particular habit of body show plainly their liability to rheumatic infection which I term exogenous and no less to .the onset of gout, a malady which I regard, in the absence of exact proof to the contrary, as due, to en- dogenous toxins, derived from perverted metabolism in the individual. M. Guyot has decided for himself that the pec- cant matter of gout is the same as that which originates rheumatism in all forms — viz, the diplococcus. This is on the ground that many of the articular lesions in the chronic varieties are closely similar in both cases, the uratic de- posits being mere epiphenomena and not constant, according to his view. I have elsewhere discussed this matter and shown that there are specific changes in gouty arthritis, apart from uratic deposit, which are not met with in rheumatoid cases.
There are those in Englatod now who are disposed to regard the toxic element of gout as generated from intestinal microbes. When these are plainly demonstrated to us I shall be prepared to reconsider the question of the endogen- ous or exogenous etiology of this malady. If we advance always, we must advance very sauvely and always be ready to say, again we do not know. As there are people who under provokihg conditions cannot become rheumatic so there are those who cannot under predisposing circum- stances become obviousely gouty. The tissues of these persons and their metabolic processes do not favor the on- set of either condition; they are practically immune and are not subjects of the arthritic diathesis. Those who believe that microbic infection entirely explains all the phenomena of rheumatic and gouty diseases, and that these may there- fore be produced indiscriminately, have to show cause why tiiese maladies are not universally prevalent and to explain how the majority of persons happily resist this influence and escape these ailments.
$u
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE
If we study carefully the life-histories of arthritic 8 otlier diathetically disposed families over long periods shall not fail to discover good reasons for belief in the s cial predisposing conditions which prevail and are inher< in their -different members. This arthritic diathesis is c tainly widely spread but it is not universal. It inclui most persons who used to be described as of sangu temperament.
We have next to note a marked feature of the arthr diathesis which consists in the peculiar antagonism of 1 tissues towards invasion by, and development of, the bac of tubercle. The more rheumatic or the more gouty patient the less the proclivity to tuberculosis. I learn that f=!chool of Lyons attempts to make arthritic diseases a sympi t»f tuberculosiSjbut this conception is beyond my compreh sion. All my experience confirms the distinction between th two conditions; if not absolute, at least very great. T erculosis in the rheumatic, and especially in the goi subject, is extremely rare, and when it occurs is found make slow progress, with frequent arrests, and to be vig ously resisted. When such a liability exists it will probal be discovered that there is an inherited taint due to blendi of a scrofulous or lympathic diathesis with the arthritic c thesis, for such blendings cannot fail to occur, and this f of commingling of different habits of constitution may i seldom explain many puzzling variations in the course i oOtcome of maladies such as syphilis, paludism, etc.
In respect of the gouty habit of body we may note so fuiiiher peculiarities. One is the marked vulnerability the toxin of the gonococcus. This microbe is a verita touchstone for gouty proclivity, and is apt to lead some of the worst and most rebellious conditions due to t infection. Another is the occurrence of the palmar scler iBg contractures of Dupuytren which, in my experier have no connection whatever with rheumatic infection, are met with exclusively in persons already gouty or stro ly predisposed to gout. Again the prevalence of ecz€ and glycosuria are marked features in subjects of this c s^titution.
ADDRESS ON DIATHESIS. 325
We find that both arthritic and scofulous subjects are specially vulnerable in their joints. Injuries to these struc- tures heal slowly and are apt to leave permanent deformi- ties as sequels. The fact of a lingering arthritis may thus, for the first time in a patient's history, disclose a hitherto unsuspected gouty or scrofulous taint, as was first pointed out by Paget. With respect to such cases I would ask, is it not probable that a study of the family and personal life- histories of such patients would have previously declared to the observer the special proclivities of the affected individu- als? It is, however, declared by some physicians that it is not possible to pronounce a person to be the subject of any diathesis until he becomes obviously rheumatic, gouty, or tuberculous, just in the same way that no one can be re- garded as suffering from syphilis until he is infected with the toxin of lues venerea. To my mind, such a declaration indicates too plainly an absence of clinical acumen and ex- perience.
Once more, we certainly find that the diet which is ap- propriate for the subject of the lympathic diathesis ex- tremely bad for persons of the arthritic diathesis, and one which is suitable for the latter is most unfit for the former. I would ask again; What is it then which is transmitted in this or any other diathetic habit of body? Surely it is the quali- ty of the tissues, or the soil, and not the infecting microbe. The proclivity, the vulnerability, the degree of immunity or resisting power is transmitted as a peculiar vital endowment from early embryonic times to full maturity in the intimate cells and tissues of the individual. In this sense each per- son is a law to himself, and here we have the personal fact- or before us with which we physicians have always to deal.
We are now told that the older conception of a scrofulous or lymphatic diathesis is no longer tenable. This it appears was also a foolish medieval doctrine now absolutely exploded and rejected since the discovery of Koch's bacillus. Scrofu- la is now regarded as tuberculosis! To this new doctrine I venture to demur and I regard it as a monstrous absurdity.
326 THE MEDICAL ADVANCfi.
To prove it requires us to believe that every person present- ing the classical features and tyx>e hitherto recognized as scrofulous is, from the earliest age, even as a fetus and throughout life, invaded and influenced by the bacilli and toxins of tubercle, and that this infection is responsible for the bodily conformation, characteristic ailments, vulnerabil- ity, and tendencies shown by the subjects of this condition. This is surely bacteriology run mad. Here again, as in the case of the arthritic diathesis, we recognize the soil and the seed and have come to learn that the lymphatic diathesis provides the best medium for the cultivation of the bacilli of tubercle. We have long known that the textures of the scrofulous subject are vulnerable beyond all others and offer little resistance to intruding toxins of all kinds; that theur lympharia are unduly sensitive to all forms of irritation, that their mucous surfaces are predisposed to catarrhal con- ditions. Thus they are bad subjects for all maladies, make slow recovery from them, and often succumb to them. We recognize that they are more liable to become tuberculous than others and are thus often a prey to the omnipresent bacillus of Koch. It is supposed that this bacillus is pres- ent in a latent condition in such persons and declared that this microbe may enter the fetal circulation. The evidence for this is indeed slender. I prefer to believe that these subjects are born constitutionally feeble with a delicate lym- phatic system and thus provide a bad soil for all va- rieties of infection. I recognize in the scrofulous sub- ject the essence is there without manifestation; in the tuberculous subject it is actually present. The char- acteristic features of this diathesis are constantly be- fore us in the two physiognomical and differing types of ugly and pretty struma. It would surely be strange if these well-marked varieties were each the result of the same transmitted microbic intrusion. I do not believe it. But alas, the modem physician has largely ceased to make phys- iognomical diagnosis of morbid tendencies and states or to teach this part of clinical medicine,
It is not sufficiently realized that these several habits of
ADDRESS ON DIATHESIS. 327
body persist through life. Scrofula is commonly supposed to pertain to youth only, but we may meet with its peculi- arities in aged pers<His (senile struma, not tuberculosis). So with the arthritic habit whose indications appear early in life by various symptoms, not necessarily overtly rheumatic in character, for these await the intrusion sooner or later, of the specific infection which develops the angina, the arthri- tis, the carditis, the erythema, or the chorea, while in later life under special provoking conditions the perverted metab- olism gives rise to gouty symptoms and the consecutive changes in the eardio- vascular and renal systems. I there- fore entertain the opinion that it is iK>ssible to be arthriti- cally predisposed without becoming rheumatic or gouty in any classical form of these maladies. These conditions and developments are accidental and not inevitable, and may con- ceivably often be avoided by prudent and careful measures. PaceM. Guyot, then, these diatheses or predispositions, wheth- er created by hereditary defects or acquired,have much to do with the individual impressed by them. It is obvious that persons who present the character in well-marked form of the two diatheses to which I have referred are to be consid- ered delicate and void of a normal or robust constitution.
I have referred to the blending of these habits of body as the outcome of heredity and tendencies passed on by each parent Thus we may meet with strumous arthritic or a blend of arthritic and scrofulous constitutions. Syphilitic tamt may modify one or other of these, the result in the scrofulous case being very severe. Such blendings may be in variable degree according to the greater predisposition of either parent, the male characteristics more commonly re- appearing in the female progeny and the female ones in the males.
The old physicians described a nervous diathesis. We hear nothing of this term now, but we surely recognize the subjects of an over sensitive and delicate nervous system, with a tendency to instability, to the several neuroses and mental abberration. Such qualities as these may be blended in subjects already arthritically impressed, scrofulous or
328 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
bilious by inheritance, producing strange and modifying- complications whose source is hard to seek if the ancestral taints are not iooked for and duly appreciated. In this fashion, if there be exposure to certain infections, chorea or cerebral rheumatism, we may explain the occurence of toxic insanity and an impressionable and unstable brain showing little resistance to such influences.
The bilious habit of body is sufficiently well recognized. It is commonly met with in the Celtic race and in Southern Europeans. The term **bilious" is suggestive of hepatic over activity, but the main incapacity of such subjects lies in the digestive system and in many instances is due rather to hepatic inadequacy. We often meet, as may be expected, with blends of this constitution with others, as in the case of neuro-bilious or bilious arthritic subjects. One striking peculiarity of this tendency is the toleration for, and bene- ficial influence of mercury in many of the ailments suffered by persons of bilious habit. No other drug can replace mercury in such cases. This is in marked contrast to its effects on persons of the scrofulous constitution who bear it badly.
By the light of modern clinical research into the subject of vaccine therapy, so fruitful in the hands of Wright, Doug- las, Opie, and others, especially in the Pasteur Institute, we may gain fresh knowledge respecting the respective inher- ent properties of the tissues in different individuals, and hope in time to learn whether theY*e be varying or definite powers of resistance to intruding infective agents. It^ould be of profound interest to ascertain whether, as a rule, there be greater or less protective power in the leucocytes with their digestive ferments, or more or less anti-bacterial sub- stance in the blood of the subjects of the different diatheses. We may fairly conceive that variations of this nature* exist, and the clinical laboratory can be the only source of such knowledge. Research of this kind, adequately carried out, would hardly fail to throw light on the now discredited doc- trine respecting different habits of body. On my part I am bold enough to predict that the results of such an investiga-
ADDRESS ON DIATHESIS. 329
tion will tend to supi)ort the belief in the specific peculiari- ties and proclivities of each of them, and I may add that I cannot conceive of any better method of increasing our knowledge of this subject.
I am well awate that I have been venturesome in stating my belief to-day on this doctrine of the diatheses. I feel sure that they will arouse some incredulity and perhaps be re- regarded as a futile effort to fan into flame once more the dying embers of a fire that burnt brightly a century ago; that they are no longer consistent with the enlightened teaching of today which is nothing if not new^, and which would at once command the assent of our great predecessors were they to revisit us here and now. That is not my point of view. I think we have to fit the new on to the old in this case and to beware of mere novelties, for we know well that what is new is not always true. I am ready to allow that today we have to discard much of the teaching of the older physicians, but we have to save and cherish the truth which they brought to light and to hand it down to our successors. I am still young enough to learn but not too old to forget. A long clinical experience bids me to tell of the practical value of the doctrines I have just discussed. I think it is necessary and incumbent for the modern physician to revert to the older teaching respecting the particular constitutions and proclivities of hib patients. I am aware, for example, that some authorities have been led to discard the doctrine regarding the arthritic diathesis because they could not ac- cept to the full the later teaching implied in the comprehen- sive terms **arthriticism" or "herpeticism," which have gone far beyond the original definition; but I maintain that there need be no hesitation in recognizing the type signified, and the various textural and organic defects which are met with in the outcome of this particular constitution.
Lastly I would urge that in all our schools of medicine we should strive to secure more light on the processes and results of disease from labors conducted in clinical labora- tories such as are so well supplied and ably utilized in this great school. It is invidious to mention names in this con-
330 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
nection, but my memory of past visits here recall to me work done under the direction of Charcot, Lancereaux, Bouchard, Marie, Chauffard, Landouzy, Widal, Babinski, and many others yielding brilliant results.
Again one point more. We are, I much, fear, suffering in these days from a widely spread spirit of incredulity, timidity, and hopelessness in the whole realm of therapeu- tics. We spend much time in cultivating elaborate diagno- sis, and this is quite right, but we grievously neglect our main business as healers and mitigators of disease. Our knowledge of the materia medica has declined out of all pro- portion to that gained by the progress of bacteriology which claims to supersede the older therapeutical art. It will never supersede it, for there are, as Sir William Jenner said, but two great questions to be answered at the bedside ot a sick man — what is the matter with him? and what will do him good? Are we not too apt today to forget tiie second question, to experiment with synthetical novelties, and to neglect the old long-approved remedies? In short, are we not, as physicians, slowly drifting into the position of ab- stract scientists and gradually losing our proper relation to the sick as skilful medical artists? What would that great- est of clinitians, your glorious Trousseau, say to us were he amongst us today? I ask you messieurs mes confreres, in leaving this tribute, to allow me to salute, in the name ol my country, the memory of that great man.
HEALTH SES0BT8 IN WEST INDIES.
Since the pacification of Cuba and its increasing advwi- tages as a winter health resort have become better known, other islands feel the need of letting their climates as winter resorts become known. The following resolutions adopted at a large public meeting at which the governor presided, are seif-explanatory. We clip from the Barhadoes Advocate, of March 24:
L Besolved^ That whereas it is admitted^that Barbadoes posaeeaeg a Tery equable and salubrious climate which causes it to be much sought after as a health and winter resort, it is to the best interest of the island
THE MIDDLETOWN INSANE HOSPITAL. 381
that its natural advantages should be made more widely known and the island made more attractive to visitors.
2. /Resolved, That the Govemor-in-ExecutiveCommittee and the le- g^islature of the island be urged to take such steps as will give effect to the following proposals:
(1) To advertise Barbadoes as a health and winter resort in the newspapers and magazines of Europe, U. S. America, Canada and South America.
(2) To establish a local information bureau for the guidance of visitors.
(3) To establish rest-houses at picturesque parts of the island.
(4) To bring the Police Band up to full strength and to render it more available for playing in public.
( 5) To guarantee interest at 3 per cent, per annum on the capital to be raised, not exceeding .£15,000, and 1 per cent, for a sinking fund; for
(a) Building a theatre on some suitable site to seat 1,000 persons.
< b) Erecting bathing pavilions at favorite watering places.
(c) Providing a club room at the garrison for the use of visitors to the island.
(d} And for such other purpose or purposes as in the opinion of the company to be formed may further advance the interests of the island as a health resort, provided the GrOvernor-in-Executive Com- mittee approves of such purpose or purposes.
3. Eesolved, That copies of these resolutions be forwarded to His Excellency the Governor-in- Executive Committee, the House of Assem- bly, and the Honorable the Legislative Council.
THE MIDDLETOWN INSANE HOSPITAL.
We take the following from the 37th annual report of this excellent homeopathic institution^ which under Dr. Morris C. Ashley, as superintendent, is ably following in the footsteps of the lamented Talcott. "We commend his sterling Homeopathy to others in medical charge of similar hospitals. * 'Hypnotic and narcotic medicines are never pre- scribed as such, nor is any remedy used for its physiological effects." See the results, the largest per cent, of recoveries of any insane hospital in America:
"We have continued to follow the laws and principles of Homeopathy in the selection of medicines for our patients. Before a prescription is made, the patient is carefully ex- amined and the remedy selected according to the totality of
332 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
the symptoms presented. Hypnotic and narcotic medicines are never prescribed as such, nor is any remedy used for its physiological effect.
**In fact we are governed in the selection and admin- istration of drugs by Hahnemann's law of similars. The hos- pital was established by law as a homeopathic institution, and no other system or practice of medicine has ever been made use of, officially or otherwise, by the medical staff; nor can we legally do so under existing laws. Nor is there any desire to do so, for surely a comparison of results of the treatment at this hospital with similar institutions, will fur- nish ample evidence of the success of homeopathic treat- ment of the insane. I am pleased to acknowledge that the State Commission in Lunacy has been entirely fair and very liberal in granting all our requests for pharmaceutical prep- arations.
"This general statement is made here to place on record an official denial of statements to the contrary, which have been freely made among the homeopathic physicians of this state."
STOVAO AS A LOCAL ANESTHETIC.
By Alexander Vertes, M. D., Ph. D.
Ex-interne Royal University Clinic, Budapest.
In 1904, at a meeting of Academle des Sciences, Paris, Fourreau, a pharmacist from Pari3, announced that it had been his good fortune to discover a new synthetic, local an- esthetic, the "Stovain," ( a. b. Amylenchlorhydrate) which is less poisonous than cocain (3:1) and produces an almost immediate anesthetic effect.
Soon after this meeting French medical journals pub- lished a number of cases where S to vain has been used with success.
In October, 1904, Chaput, at the meeting of the Societ^ de Chirurgie, gave a lecture upon the use of Stovain by lumbar injection into the spinal cord to produce anesthesia. He very enthusiastically spoke of Stovain as a safe anes- thetic. That none of the alarming symptoms of cocain,.
WHY I AM A HOMEOPATH. 333
nausia, vertigo, headache, vomiting and collapse came under his observation.
Reclus at the same meeting stated that he used on one person 40 cm^ of Stovain in a one-half per cent solution without any unpleasant symptoms to occur. Therefore he too finds Stovain as a local anesthesia superior to cocain. After Sauvaz has used it extensively in dentistry, Laper- sonne in ophthalmic practice, Czerny, Bier, Hildebrand, Silbermark, etc., has voiced its praise.
I have used Stovain since 1905 in from one-half to one per cent, solution, either alone or with adrenalin. In exter- nal hemorrhoids after the injection, the tumor becomes white and edematous; for their removal Stovain seems to me an ideal local anesthetic, because you can operate safely three minutes after the injection. In circiimcision, in phleg- manous inflammation of the fingers or toes and in a number of minor surgical cases I have used from 5 to 25 centigrams in adults, and from 1 to 3 centigrams in children, without any complication.
WHY I AM A HOMEOPATH.
By John Merlin Alford, Chicago.
It has not been my purpose to advance any facts which are not well and fully comprehended by all who live up to the high standards of true homeopathic practice; but to dis- cuss those homeopathic principles which we who believe in them must so often defend. Surely we have an array of facts and arguments which would soon drive our assailants from the field did we but use them aright; and it is our own fault if we allow Homeopathy always to be placed on the defensive.
Why should not the homeopath, who belongs to the only scientific system of medicine extant, be proud of his school and strong in his beliefs? His is the only therapeutic meth- od that is based on a Law of Cure, and a law that is as im- mutable and universal as it is everlasting. This law, com- posed of only three words, Similia Similibus Curantur, in- volving the first step toward a scientific medicine, isSthe law
334 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
of cure, promulgated to stand the test of time. The law may be explamed as follows:
All curable states of disease are cured by medicinal sub- stances which are capable of producing a similar disease picture in a healthy individual.
To this law we must add a corollary, which is similarly compressed into three words, viz. : . Simile Simplex Mini- mum, which means simply that the similar remedy is a sin- gle remedy and must be exhibited in the minimum dose. This law and its corollary constitute the only working prin- ciples of Homeopathy. I wish to consider four phases which are the most often involved in discussions with adherents of other schools.
First. The sphere of action of Homeopathy.
Second. The true nature of disease.
Third. The law of similars.
Fourth. The minimum dose.
As to the first topic little need be said ; for the sphere of action of Homeopathy is sharply defined and Homeopathy certainly does not claim to do impossible things. It does not encroach upon the legitimate fields of the surgeon or of the osteopath, nor does it fail to recognize that there are in- curable diseases. Homeopathy, however, does claim to be supreme and is demonstrably so, in the field of medicine, per se, that is, in the treatment of medicinally curable dis- ease, in that preparation of the patient which will farther the success of the surgical operation and in the palliation of those diseases known to be incurable.
Second. In recognizing the true nature of disease, Homeopathy stands aloof from all other systems of medicine. It remained for homeopaths to demonstrate the dynamic origin and nature of disease, to show that disease is not a tangible something that can be seen or felt, even though we have to assist us in our quest all the vast resources of mod- ern science. It seems almost unbelievable that physicians from the time of the Father of Medicine to the present day, should have so confounded cause and effect as to consider the pathological grouping as the disease itself, and to be-
WHY I AM A HOMEOPATH 335
lieve that a removal of the pathology constituted a removal of the disease. This belief has persisted for hundreds of years though all medical experience, if rightly interpreted, indicates the falsity of it. It does not take as long in other fields of endeavor to discover that the cause and effect may be separated by many years' interval and yet the connection can be clearly established, and furthermore the self-evident principle that effect can only be completely and permanent- ly removed through a removal of the operating cause. But, understanding conditions as they exist in modem medicine, it is not to be wondered at that physicians of other schools who have practiced many years according to a theory which holds that disease is a something which can be cut out of a sick patient by the knife or knocked out of him by massive doses of drugs, should finally repudiate all belief in the effic- acy of drugs.
It is no cause for wonder that medicine is still in the ex- perimental stage and is still unscientific when we consider that the investigations are all directed toward the discovery of a ''Specific" which will '*Cure" the eczematous eruption, the phthisical lung or the malarialized blood. All of these are effects following some cause which is far too deep in the constitution to be discovered by the microscope or the test tube.
Disease is just as dynamic in nature as life itself; and the dynamic derangement of the constitution always pre- cedes and is, at least, the predisposing cause of the patho- logical groupings which we call disease. It is, of course, true that the resulting pathology will vary in accordance with the exciting cause whether this be a pathogenic bacte- rial invasion or what not; but the dynamic derangement must precede in order to give the excitants a foothold. Hence how illogical and unscientific it is to try to cure eczema by removing the eruption by ointments, etc., when the erup- tion is but one of the manifestations of effects of the disease which continues to operate within; to cure catarrh by astrin- gent sprays and washes, to remove fever by ice-packs and hearii depressants. It is bad enough to use such tkerapeu-
336 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
tic measures from a false view of the nature of disease; but how much more are these methods to be condemned when reflection will show that such bodily conditions are the re- sult of nature's protective efforts. In interfering with them the physician is not only doing nothing to remove the dis- ease, but he is meddling with nature, counferdrting her efforts which are undeniably and always for the best interest of the individual.
Third. Th(> philosophy of the Law of Cure may be briefly expressed as follows: Two similar diseases cannot exist in the same individual at the same time any more than two objects can exist in the same place at the same time. Hence, a single remedy, found by experiment on healthy individuals to have the power of exciting symptoms similar to those in the sick individual, is given in a strength slight- ly exceeding that of the disease, thus displacing it.
The* above law constitutes the only Law of Cure now extant. It follows, therefore, that every other system of medicine is in a state of constant change. The result is that today the best informed phy.siclans of other schools denounce drugs and drug giving, and consider him to be the wisest physician who hns least faith in medicine.
A brief resume, however, of some of the methods of treatment now universally in use by the physicians of the other st'liools will upon analysis show that everj' one is in direct contradiction to the laws of nature. No intelligent person will knowingly try to ol)struct nature's laws, yet how many physicians are there in the world today who do not use one or all of the following methodsy
(a) The application of astringents, oiniment, setc, to stop a discharge or to heal an eruption which is in every case a conservative* process on the part of nature to get rid of a toxic material resulting from the operating and internal cause, the disease itself. Such a method does not touch the disease, i. e., the cause; and simply forces thwarted nature to select some other i)ortal for attack in order to conserve the body whole. Is it reasonable to suppose that her second choice is the better?
WHY I AM A HOMEOPATH. 337
(b) The use of tonics is an effort on the part of the physician to force the body to assimilate as food a non- biochemic product.
For example: Iron in some one of its many forms has been used as a "tonic" for years; whereas experiments with- out number demonstrate that iron is not assimilable in any form unless it has been previously metabolized by a plant, and even in this form but a small fraction of what is ordi- narily given in one dose can be appropriated by the system.
(c) The use of any substance or mixture of substances empirically as a cure for disease: Physician B. trying the prescription because Physician A. believes it beneficial in a certain disease. In other words, prescribing for the pathol- ogy (effect) instead of for the individual disease (dynamic cause). Such prescribing is uncertain in its effects, as the same disease occurring in two individuals cannot possibly have exactly the same pathology or symptom-grouping.
(d) The use of anti -toxins, vaccine, and various anti- bodies, when the nature of the medicinal substance thus ap- plied is unknown. The results are, at least, somewhat un- certain, though I freely concede that their use has ffpparent- ly reduced the death rate in those diseases where applicable, and the dangers both froip complications liable to follow immediately and from those that develop afterward, consid- derably.
This does not by any means exhaust the list of thera- peutic absurdities, but is a fair sample of the therapeutics that the homeopath must accept in exchange for his Law of Cure if he ever gives it up. It is not a fair exchange.
Fourth. The homeopath believes in the minimum dose for three reasons; and I may well say for four, making ex- perience with its use the fourth, for certainly a fair trial of the minimum homeopathic dose would indicate reason enough for its continued use. The other three are as fol lows:
(a) It is only through the minimum dose that the dyn- amic nature of the drug is developed and its greatest activi- ty and power utiUzed. Recent experiments in the laborato-
838 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
ry bear out this statement. It is self-evident that we must use a dynamic drug to correct a dynamic disease.
(b) It adds no drug for the body to expel together with the original disease, if the patient is to be cured, since the force of the drug is expended in its replacement of the dyn- amic or original disease.
(c) It is not conducive to the formation of a drug habit nor does it produce a pathological condition which is a drug disease pure and simple.
Little need be said further in support of the minimum dose, especially to those who have seen the results of poly- pharmacy and of crude drugging.
There are other vital topics which might have been dis- cussed in regard to homeopathic practice, but they are points which in the course of time have been accepted by other medical men and appropriated by them as legitimate si)oils, incorporated into their own practice. For example: The question of the single remedy has always been an integral part of the homeopathic law, ever since its inception by Hahnemann, previous to which time, almost without excep- tion, polypharmacy had been the rule. Ever since the ad- vocacy of the single remedy by homeopaths, however, it has become more and more prevalent in all schools of practice; though never has the credit for such a progressive step in therapeutics been given, as it rightfully belongs, to the homeopaths. This is not the only instance of quiet appro- priation of Hahnemannian methods by our friends, the ene- my, nor will it stop here. Unless the homeopaths bestir themselves, they will wake up some day to find Homeopathy in the hands of the enemy, who will make the heavens and the earth to resound with the wondrous merits of their great discovery,
A Model Cure: — An infant 9 months old has been affect- ed since birth, at longer or shorter intervals, with a form of laryngitis. The spasms have now become quite frequent, several times in the day or night; it wakes from sleep with suffocation; is able to inspire but not to expire; becomes livid in the face, gasps in great anguish and very slowly recovers its breath. Sambucus 200. Never had a subsequent attack.
Conrad Wesselhoept.
HAHNEMANN'S DEFENSE OF VACCINATION. 339
Comment anb Criticism.
HAHNEMANN'S DEFENSE OF TACCINATION.
Editor Advance:
In the April Advance Dr. McNeil answered some of my questions; others he overlooked.
Where he says, "Hahnemann defended vaccination," how is the word '*def ended" to be interpreted? Does he mean to say that he sanctioned it's prophylactic use? Is it to be understood that if he defended it he did so in such a way as would necessarily mean his abandoning ground taken if he did not countenance the routine practice of it today?
We know that crude vaccination in a way illustrates the homeopathic law of cure.
In administering the similar remedy, has experience ever proved the afficacy of the minimum dose? It has been shown that vaccination is the similar remedy. Is it the mhiunum dose? Did Hahnemann use it as exemplifying the minimum dose?
He says, "Hahnemann did not discover any inconsisten- cy between vaccination and the minimum dose," Did he de- monstrate its non-existence?
He asks, *'Is it necessary for me to defend Hahnemann in the Advance?" Do my questions oblige a defense of hun, or do they merely invite answers? Could I justly be taken to task if I considered his question irrelevant?
My next question has been misstated. It was not, "Is the Jennerian form of vaccinatian in advance of the internal method of homeopathic prophylaxis?" but, "Has it ever been conclusively proven so to be?"
His answer is "Yes."
To which form of the question does this apply? If it is the answer to my original question than an unconditional surrender on my part is called for. On the other hand, if it only answers the question as misstated then it is mani- festly out of order.
In speaking of vaccination he says, "When I vaccinate
340 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
by scarification I am able to tell by the size, shape, etc., of the vesicle whether the operation is successful or not/' Then he asks, ''Can you?''
He means I suppose — I appologize if this suggests that his question is ambiguous — can I do similarly when using the, internal method of homeopathic prophylaxis?
If I now understand him correctly, his question is well taken. Moreover it is a fair one.
When he vaccinates by scarification, and when the ope- ration has been successful (?) as evidenced by a xiertain rec- ognized group of symptoms manifesting themselves in the patient, what has he succeeded in creating? Will he take issue with me if I call it a proving, partial or otherwise, of the virus introduced?
Judging from what he says, he seems assured of the patient's protection only when the operation has been sue- c(»ssf ul, and he determines the success of the operation by the symptoms produced.
Will he not allow others to do the same thing with the internal method of homeopathic prophylaxis? Will he not allow them to be assured of the protection of their patients in precisely the same way? Will he not allow them to de- termine the success of their operation in exactly the same way as he determines the success of his?
What is the difference? Is it any more than one of de- gi^ee as regards the severity of the symptoms produced? If you grant this, then I shall be able to answer his question in the aftirmative. He surely would not make the protection commensurate with the severity of the symptoms? This would be rather dangerous, would it not? Some fanatic might procetnl to nearly kill the patient in order, as he might think, to ensure the maximum protection. Should not the ideal in'ophylactic, as the ideal cure, be the "short- est, most reliable, and the most harmless; and according to easily comprehensible principlesy"
In the case of vaccination by scarification, he speaks of being able definitely to determine the length of time the protection lasts. His statement supposes vaccination to
HAflNEMANN'S DEFENSE OF VACCINATJOX* HI
proto-'t, Ju(i|^ing from the controversy forever going oni
ojif TTDUk] conclude that this queBtiou is still sub judice. Tt iit»»^tiis to mt* therefore that to bring forward the foregoing point in favor of vaccination by scarification is precipitate.
j In like manner, to point out as detracting from the ralne of the internal method of homeopathic prophylaxii* that no evidence has been adduced to prove its lasting qual*
I ity is, to my mind, premature. What he says in answer to
Imj question relative to vaccination jeopardizing tho patient'^ subsequent health admits of the possibility of its so tloini?* He Adds, however, that this daninfeu is easily averted by the homeopathic physician* How many out of the miiUons vac- I ^inattd yearly are ever subsequently treated by a horneO' patbic physician? It is fortunate indeed thr.t he U, a^s you say, able to avert these dangers. But why create dangers for him to avijit,
Di making choice ot the homeopathic prophylactic t^*m-
Hj, "p^^^'t' experience*' must direct* If experience has
tHugbt HO(n<^ when to re^vinjcinate, it surely is not extniva-
giint ti3 suggest Uiat fi*om exiJerience others may linU the
hcrineopathie jirophylaxis. TTniformit>* a^ regards th<^ fhoice
of til e i-em ed y m ay re a so n a b 1 y I > e 1 oo k e* 1 f o t\ T 1 1 i s wi \[ re *
milt from tliB IhidmgB of caref u I and jraiastaking njen who
' linvy learned from experience, Tliere will be no need to
dioo^ huhscrimmately. Nu one, unless lie he untutoiTMl,
' Will ever look qi>oe a numbt'i- of remedies :\s iqnntly siflicu*
I <?ioQs In tliis case. Kemedies are allied !i)jwH><^r: thiMi*
^u rce in so aie cases is al mos t ide ntica 1 ; 1 h " 'y b< * I onu to 1 1 1*-
\ amw class or natural order. Henci* similarity of artion unit
4ion'**spondlngly similar sphere."*; of usfTtibiess mny be iil-
lowed IheiiK This does not subvert the tt^tu'liiiig ii^^siiding
(teTTDgat't^. When the one iH^inedi" is found if it k not
'foiaud already — others, which hitherto may ha\ih;itl rlidui^n,
Will Im.» relegated to a subordiuute place,
J.UtKS AnN*oiJi Hnr t''i\
342 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
THE SOLE GAUGE OF FIDELITY TO HAHNEMANN'S
TEACHING,
By J. C. Hallo WAY, M. D., Galesburg, III.
Editor Advance:— In the Medical Advance of April, under the caption of * 'Suggestions in Homeopathic Philo- sophy," by W. A. Yingling, M. D., we have this statement: **The sole gauge of fidelity to Hahnemann's teaching is the law of cure and the single remedy." The body of Dr. Yingling's article is exceptionally good. As a writer in homeopathic literature I have long since learned to love him and appreciate the many good things he has written. I regard him as a friend and homeopath of worth. But re- specting his statement quoted I shall have to differ from him. I trust that what I shall say will be received in the same spirit in which it is written.
I am a firm believer in Hahnemann's teaching respecting Homeopathy. I am a firm and practical believer in the law of similars and the single remedy. But I think I can show conclusively that the latter do not constitute the **sole gauge of fidelity" to all Hahnemann has taught respecting Home- opathy. In said article the author admits he has **experi- mented with all degrees from the mother tincture up to the four-millionth potency." But Dr. Yingling is not alone in suggesting that one can be a true Hahnemannian homeopath though he prescribes the mother tincture, just so he employs the law of similars and uses but one single remedy at one time. Now I ask, is that true? My answer is. No! for the following reasons:
(1) Hahnemann himself said, when speaking of the treatment of patients affl-icted with mental and emotional diseases: **In the homeopathic system the small doses of the appropriate medicine never offend the taste, and may consequently be given to the patient without his knowledge in his drink, so that all compulsion is unnecessary." Or- ganon § 228. Now, mark you, he does not say that merely a s an accommodative measure in treating this class of pa- tients, but **m the homeopathic system the small doses of the
THE SOLE GAUGE OF FIDELITY. 348
iippropriate medicine never offend the taste." So it follows undeniably that if I prescribe the mother tincture of Nux vomica or Colocynth, though such tincture is without ques- tion the "appropriate medicine," I am not practicing the homeopathic system.
(2) If there is any one doctrine which Hahnemann em- phasized more than another, it is the dynamic remedy. He argued that disease causes are not found in material matter, but in morbific forces which are dynamic in their nature; that the deranged vital force is itself a dynamis, and hence the appropriate medicine, in its inner nature, contains a hid- den spirit-like power (dynamis), which,by potentization is un- folded and developed. The mother tincture may be a simi- lar when its pathogenesis is compared with the totality of the patient's symptoms, but not a similar when its crudity is compared with the spirit-like vital force which is de- ranged. The human organism, even when healthy, cannot so completely uncover that hidden power in a drug as to fully bring out and display its curative principle. Much less can the sick organism appropriate all the curative power hidden in a drug if administered in its crude form. And what is the *'sole gauge" in this question? Why, if the nasty stuff * 'offends the taste," it does not belong to the homeopathic system; and secondly, the dynamis of a drug must be un- folded and developed until it corresponds to the dynamis which animates the human organism of the patient to be cured.
(3) If the medicine chosen is appropriate and the dose crude, the homeopathic aggravation is too great. In fact Hahnemann says, **we can understand why a dose of an ap- propriate homeopathic medicine, not the very smallest possi- ble, does always, during the first hour after its ingestion, produce a perceptible homeopathic aggravation of this kind." This, of course, applies to acute diseases. But whether acute or chronic, one purpose he had in making the dose the * 'smallest possible" was to reduce this aggravation to the minimum. He says: **Had he not given the bark (bark of the elm) in the monstrous doses usual in the alio-
344 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
pathic school, but in the quite small doses requisite when the medicine shows similarity of symptoms, that is to say, when it is used homeopathically, he would have effected a cure without, or almost without, seeing this apparent in- crease of the disease (homeopathic aggravation)." Notice: ' 'The 'quite small doses re^i^/i?ife when the medicine shows similarity of symptoms." Again he says: '*In homeopathic cures they show us that from the uncommonly small doses of medicine required in this method of treatment, which are just sufficient by the similarity of their symptoms, to over- power and remove the similar natural disease," etc. Here I call attention to the emphatic statement: '*The uncommon- ly small doses required in this method of treatment," So it is not true that the size of the dose is left out of the ques- tion when considering fidelity to Hahnemann's teaching. The true guage is: (1) The law of similars. (2) The sin- gle remedy. (3) The minimum dose. And the minimum dose is never the mother tincture. It may be in certain cases, a low potency, but never the tincture.
No sir, not for a homeopath. For a so-called ''regular" a drop of tincture might be the minimum; but for the follow- er of Hahnemann that drop must be of a dilution ^ and then only a fractional jjart of that. If only the second dilution and it "offends the taste," it won't pass muster according to Hahnemann's teaching. In chronic diseases the minimum dose is the dynamic dose, always; for while Nature may sift out of the material medicine enough of the spirit- like power to cure some acute diseases, she never has done so where there is a chronic miasm at the bottom of the malady. Crude med- icines and low potencies can only effect a cure in superficial complaints, while the dynamized drug, if appropriate, will cure both acute and chronic if the dynamization is high enough, or strong enough.
The dynamis of the drug must correspond to the dyn- amis of the patient. Hahnemann said: "It is only by their dynamic action on the vital force that remedies are able to re-establish and do actually re-establish health and vital harmony." Now the doctor who does not comprehend this,
THE SOLE GAUGE OF FIDELITY. 315
r
I or ^ho has not learned to appreciate this great fundamental
truth in Homeopathy, looks with a materialistic vision on every dose he presei-ibes. He wants it to show its "color;'* to taste twHtif^or at lea^st to "taste/* He has in mind some* thing material which he looks upon as disease, and which he has named: and he wants a material remedy' with which to combat it. He believ^es, we will gi^ant, that the remedy selected should be used alone and that its pathogenesis must coiTeispond to the totality of the patient's symptoms. But so long as he prefers the tincturej thus betraying his jDat4?rialistic conceptions, he never can be a true Hall neman- nian homeopath. He is omitting the ktrnal, the very (phI of the system, in that he fails to c-omprehend that disease causes are not material; that the vital force is not material, and that the drug power which cures is not material. Dyn- aialzation of the di'ug is not a mere matter of personal ex- perience, though a great deal of such exjierience is usually necessary to so broaden one's mind that lie will accept and practice the doctrine as evolved from Hahnamann's expe-
^ The master made all necessary experiments for us, and announced his conclusions an </ imrt of hh fifft^fnu. Witli the right kind of a preceptor and tlae right kind of a college fiu*tilty and the right kind of a library, the pupil will acce^rt the doctrine of dynami;sation as implicitly as he does tlie provings which Hahnemctnn made, and find no more neccEj' sity for personal experiment in the one than the othor. He accepts each as a part of Homeopathy and with theui [^mc- tices successfully. True, Hahnemann recomiuendt^d that the physician should prove drugs ou hiiusclf, imt tliis only that he might have a more accurate understanding as to the sensations which they produce and which tliey are capable of removing.
Dynami^ation of the appropriate remedy is an integral pan of pure Homeopathy as taught by Hahnemann, ami without this the system would be left deticiont and incuju- plete. Without it the f/?^''^//T-homeopath could not use some of the greatest medicines known to tlic profession at
346
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
all; for in the crude they are positively inert, such as i tin, clay, etc. And the man who cannot use these g extinguishers of disease successfully is not practicing E eopathy. It has long been the custom for homeopaths ought to know better, and who do know better, to co the "mongrel sect" and make them believe they are pi good homeopaths after all, notwithstanding they hav< faith whatever in Hahnemann's teaching respecting "spirit-like power,'* which is hidden in the inner natui drugs and which is unfolded and developed by dilution poteutization. Such are not homeopaths as Hahnen taught and practiced Homeopathy.
For the sake of humanity and future Homeopathy, in gratitude to the founder of the only true system of < in the universe, it is high time the line should be drj and it is being drawn, and in the near future the gen public will clearly understand that no materialist is a homeopath, neither indeed can be.
That the dynamization of all drugs renders them n more penetrating in their action, is the teaching of Ha mann, and this doctrine has been confirmed by all his followers. Dr. Yingling knows this, believes it and praci with some of the highest potencies; but I contend that the trine of dynamization is as positively taught by Hahnen as the law of similars or the single remedy. Hence should not build up that class of practitioners who use m er tinctures in the belief that they are practicing pure 1 nemannian Homeopathy, for they are not.
Now we reach the climax when we hear the master clare to what extent the dose must be diminished: * diminution of the dose essential for homeopathic use also be promoted by diminishing its volume, so that if stead of a drop of a medicinal dilution, we take but qu: small part of such a drop for a dose, the object of di ishing the effect still further will be very effectually tained." Now observe, he is talkinc: of a drop of a dilu and "quite a small part of such a drop," in ord€ reach the dose "essential for homeopathic use." If i
THE SOLE GAUGE OF FIDELITY. 347
dilution of the dose is * 'essential/' that puts an end to all debate so far as crude medicines are concerned In conclusion let me say that the law, Similia Similibus Cu- rantur, which is the very essence of Homeopathy, makes it binding upon the prescriber that the medicine chosen as the appropriate one shall be similar in two particulars:
(1) That its pathogenesis shall be similar to the totali- ty of symptoms present in the patient to be cured; and (2) that the dynamization of said drug shall be similar to the vital force of the patient. The latter has not been well un- derstood by many. Hahnemann himself did not understand it at first, but later reached the conclusion that all medicines should be used in the 30th potency; but finally he learned enough to say, '* Scarcely any dose of the homeopathically selected remedy can be so small as not to be stronger than the natural disease and not capable of overcoming it." And still later he fixed the infinitisimal limit at this: '*The smallest possible dose of homeopathic medicine, capable of producing only the very slightest homeopathic aggravation." And this is the fixed rule which he left us in the last edition of the Organon. He also said (and this should be especially noted by all who think pure Homeopathy can be practiced by using tinctures), ''The action of a dose moreover does not diminish in the direct ratio of the quantity of material medicine contained in the dilutions used in homeopathic practice." The dynamization theory formed an impassable gulf between Homeopathy and Allopathy as systems of medicine. The dominent school then had the civil right, as they now have, to prescribe drugs in their crude form; and those who have ostensibly embraced Homeopathy also have the civil right to prescribe mother tinctures, thus getting as far away from Hahnemann's "spirit-like power'' of a medi- cine as is possible, but in doing so they should not make a pretense of practicing Hannemannian Homeopathy, nor have the affrontery to call themselves "Homeopathists."
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lEbttortaU
COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
Several articles by well known physicians a-s well a number of editorials against compulsory vaccination hi appeared in the Medical Advance. A society of a: vaccinationists was formed a short time ago in Chica which numbered among its members many who believec vaccination, but not in compulsory vaccination. In spite the blustering, self -commending Health Commissioner, matter was taken up and put through the courts, up to supreme court, and by the decision of that court, from wh there is no appeal, the matter has been settled for all ti as we hope, in Illinois. Under that decision no individi whether child or adult, within the confines of the state Illinois, can be compelled to be vaccinated. Nor can i
■^^^sr
EDITORIAL. 349
child be kept out of the public schools on account of not be- ing vaccinated. Says the Record-Herald:
That pupils in Chicago schools cannot be compelled to submit to irsccination seems settled. The Supreme Court's decision, handed down Thursday, in which it is held that the city ordinance which makes yac- cination compulsory is illegal is accepted in Chicago as the last word. The rule passed by the board of educatfon, based upon this ordinance, therefore is not in force and no child can be compelled to undergo vac- cioatioD.
The decision was a reversal of that of the lower court in the case of the parents of Louise Jenkins, which was tried before Circuit Judge Mack some months ago. Judge Mack ruled that the pupil might be excluded from the school and the appeal was taken from his decision. The Supreme Court held that any regulation making it obligatory upon all pupils to be vaccinated was illegal and that no city had autbority to pass such an ordinance.
President Schneider of the board of education said that, while he was personally favorable to the cause of compulsory vaccination, he was aware that several members of the board were opposed to it. He took the view that the decision meant that no rule could be made to enforce vaccination.
Attorney Hamlin said that it always had been his opinion that a city ordinance, or a school board rule, which provided for compulsory vac- cination, except in cases of emergency, was ill<^^al. He cited a decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Potts against Breen, in 1897, in which it was held that children could be debarred from school privileges unless vaccinated, but only in cases where it was shown that there was an epidemic of the disease, or chat there was reason to believe that the community was in danger or the pupil had been exposed.
The Tribune regrets the disaster that has befallen the vaccinationists, and thinks that the * 'power of the state leg- islature to pass a law making vaccination a condition pre- cedent to attendance upon the public schools should be tested as soon as possible."
The Tribune is dull. That very thing which it wants, which it proposes, is the thing that has been settled. There is only one thing left under the law for the Health Boards and that is to declare the existence of an epidemic all over the world, and then proceed to vaccinate; under the circumstance of an existing epidemic of smallpox the law allows them the express privilege of vaccinating right and left. Better let it go at that and not risk another defeat.
J. B. S. K.
350
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
COW INJECTIONS OF TUBERCULIN.
The sudden activity of the Healtii Department (star by a city newspaper) in regard to milk has resulted many desirable improvements in the milk supply of Ch go. Dairies have been renovated, stores cleaned up i the sanitary surroundings of the cows improved. So good, but reformers are apt to go to extremes and so times display an unwise activity, that in the end defeats own purpose.
It is now proposed to test the condition of all cows injections of tuberculinum. We doubt not that many ir cent cows will be condemned by this test. In any cas( will work unnecessary hardships for milk dealers and da men. Some will be driven out of business, some will su loss, and the inevitable result will be a greater evil than ordinary risks of impure milk. The business will be dri into the hands of the few large concerns who have cap enough to meet the requirements, and the consumer, moi the poor and the very poor, will be compelled to make ui temporary losses by paying a fancy price for one of the cessaries of life.
The Health Department, with its uniformed doct and its appeals to the public, strikes one as somewhat 1 atrical and fearful lest its officers should not he duly ap] ciated. Some thought should be devoted to the follow query: Which is better, to deprive thousands of pe< from obtaining good, ordinary milk, by striving after an attainable ideal, or by moderate and reasonable regulati to improve the quality of milk without working hards) to any class of people. Even after the utmost efforts m babies will continue to be killed every year by the decon sition of this exceptionably fine milk caused by contact ^ foul rubber nipples, by lack of care in keeping the milk by lack of cleanliness in milk bottles and nursing bottles
In regard to the cow tuberculosis Koch, the high pi of the subject has said that it is incommunicable to human species, and yet the Health Departments are gc to out- Koch Koch in the matter.
J. B. S. K.
EDITORIAL. 351
A MI8SI0NAUT CAMPAIGN.
Our enthusiastic standard bearer, Royal S. Copeland, President of the American Institute of Homeopathy, at the last meeting presented the following resolutions, with a view to interest the profession in an active campaign in the propagandism of our principles; in other words, to induce the homeopathic profession, of America to realize its duties and its responsibilities and make an aggressive onslaught on the empiricism so rampant in every department of medicine.
1, Resolved, that a committee of seyen members be selected to eonsider the feasibilitj of establishing a Board for the Promulgation of the Homeopathio Doctrine and Institutions, and employing a field seo- tetary and such office force as may be necessary to carry out its functions,
2. Resolyed. that should this committe consider the matter favor- ftblj that at the next meeting of the Institute it report a detailed plan for carrying it into effect.
It seems almost incredible that the homeopath should ever need anyone to do this missionary work for him. The pioneers did the work for themselves and we are reaping the harvest they sowed. We are too busy with our individual daily work apparently to sow the seed for the future or have a care for the cause, hence it seems practical as a business proposition to employ a field Secretary. The Institute can do this and should begin this year. Special arrangements should be made with each State Society for complete and thorough organization and in this way increase the work in every state. Our colleges can accommodate two or three times the number of students they now have and there are 50 good locations waiting for every one they can fill. Verily the harvest is abundant but the reapers are few.
PROPRIETARY MIXTURES.
It is a fact that should have the widest publicity that more than half of the medicines prescribed by allopathic physicians are ready-made proprietary mixtures, the ingre- dients and quantities of which are unknown to the prescrib- er. The wholesale drug houses and manufacturing phar
1
352 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
maceutical firms were quick to see a profitable field for o erations by exploiting private preparations among those t longing to the profession.
The general public had been thoroughly worked 1 patent medicines; now it occurred to some commercial mi to work the profession in the same way; the doctors woi: be a better field than the general public, for a medici taker took his medicine and that was all, but if a physici could be enlisted on the side of a patent medicine (under more polite name) he would prescribe it for many othei He was as good for the business as at least a dozen laym(
Then came the era of the verbose, interviewing explc er, who visited physicians, left samples and endeavored entrap the often too easy doctor into prescribing the pi ticular article he represented. Numberless preparations no special merit, representing no special skill in prepa tion, mixtures such as would be compounded by any con druggist, were prescribed by the allopathic physician 1 lazy or too incompetent to think for himself.
The Ladies' Home Journal has taken this matter up, a declares as the result of its investigations that of fivetho and prescriptions examined 41 per cent, called for propria ry ready made mixtures. Of another five thousand of \ other year 47 per cent, was the proportion.
Homeopaths are not entirely guiltless in this respe and of all men they have the least excuse for using or in a way countenancing proprietory preparations,
J. B. S. K.
DIAGNOSIS vs. THERAPEUTICS.
By Sir Dyce Duckworth.
An address, on another page, by this able clinician a careful observer will be read and welcomed by our reade It is one of the clearest explanations of the problem diathesis, both in diagnosis and therapeutics, which has peared in current literature in many a day and will well pay not only a reading but a study by every Hahnemanni
The question of individuality, of caring for the patie
ECITORIAL. 353
not his disease, reads like a chapter from the Organon; while the therapeutic nihilism so sincerely deplored and so honestly proclaimed to the world, stamps its author as an earnest thinker and an honest man seeking only the welfare of the profession and humanity. His conclusions thus summed up, are not encouraging, nor inspiring to the therapeutist of his school, who appears to be a giant in the laboratory, but an infant at the bedside.
Again one point more. We are, I mncb fear, suffering in these days from a widely spread spirit of inoredulitj, timiditj and hopelessness in the whole realm of therapeutics. We spend much time in cultirating elaborate diagnosis, and this is quite right, but we greviously neglect our main business as healers and mitigators of disease. Our knowledge of the materia medioa has declined out of all proportion to that gained bj the progress of bacteriology which claims to supercede the older therapeutical art. It will never supercede it, for there are, as Sir William Jenner said, but two great questions to be answered at the bed- side of a sick man — what is the matter with him ? and what will do him good? Are we not too apt to-day to forget the second question, to ex- periment with synthetical noTelties, and to neglect the oldlong-approTed remedies? In short, are we not, as physicians, slowly drifting into the position of abstract scientists and gradually loosing our proper relation to the sick as skilful medical artists ?
"The first and only duty of the physician is to heal the sick," a truism that will go thundering down the corriders of time inspiring a confidence in the examplar of law un- known to his colleague of empirical therapeutics.
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my, is an achievement of itself worthy of commendation. Those yi
obtained their knowledge of anatomy from the text-books of Hold
Wilson, Gray, Leidy or Morris may think it almost impossible to s
pass some of these valuable works either in text or illustrations, qi
they examine this last aspirant. The work is written by seven of 1
ablest and best known anatomists in America, if not in the world.
The descriptive text, while concise and suflSciently comprehensi includes all that is necessai^y for a thorough understanding of the va ous parts of the human body and their relations, structure and develc ment. The relations of anatomical details, which claim the attention both the physician and surgeon, are emphasized and explained in ev( particular, while the illustrations, beautifully colored, are from acti dissections, drawn and prepared with fidelity.
Dr. Dwight's description of the skeleton and joints also inclu that of the gastro- pulmonary system, and the accessory organs of i gestion,
Br. Hamann contributed a description of the cerebro-spinal a sympathetic nervous system.
Dr. McMurrich supplied the systematic description of the muscvl blood and lymph-vascular system.
Br. White, well known as a professor of surgery, has given the J liitions of anatomy to the requirements of the practitioner, what is i nally known as regional or surgical anatomy. A brief description operative methods have been given, where, to complete the study of anatomical region or an impv)rtant organ, this seoms necessary.
The editor, Dr. Peirsol, has practically done the rest of the wor contributing many valuable chapters.
A new feature in a work of this kind is the Practical Consideratio iUustrating the dependence of the diagnostician and practitioner up anatomical knowledge. This is one of the most valuable portions the work, and while at first glance it does not seem to belong strictly a text- book of anatomy, there will be found an intimate relation betwe the descriptive portion of the work and the practical relation betwe them. In this way the student is enabled to do more than merely mei
NEW PUBLICATIONS. 355
«rize anatomy, which is often forgotten as soon at his degree is received and the actual work of his professional career begins.
The editor sajs in the preface, with regard to the synonyms recom* mended by the Basle nomenclature :
"Very earnest consideration of the question of nomenclature led to the conclusion that the retention^ for the most part, of the, terms in use hj English-speaking anotomists and surgeons would best contribute to the nsefulness of the book, While these names, therefore, have been retained as the primary terminology, those adopted by the Basle Con- freis have been included, the BNA. synonyms appearing in the special type reserred for that purpose. The constant aim of the editor has been to use the simplest anatomical terminology and preference has al * ▼AjB been given to the anglicized names, rather than to the more formal designations. Although in many cases the modifications suggested by the new terminology have been followed with advantage, consistent use of the Basle nomenclature seems less in accord with the conceded di- rectness of English scientific literature than the enthusiastic advocates of such adoption have demonstrated."
We shall be greatly surprised if this work, which embraces embry- ologj, histology, descriptive and surgical anatomy, does not rapidly be- come the text-book for all medical colleges.
The Colambas Medical Joarnal is the name of a new monthly, by Dr. C. S. Carr. It is the old ^'Medical Talk" under a new and we think a more attractive name, by the same enterprising editor, who makes one of the brightest semi-medical periodicals that comes to our table. We wish it the success it richly deserves.
OlY May 19, 20 «Lnd 21 Dr. E. H. Pratt will hold,at Bering Medical College, Wood and York Streets, Chicago, a Free Clinic in OrificioLl Sxirgery, illustrating the great power of the work in the cure of the chronically sick, so-called incurables. Doctors are requested to bring cases. For particulars address, E. H. Pratt, M. D., Suite 1202, 100 State Street, Chicago.
SUCCESSOR WANTED. Owing to sickness, in a nearby City of 3,000. Homeopathy practiced for years. Good business. For particulars write Dr. B., Forrest Press, Batavia, Illinois.
Hew M Homeoiiallilc College
0^^^^^^ and HOSTITAL
Therapeutic Week. Free Practioner's Couri All Homeopathic Physicians Invited.
on Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday of the week May ] to May 16th, 1908, Lectures and Demonstrations will be givei the College from 1 P, M. to 6 P. M., by professors of the faci These Lectures will be devoted entirely to Therapeutics ii broadest sense. They will include besides the Homeopat Therapeutics of some of the more common important disea their general treatment, management, hyeiene, dirt, sanil precautions, care of con valence, hydro therapy and electric In other words, A SYMPOSIUM OP THE TREATMENT DISEASES.
On Wednesday of this week those present will visit the Me politian Hospital, where all forms of Therapeutic Measures be demonstrated.
On Thursday May 14th the exercises of Alumni Day and C menceraent will be held? With the banquet in the evening. All are invited. Try to come.
W. HARVEY KING, Dean.
J. W. DOWLIWG, Secretary of the Faculty.
For Chrc Has dem
strated for twelve years what Homeopathic treatment do for patients who are removed from the cares of tl ordinary environment. Located in an attractive and hea ful suburb of Boston.
SAMUEL L. EATON, Ma
Highland Hall, Newton Highlands, Mass.. **&* %***w %€ f ^^^ nervous diseases.
TIE THIRD REVISED EDITION of DR. OVERALL'S BOOE
CJu^t out) contains three new. original non- i>l>tr&tive methods of treating chronic diseases of the Prostate. Urethra, Bladder and the sequela fjf Stricture, Impotency, Neuresthenia, Gon. Rheumatism, etc., etc. The book stands with- out a parallel in advanced scientific diagnosis •Dd treatment of these troubles. Many physi- claai, having read the book, claim that it has ix'ea a revelation to them. 258 pages, only |L EOW£ PUB. CO.. 72 Madison St., Chicago.
Characteristic Conditions of gravation and Amelioration.
After BonniDghausens, 62 pa Pocicet Edition. Rubric« arrai alphabetically with a compieti dex should be oa every office des Price $1.00.
GEORGE A. TABERM. D Richmoiid T
i
The Medical Advance
Vol. XL VI. BA.TAVIA, ILL., JUNE, 1908. No. 6.
SOME OF THE DANGERS TO WOMEN.*
By Helen B. Wilcox, M. D., Chicago.
The fact that the whole duty of the physician is not ended when he has examined his patient and prescribed the indicated remedy, is generally admitted. The people look to us, and rightly for advice beyond this point. We are looked to not only for a cure, but for suggestions which will prevent another attack of the malady. But do we not hesi- tate to do so in venereal disease, that scourge that is rob- bing our homes of our fairest daughters, innocent victims? To secure the protection of wives and unborn children from loss of life and health through these diseases, the communi- ty needs chiefly education. Public attention is now focus- sing upon the contamination of wives and children from the "social diseases.'' This contamination is often the result of ignorance. The responsibility, however, of enlightening: the public does not rest with the medical profession alone, but we must do our share.
A great educational work is being done on this line by the Chicago Society of Social Hygiene.
From the authorities quoted I gained the following facts:
I. At least half the adult male population of all social grades in our cities contracts gonorrhea. Probably ten per- cent contract syphilis.
II. Most of these men erroneously suppose themselves cured and free from contagion when the outward signs of the disease have disappeared. The fact is that these con-
*Transactions Regular Homeopathic Society, May 5th, 1908.
858
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
LagiODS often lurk in the deeper structures for months or i*v*en years after an apparent cure. Hence these tragedies follow; that thousands and thousands of women and child- ren are maimed or killed by the venereal diseases contracted from the husbands or fathers. .. -^
And we have the loss of motherhood, even life itself or the mutilation of the wife by surgery to preserve her life, aad the loss of eye-sight in the new-born babe.
It is said 42 per cent, of abortions, 25 to 70 per cent, of infantile blindness, and 50 per cent, of the pelvic disorders of women, as metritis, endometritis, salpingitis, ovaritis and peritonitis are caused from these loathsome diseases.
Some authorities give from 50 to 75 per cent, of all pel- vic operations in women as caused by this plague.
Those of you who have not read the article by Stuart Close, M. D., in the Medical Advance on **Inherited Gonorrhea," will find it worth your while to do so.
The quotations and reix^rts I give in my paper have been gleaned from the Medical Advance, The Medical M'odd, and from circulars sent out by the Chicago Society of Social Hygiene.
Dr. Osier, in describing the diseases which are the pTatest scourges of the human race, such as cholera, yellow f*n-er, small pox, consumption, pneumonia and leprosy, wrote of the group of venereal diseases: **These are in one rt's])ect the worst of all we have to mention, for they are the only ones transmitted in full virulence to innocent children to fill their lives with suffering, and which involve equally innocent wives in the miserj^ and shame."
Some of the suggestions made to help stay this evil:
I. Let there be the same standard of morals for men as for women.
II. Let the child be taught the laws of life.
III. The same care for the daughters as for the sons. If your son were going to marry a woman from the
"Red Light District," you would move heaven and earth to prevent such a union, and yet your daughter is allowed to
SOME OF THE DANGERS TO WOMEN. £57
marry a man who frequents that district without a question on your part.
rv. That the state require a certificate of freedom ^voxn social diseases before granting a marriage license, in ^tie interest of innocent wives and children.
A few years ago mutilation of women by surgeons in every hamlet and country cross-road, as well as in large <^Hies, was of common occurrence. Now is the day of more <5onservative surgery. They recommend more often the in- dicated remedy and the results will far surpass the old ^^rd. Some ridicule the use of the indicated remedy as "^^ use it even yet, and the unnecessary destruction of tis- ^^e and organs^ by these so-called surgeons is still appall- ^^g. Our greatest homeopaths recommend restoring har- ^^ny and order in the patient, and then if necessary surgi- ^ aid. But if order and harmony have not been first es- ^ mbed then surgical interference is dangerous to the pa-
1^ . ^^^iJeopathy as understood and practiced by Hahnemann
tJQ ^^J action to the diseases of women bears the same rela-
tof-L^ ^t does to all other diseases, that is, it relates solely
ai/y ^-t^^'tients, their symptoms, peculiarities and individu-
'^'le 0 - ^^ opens up possibilities not to be dreamed of by
reiQp, -*^^ry mind. Yet we must be sane in the use of our
tJig J. "^ -» ^riot expect it to do impossible work, or we endanger
I })^^ ^^ of our patients. A few cases will illustrate what
w ^^^^en trying to say.
Uevp ^^ * ■^•' under good homeopathic treatment for years;
^Oa i!^r^^^^5 P*^^ ^^ P^l^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^1 ^^^ -^i^^' ^^ strength,
deii ^->^^5on: chills and fever for weeks at a time, life a bur-
^, . ^^^^.lled in a surgeon who found a pus tube, operated,
^^^^ ^^^ diseased tissue. Patient made a good recove-
' ^^ Vias had good health for the last nine years.
. ^ ^^^ B., fell on an icy sidewalk. In a short time severe
eriDsg- ^^^^loP^d i^ ^^^ region of the left ovary. Not recov-
^ YY ^y^^^der the local physician's treatment, he called in a
, ^^Own Chicago surgeon who attempted to drain the
^^ through the vagina. Still patient did not improve.
358
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
She was taken to a hospital, an incision made in the abdo men which did not improve conditions as the abdommal in cision would not heal and pus poured from that wound for j year, when the patient died. The doctors who held thi autopsy said the patient died of septicemia.
A similar case in my own practice: Mrs. C, fell oi broken sidewalk in July, 1906; developed a severe pain ii left ovarian region, so severe as to be alarming. I consult ed Dr. Sayre, who advised me to continue remedies an< against an operation only as a last resort. I shall not at tempt to give a full description of the case as it would tak too long. I gave the remedies as I saw them indicated. L a short time the abscess ruptured and drained through th< uterus. In the course of some weeks the patient was up an( around and has been in as good health since as before th injury.
MissB., aged 30 years. A case of leucorrhea sine childhood. Had been advised by different doctors to hav uterus curetted. Came under my care.
I failed in finding the right remedy for a long time; bu learning more about the family history, especially that he father was a friend of his satanic majesty, led me to think o Medorrhinum. Wait a minute my friend, I did not have t< give it on that fact alone. There could be added: Grea mental anxiety, confusion of memory, great difficulty in ap plying mind to any subject requiring thought, dislike o work, feet lame, pain in head and spine, leucorrhea offensiv< and acrid. Gave Medorrhinum dmm, and behold ther( was no more leucorrhea for months. Had I rememberec the teaching I received from our good Dean of Hering Col lege, namely to take the family history as well as to obtaii all the symptoms, especially peculiar and mental symptoms before prescribing, I would have relieved my patient earlier
There are methods of applying medicine and of choos ing the remedy, that it might be in order to criticise as be ing ''Dangers to Women," but I am reminded of the "say ing" which we will apply to treatment
* 'There is too much bad treatment with the best of us, And too much good treatment with the worst of us, That it behooves the most of us, Not to criticise the rest of us."
TREATMENT OF SCARLET FEVER. 359
THE TBEATMENT OF ORAL, NASAL AND GLAND- ULAR COMPLICATIONS OF SCARLET FEVER.*
By Dr. Nettie Campbell, Chicago.
As a homeopath must treat the patient and not the or- gans or disease, therefore I will necessarily have to give symptoms that touch on more than my subject calls for.
The pathological symptoms of course are those of in- flammation and infiltration every where and if in the stru- mous subjects, when a part of the course of scarlet fever, the tendency of otitis media, is for the trouble to become chronic, but in developing, it may come on so insidiously as to be unobserved until pus is discovered in the canal and the presence of pus always indicates perforation of the drum; but under proper internal medication combined with local measures for the purpose of cleanliness to stimulate healing of the drum, the case may be altogether cured.
The treatment of otitis media, to be successful,- should combine both constitutional and local treatment.
The use of the syringe has been the cause of the con- tinuance of a great many cases of middle ear disease. It is almost impossible to drain the middle ear of fluids that have been injected, therefore dry treatments have been found to be much superior to medicated injections. Even for pur- poses of cleanliness it is better, as a rule, to carefully wipe out the ear with absorbant cotton, securely fastened on the end of a delicate probe or tooth pick. If it is not i)ossible to properly cleanse the ear in this manner,a few drops of perox- ide of hydrogen, from an eye pipette, can be dropped in the ear, the child lying on its well side. This preparation quickly decomposes pus, epithelial debris and decomposed blood with which it comes in contact, fermenting them out of their recesses in an instant. It is* the only moist treatment that I use, and have never had to use it more than once to cleanse the canal of the dry hard pus and this only i strength, as it has a tendancy to destroy healthy granulations.
Immediately following this application, the ear should
♦ReflTular Homeopathic Medical Society, May, 1908i
t
L
360
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
be gently wiped with absorbant cotton, then put a piece dry cotton in for the purpose of thoroughly drying and p tecting the ear from cold. The success will depend uj the degree of dryness and cleanliness that can be secured
The homeopathic treatment is the indicated remedy i on the totality of the symptoms of the patient and no < can tell what that remedy may be until they reach the b side, because it is the patient that must be prescribed and not the disease.
The following are some of the remedies to be stud when the glandular system and ear are involved: At Am. c. Bar., Carb. ac, Lach., Lyc.,Phyt.,Sil. and the M curies.
Apis is adapted to the strumous diathesis to be thoui of where the rash is imperfectly developed.
Glands enlarged and hard, worse on the right side.
Puffy under the eyes, with rapid and extreme puffin of the throat.
Uvula is edematous, raw, with burning, stinging pj rather than soreness.
The Apis child is so sensitive to pain (Hepar);they a not allow the throat to be touched or examined. It is gla from the edema.
Nose is painfully sore with excessive thick grayish wl secretion in scarlet fever.
Discbarge from ear or mouth is very fetid, < by hi or hot water bags; < 3 P. M. or after midnight.
Urine scanty with vesicle tenesmus, or may be suppres — rapid prostration.
Ammonium carb. is to be thought of when the rash cedes too early and paralysis of the brain threatens.
Malignant cases with putrid sore throat, saliva adhes
Swelling of parotid and cervical glands.
Tonsils swollen and bluish, covered with offensive i cus and tendency to gangrenous ulceration.
Stoppage of nose at night; child breathes through mouth is one of the keynotes; or cannot sleep becaus cannot get its JDreath.
TREATMENT OF SCARLET FEVER. 361
In malignant cases with deep stertorous breathing; finely developed eruption from defective vitality.
Snuffles and long lasting coryza.
Baryta carb., is one of the deep seated anti-psoric rem- edies and has a special affinity for the nutritive and gland- ular system. To be thought of in patients who are dwar- fish in body and mind, not dwarfish in stature, but of single organs, single organs may stop developing, for instance the mammary glands or sexual organs stop growing.
Mental dwarfishness: it seems to suspend the mental de- velopment; act childish beyond their years; cannot learn at school because cannot grasp the thought, cannot form con- ceptions, cannot memorize; have a well formed head and yet cannot learn because of mental dwarfishness.
Late learning to walk. Calcarea is late walking but it is because of soft bones, from deficiency of lime salts; soft flabby muscles. Then we might saj^ that Calcarea is late walking, while Baryta carb. is late learning how to walk with good strong bones.
These are . some of the cases where the symptoms to prescribe on are such as represent the patient, not the glands or diseased tissues.
Children who are sensitive to cold and with every ex- posure to cold wind or change of weather have an attack of tonsilitis and the result is chronic enlarged tonsils (Sil.,Calc. Hep., Sulph., Psor.).
Chronic cough in psoric children < after slightest cold.
Offensive footsweat, toes and soles get sore, or heels sweat.
Inflammation of cellular tissues of fauces and tonsils; throat is pale because of defective nutrition, instead of bright red as in Belladonna.
Ptyalism; putrid breath.
Fluent coryza; nose and upper lip swollen.
Ear troubles and discharges following scarlatina, hard- ness, enlargement and induration of the parotids, submax- illary and cervical glands which enlarge and become tender, may even suppurate,.
362 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Carbolic acid, is to be thought of in profound bla poisoning types, with impending coma, intense fetid breat diarrhea profuse and offensive.
Urine dark, ahnost black, exceedingly offensive.
Destructive glandular involvement.
Mouth covered with false membrane; mucous membrar pale, exuding bloody mucus.
Hepar sulph acts especially upon the lymphatic glai ular system and ears; one of our greatest remedies in chroi •enlargement of the tonsils, with hard glandular swellin in the neck; otorrhea is profuse, greenish, bloody a offensive, causing excoriation at external meatus, or lit pustles wherever the pus touches. If given in the eai stage will often prevent suppuration.
Pain in the throat and ear is of a sticking charad when swallowing or sensation of splinter or fishbone throat (Arg. n. Nit. ac).
Ear and throat very sensitive to touch, will hardly all you to point toward the ear for fear of being hurt.
Extremely sensitive to cold air, imagines he can feel 1 air if door or window is open in next room; > by wrappi up the head. (Psor. Sil.).
Takes cold from the slightest exposure to fresh air (Tul
Sweat profuse day and night without > ; so;ar, offensi
Sweats easily on every mental or physical exertion (Ps Tub.).
Catarrhal discharge of offensive, yellowish, bloc mucus.
Lycopodium: complaints begin on right and go to i left; < after sleep; < from cold drinks; < from 4 to 8 P.
Scrofulous patients, with chronic enlargement of 1 tonsils, with enlargement of parotid glands; with abdomi troubles; with rumbling of gas in the bowels.
A remedy to be thought of for impairment or losi hearing, with offensive purulent discharge, which excorij the external meatus, drum head destroyed,
Lachesis: in this we have a most profound disorgan tion of the blood plasma from the scarlatina poison. I
TREATMENT OF SCARLET FEVER. 363
side shows the most severe involvement, or symptoms go from the left to the right, especially in the throat and glandular symptoms.
Tonsils and sub-maxilliary glands involved.
Tongue dry, protruded with difficulty, trembles or may catch on the teeth.
Swallowing liquids more painful than solids and saliva still more painful to swallow than liquids.
Very sensitive to touch, can't bear the bed clothes to come near neck.
Parotid glands threatening abscess, with general dropsy in delayed desquamation.
Urine almost black; stools offensive; < after sleep, awakens startled, frightened, confused, afraid of suffocating and strangling; < from hot drinks or heat.
Prostration out of all proportion to the appearance of throat.
Phytolacca is another of our prominent remedies for the glandular throat affections of scarlatina, with tendency to suppuration and ulceration of tonsils.
Uvula and back part of throat swollen and covered with grayish patches (Merc. Nit. ac).
Pains shoot from throat into ears on trying to swallow.
Great pain at root of tongue on swallowing.
Throat darker red than Belladonna with dry and burning as of coals of fire.
Sub-maxilliary and parotid glands indurated.
Acrid discharge from one nostril and the other stopped up, with drawing pain at root of nose.
Great exhaustion and prostration.
Mercurius vivus: we shall especially think of the Mer- -curies when we have the glandular system effected, with ulceration of the mucous membrane.
In the nose we have much sneezing and fluent, acrid Goryza, or may be acrid, offensive discharge of green mucus.
Catarrhal Inflammation of the ear, both internal and ex- ternal, 8^0 of the tympanum, involving the eustachian tube; discharge is offensive, purulent, excoriating. Deafness with ix>aringy buzzing sounds in the ear.
364
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Throat and fauces a coppery red color; dry, swc with pain on swallowing, yet constantly obliged to swa because the mouth is always full of saliva, and with a n tongue there is intense thirst; glandular swelling wit without suppuration.
Profuse sweat at night, < from the heat of the bed.
Mercurius iodatus flavus is most useful in dipt itic sore throat or tonsilitis, usually < on right side of m or beginning on the right.
Cervical glands very much swollen, useful in maligi forms.
Mercurius iodatus ruber, the < is on the left or begins there and extends to the right, there is n glandular swelling and more fever and headache.
This remedy is more useful in malignant cases ' great swelling of parotid and sub-maxillary glands and ton
The fauces apd tonsils are covered with large i ulcers.
Great itching in both ears.
In all the Mercuries we have inflammation of the mu( membrane, with an overflow of morbid products, as ptyal perspiration, coryza, diarrhea or dysentery, with a ' n( get done" sensation.
SiLiCEA is especially to be thought of in old chr cases of otitis media following scarlet fever, the periost or bones or both are carious or necrosed.
The discharge in Silicea is not profuse, but persistai
The child is chilly, tires easily and perspires rea about the head and neck, lower down on the head than carea, not at all robust, has glandular involvement especially glandular induration.
If the scarlet fever or any other fever for that ma is prolonged, or of a low or malignant type we may rest sured we have a psoric or tubercular patient to treat the more deeply psoric the more malignant the attj therefore we must study our psoric and tubercular reme and among these Psorinum, Tuberculinum and Sulp must not be forgotten. Also, the entire patient must b( eluded in the anamnesis.
CASES FROM DAILY PRACTICE. 365.
SOME CASES FROM DAILY PRACTICE.
By Richard Blackmore, M. D., Bellevue, Pa.
In the mutability of mundane affairs it is satisfying t6 lay hold of a law which has a firm foundation, to feel in such a struggle as that in which we are engaged as physicians — a struggle in which our opponent is death and whose ulti- mate success is assured — that there is something fixed, something of the eternal verities remaining upon which a firm stand may be taken. This ''something" is our Materia Medica and our tried and true therapeutic law.
Discouraged though we may be by stress of circum- stances we should not be cast down.
These truths were brought home forcibly to the writer recently. Wearied and sick with the struggle for knowl- edge, and the isolation accruing to a "stranger in a strange land," troubled by heresies and schisms in our own ranks, it happened that a patient came into his oftice with the follow- ing symptoms:
Drawing pain in the abdomen around the umbilicus with a sensation of drawing in; coming suddenly and > by stool.
The stool was soft and discharged with much flatus, stool being largely gas."
Urging to stool quite peremptory.
The condition had existed for three days, the separate attacks being quite frequent and severe. Natrum carb. 200 cured at once, there being no further return.
Again: I was called to see a young lady who had taken cold while gardening," and who complained of apho- nia, almost complete, with a gense of oppression in the larynx.
Soreness and oppression < by talking or using the larynx.
Voice unsteady; "breaks" easily. Argentum nitricum Im restored the voice in a few hours.
Another example: This case had evidently been mis- managed, and the mother's story was very misleading and contradictory in spots. The child, six months old, was
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
troubled with symptoms of the respuratory tract, strongly suggestive of Sambucus, which was given and the child seni tp a '*home" for observation and continued treatment.
There the following was found:
Hoarse, whoopy cough, < at night and by heat
Cough preceded by crying and restlessness.
Pace looks sunken and pale.
Blueness around the mouth with the cough.
Cold sweat on the forehead.
No rise of temperature.
Varatrum album Im so modified the severity of the con dition as to point toward a speedy convalescence.
These are three cases out of a day's work which beauti fully illustrate our law, and their effect has been of tb greatest psychological benefit to the writer.
A CASE OF SEPTIC FEYER: PYROGEN?
By Joseph Luff, M. D., Independence, Mo.
Thirteen months ago duties outside of medical line called me to a neighboring state, and the greater part of m; time (three weeks) was spent in a small town where on lady physician — a graduate of a homeopathic college— an four **regulars'' were practicing.
One day when walking along the street, a call from th opposite side led me to cross over and enter the house of family whom I had known for years. The head of th house, a large, dark, dirty complexioned man, of about 4; was sick, and I was requested to take the case. I told the] I had no license to practice there, and, moreover, was ei gaged with other work, but, if the lady physician desire my help, would render it cheerfully. To this they consented and I left, waiting to be called.
Three days later I met the physician, and she request€ an interview at the house referred to as soon as practicabl we met there within two hours. The entire chest was co ered with antiphlogistin. He complained of severe pain < the left side just below the nipple. There was great dyspne
i
CASE OF SEPTIC FEvER. 367
temperature 104;pulse very rapid; bowels severely consti- pated; breath foul; tongue large, very little coating, quite red; haggard expression; considerable restlessness and an- xiety.
He was an intelligent man, and usually under good mental control. Had suffered at intervals, for twenty years, from some heart trouble, which would "floor him" as he said, for half an hour at a time, being utterly uncon- scious. The physician was somewhat alarmed. She inform- ed me as to treatment, and the medicine on the table corrob- orated her statement: Aconite 2x and Bryonia 3x in com- bination in one glass; another glass contained a sleeping potion, and another held something to be given to move the bowels. The first mixture was being given every fifteen minutes, and the others as required.
Upon careful inquiry, I learned that the man had just returned a week before from a neighbors, where for ten days he had waited ui)on six members of the family who were sick with typhoid fever. The attending doctor had insisted on excluding all air from the sick rooms, and had even hung blankets over the cracks between doors and frames. Dur- ing ten days this man had been compelled to inhale the polluted atmosphere of the rooms, while attending his sick friends (I should have doubted this latter relation, as to the doctors course, had my patient not been a man of undoubted veracity).
In private consultation with the lady physician, I re- hearsed all the features connected with the case, and when I suggested a radical change in the treatment, found myself a useless consultant. The single remedy was not accepted. The antiphlogistic must remain, and the potency of the remedy must necessarily be low and of frequent repetition in such a case. Finding my therapeutics not in demand, I left, expressing regret that I could be of no service, under the circumstances. She obtained from me a promise, however, that upon call I would return. *
Two days passed, and about noon I was summoned to meet the lady at once. Upon arrival I found the patient
368
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
with temperature half a degree higher; pain more intens( no action of the bowels; dyspnea more pronounced; puis rather less; a slight but offensive moisture on parts in sigb Patient asked me if the case was being handled accordin to my idea, and I promptly said, *'not entirely." He and th family requested the physician to allow me to conduct th case in my way, and she to follow my directions. Takin me aside, she canvassed the details with me, confessed h( extreme alarm, and asked me to advise, and she would exi cute my will in the matter, as though the case were mm SI le had that morning told the family that it would be, i least, fourteen days before the patient could get up, if atal
I surprised her at the outset, by ordering the antiphl( gistin taken off; then the patient was sponged, and thorough' but gently rubbed all over with pure olive oil, to be repeats twice, or more frequently, each day.
My available medicines were few indeed, and no pha macy near. The physician's office contained only a few lo homeopathic potencies, and a large supply of proprietai remedies — combinations, embracing alkaloidal preparation etc. I had no repertory, and did not think one absolute necessary. I gave the patient an anema — castile soap coi bined with three quarts ol warm water — threw out all tl remedies on the table, put five or six drops of Pyrogen ' (the only potency I had) into a half a tumbler of water, t\ teaspoonfuls to be given every two hours, the patient not be disturbed if he slept.
Calling at 8 o'clock the next morning I found his tei perature 101; pulse 110; breathing better; pain less, ai a much better expression on his face.
The lady called at 11 A. M., and found the temperatu 100, and expressed astonishment and fear that it was on a temporary subsidence. At night I found the conditi about the same as when she was there, and directed that t length of time between the doses should be doubled.
At 5 A. M. the next morning a telephone ring arous me to receive the information that my patient's temperatu and pulse were **away below normal," and requested tha
A CALCAREA CURE. 3P9
call on him earlier than usual, which I did, though not so early as they desired. I recalled the life history of the man and felt no alarm. 7 A. M. found me at his bedside: pulse, temperature and respiration were normal, and remained so. There was but a faint reminder of the pain on the left side when breathing deeply, and his face was lighted with a smile.
The physician has sent me several chronic cases since, which she has found unmanageable.
» A CALCAREA CURE.
By Dr. Trumbull, Chicago.
Miss P., age 35. Sanguine lymphatic temperament.
Occupation, seamstress.
SMn of fingers desquamate to first joint.
Dysmenorrhea, flow scant, irregular.
Vertigo < stooping, > lying down.
Ascending stairs <.
Standing <,
Washing <.
Eating fats <.
Averse to cold water, cold bathing.
Sulphur and Pulsatilla were given with no result.
Calcarea 30, in i^epeated doses, brought an improve- ment not only in the fingers, which was what the patient looked for as it seriously interferred with her occupation, but also with the menses and constipation; menses more profuse, as is usually found under this remedy, and no more cramps. Later Im and 52m were given, and case remained cured.
AMENORRHEA.
Miss E., age 18. Tall, dark eyes, and hair thin. First menses at 13, omitted one year, then took up the function r^larly. Menses four months late.
Backache.
Aching in limbs every evening.
Very nervous; restless.
870
THE MEJDICAL ADVANCE.
Feet never still, always cold, < going up stairs.
Feels hungry, eats but little.
Pat food <; craves ham.
Cries on account of fear.
Constipated; inactive bowels.
Sleep restless. Calcarea phos. 30.
Reported in two weeks; great improvement general but menses still suppressed.
Calcarea carb. Im.
Five days later menses became established and th( has been no recurrence of this trouble in seven years. !" only did the menses become established, but the youlg g grew plump and rosy and lost the nervous restlessness.
The mother was confident that the girl ought to be amined before treatment began. I urged her, however, try the treatment first, and if that failed there would plenty of time to resort to an examination. How often feelings of our young girls are outraged unnecessarily digital examinations is shown in this case.
EXTRACTS FROM A PLEA FOR A SCIENTIFIC R PROVING OF OUR REMEDIES PLACING THEM ON A MORE PRACTICAL WORKING BASIS.*
By David S. Runnels M. D., Merrill, Wis.
The discovery of voccination for small pox, antitc for diphtheria, tuberculin for tuberculosis which is now ing worked out on a practical basis, and the recent inv( gations of the opsonins are all confirming the great f ui mental principle Similia, Similibus, Curantur; we are noi that all progress tends in that direction. Why are we pioneers in this field, non- progressive?
The other fellows are unconsciously invading our t< tory and making so-called new discoveries which ^ practiced by Hahnemann one hundred years ago.
[The discovery of antitoxin for diphtheria,tuberculii tuberculosis, and the other products of serum therapy,
^Illinois State Society, May, 1908.
REPKOVIKG OF OUR REMEDIES. 371
be progress, but if so, it is progress in the direction of allo- pathic empiricism; for all serums, all serum ta'eatment, is for the disease and not the patient, which Hahnemann condemns from the beginning to the end of his writings. All that is curative in them is a crude form of Homeopathy or, more strictly speaking, it is isopathic practise. Ed.]
Our Materia Medica, in its present form is the same as it was one hundred years ago, has no reference to pathology, bacteriology nor diagnosis; if it has it is not easily compre- hended. Its arrangement is not in such form that we can apply it to pathological states as are discovered by the vari- ous methods of diagnosis we have at hand.
[The author complains that our Materia Medica is the same that it was a hundred years ago; has no reference to pathology, bacteriology nor diagnosis, and that in its' present form he cannot apply it to pathological states, and that it must be modified in order td conform to the advances that have been and are being made.
If there be one thing more than another for which the homeopath should be grateful it is that the symptomatology of the original provings is recorded in the simple language of the prover, and that it is free from pathological or diag- nostic terms. It is not only the same that it was a hundred years ago; but it has been improved many times in every particular by verifications at the bedside, and each subse- quent verification in the clinic increases its value many fold. How would it have been, had the pathological terms in use when the original provings were made, been adopted? With the advance in pathology these terms have been changed with every decade in our history since Hahnemann's original provings of Cinchona, and our boasted symptomatology of to-day would be little less than an incomprehensible jargon. No, our Materia Medica is founded upon facts. Remedies that were proved a hundred years ^go have increased in value as the years have rolled by, and the symptomatology of our remedies never should contain any reference to path- ology, bacterology or diagnosis. Like Anatomy and physi- ology they are useful for other purposes, but can never be
372
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
utilized in the symptomatology of our remedies. Our Matei Medica in its present form has more successfully met ; diseases, acute or chronic, in every country in the woi than any other that was ever made, and it has enabled t homeopath to cure thousands of patients pronounced inci able under other methods. No, Homeopathy is not bu that way. It is founded on facts, not theories. It is inter ed to cure patients, not diseases. Why should the hom< path chase that pathological will-o-the-wisp, that pot of g( at the end of the rainbow? Bd.]
The time is now when we must recognize these vario methods at our command to enable us to cope successful with disease. Our Materia Medica must be modified in ord to conform to the advances that have been made and are I ing made daily. Our Materia Medica to-day, made up of great volumn of symptoms, many superfluous ones, classifi as they are, from **Head to Foot" forming an almost inco" prehensible conglomeration, must be committed to memo to be applicable.
[The symptomatology of Sulphur, Calcarea, Silica a] all other polychrests is for reference, not to be memorize He would be a venturesome man who thought it necessa to memorize the Century Dictionary. Ed.] ^
We cannot reason why those symptoms are produce very few men of our profession are able to commit the: The four thousand or more symptoms recorded under Si phur and a number of others, according to the symptom? ology recorded under each, a person would need but o remedy to cover all the ills of the human body; besides he is any finite mind going to grasp all of them. You may sa individualize your cases and select the drug to conform them, study and learn your characteristics, modalities, etx then consult your repertory. That might be good practi and worth while if all these symptoms recorded were i liable.
Can we not devise some means whereby we have few symptoms of a drug and ascertain WHY and WHEN the symptoms are produced? The recent investigations of ti
REPROVING OF OUR REMEDIES. 373
blood gives us a very wide field for study alone. Any drug introduced into the system must modify it to a degree, it may increase its various corpuscles, exciting them to greater activity in ingesting bacteria, may modify its serum, en- hancing its agglutinating power, and aid in precipitating the toxins of the bacteria. When a drug is introduced into the blood there may be a decrease or an increase of its protective elements. These changes alone may be the cause for a number of the syptoms produced.
The study of the urine also offers a very wide field for our investigation. We know many symptoms are produced by the various alterations in its quantity, quality, ratio, color and its various constituents, which have recently been dis- covered, as a guide to diagnosing many conditions hereto- fore unknown. Also investigations of the functions of the gastro intestinal tract is offering a wide field. Every drug we introduce into the system has some influence on the cir- culatory fluids, the secretions and excretions. After we have discovered the REASON for these various symptoms produced on a pathological basis we then have a clear pic- . ture of our drug and its action and can apply it according to our law of similars in its infinitesimal doses. The higher the potency the better the results we get after we have a clear pathological picture of the case before us to treat.
[Hahnemann's system of medicine is founded on dyna- mics. He claims that it is a dynamic derangement of a dy- namic or spirit-like iorce which produces disease; hence, we may never know why symptoms of any remedy are produced when tested on the healthy. Every drug has its own indi- vidual action, just as every individual has his or her own sickness. Why two plants growing on the same soil under identically the same conditions are so different, we are un- able to tell. One may be the deadly Belladonna, the other the succulent potato, and no one can tell why Belladonna is a t)oison and the i)otato a food. We cannot tell what cura- tive properties a remedy possesses until it is tested on the healthy, and in this test diseases are not produced, simply derangements of life vitality, manifested in symptoms. Ed.]3
874
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE
There is some reason for so many of our physicians serting the ranks and affiliating with the other schools, pudiating Homeopathy as a science. Talk with some them and they will tell you our school is non-progressi they are not investigators, they are not leaders in the n discoveries that are being made.
Our pharmacies contribute their share towards the struction by making combination tablets, compressed tab] of the crude drug, elixers, etc., tempting the doctor in sue manner that they are loosing interest in the fundamer principle upon which our school was founded and so s cessfuUy pushed its way into prominence and recoj tion.
The physicians themselves are more to blame for t condition of affairs than our pharmacies. The pharmac endeavor to supply what is demanded, it is only a ligitim business procedure. Is it that Homeopathy has served purpose to mankind and destined to die as all other gr reforms? Let us get back to the fundamental princii and bring our policies to the front so forcibly that deserti 'may cease. In my opinion everything points to the i that the law Similia Similibus Curantur, from which name of Homeopathy is derived is more prominent than e in the history of medicine, as is being demonstrated by ev new discovery of value as a result of scientific medical search.
We may abandon the name but the principle still li and always will. It behooves us as adherents to this pi ciple to prove ourselves up and place our Materia Medics a more practical working basis along scientific lines raise ourselves above ridicule.
There is no question of doubt but what there is effic in the two hundred or cmm. potency, but we must be J to prove why the effect cures. This thing of depending the old dynamic theory alone is insufficient , they must tainly exert some perceptible change in cuculatory flu excretory, secretory or digestive functions. There is si reason for it and we must be able to prove it on other groi
\
REPROVING OF OUR REMEDIKS. 375
than what has heretofore been done and what more, I believe it can be done.
In Organon § 100, in writing of the investigation of epi- demic diseases, where each epidemic is to be treated on its individual merits, whether wholly or partially unknown, or where each epidemic may differ vastly from all previous epidemics to which certain names have been arbitrarily ap- plied, Hahnemann usesthis significant language: "With the exception of those epidemics resulting from a contagious principle that always remains the same, such as small pox, measles, whooping-cough, etc.., in this class of cases this serum isopathic method may prove more successful, yet no two cases of measles, scarlatina, diphtheria, etc., are alike, and the best results in these, as in all other cases of sickness, are to be obtained from careful individualization." The only true progress in therapeutics is based on similia^ on law, not empiricism. In the other school it is the serum treatment today; five years ago it was something else; five years hence the whole picture may again be changed. Then why should the homeopath long for a spmptomatology founded on the ever changing basis of pathology.
Many earnest, honest and enthusiastic homeopaths, be- fore the time of Dr. Runnels, have tried to utilize the splen- did achievements of Allopathy in diagnosis and pathology by founding a Materia Medica on a so-called physiological basis. Hempel, Amdt, Heinicke and Hughes are a few ex- amples, and their works, no matter how intentioned, have done more to retard the progress of Homeopathy than all other things combined. Practising Homeopathy on the pathological basis is simply practising Allopathy with so- called homeopathic remedies. These splendid works that required so much time and so much money to produce have been relegated to the book-shelves of the junk shops. This is e8i)ecially true of the Cyclopedia of Drug Pathogenesy, for which the American Institute subscribed for 400 volumes. The works are on the shelves of the library, but rarely, if ever, found on the work-table of active practice; no one can use them. No, the Materia Medica as founded by Hahne.
876
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
mann is more nearly perfect than any that has ever been made, and though not the son of a prophet we may venture the prediction, more perfect than any that ever will be made.
PHILOSOPHY OF THE ERECT POSTURE.
By E. p. Banning, M. D., Chicago.
H. C Allen, M. D.,
Dean of Bering Bomeopathic Medical College,
72 Madison St. My Dear Dr. Allen:
Complying with your request of to-night: For manj years it has been apparent to me that the scope of ' instruc tions from the Chair of Orthopedic Surgery should be lim ited only by some such definition as **The Science of Rend ering a Mechanically Abnormal Body Mechanically Nor mal."
Assuredly we are compelled to admit that the humar body materially considered is a machine. Primarily of i definite and accurate character, and as a machine is the sub ject of mechanical law. Therefore when the body is me ehanically abnormal it is a body deformed. Then it is no only a proper subject for orthopedic consideration but fo: <^©rrection by aid of the very law which has produced the de fomiity. SiMiLiA Similibus Curantur.
The application of the great natural, and consequentl; immutable, law of similars, as discovered by the inspire^ Hahnemann, is not so limited as to apply solely to the Mat eria Medica world. For from the totality of the symptom we can select the indicated remedy from that much large world; the world of physics; select it with the same accurac; and confidence as we do the drug remedy.
As to the so-called '*Banning Philosophy of the Erec Posture," I cannot do better than to state the same, as near! as possible, 'in the language of its discoverer, my dea] revered and distinguished father, who over three-quartei of a eentury ago entered the unknown and even unthougt of forest of mechanical pathology and there discovered th
PHILOSOPHY OP THB ERECT POSTURE. 377
beneficent flower of * 'mechanical therapeutic indications." I therefore hand you herewith a paper and its illustra- tive diagrams, on the subject in question, which paper should really, in justice, be ascribed to the pen of E. P. Banning, M. D. (the 'elder).
Your request was received after 9 o'clock this evening, and as you ask that my reply shall be received by you in time to forward to the publisher of the Advance tomorrow forenoon, I have been compelled to write you somewhat hur riedly, but I trust not inaccurately.
Permit me at this time to thank yourself, and the facul- ty and students at Hering College not only for the uniform courtesy and kindness shown, but for the loyal support given during my occupancy of the Chair of Orthopedic Sur- gery. Hering is no longer simply **A voice of one crying in the wilderness," but the visible incarnation of a Divine loving truth; standing upon the lofty rock of natural law, so radiantly beautiful, as the bright sunlight of publicity beats upon it; that^even the blind and the prodigals in far coun- tries can see and are saying **We will arise and go unto our Father."
Sincerely yours, E. P. Banning.
PHILOSOPHY OF THE ERECT POSTURE.
This we find to .consist chiefly in a transverse and ante- ro-posterior equipoising of the superior trunk over and upon the body's center of gravity; and by the aid of mathematical law, this centre is demonstrated to be located in two lumbar vertibraB. This latter is a fundamental and controlling point which is rendered apparent by a glance at figures 1 and 2.
Pig. 1, (front) shows by vertical line b b, and oblique lines c c, c c, that when the equal limbs tread evenly, the upward or resistant force of the earth on the one hand, and the downward force of the superior trunk on the other, must converge in the lumbar vertebrae on perpendicular line b b, ^hich is vertical to a point equidistant between the feet, and so balance the body transversely, over the point of con- vergeance.
8 78
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
b b vertical line, traversing the en- tire medical line of the spinal col- umn, and falling equidistant between the feet, c c, c c, line from the basal and upper'corners of the trunk and converging in the lumbar spine on b b, illustrating that to be the point where the upward or resistant force of the earth througlf each leg, and the downward force of the body, con*^ verge as upon a transverse center of gravity, and so literally press the body ill to transverse symmetry upon that point.
Hg. 1 CDpyriiM ISffi by E, T* Ba9nEn|, M^ D.
PHILOSOPHY OF THE ERECT POSTURN.
379
A A, vertical line, showing tip of noAe, pubes and large toe, all to be in line when the body is erect. C C, line showing extreme occiput to be vertical to extreme heel, and that there should be a considerable space between it and the lumbar spine. B B, lin^ passing through the cervical and lumbar me- dulla spinalis, and also the hip, knee, and ankle-joints, showing all these points also to be in line, and that the lumbar curve is the body's antero-pos- terior center of gravity. L L, K K, oblique lines transversing the advanc- ing and retreating spinal planes, and intersecting in B B, in lumbar curve, thus giving mathematical proof that the lumbar spine is the body's antero- posterior center of gravity and spinal axis.
C B
Fig. 2 CopTriiht 1906 by £. P. Banning, M. D.
380 THE MEDICAL a'DVANCE.
Fig. 2 (side), shows that when the body is per pendicular to itself, the gravity of the superior trunk balances (antero- posteriorly) over and upon two lumbar vertibrae — the lum- I bar and dorsal curves acting as neutralizing equivalents re-
ciprocally. If the latter were not so, perpendicular line b b, and oblique lines K K, L L, could not all of them intersect precisely at one and the same point in the lumbar vertebrae, as they are compelled to do by virtue of inexorable law.
Thus, then, it appears clear that when this two-pillared pile is perpendicular, it constitutes a complete microcosmic- centripetal system in itself, with the lumbar spinal curve for its centre, and that from and around the latter, all the antagonistic musular forces and motions play in activity, and return to it in repose, exemplifying the law that all orderly systems work from centre to circumference, not from circumference to centre; and also that when equipoised upon this centre the body, in both . its axes, is hterally pressed into symmetry by and in the ratio of its own gravity • and must so remain until centripetality is broken by habit
' or other disturbing force. It further appears that when
I this lumbar curve is in this mathematical centre of the body
it is both the source and the arbiter of all the superior trunkal movements and bearings, and that until it either ad- vances or retreats the superior trunk can make no consid.er- able motion either way without falling. That is, in bowing the lumbar spine must first retreat behind its central bear- ing, or, in leaning back of that point, the latter must first advance. Hence it is then, that if the thumb is firmly pressed upon the lumbar curve of an upright man (at the true axis), an attempt to bow will bring the whole body's weight to bear against the thumb, so anxious is the centre I to retreat to allqw the superior trunk to advance, and if the,
< effort to throw the chest forward is great, and the thumb
( , holds firmly, the heels must rise and the body fall (turn up
at root). Hence also, why, when the experiment is changed \ and the thumb is held some two inches from the ' spinal
I centre, that centre will retreat and touch the thumb in bow-
ing. The philosophical inference of this is, that all the
i
WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH HOMEOPATHY? 381
graceful motions of the superior trunk are derived from, and dependent uiK)n, preceding opposite movements of the lum- bar spine, and never otherwise, and that the unsuspected source of both physical symmetry and deformity lies in this spinal centre, and that this is the point at which to first op- erate, both for the continuance of symmetry and removal of deformity. This idea also explains the fixed fact, that gross aud cumbrous bodies are proverbially more erect and sure- footed than those which are slight and lean. That is, the spinal centre is,in them,so shoved in advance of a line verti- cal to the ankle, as to compel the superior trunk to be poised sufficiently behind that point to antagonize the force of an- terior abdominal weight.
72 Madison St., Chicago, May 25, 1908.
WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH HOMEOPATHY?
By C. E. Fisher. M. D.
Last month while visiting my good friend Dr. Orme, of Atlanta, and while discussing with his wife the times of Holcombe, Bailey and Belden, of Dake, Hardenstein and Murrell, of Schley, Falligant and other notable pioneers of Homeopathy in the South, and the absence of activity and ' earnestness in its interests and cause today, I was patheti- cally asked:
**Dr. Fisher, what is the matter with Homeopathy, any- way?"
The next day while visiting a good old lady of eighty* two years, at Athens, whose husband, father and two broth- ers had been conscientious and successful homeopathic phy- sicians for a combined period of near two hundred years, and who had been bom, nurtured and reared in. the faith, and who now in the closing years of her eventful life is hardly able to find a homeopathic doctor outside the large cities, and even there but few who practice as did her hus- band, father and brothers, most appealingly inquired of mer
**What is the matter with Homeopathy ^ these days. Dr. Fisher?" *lt isn't as it used to be," she said. *'Then, when a physician called himself a homeopath we knew what to
882
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
1
depend upon, but now it makes little difference what h professes to be — ^the treatment isn't the same."
A week later I spent the night with a physician frien in New York, and in discussing men and things home( pathic in general, out was blurted the question:
'*What is the matter with Homeopathy now-a-days? ] isn't as it was in the days of Gram and Gray, nor even i the days of Dowling, Helmuth, Allen, Hallock and the rest
Two days later I was in Chicawfo, and in going over tt work and personnel of the profession of that great one homeopathic city, my warm friend. Dr. Bailey, for so man years registrar of Hahnemann Medical College, when tl classes numbered from two hundred and fifty to three huni red, quietly remarked:
*'It isn't as it once was, Fisher, with us. Things ha^ changed. We havn't the old interest, the old enthusiasi the old loyalty, any more. We havn't the preceptors, wii their sons and daughters as students, and with the sons ai daughters of their patients as students- Things ha^ changed. Something seems to be the matter. What is it
An hour later a specialist in Chicago, in rambling co versation, in asking me how things are in my part of tl vineyard, voiced almost exactly the same sentiments in 8 most exsctly the same words.
Two days later I was in Minneapolis — you see I ha been * 'going some" lately — and within ten minutes after ha ing set foot among the doctors in their splendid offices the magnificent city of the Great Northwest, there came t same inquiry:
**Fisher, you travel about a great deal and see thin everywhere. What is the matter with Homeopathy ov the country?"
Three days later I was in Washington, and no less personage than the venerable, versatile, homeopathica virtuous and vigorous J. B. Gregg Custis, in commenti with me on the fact that last year I was compelled to e ploy eleven young physicians at $100.00 per month, boa and horsefeed for each, and had not been able to get ev
i
WHAT IS THE MATTER WtTH HOMEOPATLY? 388
one homeopath among the lot, because they were not to be had in Virginia and North Carolina, almost indictintly in quired:
** What's the matter with Homeopathy down your way?"
And thus it is!
From Georgia to New York, from New York to Chicago, from Chicago to Minneapolis, from Minneapolis to Washing- ton, all over, everywhere, by everybody. ** What's the matter with Homeopathy?'' What is my answer I
Nothing's the matter with Homeopathy! It's all right, first, last and all the time. Its law is just as true to-day as in Hahnemann's day. Its dosage is just as effective now as it ever was. Its prescriptions are just as meritorious as ever. Its results at the bedside are just as satisfactory as in the days of BOnninghausen and Jahr.
Homeopathy as Homeopathy is all right! But the You, and the We, and the Us of^it are at fault. Just a little comparison, if you will! Every old school journal we pick up pronounces that the ''profession is over -crowded." Is it so with Homeopathy?
My friends Drs. Bailey and Aldrich and Custis will probably answer in the affirmative, in so far as our cities are concerned.
Perhaps 'tis so there. But is it true elsewhere than in the large cities of the country? I am painfully able to answer in the negative. For instance:
In my railroad hospital work in Western Maryland, forty miles east of Cumberland, I was altogether unable to secure the services of a single homeopathic assistant, but for two years was compelled to employ and work with physi- cians of the old school only.
^^xt, in my railroad work in Virginia, with a seventy- two bed hospital and eight young physicians '*riding the
t
384 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
line" of one hundred and eight miles of Tidewater Railroad our company was building, I was wholly unable to secure the services of a single homeopath; and in my hospital be- sides the eight physicians employed on my line work, I en- joyed a very profitable and pleasant association with a staff of five old school physicians, all of whom gratefully accept- ed my appointments as a compliment, and all of whom ren- dered me most valuable surgical assistance during my two ' years of hospital residence and work at East Radford. I was even unable to secure the services of a homeopathic surgical interne at this hospital, although I communicated . with several hospitals in the North and East upon the subject.
Next, and last, in the hospital service I was called upon to establish in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina last May, while the hospital in Virginia was still in full operation, I have had to employ at different times seven allopathic physicians and have been able to get but one young homeopath, he from Chicago, from the Chicago Homeopathic and Cook County Hospital, and the crudest prescriber I have had on my lists, though from splendid homeopathic stock.
So something must be the matter, in some way, or these situations would not exist.
Take the South, for example!
It was once a mighty stronghold for Homeopathy — the home and field of a dozen giant defenders and promulgators of the faith, men who literally fought, bled, and at times all but died for the glory of their cause. In the frightful cholera epidemic of 1866, these men did not proclaim their Homeo- pathy good for all the ailments of mankind and womankind — except cholera, yellow fever, diphtheria, and other severe diseases! They waded right in, conscious of the value and power of their guiding principles, and equally confident'of the power and value of their tiny little doses of the little white pills, which were the rule those days, and they placed the banner of a straight Homeopathy high on the ramparts- as their frightful epidemics were conquered.
WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH HOMEOPATHY? 385
When yellow fever, that most dreaded of all the scourges of those days, laid his foul hand upon the fair women and the gallant men of their land they faltered not, nor submis- sively crept on their bellies to some laboratory door- step and whiningly begged for succor of toxins and the hypodermic, but courageously went forth, by day and by night, where death lurked in every nook and cranny and crevice, where the deadly stegomzia stung and bit and attacked indiscriminately, and whose relation to the battle was not dreamed of, and with their little white pellets bombarded the citadels of the enemy and came off more than victorious.
With them it was not that * 'Homeopathy is good enough for women and children but when you come to the epidemics we must have something stronger!"
**Die Milde Macht ist Gross," was their dosage slogan.
'*Similia, Similibus Curantur," was their battle cry.
An<J they won victories the like of which we to-day wot naught of.
The *'matter" lies with us; we are of ''little faith."
That the old school has made progress within a quarter of a century that is little short of marvelous is not to be gainsaid.
Nevertheless, it is just as true that Homeopathy outwits it at the bedside as it ever was, and he who sticks to his text need have no fear.
I speak this advisedly.
Not before, in my thirty years of previous experience, had I the chance to compare homeopathic treatment with allopathic, by personal contact and immediateness of obser- vation, as since I have been in my present work.
All my associates and employes have been allopaths.
All of them have been bright men.
Never were there congregated better practitioners or sharper fellows for their years than two -thirds of the "boys" I have been employing.
They have been from the Richmond and other Virginia schools, for the most part, and I want to testify to the thoroughness of the teaching they have had • in all the ele-
386 ' THE MEDICAF. ADVANCE.
mentary and essential branches, except in therapeutics, and I can even here testify that of their kind that, too, has been excellent.
My hospital staff, also, has been made up of splendid physicians and able surgeons, one with thirty years' experi- ence and two others with five years each, in fields that gave them large and varied opportunity, and in everthing surgi- cal I have found them the peers of men of their age and ex- perience in any section of the country.
In the matter of medication we have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars for the drugs they have been taught to use, not denying them in the least; but, as these have been shipped out fr6m the hospital to their headquart- ers and to the various camps over which they have presided there have been included a few homeopathic polychrests with simple directions in staple conditions, and I am glad to be able to state that in nearly every instance I have found these young men sending in requisitions, more and more, for the homeopathic medicines-
To such an extent is this true that we now carry a far smaller supply of old school drugs than formerly, and a cor- resix)ndingly larger lot of my own.
I have not attempted proselyting in the least.
My library has been open in the hospital office, and I have interestedly watched and noted the interest they have shown in our work on practice.
This interest was at first that of the antagonist, next of the skeptic, next of the inquirer in some case that was not getting along well, and lastly of the doctor who had found results and wanted to know more about something which in college had always been proclaimed a delusion and a snare.
One of my young man is now **almost persuaded," and speaks of taking a course in a homeopathic college. An- other uses more of Homeopathic medicines than of his own, and still a third frankly admits that he gets results from some of the homeopathic remedies than he does from any that he has heretofore employed.
Not alone, however, have I this evidence to offer.
WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH HOMEOPATHY? 387
In my own work, among men of all nationalities, of whom we had twenty-one of different nations at one time, I have invariably found the straight homeopathic drug the best of all, always in the one-remedy -,at-a-time, and in the medium potencies, in all the severer diseases, as typhoid fever, tunnel pneumonia, accute dysentery, and the sepses that all too often follow infection before my surgical cases can be brought to me.
In more than one exceedingly violent or long drawn case of typhoid or of pneumonia I have yielded to suggest- ions from my old school colleagues and have interpolated drug stimulants or have used adjuvants, but always to my regret: and as invariably as I have come back to the home- opathic similimum have I been rewarded with better success.
The rather unusual courtesy which has been shown me by old school physicians in strictly old school territory, with almost everything savoring of prejudice and intole- rence, ha-s caused me to try to be equally courteous ani tol- erant, and I have attempted to avoid forcing Homeopathy upon them. But it is a pleasure and of some value, I hope, to be able to state that their tolerance of a homeopathic physician has . led them to be somewhat tolerant of his methods, and more than once have I either prescribed for them or directed them in prescribing for others, the result being that I look upon this mission-field as an exceedingly inviting one for tactful and capable homeopathic physi- cians.
The bitter prejudices that existed when first I went South, thirty-five years ago, when medical arguments had often to be sustained at the muzzle of a gun, have largely died out. Times and men have changed. Old school medi- cation has changed. No longer can the allopath sneer at or decry infinitisimals. Only ^'heroic medication," massive dosage, quantities almost elephantine in size, and crude things of exceeding nauseating capabilities were looked upon as of value then. But the gentle influence of Home- opathy were all the time subtley at work, and latterly the laboratory has taught the old school to be tolerant, to see
f^^,^:•J lis--'
888
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
strength in small things, to recognize that ix)toncy doesn't mean sledges, crowbars and mauls.
The time is propitious for Homeopathey.
What are we going to do about it?
We need ten thousand more homeopathic doctors today.
Isn't this an exaggeration? Emphatically, *'No!''
Every town, village, hamlet and crossroads needs them.
They are needed everywhere, especially throughout the
South.
« *• * « »
Homeopathy is just the same.
Homeopathy is **all right.''
Homeopathy is just as good today as it ever was, and it is just as much better today than the very best old school treatment that has yet been given us than it was better in those pioneer' years than was the blunderbuss methods of their time.
The fault lies in us.
It is lethargy, indifference to our pathy, preoccupation with the whirling business affairs of the times in which we live, a neglect to take students as formerly and train them for college in the good old homeopathic way,so they will not be contaminated by the allopathic tommyrot of which some of our colleges teach all too much.
If we will but awaken to a sense of the mighty respon- sibilities that rest upon our careless heads and yielding shoulders;
If we will but take advantage of the splendid opportuni- ties which a crowded old school profession and a homeopa- thy-needing public now offer;
If we will but vaccinate our systems with the enthusiasm and zeal which characterized our predecessors of pioneer times, the great field of uncultivated territory will yield our profession a splendid harvest of glory and coin, and Home- opathy will prosper as before.
It is not my aim to speak in platitudes;
To deal in hyperbole;
To offer volubility of words with a paucity of ideas;
RADIUM BROMIDE. 889
But to present in a feeble way a plain truth as I am made to see it in getting about over the world, perhaps more than the average physician.
I see the need of thousands more of -honestly homeo- pathic physicians.
I see that the people want and will employ them.
I see that not alone the pioneers who are passing away but the pioneer public, who know what Homeopathy was, and believe they know what it should be today, recognize our decadence in zeal and effort and want an awakening.
Would it not be worth the while for each homeopathic physician to try to send to our colleges, or to those of them that by their curricula show that they are trying honestly to teach Homeopathy as a scientific and creditable method of practice, at least one student each year for the next ten
years?
I speak for no college!
I speak for no selfish interest!
I speak for the general public!
I speak for the vacant fields everywhere seen.
I believe I speak the truth! — Medical Century,
RADIUM BROMIDE: A PROTING.
By John 'H. Clarke, M. D., London. ,
SYMBOLS USED.
In the subjoined schema every symptom is referred to the proving in which it occurred by a number appended to it. The sign C") means that the observation is from an ex- periment; (^) means that the symptom is a cured one.
CLINICAL USES OP RADIUM.
Acne, cancer, eczema, constipation, corns, epistaxis, erythema, hemorrhage, hemorrhagic cancer, nevi, neuras- thenia; nose, affections of, catarrh of, redness of; prurigo, psoriasis, skin affections generally; trachoma, ulcers.
RELATIONSHIPS OF THE REMEDY.
Radium bromide is controlled by Rhus ven. It is fol- lowed well by Rhus ven., Sepia and Calcarea. It compares with Calcarea in < by wetting, and with Carbo an in < by shaving. In pruritts ani with blue light.
890 THE MEDICAL, ADVANCE.
Symptoms move from right to left (eyes). Symptoms of ears and chest alternate with symptoms of stomach.
I will now give a proving of another description, and a very remarkable one it is. I take it from an article by Dr. Burleigh Parkhurst, of Los Angeles, Cal., which appeared in the Pacific Coast Journal of Homeopathy of June, 1904. Dr. Parkhurst's article I consider one of the most valuable con- tributions which have hitherto appeared on the action of this remedy. I shall make large quotations from it, and I wish here to record my most cordial thanks to Dr.Parkhurst for publishing his experience. He has used Radium inter- nally as well as externally, and I believe the first internal use recorded is that contained in his article. I quote now from his article what I term
PROVING V.
Dr. Parkhurst says: **The most remarkable experiment that I have ever seen reported was that of Goldberg, of St. Petersburg. He fastened to his arm 75 mg. of Radium in a box, the exposure being made through a mica window. The box was strapped to the arm for three hours. The strength of the Radium is not stated, but probably it was a low grade Radium because of the quantity used, and also because at that time low grade Radium was more commonly used. (Fourth day). — In four days after the exposure a red patch appeared, which became larger and increased until on the fourteenth day there was a necrotic ulcer, which spread in a serpiginous form.
**Later, four other similar ulcers appeared on the chin, on the hand, and one in the groin, affecting the tissue down to and including the corium. These lesions broke down in a superficial sloughing ulcer, which increased for several days and then retrograded and gradually healed, the distant lesions healing first.
(Twenty-first day). — ** After three weeks the first lesion on the arm was an atonic ulcer in process of repair. Prom first to last there was no pain, no swelling or heat locally, and no fever or other constitutional symptom. The ulcer was cold, necrotic and torpid.
RADIUM BROMIDE 391
"You will notice," continues Dr. Parkhurst, **that this is very different in action from an X-ray dermatitis, and therefore the action of the radium rays i» definitely different from the action of the X-ray. I think that the ulcers which appeared at parts distant from the site of exposure are of considerable significance, although I have seen no comment made upon it. To my mind, taken in connection with certain characteristics in a case of my own, which I will call your attention to later, there is some kind of metastatic actum. It seems to me most probable that the blood serum is one of those substances which are capable of becoming radio- active, and that in this case tne blood became radio-active and had an effect on the tissues distant from the point of exposure wherever from any cause the vitality was weakened." (Italics mine, J. H. C.)
Passing from this proving, I will now give a case treat- ed with Radium rays by Dr. Parkhurst, because this case shows so plainly the constitutional action of the rays and confirms certain points in the provings detailed above.
In this connection I may say that, though I had marked Dr. Parkhurst's paper for future reference, I was unaware of its essential importance until I studied it recently. Great was my pleasure to find that many of the symptoms of my provings were confirmed by Dr. Parkhurst's observations.
**The first case," says Dr. Parkhurst, * *that I got f or exp>eriment with Radium was one of inoperable carcinoma of the cervix. The woman should have been operated upon six or eight months previously. When I was called in, the case was in the last stages. She probably had not more than ten days or three weeks to live. Locally the vagina was entirely filled with a mass which involved apparently the posterior wall of the uterus. The vagina was so com- pletely filled that it was diflftcult to get the finger within the introitus vulve. The systemic condition was one of apathy and torpor. She was edematous from one end of the body to the other. She was in a jaundiced condition, had not slept without an opiate for a considerable time, could not raise herself from the pillow nor turn herself in bed, pro-
392 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
foundly anemic, had no appetite, no action of the bowels to speak of, passing very little water, and was beginning to have, with a weak heart action, a dangerous dyspnea. Mentally she was torpid and apathetic, and it was evidently only a question of days before she would drop away. You can see that this was not a very favourable case for the action of any remedy. Treatment with Radium was only suggested as a last resort, and with the understanding that nothing was expected beyond the mere satisfaction of know- ing that everything that could be tried had been tried. But almost from the first the effect was startling. The patient died, it is true, but for some time the favourable results of the change of treatment were most interesting, and, as I say, startling. I should like to give the history of this case somewhat in detail.
We began very carefully, because we did not know how active the Radium might be upon normal tissue. The Radi- um used was 10 mg.of pure Radium bromide in a glass tube, the same tube that I have shown you already. Ibelieve it to be of a radio activity of over 1,000,000; at any rate, it is the highest grade of Radium that I can get in the market to- day. I wrapped this small tube in cott6n and that again in lead foil in such a way as to allow the end of the tube to project from the covering. I inserted this to the bottom in a glass vaginal plug, and inserted this within the vulval opening as far as it would go. For the first few treatments the exposure was five minutes every day. It was then in- creased to ten minutes for five treatments, when, from the action of these eight treatments the result was so marked that we gave her placebo to watch the case. These marked results were as follows:
(Third day). — ** After three days' treatment the discharge from the vagina had become very profuse, and she was very much easier as to general comfort, and began to be interest- ed in what was going on. (Sixth day).— On the sixth day she sat up in bed. She had begun to want something to eat and the dyspnea was getting less. (Eighth day). — On the eighth day discharge was still going on, the dropsy was
RADIUM BROMIDE. 393
improving?, the jaundice was disappearing, the tumor was ^o much less in size that there was quite a space around it in the vagina. She was much more cheerful and in every- way was much better. She had been regularly without any opiate whatever, almost from the first, and had had a move- ment of the bowels quite naturally. For a week she had placebo, during which time the favourable action continued. She was bright and cheerful and there was some slight red- ness beginning to appear in her cheeks. The tumor was getting less :n size, and, as I say, the improvement was general.
About this time we made an examination of the tumor with electric light and found the abnormal tissue covered with a white necrosis, which was continually slough- ing off, sometimes in fluid, sometimes in flakes, and even in shreds. From this time on progress was continuous and of the same character, until once she got out of bed by herself, although she had to be helped in again, and the tumor finally became so small that the whole vagina was patulous and we could make out only the hardness in the body of the uterus and some small masses around the external os pos- teriorly, which were apparently getting less.
On the twenty-first day this improvement began to cease. Her appetite began to get less; the urine, which had been almost normal, increased, and she began to feel weak- er again. We began to increase the dosage of the Radium, which we did until we were giving fifteen minutes' exposure every day; but we could not bring back the improvement, as she gradually failed, with return of the old symptoms of dropsy, he%rt failure, and finally dyspnea, and she died in a few days, dropping off very quietly from exhaustion, with no pain or discomfort, the end coming within four or five days of the cessation of improvement* We had been so surprised by the action of the Radium in this case that we did not know what to expect. We hardly believed that the woman could live, and yet the improvement was so remark- able that we were almost willing to believe anything. As it was, instead of having her drop off in torpor in a few days,
394 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
we kept her alive, comfortable, bright and happy for the better part of a month. And I believe that if we had had this case much earlier it would have been a case of carcino- ma cure; but it was too far gone, and there was not enough vitality left to carry the thing through. Several things in connection with this case I should like to note. When we began treatment there was a small, nevus-like spot on the end of the nose, which had been increasing for some time. This, under the action of Radium, apparently decreased until it disappeared altogether. It seems to me that this must be due to some action similar to the metastatic spots that I spoke of in Goldberg's case. If this action of Radium was not through the blood, how did it come about? Another characteristic result is one which I have noticed in every case where Radium has been used^ocally. The bowels be- gan to move normally and continued to act as long as she lived. The action on the dropsy and on the kidneys seemed to be similar".
Thus far Dr. Parkhurst's case strickingly illustrates the constitutional action of Radium when externally applied, and it shows that the action is not merely local as is general- ly supposed. It fully confirms proving No. 1 in a most un- portant detail — the disappearance of a canceroderm on the face as well as in the relaxing effect on the bowels.
CASES TREATED WITH RADIUM,
Before going on to detail my own cases I will conclude my quotations from Dr. Parkhurst by giving his. He used "radio- active water,'' and this is the first record I know of in which the remedy was used internally.
RADIO-ACTIVE WATER.
**I hav^e personally used," he says, "radioactive water, or at least water which I supposed to be radio-active, inas- much as I had exposed it for from twenty-four to forty-eight hours to the action of the Radium. I administered internally in two cases, the patient taking several glasses of the water in twenty -four hours."
Case l.~Nr.urustlitnia, congtipaUonj acne rosacea.
The tirdt case was one of neurasihenla, with an imdiagnoeable oon
RADIUM BROMIDE. 395
ditioD in the epigastric ree^ion, with a great deal of pain ahout the pylorus, DO tumor or other local lesion discoverable. We tried Radium water in hopes of quieting the pain. She was very constipated, and we noticed that the bowels began immediately to act more regularly. Her appetite increased and the power to taste, which had been absent, grad. ually returned. She also reported that a catarrhal condition of the larynx improved. The most remarkable result, however, and the one for which I report this case, was the improvement in an old acne rosacea about the nose and cheeks. This condition began to clear up at once, and when we left off treatment was practically well. She took four glasses a day of the water, which was prepared by immersing the glass tube of the Radium in a gallon of water for twenty-four hours. Thia woman had been addicted to morphine and other drugs to quiet her oerTes, and, of course, that complicated the case. She had the radio- active water every day for four weeks, when I stopped treating her, be- cause I could not see that I was doing her enough good to advise her to keep on.
Case 2. — Acne ros(uea.
A sister of the last patient, a stout, florid woman, had a similarly unhealthy skin, marked rosacea of the face, wished to take radium water because it helped her sist^tr so much. She took it for two weeks, and the rosacea was very markedly improved, but she stopped treatment be- fore the rosacea was well because she said she did not like to drink so much water. She was taking four glasses a day of water prepared at the same time and in the ^ame way as that I was giving her sister.
I will now record some of my own cases, and I may point out that in nearly all of them a single dose of the remedy was given in exactly the same potency as that used in the proving. This disposes of the somewhat specious ^'explanation" of homeopathic cures by postulating an **op- posite action of large and small doses.'' The dose which caused was the dose which cured, and the potency was the same in both.
Case 3. — Pnmgo.
A colleajr^ie consulted me about himself in October, 1906. He was suffering from an itchinsr of the arms chiefly, but extending all over the body. I iirst bugge&ted Aethiops antimonialis, and here is his report thereaftar: —
'^November .3, 1906.— I have been on ^thiops since I saw you, but with little or no improvement, and this itching hide of mine makes life a burden. No definite synaptoms, except aggravation towards evening and night, worse on the arms and neck, but extending more or less all over, not burning itching, but simply irritation with raised surface after
396 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
scratching. Have tried everything likely— Urtica, Croton tig., Copaivi,, Antipyrin 2x &c., &c., and am really getting desperate.''
This forcibly reminded me of proving No. I., and so I prescribed a single powder containing six globules of Radium 30. In a week he re- ported himself distinctly better. The improvement steadily went od to complete cure in a few weeks' time, without further repetition of the remedy.
Case 4.— Prwriflfo.
Mrs. C, aged 84, had a paralytic attack affecting the left side of the body in March, 1906. The disease followed influenza, and was probablj occasioned by it. The patient was previously otherwise healthy, except that she was somewhat feeble on her legs.
May 20, 1907.— She wrote from the country to ask if I could do aoy thing for an intolerable itching seizing her day and night at intervals, affecting the back across the shoulders and down the backa of the arms. A carbolic lotion which had been prescribed by an allopath failed to gi?e any permanent relief, though it eased temporarily. Had. brom. 30. one dose.
May 24.— Itching not quite so persistent. Begins at 2 a.m. and lasts till the lotion is applied. After a week the lotion was discontinued.
June 6. — Attack now begins 3 a.m. and lasts till 4 a.m. then dies down tin breakfast. It is intolerable for the hour.
June 16. — I was in the country and had an opportunity of seeing toe patient and her attendants. The latter were very emphatic about the improvement. The patient does not disturb her nurse at all in the night now, and the irritation does not come on till 5 a.m. There is none at all during the day. I was able to ^tisfy myself that there was no eruption of any kind. The skin was perfectly smooth and natural, except for a very slightly roughened patch over the left scapula. Repeat Rad. brom.
July 4. — Better. . July 21.— Well.
Case b,—Gorn of right foot.
I gave to a gentleman aged 60, who had long had an eruptien of psoriasis on the back, a Bingle dose of Radium bromide 30 on July 27, 1906. There was no marked effect on the eruption, but ttie patient noticed that a corn fell off from the right foot, though a similar 4*oro on the left foot was unaffected.
Case Q— Eczema;
Mr. A. D., aged 34, tall, fair, reddish hair, subject to hay fever, and one attack had an abscess in the nose, after that he h*id boils in various parts, and following the boils eczema. He had taken in his time '^gallons of tonics," and in spite of that had been loosing weight slowly for the last two years. He had been twice vaccinated, the last time two or three years before I saw hira. Before the boils cam- out he used to suffer from headaches. The localities in which the eczema was worse
RADIUM BROMIDE. 397
were the penif, scrotum and groins, which were vividly red and moist. The axille were also affected and there was a good deal about the face. In the groins the irritation wis excessive, affected, no doubt, by the patient having hernia and being compelled to wear a truss. Thuja .30, and afterwards Sulphur 30 at bedtime, were given and Nux v. 30 in the morning. On February 3, 1905, the condition was as follows:— Left eye Bwolien up; light very painful. Eczema on face, axille, groins, penisi scrotum. Itching very great on hairy parts. Without discontinuing the morning *dose of Nux which he had been taking some time, I stopped the Sulphur and gave a single dose of Had. brom. 30,
March 6. — Better. Irritation decidedly better. Axille clear. Scrotum very much better. Slight eczema in moustache. The back has come out in a crop of acne, which is spreading partly over the chest. He feels more fit. Freer from headaches. Not repeated.
April 3.— Eczema got very much better. Then, fourteen days ago, boils came again. Headaches lately troublesome. Bowels act daily. Anus irritable; a little external pile. Eczema rather vivid where truss pres* ses. Scrotum not bad. Chest and back spotty. Repeat Had. brom. one dose.
May 12, 1905— Eczema decidedly better. Penis and scrotum nearly well. No hay fever. Right eyelid feels heavy and right eye hurts if he reads at night. Repeat.
July 12.— Scrotum all right. Very much better altogether. Very little hay fever.
In this ease and th^ next the skin trouble was most severe about the generative organs. The fact that in prover No 1, the first manifestation appeared in this region gave one point of similarity — locality. And although in the prover there was no irritation in this part, there was very great irritation elsewhere, and this gave a second point of similar- ity. It is quite practicable to combine the qualities of separate symp- toms in searching for a simile.
Case 1.— Eczema scroti,
Mr. M, T., aged 28, had had syphilis seven years before, and had still some faint symptoms of it about him. But he was more psoric than syphilitic, though in general health strong and robust. This patient was also a hay-fever subject. One of his chronic ailments was a serpigi- nous eczema of the scrotum, which scaled at times, and at times got moist and oozing; it involved the penis to a slight extent, and was at- tended with a good deal of itching.
May 5, 1904. — Scrotum which has been better under Primula obcon- ica for some weeks, is again sore. Rad. brom. 30, 24 numbered pow- ders, numbers 1, 11 and 17, medicated, with 6 globules of the remedy.
May 30. — In a week the scrotum began to improve and got practi- cally well; today it has started again a little.
After this Primula obconica was given, then Psorinum in view of
398 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
hay- fever. During the latter part of the time the scrotum got worse, and on July 25 Had . brom. was repeated in a single dose, and agidn on August*26 and September 4. The scrotum kept well till the latter pan of the time, and then other remedies were given. On December 1 Bad. brom. was again given, but without good result. On the Ist October following it again did good for a time. In this ease the relief was ot\j temporary.
Case S.— Eczema prepxUialis.
Mr. J. C, aged 43, had eczema of the inner surface of the prepuce and glans and also about the anus, which gave him a ^ood deal of annoy- ance. I had given him several remedies with some improvement, but not permanent. On October 28, 1907, the itching was giving a good deal of trouble, and I prescribed Rad. brom., repeating it at intervals of ten days or so.
November 25, 1907. — Much better; penis better; anus nearly normal. A fortnight after receiving Rad. brom. had an irritable patch on the right foot, which disappeared later. Repeat.
Case 9. — Eczema ptrinet.
On March 6 last Mrs, N., aged 54, consulted me for piles, which she had had about a year, and constipation, which she had had several years. But her biggest trouble was an intolerable irritation about the anus, spreading for a considerable distance round which was an angry area of eczema, which had been present three months. As the patient had been vaccinated four years previously, and as the vaccination **took tremend- ously,'' I put her on Thuja 30 to start with. Under this all symptoms be- came worse, and Graphites 6 given later did not improve matters.
April 4. — Bowels acting better but irritation very bad; skin feels very dry as if bak^d. Irritation comes suddenly; is just as bad when the attacks are on, but is freer in the intervals. Rad. brom. 30, num- bers 1 and 17, in 36 powders, one night and morning as numbered*
April 22. — Repeat; rather better; no more medicine.
May 2. — Anus looks very much better. Patient had been consti- pated for two or three days, and had to use glycerine suppositoriej^. Ir- ritation better after that, ^scul. hip. 30, gtt. v., in wine glass of water morning on rising. Rad. brom 30, nunabers I and 11 in 24 pow- ders, one at bed-time as numbered.
May 28. -Anus practically well in appearance, though at times Ir- ritable. SiooIh normal.
The eczema was cured; it was Radium which started the cure and completed it.
Case 10,--Eryth€ma of face and nose toith ncisal catarrh.
Miss P., aged 20, was brought to me on July 3, l'jK)7, complaining of an eruption which she had had on her nose since she was 15, that is to say, when the periods began. She was tall, well developed, and, but for this disfigurement, a particularly handsome girl. She had had measles
RADIUM BROMIDE. 399
and whooping cough Id InfaDcy and chicken-pox after she was 15. Sha was unvaccinated.
The present trouble was this. She had a red shining nose, the red- ness iuvaded the adjacent parts of the face. The nose burned and itched. It was aggravated by any form of exercise, which caused her nose to bleed and made it painful. In addition to this there was catarrh with (rreen discharge, filling five handkerchiefs in a day. The redness was worse after meals.
The patient also suffered from painful menstruation. The periods were reorular. The pains were referred to the region of ovaries and the legs. She began to feel pain a week before* Sbe had moist hands and feet. She had had no chilblains for two years and not severely then. She was much worse in cold weather.
I first prescribed Carcinosln 100. This made no marked change, though there was less discharge and less bleeding than formerly at the end of a month.
July 23, 1907.— Rad. brom. 30, single dose.
August 27. — This time she reported a marked change. The nose does not now bleed half as much as it used to do. It bleeds once a week and tliis occurs on rising in the morning. This improvement has been observed the last fortnight. Formerly any kind of exercise would cause bleeding; this is not so now. The discharge continues, especially after tennis. Walking does not affect it. There is still itching over the face, including the nose. Repeat.
September 26. — Very much better. Bleeding entirely stopped. Ap. pearance better, but gets very blue when the weather is cold. Has hai much pain at the period, and the pain is worse then. Repeat; also Caulophyllum 3. every hour at the period when there is paia
October 24. — Decidedly better. Catarrh entirely ceased. Bleeding only occurs if the weather is intensely cold and she is out in it. The redness of the nose improves as the day advances. Caulophyllum short- ened the pain of the period. Repeat.
Sbe was kept on the remedy till Dace in ber .S, when this note wss made: Nose feeling much better. It is much less red and so is the face. There is no burning now; it, only itches in the cold.
SCHEMATIC ARRANGEMENT OF SYMPTOMS.
Mind. — Prom being torpid and apathetic became cheer- fal (cancer of uterus treated locally with Radium).
Head. "Headache in occiput in morning; a tight feeling, worse on motion; lasted some days (2, — 2nd d.). — Much headache (3.— 3rd d.).
Eyes. Eyes smart and look red (noticed by others). Passed off and reappeared with greater intensity later. Dis-
400 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
appeared entirely in three weeks (1. — 28th d.). — Some se- cretion on lashes of right eye on waking (4. — 3rd d.). — Right eye began to feel sore with occasional sticking pains and increased secretion; symptoms continued through the Week, worse on reading, worse with artificial light, better on clos- ing eyes; schlerotic vessels injected, running to comu from both sides; occasional itching of lids, worse upper (4.— 4th d.). — Report by Dr. Macnish: **Blenorrhagia of right eye; injection of schlerotic and slight injection of lower part of cornea; slight infiltration of lower part of cornea, eye looks watery; tension same in right as in left eye; pupil of right dilates less actively than left and contracts more sluggish- ly," (4. — 5th d.). Woke with right eye very painful with feeling as if foreign body in it, better after going out into the air; rest of day felt it very little (4.— 10th d.).— Right eye much better; left eye has had sensation as if a loose eye-^ lash were in it on' several occasions, not very painful, slight soreness of ball of left eye; a few congested vessels run over the schlerotic to cornea in left eye (4. — 11th d.). — ^Tra- choma.
Ears.— Earache right ear (2.— 34th d.).— Much pain in ear, stitching and throbbing. The ear was syringed and much wax was removed from both; the ears continued to give trouble for some hours after this, and there was deaf- ness off and on (2. — 41st d.). — Throat sore, ear aching; feels as if bruised inside (2. 53ra d.).
Nose. — Much mucus in nose without having taken cold (1. — 14th d.). Pricking and peppery sensation in left nos- tril in evening (3- — 2nd d.). — ^Small nevus-like spot on end of nose which had been increasing some time disappeared (case of uterine cancer treated locally). — ^Catarrh with green discharge- — ^'Epistaxis. — *^Burning sensation in nose.
Face. — Skin of face very irritable; this gradually got worse and lasted over two months; the skin became thick- ened and broke in places when scratched (which gave the patient relief) exuded a clear moisture; aggravated by wash- ing (which caused oozing); aggravated by shaving (only pos- sible on alternate days); better by bathing in very hot.
RADIUM BROMIDE. 401
water; worse at night when warm in bed; it prevented sleep, and a handkerchief had to be kept applied to absorb the ex- udation; though scratching relieved the intense itching it was followed by burning and stinging, with oozing (Rhus v. cured) (1. — 45th d.). — Small nevi;is on chin turns black,scales off and disappears (1. — 88th d.). — Skin of face very dry (2. — 34th d.). — Slight patchy erythema diffused over forehead (4.— 5th d.). — Serpiginous ulcer on chin (5. — 18th d.). — ^An old acne rosacea about the nose and face (cured in two cases with radium water). ^Erythema of nose and face.
Mouth. — ^Tongue very sore right side, about the middle (1.— 16thd.). — Mouth dry in morning (2. — 2nd d.). — Tongue white (2.— 3rd d.).
Throat.— Throat sore, ear aching (2.— 55th d.). Appetite. — No appetite for lunch (2.— 3rd d.). — Aversion to meat; this lasted many months (2. — 3rd d,). — Cannot eat bacon for breakfast (2. — 4th d.). Unable to smoke (.—22nd d.). — This lasted till 46 ^ay of proving; on 86th day prover received Rhus ven. and two days later was able to eat bacon for breakfast. Off appetite, especially for meat (. — 8th d.). ^Appetite increased and sense of taste returned (Radium water).
Stomach. — Nausea (2. — 4th d.). — Indigestion and stuffed- up feeling alternating with headache (2. 41st d.).
Abdomen. — Inflammation of umbilicus (1)— Stuffed out feeling after food (2. — 22nd d.). — Indigestion and stuffed feeling, alternating with earache or pain in the chest; (2) — Sepiginous ulcer on groin (5. — 18th d.). — ^Hemorrhage from bowels in case of sarcoma of intestines.
Stool and Anu^. — Stools paler than normal and more frequent (1. — 14th d.). — Stools very relaxed, in loose bits, partly almost watery, darker in color; sometimes tags of mucus; did not become normal till ten weeks later (1. — 16th d.). — Bowels confined (2. — 23rd d.), — Tendency to piles t^ie last three weeks (2, — 34th d.). — ^Bowels act naturally from the first (cancer case treated locally; previously constipated and under opiates). — ®Prom being constipated bowels be- came regular (radium water). — ^Intense eczema around anus
402 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
and extending to vulva, with great irritation (Rad. brom. 30). — ^^Bloody stools; clots in the motions (in case of cancer of intestines).
Male Generatiye Organs.— Eruption of psoriasis on penis, with circular or serpiginous edges (1. — 4th d.). — ^Ec xema, moist, of penis, scrotum, groins and anus cured (Rad. brom. 30). — ^Serpiginous eczema in syphilitic and psoric subject relieved for a time. — ^Eczema of skin and inner sur- face of prepuce with irritation; eczema about anus.
Female Generative Organs,— Period delayed (2.— 34th d.). — Period a week late but not otherwise abnormal (2.— 41st d.). — Period rather less painful than usual (2. — 88th d.).
Respiration. — Feels as if she could not get air enough (2,— 3rd d.).
Larynx and Trachea.— ^Catarrhal conditions of the larynx improved. (Radium water).
Chest. — Chest feels tight as if she could not get air enough (2. — 3rd d.).— An eruption has disappeared from the chest during the proving (2. — 34th d.).— Pain in the chest alternates with indigestion and stuffed-up feeling.
Back. — Pain under left scapula; increased on moving, increased by putting shoulder back, diminished after rising (1.— 52nd d.).
Upper Limbs.— Hands cold (2.— 3rd d.).— Serpigmous ulcer on hand (5).
Lower Limbs. — A callosity or corn on inner border of right foot, which has been there twenty yeai's, was found to be almost gone; it disappeared completely soon after (1.— 16th d.).— °A corn fell off the right foot.
Sleep. — ^Sleeps regularly without any opiate (cancer case treated locally).
Fever. — Shivering, billions feeling, lasting three days (1.— 11th d.).
Generalities. — Indigestion and stuffed-up feeling alter- nate with earache or pain in the chest (2. — 41st d.). — Looked ill nearly all the time of the proving^ lost 3i pounds in weight (2). — Peels very seedy as if going to be ill; as if could hardly crawl about (2. — 55th d.). — Some general ma-
RADIUM BROMIDE. 408
laise (4. — 4th d.). — ^Relieved pains of cancer and enabled to sleep; removed jaundice and dropsy; restored life and cheer- fulness from a state of apathy and collapse in same case, (Action of rays). — ^Feels more fit.
Central nervous system (esjpecially in young animals) very sensitive to Radium; animals die of paralysis ''' — Red corpuscles lose their hemoglobin.* — Plant growth and de- velopment checked.*— Protozoa first stimulated, then die.* —Regeneration retarded.* — Development retarded.* — Fer- ments lose their power. '*'
Skin. — Eruption of psoriasis on penis with circular or serpiginous edges (1. — 4th d.). — Skin of face very irritable; this gradually got worse; the skin became thickened and broke in places, and when scratched (which gave great re* lief) exuded a clear moisture; worse on washing (which caused oozing); worse by shaving (only possible alternate days); relieved by bathing in very hot water; worse at night when warm in bed, preventing sleep; scratching, though, it relieved, caused burning and stinging (1. — 45th d.). — Small nevus on chin turns black and falls off (1.— 88th d.). — Skin of face very dry (2. — 34th d.). — An eruption, which she had on the chest before taking Radium, has disappeared (2.— 34th d.). — Slight patchy erythema diffused on forehead (4.— 5th d.). — Intense erythema which leaves a brownish pigmentation, unless ulceration follows (Roux.) — In four days after exposure a red patch appeared, which became larger and increased until on the 14th day there appeared a necrotic ulcer which spread in a serpiginous form. Later four other smaller ulcers appeared on the chin, on the hand, and one in the groin affecting the tissues down to the cori- um. These lesions broke down in a superficial sloughing ulcer, which increased for several days, and then retrograd- ed and gradually healed, the distant lesions healing first. After three weeks the first ulcer on the arm was an atonic ulcer in process of repair. Prom first to last no pain, swell- mg, heat or fever. The ulcer was cold, necrotic and torpid (5)— ^Two cases of acne rosacea of face (radium water)), — ^Two corns dropped off right foot.-^® Eczema of scrotum
404 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE
and penis and axilla cured.— ^Prurigo worse at night (two cases),
A^rayations. — Shaving, washing, warmth of bed (skin)- Motion (headache). — Worse by reading, artificial light (eyes).
Time.— Worse at night.
Amflliorations. — Bathing in very hot water. — Scratch- ing,—Closing eyes (eyes).-— Open air (eyes).
CLINICAL CASES.
By J. T. BoLAND, M. D.
Case I.— May 7th, 1907. A boy of 17 years, red face, gray eyes, dark hair, dark oily-looking skin, height five feet five inches, weight 226 pounds; short labored breathing, worse on walking fast or going up hill; heart action regular, pulse soft and flowing, 100 per minute; respirations 22 per . minute and shallow; dry hacking single cough; decided ap-
I petite for eggs and sweets; morose, aversion to company and
especially to women; had a desire to wash the hands every few minutes.
He worked in his father's store, and often during the day he would leave the store regardless of the customers who were waiting and would go across the garden to the residence to wash his hands. Has frequent nose bleed of briit(ht red blood; awakes from sleep feeling tired and has a peculiar bad feeling as the evening comes on; there is a red eruption of small hard bumps on the face and body; dark colored spots on different parts of the body that are covered with white looking scales; feet are cold and clammy and have a bad smell. Vaccinated when eight years old, the skin erui>tion appearing soon after; when eleven years old he be- gun to grow fat and has steadily increased in weight since.
I prescribed a regime according to Hahnemann's Chronic Diseases!. Gave one dose of Calcarea carb c. c.
June 10th, 1907. Much better, heart action easy and regular, 80 per minute, weight 210.
August 15th, 1907. Heart action normal, respiration free and easy, 18 per minute, weight 201; more cheerful, sleep restful; feet warm and dry.
CUNICAL CASES. 405
Were the changes the result of Calcarea carb, or the effect of a more correct livmg?
A CHILIDONIUM CASE.
Nov. 25th, 1907. I was consnlted by a woman 49 years old, the mother of five children. During the child- bearing period she had some womb trouble and an anal fist- ula with bleeding piles, for which there was an operation that was a success (surgically).
For some years there was distress after eating, caused by a formation of gas in the stomach that was relieved by belching. There was a cramping pain with an all -gone weak sensation in the stomach when it was empty that was re- lieved by eating. She was a tea drinker and described a characteristic effect of tea, "a sensation of the stomach hang- ing down in the abdomen like an empty bag."
At times there was a pain in the right shoulder under the right shoulder blade that ran around the right side, seemingly to the pit of the stomach and recurred at any time of day or night whether the stomach was full or empty.
By palpation I could make out an induration over the pit of the stomach that seemed about the size of a hen's egg which was painful to pressure, causing a continual feeling of distress.
The day previous to my examination there had been a consultation of eminent surgeons, (learned men) who had assured her that the stomach was hanging down in the ab- domen, and "the only relief obtainable would be through the fixation operation, which was accordingly arranged for, but fortunately for one and unfortunately for the other, I was permitted to anticipate it by twenty-four hours with a dose of Sulphur the 12x, and the diatetic rules according to Hahne- mann's chronic diseases, were prescribed, advising a post- ponement of the operation for thirty days.
Dec. 3rd. Much better in all respects, the empty weak feeling in the stomach being gone.
Dec. 30th. Some pain in the right shoulder and under the right shoulder blade, running around the right side to the stomach.
»^-
406
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
I gave Chelidonium maj. 200, Dunham.
Jan. 15th, 1908. Had a classical attack of grippe that was cut short by Phytolacca, and there was no sequella. Then she again received Chelidonium for the pain under the right shoulder.
Feb. 22nd. There was pain running from side to side across the hypochondriac region. I gave her Carduus mar, 1st, X, five drops night and morning.
May 20th. She wrote from the Pacific Coast that she had felt well and free from pain since last winter, until with- in the last few days there has been slight pain in the stomach.
Is that an aggravation caused by the beginning of spring, of which condition Hahnemann wrote so definitely?
A PHYTOX.ACCA CASE.
The Indians and early settlers of the southwest used the Poke Root for many different conditions of disease. The methods of using it were in the form of a tea or a poultice made from the roasted root.
The Indian woman would give it in a tea until the pa- tient showed a perceptible aggravation and then would dis- continue the treatment so long as improvement lasted. It was regarded by them as a specific for rheumatism, swelling of the glands and many forms of skin diseases, and was especially considered infallible in curing the epidemic itch that, as I remember, all seemed to have, white, black and red, old and young.
The mode of applying it for itch was to make a good sized tub of strong poke root tea and have the victims get into it and bathe in the hot tea until the whole surface of the body would be covered with large red welts, looking much like the back of a school boy after the application of a Scotch-Irish schoolmaster's wythe.
The bath would be followed by an hour's rubbing with sulphur and lard, turning the patient like a spit before a hot fire, then washing clean in hot soap suds, and that would be the end of the itching.
The roasted poke root poultice was used to cure ring- worm.
CLINICAL CASES. 407
The case of which 1 write was that of a school boy about ten years old who had had many ringworms and contracted the itch while at school. He received the above described treatment.
Prior to that time he had been in a fair condition of health, but after the treatment, though the skin remained smooth and free from itch or ringworm, there was a variable appetite — frequent loathing of food, a pronounced indiges- tion, and a great amount of flatulence and belching, bloating and rumbling in the bowels.
What was eaten would pass through the alimentary canal from in one to three hours without showing any signs of di- gestion, or there would be brown, yellow-like mucus stools or a constipation, the stool in hard balls and stuck together, and often encase in a tough, elastic, grayish- white mucu substance.
The extremes of heat or cold aggravate the bowel con- ditions and bring on a sickening griping diarrhea, stools frequent and followed by burning tenesmus. The aggrava- tion was usually early in the morning, when there would be several hot, burning, sickening stools followed by complete relief; sometimes for twenty-four hours.
The above conditions continued with varying intensity for a number of years.
After summing up the history of the case I gave Phyto- lacca at irregular intervals and in varying potencies from Ix to 12c for a period of at least one year, with the result that the ringworm was re-established. Large, red, hard, single bumps came out on different places on the skin, more on the body and thighs. The appetite became good, the di- gestion seemed perfect, the bowels regular and the mucus disappeared entirely from the stool, his weight increasing more than forty pounds.
Query — Was the trouble suppressed psora or too much Phytolacca?
L
A_, 408 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
'O. MINIA. A POTU.
./' ' . Editors Medical. Advance:— In the report of the
, , , Transactions of the Central N. Y. Society, p. 294, of your May number, Dr. Fritz asked what Hahnemann would do in a case of mania a potu.
Some years ago while traveling in a foreign country I ^^ ' spent some weeks in a town where I became acquainted with
> the leading allopathic physician. Knowing I practiced med-
icine he consulted me as to the treatment of several cases. I said nothing to him of Homeopathy until he saw the bene- fit of the suggestions I offered.
Among the cases he mentioned was one of delirium tre- mens. The subject was a member of the ^ higher house of the parliament of the kingdom. At intervals he had very severe attacks. The symptoms were very violent delirium, face much flushed and insomnia. These were all I could elicit.
I asked the doctor if he had ever read of the efficacy of small doses of medicine. No. He told me he had given the patient enough morphine to kill a dozen men.
I then suggested that his patient's system was so im- mersed with alcohol that the action of the absorbents was suspended, and that if the absorbents became active the drug would finish his patient. He had given no thought to this.
I then said: Give him Belladonna. Put two drops of the tincture in a half tumbler of water, stir well, and give ^ him a teaspoonf ul of the mixture every half hour until he has taken four dozes.
I saw the doctor two days afterward. He came to me gleefully saying: '*I never saw a remedy act so magically. After the second dose he was asleep, and is now entirely free from all symptoms."
Yours for Hahnemannian Homeopathy,
Geo. H. Clark, M. D.
116 West Walnut Lane, GermantowD, Philadelphia.
THAT UBIQUITOUS AND IRREPRESSIBLE LIE. 409
THAT UBIQUITOUS AND IBBEPBE8SIBLE LIE.
Editor Advance:
Homage to Dr. J. W. Hodg^! Success to the cause that lias fortunately enlisted his pen!
Jennerian vaccination, whatever may have been said in support of its claim for existence in medical practice in years agone, should, in the light of the safer, better, and now widely proclaimed homeopathic prophylaxis, politely bow it- self off the medical platform, instead of waiting to be kicked into disgraceful oblivion by those aroused and enraged by the needless curses it continues to inflict.
Ignorance and the barbarism under its rule are to be pitied and condoned only in regions remote from or inacces- sible to light and knowledge. Contempt is their only due where they are the result of having drawn, the blinds to ex- clude proffered light. It is not essential to true nobility that we be absolutely free from error in all regards; but to re- nounce and retract error when convinced we are in it and have promulgated it, is one of the obligations it imposes. Another is that we submit to honest te^ts the propositions that promise a demonstration of new even though unpopu- lar truths. In the scriptures it is said that certain Bereans "were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched * * * daily whether those things were so." Alas! for the rari- ty of this virtue. One who deserves the admiration of all nations once said: '*This is the condemnation that light is €ome into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light."
Acute experience outside of medical lines and extending through years has made the writer appreciative of the fol- lowing neords, used by Dr. Hodge in the closing paragraph of his article in your April issue:
"Having refuted the Franco- Prussian war statistics scores of times in newspapers and in medical journals, it seems like slaying the slain to repeat the task. It seems almost impossible to kill and bury a statistical falsehood when its testimony favors vaccination. These statistics
4l0 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
have been denied, disproved, retracted and disowned by some of the world's ablest advocates of vaccinatjion. Yet in spite of all these exposures and withdrawals, the old lie keeps marching on."
When a boy we read on the page of an old almanac the following, and though ovei forty years ago, Dr. Hodge's words recall it to mind:
An Irishman was vigorously thrashing the ground be- fore him with some kind of a rod. He was sweating pro- fusely and occasionally mopping his face with a bandana. Upon approaching him a clergyman, who had watched the performance for some time, saw a dozen or more pieces of what had been a good-sized snake lying on the ground. Turning to the hibernian he said: **Michael, that snake is dead! Why do you continue to belabor it in this way?" Looking into the enquirer's face and then pointing to some of the still squirming fragments of the reptile at his feet, Mike replied: **Thrue it is, your riverence, but don't ye see the craythur isn't sinsible to it, and that's why I'm blazin away at him."
If Dr. Hodge intends no * 'let up" till that vaccination lie he has nailed is **sinsible" of its deserved immolation, he must take patience, perseverence and perspiration into a life-long contract for his deal, and even though he should succeed, as he hopes, in burying the dead and malodorous thing, there are sufficient * 'regular" lie-lovers who would continue to erect a monument over its grave, with an in- scription to the effect that **this honored and revered de- fender of the world's greatest discovery, had died a martyr to the cause of scientific medicine, under the dastardly on- slaughts of therapeutic nihilists."
Joseph Luff, M. D.
Independence, Mo.
The Medical Advance
A Monthly Journal of Hahliemannian Homeopathy A Study of Methods and Results.
When we have to do with an art whose end is the saving of human life any neglect to make ourselves thorouKh masters of it becomes a crime.— Hahnemann,
Subscription Price - - - - Two Dollars a Year
We believe that Homeopathy, well understood and faithfully practiced, has power to Kave more lives and relieve moie pain than any other method of treai- mentever invented or discovered by man; but to be a first-class homeopathic pre- Bcriber requires careful study of both patient and remedy. Yet by patient care it can be made a little plainer and easier than it now is. To explain and define and in all practical ways simplify It Is cur chosen vork. in this good work we ask your help.
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JUNE, 1908.
EbltodaU
In the appendix will be found an address delivered by President CJopeland at the meeting of the Illinois State So- ciety, to which we call special attention, and which will well repay a careful reading. It is a very able presentation of the so-called scientific end of Homeopathy.
Ppr many years some of our ablest men have been seek- ing for an acknowledgment by the scientific world of the fact that Homeopathy is based not only upon law but science, and that its practise can be demonstrated in the laboratory as scientific. In this address Dr. Copeland claims that the ablest and foremost laboratory men in the medical world have now demonstrated that the system of therapeutics founded by Hahnemann is scientific. We have long known that every advance in science has verified Hahnemann's
412 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
predictions; not a single claim has been disproved. Now, Wright, Von Behring and others, without intending to do so, have demonstrated the scientific basis of Homeopathy.
"There are opsonins for every microbic disease, and only the opsonin for the particular disease responds to the toxin of the infecting microbe." This is the conclusion of Wright. In this he verifies the dynamic single remedy of Hahnemann, and its never failing action in every curable disease; and this in the bacteriological laboratory of one of the foremost and ablest investigators in the scientific world. But this bacteriological discovery of Wright does not render it in any way easier to select the similar remedy: the modus operandi of Hahnemann of a hundred years ago is just as effective to-day as then, and, moreover, it is the symptom totality which guides in the selection, in the diagnosis or the pathology. Our best pathological prescribers are just as much at sea now as ever, and the alternating, mixing or combination tablet of the so-called homeopath, is not aided in the least by the opsonic verification of the homeopathic cure. Like his allopathic colleague , his method of finding the similar toxin is crude and uncertain.
Dr. Copeland adds a chemical illustration:
Hahnemann perhaps could not explain why the single remedy was the scientific prescriptfon, but, with the present knowledge, it U explainable. Chemical reactions are definite and positive. An unsatisfied equation cannot be completed by the addition of any wandering chemical which by haphazard chance may come within reach. A remedy prescribed on general principles by random or aimless methods may, by accident, cure, or may possess within it- self such a chemical combination as to permit to join in unfortunate combination with the unsatisfied cellular element. This unhappy marriage robs the soul of needed sustenance by forcing upon it s lazy and unproductive spouse. The tissue originally diseased and clamoring for help is left without succor, and other tissues are des- troyed or weakened by the untimely action of drugs carelessly pre- scribed. This is undoubtedly the effect of administering material doses, as has been the practise of the dominant school. It also practically follows the administration of more than the single rem* edy in so-called homeopathic practise. The saving grace of the in- finitesimal has doubtless spared humanity much suffering at the hands of faulty and inaccurate prescribers in our own ranksL
EDITORIAL. 413
What a blessing for our patients if every homeopathic physician could realize the full significance of the conclusion of Dr. Wright; that "there are opsonins for every microbic disease, and only the opsonin for the particular disease responds to the toxin of the infecting microbe." This simp- ly means in homeopathic parlance, that only the similar, single remedy ever cures. If we could all realize the foUy of alternating and mixing medicines, like our allopathic colleagues, how much better it would be for science and our patients. The wrong opsonin does nothing but harm. Nux vomica can never cure a case, the symptoms of which call for Belladonna; but it may weaken the resisting vitality of the patient. The toxin of diphtheria can only injure a mic- robic affection of tuberculosis. Similia similibus curantur can only be successfully put in practice by the use of sim- plex simile minimum.
SOUNDS LIKE AN HONEST MAN.
When we ha^e to do with an art If I had set myself the task of ren- whose end is the saving of human dering an incurable disease curable life, any neglect to make ourselves by artificial means^ and should find thorough masters of it, becomes a that only Homeopathy led to my crime. goal, I assure you dogmatic consider-
Hahnemann. ations would never deter me from taking that road.
Von Behring.
BEE STINGS CUBE BHEUMATISM.
Another wonderful discovery? as^reported by the Asso- ciated Press, has been recently made in England. It is pas- sing strange how these discoveries crop out occasionally and then nothing more is thought of it. The following is the heroic report:
London, May, 16— Thwe is a prevalent belief in many countries that the stings of bees act both protectively and as a cufe for rheumatism. Dr. Newton Friend, a reputable Suf- folk physician, contributes to the current issue of Nature an account of a bee sting cure which came xinder his personal oli* 8ervation.
m
4U
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Two or three years ago, he says, a school-master who suffered severely from rheumatism in the back deliberately ex- posed his arms to the stiuga of bees. By the time his arms were well again his rheumatism had completely disappeared and he has never had another attack.
The gentleman who took this heroic measure is now close to 50 years of age ?
In 1835 a similar accidental occurrance called the at- tention of a homeopath to the fact that the poison of the honey-bee possessed curative properties, and guided by the unfailing law, he proceeded to test it on the healthy. A complete proving of Apis was made, and one of the poly- chrests in the homeopathic materia medica was the result. The symptoms are just as good to-day as the day they were published, and the value of the remedy has increased year by year as new verifications of its curative properties have been made. This is the difference between scientific and empirical medicine.
A SCIENTIFIC SPECIMEN.
The American Joxirnal of Surgery, in its laudable effort to assist its contemporaries, sends out the following, which is supposed to be used as a * 'filler," giving credit, of course, to the source:
**If a patient persists in running evening tempera- tures which cannot be accounted for after a thorough physical examination and blood examination, one should place the patient on increasing doses of the iv)did8. for the fever may be due to an old syphilitic infection."
But why recommend increasing doses of the iodids when unable to ascertain the source of the fever? Why not bromides or arsenic or quinine or '*any other old thing," on a guess? Why not take the symptoms of the patient care- fully, and select the similar remedy, thus affecting a cure, without any danger of making the patient worse than be- fore the treatment began? There are some cases of fever in which it is absolutely impossible, even by the most ad- vanced methods of diagnosis, to ascertain the cause, and in
NEW PUBLICATIONS. 415
these cases the homeopath is just as much at home scienti- fically and therapeutically as though he fully understood the cause. We do not prescribe for the cause or the diagnosis or the name, but for the conditions presented by the sick patient. Here is the advantage of being guided by a never failing law of cure in therapeutics.
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
A MANUAL OF PRACTICAL OBSTETRICS, by Frederick W.
Hamlin, M. D., Professor of Obstetrics, New York Homeopathic
Medical College and Hospital; Obstetrician to the Flower Hospital;
Obstetrician to the Hahnemann Hospital. 480 pages. New York.
Boericke Sg Rnnyon. 1908.
This is a vade mecum for the student and busy pract- itioner. While the author claims that it is not designed a^ a text book, but as a ready reference book for the use of the rank and file of the profession, we think we can see in it a solution of many of the troubles of the student, when in the rush hours of a busy college course he has to refer to the volumnious text-books on this subject. There is no physi- cian in the world so well equipped to successfully manage the various ills of pregnancy and parturition as the homeo- pathic physician who is thoroughly familiar with his Materia Medica, and how to apply it in the emergencies of an ob- stetrical practice.
But the author will certainly find many physicians who will differ with his system at the present time in emergencies confronting the physician if requiring the use of medicines tor their so-called physiological effect; for there is no place in the practice of medicine where strict adherence to pure homeopathic practice in every possible emergency, yields better results than it does in that of obstetrics. We trust that by the time the next edition is issued the author will have had sufficient homeopathic experience to make the work conform to the practice of pure Homeopathy. Guernsey is long since out of print. Why not let this take its place? We congratulate the publishers on the handsome appear- ance of the volume, and we recommend it to our college faculties as a valuable text- book.
416
THE MEDICAL ADVAJICE.
INTERNATIONAL CLINICS. A Quarterly of Illustrated CHnicil Lectures and eapeciallj prepared original articles. Yolume L Eighteenth Series. 1908. Philadelphia and London. J. B. Lip* pinoott Co.
This is an excellent number of this practical work, es- pecially in its surreal articles which are profusely and ad- mirably illustrated. The first paper in the book, The Sana- torium, illustrated, is worth the entire cost of the publication to anyone connected with hospital or sanitarium work. The enterprise of the publishers is to be commended.
KNAVES Oa FOOLS, by Charles E. Wheeler, M.D., B.S., B.Sc, London, 18 Pater Noster Row. 1908. Cloth, 104 pages. Price 60c
This brochure is a semi- popular, semi-professional book on Homeopathy, by the Editor of the Homeopathic World. It is a well written compilation of some of the scientific facts of Homeopathy, including the Present Situation, Hahnemann and His Times, The Trend of Modern Medicine, Knaves and Fools, The Future and Its Possibilities, as the chapter head- ings of the work. Among other statements the author says: ''Another difficulty in the path of Homeopnthy consists in the prejudice that surrounds the name; that investigation of the truth requires not only energy, but courage." There is QO doubt of the truth of this statement, for to the average medical mind the simple word Homeopathy is like the pro- verbial "red rag" before the bull; it repels rather than in- vites investigation.
In Japan one of our earnest converts is making wonder- ful progress by saying nothing about Homeopathy, but simp- ly calling it the *'new system." And while the **new system' is the application of Similia in the cure of the sick, the "red rag" Homeopathy is not mentioned.
The appendix consists of some suggestions on commenc- ing the study of Homeopathy. Among others is the one, that if the investigator be lukewarm in the matter and wants an easy path, he will practically find Dr. Hughes' work on Pharmacodynamics a good introduction, but, on the other hand, if he attemps to practice Homeopathy after
NEW PUBLICATIONS* 417^
Hughes' plan he will very soon find himself landed in the- quagmire of empiricism, from which he has made a futile effort to free himself. If he be not enthusiastic enough to- investigate Homeopathy from the standpoint of Hahnemanifc he will practically find it a failure in more senses than one^
A CLINIC REPERTORY, by P. W. Shedd. M. D., New York. In- cluding a Repertory of Time Modalities, by Dr. Ide, of Steitifi>- • Germany. Translated from the Berliner Zeitsohrift llomoopaili* ischer iBrzte, Band xxv., Hefte 3 and 4. 240 pagea. Cloth $1.50 Postage 8 cents. Philadelphia and Chicago. Boericke & TafeL 1908. .
This new Repertory, the author tells us, is inscribed- to **01d School Men," as giving an insight into the deli- icate reactions of the human organism; as a means of deliverance from therapeutic nihilism; and as an introduction to a greater science of therapy in conditions amenable to cure by the use of drugs," to all of which every one who uses the work will add a word of commendation^ We regret to say the omission of what might have increased its value for the **01d School Men," a chapter on how to take the case, because the **01d School Man" will be looking for- the symptoms of a disease, and not finding all that he ex- pected to find, may abandon the work in disgust.
It is a very practical Repertory for of&ce work, giving the leading indications under the various rubrics of the Materia Medica, and the principal symptoms found under- many diseases.
It also contains keynotes of fifty polychrests, which are apparently well selected. Then follow common sequences, antidotes, dynamic and chemical, and finally, the appearance and aggravation of complaints according to time, being a translation of Dr. Ide's work from the Zeitschrift des Berlin- er Vereines homoopathischer Aertze, Band XXV., Hefte 3-4 recently published by the Medical Advance. Take it all in all it is a very valuable contribution to the working library of every Homeopath, and we do not think a singlfe buyer will ever regret the purchase. He certainly will not, , if he uses the book.
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THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
A NURSERY MANUI^L. The Care and Feedinf of Chiliren in Health and Diseaae. By Reuel A. Benson, M. D. Lectnreroa Diseaaes of Children , New York Homeopathic Medical College, etc. 184 pages. Cloth $1.00. Postage 5c. Philadelphia and Chicago. Boerioke & Tafel. 1908.
This work is dedicated to Dr. Thomas M. Dillingham, and is the outgrowth of a course of lectures delivered in the Flower Hospital Training School for Nurses, and originally written for the guidance of his own patients and the nurses. It has been considerably elaborated, so that it now forms a very practical little work for the use of homeopathic physi- cians and homeopathic families, who believe that the child who has been properly fed and reared under the homeopathic regime, is physically better equipped for life than any other. It takes up the question of Bathing, Clothing and the Care of the Infant in the Nursery. Then, just what a nurse or a young mother would require to know, about the care of a "Crying Child," and the attention that should be given to the symptoms that point to the teething period and the normal developir.ent of the babe. It is replete with good ad- vice for the mother and the nurse, and some brief, clear-cut indications for remedies in the diseases of children; just such a book as we have often wished that we had when a young mother has asked for something to study relating to the proper care of her child. We congratulate the author on his apccess in the first effort of book-making.
Father Mailer's Charitable Institation, at Kankanady, Mangalore, India, deserves more than a passing notice. It was established in 1890. There have been from 30 to 50 patients in the leper hospital, and from 15 to 40 in the plague hospital. In the general hospital opened in 1899 over 6,000 I)atients have been cared for and over 120,000 out patients visited. Dr. Pernandes and the members of the staff give their services gratuitously and thus enable the hospital to maintain its work. The treatment we understand is purely homeopathic and it would be of interest to the profession to know the success in leprosy and the bubonic plague.
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NEWS FROM THE FIELD. .The International Hahnemannian Association meeto at Chicago Beach Uotel Jnne 29. Everybody welcome.
Dr. E. A. P. -'Hardy, of Toronto, announces a call for a meeting, of the homeopaths of Ontario, to reorganize and rejuvenate the Canadian Institute of Homeopathy, with a view to having an annual session and doing some vigorons work for the cause.
Our Ontario colleagues have been so engrossed, and so over-worked in their individual fields of practice, that the general interests of the profession have been neglected. There now appears to be a determination to infuse new life into the work, ^
Mr. Geo. H. Hockett, writes from Indianapolis a word of encouragement for his classmates in Hering College:
"The honor roll of the Indiana State Board of Health, for the year 1905, is headed by Dr. Charles A. Peterson, a graduate of Hering College, with an average of 921.5, thus leading all other colleges."
Such encouraging news as this is always welcome by the faculty and students, and encourages them to do better work in the future.
Dr. John F. Edgar, El Paso, Texas, suggests that 'In- ternal* Vaccination'' is a misnomer; that the proper term to use for our prophylactic practise is ''Immunization".
In this the doctor is no doubts correct, for it is not inter- nal vaccination. The special names for prophylaxis of vari- ola will, sooner or later have to be revised, and the terms adapted to the practice. If a man wants to be vaccinated by scarification, he ipust say so; but if he requires to be im- munized by homeopathic methods, that should also be ex- pressed.
Dr. H. A. Atwood, Riverside, Cal., writes:
"We have just had a splendid meeting of our Stalie Society here. Calffornia is so long, that it ir^ quite a task to go from one end to the other to attend a meeting, yet we had a large attendance this year. Eighty members sat dowa
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to the banquet, and perhaps a score more, that could not re- jDoam, attended the meeting. The visitors were delighted with their automobile' excursion to the various sights of the city ^d neighborhood.''
The American Institute, and its C!ohorts will soon be on their ^ way to Kansas City, where the homeopathic pro- fession is making elaborate preparations for their entertain- ment. With its hills and valleys along the river, its magnifi- <5€nt park system and boulevard drives, there is little doubt the members who go for entertainment will be royally enter- tained. It is doubtful if there is any city in the United States where the hospitality of the homeopathic profession is so well known as in this Metropolis of the West.
The headquarters will be the new Coates House, entire- ly fire-proof, conducted on both theEuropean and American plan: S3 per day, and up, for the American; $1.50 per day, 4fcnd up, for the European.
The hotel management has secured Casino Hall a few doors south of the hotel, in which the general meetings of the Institute, and some of the sectional meetings will be held.
The opening session will occur Monday afternoon at 4
'^o'clock in Casino Hall. In the evening a public meeting will
be held in the Willis Wood Theatre, where the Presi.dent's
annual address will be delivered, and a r.eception held by the
President and reception committee.
Tuesday evening a reception and ball will be given in Casino Hall.
Tursday evening the Institute will be entertained at Electric Park, by Sorrentino's famous band of sixty pieces; and with vaudeville, dancing, bathing and other outside amuse- ments to meet the taste of the most fastidious member.
The ladies of the Meissen will have an elaborate pro- gram for their entertainment during the entire session. Tea will be served at the Coates House each afternoon at 5 o'clock, to which the gentlemen are invited.
Take it all in all, we do not see where the scientific I)aper8 and discussion are to come in.
NEWS PROM THE FIELD.
421
The proverbial hospitality which always has been fur- nished the meetings of the Institute (except at Jamestown) will be provided in a manner not to be excfeUed. Dr. W. J. Gates, chairman of the local committee is responsible.
The Deadly Laehesis, we are pleased to note that Boericke & Runyon, New York, have obtained a little notor- iety by good advertising, in the last week or two.
A specimen of the Lachesis Trigonacephalus was im- ported from Brazil, for the sake of obtaining a new supply of virus for homeopathic purposes. Mr. E. W. Runyon, a member of the firm, allowed the reporters to become ac- quainted with the fact that they had imported a reptile for scientific purposes, and the Associated Press did the rest. The method of extracting the virus from the mouth of the reptile Is minutely given, and it certainly forms an exciting piece of news for the laity. We congratulate the firm on their enterprise.
Rock BiTer Institute of Homeopathy, the Ninety second Quarterly Session of this virile society was held at Morrison, Dl., April 2nd, 1908. It is one of the oldest homeopathic societies in America, and the enterprise of its members can be measured to a certain extent by the fact that this is the Ninety-second Quarterly Session. There were between thirty and forty members present, and the papers read and the discussions on them were very instructive. It is one of the most active and best conducted societies in Illinois and is doing splendid work.
Dr. P. C. Skinner is president this year, and Dr. A. W. Blunt, of Clinton, la., has been the effective secret^^ry for many years.
A Doabtf al Case. We are indebted to a correspondent for the following example of professional advertising in **Pigeon English:"
ITALIAN I3IPR0VING.
SalTaiori Biondi, the Itftliftn, who shot and killed himself in the ab- domen is getting along nicelj and will fully recoTer. Dr. T. Ben John- son, the attending physician is somewhat in donbt as to whether the hole
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in Sftlyatori's stoiuAoh wm made with a bullet or some instrument He will be arranged for a hearing either to-day or to-morrow.
A FEW SAMPLES OP APPRECIATION.
I inclose draft for six dollars, which will pay my indebted- ness to the Medical Advance 'and also the present year to January 1909. I have 5 complete volumes of the Medical Advance and am going to have them bound. It leads all the Homeopathic Journals as an exponent of true Homeo- pathy. I am aiming as soon as I can to take a year in Her- ing College to learn '*the way more perfectly." Will you please send me the Hering College catalogue? I hope to attend the meeting at Kansas City in June.
M .
I am glad to enclose check for subscription to January, 1909, which I am sorry to have overlooked so long. I hope you will receive it with as much satisfaction as I obtain from the Journal. H .
Enclosed please find my check for two dollars for one years subscription to the Advance. I always read every article in it and generally on the day I receive it and never fail to receive some instruction or encouragement in it. The strong advocacy of internal vaccination particularly appeals to me and I have practiced no other method for over twenty years. Thus far my certificates have been accepted without trouble and I do not anticipate any, although there is but one other physician in town practicing in the same way.
H .
I have not received the last number of the Medical Advance; will you please see that it is sent me ais I do not like to be without it, and it is several days overdue.
C .
I again ask you to send the March number. I would not be so persistent in asking for it, was it not the best journal I get, and don't see how I could hardly get along without it.
B .
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HOMEOPAFHY AND THE ^'NEW THOUGHT" IN SCIENCE.
By Royal. S. Copeland, A. M., M. D., Ann Arbor, Mich.
No longer do there appear cloven tongues, like as of fire, nor do men so speak as to enable ever^ one to hear in his owrf language. The prophets of olden days walk the earth no more.
Indeed the higher critic, in the face of our unwilling eyes, drags the mantle of infallibility from the mouldering bones of those whom, from earliest youth, we have believed to be God's anointed- It is hard, therefore, to believe that the prophet and the critic can be of one blood. It seems almost paradoxical to attempt the role of both. We are^like the Athenians, however, who were said to spend their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing. So one may be forgiven, perhaps, if for once he pose as critic and prophet. The novelty of it will redeem the situa- tion.
Rarely has a system pf medicine, religion or philosophy outlived its founder. But the history of the institution rep- resented here today offers striking testimony to the possible perpetuity of an absurdity, or to the ultimate acceptance of nature's law in therapeutics.
At the time of Hahnemann's death, the theories of the homeopathic doctrine and practice were so at variance with the accepted views of the medical world, that it is small wonder our founder was vilified and rejected. Things have changed since that day. In its essentials Homeopathy has not changed, but the history of the other school during this period is splashed and even bathed in the blood of many revolutions. Not always, it is true, but usually so, however, successful revolutions make for progress. We may be bi- ased observers, but to the homeopathist there is nothing but pleasure in the observance of these upheavals. The sunlight streaming through the vanishing smoke of battle
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shows in each succeedmg readjustment of medical thought, a closer approximation to homeopathic ideals.
Take, for instance, the fling made in olden days, and made even yet by people ignorant of advanced scientific thought, **The hofaeopathic physician is a 'little piir doc- tor." In 1876, in his presidential address before the Ameri- can Institute of Homeopathy, the noble Carroll Dunham said, "Ingenious experiment shall lead a Tyndall or a Crookes to a depionstration of the power of potenized med- icaments." Prophetic words these! Radio-activity, un- known to Dunham and unheard of for a score of years after his death, is the fulfillment of his vision. The advance in physical chemistry, too, has demonstrated the value of the infinitesimal. The consensus of opinion today and the teaching of every laboratory in the world, is that the finer the division of the chemical substance, the more active it is, and its activities are not fixed qualities except in infinite di- lution. Samuel Hahnemann knew this a century ago. List- en to his statement: * 'The effect of a homeopathic dose is augmented by increasing the quantity of fluid in which the medicine is dissolved preparatory to its administration." Every physician today, versed in scientific knowledge is a ''little pill" doctor! The massive doses of former genera- tions have been forever displaced.
In the theory of the dissociation of molecules, the labo- ratory of physical chemistry has scientifically proven the value of the infinitesimal. While this theory is now well known to every scientist and especially to the reader of the homeopathic publications of the past five years, it may not be out of place to review it briefly,
As interpreted by this theory, a chemical, technically an electrolyte, when dissolved, is dissociated into parts or particles smaller than the atoms and known as ions. The more dilute the solution the greater is the dissociation and consequently the atoms are less in number and the ions in- creased. In a solution infinitely dilute, the dissociation is absolute and the chemical is present only in a state of ioni- station.
HOMEOPATHY AND THE * *NEW THOUGHT" IN SCIENCE. 425
LORD KELVIN'S ILLUSTRATION.
When this subject was newly presented the first question which occurred to most of us was: How dilute must the eo- lation be in order to bring about complete dissolution? If it were a solution of Sodium chloride, for instance, what di- lation, according to our nomenclature, would furnish com- plete ionization? The search for facts on this subject re- vealed Lord Kelvin's statement as to the size of a molecule. He say: **Imagine a rain drop or a globe of glass as large as a pea, to be magnified up to the size of the earth, each constituent molecule being magnified in the same propor- tion. The magnified structure would be coarser grained than a heap of small shot, but probably less coarse grained than a heap of cricket balls." This illustration permits us to appreciate, to some extent at least, the enormous number of molecules in a bit of matter the size of a millet seed. In order to reach then a solution sufficient to bring about disso- ciation of the molecule itself, it is readily seen that the vol- ame of the solvent used must be immense. Having quoted Kelvin, Jones, professor of physical chemistry in Johns Hop- kins University, states that "perhaps the best demonstra- tion of the almost unlimited divisibility of matter is furnished by some of the aniline dyes, or by fluorescein, where one part is capable of coloring or rendering fluorescent at least one hundred million parts of water.'* This solution corres- ponds to at least the eighth decimal dilution. The author- ities agree that the dissociation increases with the dilusion, from the most concentrated solutions up to a dilution of about one one-thousandth normal. It is safe to assume that dissociation of the simplest drug is not complete under the sixth decimal dilution.
It is easily seen, then, that complete ionization is possi- ble only in infinitecimal dilution. Not only is this true in theory, but also the research of the chemist seems to prove it. We are prepared, then, to assume that the therapeutic value of the drug is not lost when it is placed in such dilu- tion as to represent an amount, by any present means of de- termination, less than any assignable or measurable quantity.
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That this is true is proven first by clinical experience. This argument needs but the mentioning; every homeopathic physician can testify to cures made with remedies in such dilution as certainly to be far beyond the beginning of dis- sociation, and probably beyond complete ionization. Then the laboratory has proven that the properties of completely dissociated solutions are the sum of the properties of all the ions present in the solution. In other words, the properties are additive. This holds for such properties as conductivity, lowering of the freezing point, refraction equivalent, heat of neutralization, and undoubtedly for any therapeutic effect possessed by the drug.
THE POWER OP THE INFINITESIMAL.
In the same connection may be mentioned the wonder- ful properties of radium, which have excited interest not only in the scientific world but in the minds of all intelligent persons. Recently, Strutt, of Trinity College, Cambridge, put forth a book entitled *'The Becqueral Rays," in which he undertakes to explain the action of radio active bodies. Some facts gleaned from this volume are pertinent to the present discussion.
For instance, a specimen of radium bromide placed in a glass tube and gently heated, will evolve a smaU amount of gas. The emanation emitted by any such quantity of radi- um as is at present procurable, is absolutely infinitesimal. Strutt says the volume of this gas would not exceed a pin's head. If this emanation is now mixed with a million mil- lions times its own volume of air, the mixture is found to have all the properties of the pure radium.
It has been determined that the emanation thus diluted generates a solid deposit, although not enough has yet been accumulated to be visible even under the ultra-microscope. The same scientific world which to this day denies Samuel Hahnemann the reward of his labors, has accepted these de- monstrations as conclusive. Speaking then of this invisible deposit, and using the language of Strutt, "there lies latent in every atom of this emanation from radium a quantity of
HOMEOPATHY AND THE ''NEW THOUGHT" IN SCIENCE. 427
energy absolutely gigantic." What marvellous powers in the infinitesimal!
An eminent Parisian physician has recently testified to the wonderful results, both physological and therapeutic, of minute amounts of gold, silver and platinum. This ex- perimenter, Dr. Alfred Robin, has discovered that **almost infinitesimal doses are endowed with very great activity^" For instance, solutions of gold, corresponding to about the 5th decimal dilution of our system, produced such positive results as the following:
1. An increase in urea, which may arise as much as 30 per cent.
2. An increase in the coefficient of nitrogenous utilization.
li An increase in uric acid which may reach high figures, as much ag three times the initial quantity.
4. A positive flush of urinary indoxyl.
5. A decrease in the quantity of total oxygen consumed.
6. A temporary raising of arterial tension.
7. A profound modification of the blood -erlobules, an inj**ction being followed after several hours by manifest leucocyti»sis, slight in a healthy person, intense in infectious disorders habitually associated with leuco-
Cyt08i:5.
According to Robin these results show the possibility of assimilating metals in extremely diluted solutions, their action being considered similar to organic disatases. **In the above-mentioned solutions,'* he says, '*the atoms of the metal separated as widely as possible, are, as it were, libe- rated, autonomous in their activity, and susceptible in this way of developing greater energy. It is not difficult to conceive that these simple bodies, even in the infinitesimal doses in which they are found, are capable of influencing the chemical reactions of elementary nutrition."
ROBIN'S CONCLUSIONS.
After referring to the results obtained by the use of gold in minute doses in pneumonia, which he claims in six cases out of ten produces a crisis in six days, Robin draws the following conclusions from his experiments:
1. That metals in extreme subdivision are capable of remarkable physiologic action, out of all proportion to the amount ot metal used.
2. That such metals, acting in doses which therapeutics considered heretofore as ineflfectual and useless, by making a profound impression on some of the chemical procesbcs of life whose deviations are connected with many morbid conditions, are probably destined to take an import- ant place among the remedies of functional therapeutics.
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It must be seen, therefore, that regardless of schools, the concensus of opinion today, based on chemical experi- ment and proven by clinical experience, is that the finer the division of a chemical substance, the more active it is, though unchanged in the quality of its reactions. In its state of complete ionization, its line of direction is not changed, but its activity is multiplied; it is altered not in kind, but in de- gree merely. Furthermore, the physiological efficiency of any drug is not a fixed quality except in infinite dilution. By means of solution we get the most complete division, and in infinitesimal dilution is found the most powerful chemical action. Thus, in this new century, is scientifically verified a statement made by Samuel Hahnemann, who said: **The effect of a homeopathic dose is augmented by increasing the quantity of fluid in which the medicine is dissolved prepara- tory to its admtnistration."
That the dilution of the remedy increases its power, is not by reason of the Hahnemannian theory of * *dynamization," as it is ordinarially understood. Let it be said in passing, however, that Hahnemann, in §288 of the Organon, spoke of this force not as a spirit force, but his language was ''spirit- like force! '' quite a different thing. This idea of **force," for generations influenced and permeated all branches of science. The physiologist was the last to break away from the old theory of "vital force" and to explain all the bodily processes in chemical terms. The idea of a mystical force being possessed by drugs was but the outgrowth of the vital- istic theories of life and disease. The brilliant work of Wohler and Liebig, and especially of Berthelot in synthetic chemistry, has cast off this yoke and no longer is it necessary for the homeopathist, or any other scientist, to explain tem- porarily unknown quantities on the basis of some other, spirit or humor. There is a more rational hypothesis which is acceptable to all the rest of the scientific world. With the present state of our knowledge, it is unnecessary to fall back upon a mysterious "dynamis." Homeopathy, at least the infinitesimal dose, is as reasonable, as explainable, as scientifically sensible, as is any other of the natural sciences.
HOMEOPATHY AND THE **NEW THOUGHT" IN SCIENCE 420
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DISEASE AND THE INFINITESIMAL. DOSE.
Health depending upon a condition of chemical equilibrium in the cells of the body, it naturally follows that if through any cause there is a disturbance of equilibrium there is at once a change of constants. The processes of metabolism are interfered with and we have a disturbance of function and even changes in structure. To illustrate: If there be a dis- turbance of the equilibrium of the parietal cells of the stomach, there is a failure in the production of hydrochloric acid. In malignant growths the chemical processes are so perverted that the cell i?ietabolism is concerned only in reproduction; for instance, in the liver no bile is produced, but reproduct- ion and abnormal growth result. In fatty degeneration there is such a disturbance of metabolism thajt the cell protoplasm is converted into fat.
If we can restore the equilibrium of the cell, or group of cells, we have remedied the abnormal condition and normal function will be resumed. A remedy is anything which will do this. This remedy may be rest, or stimulation, local ap- plication, or something else, but usually it is some drug ad- ministered for a specific effect upon the diseased condition, in the light of all present knowledge, we believe the drug acts by virtue of its chemical activities. Our knowledge be- ing so meagre as to the actual reactions in the laboratory of the cell, it is difficult to follow the drug action, but we do know that almost without exception chemical substances in- troduced into the animal body are acted upon, more or less, and enter into and out of combination with the protoplasm of the cell. Some of the most stable of chemical substances are completely decomposed in the body. Enough has been positively determined in the laboratory to state that the ani- mal body posesses chemical capabilities sufficient to deal with the simplest, or most complex chemical problems, and that everything proceeds along definite and constant lines.
With the system demanding relief and the symptoms calling for a certain drug. Barium chloride, for instance, I have no doubt that that drug given, high or low, in dilution or crude form, will thread its way through the blood stream
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and a sufficient quantity be appropriated by the disturbed cell to satisfy and correct its chemical equilibrium. But tlie experiments of Wenstrand and Hekton have demonstrated that the ions of this particular drug combine with certain elements in the blood serum and if given in amounts sufficient, to a great degree destroy its pi*otective functions.
In their experiments sera showing decrease or absence of hemolytic activity were all taken from patients extremely ill, or within twenty-four or forty-eight hours of death. *'It seems, therefore," to use the words of Dr. Wenstrand, "as if the power of blood serum to dissolve foreign cells is lost at the same time as the power of the individual to resist death passes away. Consequently it would seem that the homolytic activity of a serum is, in a certain manner, at least, a criterion of the persistence of an individual. This is borne out also by the finding of an increased hemolytic activity in the serum of such patients whose resistence is high."
Hektoen remarks that substances which suspend, di- minish, or modify the bacteriolytic, hemalytic, or other properties of the serum, favor the development of certain general infections, for instance, typhoid fever. It is not un- reasonable, then, to presume that in the treatment of con- ditions where blood toxins are developed, in the adminis- tration of material quantities of Barium chloride, for in- stance, the symptoms calling for it may disappear, only to be replaced by conditions moreserious, induced by the lower- ing of the protective forces of the body fluids.' In the terms of Erlich's hypothesis, this untoward effect is due to the act- ion of the Barium ions upon the complementary body of the serum. In the more recent work of Wright it is probably due to the negative phase of the drug, with the consequent low- ering of the opsonic index. Anyhow, the immunizing pro- perties of the blood are suspended, or at least greatly re- duced. I7i the administration of a remedy for the relief of any disease^ this fact must not be overlooked. The ideal prescrip- tion in the administration of a drug, is the niinutest possible quantity to satisfy the disturbed cell, infinitesimally small,
HOMEOPATHY AND THE **NEW THOUGHT" IN SCIENCE. 431
in such dissociated condition as to make its appropriation the simplest possible chemical reaction, and in such form as not to interfere with the protective forces of the body. This is the ideal prescription, because it exactly supplies the de- mand of the diseased cells without disturbing other normal cells, or lessening the protective functions of the body fluids. Thus, the efficiency of the small dose and the capability of the human system to appropriate and utilize medicine ad- ministrated in minute quantities are facts based, not upon a vagary of the imagination, but upon th|e most modern of accepted truths.
If never before, now certainly the homeopathic physician may hold up his head and proclaim to all therapeutists: *1 am king!" The infinitesimal dose, the law of similars and the single drug are the theses of the world's discussion. Of this we desire to say more.
WRIGHT'S OPSONIC INDEX
Other recent happenings in the world of science are not only productive of-practical good to the patron of medicine, but also these evidences of progress are worthy of translation into language intelligible to the layman. When so translated they cannot but prove interesting and instructive. Take, for instance, the modern theories of immunity, the ways by which the human system protects itself against the invasion of every vigilant disease. Across this field we discover that science has traveled with huge strides. Ages ago, biolog- ically speaking, it was known that the foe of the disej^se germs was, or at least had its habitat in, the white blood cell. In the blood stream this warfare is a battle royal. Under the miscroscope, with .the same advantage offered the military strategist by the war baloon, the raging battle may be viewed and studied. The white cells sieze upon and literally swallow multitudes of the enemy. Add to a drop of fluid containing a few white blood cells, a thousand germs, for instance of tuberculosis, and in an instant each white cell is seen to attack and to receive into its own substance scores of the disease bacilli. Here they are rendered harm- less. As they die in this pit for spetacular effect, so in the
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body itself they are swept out of existence by provident nature's ingenious methods.
The scientist was happy for a time in the thought that the manner of resisting disease had been determined. But somehow, the sea of science, like the ocean itself, is a rest- less, agitated, rarely quiet body. The inhabitants of this sea are like old neptune, the earth-shaker. He gathers clouds and raises storms. The symbol of his power, the trident, is a symbol of violent agitation, of winds and water- spouts, of broken rocks and shivered timbers. Likewise the Neptune of science is rarely found in repose. Activity is the rule and guide of his life. He is restless and sleepless.
So then, it was early discovered that a given amount of blood, or more specifically, of white blood cells, taken from one person will destroy more disease germs of a given varie^J than will the same amount of blood or white cells from an- other person. Once more the scientific sea was agitated. Why is this so? was the cry. As is well known, it was left to Sir A. E. Wright of London, England, to discover that the white cell is powerless to act upon the disease germ, ex- cept in the presence of the blood, of a substance, named opsonin, from the Greek, meaning to devour. Somebody has likened the opsonins to a sauce, which must be sprinkled upon the germ to render it palatible to this old epicure, the white cell. As investigation proceeded it was learned that there is a separate and distinct opsonin for each and every germ. In the abscence of the opsonin the germ is safe from attack, but, in its presence, its fate is sealed.
Having discovered these new biological truths, the medical world set about to make some practical use of the knowledge. Ways have been devised, as is well known, to test the opsonic power of the individual, or, in the language of the laboratory, to take the * 'opsonic index." When this has been determined, if found to be low, the scientific physi- cian proceeds to elevate it, and thus to increase the power of immunity, or resistance to the nisease which may be induced by the germ in question. At this period we meet some most startling experiences.
m
HOMEOPATHY AND THE **NEW THOUGHT'* IN SCIENCE. 433
Even though the white blood cell and the germ, for in- stance, of tuberculosis, are microscopic objects, yet jjnder the lens they are material enough to be readily studied. It might be supposed, therefore, that the agent employed to make this material entity, the germ, palatable to the grosser white cell, would be in itself a material substance capable of measurement and perhaps of weight.
This is not true, however, and in disease to the power- less white cell, aid comes by the Wright method, not as in the use of antitoxin, a chemical neutralizing agent, but as in long practiced Homeopathy, . through the dynamic effect of the curative agent. That is to say, by the administration of a minute quantity of the vaccine, the cells of the body are stimulated to produce and throw into the blood stream the opsonic substance which makes it possible for the white cells to act upon the germ.
The vaccine employed is a diluted toxine of the disease- producing germ. In physiological doses it cannot cause the identical disease, but is capable of inducing symptoms similar thereto. The dose recommended by Wright is 1-10,000 of a milligram, equivalent to the sixth decimal dilution of the homeopathic scale. This practice, certainly is homeopathy in principle and dosage. We so proclaim to all the world. Wright, himself, admits it. . Certainly, the theory is a re- markably instance of old school stumbling towards the light,
HOMEOPATHIC VERIFICATIONS.
In the study of the opsonic index and the affect upon it of homeopathic remedies, much work is being done. Wheeler, of the London Homeopathic Hospital, Waters of Boston University School of medicine and Burrettof my own college, have already reported remarkable progress.
Time does not permit extended discussion of the collat erals to this theory, but a single subject may be mentioned.
There are opsonin^ for every microbic disease, and only the opsonin for the particular disease responds to the toxin of the infecting microbe. Is there not in this beautiful law ar^ment for the single remedy and its accurate scientific
434 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
selection? Hahnemann, perhaps, could not explain why the singjg remedy, for which he contended so vigorously, was the scientific prescription, but with present knowledge it is explainable. Chemical reactions are definite and positive. An unsatisfied equation cannot be campleted by the addition of any wandering chemical, which by haphazard chance may come within reach. A remedy prescribed on **general principles," by random and aimless methods, may by acci- dent possess within itself such a chemical component as to permit it to join in unfortunate combination with the unsat- isfied cellular element. This ynhappy marriage robs the cell of needed sustenance by forcing upon it a lazy and un- productive spouse. It may prove so miserable an alliance as to result in violent domestic infelicity, with breakage of the furniture ftud even tearing down of the walls of the cell residence itself. More likely, however, such presrribing results in nothing more than damage to remote cells having an affinity for the drug administered. The tissue originally diseased and clamoring for help is left without succor, and other tissues are destroyed or weakened by the untimely action of drugs carelessly prescribed. This is undoubtedly the eifect of administering material doses, as has been the practice of the dominant school. It probably follows the administration of more than the single remedy in so-called homeopathic practice. The saving grace of the infinitesimal has doubtless spared humanity ;nuch suflfering at the hands of faulty and inaccurate prescribers in our own ranks.
VON BEHUING GIVES HAHNEMANN CKEDIT.
In the old school ihe vaccine idea has taken firm hold of all advanced thinkers. Von Behring, the discoverer of an- titoxin for diphtheria and the winner of a Nobel prize, is one of the most active.
As is well known Von Behring is now at work upon a new tuberculo-therapeutic substance. In speaking of it lately he used this language: **The scientific principles of this new agent are yet to be established. In spite of all sci- entific speculations and experiments this therapeutic useful- ness must be traced in origin to a principle which cannot be
HOMEOPATHY AND THE **NEW THOUGHT" IN SCIENCE. 435
m
better characterized than by Hahnemann's word *home- opathic/ "
**What else," he says, **causes immunity in sheep, vacci- nated against anthrax, than the influence previously exerted by the virus, similar in character to that of the fatal anthrax virus? And by what technical term could we more oppro- priately speak of this influence, exerted by a similar virus, than by Hahnemann's word, 'Homeopathy?' "
We must honor the man who concludes his statement with these words: **If I had set myself the task of render- ing an incurable disease curable by artificial means, and should find that only the road of Homeopathy led to my goal, I assure you dogmatic considerations would never de] ter me from taking that road."
A hundred years ago Hahnemann, an expert chemist himself, called attention to what chemistry had already done and to what it might thereafter effect for therapeutics. Re- verting for a time to the relation of Homeopathy to chemis try, it is interesting to observe the remarkable parallelism existing between the therapeutic value of ^given drug, one of the elements particularly, and the chemical properties of the same substance. As is well known, the elements calci urn, strontium and barium are chemically similar and remark- ably so. They look alike, act alike, and are alike in their variations. The same may be said of chlorine, brominB and iodine, or of sulphur, selenium and tellurium.
If the mean of the atomic weights of the first and third elements in either of these groups, or in any other group, be taken, the approximate atomic weight of the middle one is obtained. Sulphur, for instance, has an atomic weight of
32.1, teUurium 127.5. The mean, therefore, is 79.8, corres- ponding almost exactly to the atomic weight of selenium,
79.2. This discovery led to the formulation of the so-called "periodic law," stumbled upon almost simultaneously by the Russian, Mendeleef , and the German, Meyer. So long ago as 1863, John Newlands pointed out that if the elements he tabulated in the order of their atomic weights, beginning with*^H=i and ending with uranium = 240, they naturally
436
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
fall into such groups that elements similar to one another in chemical behavior occur in the same columns; and that, moreover, the number of elements between any one and the next similar one is seven. In other words, to quote Duncan,* ** Members of the same group stand to one another in the same relation as the extremities of one or more octaves in music! This leads us to think that not only may there be a relation between these little fundamentals of the universe, but a veritable harmony."
. '
ATOMIC WDCMT
lOQ 110 140 IM
Briefly and technically the law states that **the proper- ties of an 'element are a periodic function of its atomic weight." This statement formulates an extraordinary fact. To quote Duncan again, it means no more nor less than this: **That if you know the weight of the atom of the element you may know, if you like, its properties, for they are fixed. Just as the pendulum returns again in its swing, just as the moon returns in its orbit, just as the advancing year ever brings the rose of spring, so do the properties of the ele- ments periodically recur as the weights of the atoms rise.
*Duncan, '*The New Knowledge."
HOMEOPATHY AND THE **NEW THOUGHT" IN SCIENCE. 487
To demonstrate this fact, take some one specific property, for example the atomic volume, which is the atomic weight divided by the specific gravity of the solid element, and ar- range a table on a piece of engineering paper, in which the atomic weights read from left to right (the abscissas), while the atomic volumes read from bottom to top (the ordinates). Now construct a curve by pricking out the position of the different elements in accordance with both their atomic vol- umes and atomic weights, and you will find yourself in pos- session of a table such as Pig. i. We see at once from this curve that the atomic volume is a periodic function of the atomic weight. As the atomic weight increases, the atomic volume alternately increases and decreases. The periodici- ty proclaims itself in the regularly recurring hills and val- leys which constitute the curve. Elements which occupy similar positions on the five hills and valleys have markedly similar properties. Thus, you will notice at the summit of each of the five hills, the symbols of the elements lithuim, sodium, potassium, rubidium and caesium, all of these ele- ments possessing amazingly similar properties. Or again, find the little dot marked S (signifying sulphur) on the slope of the third hill, and you will then notice a little dot marked Se (selenium) and another Te (tellurium) in a correspond- ingly similar position on the other two hills respectively. These elements have strikingly similar properties. Take now another property altogether, let us say the melting- point of the elements, and make a similar diagram. You get a curve remarkably like the first one, with this excep- tion, that the elements which were at the top at the first curve are now at the bottom. The melting-point curve is as strictly periodic as the volume curve and of the same general shape. There is a regular irregularity of the two curves, and there is not only a periodidity but a double peri- odicity, as shown in the little hump on the slope of each hill of the curve. Similar curves may be constructed for many other properties. Can we imagine then that these atoms, these little invisibilities in which we all live and move and have our being, are separately created, arbitrari-
438 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE-
ly made, unrelated individuals? Hardly so, for they are ob- viously created in accordance with some scheme. Would that we might understand this scheme all in all! It -would be a veritable glimpse behind the veil of existence. But if we cannot read from Alpha to Omega, we may spell out what we can, leaving future letters for future men; perforce content that in this cryptogram of thp universe we know in- dubitably that there is a cryptogram to be read, we have at least come to the beginnings of knowledge."
THE VERITIES OF NATURAL LAW.
Of what interest is all this to Homeopathy? Much, every way. If our remedies, in their provings, coincide with the same periodic law, it shows that therapeutically Homeopa- thy is in harmony with the ever-acting and universal laws of nature. Let us examine and see. I will not take chlo- rine, bromine and iodine, the halogen group, because every- body, familiar at all with materia medica, knows the close relationship existing. Let us take sulphur, selenium and tellurium. A casual examination of the provings discovers among other symptoms the following:
SELENIUM.
Skin — Pimples, vesicles, sweating at night.
Sleep — Sleepy early in evening, wakeful on going to bed. Dreams constantly of quarrels and journeys.
Cough — Hoarseness, coughs in morning.
Stool — Constipation, hard stool, but slimy at end.
Appetite— Desire for apples and beer, later desire for both ceased.
Pace— Twitching of muscles of the face and a crack in middle of upper lip.
TELLURIUM.
Skin — Pimples, vesicles, herpes, offensive sweat at night.
Sleep— Sleepy in evening, sleeps in chair, restlessness and sleeplessness on going to bed. Dreams of smoking cigars . N igh tmar e .
Cough — Hoarseness, roughness, tickling and cough.
Stool — Constipation after diarrhea. '^ Stool hard and crumbly, but softer at end.
HOMEOPATHY AND THE **NEW THOUGHT" IN SCIENCE. 439
Appetite — Desire for brandy and salt, then aversion for hem.
Face — Distortion of facial muscles and burning in mid- dle of upper lip.
SULPHUR.
Skin — All kinds of eruptions and sour smelling night- sweat.
Sleep — **Cat-naps/' light sleep, difficulty in getting to sleep.
Cough — Hoarseness, soreness in larynx, dry, tiring cough, especially at night.
Stool — Diarrhea in morning, also constipation — hard stool mixed with slime.
Appetite— Ravenous appetite and desire for acids, thirst for beer and later aversion to food.
Face — Twitching of muscles and crack in middle of up- per lip.
And so we might compare phosphorus, arsenic and an- timony, and formulate other groups of elements, which at first thought seem inappropriate bed-fellows.
What, if anything, is the significance of all this? Isn't it a bit remarkable that Hahnemann a century ago, Metcalf in 1852, and Berridge in 1873, working with sulphur, seleni- um and tellurium respectively, should discover the therapu- tic value of three drugs, record their results and then in the year of our Lord 1908 it should be found that all their prov- ings, forming parts of a cryptogram, are deciphered by means of a chemical formula and found to coincide with a law of nature? That all of these substances were proven by the administration of infinitesimal doses, and therapeuti- cally established by repeated clinical tests, gives further proof that Homeopathy is true, scientifically exact in every part, and in perfect harmony with the music of the spheres!
This is a mere hint at a subject which, in my opinion, is capable of interesting if not convincing development. It certainly is another argument in favor of the scientific basis of our system of therapeutics.
We might go on and on in endless recital of modern
''':ii
440 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
proof to homeopathic vindication. But why multiply words?
The American Institute of Homeopathy has officially de- creed that; **A homeopathic physician is one who adds to his knowledge of medicine a special knowledge of homeopathic therapeutics. All that pertains to the great field of medicine is his by tradition, by inheritance, by right." The patient,^ therefore, who employes the homeopathic physician gives, himself all that the dominant school offers, and, in addition, the wonderful resources of the homeopathic Materia Medica.
He loses nothing except the greater probability of es- caping surgical procedure by the saving grace of a more potent medical armament. He reduces his chance of mor- tality and decreases the duration of his illness. All that pertains to chemical methods, to bacteriological research, to surgical ideas, to the great field of general medicine— all these belong to the homeopathic physician to give to his pa- tient, together with the possibilities of the homeopathic remedy. Truly **They who have not tried Homeopathy have not half tried to get well."
CONCLUSION.
The founder of this system of therapeutics was bom a century and a half ago. He lived an epoch of superstition; he practiced during the dark ages of medicine; he knew nothing of the modem laboratory idea. Yet this gigantic intellect was capable of formulating a system of therapeutics- so accurate in its essential parts that the rest of the scien- tific world has adjusted and readiusted itself until now it snugly enfolds and perfectly fits every feature of the homeo- pathic doctrine. Study the modern ideas of disease and the morbid processes as they are now understood, delve in phy- sical chemistry, as it is taught in every university in the world, listen to the forensic eloquence of the physicist, the chemist, the physiologist, and the pathologist, then take from its shelf the *'Organon of the Art of Healing, "written a- hundred years ago by one Samuel Hahnemann, and it will be found that the notes of all these latter day scientists are so attuned that when that voice of a century ago sings its- lay to the modern music there is not a suspicion of discords but in perfect sweetness the whole temple of science is reso- nant and reverberant in one symphony of perfect harmony. Therefore, my friends, we proclaim the scientific reason ableness of Homeopathy.
University ol Michigan, May, 1003:
The Wedical Advance
Vol. XL VI.
RATA VI A, ILL., JULY, 1908.
No. 7.
A COMMENT ON OUR MATERIA MEDICA.
By Dr. Lewis E. Rauterberg, Washington, D. C.
There is no curable disorder in the human body nor any curable invisible morbid change that does not make itself known as disease by signs and symptoms, and hence by re- moving the entire complex of perceptible signs and distur- bances, 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 remedy.
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 argument 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 ourselves familiar with the vast complications of symptoms in materia medica is the most important thing in the life of a homeopathic physician. I used often to hear my revered father say that the whole secret of success in Homeopathy 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 per- severance; 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 carry- ing 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
442 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
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-Jife 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 ab- breviated. 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 conclusion, 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 un- important 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. Pool that I was. Which of us with our puny brains can pre- sume to point out the unimportant symptoms!
I was recently shocked to bear a brother physician an- nounce that he 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 appreciate the truth and depth and infinite value of our materia medica since I passed that age than I had in all my preceeding 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 re- pays one. The haze clears away, a grasp upon the individ- uality of the remedies is obtained, the provings are no long- er a disjointed 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 symptom seemed to tally, but frequently without success. We all have our pet remedies. Antimonium ciudum\^ as no pet of mine. I
COMMENT ON OUR MATERIA MBDICA.
443
saw no connection between 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 symptoms is so plainly strung. That thread is intestinal auto-intoxication, and the hemorr- hoids 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 will cure is that which results from this auto-intoxication.
Whith shame I recall the time when Aurum metallicum was to me a great remedy for melancholia and suicidal mania, useful also in some form of syphilis and mercurialization. "Anditwas nothing more." But a daily pegging away at the old materia medica taught me what a fool I wasjandhow stu- pendous was the brain of Samuel Hahnemann. I gradually began tosee why he mentions Grold as a remedy for barren women with indurated and prolapsed wombs; why it cures pining,undeveloped boys; why bone exostoses,rheumatic me- tastasis to the heart, sclerosis and dropsy. It is because Gold sends the blood thundering through the body, forcing it through withered and forgotten capillaries, gathering up waste and distributing life to the dying tissue. It eliminates, 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 unfolded themselves to me.
While speaking of Aurum, 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 attached the shoulders and arms. From that point it flew back to the feet, which began to swell. He had received Bryonia, Lachnanthes, Ledum, etc., according to the aymptoms, but at this point I was myself confined to my home for some days and had to rely upon the
1^
444 IIHE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
reports of his parents, which were vague aud indefinite. They now reported that while the feet continued to swell, the rheumatism 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 Cimicifuga, upon their representation without good results; the boy grew worse. On the sixth day the mother reported that the boy was so weak that he could scarcely speak. I cross-ques- tioned her very closely, among other things asked, * lying upon which side was the pain worse?"
**0h," 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 chin strap made of towels." 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 be- fore. The labored gasps for breath could be heard outside the door, the little figure sat bend 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 entered was the terrific, visible throbbing of the carotids, which could be seen across the room. It was with great diffi- culty that I could examine his heart; he could not endure the least touch, and at each attempt gasped, **0h, doctor, give me time; give me a little more time."
I finally made out a muffled, tumultuous heart sound, as if beating under water. The temperature was 103, yet there was a great 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 every one of these symptoms are summed up under one
COMMENT ON OUH MATERIA MEDICA
445
remedy, and that is Aurum, and it is the only remedy which covers every point exactly. I gave Aurum lOx. 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 morning 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 perspiration rained from him, and the swelling promptly disappeared. You see what a profound eliminant Gold is when homeopathically indicated. The lad made a rapid and complete recovery with no other medication. He received it first in the lOx, 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 recorded by Hering and Hahnemann in these words:
"Rheumatism which jumps from joint to joint and final- ly fastens upon the heart.
"Impossible to lie down. Must sit up bent forward.
"Visible throbbing of 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?
Another 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 something was wrong. He cried if spoken to, 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, bloodness-looking little chap. He had been dosed by other physicians for malaria
446 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE,
and anaemia^ At first I suspected 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 para- graph on * pining boys" under Aurum as superfluous and and useless, and I would glady 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 undeveloped.
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. 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 persistent effort."
I was not long ago impressed by the value of a know- ledge of detail. A certain lawyer of this city was taken ill while at Atlantic City with a violent cold followed by ab- scesses in both ears. He suffered agonies and slept only under morphia. A violent chill and high fever indicated the formation of pus. As the attending physicians could afford him no relief, he insisted upon returning to Washing- ton. The physicians protested, but being headstrong and impatient he could not be controlled, and with fever of 103° he arrived, and I was sent for. I found him suffering terribly. The drum of one ear had rupturfed, and it was discharging freely. The condition of the other ear was grave. Friends were clamoring for mastoid incision, and the patient was be- sides himself with agony. I recognized that the Eustachian tube 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 off the pus, lest
COMMENT ON OUR MATERIA MEDICA. 447
it should **back water" into the mastoid process, causing graver complications. But I know old Hahnemann could do better than that. As there was oily perspiration in spite of the fever and worse towards night, it was clearly a Mercury case. I gave Mercurius vivus, confident of success. After ten hours the patient was not one whit better. It was sure- ly a Mercury case I knew. And yet, which preparation or combination of Mercury? Ah, there is the rub! Of our eight preparations of Mercury 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 impera- tive.
In a flash I remembered that Parrington mentions in an unobtrusive little footnote that where there is closure of the tube, Mercurius dulcis is preferrable. Rejoicing that this detail, this mere crumb of materia medica had been stored up, I gave Mercurius dulcis 3x. Imagine my delight when at nme o'clock next morning, his wife burst into the office ex- claiming that the medicine had worked a miracle with the first dose. He had slept all night and no pain. Mercurius dulcis was the key that fitted that lock, you see. It opened the Eustachian tube, the abscess discharged through that avenue and all went well. Mercurius dulcis was continued for two days. After that the hissing in the perforated ear and the co^itinued discharge seemed to call for Silicea,, but as Silicea must never follow directly upon Mercury I inter- posed Belladonna for one day for an erratic neuralgia and then Silicea completed a prompt and perfect cure.
There is yet another phase of study necessary for the homeopath, 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 materia medica. Here is a clinical ex- ample of this point.
448 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
A young man of thirty was brought to me aflBlicted with epilepsy of eight years' standing. The attacks were frequent and of frightful severity. He looked almost imbecile. He was florid and scrofulous. He knew of nothing that aggra- vated 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, screaming, struggling and biting. As you know, the books say that the Stramonium epilepetic hears voices call- ing him. So Stramonium was given. Well, it had no effect whatever.
Then I sat down to think and translate his symptoms. I reasoned thus: The prominent symptom of Belladonna i^ a desire to escape, to get out or away from where they are* to get from under an oppressing load, to escape from some- thing that holds to something else. Again, under Belladon- na 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 Belladonna. Remembering that florid face settled it. I gave him several powders of Belladonna 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 in- tellectual giant to be a reliable authority upon this immense subject. If we will cling fast to Hahnemann and Hering, BOenninghausen ^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 cannot help but catch some of their glory. Let us stick to- the highest type of old true Homeopathy. Remember that the really great men of Homeopathy have invariably been the strictest Hahnemannian homeopaths.
I would not for a moment have you think, however, that
COMMENT ON OUR MATERIA MEDICA . 449
because I advocate the old Hahnemannian Homeopathy, that I mean nothing modern is worth while. That would be unworthy of any intelligent physician. Do not mistake me, I am warning against discarding old splendors for new trash. "While I consider Hahnemann and Hering as the very back- bone 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 equipment. Bacillinum, T^edorrhinum, Syphilinum, Variolinum and all the other inums, with the exception of Psorinum, represent their work. I cannot imagine what I would do without Bacilli- num nowadays in tuberculosis, or without Pyrogen 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 pronounced cases doomed. I fear this won- derful remedy, introduced by Burnett, has been sadly neg- lected, judging by the number of septic cases where I have found the patient being dosed to death with Fowler's solu- tion, quinine and the like, where Pyrogen cured. Stop and think what it is. Rotten meat. Could anything be more homeopathic to aseptic or puerperal fever, or any condition where decayed animal matter has been absorbed? We owe debts of gratitude to Burnett for his introduction of it, and to 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, Hahnemann.
The Medical Era, St. IjOu\s, Mo,, will issue its annual series of Gastro-intestinal editions during July and August. In these two issues will be published between 40 and 50 or- iginal papers of the largest practical worth, covering every phase of disease of the Gastro-intestinal canal. Sample <5opies will be supplied readers of this journal.
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HOMEOPATHY: ITS PRESENT STATUS AND FUTURE
PROSPECTS.*
By Jas. W. Overpeck, M. D., Hamilton, Ohio.
It is customary for the president of this and other soci- ties to speak of the workings of the society and to suggest the adoption of measures and plans which he believes would be beneficial to the society and its members. This is very proper and as it should be; but if I step out of the beatea path on this occasion I hope I shall have your pardon for doing so.
We are all glad to note the great improvement in the **health" of our society; that the diagnosis by our president of last year was correct, and that the remedies applied have acted as a real simillimum. But our membership committee will report the case in detail so that you may see the results *of the treatment.
Because it seems to me of such great importance, I wish to speak rather briefly today of the "whys and where- fores" of the present status of Homeopathy, and to state a few facts which may serve as hints as to what might be done in our meetings and in our individual spheres as well, to promote to some degree a better understanding of, and a wider acceptance of our methods by the people in general. I say **the people in general" advisedly, I think, because it is the masses who lack knowledge of our mode of treatment. The up to date doctor of any school knows there is much of truth and efficiency in this therapeutic law, and is willing in many instances to acknowledge the same.
But let us first take a very brief glance at the history and growth of Homeopathy. Here we have a method of treat- ing and curing disease, discovered and demonstrated more than a century ago by one of the ablest men in the profes- sion at that time; a system which we believe has done more for the improvement and advancement of the art of medicine than any method that has ever been taught or practiced; a system, the basic principles of which shall serve as a guide
^Presidents AddresSi Homeopathic Medical Society of Ohio, 190&
HOMEOPATHY. 451
in therai)eutics, not only through this second century of its life and history, but through centuries to come; a system which braved and defied the prejudices, the ridicule, the per- secution of that intolerant first half of the nineteenth centu- ry, has stood the test of scientific research of later years and has come out stronger on account of the struggle.
Yet, notwithstanding all this and volumes more than can be said in its favor, we must face the fact that not more than eighteen per cent, of the people in this great and pro- gressive country of ours, are receiving the benefits of hom- eopathic treatment.
As to one of the great hindrances to its growth, I am sure all will agree, and it needs but to be mentioned. I re- fer to that almost impenetrable wall erected at the very birth of the system by the "prejudices, the intolerance of things new, the narrow-mindedness of that age, the same in kind as that which humiliated and persecuted Galileo and many others who were the pioneers of advanced thought in earlier times. Even at this day this wall still stands, al- though it is crumbling and tottering at many points.
But in my opinion, the apathy, the indifference and the self-contentedness exhibited by the average homeopathist, constitute the greatest stumbling block that lies in the way of the progress of homeopathy. Most of us are making enough to keep us in moderate comfort and are content to jog along and I6t her work out her own salvation.
What are- some of the expedients or measures by which this work can be facilitated and hastened? Most, if not all of you, will say that organization is a most potent factor. And I say organize. Organize from the little country club up to the state and the national association. Make the smaller tributary to the larger, and all into one harmonious whole. And-when this is all complete shall we settle down into our little home routine again and allow the societies to do the work? If we do this then our organization will be of no avail.
For severary^ara we have talked propagandism in our state and national societies, but are the results all that could
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be desired? I would not in the least decry the usefulness of the medical society, for I believe it to be indispensable to the success of our cause; but after all do you not believe, as I do, that in the work of spreading sf knowledge of and the practice of homeopathy, the real obligation lies at the door of the individual doctor?
If questioned as to what the individual doctor can ao in this scheme of propagandism, I would say: First practice good straight homeopathy as far as it lies in his power to do so. Let him study his cases carefully and burn some midnight oil over his materia medica occasionally, so that he may cure difficult cases — even cure some cases that are common- ly considered incurable. The careful, pains-taking home- opathist does these things, and they are the things that talk. Thorough, honest work speaks eloquently and force- fully for any cause.
Secondly I would say to him: Preach what you prac- tice. Not that he should do this on any and all occasions; but that there are occasions frequently presenting upon which it is perfectly proper, and at the same time, profitable to both patient and doctor to speak of the treatment and the results obtained. Shall he speak of the therapeutic aspect of the subject, the scientific methods of preparation and application of our medicine? I say yes, in some instan- ces. A few will be intensely interested in this, but most people care but little for theories and theorizing.
We sometimes hear it stated that we have arrived at an age in which people think for themselves; that they study problems and reach conclusions more or less independently as regards the opinion of others. Let us question a little as to what extent this is true. How many Methodists, Bap- tists, Presbyterians, etc., can you point out who have neith- er been born and bred in their church, nor drifted into it through force of circumstances? What proportion of the republicans or democrats of the present day have "thought" themselves into their political opinions? How many young parents take any pains to investigate and compare the re- sults of the different methods of medical treatment, so that
HOMEOPATHY. 453
they may select that which they think best calculated to mskke strong men and women of their children? I think your answer to these questions would be, not very many, And. this being true in what way can we reach and interest this great majority of the people?
A populai lecturer of the present time says that the msLSses of the people think in dollars and cents. Is not this alDOut nine-tenths true? And can we not interest them from a clollars-and-cents standpoint? I ask any one of you who ha.s practiced a sufficient length of time to look over your acc50unt books, follow down the accounts of families who formerly were treated with crude medicines but have come under your care within the last six or eight years, and notice tliSLt after two, three or four years the amount for your ser- vices has diminished to fifty per cent, in many instances, to thirty -five per cent, in mosHnstances, and in some families l^elow twenty-five per cent, of the amount for the first year. Iri families in which there are a few children, whether they l>e increasing in number or not, according to my observa- tion. Homeopathy will produce these figures. Suppose on an average it does half so well, have we not enough to inte- rest the people in the way of dollars and cents? Learning so much, they can readily understand that less sickness means better health, and better health means ability to do more business or more labor, and this again means more dollars.
And now, after calling attention to these few facts, I ask if you cannot think of many things which, if properly presented, would be of interest to people of ordinary minds, even so that they might discuss them themselves?
Again I say I have gone out of the ordinary way to hring up this subject because I believe these things should he discussed in our meetings more than they are discussed We come to the meetings to get new ideas, more knowledge and ought to return better prepared to teach as well as practice our art.
Are we not too modest both in our meetings and out of our meetings, in exploiting our ideas and achievements?
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Are 'we not too slow in the matter of claiming those things which rightfully belongs to us and for which we do not have the credit? The work done by our brethren in Iowa in re- gard to vaccination and the use of Variolinum will undoubt- edly bring good returns in that state. In the vast amount of experimenting and research in chemistry and therapeu- tics of recent years, many of the most important principles unearthed or demonstrated, serve us well in proving and strengthening our theories. I think we should make the most of these things, and that our journals should say more of a positive and progressive nature concerning them.
Before closing I have one little item to mention which concern^ the work of our society; and this is not original • with myself, but was suggested by a member from my own city. It is in reference to setting apart in our program of a half hour or more, during which time we may listen to vol- untary items, giving not more than three minutes to ea^h^ person and allowing no discussion. Thus any member* would have an opportunity to take part in the exercises and present any item, such as extraordinary effects of certain medicines in certain cases, or unusual cases or instances that would be of interest and profit to the members. I only sug- gest this and the society may consider it at its pleasure.
I wish to thank the society for the confidence manifest* ed in placing me in this position of trust and honor; and I hope my little effort may not prove to be entirely fruitless. In behalf of the society and for myself, I want to thank every officer, every chairman and every member of the vari- ous bureaus and committees for his and her part of the work for this meeting. The secretary, the chairmen of the mem- bership and legislative committees and some others have had much to do, and as to whether it has been well done we shall see, and I am sure we shall not be disappointed.
WHAT IS WORTH WHILE IN MEDICINE? 455
WHAT IS WORTH WHILE IN MEDICINE*
By J. B. Campbell, M. D.
Regarded as a question this rather ambitious title might excite merriment among the very practitioners who would indorse it if presented as a substantiated fact. The much that is worth while can not of course be encompassed in a faintly suggestive article, neither could one hope to elucidate so recondite a subject as follows in a merely cursory paper. But life is fleeting and we cannot possibly appropriate every- thing in sight; furthermore in the study of the opsonins we seem to be threatened with a rediscovery of Homeopathy, and in order that we may keep abreast of the procession with its alluring glamour it is necessary to emphasize some thoughts, old, and partially overlooked, but of pre- eminent value.
As a Hahnemannian I do not think there is one of our number who would not be profoundly affected by the pathos and the tragedy implied in that misanthropic masterpiece wherewith Prof. H. C. Wood prefaces his **Treatise on Therapeutics" in which he says: '^Experience is said to be the mother of wisdom. Verily she has been in medicine rather a blind leader of the blind, and the history of medical progress is the history of a man groping in the darkness finding seeming gems of truth, one after another, only in a few minutes to cast each back into a heap of forgotten baubles that in their day had also been mistaken for verities." * * * * ♦
Prof. Gregory of Edinburgh Medical College, said to his class not long ago: **Gentlemen, 99 out of every 100 medi- cal facts are medical lies, and medical doctrines are, for the most part, stark, staring nonsense."
Dr. Abercrombie said: '*Medicine has been called by philosophers the art of conjecturing; the science of guessing."
Sir John Forbes, fellow of the Royal College of Physi- cians, London, and a doctor of the royal household says:
Read before the Brooklyn HahnemaDnlan Union and the Bayard Club.
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**No systematic or theoretical classification of healing agents ever yet promulgated is true, or anything like truth, and none can be adopted as a safe guidance in practice/' Evi- dently Homeopathy was unknown to this gentleman.
Sir Astley CJooper said: *'The science of medicine is founded upon conjecture and improved by murder."
The great medical authority Dr. James says: **I declare as my conscientious conviction founded on long experience and reflection that if there were not a single physician, surgeon, midwife, chemist, apothecary, druggist nor drug on the face of the earth, there would be less sickness and less mortality than now prevail.''
John Mason Goode M. D., F. R. S., says: **The effertsof our medicines on the human system are in the highest degree uncertain, except, indeed, that they have destroyed more lives than war, pestilence and famine combined."
Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes said before his class: *'The disgrace of medicine is that colossal system of self-deception in obedience to which mines have been emptied of their cank- ering minerals, and the vegetable kingdom robbed of all its growth, the entrails of animals taxed for their impurities, the poison bags of reptiles drained of their venom, and all the conceivable abominations thus obtained thrust down the throats of individuals suffering from some fault of organiza- tion, nourishment or vital stimulation."
Confessions of this character are a powerful stimulus to homeopathic achievement; but more than that does the ad- mission of Dr. Wood's cry out for a marshalling or assemb- ling of these **forgotten baubles" as he calls them; in other words, for therapeutic organization. How well Home- opathy solves the difficulty is attested by thousands of its l^ractitioners and hundreds of thousands of its participants.
It is true that the cleverly attired fads which come and go, sometimes give the facts a competitive tilt in passing. But tested and proven by the homeopathic standard those same '^therapeutic gems" of Dr. Wood's assume intelligent - form; and they remain with us as verities out of which and upon which is erected the abiding edifice of truth.
WHAT IS WORTH WHILE IN MEDICINE? 457
In the craze for novelty and sensation we confront an atavism as ancient as the human race. Like the savage it is forever inclining toward the morrow while overlooking the problems of the present, forgetting that sometimes the truest progress consists in going backward— retracing and, re-presenting in the light of to-day the unchangeable axioms formulated by master minds under virgin impulse. In Home- opathy these minds were both actuated and illuminated by the impingement of a thought so mighty as to require much labor and many years for its even partial expression. As * 'custo- dians of the sacred fire" we must guard as we can against dissipation of the original Hahnemannian inspiration, as we recede further and further from the initial era of energy.
In the present as in the past the estate of general medi- cine is more or less problematical, not to say precarious, as the Hahnemannian discovers when in the course of practice he is compelled to refute a professional onus which he did not in the least help to create, and for which he is not even indirectly responsible. By reason of the almost universal impression that it is still an art and not a science, medicine affords a particularly favorable field for the exploitation of * new brooms" which make one clean sweep and are thence- forth relegated to the limbo of the obsolete.
Mere newness demands probation under suspicion, hence the general clamor for stability — for order more near- ly approximating certainty in therapeutics; in short, for a science of medicine at all times and under all conditions available. But a method of cure perfected to the point of dependability in all thinkable maladies both classifiable, capable of uprooting active disorders, modifying undesirable temperaments and re-directing perverted lives, would indeed be Utopian in conception; for years have shown the ad- vantages of the various healing systems one over the other, to be at times seemingly relative. Yet again, in certain in- stances the blindest partizan must perceive in which direc- tion lie the absolute law and the positive benefits. In this connection whatever conduces to the patient's ultimate good may be seized upon as worth while. Whatever is not simply
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ooaservative but most nearly creative — that is whatever gives the patient what he has never had, be it a practically new body, a new disposition or a new order of things is certainly in line with this thought. Anything which re: oi^anizes the disorderly economic forces, generating two units of energy where only one was generated before, affords matter for serious contemplation. Whatever may be urged in favor of the effectiveness of other healing measures, the homeopathy of Hahnemann and BOnninghausen is now, and always will be a vitally distinct necessity to mankind.
It has been said that on all planes, from perfection to perdition God helps and heals; from the prayer of faith down to crude, aboriginal '^medicine." Homeopathy, which comprehends this entire scope of remedial action is there- fore a necessity because it is pre-eminently practical; for not everyone has acquired the ability to cure himself by denying the evidence of the senses, and does not feel qualified to at- tempt existence in some exalted zone where '*all is love'* where no one is ever ill nor is dependent upon food or sleep. On the other hand, the majority of people not caring to re- turn to the empiricism of tlie wild man, feel the need of some rational supplementary measure to maintain the balance of health, when by some extraneous factor perhaps, this balance has been disturbed.
Advanced medical thought is much of the time accom- panied by advanced pathological problems. Mankind form- erly presented to the physician more of the simple ills than now, and in many particulars so-called medical science ap- pears but to light the way into impenetrable darkness. Under the title ''microbe carriers*' in the Literary Digest of Feb. 8th, 1908, the alternate bolstering and straining of the germ theory would tend toward a state of panic if one had no therapeutic anchorage. From this article we read: "These forces of immunity may be in active operation, so far as tests made outside the body with the blood indicate, at a time that the very bacteria from and against which they have developed may still be surviving in the body.
Typhoid bacilli have been cultivated from the blood long
WHAT IS WORTH WHILE IN MEDICINE? ^ 459
after the subsidence of symptoms of typhoid fever and at a time when the titre of serum bacteriolysis was of prodigious height; pneumococci have been detected in the circulating blood of animals actively immunized to the pneumococcus; anthrax bacilli have been grown from the blood of immune and healthy sheep protected by anthrax vaccine, and living virulent tubercle of the human type have been obtained from the healthy lymphatic glands of calves inoculated with bovo- vaccine and in consequence already immune to bovine tuberculosis. It is clear, therefore, that the immune state, so far as bacteria are concerned, can be no one-sided pheno- menon in which the fact of all importance is the condition of the host, and of small importance the condition of the in- vading bacterium. The phenomenon is, indeed, a reciprocal one and must take account of a high degrf^e of capacity for adaptive changes on the part of the parasite as well as on the part of the host "
A presumptuous art, born rather of arrogance than altruism, commits daily, in the name of science, assaults on the temple of the Most High, probing into its interior, cun- ningly contaminating the blood stream, and so drawing upon the vitality that there seems to be but a step between the benefits and the penalties of the intrusion. There de- scend in consequence to the Hahnemannian, beings in a state of tabid, nerveless invalidism, which he is expected to restore to normal conditions. The Hahnemannian is con stantly meeting more of those intricate cases which can not be taken at their face value — which indicate a certain remedy plainly enough, but which are not primarily cured or even relieved by that remedy — cases in which he has to go deeply into the former life and treatment in all its details, back perhaps to some arbitrarily tainted ancestor. We are meeting conditions which apparently defy accredited home- opathy, and in which we have to dig out the "why" behind the intractability. The faculty of sensing this **why" dis- tinguishes the efforts of the homeopathist from those of the superficialist. It is the true physician's most valuable asset.
Disease becomes intractable in just the proportion that
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it involves the temperament, for temperament being the sum total of ancestral habits is as deep as life itself, and for aught we know, deeper than the life of the individual. It is here that the surface-play of symptoms becomes misleading, and it is here also that in all probability is to be found the key to the nature of malignancy.
Life is an unceasing battle — a continual overcoming, in whatsoever sphere it may be waged. Whether moral, mental or physical, or all three in inter-dependent relation; and it is only reasonable that during the ebb seasons when vitality, that mysterious attribute of potential being seems in the minority, some kind of re-inforcement is needed to avert catastrophe. In Homeopathy we have this something, and by its early application in distuned states of the organism harmony is restored and pathological ultimates are antici- pated while yet in process of precipitation. To thus effectu- ally, although unostentatiously, circumvent disaster is worth while. In this manner repeatedly are the currents of ma- lignancy or other subversive tendency diverted into benign channels, and retrograde metamorphosis iLtercepted.
It is impossible, certainly, for the feeble mind of man however trained or penetratingly intuitive, to comprehend at every stage, and in all their remote ramifications, the elusive and intangible factors involved in the physio-medical equation. We must be content to apply certain fixed standards to determine what is meritorious in medicine, ^nd therefore to summarize; that medical measure is worthwhile which conserves the most and destroys the least. In other words, a measure which leaves the patient permanently better than it found him. Which actually cures, and because it cures does not *'lay up wrath against the day of wrath" by exacting promissory notes on which the patient's vitality pays the interest. Such means are legitimate; are not a sop to fetichism nor a concession to ignorance. Whatever is free from the charge of f addishness yet is ever abreast of the times,tallies with truth for truth is the- same always,and if a therapeutic system of this description could be envolved, we should be possessed of something akin to the genuine.
WHAT IS WORTH WHILE IN MEDICINE? 461
Fortunately this has indeed been accomplished, and for its realization the world is indebted to the founder and formu- later of Homeopathy. But for extending Homeopathy's sphere of usefulness by enhancing its efficiency, we are in the debt of BOnninghausen. By emphasizing the necessity for observing the synergistic and complementary action of medicines he drew attention to a phase of Homeopathy which has since, at least in its more refined aspects and applica- tions fallen into disuse. Homeopathy as taught by BOnning- hausen is not only worth while but its study is imperative. Inasmuch as not every case is a single remedy case, nor in the sirfdllimum bee-line class but must be cured by making a detour, it will profit us to work out the best method of pursuing such circuitous course. This course BOnning- hausen has indicated, and has supplied the practitioner with material in his *'pocketbook" appendix, his work on **one- sided diseases", and his various suggestive treatises con- cerning drug relationships.
Every Hahnemannian of any experience whatever, knows that there are certain labyrinthian types of disease which must recover by the devious path because they present many degrees of relativity, hence require many remedies. In illustration of this we might cite a Belladonna case that did not respond to Belladonna primarily. The disease was Tic Doloreux, styled by Jacobi the *'bete noire" of the profession. To detail the symptoms and remedies given would bore you unnecessarily; therefore we will simply state that the case had Hahnemannian care for three years or thereabout with varying results; that involved in the maze of symptoms was the suppression of an old pharyn- gitis following the local use of perchloride of iron, and that after the administration of Perrum Mur, dmm Swan, the case commenced to move forward but finally stood still. It was at this juncture that Belladonna acted, and still further improved the patient's condition; but this favorable action also came to an end and rendered it necessary to return to Perr. Mur., and the rotation thus inaugurated pulled the patient out of the pit so that there was absolute freedom
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from suffering for seven months, the patient meanwhile gaining twenty pounds. There have been accessions of pain since that time, but the character of all is modijBled and the general tendency is distinctly improved.
At the present date, this case has entered a cycle of rotation between the complementaries allium cepa and phos- phorus. There is no pain to speak of, and there are long periods of freedom from even that slight amount. A further gain of four pounds is reported by the patient.
It is to be borne in mind that this case has failed to im- prove under the continuance of any single remedy.
Another type of case needs to be immediately transfixed by the simillimum or there will be no permanent results. This type illustrates a felicitously opposite relation of remedy and malady. Approximation is complete, and such cases recover by the direct route. Three in point will suffice to demonstrate:
Case I. Chlorosis with constant headache for six years. Treated by an avowed homeopathist with Carter's Liver Pills. Cured with one dose (the only medicine given) of Ars. 40 m. F.
Case II. Menorrhagia of three years standing, patient flowing copiously every second week and continuing for six or seven, days;, she really flowed six months of the year. Cured by a single dose of Sul. c. m. P. There has been no return of trouble during the three years following the cure.
Case III. Intestinal paresis in child of 13 months. Had only one stool in six weeks. Bell. Phos. Apis, and Sil., feebly impressed the symptoms. One dose of Medor. c. m. P., cured absolutely. The father had gleet almost up to the time of his marriage.
Without a knowledge of Hahnemannian philosophy ttie mere simillimum seeker may become a veritable hunter of rainbows. The simillimum is of course the destination of Hahnemannian purpose, yet in some of the unrelenting enig- mas we have encountered it seems to have been the last remedy required. * That is tO'Say, it is very often the further- most remedy required to propel the patient into clear water
^WHAT IS WORTH WHILE IN MEDICINE? 463
fact p>erf ectly well known to all students of homeopathics. This result cannot be accomplished until the knotty complex has been buffetted about according to some such method as BOnning^tiausen points out and then comes the simillimum — last, not first. In other words: you can't wind your skein until yon have disentangled it. BOnninghausen throws a strong side-light on stubborn cases; the kind which jeer at ones l>rain-badgering efforts. How to open up such a dead- IcKik ancl how to follow up the advantage secured by a given remedy seems to have been Bonninghausen's especial and peculiar mission. Hahnemann thought of it, but BOnning- hausen dwelt upon it. The idea of relationships, as he presents it is suflScient to inject live interest into the slack- i?irater practitioner who has been eddying about in the dol- drams of despair. I have no doubt that the substance of the BOnningViansen thought accounts for the homeopathic ten- acity of the old pioneers who, comprehending that theirs -was a master-key wherewith to explore the hitherto inacces- sible recesses of homeopathic possibility, refused to counte- nance anything short of a triumph. If one does not know something about drug sequence he is doomed to fail in certain * 'one-sided" diseases because he has neglected to draw upon -tlie very well-springs of homeopathic resource. Hence if we at»terapt to grapple with vague pathological perplexities in the absence of an acquintance with BOnninghausen's sig- nificant suggestions, it may be our fate to run inconclusively ahont the ''vicious circle'' of symptoms from which, under ^he cleverest generalization we may not be able to escape, but like the sleepy dog we will turn around .and around only to lie down at the starting point; or as the Plying Dutchman, toe beaten back from the haven of our desires by the storms o:f an adverse fate.
It seems difficult to realize that any part of homeopathy is as a lost art. That there were any secrets which nearly X>erished with their discoverers, or that emphasis has been laid upon only a fragment of homeopathic truth. As you ^tre 'Well aware, homeopathy is not a mere symptom -match- ing pastime. Once let us realize that the depths of its re-
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integrating potentialities are fathomless and that the gamut of its active principle ranges from the crudest of remedial substance to the tenuous extreme of healing thought, and we will have discovered the fountain of perpetual incen- tive.
In the world of medicine homeopathy at once imperso- nates a conscience and a paradox. Its fundamentals can never be appreciated by the geijeral run of thinkers, how- ever profound, unless they be put into practice, which ac- counts for a good deal of the inane babblings pro and con, to which we are obliged to listen.
In past years we have delivered some of our cases half cured, notwithstanding the fact that the means for complet- ing the other half was within view of unheeding eyes. The power of discerning the requirements of a given case, L e^ of detecting the overlappings of its physical and psychical elements usually carries with it a suggestion of the plane and plan of remedial procedure — whether to execute a direct frontal attack or resort to subtler measures. And again, the consciQusness of security in Hahnemannian homeopathy may enable us to implant the hope-seed with its wondrous germinating capacity. When properly sown in logically prepared mental soil, and administered in connection with the homeopathic remedy, we have all seen its results astound the multitude.
It is interesting to note that there is a borderland of possible achievement between reason and rashness, account- ing for some successes of the merely enthusiastic; for not- withstanding **fools rush in where angels fear to tread,'' the past could tell of the contagiousness of enthusiasm and of victories gained before experience had supplanted ambition. Through the dynamics of intense desire young physicians^ have occasionally afforded relief where men of more extend- ed knowledge have created a lethal atmosphere by keeping^ uppermost the impressian of the end as they saw it from the beginning. There are occasions when, although science is^ nonplussed, one may not say nothing more can be done, for no man dare define the limitations of the remedy be it of 8t
WHAT IS WORTH WHILE IN MEDICINE? 465
sul>st^a.iitial or imponderable nature, provided it be adminis- tered, in the light of the law.
Ck>mmenting on the title character in that appallingly hairia.li product of the limner's art, **The Doctor," by Luke IPildes, a noted English physician is reputed to have said, that as lie leans over the sick child, the * 'doctor" is saying to himself: *'Here I am, knowing that I have done no good — hoping that I have done no harm." Under Homeopathy sucli gruesome ruminations are partically nil. This is worth :a good deal, especially in time of sorrow and stress.
According to Osier there are four trustworthy drugs. Oliver Wendell Holmes acknowledged five, while conscien- tious old school practitioners not uncommonly conclude that the majority are more or less pernicious and of little positive ^ood. CJompare with this dull, gray, futureless fog the gorgeous array of the polychrests. Above the mists of sus picion and doubt the sun of Homeopathy continues to shine -with, undiminished healing power. Consider this pitiful little pile of siftings through the allopathic conscience and tliexi let your gaze sweep the boundless ocean of homeopathic realities, the more remote latitudes of which the physician's eye batb not yet seen.
This paper is not to be construed as a rabid effusion re- ^ardlessly extolling Homeopathy. It is presented in support of a principle of which accredited Homeopathy represents t>ut a fractional feature. It means more than just the idea tihat Homeopathy is the best thing in medicine to-day; and ^o far from being transcendentalism, these are demonstrable 2knd dependable rock-bottom facts. They are continually Y>eing. revealed, and are themselves developing new evidence Irx support of the teachings of the masters and the vast ex- -t^nt of the law; hence the most desirable, because most en- <iiiriiig possession with which we are entrusted, is our share ixi the compelling truth which at once exemplifies and ^.ttracts what is scientifically best and worth while in medi- -^^ine or in its practice.
466 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
LECITHIN: A PROVING.*
By J. C. Fahnestock, M. D., Piqua, Ohio.
The lecithins are ethereal compounds which result from the union of cholin with glycerin-phosphoric acid, in which the two glycerin hydroxl groups have been replaced by fatty acid radicles.
On decomposing the lecithins with acids or alkalies we accordingly obtain glycerin-phosphoric acid, fatty alkalies and cholin. At the same time, however, another basic sub- stance, neurin, is usually found, and it is to be noted that, in contradistinction to cholin, nfeurin possesses extremely toxic properties. It results from cholin through the loss of two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen, and is also formed during bacterial decomposition of the lecithins in the presence of much oxygen. The lecithin which is most commonly found in the animal body is the cholin compound of distearyl-glycerin-phosphoric acid.
In its dry state common lecithin occurs as a waxlike, plastic mass, which is soluble in alcohol (at 40 or 50 C), ether (less readily), chloroform, benzol, carbon disulphide, and in fatty oils, while in water it is insoluble. Placed in water it swells and becomes pasty,and on microscopical exami nation it will be noted that the substance occurs in the form of peculiar droplets and threads, which are generally termed its myelin forms. From its alcoholic solution it crystallizes in wart-like masses, which consist of small platelets.
Of special interest is the tendency of the lecithins to combine with the albumins to form more or less stable com- pounds, which have been termed lecithalbumins. Such com- pounds h^ve been found in the mucosa of the stomach; in the lungs, the liver, and the spleen.
In the yolk of eggs it occurs with vitellin, but is here apparently not closely bound. A certain similarity thus exists between the lecithins and the nucleins; both contain phosphorus in their molecules, and both combine -with the
•Lecithins.— a Text-Book of Physical Chemistry, by Charles £► Simon, M. D. I^a Brothers &. Co., 1904, pp 78-80.
LECITHINS. 467
albumins to form more complex substances. The lecithins occur widely distribufed in both the animal and vegetable world. According to Hoppe-Seyler,they are found in all cells and bodily fluids. They are especially abundant in nerve tissue and in the eggs and semen of most animals.
W. Koch has recently pointed out the probable import in the life cell of the lecithins, for which he propw^es the collective term lecithans, and summaries his conclusions as follows: 1. In association with albumins, in colloid solu- tions they furnish the basis for the establishment of the necessary viscosity, by the ease with which they (the leci- thans) are influenced by the ions (Na, Ca). 2. They are concerned in the metabolism of the cell, and in consequence of the presence of the unsaturated fatty acids they take part in the oxygen metabolism and by means of their methyl groups united to nitrogen in still other unknown reactions.
PROVINGS OF LECITHIN (OVa).
Mind: Great forgetfulness.
Inability to think or do mental work.
Low spirited and irritable all the time.
Mind wanders; cannot keep mind on work; great forget- fulness.
When he had soreness in lungs, he became very much frightened and thought he would have serious lung trouble.
Very nervous and irritable.
Mind confused and very slow acting.
Sensorium: Dull frontal headache.
Mind in state of confusion.
Began to address a friend thinking she was some one else> with a general confused feeling in the head.
A tired feeling in the brain with a general tired ex- hausted feeling.
Heavy, dull feeling in the head, drowsy and tired.
Dull heavy ache in the occiput, with a general nervous- ness with quivering over the entire body.
So tired and nervous, cannot do any mental or physical work.
468 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE. ^
Inner head: Dull pain in occiput. A general dull feeling in the head. Dull pain in the occiput extending down the spine. Dizzy when turning the head. Dulness in the head with a general tited feeling. Fulness and ache in head, more severe through temples and occiput, relieved by holding the head back.
Outer head: Dull pressing pains in temi>les.
Dull pressing pains in occiput.
Dull pain in forehead jiist above eyes.
Pine shooting pains in temples extending to eyes.
Pinching pain in left temple.
Eyes: Soreness of eye balls.
Sticky sensation in eyes and with it a sensation as if molasses had been poured over the face.
Ears: Could count the' pulse by lying on right side, beating loud in right ear.
Ringing in ears. Dulness of hearing.
Nose: Raw sensation in nose. Much irritation in nose and pharynx.
Soreness in naso- pharynx.
Face: Pressing pain in both zygoma.
Drawn sensation over cheek bones with sore feeling in eyes.
Pace pale. Looks as if had a severe spell of sickness.
Pelt as if face, were varnished over or smeared with molasses.
Tongue: Coated white. Tongue has a heavy white coating with loss of appetite.
Mouth. Dry mouth with thirst.
Mouth dry, tongue coated white, weakness with a desire for wine.
Sour, pasty taste in mouth.
Throat: Heart beat so rapidly that it caused a short- ness of breath and choking sensation in the throat. Fever without thirst.
LECITHINS.
M
Sense of lump in stomach which seems to rise to the tttroat.
Desire — Aversion: Loss of appetite with much belch- ing of tasteless gas. Desire for coffee which relieves tired- ness.
Thirsty, but did not care for water; was so tired, wanted ^wrine.
Dishke for milk since the proving, of which have always l>een fond.
Eating— Drinking: Belching after eating.
Belching after eating with burning in stomach.
Loss of -appetite. Loss of appetite for breakfast, some- -« thing unusual.
White coating on tongue with loss of appetite.
Nausea and Vomiting: Nausea; much belching of tapsteless gas.
Nausea 5:30 p. m.
Stomach; Bloating with much belching.
Bloated feeling just below stomach and a constant desire to belch.
Burning in stomach, with fulness and much belching of gas.
Sick at stomach, with thirst; mouth dry, wanted water but did not drink fearing it would cause vomiting.
Sensation as if lump in upper part of stomach.
Soreness in stomach relieved by eating.
Hypochondria: Dull pain in region of liver; pain in lower right side of abdomen.
Pain in liver worse when walking.
Fulness in region of spleen.
Sticking pains in spleen.
Abdomen: Dull pains over lower abdomen.
Shooting pains in right ovarion region.
Bloating of bowels around navel.
Pain in abdomen just above navel; bowels moved freely, tout this did not relieve pain which lasted several hours, JPullness in abdomen with passing of offensive flatus.
472 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Colicky pain around navel, followed by soft, yellow
stool.
Cramps in bowels.
Peeling as if lump under sternum, tender to touch.
Sore pain through lower abdomen, worse on right side- Fulness in abdomen.
Rumbling in bowels with colicky pains.
Stool: Bowels loose with much flatus.
Bowels moved very copiously, semi-solid, yellow. \ Loose yellow stools followed by constipation.
Constipation followed by diarrhea, stools dark and slender.
. Stool thin, yellow water.
Stool thin, hot, watery, yellow in the afternoon.
Bowels did not move for a week, then dark slender stool.
Sharp pain in rectum with desire for stool.
Urine: Urine scanty. Increase of phosphates.
Urine dark and scanty.
Produced sugar in urine in four provers.
Urine increased in quantity in three provers.
Albumen in urine. Urine very dark and scanty, one ounce in twelve hours.
Did not pass urine all day, when did, loaded with al- bumen, and not enough to take specific gravity. Albumen specific gravity 1030.
Male sexual organs: Sexual organs relaxed. Scrotum relaxed. Loss of sexual power for three weeks. One prover had complete loss of sexual power, not one erec- tion in three weeks.
Female sexual organs: Menses delayed four days. When it made its appearance there was much pain with pix>- fuse flow, and with a general tired feeling and a nervous quiverin^^ over the entire body
Larynx: Rawness in the throat.
Breathing: Heart beat so hard that it caused short- ness of breath, with a choking sensation in the throat.
Cough: Dry, hacking cough.
LECITHINS, 473
Dry cough in latter part of night and mornings.
Dry cough all evening and night with severe headache.
When taking an extra breath it causes cough.
Cough with pulse 100 and temperature 100.
Lungs: Lungs feel sore, but have not taken dold.
When coughing lungs feel sore.
Dry cough ^th tight sensation in chest.
Soreness and congestion in right lung with sharp pain worse when coughing and when taking deep breath. Thought was going to have pneumonia.
Heart — Pulse: Pulse accelerated with a general feel- ing of weakness.
Heart beat rapidly which caused a shortness of breath and choking sensation.
Hard beating of heart in evenings.
Neck — Back: Dull pain across sacrum.
Dull pain in region of kidneys.
Soreness entire length of spine. Weakness across small of back.
Spine feels sore, worse stooping.
Soreness in muscles of neck.
(Constant pain in small of back.
Upper limbs: Tired, fingers felt stiff and swollen.
Pain in shoulder, comes and goes rapidly.
Sharp pains under left scapula.
Lower limbs: Pain shooting down anterior part of thighs, with tiredness of limbs. Weakness in legs, especial- ly from knees down.
Weakness in knees.
Tired feeling in knees in the morning.
Tired in knees and ankles. When walking a block felt as if had walked miles; tired aching in ankles.
Soreness of limbs to touch as if bruised.
Weak in the knees while walking.
Limbs in general: A general weak, tired feeling, especially from the knees down. Soreness and stiffness in the legs as if had walked many miles.
474 THE MEDICAL. ADVANCE.
Sorness all over the body. Tired, sleepy, yet unable to sleep.
Nerves: Lack of energy, with sore, tired feeling. General feeling of nervousness and a quivering over the entire body.
Nervous quivering sensation over the entire body.
Nervousness and weakness preventing sleeep. Sore, tired, and nervous.
Sleep: Dreams in sleep, awakened very tired.
Dreams of traveling and was tired; was obliged to take a sleeper in day time.
Dream of pain in kidneys. Found myself waking often with pain in kidneys; change position, go to sleep again and repeat the same dream.
General tired feeling in the morning.
Was aroused from sleep 11 p. m. with colicky pains just below stomach. Restless sleep, awake often during the night.
Awake with pain in occiput and upper spine.
Cannot sleep the latter part of night.
Dreams the same thing over and over again, awakened tired.
After sleep feel dull pain in occiput, pain along entire spine, soreness and stiffness over entire body.
Awakened 1 a. m. and could not go to sleeep again.
Awakened 2 a. m. with sore stiffness across sacrum.
For nights in succession, was aroused 2 a. m. and could not sleep; could not lie still for the soreness in spine, legs and hips.
Sore and tired, could not sleep.
Drowsy all afternoon.
Chill — Fever : Pulse 104, temperature 100|, 5 p. m.
Chilled while undressing to go to bed.
Chill 11 p. m., had to apply heat and extra covers, could not sleep for two hours.
Fever in evening with headache and a general tired, ex- hausted feeling. Sweat during the night although the night and room were cool. Wakened tired and exhausted.
4
1
I
MATERIA MEDICA VERIFICATIONS. 475
Circulation poor, got cold in bed and could not warm.
Cliill began at 4 p. m., and lasted until 7 p. m. Chill relieved by heat.
Great thirst during chill with very frequent and profuse urination.
Chill followed by fever and then sweat.
Very hungry during chill.
Sore pain in spleen.
MATERIA MEDICA VERIFICATIONS.
By Rudolph F. Rabe, M. D., New York,
NATRUM MURIATICUM.
J. M., age 24, intermittent fever, contracted while camping at the lakes in northern New Jersey, last summer. Urwier quinine treatment the fever disappeared only to re- turn in March of this year. When first seen he had had two attacks. Gype Tertian.
Chill at 10 a. m., preceded by yawning and stretching, beginning in lumbar region and relieved by covering.
During entire paroxysm much thirst, also nausea and vomiting of bile.
Severe frontal headache, throbbing in character. Frequent micturition with burning. During the heat; uncovers.
After heat profuse sweat all over body with gradual amelioration of symptoms.
Bitter taste and offensive breath. During paroxysm much backache in lumbar region. March 21. Natrum mur. 200, three doses at intervals of two hours, after a paroxysm.
The next attack on March 23, was very mild, consisting of slight heat and headache, no chill or sweat.
On March 25; nothing but a slight vertigo was felt. On April 3; a slight chill, followed by a little heat, oc purred, no medicine was given.
On April 12; there was a very slight attack. This was the last. But one administration of the Natrum mur. was made, that on March 21.
476 THE MEDICAI. ADVANCE.
ALUMEN.
Mr. S., to whom a dose of Lycopodium cm. had been given for a mild tonsolitis and who had previously dosed himself with laxative bromo-quinine, a week later com- plained of the following symptoms:
Dryness of the throat, as though he had gargled with alum.
Tickling at the posterior wall of the pharynx.
Thick, yellow discharge from posterior nares mornings.
Dryness of palate on swallowing.
Chilly sensation on the back as though cold water were running down the spine.
No appetite, no desire to smoke.
A few powders of Alumen 60x at intervals of 24 hours, cured promptly.
HAMAMELIS.
Mrs W., in fifth month of first pregnancy complained of pain in both lower limbs. Examination showed marked swelling of the veins, with much soreness and sensitiveness to touch. Pain < by being much on her feet, not quite so bad when walking. HamameliS 1000 (Skinner), four doses a day for two days, brought prompt relief.
One month later a commencing return of the pain was quickly abolished by a repetition of the same remedy in the same potency and dose. There has been no pain since and coa- finement is expected within three weeks.
KALI SULPHURICUM.
Theo. K., age 2 years, has had a left sided otitis media. Pulsatilla has failed to cure the subsequent discharge. This is thick and yellow and at first caused a slight excoriation of the skin. At night during sleep, dry choking cough. Nose obstructed but no discharge; breathing through nose is noisy. Kali Sulph. 6x four times a day cured within ten days.
CARBO VEGETABILIS.
F. L., age 5 years, right-sided otorrhoea of five weeks duration, the result of an acute otitis media during an attack of measles. No treatment during this time.* Discharge
CENTRAL NEW YORK SOCIETY. 477
yellow, no odor, no pain. Carbo. Veg., 500, (B. and T.) one dose, cured within five days.
The power of potentized "common salt over intermittent fever, when homeopathically indicated, is positive. The symptoms have been verified by Hahnemannians over and over again. The action of the single dose is no less striking. Of interest is the action of common witch-hazel, Hamamelis, overcoming a condition the cause of which (pregnancy) had not been removed. Bruised soreness is the key-note. The potency alone is all sufficient.
. No less marked is the beneficial action of Kali Sulphuri- cum in the sixth decimal potency. The 200th or higher will do the same work and in a more artistic manner, but one dose being required. This is shown by the rapid action of the Carbo Vegetabilis 500, in the last case. This has been re- peatedly verified. In sequele of measles do not forget Carbo Veg. In the Hamamelis case, the frequent repetition of the remedy is open to criticism. One dose will answer just as •well, having done the work in other similar cases. We are given to indulging in experiments — at times.
CENTRAL NEW YORK HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL SOCIETY.
Syracuse, New York, The Vanderbilt, March 13, 1908.
The quarterly meeting was called to order by the Vice- President, Dr. J. M. Keese, at 12:30 p. m.
Members present: Drs. Beck, Bresee, Grant, Hoard, Keese, PoUette, Leggett. Visitor: Dr. Fowler.
Minutes of the December meeting read and approved.
The chairman of the Board of Censors presented the name of Dr. W. F. Fowler, Rochester, N. Y., as applicant for membership.
The § § 51-56 inclusive, of the Organon, were read by Dr. Grant.
The paper on these sections, written by Dr. Glenn I. Bidwell, was read by Dr. Grant.
Organon § ^ 51-56. — The sections we have before us to- day for consideration, contain many virile truths, which
478 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
offer much food for thought. The best we can hope to do with such a lengthy portion of the Organon, in the short time allotted to this part of the program, is to look over some of the many truths expressed therein.
§ 51. — The homeopath has as a weapon with which to combat disease, all things in nature- Even with the count- less number of nostrums being foisted upon the profession today by the manufacturing chemist, the allopath has not the one hundredth part the number of drugs which are available to the homeopath, if he will only use the brains nature provided him to delve out the curative element. It is the trouble with the profession today that we are not doing anything to further advance the cause of Homeo- pathy, What single drug are we proving to place in the hands of those who follow us? Not one! Rather we are raising a great hue and cry about undoing the great and glorious work done by the fathers 'of Homeopathy. Why are they doing this? Is it because t-ie old provings are false? No! . Because the remedies fail to cure when given on their present symptomatology? Again no! Why, then? Simply because the present work is no place for drones or lazy men; simply because they cannot find sanction in these great works for their slovenly prescriptions and mongrel practice. If they would spend half the time employed in calamity howling and yells for a new materia medica, in studying the one we already have, and in using this know- ledge homeopathically, the wailings would cease, and the combination tablet houses would go to the wall. Let us take a brace, stop being sponges, and do something for those who are to follow. Let this society do something in its small way. Let us prove one new drug this coming year so we can add another weapon to our armamentarium, and leave something, as a monument, which will live in the minds of our profession long after our faces and peculiarities have been forgotten.
§ 52. — Hahnemann tells usof the fatal results of palliative work and excessive use of allopathic drugs. We know this, and hardly a day passes which does not bring us some victim
CENTRAL NEW YORK SOCIETY. 479
of such work. But there is another point to be remembered which is brought home to us more forcibly than it was in Hahnemann's time, and that is: the disease picture can be obscured just as completely, and much more lastingly, by the indifferent and careless use of the potencies, as by old school drugs.
With a good, carefully taken case, a prescriber can dig around and see-saw to a cure by counteracting the effects of old school drugging; but God, the devil, or whoever it may be,cannot dig under a case masked by the indiscriminate use of potencies.
An error to which we all are liable, and I know as far as I am concerned, the one I have to fight the hardest, is that of giving a remedy too quickly; that is, making a too hasty prescription. We must be more careful about this in our chronic cases, for mayhap a wrong remedy, even in the single dose, may hinder our ultimate cure many weeks. If you are not sure of your prescription give the second best remedy, Sac. lac, until you are reasonably sure.
Leaving you with these two thoughts, gleaned from the sections of today's program, I hope to stimulate the members of this society to better and more accurate work along these lines, which in itself will bring its own reward, far greater, perhaps, than we even dare imagine.
That which impressed Dr. Grant the most while reading the sections was '* how emphatic Hahnemann was in stating that simillia was a laiv." He said that few realized this fact in Homeopathy. He said .that the men who built homeo- pathy, the men most instrumental in the advance of homeo- pathy, Tiever had the slightest doubt that it was a law. He said that today in prominent societies, in the state society, etc., we often heard the doubt; that it was a method, a rule of cure, etc., was admitted, but that it was a law of cure none seemed ready to acknowledge.
To Dr. Grant's mind there was no doubt that it was a law of cure. He said of the many cures made with the ciude dmg that they were cures only because they were homeo-
433 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
pathic to the case; moreover he believed that Homeopathy was the only law of cure.
Dr. Hoard considered that one great proof of the truth of Homeopathy was the reliability of the old books. Havmg been presented with several volumes of the old authors, among them Jahr, he was impressed with the truth of them, and that they were as true to our needs of today as if writtea for today, and were as true a hundred years ago as they are today.
Dr. Grant had hoped that Dr. Hoard would go a step further and note the value of allopathic works of fifty years ago, aye even ten, as they are certainly not worth shelf room, therapeutically.
Dr. Beck had an allopathic friend with whom he often had discussed the values of provings made by Hahnemann more than a hundred years ago, and who would not admit that there was in therapeutics a law; his answer for the therapeu- tic changes in allopathy was that it was science, which either advanced or retrogaded, his argument being, that if a better method was discovered, why not use ?
Dr. Beck said to him: **If Homeopathy is false, why not tear it down, and to that you are no nearer than a hundred years ago.'*
Dr. Fowler suggested that this condition of change, etc.^ originated in drug houses, new goods were placed on the market, they were tried, and others the same. He thought, also, a reason for using the new was the dissatisfaction with the old, for which there was no guide.
Dr. Hoard moved that the Secretary be appointed at Committee on Resolutions concerning the late Joseph A. Biegler, a member of the Central Society, and report the same at the next meeting. Seconded. Carried. Adjourned for lunch.
Called to order by the Vice-President, Dr. Keese, the meeting proceeded to the subjet of the day, Tuberulosis.
Dr. Grant read the paper on:
EARLY DIAGNOSIS OP TUBEUCUL.OSIS BY Dr. W. E. DRAKE.
Believing that the subject of hygiene of tuberculosis
CENTRAL NEW YORK SOCIETY. 481
requires considerable more time for elaboration, and is essentially important at this time when there are such stringent measures being taken for the control and obliter- ation of the *' White Plague," and in that my time for work, other than professional, has been and is very much limited, I shall write particularly of ** Early Diagnosis of Tuber- culosis," deferring, if permissible, to your Committee of Arrangement, my paper on the division of **Hygieneof Tuberculosis " to the next meeting.
In order that our treatment, or the treatment of tuber- culosis, shall be effective and curative, it must be our chief aim to diagnosis tubercular cases early; not so much to facilitate the prescription of a remedy, but so that we may start our patient out on a new road of living; to change his manner or methods of living, as to diet, fresh air, exercise, etc. If we are able then to understand the tendency of our patient, we are thus able to alleviate and break up, if possible, the inroad of this dreadful malady upon his con- stitution.
We are handicapped greatly by this disease in that it is very apt to creep on insidiously, until it has become quite deeply seated and rooted before it has manifested itself by sufficient number of symptoms to cause the patient to call upon a physician for relief. Even then the symptoms, to many physicians, are not potent enough to warrant him in making a diagnosis of tuberculosis: I regret to say that many of us are inclined to be a trifle careless with these early cases, and neglect to get down to the bottom of the case; to use at our hand the many devices to 'Ad our methods of diagnosis, and to inquire into the history of the patient. Many persons may not have a history of a tuberculous family or relatives, but they may have the psoric miasm rampant in nearly every member, which is a fine culture medium for the reception and development to its end of the tubercule bacillus.
In order that we may make early diagnosis, and do the most we can for tubercular subjects, we must not neglect to use every means we can to determine the actual condition of the
482 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
patient. The moral for- us to draw is: **Take the case properly."
Tuberculosis is a general term, and there are many varieties or subdivisions. I shall here give the symptoms and conditions as we find them in an incipient attack of pulmonary phthisis:
First: The patient complains of a sensation of languor or weakness, loss of appetite, loss of weight, shortness of breath, unhealthy color (particularly paleness), indigestion and constipation. He complains also of night sweats, chilli- ness and fever. Cough and expectoration may even be very slight. An examination of the chest may be negative, or show but indistinct signs for diagnosing phthisis.
An attack of incipient phthisis may be ushered in by an hemoptysis, and if this symptom occurs, we have evidence, unless there are other corroborating symptoms of some other malady, to diagnose, or at least to be suspicious of a tuber- culosis. Even though we have the symptom of an attack of hemoptysis, we may not be able to find coexisting lesion in the chest by physical examination.
Many times the stomach and intestines give us symptoms so prominent that we may be misled to diagnosis some stomach disorder when probably these gastro-intestinal symptoms are a part of the attack of phthisis in its early stages.
The pleurisy, of common complaint, may be a symptom of the disorder, and not as many believe, a disease per se. At times these pleural symptoms are followed sooner or later by pulmonary symptoms, and then a subsidence for a varying time, only to be renewed again.
The tuberculous glands may precede for a long time and show a latent tubercular element at work. The fever, chills, and sweats may be intermittent in character, and sometimes lead to a wrong diagnosis of malaria. As I said earlier, the disease often creeps on insidiously, and we have cavity formation when the patient comes for a treatment for bronchitis.
Phthisis sometimes starts as a laryngeal trouble, and the thought of a latent tubercular infection does not enter the physician's mind.
CENTRAL NEW YORK SOCIETY. " 483
The physical examination of the chest may reveal to us a great deal, or it may be quite negative in these incipient cases. However, by inspecting the chest we find it shallow, and in having the patient take a long inspiration we might notice unequal expansion of the chest walls, either local or general.
Percusssion may elicit some dullness in spots, particu- larly the right apex.
Ausculation shows moist, fine or crackling rales over this so-called spot, or area of consolidation, particularly notice able at the end of inspiration. The breath sounds of expir- ation may be long and high pitched, and the respiration somewhat irregular.
Vocal fremitus is increased over the area of dullness. ^ These symptoms and conditions, if not controlled by methods of treatment, gradually develope into the advanced stages.
DISCUSSION.
Presenting the subject for discussion. Dr. Keese said that the "Early Diagnosis of Tuberculosis " was a subject of both interest and importance.
Dr. Grant was disappointed in that the paper stopped short of a discussion of the two methods of diagnosis at pre- sent so popular, i. e., serum injections and the X-Ray. He said that the method of diagnosis by inoculation of the tuber- culous product had been widely discussed pro and con, in re- lation to both the human and animal organism. In his opinion the results were not conclusive. He said it had been shown again and again that the rise of temperature following in- oculation in cattle was not always indicative of tuberculosis, as the post-mortem often showed no infection whatever. He believed that such an injection in a patient of tubercular dia- thesis might fix upon him the disease itself, and so induce a fatal condition. He said that farmers from all over the country had proved that inoculation had ruined the very best of their herds by developing what at most was a latent diathesis.
Of the second means of diagnosis of pulmonary tuber-
484 THE MEDICAL ADYANCE.
culosiSjhe believed that the X-Ray, when confirmed by other symptoms, gave the most promise. He suggested that Dr. Johnson be asked for his experience in this connection at the next meeting of the society.
Dr. PoUette had read an article on the value of Tuberculin (Koch) as a means of diagnosis of tuberculosis. The writer's conclusion was, that as a method of diagnosis results were doubtful, while in a well marked case of tuberculosis it was a very dangerous remedy.
Dr. PoUette said, that in practice, if diminished reson- ance, increased resistance to finger and fine rales are found, what more is wanted in early diagnosis of tuberculosis? That these symptoms were discoverable before the baccili, but that it was not an easy matter for the general practitioner to discover these signs, except he had given special attention to physicial diagnosis.
In the case of a young school teacher, several able physicians made diagnosis of tuberculosis, and had the patient ready to go to the woods. The patient had a dry cough, some loss of flesh, and a bad family history. The family history, cough, emaciation, were without doubt, the factors by which those physicians arrived at a diagnosis. Dr. PoUette could not detect any change in the lung, except a slight bronchial catarrh. Phosphorus Im, 2 doses cured the case without giving up her position.
Dr. PoUette considered the deposit and bacilli a later de- velopment in the progress of tuberculosis, and that, un- doubtedly, many cases were cured before that stage was reached. He was skeptical as to bacilli being the cause of the disease, but thought it duo to a preceding disturbance of the vital force, which led to a deposit and bacilli.
Dr. Leggett agreed with Dr. PoUette, that the deposit and bacilli were late developments in the progress of the disease.
Dr. Beck had used Tuberculinum 1 mm. to 1 cc. of dis- tiUed water and infused two or three drops into the eye pf a suspected case, and noted the following results:
Case A. A marked reaction (inflammatory), took place
CENTRAL NEW YORK SOCIETY 4 ^
within twenty-four hours, and lasted for three or four days.
This case was not diagnosed in the laboratory until some time later.
Case B. The same patient about four months later, the same experiment was made. The result was negative, although he did have tuberculosis, as the germs were found in the sputum.
Case C. In this case we simply had a number of symp- toms that might be indicative of almost any trouble, such as malaise, anorexia, loss of weight, cough. Physical ex- amination was negative; pathological examination was nega- tive. Family history was not. good. But the eye gave a positive test. This case a year later died from tuberculosis.
Case D. A young lady who was working in one of the department stores in the city. This case had all the clinical symptoms of tuberculosis. The eye test was positive. The case went south, and four months later the experiment was again performed. The result was negative. The sputum was examined, was positive. Blood count was made, and a marked improvement was found. The case again returned to the south for six months, and is now back in Rochester, and to all appearances is enjoying robust health.
The precautions to be observed in instilling Tuberculin in they eye are as follows: We must have an eye as near perfect as possible. By that I mean,free from any inflamma- tory conditions and abrasions of the cornea, etc., because, if not, we might set up a condition there that, to say the least would be very aggravating to treat, if not really dangerous. Personally, I do not think that the instillation of the drops in a normal eye of a healthy person can causQ any systemic trouble, because the following experiment has more than convinced me. Three drops of Tuberculin were infused in the eye of a perfectly healthy subject, without any bad re. suits, simply a slight irritation was caused to the eye, which was immediately relieved by bathing the eye with a warm solution.
Dr. Grant questioned the evidence of bacilli; he had had a case from which both himself and other capable phys-
486 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
icians had repeatedly taken cultures and found no bacLMli, although the case was unquestionably one of advanced p nil- monary tuberculosis. He said the same was true of bCDth diphtheria and typhoid; cases were often found without t=:he specific bacilli of the disease, who just as certainly died- of those diseases.
Dr. Fowler believed that hygienic measures should be instituted in all presumptive or suspicious cases.
Dr. Hoard had lately cured two cases of tabes mes^cn- terica, one a girl of fourteen years, the other a boy of sixteen, that had been diagnosed as * 'walking" typhoid.
Dr. Beck mentioned the cures sometimes obtained by opening the abdomen in cases of tuberculosis of the peri- toneum.
Dr. Fowler confirmed the statement by saying it often relieved the entire condition.
Dr. Keese read the published report of Dr. Darlingtx)n, the present New York Health Officer, who was active in the late efforts to prevent the spread of the great white pleague.
Dr Keese quoted him as "advocating information of the condition given directly to the patient, also to inform him that his condition was curable, and of the best means to make it so, i. e., plenty of fresh air, sunshine, and goodfoodr' Dr. Darlington also recommended careful registration, free examination of sputum, disinfection of'living apartments,and renovation after occupation; especially did he insist upon the care and proper disposal of the sputum, the prevention of the foul habit of expectoration by those not known to have tuberculosis, and enforcement of the laws pertaining to the latter habit.
Dr. Hoard repoiled the finding of the gonococcus in a patient with fibroid tumor, who reported an infection 20 years before.
The committee upon subjects for the next, or June, meeting, reported:
Organon, Section 57, Dr. Bresee.
Hygiene of Tuberculosis, Dr. Dake.
X-Kay as diagnostic of Tuberculosis, Dr. Johnson.
Therapy of Tuberculosis, Dr. Hussey.
Microbe vs. Miasm, Dr. Leggett.
Adjourned. . Dr. S. L. Guild-Leggett, Secy.
COMPLEMENTARY RELATIONSHIPS. 487
COMPLEMENTABT RELATIONSHIPS.
By W. H. Freeman, M. D. ■
Nux is followed well by many remedies, especially so by Bry., Puis., Phos., Sep. and Sulph., and it is well, there- fore, to bear these latter in mind when the case is no longer helped by Nux. ;
Sulphur is the chronic of Nux, according to the books. The same can be said of Phos. and Sep., which also hold a chronic relationship to Nux.
Phos., Sepia and Sulphur are strikingly similar in many respects and they follow each other well. Frequently all three will be needed in the treatment of a difficult case — one after the other in single file,
Nux is frequently the necessary starter for the others, or it may be necessary as a corrective, adjunct, or antidote. Nat. mur cases often need Sep. or Phos., or both, later pn — these three follow each other well.
Sulphur acts especially well as an intercurrent in many cases, (when Sulphur symptoms are present), especially so in cases that have been helped but not cured by such reme- dies as Aconite, Aloe, Nux, Phosphorus, Psorin, Sepia and Silica.
Phus and Sepia are antidotal and therefore complemen- tary— in fact, strange as it may seem, nearly all antidotal remedies are also strongly complimentary and follow each other well and vice versa.
Sepia and Calcarea are similar in most of their symp- tomatology, though supi)osed to represent entirely different types of patients. They are frequently complementary and necessary after each other and are mentioned here to cor- rect the baneful and erroneous idea of many that the com- plexion and type can be relied upon in choosing between remedies. If such were the case it would be possible to change the thin, scrawny, nervo-bilious, irritable brunette into a fat, flabby, flaxen-haired, leucophlegmatic blonde with a few doses of Sepia. Only when the temperamental condi- tion and the peculiar complexion of the patient is the result of disease and a part of the morbid group of symptoms you
488 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
are about to treat is it of value or otherwise than a detri- ment, if considered in making a choice between remedies.
If we are guided by the morbid symptomatology alone we will almost as often find Calcarea indicated in the so- called Nux and Sepia or Phosphorus types of cases as in the fat and flabby blondes.
Though there is undoubtedly something of slight value in this type and temperament idea, the best method in accu- rate prescribing is to forget it — especially if one is a novice. It is responsible for a great many bad prescriptions and spoiled cases.
Calcarea is frequently indicated after Sulphur and especially so in the thin^ scrawny^ irritable brunette tcUh miUoio complexion and tubercular tendency. Emaciation is a good indication for Calcarea, just as much so as fat,contrai7 opinions notwithstanding.
Lycopodium follows well and is frequently indicated after Calcarea, especially after the case has been helped by Sulphur and Calcarea. Lycopodium and Calcarea follow each other well, either in front or behind, according to the way the symptoms show up at time of prescribing.
When Sulphur is indicated by the Symptoms but does not -work, Psorinum is usually the remedy needed. One dose of Psorinum is usually also sufficient and repetition is usually unpleasant and harmful for the patient. When after Psor- inum the patient ceases to improve. Sulphur will usually be the remedy to now carry on the work, provided, of course, that the symptoms have not changed so as to call for some- thing different. It would be foolish and unpleasant to give Sulphur if the patient came down with a Belladonna or Gelsemium grippe.
Mercury and Causticum are also to be considered when Sulphur will not work under certain circumstances.
Always think of Psorinum when the'patient gives a his- tory of scabies, especially if other remedies have failed you. Such a patient will usually need a dose of Psorinum sooner or later, only don't prescribe It empirically or expect it to cure bim of anything and everything to the exclusion of other
COMPLEMENTARY RELATIONSHIPS. 489
indicated remedies. Such patients will need an intercurrent for defective reaction some time or other, and ^hen they do» study Psorinum.
Rhus and Calcarea are acute and 'chronic complemen- tanes and often needed after each other.
Belladonna and Calcarea are like mother and daughter and should seldom be far apart for they often need each other. Tuberculinum is often needed as an intercurrent or to complete the cure in Belladonna and Calcarea cases. The symptomatology of all three is very similar, the difference is principally in their planes of action, though of course the symptomatology and field of Tuberculinum is much wider than with the other two.
Tuberculinum has somewhat the same relationship to Pulsatilla, also, and is often necessary when the symptoms seem to call for Natrum mur,Phosphorus, Silica or Sulphur.
Thuja and Tuberculinum are strikingly complementary and frequently each is needed to complete and extend the action of the other, and frequently a case will fail to be helped by one until the other has been given.
Thuja is a drug always to be kept in mind for defective reaction. Much study and clinica\ experience is necessary to properly understand and appreciate the capabilities and sphere of usefulness of this highly important and frequently indicated remedy. It is frequently indicated when the symptoms seem to call unmistakably for Rhus, especially for lumbago or other rheumatic conditions which are accom- panied by great restlessness, relief from motion and from warmth to the painful parts, with aggravation from damp- ness and in wet weather (sycotic neuralgies and myalgies). Thuja is a 3ort of a chronic, deep-acting Pulsatilla, also.
Pulsatilla is very similar to Rhus in its muscle and tendon symptoms; both are restless with pains aggravated by rest^and both are good for sprains and strains; they differ as regards heat and cold, however.
Rhus and Arsenic are similar in many ways and are often hard to differentiate, especially in the symptoms of the respiratory and digestive tracts. They are complimentary
490 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
and often when one seems indicated, but fails, the other will be needed.
Thuja is often tJie chronic of Arsenic.
Thuja and Sepia are so much alike Jn many respects that they are often mistaken for each other, especially is Thuja mistaken for Sepia. They cannot always be differ- entiated. When one seems positively indicated and won't work or doesn't hold the case, always think of the other.
Carbo veg. and Lycopodium are complimentary and many a Lycopodium case will not get well without an occa- sional dose of Carbo veg.
Lachesis and Lycopodium are like brother and sister; one often necessary to complete the work of the other.
Lachesis and Natrum: Lachesis and Carbo veg.: Lache- sis and Psorin: Lachesis and Syphilinum are frequently complimentary.
Arsenic Phos. and Apis are very similar in many respects and should always be thought of conjointly. They follow each other well and are often hard to differentiate- Phosphorus belongs in the middle and is strongly compli- mentary to the other two, either before or after. All three will often be needed in bad cases and when they will no longer help, especially in terminal stages, of course, heart, lung and kidney diseases, (with dropsy or without), Med- orrhinum will either bring about curative reaction or great comfort and an easy death for the patient.
Medorr^linum is frequently the parent of Apis, Arse- nic, Chamomilla, Lycopodium, Phosphorus, Pulsatilla, Secale and Thuja cases and will often bring about curative reaction when they have failed. The different planes or depth of action of the remedies just mentioned illustrate in a way the sphere of action of remedies often very similar in certain phases of symptomatology but differ- ing vitally in their depth of action. For instance, Cham- omilla and Medorrhinum match accurately in much of their symptomatology, but when it comes to the depth of action they differ absolutely. This plane of action must-
AMENORRHEA FROM DISAPPOINTED LOVE. 491
•often be considered with the other symptomatology in making a prescription.
Hepar Sulph. is often necessary after Calendula and Sepia after Hepar Sulph.
After Silica are often needed Calc, Calc. sulp., Calc. fluor, Fluoric acid, Phos., Sulphur or Tuberculium,
Hepar and Nitric acid follow each other well and Cal- •carea is often necessary aiter Niti^ic acid.
Conium and Lycopodium, Iodine and Lycopodium, and Baryta carb. and Tuberculium are worth while bearing in mind.
Arsenic and Carbolic acid, Arsenic and Secale, Arsenic ^nd Calcarea, Arsenic and Lycopodium, and Arsenic and Tabacum are worth remembering together, owing to their similarity.
These few remarks are merely suggestive. Much more that is very important could be mentioned but is not for want of time and space. A good knowledge of complimental relationship is a great help; however, in prescribing, and will often make one do brilliant work which would other- wise often be very difficult and sometimes well nigh im- possible.
AMENORRHEA FROM DISAPPOINTED LOTE.*
By Dr- Frances D. Bloomingston, Chicago.
Early in September, 1905, a patient of mine came to me and asked my opinion regarding her neice who was troubled with amenorrhea, fearing she would either bficome mental- ly unbalanced or go intiO a decline, as there was a history of tuberculosis m the family.
The young lady belonged to a prominent family in one of our northwestern cities.
She was inclined to intellectual pursuits, was a leader in study classes and gave much time to philanthropic work, besides the social obligations that claimed her attention.
*Read before the Regular Homeopathic Society, ot Chfcago, May 12th. 1908.
492 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
She was engaged to a young man who was highly esteemed in the community, but a few months before the date set for the marriage she became convinced that he was not the man everyone took him to be, and broke the engagement.
He coinmenced annoying her in various ways, until he was finally obliged to leave the city. She, being of an extremely sensitive nature, felt greatly mortified and with- drew from all society, practically burying herself and brood- ing over the circumstances of her disappointment.
She grew morbid, moody, irritable, and avoided her friends, and even disliked the presence of the family. When alone she wept, even during wakeful hours at night. She lost flesh and appetite.
Finally her parents became alarmed and the family physician was consulted. Treatment with electricity, beef, iron and wine and similar concoctions proved unavailing.
Her father took her on an extended tour of the North- west, hoping that a change of scene and climate might benefit her, but he was disappointed. Then her mother brought her to Chicago, thinking that social life among people she had not known before might arouse her. But she grew worse.
The aunt wished to know whether anything could be done aside from local treatment which, the family doctor had said, was the only means for her relief.
My reply was that local treatment is at best a one-sided method, since the local manifestations were only one phase of the disease, and I explained, as I usually do to a new patient, the philosophy of a true homeopathic prescription.
The patient gave the following account of her case:
MissW., age, 30; medium height; nervous tempera- ment; light brown hair; blue eyes; sallow skin. Of an extremely sensitive nature. Melancholy; irritable; avoids company, especially of intimate friends. Desires to get away from members of the family. When asked why, she replied: "Because they worry me to death with their atten- tions. If they would only let me alone so that I could have
AMENORRHEA FROM DISAPPOINTED LOVE. 493
a little quiet I would feel better. Their sympathy always makes me feel worse in every way. Their constant trottinc^ around to see things tires me. I feel exhausted afterwards and can neither read nor study because I am so exhausted all the time. The least physical or mental exertion exhausts me."
Wakens at night with anxiety and palpitation and it is dilBcult to go to sleep again.
Sleep restless, wakens in the morning unrefreshed.
Despondent; weeps much of the time when alone.
Heart palpitates while walking.
Menses regular until last Spring, omitting from April to July, and irregular since then.
Thick, white leucorrhea.
Much headache; on hot days and during hot weather, from using the eyes and from motion.
Craves fresh air but takes cold easily.
Tongue slightly coated and showing the imprint of the teeth along ils edges.
Wants her food very salty.
CJonstipated for two or three months.
A study of the prominent symptoms pointed to Natrum muriaticum.
I gave three doses of the 10m on Sept. 20th, 1907, to be taken every 12 hours, followed by placebo.
Sept. 29. The only ftnprovement was that she slept better. Placebo continued.
Oct. 5. Possibly less despondent. Placebo.
Oct 12. Better in general. Can tolerate the presence of members of the family and is less inclined to weep.
Oct 15. Has had more palpitation and mental depres- sion the past few days. Natrum mur., 45m, two doses and placebo.
Oct. 27. Feeling tired and languid and feels as if thd menses would return. Attended an afternoon social gather- ing and enjoyed it Was not nervous or depressed after- ward.
m
m
i
m
494 THE MEDICAL. ADVANCE.
Oct. iO. Menstrual period re-established and seemed qmte normal — the first time since early in July.
Nov. 29. Menses exactly on time, and feels better than she has in a year. Discharged cured.
A report recently showed that she is enjoying the best of health.
THE TAKING OF A CASE.
By Philip Rice, M. D., Berkeley, California.
"The examination," says Hahnemann, **of a particular case of disease, with the intent of presenting it in its formal state and individuality, only demands of a physician an unprejudiced mind, sound understanding, attention, and fidelity in observing and tracing the disease."
These demands are few in number, but all-embracing. There is little that a physican should know that they do not cover. Let us consider them separately for a moment.
First ** an unprejudiced mind." I wonder how many of us appreciate the full meaning of the words. Many times we are forced to the conclusion as we observe the manner and methods of some of our colleagues that mighty little thought is ever given to the cultivation of an open and unprejudiced mind. We see one working entirely along one line, dealing with all manner of diseases from one standpoint, and another doing likewise but from a directly opposite one, and each convinced that his method is all-sufiBcient and entirely right, and the other fellow's entirely wrong and worse than useless.
We see one locating the cause of all diseases in the rectum, and to cure all it is necssary to cut out pockets, papillae and piles and stretch sphincters. Another finds dis- placed bones, tendons and other pa^ of the machinery as the all-cause, and he finds it necessary to adjust these only to cure everything from bubonic plague to bunions. Another finds that there is no disease without its '*bug cause," and therefore to cure it you need only to kill the bug. Another knows only pathology and wants to know nothing else. An- other knows only symptomatology and potencies, and is
THE TAKING OF A CASE. 195
J'
wholly content with his stock of knowldge. And so I might \
go on naming other fads, fancies and prejudices. Now are they all wrong? Yes and no. They are all wrong in think- ing that their method is the only one, but they are partially right in their methods.
No one can deny that pockets, papillae, piles and irrit- able sphincters are productive of trouble and that much good • is accomplished by their removal, but only a fanatic will lay ^aim to this as being the all-cause of disease and this as the only necessary therapeutics.
No one can maintain the position that osteopathic manip- ulation, so-called, is a fallacy. It is true that as some apply it, in many cases, it is rank nonsense, but this is so simply because they know nothing else. As others apply it it is a most desirable adjunct to the healing art.
AN ILLUSTRATION.
And here permit me to cite a case in proof of what I say. A lady of this city, the wife of a well-to-do business man, had suffered long and much with pain in the right side of the abdomen. She consulted one of the leading surgeons here. His diagnosis was chronic appendicitis, and of course recommended an operation. Not being willing to abide by his opinion only she consulted another surgeon. His diag- nosis was chronic inflammation and induration of the ovary, and also recommended an operation. Being now more un- certain than before, she consulted a third. He found a float- ing kidney, and also insisted that only an operation would save her. And now being filled with distrust, and very likely disgust, she consulted an osteopath who found a dislocated rib, which he replaced, and with this simple act removed a !p
diseased appendix, an inflamed and indurated ovary and |i>
anchored a floating kidney. She has remained well ever \:u
since, now several years. ii^
These men simply made a mistake in the diagnosis to be jii'
sure. But don't you think that the mistake was in strict ac- ,S
-cord with their bias, their prejudice, their hobby? The fact ^5
is they found what they looked for. W
A lad of 17 years was brought to me a few years ago be- U
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
cause of a difficulty in swallowing. It was due, I found, U> a slight paralysis. He had also some paralysis of the righir arm. The trouble dated back eight years. At that time he had a fall from a tree on the right side of his head and neck» which resulted in a cervical displacement, pressure upon several spinal nerves and paralysis.
During this period of eight years he had been treated,, and mistreated, by a number of the leading physicians and surgeons in San Francisco. I informed the mother that I could do nothing for him, but knew some one who I felt quite certain could, and so recommended her to go to an osteopath.
Six weeks of treatment restored the boy to complete health, and though three years has passed there has been no return of any of the symptoms.
Bacteriology is exceedingly important; so is pathology^ and so is symptomatology, but not any one of these alone is ''it."
A certain physician in San Francisco a few years ago worked dilligently for six weeks with his remedy in a high potency, selected entirely upon the subjective symptoms, trying to remove a ringing noise in a patient's ear. He failed miserably , for the noise came from inspissated cerumen, which was removed by another physician and the noise cured.
As a materia medica student this man has few if any superiors, but his failure was absolutely inexcusible in tlu» case. Had he been less biased in favor of the purely sub-« jective system method of taking his case, the results would have been very different both for the patient and for his reputation. And let me add, much better for Homeooaiby also, for the patient naturally inferred that his method was the homeopathic method, and being a fizzle in the full sense of the word, went to an allopath who scored both the man and the method unmercifully.
Now this man is no worse than the rest of us, and neither are those who failed so completely In the other two cases mentioned. The fact is we are all victims of bias and prejudice. These men failed because of bias in taking the case and nothing else.
■'*a
THE TAKING OF A CASE. 497
It is unquestionably true that prejudice is the greatest hindrance to our becoming wiser in all things. We fail to get to the bottom of things because of our ignorance, and our ignorance is most often due to our unwillingness to learn what the other fellow knows. We are** wise in our own conceit." We are content to be purely one thing, i. e., an allopath or homeopath, osteopath or some other **path," in its narrowest sense, and so in undertaking the examina- of a case we begin with the preconceived notion of how it ought to be treated, or possibly of what is wrong.
The surgeon is prejudiced in favor of the surgical aspect of disease and the surgical method of treatment. The ma- teria medica man examines his case with a view of obtaining all the subjective symptoms in the case, often deliberately ignoring the objective symptoms and pathological phases of the disease. The osteopath examines a case with a firm de- termination of finding a mechanical lesion, and he always finds one. The oculist invariably finds the trouble in the eyes, and naturally so,for here is where he looks for it. The bacteriologist always uses a microscope when he examines his case, and is it any wonder that he finds what he looks for?
We find what we look for every time, and we can put it down as a positive indication that we are prejudiced when we start out to examine a case in a stereotyped way, and when I say a stereotyped way I mean a routine sort of way which is to result in the thing we want to find.
This is a serious mistake and we all realize it, and we also realize that it is hard to overcome. When one has seen a dozen cases having similar symptoms and requiring the same remedy it is very difficult not to see the same symp- toms and the same remedy in the next case if there is the slightest similiarity. If one has cured a dozen successive cases of headache with Belladonna the next patient is very likely to get the same if he has anything like a throbbing pain.
And so in spite of ourselves we become biased, and
"("J
m
i
when we do we invariably meet wilyh failure. I am convinced .^V
that seventy-five per cent of my failures to cure are due to p^^
this one thing alone. rkM
m
498 THE MEDICAL. ADVANCE.
The second demand upon a physician according to Hahne- mann is that he has sound understanding. The meaning of these words probably is not the same to each of us, yet there is, I am certain, no dispute on their meaning a very great deal. They mean that we must know all that we have capacity for knowing. They mean that one has not sound understanding who knows only one or two phases of disease. They mean that one-sided knowledge is only half knowledge.
THE ATL ROUND PHYSICIAN.
To know only materia medica is not sufficient, although it may be the most important branch in our work. To know only diagnosis and not materia medica is but part knowledge, and mighty little consolation to a patient, for what he wants is a cure and not a diagnosis. And to understand surgery, and surgical diseases alone, is not sound understanding, for all diseases are not surgical diseases. Hence to take a case properly it is necessary to understand the materia medica so that one will be able to differentiate between two or more remedies when it becomes necessary to do so. Further- more, only he who understands the materia medica is able to obtain a full import of the symptom, i. e., is able to uncover all that goes with a symptom of pain or whatever else it may be. The word pain indicates little or nothing, but when you add how, when and where to it, i. e., add the modalities, you obtain valuable data. But strange as it may seem, the modalities of a remedy mean little or nothing to a poor materia medica student.
To this knowledge must be added the knowledge of physical diagnosis, for without this there can be no clear or intelligent interpretation of the symptoms. There must be added a knowledge of surgical disease. Though one be no surgeon, he should know when a surgeon is or is not needed. In short, many things directly of a medical and surgical character must be more or less thoroughly underst<X)d.
But even with all things there must be a broader knowledge before a physician can be said to have " sound understanding." Hahnemann probably stands at the very head of broadly educated physicians. His knowledge of the
¥*
THE TAKING OF A CASE. 499-
many languages alone was little less than phemominal. Then he had at the same time no peer as a chemist, and as a. therapeutist he was a creator.
Some one may say: * * When I can leam all I am capable of learning of medicine I ^ill need nothing else to make cures, I will understand disease and its cure.'- Possibly so some times, but you will many times fail miserably in under- standing your patient.
I recall a patient now who had a very decided mental derangement, the result of having read incessantly for yeara occult literature. The family physician, a very able man in " medicine," failed utterly to understand his patient's symp- toms and made a diagnosis wide of the mark and came within an ace of sending his patient to the asylum. His leaving the city for a time and the calling in of another physician saved her this awful calamity.
She was placed in the hands of a man well versed in many branches, and particularly in the lines of the occult, who quickly saw things from a different view point and worked along different lines and straightened things out. The first man knew nothing of occult literature, and like most of Ds when we know little or nothing about a thing, talked most dogmatically against it and so antagonized his patient that he lost all control of her. A knowledge of the occult may or may not have a direct bearing upon the subject of medicine, 1^
but some knowledge of it helps us wonderfully to understand many peculiar things we see in patients. And so with other subjects. We come closer to our patients when we under- stand a little of what is all important to them.
Then I think we should realize that all truths in the universe are more or less closely related, and because so related are more or less interdependent. Hence to really unda:«tand the scientific truths in medicine, we must under- stand something of the great scientific truths outside of medicine to which they are allied. One cannot name a single thing in the universe that cannot be connected to every other thing in some manner by a direct chain.
LfCust but not least, the taking of a case demands " atten- tion and fidelity in observing and tracing the image of the disease." In a word this means conscientiousness and nothing else. For "when we have to do with an art whose end is the saving of human life, any neglect to make ourselves master of it becomes a crime."
The Medical Advance
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When we hare to do with an art whose end la the sarlng of human life aoy neglect to make ourselves thorough masters of it becomes a crime,— Hahhbmahh,
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We believe that Homeopathy, well understood and faithfully practiced, bis power to save more lives and relieve more pain than any other method of treat- ment ever Invented or discovered by man; but to be a first-class homeopatblc pre* scrlber requires careful study of both patient and remedy. Yet by patient care It can be made a little plainer and easier than It now is. To explain and defloe and in all practical ways simplify it is cur chosen «ork. In this good work we ask your help.
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AUGUST, 1908.
JEbitoriaU
HOMEOPATHIC PRINCIPLES ts.INSTITUTE PRACTICE
"A chiers amang ye takin notes and faith he*l print 'em.** The following definition is authorized by vote of the American Institute and published conspicuously in the trans- actions each year:
A homeopathic physician is one who adds to his knowledge of med- icine a special knowledge of Homeopathic Therapeutics and observe* the law of similia. All that pertains to the great field of medical leam* ing is hid by tradition, by inheritance, by right.
Every remedy in the homeopathic materia medica is first tested singly on the healthy, and to "observe the la^ of similia" should be administered singly to the sick, irre- spective of the corrolaries of the law, the minimum dose or repetition. This is the only practice that is homeopathic,
.v^'l
£DITQR1AI4. 501
sdentific or conforms to the definition. Do we practice what we profess? In what particular will belief or faith in the law of similia help our patients if we fail in its practical ob- servance at the bedside?
To test this principle, to seek to enforce it in our daily practice, or to make our practice conform to our principles the following resolution was introduced at the recent meet- ing of the Institute at Kansas City:
Whereas, Hahnemann says, Organon §272: In no case is it requisite to administer more than one single, simple medicinal bubstance at one time; therefore,
Resolved, that the alternation of remedies or the use of the combination tablet is unhomeopathic, unscientific, em- pirical and detrimental to the best interests of our school and the direct and fundamental cause of the apathy and de- cadence of enthusiasm in our ranks.
By a majority vote it was referred to the committee on resolutions, where no doubt, under the plea that there was not time to consider it, it will peacefully slumber until Gabriel's trumpet sounds the morning call of the resurrec- tion.
Hahnemann, single handed, fought the battle for homeo- pathic principles with the apothecaries of his native land — for the privilege to administer the single, simple medicinal substance — and thus "observe the law of similia." He was driven from place to place, a compulsory wanderer for years, yet he maintained the principles of similia which are our priceless heritage to-day, Ibut which many of us ap- parently fail to prize, to appreciate or put into practice. Is it any wonder there is a lack of the old time enthusiasm of the pioneers? Is it wholly a matter of surprise, that a cam- paign for the propagandism of Homeopathy is sadly needed and has been undertaken in earnest by the Institute? Will it be a success or a failure? The latter we fear and our fears are based on principle.
We are beginning at the wrong end. Allopathic-like, we are attempting to treat the effect, while the cause is not removed. We propose to treat the disease while we neglect
502 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
or overlook the patient. We mu8t remove the cause before the effect can cease. Remove the mote from our own eye& before we appeal to the people.
Organon §4 says:
He i8 likewise a preserver of health if he knows the things that de- range health and how to remove them.
The $6,000 so generously donated by the Institute and its enthusiastic members had far better be utilized in convert- ing the members from polypharmacy and the combination tablet to the single remedy and its minimum dose. What use of appeahng to the dear people when they are unable to distinguish the homeopath from his colleagues; for lo! does he not use the hypordermic, the alkaloidal pill, the coal tar specifics, quinine, morphine, etc., just the same as his allo- pathic or eclectic colleague. Let us be sure we are right, then go ahead."
AMALGAMATION OF THE SCHOOLS.
Dr. McCormack, of Kentucky, organizer of the A. M. A., advises, in his various addresses, to **get together." This appeal is made to all medical men irrespective of 'pathy, and is made to professional and laymen alike. But to this some of his colleagues take exception. Dr. Field, of Jeffersonville, Ind., in the Louisville Journal replies:
In a lecture delivered in this city before a popular audience, Dootor McCormick made a plea for a union of all medical men into one body; that the regulars, or allopaths, invite the homeopaths, eclectics, oste- opaths, and every other **pathy** to come into our society; and that we allopaths consult with them and fraternize with them. He seemed (o labor under a delusion that if the other **pathists" would come in with us, it would probably result in the conversion of other systems to wr **pavhy," or at least that it would modify their systems and practice,aBa consequence of affiliation and interchange of views.
There are no "pathists'* so bigoted, so conceited, so prejudiced, and so self-satisfied as are the homeopathistsi To imagine that they would fraternize with allopaths is an Utopian dream I They are utterly antag- onistic to every other system. The two systems are no more miseible than oil and water. They think they are the real things; the only gen- uine blue labeled; blown in the bottle; take no substitute; of all the system^.
EDITORIAL.. 503
This expresses the average sentiment in the American profession. The lamb is to be inside when they lie down together. As a rule the homeopaths will look out for them- selves. A burned child dreads the fire.
The homeopaths are no doubt self-satisfied, but they have genuine reasons for their self satisfaction, a scientific therapeutics.
Dr. C. W. Becker, of Toronto, has recently returned from Europe and says anent harmony and amalgamation: "Our English friends tell me that the Lancet and other medi- cal journals refuse t6 publish an advertisement which mere- ly stated that fc'Three scholarships of £100 each are offered to fully qualified medical men desirous of studying Home- opathy in the schools of America.' We advise our col- leagues to appeal, like Dudgeon, to the Thunderer, the last resort when the insulted Englishman wants to make a pro- test and raise a storm. It would be amusing were it not so ridiculous. Think of educated medical men, supposed stu- dents and scientific investigators, and yet they cannot be trusted to even look into Homeopathy. The poor pap-fed youngsters might think for themselves, which spells danger to Allopathy and kindred bolstered-up pseudo science." And this in the 20th century. Looks like amalgamation.
m
K0TE8 FEOH PRESIDENT COPELAND'S ADDRESS. ^
The curability of diphtheria by neutralizing the toxins %
of the casual germ is a second monument to scientific genius. ' d
There are those of course, who still object to the use of anti- \ S
toxin, and insist that it is harmful rather than beneficial. ?^i
Personally, your speaker, at the risk of possible criticism from within the sound of his voice, states as his conviction that Von Behring's gift to humanity is of inestimable value. \^A
However, he wishes in the same breath, to declare that the '^^
effect cannot be explained as dynamic or therapeutic, in the true sense; it is simply a wise use of chemistry almost as elementary as the administration of un alkali to neutralize
an acid. it'.
■ \
504 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
In sanitation there is a far flung battle line. Sanitation is not now a matter of foul disinfectants. It is a technical, scientific attack upon the essential cause of disease. The in. spector visits the capital and the cabin, the palace andthe pig- stye, the sky-scraper and the adobe. Nothing escapes his watchful eye. With test tube and microscope, with culture medium and incubator, with guinea pig and rabbit, with, all the paraphernalia of modern science he searches the cause of disease and recommends methods to avoid them. The flea, the fly, the tick, the rat, the mosquito and the family cat are in turn the objects of his displeasure. Mankind has benefit- ted materially by these labors. Many regions, heretofore uninhabitable by any except the immune, ar^ now safe dwell- ing places for all. Mankind is under great debt to the de- partments of science devoted to sanitation, even though the full measure of the debt may be inflnitly less than the
enthusiastic claims of the laboratory.
♦ ♦ *
Typhoid is on the increase, in spite of all that is being done to purify w^ter supply and correct other means of in- fection. Dr. Flexner of the Rockefeller Institute reports a case where for half a century a patient supposedly was cured of tyyhoid fever, was nothing more nor less than a culture medium for typhoid bacilli. During all these years he dis- seminated this disease. Another case in the Lister Institute is reported where the germs were found 29 years after the attack. Talk about exterminating typhoid; one might as
well talk about exterminating snow storms.
* * *
For a decade we have bowed down and worshiped the laboratory. The phys't, the path't, the hist't, the embry't,^ the bact't, the physicist and the chemist have been placed upon a pedestal, demanding the homage of the nations. I take second place to no man in my admiration of and respect for these scientists.
But the conclusion of the experimental laboratory must not blind us to the fact that the human cells may not react in the same manner, and the laboratory life may force a dif-
EDITORIAL.
505
ferent conclusion. Duckworth says: "The clinician is al- ways in the face of the personal factor in each patient. The physiologist has a dog or a guinea-pig, or some orgaa of an animal, but rarely a man before him. The personal factor, then, demands careful study from the physician.
STRICTLY GERM PROOF.
The Antiseptic Baby and the Prophylactic Pup, Were playing in the garden when the Bunny gamboled up; They looked upon the Creature with a loathing undisguised^ It wasn't disinfected and it wasn't sterilized.
They said it was a Microbe and a Hotbed of Disease, They steamed it in a vapor of a thousand odd degrees; They froze it in a freezer that was cold as Banished Hope^ And washed it in permanganate with carbolated soap.
In sulphureted hydrogen they steeped it's wiggly ears. They trimmed it's frisky whiskers with a pair of hard boiled
shears; They donned their rubber mittens and they took it by the
hand. And elected it a member of the Fumigated Band.
There's not a Microccus in the garden where they play, They swim in pure iodoform a dozen times a day; And each imbibes his rations from a Hygienic Cup, The Bunny and the Baby and the Prophylactic Pup.
Arthur Guiterman.
In Homeopathy is healing for the nations. With joint ownership in all the marvels of surgery, in all the products of the laboratory, in all that the sciences collateral to medi- cine have determined; with joint ownership in all these. Homeopathy has been sole possessor of the knowledge of remedial application. When surgery has been helpless, the laboratory impytent, and general science hopelessly at sea, Homeopathy has gone serene in the conviction of cures impossible by other methods. Practitioners of our faith are everywhere, our hospitals, asylums, homes and dispensaries
606 THE MEDICAT. ADVA^NCE.
are everywhere; the records are open and the results of our
practice speak for themselves.
* * »
But the homeopathic 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 Hahne- mann I freely confer upon all physicians, of all schools, of all creeds and colors, of all nationalities and languages, a boon greater than scalpel or forcep, greater than anesthetic or anodyne, greater than hypodermic or application, greater than lotion or emollient, the knowledge of the homeo- pathic materia medica and the right to use it in it's original purity. By authority of his living heirs I divide with you our inheritance and receive you as sons and daughters with ourselves of our father in the faith, Samuel Christian Frederick Hahnemann.
NOTES FROM THE FIELD.
Beginning Tuesday, September 21, 1908» Dr. Pratt will bold a three days' flree clinic in Orificial and General Surgery and Suggestive Tberapeutics, at Herring: Medical College, comer Wood and York Sts., Chicago.
For turther particulars address Dr. E. H. Pratt, 100 Stale St., Suite 1202, Chicagro, 111
Detroit, Mich., was selected as the next place for ttie meeting of American Institute of Homeopathy, June, 1909.
Kansas City has demonstrated its availability as a con- vention city. Called upon in an emergency the profession responded in a manner to win the praise its efforts deserved. The meeting was a great success. Good hotel, not a com- plaint heard, first class meeting and committee rooms, a beautiful city seen in its June splendor and an amount of work accomplished that will long be remembered as a record breaker. Two hundred and twenty new members added. They even furnished ideal June weather.
The local committees, individually and collectively, left nothing undone for the convenience of the institute or enter-
w^
' NOTES PROM THE FIELD. 507
tainment of its members. Drs. Gates, and Crutcher were omnipresent, but everybody worked.
The kissing episode was very amasing, perhaps a httle infra dig^ but unlike Hobson the great, Dr. Biggar raised the money.
On account of the flood, it was hinted that the beer was discolored; we did verify the report.
The thirty-second annual meeting of the Missouri Insti- tute of Homeopathy was held at the Coates house June 23rd. OfiScers elected were: Dr. F. M. Martin, Maryville, Mo., president; Dr. D. M. Gibson, St. Louis, treasurer; Dr. Ma- clay Lyon, Kansas City, general secretary. The next meet- ing will be held in St. Louis in April, 1909.
The officers elected were: Honorary president. Dr. H. P. Biggar, Cleveland; president. Dr. W. D. Porster, Kansas Cityjfirst vice president. Dr. T. H. Carmichael,Philadelphia; second vice president. Dr. Joseph Hensley, Oklahoma City; treasurer, Dr. T. Franklin Smith, New York; registrar, Dr. J. H. Ball, Mich.: secretary. Dr. Frank Kraft, Cleveland; necrologist, Dr. George T. Shower, Baltimore; censor, Dr. W. E. Reily, Fulton, Mo.
Dr. R. S. Copeland made an address before the Eclectic Association and Tuesday morning the president of the National Eclectic Association which met in Kansas City last week, Dr.L. A. Perce of Los Angeles, stayed over and made .^
an address to the Homeopaths which won applause. He 1 1|
said that the interests of the Eclectics and Homeopaths were identical and that he hoped next summer would see the two jJ^
meeting in Chicago in one convention. |||;
June 4th was a memorable day for **Hering." The College graduating class, together with those who had taken a post-graduate course received their degrees.
m
The excercises were held in the Recital Hall of the l^^
Auditorium. Much interest and enthusiasm was manifested, r-
and the hall was well filled with appreciative visitors and fij
iriends. v^
Professor J. H. Allen acting on behalf of the faculty |\j
508 THE MEDICAL. ADVANCE.
had arranged a most enjoyable and appropriate program, and the afternoon proved a pleasurable one for all.
At about half past two o'clock, the members of the faculty took their places on the rostri\n, and the graduating class, duly capped and gowned, filing in, took their seats in the front rows in the body of the hall.
President Boynton opened the ceremonies with prayer, after which the programe as arranged followed:
Miss Louise Gozad gave a delightful and finely execu- ted pianoforte solo, recognized as such by the applause given her.
Dean Allen, next upon the program after saying a few words introduced Dr. Gustafson who he said, would speak far him. Enjoyment would have been afforded his audience hhd he spoken at length, for, no one tires of listening to the honored Dean of Hering College.
Dr. Gustafson, ever willing, versatile, and free, re- sponding to the call spoke interestingly. He said, in part:
HOMEOPATHY AND THE HOMEOPATHIC PHYSICIAN. ADDRESS BY F. A. GUSTAFSON.
The day of uncertainty in medicine is passed for Home- opathy is an established fact, whenever and wherever its principles have been comprehended and understood, and faithfully and intelligently applied it has demonstrated its snperiority over all other systems of cure.
It is supreme because it is an exact science and anintel- figent art. It is based upon immutable law and fails only as those who apply it fail in comprehending its nature, its limitations, its purpose or in rising to the opportunities it affords. Failures in homeopathic practice are due most ocMnmonly to ignorance and incompetence on the part of those professing it, less commonly to the ignorance on the part of patients and their inability to express in intelligent language the nature of their symptoms, still less commonly to the unreliability of the medicines prescribed, least com- monly the incurability of the case. But the important point of points is the remembrance of . the past that upon the* physician and his competency must rest the greater burden.
NOTES FROM THE FIELD.
509
He must prove his competency. He must be adequate to the demand made upon him before he is authorized to shift the responsibility to other scources and causes.
You, who are about to go out into the world have learned these things. You know what Homeopathy is. You know what it means. You have seen something of its work. You have done something of it yourselves. Usually at such a time you are told of your ignorance ahd the need of great- er learning; of what you lack and the h?,rd experience before you.
Let me, then, remind you of what you already know and what is the responsibility before you. What yon have learned you know and it is adequate for your immediate needs. What you may lack in knowledge you can supply as occasion demands. But what are you going to do with what you have? Will you realize that you are now physicians, and must assume the responsibility of the physician? Then hear your sole duty is to cure as speedily, promptly *nd gently as possible, and mark, in the full extent of the sickness. Then do not lose sight of your patient and his welfare simply because you see and comprehend the name and nature of his sickness. Cure him, not it. Look beyond it to him for he has it and he, not it, needs your attention. And know what you are about. Don't guess. Leave that to others. Know and eat the fruit of knowledge that ripens experience, and makes it permanent. Bear in mind that only as you work manfully toward a desired end will you succeed; that you are morally responsible to your principles and the school for the results of your work, that the road to success is never the easy one; success is not so much the re- sult of genius as it is the fruit of diligent application. Be- lieve in something and stick to it and you succeed.
The causes of failure in the practice of Homeopathy are easily determined and mark the man.
First: Inadequate comprehension of its principles. This you have overcome in the school. These have been taught you and you ^ow them. You need not fail here. Second: Confusion due to the separation in mind of the
m
m
510 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
man and his parts both in sickness and health. Yoa have no occasion to fail here. You have been trained to remem- ber them and their relations.
Third: Unwillingness to continue the diligent study of preparatory days assuming that your education is complete. The danger is subtle. You need to fight it daily.
Fourth: Temptation to mere palliation of prominent symptoms in response to demands of patients and their friends. It will be h&rd but stand to it; you will win in the end.
Fifth: Slip-shod methods ^overcome them. Never be too tired to do your work well. It pays; and you cannot afford to do otherwise. Know what you are about and do it well.
Think of your opportunity and your advantage. Others go blundering on guessing and experimenting. You need not to guess; you may know. Others gain but little from books and soon lose what little they gain. Yours is the fruit of all time; nothing is lost; books are open to you and out of books, no matter how old and worn, come living facts with power to heal. Others go on from day to day content with mere relief. With you is power to cure with a healing extending to generations. All you need is faithfulness, dili- gence, loyalty, determination, patience. Success must and will follow. Go do in this spirit and the world is yours.
Dr. Gustafson was listened to attentively, but, it is un- necessary to add this, for it goes without saying.
A soprano solo, by Mrs. M. Beaumont, Miss Hunneman supporting her with the pianoforte accompaniment, was particularly enjoyable. An ancore was accorded her, and she graciously returned, rendering for her appreciative audience another exceedingly pretty solo.
Then followed an amusing ''reading" entitled **An Inci- dent in a Physician's Experience", recited by Miss Dorathy Gross. This struck home, and caused no little merriment.
Judge Fake, of the Municipal Court, then gave a splen- did address to the graduating class. His words rang true, and everything he said was impressive and forceful,— every one was better for having heard him.
NOTES FROM THE FIELD. 511 ^
The violin solo, Beriot's Ninth Concelrto was another rich ta:'eat. In his selection Mr. Francis A. Bedlow, ably supported as he was by his accompanist, certainly gave every music lover present a morsel sweet to his taste. Not every day has one the pleasure, or the opportunity of listen- ing to a violin virtuosa.
The conferring of degrees by the president then followed.
Each membet of the graduating class being called by name, walked forward to the foot of the rostrum. The president after briefly addressing them, — his remarks being memorably well chosen, — proceeded to hand each one sever- alty his, or her degree.
Those to whom the Degree of Doctor of Medicine was granted were as follows:
Alford, John Merlin Johannes, Edward W.
Beckwith, Edwin Burt Kaistha, Daya Shanker
Cogswell, Prank Benjamin Lampkin, Herbert P.
Poote, Shirley Olson, O. Alfred
Freeman, Elbert Earl Richberg, Eloise Olivia
Gupta, Daulatram N. Schmidt Hilmar C.
Jaffer, Mohamed Verges, Carl J. H.
BofiSh, James Arnold Yergin, Harriette Avis
H. M. DEGREES.
Baker, M. D., M.D. Emmerson, George Clyde, M.D.
Vertes, Alexander M.D., Ph. D.
The afternoon's program was brought to a close by K
Miss Louise Gozad again entertaining those present with ] |
another enjoyable pianoforte solo. ! '^
The representatives from India who took their degrees ,; |
were:- Drs. Daulatram Gupta, Daya Shanker Kaistha and U
Mohamed Jaffer. [^
Returning to India, they will add a few more to the |f
continually increasing number of * 'Bering's" alumni already ^
stationed there. Incidentally, a vast field there is in India, r"!
and splendid opportunities for demonstrating the power of ^
the Hahnemannian in those terrible diseases common to ^:
Eastern climes. Prom J)t, Majumdar, of Calcutta, news |;^
5J2 THE MEDICAL ADVAKCB».
trickles through of the excellent work accomplished by tiw men who have taken back with them the good things they have acquired at *'Hering". So, success! and **bon voyage*' to the homeward bound.
' In the evering at the Great Northern Hotel, a banquet was held in honor of the day. Owing to professor Morris* consummate skill in arranging all the details appertaining thereto, this proved another enjoyable gathering. Between sixty and sixty-five of the faculty, graduating class, and friends were present to regale themselves sumptuously at the well served feast.
After the banquet the customary toasts and sx>eeches were indulged in. President Boynton, Dean Allen, profes- sors Taylor and Gustafson responded liberally, and to the edification, and enjoyment of all. Drs. Alford and Beck- with also responded for the graduating class.
All had the pleasure of again hearing Judge Pake, whose address to the class in the afternoon warmed the heart towards him. Mr. Richberg being called upon also replied with a few very appropriate remarks. Professor Morris acted as toastmaster, and altogether the occasion was most enjoyable. A feeling of good will towards all was clearly manifest, and for the day, as for the future "una- nimity of purpose" was unmistakably the watchword. In conclusion it is only just to say that Hering College is proud of her graduated this year. Staunch and true homeopaths every one; each enthusiastic for the great cause bequeathed them by the illustrious Hahnemann, and each fully equipped to go forth to alleviate suffering and to cure disease. That their success is certain is beyond question.
Opportunity is herewith taken to tender a vote of thanks to those members of the faculty who were actively engaged in providing so bountifully, and who, sparing no effort, en- dured for others the unsullied enjoyment and success of both the afternoon and evening entertainment.
NOTES FROM THE FIELD. 513 Jli
HOHEOPATHIC OSLEBISH. ^f
The following item from the Associated Press is on its ;; t
rounds through the country:
Dr. Osier, who wished to chloroform all men at the age of 60, was receQily invited to address 350 prominent homeopaths who had assem- bled in convention in New York. The doctor did not attend in person, tmt he sent a letter in which he told them that they were a set of quacks; that the recent investigations had shown that Homeopathy had not a leg to stand on, and that they ought to be ashamed of themselves for hang- ing to such worn out ideas. The medicos received the rebuke in silence and up to date have ma^e no reply.
Stimulated by the fraternal and manly course of Dr. Cabot, of Harvard, in delivering an address before a hom- eopathic medical society in Boston, our New York colleagues undertook to carry forward the good work and to **go Boston one better." If they could only induce Dr. Osier to attend their banquet and make a speech on the question of the union of the schools it would be a **ten strike,'* for very few ^
men could afford or even think of leaving their professional and college work in Oxford, England and come to New York to attend a banquet. The next best thing of course would be a letter that would commend their course to the profes- sion in America, and perhaps induce a few more so-called homeopathic physicians to become members of allopathic so- cieties. But 'the best laid schemes of mice and men 'gang aft aglee," so Dr. Osier, instead of writing the character of a letter so much desired, apparently wrote one which has not yet been given to the profession, and we doubt very much if there be any truth in this dispateh of the Associ- ated Press, that it ever will }pe. The conciliatory remarks in his farewell address to the American profession was not intended for the homeopaths; according to Dr. Osier they do - ^ |t
not form a part of the American Medical profession, and it did not require very much of an effort to fall back on the old appropriate term of "quack." No matter how well educated or how successful the physician may be in the allopathic ranks, as soon as he adds to his previous knowledge of dis- |^
ease the knowledge of the law of similars and how to sue- trj
cessfully apply it in . the cure of the sick, he becomes a . u^
*'quack." We congratulate our homeopathic colleagues in \^
New York on their success. May the good work continue, for is not this letter a stepping-stone to the union of the schools. The millennium in medicine is rapidly approach- ing. One of the first mile-stones was planted at the recent !) I banquet in New York.* Hail! New York Homeopathy. jjj|:
J - ;^
. ''■•♦•
^
A TEXT-BOOK Of CUmCALiWEDlClHE
HE PtlKCIPLES OF DiHlillOSlS
ByClarence Bartlett, M D>
245 Illustrations. Six Colored Plates. 976 Pages. Qoth,
$7.00, net. Half-morocco, $8:00, net.
Postage, 52 cents.
"Dr. Bartlett's work caDuot fail to become the standard text-book on diagnosis in both America and Great Britain.'* — London Homeopathxe Review,
"Here is a chance for our friends of the old school to show their fairness by admitting it as a text-book in their own college, for we venture the statement that if they will examine this book as we have done they will find it the best work in the English language oo the subject."— Jlfedicai Century,
"If a book is to be judged by its helpfulness we predict for this a position on a shelf quite handy for ready reference, and it will retain that position for many years to oome.'* — Mediccd Advance,
^'It makes no difference what school you belong to you need this valuable book." — MedUal Gleaner,
^'Accurate, thorough scientific, and fully up-to-date.'* — fVm, Oskr^ M, D., John Hopkins University.
^'It seems to me thoroughly up-to-date in that seriously important department of medicine— Diagnosis— /. P. Sutherland, M, i>., BotiUm School and University of Medicine.
'Taken as a whole, the book is by far the best of its kind on the market. '* — Critique,
The abov^ comments are from representatives of every braneh of recognized medicine and everyone highly endorses the book.
Boericke & Taf el,
PUBLISHERS
New York, Philadelphia, Chicasra
r^'
v
1
The Medical Advance
Vol. XLVI. BIT AVE A, ILL., AUGUST, 1908. No 8.
IS THE RULE ''SMALLEST, SIHILAB, SINGLE REMEDY" PRACTICAL IN PRACTICE?*
By a. W. Holcombe, M. D., Kokomo, Ind.
Two answers are implied in the title of this paper, and it is of the utmost importance that they both be answered correctly, and in harmony with the facts in the case.
The first and foremost involves the efficiency of the **smallest single similar" remedy, .and likewise involves our integrity as a school of medicine. If answered in the nega- tive, as the writer has heard it declared on the floor of this Institute, we stand as self confessed charlatans and quacks, with absolutely no grounds for our persistent demands for <
governmental recognition, as a proficient, scientific, school of medicine. What right have we, in honor or consistency, to ask or demand governmental recognition of our system of medicine, when its professed practitioners declare it to be inefficient and impractical? Happily this need not be an- swered in the negative, and I declare, what all other con- scientious homeopathists will declare, that it IS practical, in fact the moat practical of any or all medica^ practices.
Hahnemann's declaration is, that the physician's high- est and only calling is to heal the sick, in the speediest and safest manner, according to clearly intelligible reasons. ^v
We, as physicians, recognize that there are but two classes ^.
of people, healthy people, and sick people; and it is with ^{r
the latter only that we have professional dealings. Given, ^.
a sick man, it is our business to discover in what way, in ^-
what particulars he has deviated from his normal healthy i -
V- " ■
*Tbe Bureau of Homeopithlcs of Indiana Institute of Homeopathy, May, 1908.
514 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE-
condition. It is our care and duty to discover and remove, if possible, the cause or causes of this deviation, and restore him to health. Will the **smallest, single, similar remedy*' do this? In the busy routine of a general practitioner, or of a specialist is the * 'smallest, single, similar" remedy all that is necessary to cure sick people? We answer, in all the sincerity of conviction, that in all strictly non-surgical cases, it is. Not only so, but I am thoroughly convinced that it will not only cure more curable, non-surgical cases than all other means combined, but that in incurable cases, euthanasia can as effectively be secured, as bj^ any other means.
All physicians worthy the name, have that distinctive desire to not paUUtte present conditions only, but to genu- inely vure their patients and no true disciple of the healing art can square his conscience with any effort made solely to palliate instead of cure.
Whatever is possible in the healing of the sick, ispractwol, since nothing weighs in the balance with human life. The homeopathic art having for its end the saving of human life, thereby becomes eminently practical, and any neglect on our part to make ourselves thorough masters of it be- comes a crime, and since this art finds its true expression in *'Simplex, Simile, Minimum,'' it becomes the most practical of all the so-called medical practices.
In the everyday practice of the busy physician, what conditions can he possibly meet wherein the smallest, single similar remedy becomes impractical? It touches and im- presses more quickly and profoundly the disturbed, de- ranged vital forces than anything else.
I submit a few cases taken at random from every day practice, but will not take the time nor space to detail why the particular remedy was selected in each case, as that feature is not undcn* discussion in this paper.
Cask I. O. C. Following an operation for phymosis, hemorrhage began as soon as the ligature was re- moved, and was very free and persistent. All local meas- ures were resorted to, tortion, both hot and cold water.
IS **SMALLEST, SIMILAR, SINGLE REMEDY" PRACTICAL? 515
astringent applications of all kinds including persulphate of iron, but aU efforts were futile, so that at the end of 24 hours the patient was all but moribund. At this stage of the game Phosphorus Im was given and hemorrhage stopped in an hour. We are impressed the simplex, simile, minimum was quite practical in this case, in fact about the only prac- tical thing.
Case II. Epistaxis, hemorrhage continued uninter- ruptedly for four days, a constant, .persistent flow, as the blood would not coagulate. In spite of everything that could be done in the way of local treatment, including hot and cold applications, plugging, adrenalin, iron, etc., the hemorrhage became alarming. Phosphorus Im stopped the flow in 2 hours, with no return.
Case III. Mr. A. F. walked into the oflice and in- formed me that he was going to die. Was freezing, bones were'being crushed, nose and eyes were running profusely, head was bursting. A powder of Natural Gas l^c was put on his tongue, and I returned to inner ofHce to prepare some Placebo. On my return, he exclaimed, "Doctor, what was that you gave meV'' I replied, '\Some sugar." '*Why," he said, **I felt a gentle tingling go over my body, and now I have not an ache or a pain. It was not morphine, was it?"' I assurred him that it was not, and that his trouble from that attack was over. It could not have been more than 10 minutes after taking the medicine until he made the remarlf.
Case IV. Mrs. H., my wife, wakemnl one morning with very severe stitching, cutting pains in right hypoehon- drium, lower chest and top of right shoulder, all < lying on painful side, motion, or breathing. I carelessly gave her Bryonia, but by evening the pains w(^re so much worse, that I changed to Kali carb.; but pains gradually grew worse^ and by morning were alarming. I then called a brother homeopath from another city. He prescribed Ver. vir. Ix, a dose every half hour. Tw(^lve hours later, pains the same, could scarcely get any breath, slightest motion impossible, something had to be done. Morphine? No I
516 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
I did what I should have done in the beginning, went to work on the case and found the symptom 119, of Ran. bulb, was exactly as she complained. Ban. bulb. Im. stopped the pain in two hours and no return.
Case V. Mr. A. J. Tarentula bite. While picking bananas from stalk was bitten on end of middle finger, by a tarentula 2 inches long. Came to my office within half an hour after bite, with finger and arm swollen to double normal size, shooting, burning pains up arm to axilla from finger, showing that the poison had already been absorbed. What was the most practical thing to do in this case? Make a free incision and suck the poison out? Too late. I gave him some Tarent. Hisp. cm. Was that practical? I don't know, but the pain and swelling both disappeared, and the third day he went to work as a meat cutter, and said he felt all right.
The other answer implied in the title question; **Is it practical in getting through with a large number of pa- tients?'' Some complain that it takes too much time to find the totality of symptoms and find the single, similar remedy. A thorough study of the Organon and Hahne- mannian methods is necessary in order to take a case for which a homeopathic prescription is to be made. A long array of symptoms does not necessarily mean that the case is well taken, or that it contains the totality of the symp- toms even for, unless the prescriber is well grounded in the philosophy of homeopathic prescribing, the multiplicity of symptoms will confuse and disconcert him, and lead to alter- nation or worse, the combination tablet. If the case is taken in harmony with the directions and spirit of the Organon, it takes no longer to'find the one remedy, than it does to find tico or three. Needless to say, the Materia Medica must be constantly studied and restudied, for unless the physician knows the peculiar uses of the various remedies, of course he will fail.
Does the surgeon depend upon guess work and substitu- tion to bring him success in his most serious operations? Does he use catgut'and •silver wire both to close the perito-
THE ANAMNESIS. 517
neum, trusting that if one does not hold, the other will? Does he use a trephine or bone forceps to open the abdomen, because he don't want to take the time to find a knife? No, he uses deliberate, studied, intelligent discrimination in the selection of every instrument and every means by which he hopes to successfully and creditably accomplish the desired result. Does the surgeon hurry through an operation, slighting or overlooking any of the details that contribute to the success of his work, because other patients are waiting for consultation? No! his sincerity of purpose, his honor, his reputation as a skilful, safe operator is at stake in every operation and in every detail of every operation.
Is surgery practical? Foolish question. If the con- scientious, sMlled sUrgeon takes the time to give every de- tail of his work in each case, his very best effort, and through this attention to detail, make surgery practical, then is not careful, painstaking, discriminating effort on the part of the physician in non- surgical cases just as practical?
THE AllAMNESIS.
By T. H. Hudson, M. D., Kansas City, Mo.
In midsunmier of this present year the President of this Bureau sent me a topic for discussion upon this occasion. Prom the voluminousness of the topic one might readily in- fer that it is the only one to be considered by this Bureau. The stupendousness of the task overwhelmed me, and I have postponed and procrastinated until it is now latel late! I fear too late!
What must the anamnesis of the properly taken case include?
Is diagnosis to be considered, and if so, to what extent? Its subordinate part in the homoeopathic prescription. Taking the case: — The acute case; the chronic case.
Perhaps our best plan will be to take these questions in the order propounded, answer them briefly as possible and get through, so that if there be any time left, it may be in the evening.
First then: — What must the anamnesis of the properly
518 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
taken case include? It must include, or should include not only the past history of the patient, but also the history of his progenitors. Many a time and oft we find it essential to know in the case of a little child what kind of ailments troubled the mother during gestation, before conception, be- fore marriage, before puberty, before teething, before weaning, at birth, after birth, all the way until the birth of her own child, and even after that event, for her milk may be deficient in quantity or poor in quality, her food may be either or both, or she may gormandize. Her habits mental, moral, physical, either or all may be vicious. She may be subject to fits of temper or despondency, to a degree suffi- cient to so poison her baby's pabulum as to cause convul- sions and speedy death, or bating that inanition and illness.
I need not say that up to the moment of conception the father's health and habits play as important a part and im- press as profoundly the life to be. Nor is he entirely irre- sponsible afterwards,, for the impression he makes on the mother to be; and the environment with which he surrounds her, will be transmitted, for good or ill to her offspring Nor need I say that the physical as well as other inheritance from parents will attend the child from birth all through life's subsequent journey. This being conceded we will consider the first question answered.
Second:— Is diagnosis to be considered, and if so, to what extent? If we had no other use for diagnosis than the establishment of our school upon an equal footing, in that departuK^nt, with others, I should say that it is to be con- sidered. That we should be the peers of any and all others. in any and all dei)artments of medical science, I hold to be a laudable ambition. Nor can I conceive of a physician edu- cat(Hl ill the science of physiology and pathology, health and unhealth, in Matt^ria Medica the means, and practice the art of restoring lost health to health; yet ignorant of the art of diagnosis. The question naturally divides itself into two sections. And if we may consider the first section, is diagnosis to be considered? suflftciently answered, to be per- haps more fully answered later, return to the second part- of
THE ANAMNESIS. 519
the question:— to what extent. This I should leave to the individual practitioner. If he requires every diagnostic aid and appliance known to science, before he can rationally answer the question, — what ails the patient? either for the patient's, his friends' or his own satisfaction; so be it. It may happen, however, that while he is consulting the Op^ sonic Index, a skilful prescriber may cure tlie case.
What is the subordinate part of diagnosis in the homeo- pathic prescription?
Firstly, diagnosis simplifies the practitioner's work; his ' object, aim, purpose, duty, being to '*heal the sick." This healing will be accomplished by the selection of the appro- priate remedy. This selection will be more readily made, other things being equal, by the careful and accomplished diagnostician. For it is a fact that certain remedies pos- sess affinities for certain organs. This being the case the diagnostician's knowledge saves him time, by circumscribing the field through which he must search for the remedy; and this, notwithstanding the fact that the totality of symp- toms must guide in its selection. There are other reasons for diagnosis (as for example, its aid in prognosis), but they are not called for by the question undtn^ consideration.
The next proposition is: — Taking the case; or, put in the form of an interrogation, how shall the case be taken? This involves history, current conditions and prophecy. The case must be thoroughly taken. Its past and present must be investigated that a rational prescription may be made, and its future predicted, or at least presumed, for the sake of a prognosis favorable or otherwise.
Taking the case, be it acute or chronic, is the important, the essential, the imperative necessity. Without a most careful record the physician is without chart or guide. It goes without saying that in the taking of a chronic case all that can be discovered of inheritance, dyscrasia, accident or incident, must be made manifest to the physician. And of the acute case the same is true, with perhaps the addition of an emergency clause, for the acute is based uiK)n and takes character, complexion, idiosyncrasy, complexity and char- acteristics of whatever kind from the chronic.
520 THE 14EDICAL ADVANCE.
INFANTILE DIARRHEA: PHTTOLACCA DECANDBi.
By p. H. Lutze, M. D., Brooklyn, N. Y.
Willie O., age eight months, residing some distance from the city, owing to change of food and dentition, had diar- rhea. August 4th, 1906, I received the folUowing symptoms by mail:
Stool light yellow, painless, only during the day, never at night. Petroleum 200.
August 10th. — Stool yellow, thin, squirts out with much flatus; worse in the afternoon, several stools, also one at 1:15 a m. Placebo.
August 17. — Stools large and watery, five or six daily, also at night; also has sprue, gray scales on the tongue^ which bleed on attempting to. remove the scales; stools are painful during the day. Borax 200.
August 24th. — Stool green and watery, worse from 1 a. m. until noon. Tongue coated white at its base, child refuses the bottle, frets and worries much, colic and griping relieved by hard pressure. Colocjrnthis 200.
September 14th. No improvement following, a local allopath was called, who after giving several mixtures and tablets, noticing much gurgling in the abdomen, said there was too much activity in the intestines, which must be stopped and kept the boy for two weeks under the influence of Opium, which caused the child to sleep day and night; but the diarrhea continued, not the slightest improvement.
October 20th. — Was called to see the boy and was about to give him Colocynthis again on the symptoms given me, when I saw him biting constantly and very hard on a rub- bec ring, which led me to give him Phytolacca, 200, two powders of which restored him to perfect health, after all the drugs had failed to afford even the slightest relief. This remedy not being included in Dr. James B. Bell's classical monograph on Intestinal Discharges and Their Homeopathic Treatment, I will give here the symptoms as found in Dr. T. F. Allen's Encyclopedia of Pure Materia Medica:
PHYTOLLACCA DECANDRA.
Stools: — Light, thin, yellow, dark brown; copious dis-
INFANTILE DIARRHEA. 521
charges of blood, mucus and what looks like scrapings of the intestines; watery, greenish yellow or dark bloody mat- ter; bile; liquid, dark brown, mushy, loose, light, yellow, very loud; soft, mushy, with undigested food; dark, lumpy hard; watery, involuntary; dysenteric stools.
Aggravations: Mornings; 1 or 2 a. m, till after break- fast; 9:30 a. m.; afternoon 2:30 p. m., 7 p. m., at night till 2 p. m.; during the day, during dentition; from motion {vomiting).
Ameliorations:^— yLovmn^B] after 2 p. m.; at night, ab- dominal pains.
Before 5tooZ .-Sensation as if diarrhea would occur; sickly feeling in the bowels; griping; ineffectual desire for stool; heat in the rectum; pain in the transverse colon, at 7 a. m. constant dull pain in the umbilical region; violent cramping about the umbilical region; vomiting, worse from motion, the abdominal pains disappear at night.
During Stool: — Straining; griping during the day; pain- less at night; constant pain, did not cease for a minute; grip- ing pain, moving aboift in the abdomen; pain in stomach on presure.
After Stool: — Very severe tenesmus, could not leave the stool for a long time; faint feeling; permanent hem- orrhoids; a peculiar sensation of heat in the rectum with a burning sensation in the stomach; at midnight a se- vere neuralgic pain shooting from the rectum and anus along the perineum to the middle of the penis, followed in a few minutes by a neuralgic pain in the right great toe.
This desire to bite hard on anything within their reach is a keynote for Phytolacca in all complaints of children, but especially during dentition.
The light yellow painless stools of Phytolacca, at times occuring only during the day, resemble similar stools of Petroleum very much, but differ in this: that the stools of Petroleum occur only during the day, never at night and are often very offensive; whereas the stools of Phytolacca occur also often at night, as well as during the day.
522 THE MEDICAL ADVANCB:
TOOTHACHES.
By Maurice Worcester Turner, M. D., Brookline,Mass.
When the Hibernian gentleman said, '* Single misfor- tunes never come alone and the greatest of all possible mis- fortunes is often followed by a much greater," he stated what appears, paradoxically, to be a truism in medicine, namely, that one is likely to have to treat in quick succes- sion two or more puzzling or severe cases of a disease, or two or more accidents or surgical cases of a similar kind^ these often progressively increasing in severity.
This is perhaps fortunate and as it should be, because cases two and three are much easier to handle on account of the study given to case number one. So when the first patient with toothache came last autumn, evidently a diffi- cult case, I knew that the study would help also in number two, which would soon appear.
The patient was a man who recently had trouble with an upper right molar so that the nerve had to be killed and now the next tooth was sensitive. The dentist found a decay under a cement filling running up into the neck of the tooth close to the pulp. After trying various things the dentist decided that nerve must be killed also. At this the patient objected vigorously. '*No, there was no help for it." There- upon the owner of the tooth determined to find help if he could.
Here was a nerve nearly exposed, very sensitive to the least contact of food, to cold water, to touch, lying down» except with head high, to any mental efEort, from thinking of it, and not relieved by heat, external or in the mouth. The only relief came from being outdoors and from drawing air into the mouth. The patient was mild, not irritable at all and not tearful.
The deciding symptoms were;
Air cold,amel.: (7/em.,Me»., Nat.s., Nux v., puls., Sars., Selen.
Air drawn in, amel.: (7^cm.,Mez., Nat.s., Nux. v., Puis., Sars., Selen.
TOOTHACHES. 523
Mental exertion, from: Bell., Ign., Nux.v.
Thinking about it, agg.: Bar c, Nuxv., Spig,, Thuj,
Corroborative were touch, while lying, etc., and on con- sulting the remedy in the Guiding Symptoms there was no uncertainty. Nux 12x was given in water; in fifteen min- utes after the first dose there was decided relief; then infre- quent doses till all sensitiveness was gone. Three slight recurrences, since the tooth was filled, have been checked at once by the same remedy, the last time in the 1,000th potency.
Case II. A woman passing through the climacteric, with flushes, infrequent menses, etc. A year or two ago she had her forearms caught and slightly bruised between the doors of an elevator. Her attack of toothache came from a molar in the lower right side which was loose, very sensi- tive, with no decay to be found when examined by the dentist as carefully as the soreness would permit.
Pain came on suddenly, with great severity, after ex- posure to dry, cold wind one evening, causing great anguish and restlessness. It quieted after Aeon. 200, three doses in water, so she slept after midnight. In the morning, com- fortable, but return of pain toward night and no relief from Aeon., which was repeated. Now she was almost frantic, with weeping, anxiety, very restless, t!ie pain streaking down the arms to finger tips; worse right; anything warm in contact with the tooth aggravated, but holding very cold water in the mouth ameliorated, while it was cold.
The pain extending to fingers is given in repertory only under Sep., but it also occurs under Coff., — Guiding Symptoms, Coffea Cruda, p. 311»— that and the relief from holding cold water in the mouth, as well as the mental state decided for Coff., which was given in the 200th, repeated doses, and not only relieved then but held for three days, so she was very comfortable, yet not well, and it was evident that an appropriate deeper-acting remedy must be found. At the end of three days the trouble returned, somewhat changed.
There was now aggravation from warm or cold drinks*
524 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
from pressure, motion, heat, noise, lying down, stooping, before midnight. Nothing relieved permanently and until the pain gradually wore off about twelve or one o'clock at night there was great restlessness, constant moving from bed to chair and back again. External* warmth relieved sometimes. There were now flushes of heat with anxiety, worse in evening. The pain extended to the fingers as before and in the morning they were stiff and sensitive. Mentally despairing, hopeless.
No remedy seemed to cover, not even Sep., which has the pain extending to the fingers, and it was not until the aggravation from noise, a new and peculiar symptom, was studied that any light was obtained, — this proved to be the key to the similimum.
Two remedies are given under the rubric "Aggravation of toothache by noise" in Knerr, p. 330, Calc. and Ther.; Kent adds Tarent. On looking it up in the Guiding Symp- lams Calc. was deemed most appropriate and was given in the 200th at about three o'clock in the afternoon. By dinner time she was more comfortable and that night slept better, and with the head lower than any night since pain began. Improvement was continuous. A slight return six weeks later was at once cut short by the same remedy and potency. Since then no trouble.
An interesting thing is the pain extending down the arms to the fingers. These radiating pains, and their direc- tions, are important. Is this particular radiating pain under Calcarea? It certainly cured it. Cocculus has it in prosopal- gia. Ought not the rubric to read — Pain extends from face to fingers, Calc, Cocc, Coff,^ Sep. — Prosopalgia, Toothache? Who can add to the list?
Birthmarks, which are usually indelible, are said by two Paris physicians to yield to the action of radium, either in children or adults. The marks are effaced by the simple application of a plane surface covered with varnish contain- ing radium. The action is regulated by the length and fre- quency of the applications, which are said to be painless. It may be applied to an infant during sleep. The nevus most easily cured is the dark and most highly colored one.
CEREBRAL HEMORRHAGE 525
CEREBRAL HEMORRHAGE: A CLINICAL CASE.
By Dr. Francisco Valiente T. Barranquilla.
Founder Fellow Member of the Hahnemanlan Society of Colombia.
A respectable lady of Barranquilla, was suffering according >to a diagnosis of the old school doctors, who pre- ceded me in her treatment from a cerebral hemorrhage, which was followed by left hemiplegia, naturally due to the interruption of the communicating ways existing between the organs in charge of which the acts of intelligence and will and also the motor nerves and muscles are.
It has always been said, that the source of these hemor- rhages is generally found either in the striated body, or in the optic thalamus, although they also may occur at other places in the cerebral hemispheres.
This lady had a prodrome cephalalgia and heaviness or torix)r of her head; dizziness. She slept very badly.
She was assisted during the first five days by some allo- pathic doctors, but without any avail. While expressing ourselves in this way, we only relate the honest truth; we do not disavow the doctor's merit and eminence; they may be very learned in all branches of medical science, but it is also very true that Allopathy is wanting in the elements of Materia Medica, which Homeopathy possesses to fight di- rectly all sickn^s without . windings nor hypothesis. This is perfectly clear, and we appeal to the opinion of o cele- brated allopathic writer, who refering to this complaint, expressed himself as follows:
'*When a cerebral hemorrhage takes place, it should be our duty to have it disappear by favoring the absortion of the discharge and the formation of an apopletic cicatrix. But we must confess, that we possess no means capable to stop the hemorrhage, nor even any agent facilitating the
reabsorption and formation of a cicatrix. In many cases,
we do but hasten death by drawing out blood, or by losing it a general collapse follows, and the patient does not re- cover his senses any more." — (Nysten Internal Pathology, vol. 3, page 193.)
520 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
^» Let US come to our case again. When the lady's family
1 resolved to have her treated homeopathically, we find her in
a very dangerous comatose condition.
In a supine decubitus, mouth half open, eyes half closed, tmlation of her cheeks while breathing, pale face, thin I sharp nose, imperceptible and irrregular pulse."
She had been given a couple of calomel purgatives without any avail whatever.
Examining her wo remarked the charaw^teristic signs of
^ a Mycotic condition. Due to the circumstance of calomel
having been administered by allopathic doctors, our atten-
r tion was called to Nitric acid as an antidote of mercury and
, a jiroper medicine also for such a diathesis.
We hesitated between the use of Opium and Nitric acid, which also agreed witli the condition of the patient.
* This last remedy lias in its pathogenessy left hemiplegia and though our patient suffered a chronic constipation and Hahnemann used to say that '*it was seldom suggested in cases like this," we instantly remember an English gentle- man s opinion, Dr, Clarke, who affirms that he had had ex- cellent results, curing some cases and healing the constipa- tion. Furthermore, our patient was greatly accustomed to purgatives and it is well known that this custom is also the cause of constipations.
At last we dficided to use Nitric acid, taking into con- sideration the following reasons:
Havinj^ to use an antidote to calomel; our patient being
• lean, with Tit?id fibre, dark complexion, black eyes and hair and a nervous temperament; and she worried very much on account of her sufferings.
I also learned from her family the following: Profuse ptyalism while moving her, which was remarkable; foul glossitis; intense headache; inflamed throat; excessive physi- cal in-itability; eraclcing of her maxillary joints while mas- masticating; ditlicult and painful deglutition; fever with dominating coldness; temperature was 38J®.
Twenty lour liours later the patient improved remark- ably. Pulse was more perceptible; she copiously evacuated;
CEREBRAL HEMORRHAGE. 527
fever came down to 38^ and she could easierly hear when spoken to.
We continued this medicine. After 48 hours, we find a very remarkable improvement in her general condition; but she complained of invincible heaviness of her eye lids, not- withstanding her efforts to do it, and due to her moral con- dition and to the relaxation of all her muscular system, and of the debility she felt in her eyelids, we resolved to give Gelsemuim 6a which put an end to the fever and restored a healthful reaction. She opened her eyes easily and spoke to persons round her.
The next day, here eyes were congested. Examining her pupils we find them somewhat expanded and some con- vulsive and isolated movings, prescribing therefore Bella- donna 6a-8 globuls to 7 spoonfuls of water — to take a spoonful every 2 hours. This medicine acted magically as it always does whenever indicated.
Our patient now had a pungent headache on the right parietal region, opposite side to the one attacked by hemi* phlegia, which, after having greatly yielded to Belladonna, disappeared by the use of Coffea 30. She felt a sensation like that which must be felt by he who has a nail driven into his brain.
Our attention was called after this improvement to the intestinal viertia which after a fe>v hours yielded to opi- um30.
She improved in all respects rnd her condition was then joyful. But her hemiplegia had not changed, and after giv- ing her sulphur 12 to promote reabsorption we began to se- lect a medicine to hasten healing.
It is with great satisfaction that we report the wonder- ful effect of Haba de Calabar which we use as follows:
Physostigmo ven. 30—8 g:lobuly to 4 ounces of water — to be taken in a dose of 1 spoonful every morning; in the evening placebo.
Communication between the central inciter apparatus and the motor nerves began to be corrected under the in- fluence of this medicine, causing great astonishment as four
528 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
days after she began taking this medicine, she could move -her left arm to touch a medal hanging from her neck.
The medicines used during this treatment are: Nitri -'Acidum, Gelsemium, Belladonna, Sulphur, Opium, Kali phosphoricum, Physostigma ven, and Coffea, used accord- ing to the similar symptoms.
Intercurrents: Sulphur to promote the reabsorption; Kali phosphor, for nervous and muscular anxiety; Lycopo- dium 30 for intestinal meteorism; one dose was enough to remove it.
We have found Baryta carb., Gelsemium, Laehesis, Nux Vomica and Phosphorus, as called for, successful in correcting a predisposition to cerebral hemorrhage.
Our patient now walks throughout the house, and uses her arm once paralized.
TICCINATION DURING SMALLPOX.
A year or two ago Dr. J. C. Hibbert investigated the question ** as to whether a successful vaccination or revacci- nation of a patient suffering from a suspicious rash, speaks strongly against that rash being one of smallpox. In twenty cases of undoubted smallpox which were vaccinated or re - vaccinated after the appearance of the eruption, elevezi vaccinations or revaccinations were successful. In the greater proportion of the successful cases well marked typical vac- cine vesicles appeared at the site of the vaccination. These vesicles became evident from the fourth to the sixth day after the operation and ran the usual course. In some cases, instead of the typical vesicle, there was merely an indurated raised papule. Ten of the eleven successful cases were vaccinated during the first four days of the disease. It could not be detected that vaccination or revaccination when per- formed after the smallpox eruption had appeared, had defi- nitely any modifying influence on the rash or on the course of the disease."
To anyone but a radical advocate of vaccination, the above is couclusive proof that this method offers not the slightest protection against smallpox. If its action is homeo- pathic, as many assert, it should at least modify the rash or the course of the disease. The experimenter, an allopath too, states that no such effect could be detected.— Col. Jour.
REPORT OF THE 1. H. A. MEETING. 52^
REPORT OP THE BUSINESS TRANSACTED AT THE
1908 MEETING OF THE INTERNATIONAL
HAHNEMANNIAN ASSOCIATION.
The meeting was called to order by the president, Ru- dolph F. Rabe, at 10 a. m. Moved that the program as printed be the order of business. Carried.
Moved that visiting physicians be accorded the privilege of the floor. Carried.
The president then appointed the following committees:
Committee on Press. Drs. T. G. Roberts and J. B. S. King,
Committee on Attendance: Dr. Harvey Farrington.
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.
Mr. President and Members of the Association.
The routine work of the Association has been carried out as usual. The proceedings of the last meeting were printed and distributed to the members within the time limit of ninety days as prescribed by the by-laws. They formed a large volume of 340 pages. The proceedings of the preceding year formed a volume of only 280 pages. In accordance with the resolutions passed last year the secre- tary had made 300 electrotypes of the design of the Associa- tion, and sent one to each member in good standing.
On motion passed at the late meeting the secretary was instructed to send certificates of membership to all members in good standing. This could not be carried out to the let- ter for the reason that the members joined through two centuries and only one stone could be made. The old stone having been lost and the new stone being dated for the present century, certificates could be furnished only to members who had joined since 1900. Certificates were pre- pared and sent to all such members.
Two active members died since the last meeting as will be learned from the necrologist.
Moved that the secretary's report be accepted and re-f ferred to the publication committee.
REPORT OF THE CORRESPONDING COMMITTEE.
The corresponding secretary read as his report a letter
630 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
from Dr. Sura de Moneo, of Bogota, of the South American Jic public of Colombia,
KPIPORT OF THE TREASURER. RECEIPTS.
Jane 22nd, 190T, balance on hand ..8480.46
Received for dues 508,00
Sale of volumes of Transactions. 11.00
Sale of Close papers 2.00
Return posta^o .76
$1002.22
• UISBUUSEMENTS.
Stenographer (King) . ^ §100.00
Postage 37.95
Storage! H. A, volumes 12,00
Transactions 1007 ^ 319.36
Express and druyaRC on Transactions. 14.02
Kngraviog trade mark 40.00
Packing I. H. A. volumes .25
Lettering certificates, making up and dis- tributing samt' 29.95
Circulars, folders, envelopes, electro, and
distrihutjnis^ same : 33.45
S587.25
Balance on fniml . , 8414.97
Report rectnved and referred to an auditing committee. President appoint<;d Drs. H. H. Baker and C. M. Boger on that committe*',
UKPdin OF THE NECROLOGIST,
Keport recpived and referred to the publication com- niittf*e.
CNPiMSHED BUSINESS.
I'nder the head of new business the change in the by- laws uf vdilclr nr^tirt^ luid been given at the last meeting had
ArtitHf VU, S4*f^fion -, was changed from *'a thesis upon the siihjecl at HiiiiMH*]mthy and a clinical report/' to "A fcbf»4.i& upon I lie sHi^jci^L of Homeopathy, a clinical report or
REPORT OF THE I. H. A. MEETING. 531
the proving of a remedy." This was voted upon and car- ried.
Article VII, Section 6, was proposed to be changed by substituting the words * 'Medical profession" for the words **Tbis Association." This was voted upon and lost.
NEW BUSINESS.
Moved and unanimously passed by standing vote, that the secretary be instructed to send messages conveying the greeting and sympathy of the Association to Dr. Wm. P. Wesselhoeft, Dr. Alice B. Campbell and Dr. F. H. Lutze.
Moved by Dr. P. E. Krichbaum and seconded that after fifty as complete sets of the proceedings as possible are se- lected and retained by the treasurer, the remainder be sent to libraries of various medical colleges for the use of students.
President: — Are there any remarks on this motion?
H. C. Allen: — I think that we can make a better use of them. Let us use them for missionary purposes by putting thera in the hands of prospective members, or in the hands of individuals where in the judgment of members they will do the most good for Homeopathy. I could get a good many members if I had a copy of the old proceedings to put in the hands of an interested doctor. In all probability they would be lost in the libraries of colleges- I move as a sub- stitute that after fifty sets have been selected and retained by the treasurer that the rest be placed at the disposal of members in good standing for missionary purposes. Sec- onded.
P. E. Krichbaum: — I withdraw my motion with the con- sent of my second.
Dr. Allen's motion was then put and carried.
E. A. Taylor: — It would be only a matter of justice to give a copy of the proceedings containing the proving of Piper Nigrum to each one of the pro vers who took part in it, . I would like to have the Association authorize .it. I therefore move that a copy of the Transactions that con- tain the proving of Piper Nigrum be given to each one of the provers. Seconded. Carried.
P. E. Krichbaum: — I move that the president appoint a
532 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
^
committee of from three to five honorable seniors for the , ]
purpose of compiling a list of all known Hahnemannian prac- *
titioners in the United States and published in our Pro- ceedings for the use of members. Secojided.
G. P. Waring: — I think that is a good idea, but I doubt the wisdom of appointing a committee off hand. I move that Dr. Krichbaum's motion be referred to a commit- tee of three to report at the next session. Seconded. Car- ried.
President: — I appoint Drs. Krichbaum, Taylor and ,
Waring on that committee.
REPORT OP THE BOARD OF CENSORS.
C. M. Boger, Chairman af the board, read the following list of names as applicants who had fulfilled all the require- ments, and were recommended by the board for election as members.
ACTIVE LIST.
Gabriel P. Thornhill, Paris, Texas.
L. E. Rauterberg, *'The Farragut" Apartment House, Washington, D. C.
A. W. Holcombe, Kokomo, Indiana.
E. A. P. Hardy, Toronto, Canada.
C. A. Baldwin, Peru, Indiana.
J. E. Frash, Metamora, Ohio.
E. P. Wallace, Pomona, California.
Richard Blackmore, Bellevuej Pennsylvania.
Harvey Farrington, 5223 Washington Ave., Chicago.
On motion duly seconded and carried, these gentlemen were elected members of the Association by the secretary casting one ballot for them.
ASSOCIATE LIST.
Josephine M. Roberts, 239 42nd St., Chicago, 111. Jennette D. Peterson, Richmond, Indiana. Charles A. Peterson, Richmond, Indiana. Helen B. Wilcox, 484 E. 63rd St., Chicago, 111, Evelyn Hoehne, 481 Washington St., Milwaukee, Wis. William E. Leonard, Minneapolis, Minn. S. H. Sparhawk, Saint Johnsbury, Vt.
PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 533
W. B. Hinsdale, Ann Arbor, Mich.
Annie Allen Anderson, 180 Winthrop Ave. , Chicago, 111.
Gustavus A. Almfelt, Somers, Wis.
H. C. Thomas, Kokomo, Indiana.
Wm. C. A. Leipold, Hotel Windermere, Chicago, 111.
Moved that the secretary cast the ballot of the associa- tion electing those named associate members, which was done and they were declared elected.
ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT.
THE INTEBNATIONAIi HAHNEMANNIAK ASSOCIATION
AS A FACTOR FOB GOOD IN THE HOMEOPATHIC
PROFESSION.
Fellow members of the International Hahnemannian Association, Ladies and Gentlemen: The object of an asso- ciation like' this, is its reason for existence, and only in so far as it fulfills its object can it be said to be successful. The International Hahnemannian Association was formed in the year 1880 as a protest against the loose unhomeopathic ten- deiicies of the parent body, the American Institute of Hom- eopathy. It rallied to its protestant forces some of the brightest minds and deepest thinkers of our school. Its meetings became the medium of exchange of thought and wisdonQ in the philosophy of our art, and served as a post- graduate school of inspiration to many a homeopathic phy- sician in this and other lands.
That which may be said of the past can still be said of the present of this Association and much more. Since the founding in 1880, a new generation of physicians has ap- peared, one whose training has each year been advanced in the paths of modem scientific investigation. These paths, alluring and never ending in themselves, have led many from the well-beaten track of fundamental truth and prin- ciple, until the enticing maze into which they have so eager- ly penetrated has swallowed them beyond regurgitation. Of such are the majority in our parent organization, the Amer- ican Institute of Homeopathy, to whom all that is modern in medical research and discovery constitutes the Alpha and
534 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Omega of their science. With no understanding of its won- derful philosophy, without grasp of the truth of its princi- ples, blatantly displaying their profound contempt for the precepts of Hahnemann himself, these men are dragging in the mire the reputation and fair name of Homeopathy.
Yet this mournful picture has its bright reverse, for although in the minority they may be, it is a minority whose earnest steadfastness has served to win to its support many a faltering mind, in the overthrowing of dangerous and in- sidious enactments. More than one traitor to our cause has dared to oppose this phalanx of defense, never to show his face again. Standing shoulder to shoulder in the fight, the members of this Association, still loyal to the highest inte- rests of the Institute, have been conspicuous by their united action and activity. So great has been their influence that within the past eighteen months overtures of peace have been made by the parent body.
Today a unique state of affairs is in existence, that of many loyal members of this Association being at the same time enrolled as faithful members of the older body. Here it is that the International Hahnemannian Association is presented with its grandest opportunity for d9ing good in the homeopathic profession. And therefore,- as my first presidential recommendation, I would urge that members of this body can best serve the interests of our common cause by at the same time becoming active as individual members of the parent organization. Our own must remain intact, inviolate, a harbor of instruction and inspiration, from which, like knights of old, to set sail and go forth to battle for the right. Our emmissaries must be found wherever Homeopathy exists, in state, county and local societies, and no opportunity must be allowed to slip, whereby our own members can bo advan-ced. Organization must be met by organization, whenever and wherever necessary,and for this purpose sui)port must be forthcoming from this Association.
Scattered throughout the land are numerous small bands of Hahnemannians, whose affiliation with this body was at- tempted two years ago. Nothing has come of this plan, and
PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 535
as a second recommendation I would urge the wisdom of a committee to devise ways and means of carrying out the in- tention of my predecessors.
The subject of drug proving was ably presented last year by President Patch who emphasized its great import- ance to the scientific world. The committee appointed by this association to consider the president's address urged the desirability of such drug proving, and recommended that it be carried on by this organization. Your president ap- pointed a committee on drug proving and confidently looks to its chairman for a report of its work during the year now brought to a close.
All that was said by the retiring president can be ad- vantageously reiterated now. This work must and can best be done by our Association, and in this work, we as Hahne- mannian physicians should lead. Let every instrument of precision, let every chemical or diagnostic aid be brought to bear upon this work, let every fact, pathologic or otherwise be noted, but let all be guided by the sound sense of Hahne* mann's directions and philosophy.
Although the diagnosis of disease, in so far as this con- stitutes the naming of a pathologic condition, is seldom es- sential to the selection of the simillimum, its importance as an integral part of the armamentarium of the educated phy- sician needs no emphasis. Time was when it made no dif- ference to our prescribers what they were curing. This at- titude of indifference can no longer be maintained. An in- telligent laity, an alert profession, demands knowledge of what is abnormal in the human body, and where this knowl- edge can be given it should be made plain to all concerned. Homeopathy can be but strengthened and dignified by such knowledge, and it behooves us as true Hahneraannian phy- sicians to perfect ourselves in diagnostic skill; by so doing we challenge the investigation of those who differ from us in belief, and confound those who, though professing to be- lieve as we do, differ widely from us in their practice. Pacts, not mere assertions will aid us in the establishment of our belief.
i
5S6 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
The medical student, with mind unmoulded and faith but insecure, is open to conviction and can by proper train- ing be firmly rooted in the truth of our methods. His col- lege course, followed by his intemeship in hospital or clinic,, can make or unmake the true Hahnemannian physician in him. Inileed, in the college the greatest work can be done by men well qualified to impart the knowledge needful to the truly homeopathic physician. Not only must the chairs of Materia Medica be manned by enthusiastic teachersi but the chair:* of Practice of Medicine as well, for it is in the latter that the influence for good of the former, is so often completely nullified. Hence, here too lies an opportunity for the members of this Association to associate themselves wherever possible with our colleges and become a power for gooci It is idle to stand by and criticise and yet make no effort to correct existing faulty conditions. Then, too, those Hahnemannians who are teachers should not essay to arouse needless antagonism by befogging the main issues with di^scussions of unsettled or relatively unimportant ques- tions. The potency question for one should be broached in a frank manner, without bias, and giving that latitude of se- lection which Hahnemann himself commended. Let e/ery moot point be freely discussed and fully explained, for in this way alone can confidence on the student's part be en- gendered.
Also must we see to it that the philosophy of Hom- eopathy is faithfully presented to the student. The Organon must to him become as pleasantly familiar as the clinic or the operating room, its great truthj fully impressed. For this wot^k the highest ability is required, and who are more ably fittL'd for the task than many of our older members.
Repiu'tory work is most essential, as every Hahneman- nian knows, yet how many students in our colleges are to- day receiving instruction in this knowledge, and who can imp art this knowledge better than he who is well versed by dai ly practice in it.
Fellow members: It is well for us at times to stop and consider whether we are doing our whole duty by our pro-
REPORT OF THE 1. H. A. MEETING. 537
fession, by our students, by our cause and by humanity it- self. Can we not do more individually and collectively, to aid in the work of bequeathing to those wh6 are to follow us, the previous heritage we ourselves have received. The trend of the times is in the direction of levelling all medical disiinctions, a tendency to be welcomed were our cause to receive its just and proper place in medicine; but since, for the present age at least, it is not so to be recognized; we must fight on courageously, manfully, with weapons keen and untarnished by the breath of calumny. Let us then, as representatives of an Association of men and women, whose art and practice are founded on the bedrock of Hahneman- nian philosophy, stand side by side in advancing our faith. Such efforts will at best be scant recompense for that which we have so bountifully received. In this spirit, then, are these few suggestions made by one who, always enthusiastic in the cause for which he labors, has himself striven humbly to do his little part, and when the time does come, as it surely will, that Homeopathy comes into its own, let us as its rightful custodians be prepared to guide the hands into which it shall be confided.
Rudolph F. Rabe.
PEPORT OF THE AUDITING COMMITTEE.
C. M. Roger: — As chairman of the committee, I report that your committee has examined the books, accounts and vouchers of the treasurer and found them correct. Motion duly seconded and carried, the report of the auditing com^ mittee was accepted and the committee discharged.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON DR. KRICHBAUM'S MOTION.
Your committee recommends that a list of all physicians who are supposed to conform to the law of similars in their practice, be published in the proceedings of this Association each year:
Your committee recommends that the names be selected by a committee appointed by the president, ^aid committee to use care and circumspection in its choice; it is to be
638 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
understood that those in the list have not been investigated by the board of censors hence are not fully vouched for by the Association.
Your committee recommends that this should be con- sidered as a partial list only— a beginning — and that the name3 of all true homeopathic physicians are desired for publication in this list. Signed:
E. A. Taylor, P. E. Krichbaum. G. P. Waring.
Moved that the report of the committee be received and its recommendations adopted.
President: — I will appoint on this committee Drs. J. B. S. King, H. C. Allen and W. H. Freeman.
H. H. Baker: — It might be well for this association to take up the question of the pharmacopoeia; there are two pharmacopoeias in this country, one gotten up under the supervision of the American Institute and adopted by that society, and one which follows the older '.way as laid down by Hahnemann and known as the American Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia. I move that the president appoint a com- mittee to-report upon the pharmacopoeia question.
The president appointed the following: Drs. Baker, Taylor and Waring.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE PHARMACOPOEIA.
Whereas, The members of this association believe in the proving of drugs as the only basis of the materia medica, and in the use of drugs which have been prepared exactly as were those from which the original proving was made;
Therefore be it resolved, That the members of this association will continue to adhere to the original methods of drug preparation as carried out in the American Homeo- pathic Pharmacopoeia, and that we encourage the pharma- cies to follow its methods in preparing drugs for homeopathic use. Signed: H. H. Baker.
G. P. Waring. E. A. Taylor.
On motion duly seconded and carried, the report of the
REPORT OF THE I. H. A: MEETING. 539'
committee was accepted and the resolution adopted as the action of the association.
H. C. Allen: — I would like. permission of the members to read a portion of a letter received from Dr. Thornhill of Texas, as it is of general interest:
**See that the I. H. A. does as well,if not b8tter,than the A. I. H. did last week in Kansas City for the propagandism of Homeopathy. We need a bureau of education to send out literature; we need lecturers in the field; we need to pull hard and to pull all together for the grandest cause before the world today. You may put me down for one hundred dollars to start the ball rolling."
Nathan Cash: — I move that a committee of five be ap- pointed to take up the matter of homeopathic propagandism and push the work of advertising therapeutic truth for this Association and report on the work done at the next year's meeting. Seconded. Carried.
President: — I will appoint on that committe the following gentlemen: H. S. Llewellyn, LaGrange, 111., Chairman; J. B. S. King, Chicago, 111., R. E. S. Hayes, Farmington, Conn., Maurice W. Turner, Brookline, Mass., Lee Norman, Louisville, Ky.
REPORT OF THE DRUG PROVING COMMITTEE.
Mr. President: — The Committee on Drug Proving reports an almost absolute failure. Ten provers worked on Anti- toxin for many months. The crude nosode was prepared under the supervision of the New York State Board of Health, in its laboratory, and without preservative of any kind, hence it was presumed to be pure. It was potentized by Boericke and Tafel and every precaution taken to have as good a pre- paration as could be make. Dr. Turner's provers obtained the only symptoms worth recommending, which will be found in their place in the Transactions. The $100 voted last year thus far remains in the treasury for future use. The work will be continued this year.
Report accepted and referred to the Publication Com- mittee.
1
540 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
NOTICE OF AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS.
G. P. Waring! — I hereby hand to the Secretary a notice in writing of a proposed amendment to the constitution, it is as follows:
Notice is hereby given that at the next annual meeting of this Association amendments will be presented in order to make it constitutional and possible to organize sections of this Association to be known as the Eastern, Central, West- em and Southern sections of the International Hahneman- nian Association.
After the reading of J. C. HoUoway's paper in the Bureau of Homeopathic Philosophy the discussion opened as follows:
C. M. Boger: — I have ^ve dollars in my pocket to pay for reprints of that paper to send around as a missionary document to other doctors.
A. P. Bowie: — I have five dollars in my pocket to pay for reprints to send around to other doctors.
After some further discussion the following motion pre- vailed:
P. E. Krichbaum: — I move that the whole matter be left to the Committee on publicity.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRE^SS.
Your committee on the President's address congratulates the Association on such an official utterance and on the clarion ring of its principles. We heartily commend the recommend- ation that the propagandism of Hahnemannian Homeopathy be earnestly undertaken in local, city, state and national societies as well as by individual effort. That the enthusiasm of our president may become universally contagious is the hope and belief of your committee.
Signed H. C. Allen,
T. G. Roberts, A. P. Bowie. election of officers. The election of officers resulted as follows: President, P. E. Krichbaum, Montclair, N. J.; Vice-
REPORT OF THE I, H. A, MEETING. 541
President, G. P. Waring, Chicago, 111.; Treasurer, P. E. Krichbaum, Montclair, N. J.; Secretary, J. B. S. King, Chicago, 111.; Corresponding Secretary, R. F. Rabe, New York City,
BOARD OF CENSORS.
C. M. Boger, Chairman, Parkersburg, W. Va.; Julia C. Loos, Harrisburg, Penn.; E. A. Taylor, Chicago, BL; Frederica E. Gladwin^ Philadelphia, Pa.; Stuart Close, Brooklyn, N. Y.
PUBLICATION COMMITTEE.
T. G. Roberts, G. P. Waring, E. A. Taylor, J. B. S. King, ex officio.
PLACE OP THE NEXT MEETING.
After a discussion of the advantages of various places, Pittsburg, Penn., was finally selected-
P. E. Krichbaum, the president elect, announced the chairmen of bureaus for the next year as follows:
Homeopathic Philosophy, J. C. Holloway,Galesburg, Bl.
Clinical Medicine, C. A. Peterson, Richmond, Ind.
Obstetrics, Caroline E. Putnam, Kansas City, Mo.
Surgery, J. B. Campbell, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Materia Medica, Maurice W. Turner, Brookline, Mass.
E. A. Taylor: — Before adjourning I want to give notice that at the next meeting I will offer an amendment to Article VI of the By-Laws, that all papers must be in the hands of the chairmen of bureaus thirty days before the date of the meeting.
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON PRESS.
J. B. S. King:— Brief notices of our meeting appeared in two of the Chicago pa])ers.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON ATTEXDANCJE.
The report of the committee^ on attendance is as fol- lows:
Average attendance, M. Number of membei's, 42. Visitors, from 5 to 12. Adjourned sine die.
542 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
A CHARACTERISTIC AND COMPARATIVE MATERIA
MEDICA.
By a. McNeil, M. D., San Francisco.
The following are specimen pages of a work I am com- piling. If I were to give a full descriptive title it would . be a complete Characteristic and Comparative Materia Medica. I intend it to contain all the characteristics or keynotes in our books. Each symptom will be followed by the name or initial of its author, which will be a sufficient guarantee of its value. Symptoms by Hahnemann will be followed by Capital **H"; if by Hering, by *'Hg"; by BOnninghausen, by Capital* 'B"; by H. N. Guernsey, by capital **G"; by Carroll Dunham, by capital **D"; by Adolph Lippe by capi- tal **L": by C. G. Raue by capital **R''; by Samuel Lilien- thal by **Lir'; all others by the name in full.
In order to understand this work the following explana- tions must be remembered: Each symptom, if it be accom- panied by a note of exclamation (!) will show that that symp- tom belongs to no other remedy. If the abbreviation of the names of one, two or three drugs follow, then these medi- cines have the symptoms as characteristic. If the charac- ter ***%" is used, then more than three remedies have the symptoms as characteristics.
AS ARAM EUROPEUM.
Non Antipsoric.
1. Mind, Gradual vanishing of thought as when fall- ing asleep (I R.)
(1) Imagines he is hovering in the air like a spirit when walking in the open air. Hg. (I)
Inability to think. A(&)
Great nervous irritation. G(&)
Dull and stupid. G.(&)
Melancholic irritability. B.(&)
Cold shivers from any emotion. Hg. (l)
II Stnisorium. During the retchings all the symptoms increase, except the stupid feeling in the head, which de- creases. G. (I)
Sensation of lightness in the limbs; when she walks she thinks she is gliding through the air G. (I)
CHARACTERISTIC AND CCMPARATIVE MATERIA MEDICA. 543
III. Inner head. Attacks of one sided pain < in the afternoon (5 P. M.) A. (!)
Pressing dullness in the head. B. (&).
Pressing pain in the forehead with nausea < by every mental effort. B. (I)
Feels the pulsation of the arteries in the occiput. (Phos); B. (x).
IV. Sight and Eyes, Obscuration of sight. B. (&). Ck)ld sensation in the eyes. B, (x).
Eyes < when outdoors, in the heat and sunlight > by bathing them in cold water. B. (Aeon, Apis; Arg.n.)
The cold air is pleasant to thereyes (Arg.n); sunshine, light and wind are intolerable. B.
Painful dryness and burning of the inner surface of the lids. G. (I) •
Jerking pain in the eyes after an operation on the eye. G. (!).
Cold > all the sufferings. G. (Arg.n.).
Staring eyes. , B. (&).
Painful feeling of dryness in the eyes. B.
Injected conjunrtiva, with stinging in the canthi. B. (x)
The eyes burn, in the room as if whisky was dashed into them. B. (&.)
V. Hearing and Ears. Over-sensitiveness of nerves, scratching of linen or silk is insupportable. B. (I)
Diminished hearing of left ear. B. (&).
A sort of tensive pain in the ears continually. G. (&).
Sensation as if the ear was closed or plugged . with some foreign substance, with dullness of hearing. Hg. (x).
Deafness in one or both ears. Hg. (&").
Pressure and tension in region of orifice of meatus ex- ternus. H. (&).
VI. Lower Part of Face. Cramp at articulation of lower jaw. H. (!)
VII. Taste, Speech, Tongue. Most disgusting taste in mouth, at first sour, later bitter. Hg. (I)
Bread taste bitter. B. (x). Tobacco tastes bitt:}r when smoking. B. (China.)
^:
K
S44 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
VIIL Appetite, Thirst. Desires, Aversions. Want of ap- petite, even nausea < by food. Hg. (x).
Frequent, empty, eructations. H. (&)■
Putrid eructations. B.' (Am.)
Heartburn, with sour belching, setting the teeth on edge. B. (0
Attacks of nausea; < after eating; tongue clean. Hg. (&).
IX* Xaffsea and Vomiting. Violent, empty reteh- ing, which < all the symptoms, except the head. H. (I.)
Vomitini? with great anguish, with violent exertion and chilliness, B: (!).
X, Scrohiculum and Stomach. Pressing, digging and fi^elinf? of discomfort in pit of stomach. Hg (!).
XI, liyi^ochondria. Sensation in the spleen as if sore and chapped. B (!).
Cutting bellyache with vomiting. B. (x). Inguinal hernia. B. (&).
Pinching pain in left side of abdomen extending to back- B. CV
Violent colic and vomiting. A. (Aeth, Cic, Ver.) Rumbling and gurgling in the abd<>men with nausea.
XII, hWturn and ."Jtool. A long yellow twisted string of inodoroui^ mucus in three or four stools, with pain in abdo- men. Hg. (').
Diarrhea, passes shaggy masses of mucus, inodorous rttid full of ascarides. G. (I).
Diarrhea of tenacious mucus mixed with blood. B. (x). Ruft evacuations with ascarides and reddish mucus.
Diarrhea with undigested food, especially potatoes. B. C).
Hi'fnre stool, cutting in the abdomen. B. (&).
During stool, discharge of thick, black blood. B. (!).
Prolapsus and during stool, B. (&).
After stool pressing and straining, and discharge of wliite vis*'id, bloody mucus. B. (I).
CHARACTERISTIC AND COMPARATIVE MATERIA MEDICA. 545
XIII. Male Sexual Organs. Complaints from suppressed sexual passion. B. (Cam. Con.)
XIV. Female Sexual Organs, Catamenia too early and long-lasting; blood black. B. (x). ^
At the appearance of the menses violent pain in lumbar vertabre, which scarcely permits her to breathe. (!).
XV. Pregnancy and Parturition. Nausea and vomiting of the pregnant. Hg* (&).
Threatened abortion from excessive sensibility of the nerves; even imagining something unpleasant causes thrills to pass through her, momentarily arresting thought and sensation.
XVI. Respiration. DiflScult respiration as if breathing through a sack. B. (!)•
XVn. inner Chest and Lungs. Stitches in right or both lungs during inhalation. H. (&).
Contractive squeezing in the lungs. B. (&).
XVIII. Neck and Back. Cramps in neck and throat. B. (!).
Sensation in the muscles of the neck as from a tight cravat. Hg. (!).
Bruised pain in the back when standing or sitting > by lying. A. (&).
XIX. Upper Limbs. Sweat %in the Axilla smelling sour. G. (!).
Drawing pain in the joints, wrists, and fingers. B. (&).
XX. Lower Limbs. Cramps in the thighs which pre- vent walking B. (!).
Weariness in the knees. B. (&.).
XXI. Limbs in General. Lightness of all the limbs, he does not perceive that he has a body, feels as if floating in the air.— B. (&).
Rheumatism<in dry cold weather. Hg.(Caust,Hep.Nux). Drawing pains in the joints, wrists and fingers. A. (&).
XXII. Nerves. Excessive sensibility of all the nerves. Hg. (&).
Great nervous irritation. B. (&).
Excessive sensibility of all the nerves when merely
546 THE MEDICAT. ADVANCE.
thinking and this he must do continually; that some one might with the finger tips or nails scratch even lightly on linen or silk material; a disagreeable sensation thrills through him; arresting momentarily all his thoughts and actions G. (!).
Great Lassitude which is insupportable. B (&).
XXni. Sleep. Evening in bed agitation in the blood prevents sleep for two hours. (!).
Condition of mind as if just falling asleep; gradual van- ishing of ideas. Hg.
Vexatious dreams. Hg. (&). XXIV. Time, Temperature and Weather. Aggravation in clear, fine weather. G. (Caust, Hep, Nux).
Many symptoms disappear from washing in cold water. B. (Puis.).
In heat sunshine and wind, eyes worse. B. (x).
Cold water, eyes better. B. (Arg.n. Apis).
Cold air; eyes relieved. G. (Arg.n.).
Damp weather, symptoms improved. B. (Caust Hep. Nux).
XXV. Chill, Fever and Siceat. Chills during the day without thirst. A. (&).
Nervous chilliness, single parts get icy cold. R.
Cold hands, feet, knees or abdomen, even the hottest weather does not relieve; timid nervous persons. R. (x.).
Great want of vital heat; feels cold continually. B. (&).
Cold feeling, not > by covering or warmth of roona. R. (Diad. aran.).
Chill and shivering without thirst. B. (&).
Alternate flushes of burning heat and coldness. B. (&).
Sweet or sour smell, most profuse in axillae B. (x).
Shivering and coldness from any emotion. Hg. (!).
XXVI. Sensations. Lightness in limbs as if gliding through air. Hg. (&). «.
Sensation as if from a tight cravat, in muscles of neck. Hg. (!).
Horrible sensation at epigastrium, Hg. (I).
RATIONAL TRKATxMENT OP ABSCESSES. 547
Sensation as though all or part of the body were being pressed together. G. (!).
XXVII. Tissues, Irritability of the nerves. H. (x).
XXVIII. Touch. After operation on the eyes jerk- ing pain. H. (!).
XXIX. Stages of Life, Constitution, For chilly per- sons who are always shivering from the cold, for example literary men who are addicted to a sedentary life. Noack & Trinks. (!).
Drunkards; popular in Russia. B. (&).
XXX. Relationship, Caust. Puis. Sil.
RATIONAL TREATMENT OP ABSCESSES.
By R. F. Rabe, M. D., New York.
Mr. A., age 18, who had for some time been irritable and depressed, developed a small abscess about two inches from the anus, which discharged and healed without treat- raent. About this time, by jumping into a buggy he felt a sudden pain in the left groin. This was soon followed by a small swelling, which slowly increased in size, became red and hot as well as exceedingly painful, so that walking became almost impossible. The anamnesis of his case, at this time gave the following:
Left inguinal gland hard, swollen and sensitive, re- lieved by rest, worse from any motion and from lying on the left side. The analysis, according to BOnninghausen's Therepeutic Pocket-Book shows:
Inguinal glands: Ant. cr., Ars., Asaf., Aur., Bad., Bar. c. Bell, Calc, Cann. s., Cinnab., Clem., Con., Dulc, Graph., Hep., lod., Jjyc, Meny., Merc, Mez., Nat. c, Nit. ac, Nux., Osm., Phos., Phos. ac, Puis., Rheum., Rhus., Sil., Spong., Stan., Staph., Stram., Sulph., Thuja. This rubric must contain the needful remedy.
Now taking the left side we have: Ant. cr., Asaf., Aur., Bar. c, Calc, Cann. s., Clem., Con., Dulc, lod., Merc, Mez., Nit. ac, Nux, Osm., Phos., Sil., Stan., Staph., Stram.. Sulph., Thuja. Narrowing the choice still further, by re-
',^^<--.-y
548 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
f erring to the rubric, **hard swelling of glands/' we now have: Asaf., Con., Merc „ Phos., Sulph. The extreme **sensitiveness'* eliminates all but two remedies and leaves us: Con., and Phos.
Now taking the aggravation when lying on the left side, we find Phosphorus to be easily first. Add to this the facts that the patient is of the Phosphorous type and build, that he had rachitis in infancy and that he has a tubercular fam- ily history, we have an unmistakable totality and firm basis for the prescription. Accordingly, three doses of Phosphorus at intervals of three hours and in the 1000th potency, B and T., were given, followed by some general amelioration but more rapid and local development of the abscess.
When fluctuation was marked, four days after the ad- ministration of the remedy, the local pain now being intense, under aseptic precautions and Ethyl Chloride local anaesthe- sia a small incission was made, giving vent to half a teacup- ful of thick yellow pus. Light packing with sterile gauze was now resorted to, gauze dressing and a spica bandage. The following day a fair amount of pus issued. Irrrigatioa with Dioxogen, followed by a one to fifty strength solution of Calendula sterile water, constituted the local treatment. Internally Calcarea Sulphurica 6x, was given every two hours. In another twenty-four hours there was no more pus, simple Calendula water irrigation only was employed and loose sterile gauze packing inserted. The remedy was continued for twelve hours longer at three hours* intervals and then stopped. Healing progressed rapidly, and within eleven days from the time of making the incision the abscess was fully healed. The patient's health has improved per- ceptibly since.
• This simple case is reported at length as an illustration of rational Hahnemannian practice. There are those ex- tremists who will balk at the use of Dioxogen or even Cal- endula and raise their voices in protest at any surgical in- terference whatsoever. To them we recommend one single dose of a long seige in bed, heroically waiting for an abscess
THE STUDY OF INSANITY. 549
to open spontaneously. One dose will be sufficiently con- vincing and will overcome the horror experienced at the sight of a keen, bright blade.
On the other hand, to those who are fettered by the conventional text-book methods of iodoform, carbolic acid, bichloride of mercury and the rest, this natural and Hahne- mannian way is recommended. The patient always, not his disease, is to be considered.
CHOLESTERINUM.
By Dr. W. A. Yingling, Emporia, Kan.
Aug. 15, 100:1. Mrs. S., age 60. Attacks with gall- stones, involving liver and region of the stomach. Spells come suddenly and stop suddenly. Pain is pushing in region of gall duct. Vomits much hot water, not sour and no odor. Very pale, then turned yellow. Last attacks were on the 5th and 12th. Stomach very sour since.
Rheumatic pains here and there, worse in damp, rainy weather. No appetite, food nauseates. Region of liver very tender and sore, sensitive to jar, < lying on sides.
Before the spells very profuse urine; scant and dark since.
Tongue coated dirty white, yellowish cast.
Heart gets very weak, can hardly feel pulse.
Very weak all the time, can't breathe deeply.
Cholesterine. Dmm (Swan) 6 p, 12 h. Aug. 26. Is ** lots better in every way." No rheumatism except in balls of heels and only there when it is raining. Is feeling fine and no complaint.
Following the medicine profuse discharge of red sand in urine, vessel covered with it at bottom.
Sep. 3. Grood deal better generally. Rheumatism troubles some since rainy weather, a little lameness in shoulders and under heels.
Urine has less sand. Has more ambition than in a long time.
Feb. 22, 1905. Side has been hurting and feeling full for a week, and had a gall stone colic today lasting about
550 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
five minutes, came suddenly. Nausea. Face flushed before attack, yellow afterward. Rheumatism better. Heart better. Headache less. Every few days feels fagged out.
Cholest. Dmm (Swan) 4 p, 12 h. Aug. 31. Not so well. Rheumatism better and worse. Some trouble in right side at times. Legs swell from knees down, worse about ankles. Sick feeling all over. Tired feeling. Very despondent. Pain in top of head. Heart bothers some.
Cholest. 2m (Y.) 4 p, 12 h. Sept. 20. '* Improved in every way, much better." Head much better.
By infrequent doses of Cholesterine this lady has gotten along nicely. The liver has given very little trouble, but the rheumatic pains here and there have required attention occasionally, especially in damp, rainy weather.
Mr. B. F., a«:e 64. Dec. 26, 1907. For three years has been passing gall stones. Has one that was passed, Vomita bile and becomes very yellow. Doctors can only use mor- phine in quantity which sickens and causes very bad after feeling so that he is away from his business for nearly a week. With one attack was in bed several weeks and took a long while after that to get over the bad effects. No\v the liver is very tender and sore; pressure in front or behind liver is very painful, especially in the region of the gall duct. Bending forward, any motion that jars side is painful. Is disqualified for his business.
Had ague badly in Wabash bottoms when young. Is a large man, portly.
Cholest. 2m <Y.) 8p, (3 p, 2 h) and 12 h. Same in water if bad attack.
Dec. 30— Was feeling better next morning. Side not so tender. Has had good rest. Very much encouraged.
January H, 190H. — Invoicing at store and has overdone. Light chill at about 7 p. m., with pain in side. Next day chill at 3 p. m., with pain in side. Dry cough, one or two coughs at a time. On the 7th at 10 p. m. had high fever, but has not felt as he did when having the gall-stone attacks.
Cholest. 2 m (Y.) 6 p. 1 daily.
CHOLESTERINUM. 55 1
January 21. Not feeling so well today as usual; can bardly keep around. The powders relieve the pain when bad. Complexion getting yellow, as it does before a bad spell.
Cholest. 4m (y) 12 p, 3 p, 2 h. and 24 h.
February 21 . * *Is a good deal better. " No pain to speak of. "Peeling quite well now."
Cholest. 4m, (y) 1 d and L.
March 2. "Entirely free from pain most of the time," but feels a tendency that way after a hard day's work, and tending the cash carriers, which causes reaching up. Thinks he is doing fine, much better than an operation which the old school doctors said must be done at once as the only hope.
March 27. ** Getting along nicely and is feeling like himself again."
April 13. A sudden attack of gall stones at 7 p. m. about two weeks ago. Cholest. 2m, (Y.) in water, a spoonful every 15 minutes controlled the pain and gave relief by the fourth dose, then got much better, rested all night and was able to be at the store the next morning, though somewhat weak and sore. Has been at the store each day since and doing well.
Cholest. 2m (Y.) for bad attacks only, or when worse. While this case is not cured yet everything points that way. In gall stone colic the patient suffers so greatly he cannot give his symptoms. In such a case, when I can't give a well- selected remedy, of late I rely on Cholesterine, and thus far it has never failed. This is one of the Swan remedies, and shows that he was right in his investigations. This remedy should have a proving. Till then it can be used instead of morphine in cases where the symptoms cannot be gotten for a proper selection of a remedy. Where a guess or routine is necessary, as it is sometimes, I believe the homeopathic guess should be given the preference. It is very improba- ble that a patient suffering from gall stone colic will wait very long for the physician to study the case.
552 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
CHRONIC APPENDICITIS.
By Rosalie S. de la Hautiere, M. D., Los Angeles, Cal.
Mr. M., Stock broker.
Complained of Repeated attacks of colic in appendicular region for three years. Had about decided to submit to the surgeon's knife for relief. His wife, who was cured of acute appedicitis some five years previous by me, consulted me about her husband's condition.
Visiting the patient in his office — because he was too busy to call on me — as I was stopping in Mill Valley, hav- ing left San Francisco after the calamity, to regain health and strength to continue my work. He said, '*so long as I remain quiet, avoid deep breathing, I am almost free from pain, but it is < by turning in bed, > at night during rest, and < in day time.
Oct. 12, 1906. Bryonia 20m.
Oct. 18. Improvement; less pain. Patient more hope ful. Continued treatment. Placebo.
Oct. 24. Improved. Placebo.
Nov. 3rd. Improvement. Placebo.
Nov. 6th. Placebo for two weeks.
Dec. 7. Restless, very tired and weary, < when quiet, > night, circumscribed redness of cheeks; teasing cough only at night; anxious about his condition. . Rhus did not afford the relief expected, and I gave Tub. erculinum 50m.
Dec. 43. General improvement. Placebo.
Jan. 9th, 1907, Voice lost; busy season, requiring much straining of vocal chords; almost a paralyzed condition of throat. Rhus cm.
Phoned me, *'That medicine fixed me, feeling fine."
Jan. 20. Tired, weary, < by motion, > perfect quiet. Bryonia 20 m.
Patient well ever since. Saw him May 5th, 1908, has had no return of pain in appendix. He looks well and is gaining in weight.
The Medical Advance
A Monthly Journal of Hahnemannian Homeopathy A Study of Methods and Results.
When we have to do with an art whose end Is the saving of human life any ne?lect to make ourselves thorough masters of It becomes a crime,— Hahnemann,
Subscription Price .... Two Dollars a Year
We believe that Homeopathy, well understood and faithfully practiced, has power to «ave more lives and relieve more pain than any other method of treat- ment ever Invented or discovered by man; but to he a flrht-class homeopathlo pre- scrlber requires careful study of both patient and remedy. Yet by patient care It can be made a little plainer and easier tl.an it now is. To explain and deBne and In all practical ways simplify It Is cur closen \^ork. in this good work we ask your help.
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AUGUST, 1908.
EMtortaU
BACK TO THE HOMEOPATHY OF HAHNEMANN.
Backward, turn bickward, O Time in your flightl And make me a homeopath, just for tonl^jhtl
This was the under current and upper current of en thusiasm at the Kansas City meeting of the Institute, the chief topic of conversation and discussion and by far the most notable event of this entliusiastic meeting. Prom the clarion note for Homeopatliy sounded by President Cope- land, in his annual address, to the close of the session, in nearly every paper on Therapeutics and in tn'ery discus- sion, Back to Homeopathy was the ins[)iring topic of many of the bureaus. This sentiment was accentuated when over SoOOO was contributed for an active proi)Ogaiidism of Homeo- pathy in every State in the Union.
554 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Every great reform— medical, moral, political— in the history of the race, has been followed by a period of reto- gre^sion, when its active agressive work ceased. The homeopathic profession for the last two decades has seemed to think the battle won, the victory secure; that there was nothing to do but cease rowing and float with the current of popular praise; to reap the harvest sown in the desperate battle for principle, by the pioneers; to cease study, to lapse into empiricism and become scientific? But when the people see that the results are not what they formerly were; that it is difficult to distinguish the homeopath from any other "path'' by his practice; that quinine, morphine, ca- thartics, tonics, patent medicines and proprietary remedies, with the popular combination iablet are indiscriminately used by the professed homeopath, is it any wonder the "dear people" who pay the bills are unable to distinguish the true from the spurious.
One of the ablest correspondents of this magazine writ- ing of the Kansas City meeting and the attempt made to inspire our school, to renew the enthusiasm of old, says: '*I am glad our school is awakening to the fact that we should talk about the good work of Homeopathy '*to the fact that the old fellows have quit preaching; too many loose profes- sors in our colleges; too many boy professors; and a general lack of loyalty on the part of most journals. Note an arti- cle in the last Cp:ntuky on Glyco Phymoline."
There is do doubt our colleges and journals are far from being perfect. Their faculties and editors might be greatly improved; but what are the members of the pro- fession doing to help fill our depleting ranks? What are you doing to help fill the college classes? How many stu- dents have you sent to a homeopathic college in the last ten years? How many have you sent to an allopathic college because the homeopathic did not come up to your standard. The teaching of our colleges is on the borderladd of allo- pathy—savors strongly of empiricism — but that does not absolve you of your duty. There are other colleges. If you and your colleagues would contribute 10 students from
EDITORIAL. 555
every state this year, and it can easily be done with one tenth the labor each man who fijls a chair in college is com- pelled to do, what a record it would make for the future.
When the homeopath abandons the tenets of his science in theory or practice, when he treats his diagnosis and over- looks his patient in an effort to become as scientific (?) as his allopathic colleague, for him the death knell of home- opathy has been sounded. All that remains for him to do to become scientific (?) is to become a member of his regular (?) County Medical Society and subscribe for the journal of A. M. A. And for this mess of pottage what does he gain? The late President of the American Medical Association said in his presidential address: "This country is already, overcrowded with colleges, and 2000 more students are hur- ried out every year than can find places in which they can practice medicine with the prospect of gaining even a liv- ing." Of course the object then is to discourage the study of medicine by raising the standard of entry requirements, increasing the expense and time of study, and curtail the number of graduates in every way possible.
While this may be true of other schools of pracrice, the reverse is equally true of the homeopathic, There are more than 2000 good localitions ever year where a lucrative prac- tice may be had — many of them with a practice made and and waiting for the man — more than our colleges can fill. Yet a few homeopathic physicians ever think of calling the attention of well qualified young men and women to this fact. Verily! the harvest is ripe, but the reapers are few. There is no profession today which promises a more re- numerative return for their money and labor expended than the homeopathic and no one in which greater good to hu- manity may be accomplished.
THE STUDY OF INSANITY.
The Sanitary Commission of New York is about to undertake a thorough and systematic study of Mental Affec- tions. It is to be begun by the erection of observation hospitals, as it is now done in Germany, where persons who
556 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
are threatened with insanity may have a careful examina- tion by experts, and the necessary preliminary treatment, it being the intention of the commission, if this trial be success- ful, to inaugurate a general system of laboratories for the cure of the insane throughout the country. The first is to be established at Poughkeepsie. The system has already been tried on a smaller scale at one or two places in this country, but the New York plan is a state affair and there- fore assumes a relative importance.
One of the first efforts will be to provide a method of discovering and keeping cranks out of the general hospital, for it is a great temptation, apparently, to some people, to obtain a free boarding house at the expese of the state, even in a hospital for the suspected insane.
One of the marked features of the recent convention of the American Medical Association in Chicago was the great stress made by many writers and speakers upon the pre- vention, going back to the old adage that prevention is worth more than cure. It is upon this that the new scheme is based, and if the powers will only go to the bottom of the cause, a revolutionary work in the treatment of mental diseases may be the result.
The first subject to investigate should be the prevalent system of drugging which the profession has inaugurat- ed, the deleterious effects of which are almost universal. If quinine, chloral, morphine, opium, hashish, cocaine, narcotic and alcoholic stimulants, the coal tar products, patent medi- cines and all palliative methods of treating disease could be prohibited, the efforts of the Sanitary commission would be crowned with success.
Some years ago a statement was made in a public ad- dres> by the snp(M intendent of an insane asylum, that it was his opinion —based upon an extended experience of over thirty y(nu"s if the i)opular use of quinine could be abolished, one third of our present insane asylums could be dispensed with; ailments due to the disastrous effect of the suppression of (lis(nise by (juinine and other similar drugs; and if this statement is true, here is where to begin the successful
EDITORIAL. 557
hospital treatment of insanity. If there be a right or a wrong way to treat insanity, or any other disease, by medicinal agents of any kind, our friends of the dominant school are nearly certain to be found on the wrong side, and to drug suppression of both acute and chronic affections is largely due the majority of cases of mental diseases. Strike at the fountain head and remove the cause first, the effect must necessarily cease.
The gift of Henry Phipps to the Johns Hopkins Hospital of more than half a million dollars for work along these same lines will help greatly to forward the proposed system of hospital treatment. There will be a perfectly equipped building, a medical and nursing staff, where every facility for scientific investigation of mental affections may be made by chemical, pathological and psychological methods. This endowment added to the present splendid equipment of the Baltimore hospital marks anothei: advance in the treatment of the insane; but we venture the opinion, that the scientific investigation made at Baltimore, will largely omit the drug question and other palliative and suppressing effects from the list of causes.
THE FAMILY CASE.
Domestic prescribing and family medicine cases should not be encouraged, for the reason that frequent resort to Aconite, Belladonna, Nux vomica, Mercurius and other com- mon remedies in potencies, from the Brd to the BO, render an individual less susceptible to all medicines. Frequent or repeated exposure to any foreign influence renders the sys- tem less susceptible to such influences. We once knew a clerk in a homeopathic pharmacy who formed the foolish habit of tasting each medicine that he handled in the course of his daily business. His system was thus exposed to the effect of an indefinite number of drugs in strength ranging from the mother tincture to the millionth for a number of years.
This man, when sick, seemed to be absolutely immune to the effect of needed medicines. We have prescribed Arsenic, Xux vomica, Cactus, Allium cepa, Phosphorous and Glonoin
55S THl'l MKDICAL ADVANCE:.
fur him on fiilff.'rf?iit oceasions, on well marked indications, withtmt any m^immut efffect. It is our experience* that the f*elf-(losL4's an; the liardest peoi)h» to cure, and when they do etjnie tt> a physictao. tlm.v iiave tjjenerally tried from throe to tiight mt*dieiiifif^ fli-Ki, with the result of so tan<;hn^ up tlieir «ynj[»u^rns thut a Phihulolphia hiwyer, or tlie devil hims(»lf. eouid not ^fnitKhten rht*in out.
We hitVf! ihin eonfirtiiatory exi)(M"ii'nc(^ to olYer. The
qniclri^Nt and njnnt HHatinfactory cur(\s, in l)Oth extreiiii^ly
dHri^en>ni^ aiid auute aigie-s, and in vi:ry chronic ones, have
htvn timonir tho Polish ivsi-dents of Chica.uo. peoi)l(' who
nnvi^r liejinl uf Homeopntliy or took a houjcoi)athic renu'ily
^ m their lifi?,
r . Il l« nuimi(2 tlio»e people. i;jcnorant, without imagination,
J lind without Cnith, ihal a few dosi's of the homeoi^athic
|. n^mvdy have wroujxhL ma^acles such as ai*e nm-er seen in
k fMiulu*ii whf^re, atiiveiy i*l!Kht aihn^mt.tliey l\y to Aconite or
p 'Bijlladotina or Mt*reurius, as th(* nK)mentary whim may
dur ermine
^ . KNOTERIC HOMEOPATHY:
Tliere sieenis to be suoh a tiling as esoteric Homeopatliy. If not, why Jm il that eortain students in a class " catch on "
,- iliiU-kly To true Ii(iiiieu[nil1iic prescribing and never do]^art
fniiii It, while rertahi olhers, with equal or better mental
^ fii4*illlles< iu tfL^neriih ennnol leni-n it. ncner l(Mrn it: you may
br-uy 'lieiii a mortar, but that art cannot be pounded in, they n»*iy be iiruii^lM np by i" homeopathic lather, and preceptor i}t tlve hi*-»r qmtUty, iMit that sc^cret cannot be imparted to Ujeui. Such imliviiluali^ practice medicine for years, under th^'' hruvnerof HotneuiPittUy, and never know they have not gnl 11- HuTr ate ;i Vi'ty frrcnit 'many instances of this which fh** Holy l^ln^;»ll rufbohc Chur(!h would call *' Invincible IgnoinilC*/'
(M'K HUMKUPATHIC TEACHINW.
OiN- e-*tee(ia"d eojUeuq^orary tlie Iowa Journal, calls us to i3ifitH*lim lor ptdjlisbii^u the following letter by Dr. Fitz
EDITORIAL. 559
Mathew, of West Sound, Washington, as tendinis: to brin^
the homeopathic school into disrepute:
Personally I care not what a man's })raetico is if Le be lionost and consisttnit. If I f )nnd anj systeni of treatment ^ivinp: better results than liomeopathy I woidd ado])t it It would bo right that [ HbouUl tU) so; but thenMionesty woubl dieiate that I cease to call myseU a homeo- path, and enJ my afliliation with a homeopathic society. We res])ect onr b'arned brethern on tlie o))i)osite b«mches who differ from us. Wo. can forgive their ])ersecation in the ])ast and present in a modified form. \Ve know that from time to time some of tliem will get tlie light of truth and become a ])illar (jf strength in our ranks; ])ut we can h'lvi no lopect for the pretender, and we sliould show no considetution for the voidorof Hj.nrioiis Homecjpathy.
Tlie editor says, ''if nieuiciiie wovo an exact science and Homeopathy the only nu'thod of cure, we \v(rald have a rij^d^t to mjike such stateuuMits." TI- fnrtlier says, *'vv(* hop** and t!-ust that in due cours(» of tiino th(^ correct siiniliinnm willl>e found for every d;<v^nsed condition."
There are nran\ nnvliods of rure, but only one law, and that the law of similars, and our cuut*Mn])orary should dis- tinguish between metliod and law. As ^\Kn\ as th*:'re <»re other laws of cure discovei-ed, like Dr. Fitz Mathew we sh<dl be very glad to investi<2:att\ and if they o-ivc^ hotter j'esalts than the law of similars we should adopt them. "A (\<^^s.} uT castor oil to free the intestinal canal of indi;_restn)le food" is mercdy a mechanical adjunct lilcc* the sui\i::ieal rt lief t)f a pathological effect. It is not a method of eure, it is pr:ictical mecdianics applied to lueclumical c.-onditioiis. and no true homeopath has evc^r.objecttHl to meclianical mi'ansto r*dieve mechanical conditions. Mahnemann ex])heitly instiau-ts us in footnote to ^7 to remove all maintaininjj," or exciting' causes as one of the primary indications out* of the first duties of the pliysician— in the treatment of the si -Iv.
We suggest, at the risk of being considered " ov^r zeal- ous in the cause of Homeo]rat]iy." that our editorial col- league remove the mote from his own <\ve before lu* attempts to correct our shortsighti'dn(--s. l'\)i' instancr', in his Aug- ust issue, on "The Treatment of llay Fever," we tind tlie following:
Have a quantitv of Do'otllN ^olnliun iiiude up arcv>,tlin^' to lie* I'd
580 THE MEDICAL ADVi^NCE.
lowiDg formula: ?oda bicarb, one and one-half ounces; soda borate, one aad one-half ounces; carbolic acid, one-half ounce; glycerine, two oiincea; rose water, q. s. one pint. For use this solution should be dilated bj adding one teaspoonful to the ounce of water.
If liny of our allopathic journals have anything more
unhomeopathic than this we have failed to find it.
HOME.
By Grace G. Bostwick. You in ay talk about apartments or the finest kind of flat; And tell about your grand hotels — the swellest ones at that; You may rave about a mansion or a villa in far Rome; But ril go you one still better yet — and that's my home.
The dearest wife that ever lived, and still a bride by jing! Her hair is getting gray; but sayl you ought to hear her
singi When si 10 puts the kids to bed at night, she murmurs soft
and low Those dear old tunes our mother sang years and years ago.
And vfhvn the babies, tired out, are off to By low land, She kisses 'em and tucks 'em in with tender mother hand, And then we sit together there and talk awhile and dream, A'bujKiirg castles in the air in the firelight's dancing gleam.
The kin^^ may have his palaces— no envy stings my heart; (irant hiin all his soul desires — I have still the better part. Ah! give the rich their mansions tine where'er they chance
to roam, But for me my little cottage neat — 'tis home, sweet home!
COMMENT AND CRITICISM. ^ 561
COMMENT AND CRITICISM.
Editor Medical Advance: In The Critiguey {August, 1908, p. 277) the editor pretends to defend Dr. James Tyler Kent against a so-called ''incivility," in the form of a *'crit' icism of his contributions upon Materia Medica," which oc- curred at the recent meeting of the I. H. A., held in Chicago. A question was asked by a member, after reading of Dr. Hoi loway's paper, as to the combination remedies now being published in the Critique, and we think it legitimate.
Here is the quotation:
Tbo testing of each iDdividnal drug on the healthy human subject, precludes the use of more than one medicine at the same time, unless the additional drugs forming a compound were tested on the healthy in i\iQ identical compound form. The reasons for this is not based on mere arbitrary objections, but a scientific truth, viz. : that no two med- icines when tested together, can possibly be equivalent to the sum of their pathogeneses when tested separately. To illufctrate: we have tested sulphur and carbonate of lime in combination under the name of Hepar Surphuris Calcareum. The pathogenesis is not identical with that of Sulphur, nor that of Calcarea, nor the sum of the two. Nor can we, in case we find an image of sickness similar to the proving of Hepar Snlphur, cure the patient by putting Sulphur and ("alcarea into one glass, nor by administering them in rapid alternation. Each drug has a distinct individuality ; and two or more drugs cannot have one individ- uality and thus become one medicine and the similimum for a given sickness, unlea potentized together. JSo two medicines can become one medicine by any other process known to man
On careful reading this defense seems more uncivil to Dr. Kent than the original criticism. The editor shows that Dr. Kent has been a careful student of, and a very success- ful writer and lecturer upon the materia medica as presented by Hahnemann, Hering, Lippe and the other great lights. Furthermore, he says '*that they [Dr. Kent's letters on Ma- teria Medica, published in '*The Critique"] are popular and considered reliable needs no greater proof than the very large increase in our subscription list during the past year." Curiously enough, I do *'need greater proof." I want to know who the provers are; what potencies were used; how often the doses were taken; and how they were prepared,
oGi! THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
for some of these remedies are not mentioned in the latest Pharmacopea.
If the 'symptomatoloj^y of these remedies, e. g., alum- ina silieata, kali silicatum, calearea silicata, etc., etc., is reli- able, lot the day books of the provers be published and then report cases of clinical v(?ritication. Then we may know that in prescribing them we are not working empirically. With these published we should not need to be reminded that '*Dr. Kent's reputation is not contined to Chicago and Cook county, llhnois.*' Dr. Kent has done some splendid work for our school, but he must furnish his day-books and names of provers of these double-ht^aded remedies before they will iTe acceiKHl as genuine.
These "criticisuis'* are not at all likely to injure Dr. Kent, "The Criticiue," or tht^ cause of homeopathic materia medica." Tliat is the (m(^ ^I'cat truth in this able defense! Honest crilirism will not only "not injure Dr. Kent, 'The Criticjue/ (u- the cause of honn'opathic materia medica," but will ])urify IIkmji all, Iv^t'p them honei^t. and true to the staii (lai'ds St t hy llahuemann. Honest criticism is always help ful, and if it hurts that is a sure sign that it is homeopathic to 1 lie ('<'^^e.
11' th< St' ciitiri^iiis are not well foun<led it will 'be an easy uiattiT ioj- ^)r. U'er.t to i)nl)l!.sh the day hooks of thei>rovers. 'J'his will sjh'ivt' all ci-Uici^in and place his work beyond ()U*'sti()n. ll'tlit^ critirlsiiis ai'i^true, I an] reminded of my pi'olV^sor <'i spi'iinry, who rut iiis own finger when holdin«^ an a^jtopsy, ai^l .'XclaiiinMl. "CJriitlemen, it is surprising how c:\ Th'NS a man will h<\'Oin(' when he gets to be expert at anyti:'n<j:." To say: "It is liardly to be supposed that a man of t!!<* :iMl'iy and M'-tnirr-'nc*^ of Dr. Kent would attach his naiTiV to any n.aT'T/' i;n ddr-j titpie unless Ik? has tirst i^iven tlio iN'in -dv a t !ii'i'Mi)--h iM'o\-ing," is simply b(^gging th.e (jii'wt ion, ^Vtio a"t* th*' ]n'o\tM'sy
Wldit' I lia'.'i' n'^cr h;td tin* jdeasure of seeing Dr. Kent. nor of khowin'.:: Ins i;i*'tliods y^'t to my njind weight is lent totlust^ criticisms by lla' fact that his writings appear in Til'- Crifii;<i<\ This led me to oxp(^et close adherence to the
COMMENT AND CRITICISM. 568
law, similia similibus curantur, aud to the single remedy. Imagine, then, my astonil^ment at reading the following among the ''Reading Notices of Interest to Everybody'':
"XocTURXAT. Incontinence OF UuiNE in Children. — Add eight drops of belladonna and eight drops of tinct. nux vomica to eight ounces of sanmetto. Of this one-half to one teaspoonful is given before each meal and at bedtime."
This prescription is so placed in the magazine as appar- ently to bear editorial endorsement. Similarly placed in this issue of The Crifujiie are four other favorable comments on sanmetto, one on antikamnia, and over a page on peptoman- gan ((jude). In the advertising pages sametto is shown to be **a scientific blending of true santal and .saw ])ahnetto, with soothing denmlconts in a pleasant aromatic vehicle." "Scientitic home()])athic mcHliciney"
We are asked to b(4i(»ve that Dr- Kent's writings are based on provings. and yet tl^^v ar(* allowed to appear month after month in company witli these other dainty l)its of "sci- entific homeopathic medicine*." Christian Scitmce is said to be so named because it is neither Christian nor sc.itnitilic Verily, in the langnaire^ of tht* venerable Smil(\v, ''The high- est truth and the profouiKlest ei*i'or arc^ oftim bculfellows.''
s. s. c.
OSTKOPATHS ARE PAYSK lANS.
Within 1iu.» iDcaniuij: o*' tiie law, who is a physicinn'r Re- cently this (|Ues*ion l:as nc* n imswert'd by .Iiistie** Dirivey of th<.* Su{)r(MiU' C(>;]i-| : in Mu' fas«^» of a wcIM^hoavh !>i\)M]\lyn ostet^path who :i|);)}i< (1 U^r a pcr'Mni)t()ry writ o^" :'::!nJ;uii'is to eoii'pel the [[( a!th I) p-rtin'-nt \n a"e(*;>t ti dr-oh cn'titi- Cite iss'U^d l)y him. T\v d ';)irt nieiit li;ul rerit^-e'I tf) eo this on tin* ground tlnit M ■» o^tcnp-Mi v;;is iiot a p:.y--i'-j;ih, .uui th'UV'l'or Mio^ (^lUit l*'iM() 111*.' the e'r:!{''at(* a"<-''ot"a. sceh acc.^ptance Ix'ing by ];''v niMtic aMi)li('a!)lo to ph\ "-i.-'ims only. In his d'K'isiou the jii-^ti;-,. ,j, Pitt's as foUuws from <'ii:i])t-"r :]U of the Laws of l.'o':
A person pr:u!M<',,>- 'p«' .\ '\u*\ w''\\\^\ t^t' -.mm' inj of Mi'^ .i-*, ••\''t-]>t
564 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
treat, operate or presoribe for any human disease, pain, injury, deform- ity or physical condition, or who shall^ither oflPer or undertake by any means or method to diagnose, treat, operate or prescribe for any human disease, pain, injury, deformity or physical condition.
He then gives it as his opinion that **the lawmakers in- tended to make, and do make, osteopaths practitioners of medicine," immediately adding, **and also make them physi- cians, because Subdivision 8 of Section 1 of this act says that a physician means a practitioner of medicine," '*So it is clear," he says, ''to my mind that osteopaths are physicians, . . . and except for restrictions put upon them by Chapter 344 of the Laws of 1905, prohibiting them from administer- ing drugs and performing surgery with the use of instru- ments, they are entitled to all the rights and subject to all the privileges of other physicians." Can receive money from patients, that is, cure them of their ills where practic- able, and in other cases issue them lawful death certificates, receivable by the Board of Health. — Harpers Weekly.
CHOLERA INFANTUM.
A clergyman writes to the Homccpathic Envoy: In the July number, on page 35, from Neio York Medical Journal, I read: ''Victims of cholera infantum have seemed to take a new lease of life on being allowed to chew bacon." A member of my church told me when her son was a baby he had cholera infantum and was given up by the "regular" doctors. So she telegraphed her husband and he started home, feeling badly to think he must lose his child. On the train an old friend met him and asked concerning his dejected look, and he explained. His answer was to cheer up, he could tell him something that would cure the child. "Go home," said he, "and tell your wife to boil an ear of sweet corn and scrape out some of the juice and corn and give it that." When the mother heardjof the remedy she was horrified, for if anything, she thought, would kill a child with cholera infantum it would be green corn. But as the doctors said he must die, and as his friend had told him he had cured his own child and knew of several others that
COMPULSORY VACCINATION OF INFANTS. 565
had been cured by it, she gave it, and she told me that the child began to improve immediately. On relating this to a lady, she told me she bad a friend who always used the juice of a green cucumber. Now, if this is not ^^similia similibtis curantur,'' I don't know what is.
COMPULSORY TACCINATION OF INFANTS.
The Commonwealth of Massachussets. In the year 1908. An act relative to the vaccination of infants.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- tives in general court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Section 1. Section one hundred and thirty-six of chapter seventy five of the revised laws, relative to the vaccination of children under two years of age, is hereby repealed.
Section 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage.
Approved by Eben S. Draper, Lieutenent Governor, Acting Governor, April 1, 1908.
Thus compulsory vaccination of children passes away in the State of Massachussets.— il/edicaZ Talk.
To the Editor of the Medical Advance.
Will you please inform your readers that the omission of the name of the Homeopathic Medical College of the Uni- versity of Minnesota, at Minneapolis, from the Annual Announcement and Program of the American Institute of Homeopathy was an accident discovered too late for correc- tion. Diligent search thus far has not disclosed how this error oi omission occurred. It was an unusually unfortunate mistake and no one regrets it more sincerely than
Yours very truly,
Frank Kraft, M. D.,
Cleveland, June 10, 1908. Secretary A. I. H.
560 . THE MEDICAL ADVA^X^E.
IN MEMORIAM.
FRANK KRAFT, M. D., editor of the Auu^riran Plnj-^^i- c/rA7^ and secretary of the American Institute, died in St. Louis, Mo., July ll)th. For the last two sessions of the American Institute, Jamestown and Kansas City, he has appeared in an invalid's chair, accompanied by his wife or daughters, suffering from paraplegia, the result of an un- fortunate fall three years ago. yet, notwithstanding his disa- bilities, as cheerful and witty and as hard a worker as ever, one of the most active and useful members of the Institute- At Kansas City he appeared as well as usual, although his duties seemed to be more* difficult, not so easily man- aged; but at the close of. the meeting, when the members had gone and the work really finishe(;l, his daughter ob- served that he began to 1k» vt^ry tired and showed si^ns of rai)idly breaking down. With his old(\st daughter he in- tended to spend a month with .his brother in St. Louis. When h(^ reached that city he was quite ill, but it was sup- posc^d to be from th(» (excitement and overwork of the ses- sion and that a few days rest and (juiet -would soon restore his wonted vigor, Y^^t. notwithstanding all the care that could bv bestowed on him, his ]^(u-sistent optimism \vas so ])ronoiinced, tliat no one n^alized that it was his last sick- ness; that he was iH-ai-iriic the (Mid of liis active professional cariM'f.
\)r. Kraft was boiai in Cin'annat], Ohio, Januai'y ^, 1^51; obi a ill* 'd ]iis (Mhication in tin* ]:)ublic schools and" went into gciKM'al l)usin('>s. In l^Tf) Ik* })OLran tlie study of law, but (lid not coni])l('to lijs (m)!!!'^^' In X'^^V) he graduat(Hl from the Honio!)palhir M.-ln-il (^)]h\^l\ of Missouri, in'acticod a sliort tiin*» in S^-. Louis, jtnd t'uMi removc'd to Ann Harbor, Miv'hi.Lcan, wli-'i-f h*^ w;-;^ associate editor of the JfrfffCfr/ jff- rtt/'Cf tor s(an(* tiiiu\ An « :iiau:st call for a physician, in Sylvan iii, Ohio, s(*\'ci\(t liis i'ditorial connection, and ho re- moved to that toWTi in 1^^;), \nAn<^ called to Cleveland six)n nftor to assiuno tl-o ])i'of*'ssorsirii) of Materia Mt^lica in the Olovehmd lioniooi)athLc Colh^ge. He held this position
v^M7
IN MEMORIAM. 567
until l'^96, in the meantime becoming editor of the American Physician.
He was one of the most energetic writers in the homeo- pathic school; in fact, the American Physician, under his editorial management, was more nearly a one man journal than any other homeopathic publication, and that one man one of the most aggressive and persistent defenders of Homeoi^athy. In his death the American Institute has lost one of its most efficient officers, and the homeopathic pro- fession one of its virile, energetic wideawake and ablest men. Every member of the American Institute or of the homeopathic pi'ofession, whoever met him, admired and loved him, for his was a charming personality. Farewell, Kraft, thy labors are ended.
He was buried under Masonic rites, conducted by the Occidental Blue Lodge of St. Louis, escorted by the Asca- l3n Commandery, K. T. The following tribute was paid him by his life-long friend and teacher. Dr. James A. Campbell, of St. Louis:
FrieDds, we are asseinbhM] here to ])ay tribul*^ of lovo mid respect to our fj'iend and coliea^jriie, Dr. Frank Kraft. To mourn witii those who m )Urn and grieve witli tlios ; wlio ^^i-ieve. ovei- the j)[is>in^'" of this lovable and brilUant> man, who-e who'.; life \vas full of \v<>rk: so full o proirii.se. .-^o fu J of siu'(^^-.s in the ilu'eof ion-? in which he laboi-ed so manful ly and >o t^lrtmuously.
AVe may indeed, with truth, say, tliiit here Iie^. an()th''r victim of the inr^atiai^le demands luatlt* by t'te world uuou th )-3e wno CAX and Wir^L.. Sarely, no belt -r exainple of ability, eua^ 'b'.-,^. unr jleutitiir in- dustry has «ver eotu*_* bet'or.- us. We who have ku )wn him fi-oiii his boyhood divs. can hear testimony lothis.
When three years u<r<), he met with the accident which resulted in paT*a]ysi.>^ of his lower limbs, it \va-> t h )ULr!it by som •. that his days of u^efulntjss were jj^one. In ]>hy^ieal heipit^-su<'ss, in con^iiiQt ])aiu and An meutul anguish, dreaiin;^- a p i^^ihle iritert'ereiice with hi.-^ f)]an^ and his work, he fou^hr on. --e MiiiuL'', v. wiMj aild-d z^^al. Au \ the amount of woi'k he accomplished siucr tlhMi. iti >|)it(^<)r this terrib,.- calauiity, ha** bef^n simply oii-'nom.-.uai i-' >r tti ' ]a>t two years, It- lias b-eu see- rotary of th* Ametdcan Institute ol Houifopathy. etiitinjr and ar- ranjri"^ the annual issue «tt its pfnceediui^s. wliiidi la-L year alone, was a book of llVo p i;»'i'^. Th.uiv o: tie- en orui )us work, the cot'i'rsp )tid- oDce aijd interview? \\ ith the i^auy in;ei'f-i< d in it. 1du'r<_^ it ^tanlls, a splendid monument to his in su-My ami lii.^ ^-.-uius.
568 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE
But this was not all; at the same tirne and for many years, he was Editor of the "American Physician," one of our best medical journals; and, Dr. Kraft^s editorials were always unique, brilliant, spicy and un. equalled in their way. More than this, wonderful to relate, it was only three days ago that I reoeifed notice from the publishers, of a new book, on a most interesting^ topic, by Dr. Kraft. Think of these re- markable evidences of intellect, industry and toil, under th3 most ad- verse circumstances.
Xbat he has worn his poor body into dissolution and destruction, who can doubt; but» after all, is it not better to fall on the ramparts. In the fore-front, with flag in hand and with the shout of victory in the air, than to be a forgotten, contempted skulker in the rear; to wear oat in good works, than to rust out in oblivion. Ob, my friends, what an example for emulation, for us to do our best while we can; surely.
The lives of all great men remind us We can make our lives sublime; And, departing, leave behind us, Foot prints on the sands of time.
The sadness of such an event lies largely m the sudden breaking of the loving and friendly ties of near association. All of us feel this, feel saddened over the thought that never again shall we take his friendly hand or hear his cheery voice. But it is the snapping of those nearer and dearer ties, that make the saddest and most discordant notes; and, our hearts go out in deep sympathy for the dear ones whom he loved so fondly and for whom he labored so willingly. And yet, friends, when we think of his trials, his pain and anguish, which could not be ended in any other way, can they, or we, not truly, rejoice to know that to him has at last come peace and rest, which was the only relief and solution of the problem for him. A few da>s after his return from Kansas City I saw him prostrated and helpless, in pain, unable to sleep and ex> hausted, and yet, not a word of complaint fell from his lips. He was cheery and bright, full of his old time wit. And when I last saw him, only a few hours before his f»*etted spirit left bis tortured frame, he could not speak; but as I took bis hand, his lips moved, but without sound; and gasping for a few more breaths of earth *s pure air, be looked at me through trembling lids, not with eyes of fear, but with a brave, soft glance of friendship; and, as he pressed my hand, I knew that his baiile was nearly over, and that peace and rest would soon be his: Brave to the last.
There is no death: what seems so is transition:
This life of mortal breath,
Ts but a suburb of the life elysian,
Whose portal we call death.
One less at home:
NEW PUBLICATIONS. 569
A sense of loss that meets us at the gate, • With Id, a place unfilled and desolate; And far away, our coming to await,
One more in Heaven,
One more at home, That home where separation cannot be, That home where none is missed, eternally.
NEW PUBLICATIONS. A CLIMICAL MATERIA MEDICA. A com se of lectures delivered at Hahnemann Medical College, Philadelphia, by the late E. A. Far- ring ton, M. D. Reported phongraphically by Clarence Barrett ME. I>. With a memorial sketch of the author by Aug. Korndcerfer M- I>. Fourth edition, revised and enlarged by Harvey Farrington, M. r>. 826 pages. 8 vo. Cloth $6.90 net. Half morocco, $7.00 net. HoBtage, 40 cents. Philadelphia and Chicago. Boericke & Tafel 1908
Thke popularity of this work is measured by its usefulness, l>y title aid it has rendered the practitioner, by the good it has dorte, and all these factors are emphasized in a call for a fourth, edition. Wherever Homeopathy is known, Farring- •ton's Clinical Materia Medica has become a handbook. It has l3een translated into the German and Spanish languages, aiiid. probably will be seen soon in native Bengalese, for our India homeopaths are especially fond of it.
It is scarcely possible that the charm in expression of ttie author could be completely preserved, for this volume is largely the work of a stenographer," yet the essentials, the characacteristics of the great teacher, have been preserved. In this revision over forty pages of new matter have been added, including a complete lecture on Natrum Arsenicatum, from the original manuscript, notes and articles from current literature, by the author.
It is a most fortunate occurrence for the profession that this able son of this great teacher has been able to so com- pletely revise the work and append new matter not found in former editions. Dr. Harvey Farrington, himself an able teacher of Materia Medica, assisted by his brother. Dr. Ernest A. Farrington, have seen the work through the press. This.
n
570 THK MEDICAL ADVANCE.
edition contains a memorial sketch by a student and col- league, Dr. Aug. Korndcerfer of Philad(^li)lna. Herinj? him- self was very proud of Dr. Farrington's attainments and appreciated his great abihty as a teacher and writer, for he frequently said, " When I am gone* Farrington must tinish my Materia Medica." This memorial sketch adds very iimch to the inter(\st of the work, for it (»nahlcs the student to be- come better aquainted with one of the greatest teachers of Materia Mcnlica that has ever grac(Hl an American rostrum. Next to Dunam's lectures, tliis is the most lielpful and inter- esting, and contains tlu^ l)e.st couiparisons of any siiiiila'.* work our school has i)ro(.hu'ed. We heartily commend it to the student of tlu^ homeopathic Ahit(»]-ia Minlica.
UElilONAL LKADEllS. By K. 13. NasU, M D . uutlior of " L,*adtra in ll(>in< opHtliir Therai^eutics." " Lt-adcrs in Typb.atl," * Leaders in tht' Tse of Sulphur, ' aiul " !iow to Take the Case. "" Seeoud <'dirion. lli'vist d aud enlarfr<*(l. .*)!.'') pnp»'S. l''lexibh» leather, $1 .*)«> net. Post- a^^e. 7 ct'ntH Pliiladelphia. Hoericko & Tafel. P.MK.
The call for a sinnrnd edition of another work on Key- noters, (mabling the studimt i)y a method of self-quizzinj^ to master th(^ salient featurt^s of tlu^ Materia Medica, is very encouraging. TluMiuthor informs us that he has added -IT) symptoms, thus nuikinga total of 1^,(^)0 in the present edition, and all who essay to master the Matc^ria Medica will not find them any too many. Of course* it means memorizing work: but every studi'Ut has to memorize Anatomy and Chen:iistry then why not ^hitcM'ia Medica, the crowning glory of tlie houHH)pti1hic system. Tht^ first symptom in the book is: * 'Ail- ments after continued uumtal labor: Nux Vomica."
Hefe is anotlun- very similar .symptom with which it may be conii)are(l: *' Ailments or aggravations from any exhaust* ing, long continu(Ml mental lal)or: ' Argentum Nitricuin.*"
And so w(^ keep continually adding to the Keynotes or charaetiM'istics tirst givi^n us by Hahnemann, Hering, Lippe and (juerns(\v. In this way our Materia Medica is made more completes more heli)ful and more easily mastered.
' NEW PUBLICATIONS. 571
WHOOPING-COUGH CURKLi WITH COQUKLrCHIN. Its [lomeo-
^patliic Nosode. By John H. Clarke, M. D. HO paj^us. Cloth, 2s.
net. P<)8tage, extra ( America and Canada, 54 cents, post free).
Tlie llomeopathio Publishing Co., 12 Warwick Lane, London, K.C.
Tlie tirst edition of this work appeared about two years '<\<i;o uiaclor the name i)f Pertussin, when it was suimnarily supi>re?>.so(l. A lirm of German pharmacists had ^i\ en to a ))roprietary article of their own the sanu* nauH% and succeed- ed in. oV>tainin<^ rej.?istration in Enj^land throuj^rh tlu^ inexcus- able carelessness of ol^.cial aulliority. It would have b(*en exl)(Ml^sive to t(^st the maltrr, and llu.' puhhsliei-s decided to withdraw the unsold coj)ies froui circulation. In tlu^ stdection of tliiK iiaiue, the author tells us, he had ad()i)tiMl the sui>-jjces- tioii of Jyv. Maiv Jouss(,^t of Paris and named it Cotimduchin, AvhicLi i^s the French for whoopin^-c^outj^li.
"^Plie author informs us that many additions have been made, the number of clinical casc.^^ doui)led, and that others b^^side?^ himself have used tho reuicnly succ<\ssfully," amon^ theiii l>r. Anton Xeb<d of Pasle, Swilzi^rland, so tliat practi- cally this is the second edition of Pertussin.
I^ike nuiny of our houicopathk* nuuediivs, this one has been introduced throu^ch its clinit-al v/urk a bn^ndi presen- tation- before anyprovinij: had been mad(», hiMice toaciu-tain (r^xtent it is empirical work, and its use of course will remain empirical until we have a thoroiiij^h test and a r«diab]e i^atho- txenesi^s. ^ut Apis, Arnica, Ijellis, L-5a])tisia, Eui)atorium, :Secale and others did s[)lendid curative work Ixdore a thorough provinj^ was mad(\ anil the clinical record liei'e presented by the author will no doubt be the stimulus that ^will give tlie profession a thorouj_ch provinj^ in the near future- It has cured nuiny cases of whoopinj^-coui^^i, and it lias failed to cure many, which must naturally b(^ the case Tvith all remedies tested in the same way.
The following indications have been found valid in pre- scribing this remedy:
1. Hacking? cough.
2. Deep sounding, croui)y cough.
572 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
3. Cough provoking or followed by intense tickling in throat, fauces or trachea.
4. Hacking cough with coryza. 5.' Spasmodic choking cough.
6. Cough with difficulty of getting breath.
7. Cough in frequently repeated paroxysms.
8. Spasmodic cough with intense flushing of the face.
RADITTM AS AN INTERXAL RKMEDY. Especially Exemplified in Caves of Skin-disease and Cancer. By John H. Clarke, M. D. 736 pages. Cloth, 2b. 6d. net. Postage, extra (America and Canada, 66 cents, postfree). The Homeopathic Publishing Co.. 12 Warwick Lane, London, E. C.
This Brochure of 136 pages, with a good index, is another work from the versatile pen of Dr. Clarke. It contains a history of the Radium Salts, and a proving of Radium Bromatum, much of the symptomatology of which was given in a recent issue of the Medical Advance. ** The 'work is dedicated to the memory of Paul Francois Curie, M. D., who conducted the first homeopathic dispensary for the poor in London, and introduced Hahenmann's system to the thinking people of England; and to his illustrious grandson, Pierre Curie, the joint discoverer of Radium."
The X-ray and colored light treatment of cancer and many skin affections were in general use when the discovery of Radium was announced, and immediately a large number of cases were treated by the rays of Radium and many suc- cesses, more or less complete, reported, in fact so general became its use that it was almost impossible to supply the demand. Our allopathic friends thought they saw in the external use of Radium rays the cure for malignant disease, but like nearly every other remedy in the Materia Medica, when used in this empirical, indiscriminate manner for the name, the diagnosis, some cases were successful, but a large majority were failures and as a natural result the Radium fever soon subsided.
Dr. Clarke now took up the work of testing Radium
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
573
Bromatum on the healthy and the result is given in this little work.
Dr. J. C. Molson, of London, gives his experience after taking the remedy himself:
"After taking a dose or two of a rituration not higher than 45x, I got such sudden and violent shocks of pain in the lower branches of the fifth cranial nerve on the left side of my face that I decided to leave this remedy severely alone. The pains were without premonition, abrupt, and of light- ning-like suddenness, and so intense as to call forth an in- terjection."
A number of clinical cases are here recorded, showing the definite action of the remedy when used internally in skin diseases, and in some cases of incipient and pronounced cancer.
One of its aggravations is well worth remembering; like Carbo animalis the symptoms are aggravated by shaving.
POCKET MANUAL OF HOMEOPATHIC MATERIA. By Wil- liftm Boericke, M. D.,witli Repert)ry by Oscar Boericke, M. D. Fourth edition, revised and enlarged. 981 pages; price, flexible morocco, $3.50. Boericke & Ilunyon, New York.
Boericke's little Manual of Materia Medica is so well knov^rn that extended notice of it is scarcely necessary. This, the fourth edition, has been revised and enlarged, making it even more valuable than ever as a reference book for the practitioner and student. There is also an improvement in the size of the volume. In spite of the fact that a valuable clinical index has been added, the book measures scarcely more than an inch in thickness, almost half the thickness of the former edition. This has been due, chiefly, to the use of a much finer quality of paper, so that it can be easily carried about in the pocket. It is, undoubtedly, the best and most comprehensive of the briefer Materia Medicas on the market.
I
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I ;/t
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J
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NEWS NOTES.
Editor Medical Advance:— I have the honor to ad- vise that I have appointed Dr. Moses T. Runnels, Kansas City, Missouri, secretary of the American Institute of Homeopathy vice Frank Kraft, deceased. Very truly yours,
Wm, Davis Poster, President.
David Posey iBrown, M. D., announces that: **Mc- Kniley liospital, Trenton, N. J., is in need of two internes at the present time and I am writing to see if you will give us a note in your valuable journal to that effect. We have a capacity of one hundred beds and have a good deal of surgi- cal work, and a large dispensary, of which the internes have, practically, complete charge. D. P. Brown."
International Hahneinanuian Association— The next meeting will be held in Pittsburg, perhaps the first week in June J n^09. Do not say you never heard of the time and place of meeting. Begin now on your papers for next year, so as to be ready when the call for duty is sounded.
Dr. W. J. Hawkes, Los Angeles, California, announces the removal of his offices from their former location to the Wright & Callender building, Fourth and Hill streets, rooms 3ll-l:i. His office hours will be from 11 to 12:30 and 2 to 4. The doctor will make a specialty of dietetics.
New Jersey State Society sends the announcement for its semi annual session at Hotel Marlborough, Asbury Park, Oetober Gth and 7tli, 190^.
The scientilic sessions of the meeting will be especially good. The officers su^\iz:est that at least two papers be pre- sented by each bureau, which will atford ample time for a full di:>eussiou. We think this very wise, because more good often obtains through full and free interchange of opinion than by too many par)ers with little or no discussion.
NEWS NOTES.
575
Dr. H. P. Holmes, of Sheridan, Wyoming, was severely injured July 3rd, at old Port Kearney, by the overturning of an automobile with eleven passengers in it. The doctor fell on a flat stone, injuring his left trochanter so severely that he has been in bed for a month, and is only now beginning to navigate on crutches. He will have the sympathy of the readers of the Advance in his affliction.
The Needs of the Homeopathic Materia Medica— This is
an address delivered before the Homeopathic Medical Society of the County of New York by Dr. J. B. Gregg-Custis, and is an attempt to present the subject in such a way that our Materia Medica may meet the demand of the specialist in therapeutics. This is certainly praiseworthy, but if our specialists would study the Materia Medica and apply it as Hahnemann suggested — for the patient, not the diagnosis— they would find it capable of meeting all demands upon it in every curable case. The provings on the healthy do not produce disease, hence cannot cure them.
Dr. R. 8. Copeland, Dean of the New York Homeopathic Medical College, has appointed Dr. Rudolph F. Rabe, head of the Materia Medica corps of the faculty. Judging from the work which Dr. Rabe has already done in college and from his admirable, clear-cut clinical cases in papers before medi- cal societies, the I. H. A., and in our various journals, no better man in New York could be found to fill this important position. We think this an advance step taken in the principal chair of a homeopathic college, and we trust it will now resume the position it formerly occupied under the leadership of Dunham, Lillienthal and Allen.
The Regular llomeopsilhie Society of Chicago was or ganized for the same reason that the Hering^ Medical College was, to perpetuate and advance the interests of pure Homeo- pathy. It is not intended to anta<j^onize. any homeopathic society now in existence, but it is intended to furnish a place where those who believe in and practice Homeopathy as ad-
3
i
I
576
THE MEDICAL. ADVANCE.
vocated and taught in The Organon can have a part. Prei^ident Copeland recently made the remark that he never enjoyed a homeopathic society more than he did the meeting which he attended in Chicago. Every homeopath is invited to attend and judge for himself the necessity for such a society.
Dr. John F. Edgar, El Paso, Texas, wants to know if any homeopath has ever cured the following symptom:
** Urine having the odor of turpentine. '^
It is not to be found in any of the repertories for the simple reason that it has never been developed in the prov- ing of any remedy. The symptoms given of this patient are:
Has unpleasant sensations before an electric storm; but when raining, enjoys the sound and dampness.
Hands and feet generally cold, yet frequently seeks cool places in bed for the hot palms and soles.
If any reader has ever cured a patient having this symptom, kindly report it.
The Opinni Curse.— The attempt to suppress the opium evil has assumed national importance. A commission to investigate the various phases of the trade is to meet in Shanghai next January. The excessive use of opium as a narcotic is greater in the East than in America, but its use in the United States is simply astonishing. In the last five years there has been an increase in the amount used of over a million pounds, and notwithstanding the best humitarian elTorts,the future, judging by these figures, is anything but encouraging. It is not the Chinese population alone that are addicted to tlie opium habit, and we fear the continued use of the drug as a palliative is one of the chief causes for its spread in this country. Why not strike at the root of the matter and induce the medical profession to cease its use as a palliative remedy!
The New Bonninghausen Repertory is completed and will be ready for delivery this month. One of our esteemed
NEWS ITEMS.
577
<x)iitemporaries said that it was not possible for 75 per cent of the profession to secure a copy of the first edition. This is a mistake. It was extensively advertised to be sold by subscription, but no one subscribed. Over 75 per cent of the homeopathic profession of the United States do not use a repertory, and consequently will have no use for this. But every physician who does use one will find this a great time' saver and very helpful in his work, Those who have never used a repertory in selecting the homeopathic remedy know nothing of its advantages. They are like our friends of the other school who will not try Homeopathy because they do not believe in it, and they do not believe it is because they will not try it. Any homeopathic physician can see a copy of the Repertory at Boericke & Taf el's Pharmacies. No hoiheopathic publisher would undertake to print it. It is a private enter- prise and republished solely as a time-saver to those who use are pertory.
Paris, April 17, 1906- Editor Medical Advance: At half -past eleven this morning, at the age of 92 there died at his residence, 15 rue Vauquelin, Paris, one of the greatest men of science of the past century — Dr. A. B^champ.
It was he, and not another, who discovered the cause of fermentation,; it was he and none other, who discovered the cause of the disease of the silkworm and that of the vines, and, while those who followed his counsel saved their silk- worms and their vines, they who followed other counsel lost theirs. He discovered the functions of the glittering cor- puscles, to which he gave the appropriate name of micro* zymas, which he showed, evolved into bacteria when sick, while by an etymological solecism the name of microbe has been given to them by those who sought to appropriate- to themselves the discoveries made by this true master.
He thereby laid on a sure foundation the science of physiology, of pathology and of biology and pointed out tlie need of asepsi 5 in surgery. His last great discovery wiiA that of the cause of the coagulation of the blood.
578
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
To the shame of the (so-called) scientific men of France, the great B^champ died neglected by time servers, but hon- ored and beloved by the few "hommes d^lites" who make science and truth their object.
Tliat science may return from following the false lights by which its would-be followers have been misled; the work done by B^champ must be gone over by competent men, when their real value will be recognized and the foolish fads which dishonor medicine today will sink into deserved oblivion,
Montague R. Leverson, M. D., Ph. D. and M. A.
University of GOttenburg.
TWENTY NINTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE INTER- NATIONAL HAHNEMANNIAN ASSOCIATION.
The I. H. A. met on June 29, 30 and July 1 of current year at the Chicago Beach Hotel. Although the meetings held in the West are not as well attended by members as those in the East, the members are always increased to a greater extent by visiting physicians. In other words, the Eastern members do not come to a Western meeting, but the Western members do go East. There were three times as many present as there were last year at Jamestown.
Dr. R. P. Rabe made an excellent presiding officer, and Dr. C, M. Boger an active and efficient chairman of the Board of Censors. There were no resignations and a con- siderable number, about twenty, new members elected.
Among the notable features was the appointment of a committee of publicity for disseminating the truths of Homeopathy among the people, and a contemplated change in the by-laws by which the association work could be pros- e<.'iited at separate centers in widely separated parts of the country.
The papers were valuable and of a practical character, even those belonging to the Bureau of Homeopathic Phi- losophy,
Dr. C. M. Boger added to the interest of the occasion
,ffl
9ri
THE I. H. A. MEETING.
579
by giving a practical demonstration of the working out of the remedy by his translation of BOnninghausen's Reper- tory, the cases being furnished by various members.
Dr. Peterson and his wife, also a physician, traveled to the meeting in their automobile, all the way from Rich- - mond, Indiana. Among the visitors were Dr. Evelyn Hoehne, of Milwaukee, who attended every session, and took part in several discussions.
Dr. P. E. Krichbaum, the new president-treasurer, or treasurer-president, is now pretty near the whole thing, as he holds two offtces.
Dr. Nathan Cash, an old member, whom we remember to have seen many years ago at the meeting held at Rich- field Springs, N. Y., and recently reinstated, was present with his wife.
Drs. Kent, Gladwin and Austin, whom we were pleased to see at Kansas City, at the meeting of the American Insti tute, to our grief did not honor th^ I. H. A. with their pres- ence, although they must have passed by us on their way home.
Dr. Margaret E. Burgess, Philadelphia, won praise by her capable management of the Bureau of Clinical Medicine, although she took hold of the work at the eleventh hour, owing to the disability of the appointed chairman, she had at least as good a Bureau as usual.
Dr. J. C. HoUoway read an aggressive— almost pugna- cious— paper on Homeopathy. His fine appearance and thunderous voice made a strong impression. The committee on publicity could not do better than to chop up his paper in appropriate sections and use it in their coming campaign.
The Chicago Beach Hotel, with its fine scenic surround- ings, commodious rooms and quiet neighborhood, made one of the most agreeable meeting places the society ever had.
Bisk.
'1
DR. OSLER vs. OSLERISM. ,^
We beg to felicitate Dr. Osier upon having attained his Jj
sixtieth birthday. May nothing vital happen him; but on -^
580
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
the contraiy at least two full score years of continued and oon^3picuous usefulness. He has now joined a most goodly brotherhood which has in the past included such men as Cato, who at eighty studied Greek; Plutarch, Latin, and Socrates, music; the sage Arnauld, who translated **Jose- phus;" Gladstone, who at four score overthrew the Conserv- aWvG government; Goethe, who at that age completed '*Paust;'' Hahnemann, who married and continued his work for a decade; Siuionides, who won a national prize in poetry; Ranke then began and completed his "History of the Worlds* Buffoo finished his forty- four volumes of National History; Palmerston was England's Premier; John Quincy Adams still took part in our country's legislative proceed ings; Bancroft published his "History;" Voltaire wrote "Irene," and Landor his "Imaginary Conversations;" New- ton and Spencer carried on their epochal investigations; Von Moltke generalized the Prussian army; John Wesley continued to preach, and Michael Angelo and Titian to paint; Isaac Wulton Jished and wrote; Comaro set the exam- ple for Horace Fletcher and Chevreul demonstrated his colors^^all, rectutly recorded Dr. Borland, at the age of eighty.
In case of suspected fracture of the skull, percussion- ausculation will be found a valuable procedure where all other signs and symptoms have been negative. The proced- ure is the folio wing: The forehead is repeatedly tapped sharply in the median line with the middle finger, the.stetho* seope being moved from one point to another from before backward. If u fracture be present, a cracked-pot sound is elicited just beyond it. The corresponding part of the head on the otfier ^ide should be auscultated to eliminate possible error. Affu-nfun Journal of Surgery.
The Medical Advance
V0L.XLVI. BA.TAVIA, ILL., SEPTEMBER, 1908. No. 9.
THE COAGULATION OF THE BLOOD.*
By M. R. Leverson, M. D., M. A., Ph. D.
I may safely assume that every member of this medical society who has given attention to the subject of the coa^u* lation of the blood, is dissatisfied with the descriptions and attempted explanations of that phenomenon as given in the most recent and authoritative works upon Physiology.
It would be a waste of time to criticise any of those at- tempted explanations. Until the discovery by B^champ Df the microzymas and of their functions there existed no sound basis for the science of physiology, and no attempted expla- nation of the coagulation of the blood can have any rele- vancy thereto which does not rest on those discoveries; while the more recent discovery by that wonderful man of the third anatomical element of the blood enabled him to give a clear and perfect exposition of the phenomena of co* agulation, which contrast with those'previously hazarded as does the Copemican with the Ptolemian Astronomy.
I have already presented to this Society a brief review of B^champ's discovery of the Microzymas and of their functions and I shall start today with the knowledge there- by gained to try and give you some perception of the sub- ject of the coagulation of the blood as discovered and de- scribed by that genius, who died on the 15th of April of this year.
For convenience of present application I will remind you that as demonstrated by B6champ, functioning as ana- tomical elements in a living and healthy organism, the mi- crozymas are the physiological and chemical agents of tlie
*Paper read before the Brooklyn Hahnemannian Union.
582
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
transformations which take place in the processes of nutri- tion, but withdrawn from the living organism, or in the corpse, they are the agents of all the changes which take place either in a suitable medium or in the cadaver, and, whether a vibrionian evolution takes place or not, these changes extend to the destruction of the tissues and cells; and when all their work is accomplished nothing living re- mains except the microzymas. It is the present received opinion by homeopaths that in every living body — in every minute cell, there is a force which animates every vital function of that cell. This theory finds confirmatioii in tiie discoveries of B^champ, whose microzymas supply that appropriate animative force to every cell.
The processes by which B^champ discovered the modus agendi of the coagulation of the blood maybe thus summarized:
On sheddmg blood from its vessels into pure alcoboU diluted with distilled water about 1-3 strength, also on mix- ing defibrinated blood in the like, a precipitate was- ob- tained in each case, but much more abundant from the en- tire blood than from the defibrinated.
On washing the pricipitates with alcohol until they were perfectly white and examining them under the micro- scope they were seen to be composed of immense numbers of very delicate molecular granulations, mixed with re- mains of cells which were more abundant m the deposit ob- tained from the defibrinated blood. The difference in weight between that of the deposit of molecular granula- tions furnished by the entire blood and that furnished by the defibrinated blood, nearly represents the molecular granula- tions which would have been furnished by the blood without its globules.
Both precipitates liquified starch and disengaged oxygen from oxygenated water (but in different quantities) and thus are seen to possess the properties of fibrin as it actual- ly exists in the blood.
It would be too great an imposition upon yojir patience to detail the experiments by which B^champ solved this question and discovered the existence of a hitherto unsus-
^^'^''W
■'^M
THE COAGULATION OF THE BLOOD.
58$
peetedtbipd analiflBioal dement of tii^faiood 00^^ ^W wsbsAa g;lobuIfiy . th^ cHubq^hi * nirevOTf dfed Boik^ iimnal TJitw of a m m, oonupmnkof aa ftlbmiiiisnd alOKnphere suttuuud- ing miciDMymaa »» a mxcdetts (z)
He gave the name of HaematiomicrozyHiian-molecular* granalations to this anatomical element and found that the- weight of the microzymian-molecular-granulations obtained- from a given volume of blood, less the weight of the mole* cular granulations obtained from the like volume of defibri- nated blood, is almost the same with the weight of the fi- brin obtained from the same volume of blood by whipping; thus it is evident that ordinary fibrin is nothing else than a quantity of these microzymian granulations soldered to-' gether by means of the albuminoid atmospere, which as B6- champ demonstrated undergoes an allotropic modification on issuing from the vessels and on being liberated this organi- zation is destroyed and the microzymas become visible.
This anatomical constitution of the haematic microzy* maian granulations and the properties of their albnminoid envelope explain mechanically the phenomena of spontane-^ 0U8 coagulation and the production of the fibrin by whipping. It also shows that the conception of Henson, Milne Eidwards and of J. B. Dumas, was correct who suggested that the fi- brin exists in a condition of fine granulations in the blood.
B6champ demonstrated the real structure of the red globule to consist also of a cell-wall (as container) and of a content, and that it was a cell having microzymas for lis anatomical elements. The serum furnishes the conditions of existence of the anatomical elements of the blood, the globules and granulations, enabling them to conserve a constant composition, their physical existence, the homo- genity of their integument and that of their contents.
The microzymas had been seen but not understood be- fore B^champ's discoveries, they were called vibrating cor- puscles and early in his researches he announced that they
(z) An aoaloffOtts albuminoid atmosphere enveloping the microzj-. mas of the Pancreas had alreadyp3een demonstrated by Prof. B^champ and Estor.. Trans, of the Acad, of Med. of Paris, Vol. LXIX, p. 713.
5di
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
s living. Mr. Pasteur denied this and classified them along with granules of starch or organites. (x)
The three anatomical elements of the blood then are; the ved globules, the white globules and the microzymian mole- c^nlar-granulations the existence whereof had not before tieeti suspected but which are the essential life of the blood, "Oml wliich reproduces the red and white globules by a species of nutrition analogous to that which goes on in every living body by the aid of its microzymas.
It 18 interesting to remember that B^champ and Estor
demonstrated that in the process of development of the being
from the egg, the anatomical elements, the tissue of the
vesaeLs and the anatomical elements of the blood contained
in them, are born similtaneously of the microzymas of the
vitelluR operating in the unorganized intermicrozymian
medium of the vitellus. Hence the serum of the embryonic
blood comes into being at the same time as the globules and
'^e granulations which obtain the necessary nutriment from
tee unorganized part of the vitellus. In short container
and contents are born together, and together become each
^vfaat it should become, and it is important to note that
tbere is a difference in the blood not only between arterial
and venous blood in the gross, but far more intimately, as
for in^ance, while the blood of the portal vein yields fibrin
l>j whipping, that of the subhepatic vein does not do so.
The anatomical elements of the blood, in whatever part
im) The bold untruthfulness of the statements of DeBarry concerning
fioeiiAmp aud hi8 discoveries, leaves one in doubt whether to* rei^ard
■^hem a^ wilful falsehoods or as consequences of an incurable ignorance.
Pafiteur continued an advocate of the doctrine of spontaneous genera-
tiofii until after the contrary was demonstrated by Bechamp in 1867.
H« tbca ^ittempted to plagiarise Bechamp's work. To allege that Be-
doMiips doctrine of microzymas is a theory '*in the direction of*'
ffpontnoeous generation as is done by De barry on p. 47 of his work on
Bacteria ia an absolute inversion of the truth.
it U not to be lost sight of that De Barry's professorship and the entire fabric of his reputation rest upon spurious (Jenner was fond ot thmIL word) knowledge derived from Pasteur's grotesquely distorted Bfa^larisms of Beohamp^s labors. For proof of the latter see "Les ^Aod^ Problemes Medicaux" Journal de Medecine, Paris, Octobre- Nov^mbre, 1904.
THE COAGULATION OP THE BLOOD.
585
"*1
Ihoy happen to be, exist there only because the conditions of their existence are realized only while it is flowing in the vessel; the serum acts as an intercellular and intergran- ular substance preventing the immediate contact of the an- atomical elements, analogous to the part performed by the other tissues of the body; and thus the blood is seen to be a flowing tissue the integument whereof, the blood vessels, are constantly lubricated by the intercellular substance, and as well as the blood itself, is continually nourished by the action of the microzymas; the globules and the molecular granulations are absolutely insoluble in the intercellular liquor. This insplubility is assured at every point of the circuit by the origin and composition of the complex inter- cellular liquor resulting from the nutritive action of the ana- ^tomical elements both of container and content.
At the moment of sheddding, the blood may be consid- ered as being the flowing tissue such as it is in the vessels, except that it is a mixture of tbe blood, arterial and venous, of all the regions of the body, thus the anatomical elements are rudely placed in a new condition, very different from their Physiological state. It will be shown that this change in the conditions of existence rapidly determines the mani- festation of the phenomena of coagulation and of other •changes in the blood. The matters to be explained are:
(1) The spontaneous coagulation of the blood.
(2) Defibrinated blood does not coagulate.
(3) The blood of certain animals received into a glass or metal vessel seems to coagulate uniformly throughout its entire mass, forming a single solid clot of the shape of the vessel it is in. Gradually this clot contracts, expelling a lemon-colored serum, which afterwards becomes more and more red and the clot swims at last in the serum expelled from the primitive mass.
(4) The clot is formed by a network of fibres imprison- ing the globules in its meshes.
The condition absolute (sine qua non) for the tissue to continue flowing is that the properties of the anatomical ele- nients and their independence remain unaltered— their rela-
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586
THE MRDICAL ABYAMCS.
tions with the intercellDlar liquor must remain undukofed' not only in the vessels but after the shedding.
The distribution of the globules and how they pass one by one into the Capillaries are known; the distribution of the microzymian-molecular granulations is such that if the globules disappear the former occupy the entire space they filled, that is to say, they exist in such a manner in the blood that the globules move in it and among them, unceas- ingly displacing them, but they immediately re-occupy the abandoned space. Or as Dumas said, the fibrin exists in the blood in a flowing state, only this flowing state is mole-^ cular, and for each molecular granulation there is a micro- zyma for nucleus, to which it forms a limited albuminoid at- mosphere absolutely insoluble in the blood serum.
These haematic- microzy mas (along with the pancreatic microzymas) are the most minute objects known, and B^- champ calculated that in their moist state a cubic millimetre would contain 15,250,000,000 of these microzymas.
He then explained how the albuminoid atmosphere at the third anatomical element becoming swollen by absorb- ing the intercellular liquor so fluctuates, as each moment to fill up the whole of the blood-space making room for the globules as they flow.
The blood when shed is a mixture no longer in its natH- ral physiological condition and it is necessaj*y to ascertain whether the conditions necessary for it to be regarded as a flowing tissue can still be realised.
In its new condition the intercellular liquor which com* prises all the organic and mineral soluble products of the denutrition of the anatomical elements, both of contaitter and of contents, immediately changes its composition, tot the Katabolic products being now nonutilizable are no longer eliminated and the utilizable are neither utilized nor removed; further the anatomical elements of the flowing tissue which need oxygen to function properly, are more and more deprived of it after having consumed the re- served oxygen and that which the accummulated non- eliminated products have been able to absorb, as the oxygen
THE C30AGULATI0N OF THE BLOOD. 587
k no longer renewed by respiration. The first change then^
suffered by the shed-blood is that which the intercellular 1;
Uqnor undergoes in its composition. n
The microzymian molecular granulations are immediate- ^
ly affected by this change of medium and of conditions of >
existence, and, as shown by B6champ*s experiments de- 4
scribed by him in ''Le Sang et son troisieme element anat- '^^'
omique" p. 132 in a few seconds the albuminoid atmosphere h
which had been soluble in a very dilute hydrochloric acid i
becomes insoluble, i e., a sort of coagulation takes place in it. |.
The mechanism of the formation of the clot is as fol- .f
lows: The microzymian molecular granulations fill the en- -V
tire space occupied by the flowing tissue except that filled ;^j
by the globules and the intercellular and intergranular '
liquor. Being ever so slightly superior in density to the in- tergranular liquor they are brought together; their albumi- !' noid atmosphere being soft and mucuous, intermingle, while at the same time their substance undergoes the coagulation ;; above mentioned . {
These changes take place so suddenly that the globules though of a greater density have not time to be deposited :
but are caught in the meshes of the network formed by the sudden soldering of the albuminoid atmospheres which form the fibrin into fibres and membranes.
This explains the fact that after a few minutes the ves- sel containing the dot can be reversed and not a trace of liquor will escape.
M. B6champ then shows that the theory which sup* poses the existence of plasma cannot be true and demon- strates that the facts of the coagulation of the blood of the horse are inconsistent with it while entirely explained by the microzymian theory. ^
The formation of fibrin by whipping is also explained by it. It is the result of a two-fold action. The one me- chanical the other chemical. By the mechanical action the layer of intercellular liquor which separates the molecular granulations is broken and the forcibly separated granula- tions become agglutinated by reason of their mucuous al-
588
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
bumiaoid atmospheres, at the same time the changes in the conditions of existence cause the allotropic transformation of the albuminoid substance which coagulates as before seen, retracts at the same time, always enveloping the mi- <;rozymas which before diflEused through the entire volume of the blood are now reduced to the relatively small volume occupied by the fibrin produced by whipping. And from the small volume of the latter one can estimate the very great volume of the albuminoid envelopes.
This physiological theory of the spontaneous coagula- tion of the blood was given by B^champ to the French Asso- ciation for the advancement of Science at its meeting at Bordeaux in 1895. New experiments have confirmed it.
Finally in 1899 the master thus sums up the funda- mental facts, the discovery whereof have led to that of the real anatomical and chemical constitution of the blood and to the explanation of its spontaneous changes.*
(1) Ordinary air near the earth contains living micro- scopical objects and these objects are essentially the micro- zymas.
(2) Proximate principles and any mixture of such prin- ciples are unalterable in the presence of water, of a limited volume of air at ordinary temperature, permitting nothing of an organized nature to appear when there has been pre- viously added a littlccreosote.
(3) Natural organic matters, vegetable or animal, tis- sues and humors, in like experimental conditions always change of themselves, by a phenomenon of fermentatioui and at the same time the microzymas give birth to vibrio- niens by evolution.
(4) The fibrin of the blood is not a proximate principle; it is a false membrane containing microzymas whereof the intermicrozymian gangue is a specialized albuminoid sub- stance ;
(5) It is owing to its microzymas that fibrin decom- poses oxygenated water, that it liquifies starch and that it
n^oc. oit.: pp. 228-232.
U/'^?
in
THE COAGULATION OF THE BLOOD.
58»
can be dissolved, in undergoing chemical change, in very dilute hydrochloric acid;
(6) The microzymas of fibrinin liquified starch undergo vibrionian evolution in spite of creosote;
(7) Fibrin liquifies spontaneously in carbolized water without the microzymas undergoing vibrionian evolution;
(8) The fibrinous mycrozymas are special; they can produce lactic and butyric fermentation in liquified starch;
(9) Natural albuminoid matters are mixtures, reducible by direct analysis into exactly defined proximate principles;
(10) The albuminoid matters reduced to proximate principles are very complex molecules composed of less complex ones; Acids and their derivatives of the fatty and aromatic series; there are several of the less complex mole- cules constituting an albuminoid molecule quarternary, like urea; quinary like taurine, which is sulphuretted like hema- tosine, which is ferrous; Caseine besides the sulphuretted molecule contains a phosphoretted one; it thus contains six elements;
(11) There are several fibrins constituted as are those of the blood;
(12) There are a great number of different specific al- bumens which coagulation does not differentiate;
(13) The zymases are special albuminoid matters equally definable as proximate principles; they are always a func- tional product of the microzymas;
(14) The citrin of the blood besides its proper albumen contains a haemozymas;
(15) The haemoglobin of the red corpuscle reduced to a definite proximate principle decomposes oxygenated water by its slightly complex ferrous molecule, haematosine, and becomes discolored;
(16) The red corpuscle of the blood is a true cell, hav- ing its cell-wall and its proper content. This content is constituted especially by haemaglobin and microzymian- molecular granulations, the microzymas whereof decompose oxygenated water as do those of the fibrin.
(17) The blood contains a third anatomical element,
'V?^
\M
t*f-*i
^90
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
the haematic-microzymian-inolecular-gTanulatioiis. It is the albuminoid atmosphere of these granulations which form by allotropic transformation the intermicrozymian gangne of the false membrane called fibrin;
(18) The flowing tissue is a content, whereof the ves- sels, arteries, veins and their appendages form the con- tainer;
(19) The three orders of anatomical elements of the flowing tissue have their conditions of existence united only in their container during life;
(20) After issuing from the vessels these conditions of existence being no longer fulfilled degeneration of the flow- ing tissue commences;
(21) The microzymas of the different parts of the circu- latory system possess alike the property of decomposing oxygenated water, as do also the microzymas of almonds and of other parts of vegetables, and beer-yeast. But there are animal tissues whose microzymas do not disengage the oxygen of oxygenated water;
(22) The microzymas, anatomical elements, are living BEINGS of a special order, without analogy;
(23) The spontaneous changes of natural animal mat- ters, whether the microzymas have or have not undergone vibrionian evolution, thanks to free access of air, lead always
• in certain conditions to the complete destruction by oxyda- tion of the products of those changes, that is to say reduces them to the mineral condition; carbonic acid, water, nitro- gen. But the microzymas, under whose influence the oxyda- tion is effected, are not attacked; consequently all that which is purely proximate principle in a tissue, in a cell and in the bacterium having undergone total destruction, the microzy- mas remain, as witnesses of the vanished organization.
(24) The geological microzymas of certain calcareous rocks and of the chalk, those of the dust of the streets and of the air are also witnesses of the microzymas which func- tioned as anatomical elements in the tissues of organisms of geological epochs as they function in those of the present time;
HOW DO HOMEOPATH tC RBDEDIES ACT?
591
(25) Those which in the air have been called germs of the air are essentially the microzymas of the total destruc- tion of a living organism;
(26) Normal air contains neither preexisting germs nor the things which have been improperly termed microbes, ascending from age to age to parents resembling them;
(27) The air contains normally no pathogenic microzy- mas. The charbon bacteridia of Devaine is the product of the evolution of diseased microzymas, either of haematic- microzymian-molecular-granulations or those of the blood;
(28) There is no living matter which is not morphologi- cally limited (or defined.) That which has been called protoplasma in the cell always contains microzymas as anatomical elements.
HOW DO HOMEOPATHIC REMEDIES ACT TO PRODUCE THEIR EFFECT, A CURE, A THEORY,*
Some years ago I read in a scientific journal an article written by Monsier Marcel Labbe, France, wherein he an- nounces that the white blood corpuscles, the leucocytes, not only absorb foreign bodies, destroy all worn out cells, ab- sorb liquid TX)isons, and carry food substances to the tissues, but also fulfil the very important function of distributing medicinal drugs to all parts of the body, carrying them in particular to the very spot, where they will do the most good.
A writer, commenting on this in a subsequent number of the same journal, says that: ''Various experiments have proved this to be true. A rabbit, under whose skin is in- jected a little Strychnine or Atropine, has, after a half hour some blood drawn off. This is divided by centrifugal treat- ment in three comi)onent parts: Leucocytes, red corpuscles and plasma; equal quantities of each are injected in three animals, and it is seen that the one receiving the leucocytes is poisoned, while the others are not. The conclusion is, that it is the leucocytes in particular, that absorb the alka- loid, the other blood elements receiving very little of it.
*Read at the meeting of the Brooklyn Hahnemannian Union. March, 190S.
592 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
This experiment, we are told, may be repeated at pleasure, with other substances, and the result is ever the same.
But the leucocytes are not content with absorbing, ren- dering soluble, even assimilating certain medicinal toxic foreign substances, they transfer them from one part of the body to another, and this is their greatest utility, the more so, as the place, where they transport these substances, varies according to circumstances. In normal conditions, that is in health, the leucocytes carry the drug to the liver and marrow; in illness they carry it to the affected parts, the centers of irritation, where the arrival of the leucocytes is most desirable.
Here is a remarkable but very natural and in no way mysterious electricity, by which the organism profits great- ly. All we have to do is to discover the element that we should give to the leucocytes, to act most effectively. But can we depend on them to carry iron to the blood-making organs, iodoform to tuberculous lesions, salycilate of soda to the affected joints, etc.?
There is another fact that must be taken into account. The leucocytes, it is true, carry drugs to the affected parts, but they carry them also with special insistence to certain organs^ Different organs attract different drugs, the liver Iron, the thyroid gland Arsenic and Iodine, while the skin, the spleen, the lymphatic ganglia and other organs seem to constitute regions of choice for several chemical substances. This specificity of localization is well known in the case of certain drugs, as: Arsenic, Iodine and Iron and we should be able to recognize it in all other medicants. This knowl- edge would doubtless enable us to control useful action and perhaps also to avoid certain injurious forms of .action. In fine, the role of the leucocytes in the transportation of medi- cine is of high importance, and it is to be hoped that the investigation along this line may be followed out with great care."
Thus ends the abstract of Monsieur Labb6 and the comments thereon. It may seem very scientific and con-
HOW DO HOMEOPATHIC REMEDIES ACT?
59S
elusive to the average reader because a modern instru inent: of correctness and precision has been employed in attaining:* the result; too often failing to see the chances of error im the manipulations and deductions There have been rnxny instances where such errors were discovered long after the fact, that a great scientific discovery had been made, had been heralded over the world by means of scientific periodi- cals not only, but by the daily press as well.
So it seems to me in this instance chances of , error ex- ist. The writer has not proved that the leucocytes did at- tract the medicinal substance in the living organism, the combination may have taken place just as well in the centrifugal machine.
Again, granted that the leucocytes did attract and carry the drug in the living organism, he does not show, mudi^ less prove, how this produces a cure after reaching the dis- ease centre. And furthermore: If certain drugs are found in certain organs of the body, may this not be the case rather^ because these organs are the eliminating organs for these drugs, than the drugs to be present there to produce a cura- tive effect?
But the homeopathic remedy, being dynamic in its nar ture, cannot and does not act in the manner of the cruder drug used in the old school practice. How then dbes; this act?
Many years ago this question was asked me by ab patient:
How does medicine, taken by the mouth, and into the stomach, affect a cure in case of a disease of the brain, or- lungs; how does it reach these disease centers?
In answer I gave him my theory, of the action of the^ homeopathic remedy, which I had formed years previous when speculating and thinking on this very subject, k. theory which I have seen no reason to change since» hxtt which many instances of instantaneous effects of the single homeopathic remedy, given dry on the tongue, have con- firmed me in believing correct:
The brain is the center of life, here the life-force
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ISB4 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
torigi nates and is constantly developed, similar, perhaps, to Ji^ve a very crude comparison, as the electric battery con- 50tantly develops electricity, until the elements therein are tworn out
JTbehraim elements being constantly renewed by the ^supply of'food, air, light, heat and all the pervading force or electricity of the universe, will naturally endure much [longer aad remain active, until these also are worn out at the time fixed by the Creator. While it lasts, the life-force lis distributed by means of the nerves throughout the body, .'i^ving the impulse to move, to act, in fact to live, unto every organ and part o4 the body by the afferent nerves. Again any disturbance, occuring in any of these organs, or In any part of the body, is conveyed to the brain by the af- ferent nerves and the brain is affected thereby in either a benign or injurious manner, according to the nature of the -Impulse.
The homeopathic remedy, administered dry on the ^tangue or dissolved in water, coming in contact with the numerous afferent nerves of the tongue and mouth, affects these in a dynamic manner,and these convey this dynamic ef- fect to that part of the brain which is disturbed by the dis- ^ease process.
If the remedy is the similimum, it must affect this in a ^(benign and curative manner, and converting dishai'mony into .harmonious^ healthy activity, produces a cure, restores .health.
If the foregoing theory is correct, as I believe it is, then '^we must instruct our patients to allow the homeopathic Temedy^ in the form of ix)wders or pellets, to dissolve slowly on the tongue and not try to swallow them or drink *.or^at anything, soon after taking these, in order to have dihem receive the greatest amount of benefit from the xemedy.
[It would be very satisfactory if we knew just how the ' curative remedy reached the deranged organ and restored vits normal functions. But as we may never be able to ex- plain it, for the mysteries of the vital dynamis are beyond explanation; yet if we * 'stick to our text," adhere to our law jwe will reach the goal, the cure of the sick. — Ed.]
HOMEOPATHY.
595
HOMEOPATHY! ITS PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE!
By Prank A. Gustafs©n, M. D.
Professor Philosophy of Homeopathy and Materia Medica, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Denver.
The basis of all efficiency in science is fact — experience with known facts and knowledge of sensible phenomena pertaining to their sphere of action. Truth is truth only when experience confirms it to be true. Opinions are of value only as the lead to knowledge and confirmation of true principles.
Medicine is an art and a science. It is the pure science of experience with the facts of disease, its cause and cure, and its relation to remedial agencies. It is the art of apply- ing these things one to the other from positive knowledge and experience with them. To successfully grasp its prin- ciples and application the student has need to continually shun indolence, obstinacy and love of ease, and possess free- dom from all prejudice, acute observation, good judgment and untiring zeal. For it is as true of medicine as of religion that to **him that hath shall be given," and that "the truth shall make you free."
The essentials of medicine are threefold — knowledge of disease, knowledge of the effects of medicines, knowledge of how medicines are to be employed. It in\^olves knowledge of the human body and its normal structure and function; knowledge of disease causes and their results and effects; ability to recognize what is cause and what is effect, and to separate them; ability to recognize what is curable in disease and what has progressed beyond cure. Further, it involves knowledge of remedial agents; knowledge of how their activity in the human organism is ascertained and recognized, tabulation and comprehension of such facts for use according to positive and well defined principles.
These principles are the results of experience with known facts. In medicine, facts are to be applied and re- sults noted, the outcome is knowledge for application and use. But here note again the need for freedom from preju- dice, freedom from obstinacy, acute observation and sound
596 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE. ,
judgment. All progress in medicine has been due to tbis^ observation and confirmation of facts, all retrogression and failure to the substitution to human sophisty and speculation concerning apparent facts for real facts and erronious con- clusions and applications therefrom.
The philosophy of Homeopathic medicine as given by Hahnemann may be summed up in the following eighteen propositions:
1. Man is more than a body with parts and functions- He is a being who lives.
2. Sickness and disease in the body of the man is the result of disorder in the man himself and not in his body alone.
3. Health is restored, when lost, through a restoration of the man himself in his internal physical nature and a resultant restoration of his outward parts and functions to correspond with them.
4. Disorders in the internal vital organism manifest themselves in outward parts as symptoms.
5. Hence, symptoms are to the physician the picture of the disease and of the disease in its full extent.
6. Each individual presents symptoms varying from those of others affected by similar morbific causes according as he himself differs from others, except as to general symp- toms that may be common to all.
7. Therefore, each sick man and each individual sick- ness requires an individualizing of each subject and person in order to determine how and in what degree the economy is being influenced by morbific causes, in order to ascertain and determine what is required to restore order in its fullest extent.
8. That when symptoms disappear as a result of medi- cinal action from within outward, and from more vital ta less vital parts, the cure is being effected.
9. That when it is otherwise it is not cure, but a changing and suppression of the symptoms and a consequent additional disturbance of the vital organism — an aggravation of the malady.
HOMEOPATHY. 597
10. That medicines possess power to cure because they liave power to alter states of health and produce symptoms peculiar to themselves.. These peculiar symptoms, marking the individual, characteristic sphere of medicinal activity in disease, constitute the only reliable phenomena by means of which medicines are to be employed in the healing of the sick,
11. That disease states in the body are overcome by medicines only as they (medicines) excite artificial morbid states similar to those of the disease, as manifested in the symptoms of the man himself as a whole and in all his parts.
12. No medicine is or can be held curative unless its known symptomatology corresponds, or very nearly so, with the morbid symptomatology as presented in the patient, and when so selected medicines cure without exception those symptoms resembling them and leave none of them uncured.
13. And this for the reason that the weaker dynamic affection is overcome by the stronger dynamic affection and by means of it is extinguished even to its cause.
14. And, again, because the dynamic action of the drug engrafts a stronger similar disorder upon the vital organism causing it to react, arousing it to such an extent that it is successful in throwing off the whole disorder, both original and as the result of the drug.
15. At no time is it consistent or permissable to intro- duce more than one remedial agent into the economy at any one time.
16. This single singular remedy, selected because of its similarity to morbid symptoms, is not to be introduced save in the mimimum dose required to produce its effect— this to be determined by means of experiment and experience.
17. When vital reaction is established thereby, no further remedial agent is to be introduced so long as this reaction continues — this to be established by the character of the symptoms produced or modified by the remedy.
18 That the curative activity of medicines is not made known when medicines are given to those under the in-
598 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
fiuence of disease, but only when proven upon persons who> are in states of health.
The object of your attendance here and the object of these lectures is that you may know these principles and be able to use them wisely and intelligently. For they consti- tute the only reliable principles of the art and science of the practice you have espoused. These principles hav^ stood the test of time. They have been confirmed in practice. They have and still continue to be capable of demonstration to all observers possessing intelligent observation free from prejudice. They constitute a science of medicine that knows no failure save in the incapacity of him who fails to grasp their import and devotedly apply himself to their applica- tion.
Contrast these principles with those of dominant prac- tice and at once it is apparent that Hahnemann's claim for them is justified. In the dominant practice there is no recognition of disease causes other than a confounding and confusion of disease results with disease causes. Attempts- to restore order are made by the removal of single symp- toms or by suppression of external symptoms or effects of disease. The result is that many acute diseases become chronic through suppression and curable disorders by this means become incurable. No attempt is made at individual- zation of the case or prescription* Groups of symptoms common to all and given disease names are regarded as the basis for the prescription. Nothing is recognized of medi- cinal action save what is toxic or pathogenic and remedies are applied from assumed knowledge of effects upon diseased organisms, or from experiment upon lower animals. Indi- cations are therefore confused and the true action of medi- cines confounded because of the state of ill health, or from the varying action of drugs upon humans and beasts. The effects produced by remedies and called cure is for the most part the overcoming of the vital forces by crude drug action, is mere suppression, and continues only as long as the drug action continues, if it does not engraft itself upon the life of the patient and render him hopelessly invalided. There is
VERIFICATIONS FROM THE KOTE BOOK:
599
no arousing of vital forces to sustained reactiaa amd oonae^ quent permanent health. Many remedial ageiabs- aore ogodi- bined m the one prescription and nothing of positive knowl- edge and value in drug application can be idefild&d and known. Such procedures give rise to new eoaeKtkms. These are rarely seen as the direct effect of drugsi but. aare- erroneously classed as complications. They are butt drag: complications, not the ordinary complications of eUseaaes^ running in usual course. What can result but thatlreqneiit- ly patients are far worse off than if the disease had beest* permitted to run its course uninfluenced by any medicatioiu Experience clinical, experimental and inteUectual ' con- firms Hahnemann's deductions and conclusions. His- tULWKjr of drug dynamitization has proved itself and confirms itseltr in practice. His law of similars is sane and demonstrable^ His followers do heal the sick and in a speedy, gentle, per- manent manner. But those who would aspire to success by- means of his methods must be up and doing in the mastery of his theories, in comprehension of his principles, in thor- ough conversion from popular medical [fallacy , in conse<a»- tion to the cause to such a degree as to favor determinated effort and labor almost endless in acquiring knowledge of disease and its means of curis. They must possess tbe ooiir- age of conviction to administer and in face of pubMc audi professional clamor await in confidence the hour of vindicib- tion and triumph.
CLINICAL VERIFICATIONS FROSl MY NOTEBDOK.
By W. J. Hawks, M. D., Los Angeles, CaL Case 1. A woman, aged thirty eight. Has had. catarrfii for two years. The nasal passages were first affected^ bn^ at present the chief difficulty is in the larynx,, the diseafiife having progressed downward. The patient has had a».coiigiii as long as she can remember. There is an evident tendtenQr to pulmonary trouble, she having had *'lung fev^:''^ several times. She takes cold easily, and during each attack: ahe:: has a loose cough, with profuse expectoration, streaked wiUb red or brown. She now has nausea after coughing, is very
«00 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
servous, very sensitive to cold air touching the back of her BBek, which is stiff; she is very nervous, and excitement tx:ings on the cough; cold chills run over her body and leave **goose pimples."
The symtoms which characterize this case and indicate the remedy are, especially, the inducing of the cough by ex- 45itement and the chills which leaves "goose pimples." Gel* «emium covers all the prominent symptoms. Arsenicum and Ipecac are both to be thought of, the former on account of the nervousness and the sensitiveness of the nape of the neck to cool air; and the latter because of the loose cough with nausea. But Gelsemium is the' remedy which covers .all the symptoms and has its characteristics prominent.
This remedy was given April 22. On the 29th the report iiras: **Better in every way." Placebo.
May 20. The old symptoms are all better, but the patient complains of being weak and tired. Placebo.
When the patient last reported the only complaint was 4of the feeling of a lump in the throat, with a tickling sensa- tion; worse in damp weather. All this was relieved by rhus.
This latter condition — or the later symptoms — recall to lay mind a very interesting case of **lump in the throat" of » lady vocalist. The lady, according to the best of judges, ' fp^ves bright promise for the future as a singer, having a voice of most wonderful compass, and is now in Europe, per- pecting her musical training.
Case II. Young woman, aged twenty-two. She had been harassed for five years and was discouraged to the point aklmost of giving up her dearest ambition by the persistent and annoying sensation of a lump in the throat, which seri- ously interfered with her efforts in vocal practice. I pres- pribed for her several times without the conviction tht»t I liad the right remedy and without effect. I could elicit no other symptoms, as she said she was in perfect health and certainly seemed to be.
I finally drew from her the fact that on observation she lonnd that it was more troublesome in damp weather, and
VERIFICATIONS FROM THE NOTE BOOK.
601
that in **swallowing the lump down" it often hurt her between the shoulders,
Rhus is the only remedy I know of as having this par- ticular symptom with all the others. It relieved her com- pletely, so that she was not troubled for months; and when, after several months, it did return the same remedy promptly relieved. At latest accounts there had been no sign of a return of the trouble.
Case III. A man,aged sixty-five, has had incontinence of urine for thirty years, being unable to retain it either day or night. The affliction has increased gradually during that pertod from a trifling inconvenience to having become the bane of his life. He complains of considerable pain in the region of the bladder if he **takes cold," or retains his urine long after first feeling the desire to avoid it. His general health is good.
The trouble followed the suppression of the *'itch" by **ointment;" his feet are nearly always very cold except at night, when they often burn on the soles so that he puts them out of bed and against the cold wall to cool them; he often has weak, faint spells through the day, especially an hour before the noon meal. Sulphur is the remedy indicated both by the cause and the symptoms.
This case also reminds me of one almost identical with it. The patient is connected, in an official capacity, with one of our largest railroads. He is a large, well-formed, healthy looking man. He has suffered more than five years from a painful inability to retain his urine. An hour was the long- est time he could go without urinating, and often not so long without pain. He had never taken homeopathic medicine and was ready to go east for treatment when he consulted me. I found sulphur indicated by a hot vertex headache; cold and hot feat; weak, faint spells during the day; hot flashes; **gone, empty" feeling about 11 a. m., etc.
The relief was almost immediate, and the improvement has been steady for a year or more, with an occasional par- tial relapse, until, at the present time, he retains his urine
602 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE
without pain or other discomfort for three hours or more hj day and five hours at night.
Case IV. A boy, aged thirteen, with eczema capitis. It appears in little red pimples, which exude a sticky fluid, having the appearance of honey; there is much itching; he has headache if he gets heated or nervous; is dull and **lazy," and takes cold easily. The eruption first appeared behind the ears and is now worse in that locally. Graphites enabled him to report much improvement in one week.
Case V. A man, aged fifty-six, has had '*aching in his bones for the past thirteen months," worse in cold and damp weather; worse at night, and water aggravates it; he has a cough, with pain in the chest; and aphthous condition of the mouth, and is restless at night. Mercurius caused a marked improvement in a week.
Case VI. A man, aged fifty. The patient sprained his ankle, five weeks ago. He has been dressing it with various liniments since that time, but the joint is still quite stiff and very painful. The pain is less when moving th^ limb gently, and is worse at night and while at rest; it is stiff and pain- ful when beginning to move, but gradually improves with the motion; the patient cannot sit or lie still long without moving.
The condition here is evidently rheumatism, with the sprain as the exciting cause. A sprain cannot of itself pro- duce rheumatism. An individual in good health, and with- out predisposition to rheumatism, will recover from such an accident without medicine. But it is when there pre-exists a constitutional taint, hereditary or acquired, that medica- tion is necessary. In such a case the constitutional disorder seems to be attracted to the weakened spot, and curative efforts must there be aimed, not at the sprain, per se, but at the constitutional predisposition, and our best guide is the totality of the symtoms. Rhus was the remedy given, and caused a marked improvement during the first week. The patient did not report afterward.
Case VII. A woman, aged fifty-six, with dyspepsia. She has suffered more or less for years, sometimes better^
VERIFICATIONS FROM THE NOTE-pOOK.
&»
at others worse; she complains of .much sour belching; {^petite is poor; stools are of indigested food; head feels large and heavy and food lies like a stone on tae stomach; she is worse after midnight, and cannot sleep after 3 p. m.; there is much throbbing backache; she feels better while walking out of doors, and she is very irritable.
At the end of two weeks the patient reported that she was very much better; and, if the exciting cause can be removed, the remedy will cure the chronic result just as did Rhus in a former case. But medicine cannot take the place of nature, nor can it bolster the animal economy against the continued attacks from unphysiological abuse. In this case as in the nmjority of cases of this truly American disease the exciting causes are the swallowing of improper food in a hurried manner. Americans live too fast to take time to eat their food. They swallow in ten or fifteen minutes food enough to have kqpt them eating three quarters of an hour. They neither masticate nor insalivate their food in the mouth where the apparatus and material have been furnished by nature for that purpose. The stomach tries to do both, as weU as to supply its own peculiar functions and material, and is consequently overworked. As a result exhaustion foUows, and finally inability to do the work at all; and indi- gestion, with all its hypochondriac horrors, becomes a set- tled disease.
The exciting cause must be removed in the first place, in this as in all cases. The best way to accomplish this is to prohibit the use of all fluids at meals. Then the patient wUl be obliged to masticate in order to get lubricating material enough to make deglutition possible.
Case Vin. A boy, aged 8, with catarrh, and occlusion of the lachrymal ducts. In this case the tears overran the cheeks. There is a scrofulous history in the family. As an infant he had a. large head and slowly closing fontanelles; was slow in learning to walk; he now has cold, sweaty feet; the stockings are always damp. Calcarea was prescribed, especially on account of the prominent symptoms and the result was most satisfactory.
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604 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
This catarrhal closure of the lachrymal ducts I regard as one of the surest indications for calcarea. Silicia is nearly as often indicated.
Case IX. A man, aged twenty-one, with bronchitis. He has had a cough for three months, and raises "y^Uow, thick phlgem," especially when first rising in the morning. Hehas a bitter, slimy taste in the mouth in the morning; not much appetite; dislikes fat especially, and it disagrees with tim if he eats it. He feels better out of doors; coming into a room at all warm or with a **close" atmostphere cause faint, dizzy feelings. He is low spirited; the tongue is coated and the cough loose. Pulsatilla is indicated by all the symptoms.
In a week there was a considerable dimiifution of the cough; the bad taste had disappeared and the patient was in all respects better.
Wright and Callender Building^.
ON THE ACTION OP FICUS RELIGIOSI.
By Aoostino Mattoli, M. D., Rome, Italy. In the dictionary of Materia Medica of Dr. J. H. Clarke, (Vol. 1, page 779) we read:
"Picus Religiosa; Pakur, (India) N. O. Moraceae. Tinc- ture (juice of fresh leaves mixed with equal parts of alcohol). Clinical,-Hemorrhages-Menorrhagia. Metrorrhagia".
Characteristics: — We owe this remedy to Dr. Sarat Chandra Ghose, of Midnapore, who made the first proving ; and thereby discovered its power to cause and cure hemor-
rhages of many kinds. Dr. Ghose kindly sent me a supply of the remedy, and I have had very satisfactory results with the Ix potency in controlling menorrhagia. The provers were Dr. Ghose himself, his wife and a dog. As the expe- 1 riments are quite remarkable I will give them in detail.
1. The dog, which was perfectly strong and healthy. i received 40 drops of the tincture one morning. No result
I followed that day, and the dose was repeated next morning,
and the animal coihmenced and continued to vomit blood of a bright red color. It kept very quiet and was unwilling to
ON THE ACTION OF FICUS RELIGIOSA.
605
move. After the doses of five drops of the tmcture given in quick succession, the vomiting ceased.
It is remarkable that the same treatment (minute dose of the same remedy) was effectual in arresting the effects of the drug in other two provings.
2. Mrs. G. took the tincture in 20 drop doses repeatedly throughout two days. On the third day dysentery and menorrhagia set in simultaneously. The blood was bright red. Other symptoms were?: headache, very weak and rest- less, sight dim, burning at the top of the head; the face be- came yellowish; breathing difficult; she became sad and mel- ancholy, with the profuse discharge of bright red blood; there were bearing down pains in lower abdomen.
3. Dr. G. took 40 drops in one dose. The result was frequent desu'e to pass water, which gradually became bloody and contained much blood. Then inclination to 30ugh, causing him to spit blood. Slight headache, giddi- aess and nausia. Sight dim, very weak and restless. The iincture was taken, three drops every two hours, and after :he third dose the symptoms vanished. Dr. Ghose relates iome striking cases cured with the remedy — dysentery — lematemesis — hemorrhage of typhoid — bleeding piles and jpistaxis.
COMMENTS AND EXPERIMENTS.
Having had opportunity to treat, in the practice of my )rofession, cases of hematemesis, epistaxis and menorrha- gia, I have never found the Picus Religiosa efficacious in hese cases, whether given in the tincture, three drops jvery dose to be repeated every three hours, or used in the hird, sixth dilution. This fact impressed me so much the Qore because the experiences of Dr. Ghose were so marvel- ous as to leave no doubt whatever of the efficiency of his emedy. Then I decided to repeat Dr. Ghose's experiments, rhich, considered attentively according to me, laid them- elves open to some criticism. In fact the dog took 40 drops f medicine the first day without exhibiting a single symp- om, while Dr. Ghose after only 40 drops had all the many lemorrhages he describes and that the dog had only after
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'606 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
a second dose of 40 drops given the day following the first
And why was it that Mrs. Ghose took the tincture in doses of 20 drops repeatedly for two days and only upon the third day had simultaneously dysentery, menorrhagia, etc.?
How can it be possible that two persons (leaving aside lihe dog) respond so differently to the same medicine? I do not know what Dr. Ghose means exactly by the word "re- peatedly," but thinking that he probably would wish to sig- nify at least four times in every 24 hours, Mrs. G. must have taken 160 drops of tincture before exhibiting the symp- toms that Dr. Ghose had after 40 drops taken at one time, and his dog after 80 drops taken in two doses, 24 hours apart. We do not know how much the dog weighed nor in fact the other two subjected to the experiment. We do not know what were the results of physical, chemical or micro- scopical examinations of their urine. We do not know after how many small doses of the tincture Mrs. G. was cured.
And is this treatment by little doses of tincture of the same medicine, that would have been curative, homeopa- thic? Our school is founded upon the law of the similar and not the equal or identical. And also using the same medicine in the same strength (in our case tincture) for cer- tain purposes, does not one increase the state of toxicity in which the organism is already found because of the preced- ing more generous doses of this identical medicine? At least one should use the dilutions of that medicine.
Let us take for example the serum anti-diphtheritic that Dr. Behring admits to have discovered guided by our law, and let us see how it is prepared.
A certain quantity of the diphtheritic toxine is injected in a horse, and after some days the serum of the blood is taken from this animal, and that contains the diphtheritic antitoxine. Now, considering the small quantity of toxine injected, the great volume of the blood of the hors^ and the fact that he absorbs large quantities of solids and fluids each day, we can understand how high is the dilution of the toxine, become antitoxine, because of the reaction of the organism, and the numerous biochemic changes that take
i
ON THE ACTION OF FICUS RELIGIOSA.
607
place in the organism itself. The enormous dilution of the medicine (serum) is proved by the fact that by no examina- tions, chemical or microscropical, can the antitoxine be de- monstrated; that it be similar but not equal or identical (the antitoxine to the toxine) is demonstrated only by experiment upon animals. So we know how many immunizing units a serum possesses in proportion to every gram of weight of the animal.
This is homeopathy.
But if we, instead of using the antitoxine in an individ- ual who had contracted diphtheria, and as a consequence already poisoned with the diphtheritic toxine, as a cure we use the toxine in repeated small doses, we would in this case increase the degree of toxicity of the organism and nothing else-
Therefore, as the properties of the antitoxine are differ- ent in everything from the properties of the toxine, so the properties of the other medicines diluted and potentialized* have also an action, a strength different from the crude drug. For example, lycopodium, as a crude drug has no therapeutic property, so much so that it has come to be used in the regular school as an inert powder for covering pills; potentialized it becomes one of the very useful medicines in our materia medica. The same may be said of lead, of sili- ca, of charcoal, etc. Now, take an individual with saturnine colic; we would not give as a cure (when the symptoms cor- respond to plumb, met.) doses of lead (in the natural state) even in minute and repeated doses, but we give the lead potentialized that has properties different in everything from the drug in nature.
A medicine highly potentialized has no more small par- ticles (molecules, atoms, ions) of the medicine itself, but of the emanations from the medicine, in the inert mediums in which it is prepared (sugar of milk or alcohol), which have therapeutic properties and virtues entirely diverse from the body from which they emanate. So, by rubbing rosin with wool, we have electricity.
But these attenuations, these dilutions or potencies,
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608 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
cannot be demonstrated either by chemistry or the micro- scope * ♦ * and what of that? Do we for that reason per- haps refuse to accept the anti-diptheria serum in our therapia, and is it not used also by the allopaths although it cannot be positively demonstrated ? But it is demonstrated specially. And this proves to us that there are in our organism, probably in our nervous system, balances of chemical reagents, infinitely more sensitive than any in our laboratories, that can respond to the infinitely small doses that today we cannot see or weigh. And as the least dis- turbance of the equilibrium of an apparatus so delicate can have most disastrous effects (for example, pulmonary cavi- ties), therefore when we remedy these balances that regulate the health, we cure the cause of the malady and with this the individual. And as the perturbation that produces the malady is small, the curative dose must be small (to every action a reaction equal and opposite). If the dose is too strong, the medicine produces in its turn a disturbance of those delicate balances or a medicinal disturbance. This is one of the great things of our school, that we never harm our sick. And this is already much if we consider for a moment the number of the sick killed by bleeding in typhoid and pneumonia and by other so-called energetic treatments that pass and then become again the fashion, methods of treatment that Bichat himself characterized with hot words, saying that the practice of medicine was repulsive and under some aspects unworthy of a reasonable man.
To a given dynamic perturbation there corresponds a given drug potentialized and when one has the ability to choose the drug that corresponds to the malady, the cure is certain. If we have not the fortune to choose exactly (corresponding exactly to the symptoms of the malady) we have done nothing, neither to the patient nor to the disease. We have for example a magnet with two poles, one negative and the other positive; if we advance toward the i)Ositive pole, a substance positively magnetized, it is repelled, but one negatively magnetized, is attracted.
My illustrious allopathic colleagues will have laughed
ON THE ACTION OF FICUS RELIGIOSA.
609
i^hen I said above that from very small causes one can have disastrous effects, as pulmonary cavities, but to me it seems that in the assertion made, there is nothing extraordinary. If you say: but tuberculosis and the consequent cavities we know well by what they are caused; they are the effects of the bacillus of tuberculosis, that upon contact with the mucous membrane of the small bronchial tubes and the alveolae, Rive the forms of twelve specific bronco-alveolitis with all the diverse manifestations of pulmonary tubercu- losis. This is true, but if one hundred persons inhale the same bacilli, why do only ten for example develope tuber- culosis ? Because they have the predisposition to take that malady; in other words, the means of defense of the organ- ism (fagocitosis, etc,) are weakened and, according to our idea, because in such individuals there exists dynamic per- turbations such as to render them easy prey to a tubercular infection. As a consequence, when we find ourselves con- fronting a grave tubercular process, we must not consider only the effect (pulmonary cavities), but correct the dynamic perturbation of the organism that will render it able to throw off such infection. Tolle causem.
It is difficult to explain with a material example how so small a perturbation, so small a dynamic disturbance of the equilibrium, easily corrected by a remedy adapted, similar and potentialized, can cause such fearful effects; but let us take for example a machine many millions of times simpler than ours; a perfect chronometer; let us imagine that the smallest grain of dust falls into one of its wheels and the chronometer stops. A very small cause; a great effect; a machine so useful is of no more use. Now if we subject the watch to rough handling, if we operate upon it with means not delicate at all, we may have as a result that this delicate machine is permanently ruined, but if we remove delicately the little grain of sand, the cause of all the perturbation, we will see that upon the instant the chronometer goes again. The grain of sand must be removed not violently but by mild and gentle means; in fact, in a manner similar to that with which it entered.
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610 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
#
But I see that I have allowed myself to be carried beyond my argument. I return therefore to describe my experiments upon the action of Picus Religiosa.
I must premise that the experiments were made in the presence of two doctors of the regular school, in a laboratory of medical chemistry that is certainly one of the best in the Capital. The doctors present were Dr. Biasiotti, director of said laboratory and able specialist in medical chemistry, and Dr. Mario Serena, excellent specialist of physical therapeu- tics.
In the first experiment four rabbits were used, weighing about Kg. 2 each; the tincture ficus religiosa was furnished us by the Chemist Pabi, Piazza di Spagna No. 4, of Rome. All the animals used were kept fasting for six hours and the medicine was administered after the fourth hour of fasthig. The 80th of May three of the rabbits were given forty drops of tincture by mouth and the fourth one forty drops of tincture by hypodermic. The 31st of May no special symp- tom exhibited itself in the animal during the 24 hours. Complete examination of the urine and feces, result normal. We gave again forty drops of tincture to the three and forty drops of tincture given hypodermically to the fourth rabbit.
June 1. The animals showed no special symptoms of any sort, and the examination of their urine and feces resulted normally.
At this point, seeing the experiment resulted absolutely negative, I began to suspect the tincture of ficus religiosa of the Roman pharmacy might not be fresh enough or well pre- pared; then I wrote to Dr. Willmar Schwabe, Leipzig, (Homeopatische Central- Apoth eke) and had fifty grammes of ficus religiosa sent directly to me, and we began again the experiments this time upon a dog in perfectly robust condi- tion, weighing Kg. 4,460 and upon a rabbit weighing Kg. 2,171.
June 10. With the animals fasting as above, we admin- istered forty drops of tincture each.
June 11. No symptoms were manifested during the 24 hours in the two animals and their urine and feces were nor-
J *-'.
FRAGMENTARY PROVINGS.
611
mal. We gave the dog another forty drops and the rabbit sixty drops of the same tincture, observing the fast as before.
June 12. No symptoms during 24 hours; feces and urine normal. The dog and rabbit were given 100 drops each of the tincture.
June 13, No symptoms during 24 hours; feces and urine normal. Therefore, the experiments proving absolutely negative, ceased.
I will make no comments. I hope only that the cele- brated Dr. Clarke whom I admire so much and who holds so high the name of homeopathy, will give his opinion about this drug. Only one thing I wish before closing, and it is that we homeopaths should work always in a laboratory in conjunction with our practice, because it is by means especi- ally of experimental methods that we can convince our colleagues of the other school and teach them a desire ta know and use the true art of healing, and to apply that which Haller said to them, indicating the method of experi- mentation with the drug upon the well man — sine peregrina ulla miscela; odoreque et sappre ejus exploratis, exigua Dlius dosis ingerenda et ad omnes quae inde contingunt affectiones quis pulsus, quis calor, quae respiratio, quaenam excretiones attendendum.
( Note — On receipt of the above paper, the undersigned procured from Messrs. Boericke and Tafel a vial of the mother tincture of ficus religiosa, and took, Aug. 19th 10 a. m., forty drops of it at one dose.
^o symptoms nor effect of any kind was noticeable. Aug. 13th Took 80 drops at one dose in one-third glass of water. No symptoms
noted.
J. B. S. King.
FBAGMENTARY PROVINGS BY THE BAYARD CLUB.
Miss A. took Natrum phos. 200 on May 16, 1907, every two hours. On May 20 hard, dry cough, with red, hot face during cough, > after meals, < on going to bed. At 11 p- m- Lying down does not < the cough; cough < going out from or coming into the house.
May 22 and 23. Sore throat on right side, felt like swallowing against something hard, (not a lump). Tickling
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6l2 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
on right side of throat. Knees feel stiff on rising from sit- ting during the day. Some aching under right scapula (an old symptom returned).
May 29. Cough >, throat >, knees >. Sharp pain to right of sternum, lower third, through to back. ItchinR in inner canthus of left eye, as though a crumb or other foreign body were in the eye.
Mrs. P., Oleum Santali 30 every two hours, May 31, 1907. Pain at McBurney's point with every cough, a single sharp pain. Nose stuffed. Cough < in forenoon before rising from bed and with expectoration. No expectoration during day. Expectoration not described. The pain in the abdomen is > by hard pressure. Cough appeared on June 2, third day after beginning the drug.
Por comparison. Allen's Encyclopedia gives under Natrum phos. Sensation of lump in throat, right side of throat sore. Sensation of pin pricking right side of throat. Dry tickling cough. Knees felt as if hamstrings were too short. Eyes feel as if sand were in them, mostly left eye. Inner canthus of right eye feel sore, wants to rub it. AMMONIA GAS. (Ammonium Causticum).
Head: Sharp pains through the temples momentarily.
NosE: Very dry; watery discharge from left nostril when going into the cold air. Coryza from cold air.
Eyes: Irritation, with lachrymation in the open air.
Throat: Raises a lumph of white mucus from the pharynx every morning.
Stomach: Appetite variable; aversion to food; hunger with desire to eat several times a day.
Abdomen: Offensive flatus < after eating.
Stool, and Rectum: Stool of normal consistency, but no desire to stool for two or three days, then frequent urg- ing to stool for a day, but with passage of small amount.
Stool dark in color.
Chest: Fulness and thumping as though the heart would burst through, together with intensely sharp pains in the temples. Pulse weak.
Nerves: Great languor > in the open air. Irresist- able desire to lie down.
FRAPMENTARY PROVINGS.
613
Partial collapse, < 4 p. m.
Physical depression.
Sleep: Wakefulness the first part of the night and un- til toward morning. Wide awake but not restless.
Temperature and Weather: Sensitive to cold (co- ryza), > in cold air (languor).
Time: Four p. m., (exhaustion and languor).
Position, Rest, Motion, Etc.: > in the open air (general state); < in the open air (coryzaandlachrymation). Sensitive to cold and change of air; < after eating (flatus).
Stages op Life, Constitution, Etc.: Mr. G., 45 years; shipping clerk in drug house; exposed to broken pipes of ammonia process in plant. Tall, spare, medium complexion. Never ill before this proving.
Relationship: Antidote to fumes and effects;. Nux vomica, partially.
MORPHINUM SULPHURICUM.
Mind: Dejected; anxiety; apprehension of incurability; self-pity; egoism; mind occupied with physical condition.
Eyes: Glistening, glassy, staring. Unnatural expres- sion. Pupils contracted, dilated; with sore throat.
NosE: Sneezing.
Face: Yellow, cachectic, red; throbs; sallow.
Mouth : Loss of taste.
Throat: Swallowing painful, solid food <; > from hot drinks. Dry and burning with fever. Congested, bright in color. Angina; pharyngitis; laryngitis.
Nerves: Hyperaesthesia of all senses. **At high ten- sion;" **on edge."
Rest, Position, Motion, Etc.: < from hot drinks; throat symptoms.
Chill, Fever and Sweat: Fever with throat symp- toms.
Sides: Right; throat symptoms.
Stages of Life, Constitution, Etc.: Twelve proov- ings, boy of 16 years, boy of 18 years, man of 23 years; man of 24 years, man of 25 years, man of 28 years, woman of 38
; m-fy
614 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
years, man of 48 years, woman of 49 years, single; single woman of 50 years, man of 52 years, man of 79 years.
Relationship: Similar, Capsicum, Esculnlus and Ly- copodium in the throat symptoms. Antidote to morphium sulph. Belladonna, especially in the throat symptoms. 30th centesimal potency used.
MAGNA EST TEEITIS ET PE^VALEBIT: SIMILIA S1M1LIBU8 CUEANTUR.
By Dr. Edward Mahony, Liverpool.
Although the Latins could not have had the light that is now to be had as to the final victory of truth over all untruth, enemies and obstacles, when they gave the above motto as the final victory of truth, they must, however, have had some distinct conviction that somewhere, some- how, by some means, there would be brought about this magnificent triumph. I desire in this paper to bring for- ward evidence to show that in the therapeutic sphere of knowledge the other motto above mentioned — Similia similibus curantur — proves itself ' equal to a full answer to the above expressed law of healing.
As this paper is to appear in a journal which addresses itself, in the first instance, to members of the medical pro- fession, I shall endeavor to state as briefly as possible, con- sistently with a clear expression of the x>oint at issue, what Hahnemann taught theoretically and practically of the nature of disease and its treatment; and what, if these in- structions were rigidly adhered to and were correct, we might fairly expect to secure in the science and art of heal- ing. To understand Hahnemann and to follow out practi- cally what he taught, three things I believe to be essential. They are:
(1) The nature of disease.
(2) The law of potentisation.
(3) A practical knowledge of the Materia Medica Fura, As to the first, Hahnemann states {Organon, Dudgeon's
translation, p. 52, § 9, 10, 11) : *ln the healthy condition of man the spiritual vital force, the dynamis, that animates the
MAGNA EST VERITIS ET PR^VALEBIT.
615
material beinfir« rules with unbounded sway and retains all the parts of the organism in admirable harmonious vital operatioir, as regards both sensations and functions . . . the materal organism , . . performs all the functions of life solely by means of the immaterial being (the vital force) which animates the material organism in health and in disease. When a person falls ill, it is only this spiritual, self-acting (automatic) vital force, everywhere present in his organism, that is primarily deranged by the dynamic in- fluence upon it of a morbific agent inimical to life; it is only the vital force, deranged to such an abnormal state, that can furnish the organism with its disagreeable sensations, and incline it to the irregular processes which we call disease."
As to the second, the law of i>otentisation, he states {Chronic Diseases, vol. i., 186-7) : **The peculiar mode iidopt- ed for the preparation of homeopathic remedies enables us to develop the medicinal virtues of a drug into a series of degrees of potency, and by this means to adapt the remedial influence of the drug, with great precision, to the nature of the disease . . . this discovery is due to Homeopathy.*'
As to the third, in the Organon (Dudgeon's translation, p. 113, § 106) he says: **The whole pathogenetic effect of the several medicines must be known, that is to say, all the morbid symptoms and alterations in the health, that each of them is specially capable of developing in the healthy indi- vidual must first have been observed as far as possible ... [p. 122, § 127], The medicines must be tested on both males and females, in order also to reveal the altera- tions of the health they produce in the sexual sphere [p, 129, § 144], from such a materia medica everything that is con- jectural, all that is mere assertion or imaginary, should be strictly excluded; everything should be the pure language of Nature carefully and honestly interrogated." These three points, then, of (1) the nature of disease, (2) the law of potentisation, and (3) the knowledge of a pure materia medica, are the tliree pillars on which firmly rests the whole fabric of the science and art of therapeutics, according to Hahnemann, in order to constitute a true physician, accord-
616 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
ing to the very first paragraph of the Organon (Dudgeon'» translation, p. 48) : **The physician's high and only mission is to restore the sick to health — to cure, as it is termed."
Now these three pillars, as I shall call them, are firmly, coherently, and immovably welded together by the great law of similarity, and before going further I desire to ex- press, in the most emphatic way possible, that Hahnemann taught, and I believe proved, that both potentisation and similarity were great laws of Nature, not empirical sugges- tions or hypothesefii, but proved facts, and as certain and reliable in their sphere as any other natural law, whether in natural philosophy, mechanics, chemistry, optics or any other science whatever.
Let us then consider his definition of disease— it may be expressed yet more briefly in two words, ''perverted dyna- mis." What is this dynamis, this force, in connection with our subject, the immaterial power or force which animates our bodies, cognisable only by its effects, commonly called life? Now this simple definition puts so-called pathology, which for the sake of distinction I will call material disease, in its right place as secondary to, or a sequela of disease, i, €., perverted vital force. How simple this is, and how differently the mind of the skilful healer, the thoughtful physician, will work according as he regards materiality in disease as the disease itself, its fona et origo^ or merely as a consequence of perverted vital force.
I will give an illustration from a simple case. Some years ago I was called to an old patient who had an attack of dysenteric diarrhea; there was nothing special in his gen- eral symptoms, or the pain; the stools were lumpy but with one peculiarity, namely, entire absence of odor of any kind. I remarked this to his wife, who at once replied that she had noticed it, and thought it peculiar. Now the late P. P. Wells gives in a small repertory of diarrhea and dysentery* under ''odorless stools,*' cethusa, asar, brom., hyos., paulL, and rhuf^. If there was one thing more than another which marked the morale of my patient it was restlessness — of mind and body that is, the one causing the other; therefore rhus-
MAGNA EST VERITIS ET PR^VALEBI
617
was at once decided upon and administered in the 200th potency, with most prompt relief and cure. Another case illustrating the importance of immaterial symptoms in chronic disease is the following:
A woman in the paulo-post period of life, and whose menses had ceased, some months at least — a drinking woman, in poverty, and who had been treated secundum artem allopathically, and by what may be called homeo- materiality, that is, Homeopathy applied on the material pathological basis. She had bronchitis, cardiac disease, ascites, and edema of thighs, and I found that since the commencement of menstrual life she had been subject to headaches during the menses, waking with them, accom- panied by depression of the spirits and palpitation, and since the cessation of the menses the headaches continued of the same character, and at periods somewhat corresponding to the times when the menses would have occurred. There- fore headaches of a certain character, with certain concomit- ants, and periodicity — all immaterial symptoms — called for nat mur.j which was given, one dose in the 30th potency, with immediate relief of the material symptoms of ascites, red flushed skin on the abdomen and edema, as well as relief to headaches. In about nine days, as matters seemed stationary, a second dose was given, and not long after lycopod. as symptoms indicating it appeared. The result was that this broken-down woman before long was out and about in her usual way, and did well for nearly twelve months. Of course the damaged lungs and damaged heart could not be restored, and when the next bronchitic attack occurred poverty necessitated her removal to the workhouse, and before long she died. The interesting question arises, had the apparently trifling symptoms of menstrual headaches in an adolescent at puberty been treated by the nat, mnr,, which the functional immaterial symptoms called for, would she not have been saved from a course of suffering, which possibly also tended to develop the drinking paroxysms ?
I return to the point, that objective phenomena, such as enlargement or misshape of organs or any tissue, in fact, of
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618 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
a material kind, that a physician can detect for himself, however valuable for completing diagnosis of the presoit condition of the patient, and prognosis as to probable results, are not the disease or the object of treatment. On the other hand, the subjective phenomena, of which the patient alone can inform us, constitute the disease so far as the physician is concerned, for in these will be found the individuality of the patient. In the first volume of the Chronic Diseases, pp. 21-22, is given a list of diseases, as expressed in ordinary pathological works, all of which, it is stated (with a few exceptions), originate in the widely ramified psora. Two expressions used will sum these up, namely, ''almost all adventitious formations," and **the tedious ailments of both the body and the soul." Then (p. 23), **psora, which forms the basis of the itch," **this psora is the oldest, most universal and most pernicious chronic miasmatic disease. . . ."It has become the cause of those thousands of incredibly differ- ent acute as well as chronic non-venereal diseases, with which civilized portion of mankind becomes more and more infected upon the whole habitable globe." Then, on pages 33, 34, he gives proofs that allopathic sources of the evil consequences resulting from the suppression of the cutane- ous eruption of the itch, including phthisis, carcinoma, swelling of bones, and death. In passing one may ask, could such results be possible, were the so-called **itch" caused by the introduction into the skin of a minute insect, called acarus scabiei ? In the cases gleaned from a variety of sources in the notes following, thirty or more cases will be found to have ended in death, from a suppression of a so-called eruption of the '*itch." This reminds me of a case in my own practice many years ago of a young lady, the victim of advanced phthisis, in whom it came to light, after many interviews and conversations with her mother, that when quite a young child she had had an eruption on one foot, which was called the itch, and of course suppressed. Her father had died of phthisis, yet neither of her two sisters nor her mother had any symptoms of this disease. Hahnemann further gives p. 72, and following a long list of
MAGNA EST VERITIS ET PRiEVALEBlT.
619
symptoms which he says are characteristic of the secondary diseases in which the psora generally terminates. These are of both kinds, material and immaterial, but the point is that all the sequelaa of the chronic miasmatic affection.
I come now to the second pillar of the homeopathic edifice: n^paely, the law of potentisation. As to this the following remarks may be quoted: {Chronic Diseases, vol. i., p. 186): *'The peculiar mode adopted for the preparation of homeopathic remedies enables us to develop the medicinal virtues of a drug into a series of degrees of potency, and by this mieans to adapt the remedial influence of the drug with great precision to the nature of the disease.'' Then (p. 187): **The alteration which is effected in the properties of natural substances, especially medicinal substances, either by triturating or shaking them in conjunction with a non- medicinal powder or liquid is almost marvellous. This dis- covery is due to Homeopathy. Besides this alteration of their medicinal properties the homeopathic mode of prepar- ing medicines produces an alteration in their chemical properties. Whereas in their crude form they are insoluble either in water or alcohol, they become entirely soluble both in water and alcohol by means of this homeopathic transfor- mation. This discovery is invaluable to the healing art."
This instruction, with confirmation of its truth, is re- peated with great frequency both in the Organon, the remaining volumes of the Chronic Diseases (Which deal with the anti-psorics), and the Materia Medica Pura, and makes it very evident that dynamic power, latent in all medicinal substances, but made evident by the processes of trituration or succussion, was regarded by Hahnemann as a part, and a most important part, of the art and science of therapeutics. It is a most necessary part to consider and to reckon upon if Aomeopathy is to have fair play in action. Correlatively with this, though I only mention it now in passing, will come the question of the repetition of the immaterial dose of the medicament.
I come now to the third pillar, the Materia Medica. The -definition above mentioned of a true Materia Medica, which.
fit
620 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE
as our author remarks, had never previously existed, evi- dently follows on the same lines. First, it is to be noted that nothing is to be accepted but facts, and these facts are to be learned from that most sensitive of all barometers or thermometers — the human frame.
It is quite in accord with the above teaching that the moral and mental symptoms should have the first and most prominent place. In the first volume of the Materia Medica Pura, the symptoms are given in the following order: verti- go, obnubilation, defects of the mind, defects of the memory, headache, internal, external. Then come the more bodily symptoms connected with the different regions of the body, fifty-seven in number, and in a note he adds: '*Those kinds of uneasiness and tremor which are simply bodily, and do not affect the mind, will be generally found recorded among the symptoms of the extremities, and the general affections of the body." The last things mentioned are changes occur- ing in the feelings, affections of the soul. I infer from these remarks and illustrations that the science of therapeutics deals with and carries off every victory on the ground of immateriality in disease, immateriality in medicinal agents, and that both are proven facts in the Materia Medica.
All other modes of treatment, dietetic, mechanical, sanitary regulations, changes of climate, etc., are all adjuvantia, but all put together never have and never will cure one single disease of mind or body. All adjuvantia that do not interfere with the action of the law of similars, and do not suppress external manifestations of disease, such as eruptions on the skin and mucous membranes, or discharges of all kinds, are admissible, and, in their place, useful and necessary, but will never cure.
What are the results that should be before the mind, and might fairly be looked for, were all treatment of disease consistently carried out on these lines, and in every case ? I submit the following as some of the important results: (1) Annihilation of disease; (2) improved vitality in the en- tire community; (3) longevity; (4) euthanasia; (5) great
MAGNA EST VERITIS PT PR^VALEBIT 621
r
diminution of suicides; (6) removal of sterility in either sex, especially, no doubt, in the female.
As to (1): It is plain that if treatment is always curative inaction, not merely palliative, and. never suppressive, the most long-standing and inveterate diseases must, though of course gradually, simply disappear. I recall a case of an elderly gentleman, who after thirty years of material-homeo- pathic or pathological prescribing for gout, coming under treatment, in which the medicines were selected by keeping Hahnemann's teachings in mind. The paroxysms, instead of about every six weeks, were prolonged shortly to three months, and at the end of two years *'gout" was no longer in evidence.
Of course, as Hahnemann points out, there are many cases in which, owing to the "image of the disease" having been suppressed and falsified, the right remedy cannot be found, and the vitality besides may have been so injured that there is not suflficient recuperative power. But this does not alter the greatness of truth, and must not be allow- ed to interfere with the diligence of the search to discover what disease (perverted force) was present before suppres- sion or palliation was resorted to. I would here remark on ^ • the importance of our not allowing the fascination of the statements issuing from the chemical, physiological, and pathological laboratories of our day. All such statements must necessarily come short of cure, as none of them take into account the entire being, though they may make the strongest assertions, ba'cked up apparently by unmistakable cures — the fact being that, where such cures are genume, there was some ingredient in the prescription or the article itself, if administered alone, that was homeopathic to that particular case, as Hahnemann points out in the so-called ''sweating sickness" of English history that the one medi- cine which finally proved successful has given abundant proofs of its homeopathicity to that terrible disease.
As to (2): This goes without saying, as also (3) longe- vity, (4) euthanasia. This also would be accomplished both in acute and chronic conditions. I recall a case of a woman,
/
622 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
a dispensary patient, with scirrhns, I think, of the left breast, in whom, though not able to do more, I succeeded in removing all pain, administering every medicine on the line of similars, and for the last six weeks of her life there was simply nothing to prescribe for, and she simply sunk at last from weakness — the vitality was gone. I recall another in an old gentleman, aged 70, dying with what might be called bronchitic asthma, and who had been unconscious for many hours. Observing the opium perspiration, snoring respira- tion and contracted pupils, a dose or two of opium caused a relaxation in one pupil and a modification in the r^- piration. Other cases might be mentioned. The great point, I believe, to keep before the mind is the difference between vitality and disease. All pains and abnormal sen- sations arise from disease, and were disease removed, when vitality came to an end, the individual would simply drop- dead.
(5) Great diminution in the number of suicides. How painful is the acknowledged increase of suicides in civilized countries, and how frequent the information that such an one had been suffering from insomnia, or had had the influ- enza and many drugs I
(6) Sterility. How common in the female sex is it that douches of all kinds are used per vaginam in all varieties of leucorrhea, and thus sterility is kept up. In the male how horrible are the consequences of suppressed gonorrhea, caus- ing often life-long suffering, and either sterility or, if poten- tiality remains, alas for the wife and probably the offspring also!
There remains the other side of the question. If these principles and the practice resulting be true, whatever con- tradicts them must be not only of no use but of positive harm, proportionately to the force with which such treatment assails the organism. There is no media via, and so-called **electicism" is probably the most harmful because the most plausible.*'
If Homeopthy contains, as it professes to do, according ^o its originator in the therapeutic sphere, * 'the truth, the
MAGNA EST VERITIS ET PR^VALEBIT 623
whole, truth and nothing but the truth," all that contradicts it must be false both in theory and practice.
Since writing the above, Jousset's paper** On Diagnosis," translated in the January number of the British Homeopathic Review, has come under my eye. The first thing that struck me after glancing through it was — if Jousset be correct, what has Hahnemann given us? However, he admits an experimental materia medica, and that is something, as Jousset himself will admit that experimental is something more than theoretical. To go through the paper in detail would involve a very great deal of time and labor, and it would be, I think, more profitable briefly to refer to Hahne- mann's own writings on the different points raised, and then others can judge on which side truth and proved fact lie versus assertion on theory founded on no premiss. As to the origin of the doctrine of psora, Hahnemann says (Chronic Diseases^ vol i , p. 16): **In case the primitive symptoms, which had been cured once already homeopathically, reap- peared in consequence of one of the above-mentioned causes [slight excesses at table, rough weather, etc., previously mentioned], the remedy which has been first employed help- ed again, though less perfectly, and still less so on being given a third time." Then, p. 17: **What, then, was the reason why the continued homeopathic treatment of the non- venereal chronic diseases should have been so unsuc- cessful ? Why should Homeopathy have failed in thousands of cases to cure such chronic ailments thoroughly and for ever? (p. 18): *'In trying to answer this question I was led to the discovery of the nature of chronic diseases. I had been employed day and night to discover the reason why. . . . I tried to obtain a more correct, and, if possible, a completely correct idea of the true nature of those thousands of chronic ailments which remained uncured, in spite of the incontrovertible truth of the homeopathic doctrine, when, behold, the Giver of all good permitted me about that time to solve the sublime problem for the benefit of mankind, after unc^asyig meditation, indefatigable research, careful observations and the most accurate experiments." Then
624 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
follows an account of the results of observed phenomena, summed up in these words (p. 19): **The first condition was to discover all the ailments and symptoms inherent in the unknown primitive malady." Where is theory or mere im- agination here?
As to the syphilitic and sycotic: On p. 124, in a note, is mentioned a case of syphilis, complicated with sycosis and psora, where he gave (1) remedies against the psoric miasma, then against the other two,. beginning with the one whose symptoms were most prominent at the time. All this is very practical at the bedside or in the consulting room. Hahne- mann's teaching gives positive instruction to act upon in treatment as well £ts diagnosis and pi'ognosis. As to the objection to names, this is merely because one symptom is laid hold of, e. g., dropsy, and thus the mind of the patient and of the physician is warped, and an entirely wrong im- pression given, both as to disease, prognosis and diagnosis, e. gr., whether the dropsy is scarlatinal, cardiac, hepatic, etc. A kind of dropsy — a species of fever — such expres- sions Hahnemann would have, which leave the door open for thorough individualism. The remarks on Hahnemann's directions for the treatment of cholera I do not understand. That he should have announced four medicines without any intimation of individualization of the patient, and corre- spondingly the remedy, would entirely contradict, or at least be inconsistent with the whole tenor of his teaching.
(1) Absence of Clinical Experience, — Jousset seems to me to fail in his remarks here to grasp the difference between clinical experience and the originality of a great natural law. The latter would enable one to treat a case of disease never seen before, or even which had never existed before, provided one could find symptoms present which were a simillimum to a known drug. .
In the case Dr. Jousset mentions, in which he says to treat a choleraic attack by tartar emetic would be "a very grave fault,'' it would, on the contrary, be the right thing to do, because prominent tartar emetic symptoms were more pronounced than those of veratrum. I know a veteran in
MAGNA EST VSRITIS ET PR/EVALEBIT 625
the homeopathic school who says that he was first led to mvestigate Homeopathy from noticing the valuable results of tartar emetic in a certain variety of cholera cases.
(2) Absence of Diagnosis necessarily involves the Absence of Prognosis. — Here, again, Dr. Jousset puts the matter the wrong way about. The physician who diagnoses according to Hahnemann knows that if he can find a simillimum to present condition of patient he can promise a cure of that, and can truthfully say that when that is cured further opin- ion can be given as to full cure, and so his reputation is guarded and the patient and friends are not unduly alarmed or are fairly warned in time.
(3) Therapeutic Illusion. — As to fevers, the indications calling for the different medicines would prove satisfactory whether the kind of fever were typhoid, typhus, or any other, and there would be no need of retrograde movement, fol- lowing the old school's bad lead of treating one symptom, such as heat, by exhausting cold baths, ice, or similar adjuvantia.
(4) Incompetent Men {and Women\ — Hahnemann was strongly against this, and even wrote, I believe, against a brochure published by one of his own daughters; but, at any rate, the physician who keeps closest to Hahnemann's teach- ing will have least annoyance from this source.
In the case mentioned at the end I decline to accept Dr. Jousset*s diagnosis of typhoid. At University Hospital, Liondon, in my student days, our clinical instructor, the late Sir William Jenner— a recognized authority on continued fevers, especially typhoid, which he had twice himself and so knew experimentally — always insisted that there must be continued high temperature, and this condition seems the opposite of the little girl LoUve, '^motionless in bed, face pale, and eyes closed; on the tenth day the pulse was weak and fluttering and the extremities cold.' If I remember rightly, also, the child had been nearly killed by drugging when Hahnemann was called in.
626 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE,
VEDICIL ETUICS.
By M. O. Terry, M. D., Mamaroneck, N. Y.
The father of medicine, Hippocrates, gave to the pro- fession a code of morals, which, like the Declaration of In- dependence, has within it all that seems necessary for the proper conduct of the medical man, as it, the Declaration, inculcates the principles of a republican form of government in its entirety*
The oath states: **I swear by Ai)ollo, the physician, and Aesculapius, and Health, and All-heal, and all the gods and goddesses, that according to my ability and judgment, I will keep this oath and this stipulation — to reckon him who taught me this as equally dear to me as my parents, to share my substance with him, and relieve his necessities if required; to look upon his offspring in the same footing as my own brothers, and to teach them this art, if they should wish to learn it, without fee or stipulation."
« • «
Concluding: "While I continue to keep this oath unvio- lated; may it be granted to me to enjoy life and the practice of the art, respected by all men, in all time! But should I trespass and violate this oath, may the reverse be my lot!"
In a work on Moral Philosophy of Medicine, there ap- pears the following, as taken from the American Medical Association, which it promulgates as a suggestive and ad- visory document to follow:
CHAPTER n.
THE DUTIES OP PHYSICIANS TO EACH OTHER AND TO THE PROFESSION AT LARGE.
Article I. — Duties of the support of professional char- acter.
Section 1. Every one on entering the profession, and thereby becoming entitled to full professional fellowship, incurs an obligation to uphold its dignity and honor, to exalt its standing and to extend the bonds of its usefulness.
Sec. 2. The physician should observe strictly such laws as are instituted for the government of the members of the:
mbdicXl ethics. 627
profession; should honor the fraternity as a body; should endeavor to promote the science and art of medicine and should entertain a due respect for those seniors who, by their labors, have contributed to its advancement.
Sec. 7. It is incompatible with honorable standing in the profession to resort to public advertisement, to publish cases or operations in the daily papers, or to suffer such publications to be made.
Article II. — Professional services of physicians to each other.
Sec. 1. Physicians should not, as a general rule, un- dertake treatment of themselves, nor of members of their families. In such cases they are particularly dependent on each other; therefore kind offices and professional aid should always be cheerfully and gratuitously afforded.
Sec. 2. All practicing physicians and their immediate family dependents are entitled to the gratuitous services of any one or more of the physicians residing near them.
Sec. 3. When a physician is summoned from a distance to the bedside of a colleague in easy financial circumstances, a compensation proportionate to traveling expenses and to pecuniary loss entailed by absence from accustomed field of professional labor, should be made by the patient or rela- tives.
Article VI. — Compensation.
Sec. 1. By the members of no profession are eleemo- synary services more liberally dispensed than by the medi- cal, but justice requires that some limits should be placed to their performance. Poverty, mutual professional obliga- tions, and certain of the public duties should always be rec- ognized as presenting valid claims for gratuitous services.
In this connection we note, however, that in Dr. Flint's commentaries he states that: '^Medical services rendered to members of the profession should be gratuitous, and that a request to present a bill for services should never be made, as such a request implies an expectation that it will never be complied with. Any pecuniary acknowledgment by &
628 THE MEDICAL. ADVANCE.
member of the profession should be made strictly as an hon- orarium.*'
Should a physician demand any fee for services to a member of the immediate family of another physician?
' Should a physician prescribe for himself or for his im- mediate family?
These questions are put in the National System of Mor- als, placed among other good things in the Moral Philoso- phy of Medicine. The questions are fully answered in the second chapter of the National System through the second article.
''Professional services of physicians to each other," whose provisions are that all practicians of medicine, their wives and * 'their children when under paternal care^ iare en- titled to the gratuitous services of any one or more of the faculty residing near them, whose assistance may be desired."
A physician afflicted with disease is usually an incom- petent judge of his own case; and the natural anxiety and solicitude which he has at the sickness of his wife, a child, or any one who, by ties of consanguinity is rendered peculi- arly dear to him, tend to obscure his judgment and produce ' timidity and irresolutidn in his practice. Under such cir- cumstances medical men are peculiarly dependent upon each other, and kind offices and professional aid should always be cheerfully and gratuitously afforded.
This article makes it very clear that the physician should not attempt to heal himself despite the ancient proverb. He should have his well selected medical advisor, as the lawyer has his legal advisor, and as the priest has his spiritual ad- visor.
Thus far it has been my aim to hold myself closely to the highest authority of moral ethics. It can easily be seen as we follow along the exacting nature of this grandest of professions. The surgeon or physician, in spite of his gen- ius for invention, cannot creditably secure a patent for any important device. His calling is based on human sacrifice. If he has been honest to himself, to the profession and to humanity, he made a financial sacrifice, as does tha priest in
MEDICAL ETHICS. 620
the interest of humanity when he decided to devote his life to its service.
For the same reason any communication to the public press, directly or indirectly, in the detail of an operation, either to show skill upon a poor patient or to show patron- age and surgical service for the wealthy, is considered un- warranted and outside of the moral code upon which emi- nent surgeons must ever remain.
When we consider the various schools of medicine, one cannot but be deeply impressed with the uniformity with which the moral ethics is observed. During my profession- al career, which began in 1872, it has not come to me by in- vestigation and ordinary sources that any surgeon has asked or demanded recompense for services to a fellow surgeon or practitioner, excepting in two cases, one of which was Sat- . terlee against the estate of Dr. Guernsey — an outrage which would not have been tolerated had he lived. We are indeed glad Dr. Satterlee was not a member of our school.
What one of us has not performed the most daring of surgical procedures for the purpose of saving a life con- nected, directly or indirectly in the medical brotherhood? Gifts expressive of appreciation have been offered and taken, but who of the surgeons wanted more than the satisfaction of having done a fellow in his humane calling a good turn?
I wish to say to. the surgeons at large, based upon my investigations, that no grander body of professional men exist, and to you who are at the top will say your eminence or distinction is most deserved, and the many humane sac- crifices you have made for the poor and in the clinic are only equalled by the brotherly love and the principle and venera- tion shown the Hippocratic oath you have so well observed in your kindness when the opportunity afforded itself, to the profession and its families.
The Senate of Seniors unanimously passed the following resolution:
Resolved f That It is the consensus of opinion of the members of the Seaate of Seniors that any violatioQ of theethicil questions involved in the following article by any member of the American Institute of Hom- eopathy would place such a person in a position for action by that body.
630 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE;.
CASE STUDY WITH REPERTORY.
By W. H. Freeman, M. D., Brooklyn, N. Y. A. R., age 19, blonde, blue eyed, bilious; constipated for six weeks; inactivity of rectum and no stools except- after a cathartic — chiefly comp licorice powder or fig syrup Headache, above eyes and in eyes, six weeks. >by a cathartic (entirely) <over right eye. Nausea with. >cold applications. > while Jying. <after rising from lying. Appears on waking mornings. Proceeded by a blurred vision or partial blindness which disappears as the headache comes on.
Sleeps soundly but is weary and unrefreshed on wak- ing.
Has always been a great milk drinker until present illness.
The important things in prescribing accurately are: First a careful, exact and complete image or picture of the disease in all its phases — pathologic, objective, diag* nostic, and subjective.
Second; a careful analysis of the findings — e. g., an accurate interpretation of the meaning of each phase and symptom, in so far as such is within our power; and a com- putation of the comparative rank or value of each symptom. A military company will have a captain, lieutenants, ser- geants, corporals and privates — all two-legged animals but differing markedly in importance. The same holds true in a company of symptoms.
Third; one or more good repertories to consult in-order to find all the remedies that show a similiarty to the rank- ing symptoms of the case.
To begin with the analysis, therefore, there can be no question but that the blurred vision proceeding headache is, of all the symptoms present, the most uncommon, constant and peculiar; and at the same time it is not s > bizarre or
CASE STUDY WITH REPERTORY. 631
intricate as to be unfindable in the records of proviQgs,or so apparently nonsensical as to cause any doubt of its genuine- ness, which often occurs in the*symptoms of certain types of imaginative patients.
Of my repertories, I find the most complete list of drugs for the symptoms. Pain begins with blurred vision: Grels*, Iris., Kali bi., Sepia, to which I have appended Lac def.) Psor., Sars. Which goes to show that one needs to keep constantly at work on his reperatory to bring it and keep it up-to-date and as complete as possible or he . will miss the remedy in a great many cases.
The next symptom to b^ considered is, for this particu- lar case, the inactivity of the rectum, and we find of the first seven remedies only four under this rubric: Lac def ., Psor., Sars., Sepia.
The next symptom of rank for the case is, the ''nausea with the headachd," and by exclusion we get: Lac defl., Sars., Sepia.
As a general rule in the ranking of symptoms in a case where some are of the same apparent age and probably due to the same cause, it is usually best, after selecting the leading characteristic which should preferably be one of few remedies if possible, to then take up the more common general symptoms of differently located parts of the body, because these generals must be covered and when symptoms of differing functions and organs are opposed in the exclus- ive method the process will usually rapidly eliminate unnecessary drugs, provided too many remedies were not in the captain rubric at the start off. Great care and fore- sight must be shown, however, lo have the initial list of drugs for this first rubric complete.
The next symptom to be considered will be headache >by cold applications, and none of the three remaining remedies are given under this rubric. Since Sarsaparilla and Sepia are two of the oldest and best proved remedies, it is fair to assume that they do not possess this symptom or it would be recorded. With Lac defloratum however, it is different — the latter being a modern addition to the materia
632 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE-
medica, bub little used and understood and never as thoroughly proved or tested. We can not legitimately exclude it therefore until after further consideration.
A careful study of Lac defloratum in Clark's Dictionary of Materia Medica confirmed the opinion that this was the only remedy which corresponded in every respect with the disease manifested in the patient; and also confirmed the opinion that this was probably a case of chronic milk poisoning. Not an impossible condition by any means.
Since none of the other head rubrics showed Lac.def., though it covers same according to Clark, it is easily seen how one may be led astray in the case of some of the newer and imperfectly repertoried drugs. This is one reason why the method just referred to is advantageous in repertory work, as the large general rubrics are most apt to be com- plete and the special and particular rubrics incomplete,
Lac. def. 200 (B. & T.) three doses, one every twelve hours, was followed by immediate improvement which has continued steadily for the ten days since administration.
A CASE OF POLYPI.
By Eloise O. Richberg, M. D., Chicago;
Case No. 1905. — Mrs. B. N. W., age 50, had been a pro- lific grower of nasal polypi for years, and had had them removed surgically once or twice a year. There was great distress before each opertion, much suffering and hemor- rhage at the time, and days and sometimes weeks of extreme debility and misery afterward.
During the year 1906 she was treated with Psorinum, receiving about five doses, but developed no aggravation of the polypi symptoms. The symptoms then changed, and a dose of Phosphorus was given. Shortly afterward she dis- charged, naturally, a polypus about three-fourths of an inch long, and under a continuance of the remedy, later another and smaller polypus was discharged. After this she devel- oped an aggravation of Phosphorus, — burning during urina- tion, which was every few minutes; prolapsus uteri, profuse bloody, yellow discharge from left nostril.
j
IDIOSYNCRASY IN REGARD TO EGGS. 633
Sepia gave relief within half a day, and she prospered on it until she felt np further need of treatment of any kind.
— Hering College Clinic,
AN IDIOSYOCBASY IN REGARD TO EGGS.
Doubtless there are persons with whom eggs are diffi- cult of digestion, but possibly M. Linossier indulged in a little exaggeration when, at a recent meeting of the Paris Society of Biology {Semaine medieale, December 6th), he declared that there were certain individuals to whom fresh hen's eggs were poisonous. Poisonous is a strong word to apply to articles of food capable of giving rise to digestive derangement, and such disturbance was jill that Linossier attributed to the alleged toxic action of eggs, though he did cite Brocq as authority for the statement that white of egg was capable of provoking urticaria. There is hardly any ordinary article of food which, wholesome as it may be for most persons, is not provocative of digestive disturbance with exceptional persons. Were we to class as poisons all articles that have that effect, there would be little left that could be looked upon as invariably nonpoisonous. But it is nothing worse than hyperbole to say that what is one man's meat is another man's poison.
[Had the learned editor of the Medical Review of Reviews, from which the above is taken, seen some of the cases cured by Perrum and Colchicum in the hands of the homeopath, he would be less skeptical regarding Linossier's assertions.]
MT VOW.
I will not be a coward and slink away when people talk of Colleges, because mine is not the largest in the land; on the contrary, I will take and make advantage of every opportunity to sing praises for my college of Homeopathy. I will no longer try to build up by tearing down; I will find no more fault, but will try to support my College by material aid and rational suggestions for its betterment. — Chironian.
The Medical Advance
A Monthly Journal of Hahnemannian Homeopathy A Study of Methods and Results.
When we have to do with an art whose end is the saying of human life any neglect to make ourselves thorough masters of it becomes a crime,— Habnbmavn.
Subscription Price - - - - Two Dollars a Year
We believe that Homeopathy, well understood and faithfully practiced, hM power to save more lives and relieve more pain than any other method of treat- ment ever invented or discovered by man; but to be a flrst-class homeopathic pre* Bcriber requires careful study of both patient and remedy. Yet by patient care it can be made a little plainer and easier than it now is. To explain and define sna In all practical ways simplify it is cur chosen nork. In this good work we ask Toor help.
To accommodate both readers and publisher this journal will be sent anti arrears are paid and it is ordered discontinued.
Communications regarding Subscrlptons and Advertisements may be sent to the publisher, The Forrest Press. Batavia, Illinois.
(Contributions. Exchanges, Books for Review* and all other communications should be addressed to the fiditor, 6142 Washington Avenue, Chicago.
SEPTEMBER, 1908.
iSbitodaU
Hering Medical College.— The next session will begin September 22nd. Dr. E. H. Prat will hold his Surgical Course in the forenoon of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thurs- day; the regular classes in the afternoon. This course is free to practitioners of all schools and to the students of the college, and is an extra inducement for every student to be
present at the opening day.
« ♦ *
The Southern Homeopathic Medical Association is an- nounced to meet at New Orleans, February, 1909, during Mardi-Gras. This is one of the most important of our inter- state societies. It was founded largely through the efforts of Dr. C. E. Fisher, and has done a grand work in popular- izing our cause in the South. There is no part of the coun-
EDITORIAL. 6K
try which needs active propagandism for Homeopathy more than the South, and notwithstanding the splendid work be- ing done by the state societies, every homeopath south of the Ohio river should earnestly join in maintaining this society. Now that the time of meeting has been changed to the festival season, in February, a good time for our north- em physicians to take a winter vacation of a few days, there is no doubt many will attend the meeting.
Membership is not confined exclusively to the South any more than is that of the American Institute. Every homeo- pathic physican is cordially welcomed, whether a member or not, and every homeopath is also invited to become a mem- ber and lend his active support. There is no initiation fee; the annual dues are $2. Dr. V. H. Hallman of Hot Springs is president, and Dr. Edward Harper of New Orleans is sec- retary.
* « *
British Homeopathy.— The question has often been asked, for many years: Why do not our British colleagues establish a homeopathic college in London? They have a large and flourishing hospital, there are many practitioners, and there is an urgent demand all over Great Britain for more homeopathic physicians. One of the best answers to this question that we have seen is to be found on another page under ** Comment and Criticism," by. Dr. Margaret L. Tyler of London. It is clear-cut and an admirable explana- tion of the predicament in which the homeopathic profession of Great Britain finds itself. Her proposal also, as giveil in her letter, is a practical solution of the problem. And this by a woman, again proving the old saying, that brains and mental acumen are not confined to any sex. We bespeak for
her two letters a careful perusal.
« * *
The Single Remedy and Single Dose is a problem which Hahnemann solved for himself in laying down the basic principles of the science: '*One single, simple medicinal substance at a time.''
Every remedy is proven singly on the healthy and to
636 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
comply with the requirements of simiiia must be given singly 1 to the sick to obtain the results expected or de- manded by the law.
The single dose is as logical as the single remedy. Wheu Hahnemann undertook to demonstrate that there were many methods but only one law, he appealed directly to the ac- tion of disease, acute and chronic, when allowed to run their normal course unaffected by medicinal action.
Can we do better in an attempt to illustrate the single remedy than to study Hahnemann's explanation in the Or- ganon: One dose; one infection, of tetanus, sepsis, tubercn- •losis, hydrophobia, yellow fever, Asiatic cholera, Lubonic plague, scarlatina, measles, whooping cough, small-pox, gonorrhea, syphilis, rhus poisoning, etc., etc., is suflScient to produce the effect. Perhaps in the entire history of drug- proving no better example can be found than the effects of a single dose of Rhus, and this may occur in susceptible per- sons who have not been within 100 feet of the plant.
These diseases, or effects of disease action, may be mild or malignant, according to the susceptibility of the persons affected. The single remedy, it is true, may be subject to the same limitations, the dynamic strength of the patient, yet, both in theory and in practice, it is the logical conclu- sion of scientific prescribing.
« * *
The Facts and Fallacies of medical education become more apparent as time goes by. In the address of the pres- id&nt of the American Medical Association at Portland a startling announcement was made that we have too many colleges and too many students: **that we graduate 2,000 more every year than can find places in which they can make a living.'' This announcement, apparently, was the keynote for the effort which has been taken to curtail both medical colleges and their graduates.
Now comes an announcement to the daily press, copied from the statistics published by the Journal of the American Medical Association^ showing a marked decrease in the num- ber of students, as well as in the number of graduates, for the
EDITORIAL. 637
last three years, on which the following comment is made:
That there will be fewer physiciaDS in the years to come, in spite of a largely increased population is shown by the number of graduates. The total for this year is 4,741, a decrease of 239 in a y^ar and of 623 in two years. There also is a net loss of 9 in the number of medical schools.
The efforts to improve the status of the profession in this country will meet with the hearty approval of every member of every medical faculty in the country. The home- opathic colleges were the first under the action of the in- tercollegiate committee of the American Institute to raise the standard of medical education and increase the time from three to four years, and the results of the effort are appearing in the qualifications of the graduates. This effort on the part of the homeopathic profession has been sec- onded by that of other schools until all have come up to the four years' standard.
And now examine the other side of the picture. While the allopathic schools graduate 2,000 students more than they can find places for, the homeopathic schools have 2,000 places more than they can find occupants for. There is a constant and growing demand all over this country for homeopathic physicians, and it is not merely for the empiri- cal homeopath, but it is for the better class, the true home, opathic prescriber. If the effort that is now being made to require the A. B. as a preliminary entrance to medical c:lle' ges succeeds, it will not only curtail the students now but seriously cripple the profession in the near future. After a young man has spent his money and his time to obtain an A. B. degree a small city is not large enough to hold him. The graduates of medical colleges will all cluster to cities of 100,000 and over, and the unfortunate people in towns or cities of from 1,000 to 20,000 inhabitants are bound to suffer. The young man is too highly educated to practice in the country, and nothing but the largest city will appreciate his efforts, hence it is possible to so increase the preliminary requirements for entrance to medical colleges as to * 'kill the bird that laid the golden egg.''
688 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Amerlean Patriotism as illustrated in the Poartii of July fatalities, notwithstanding every effort made to secure a "sane Fourth," presents its deadly column as before. The Journal of the American Medical Association, which has tabu- lated the fatalities for the last six years, has again conferred a f avcM* on the medical profession by calling attention in a recent issue to the results of 1908. The tribute which the American people pay to the toy pistol, the cannon fire- cracker and firearms in general is simply appaling, yet in Toledo, where firearms have been prohibited, there was no death, and but eight injuries. There were 6,623 cases reported^ with 163 deaths — Chicago, Cleveland and New York head- ing the list — and it is high time that the profession all over the United States made a united appeal to their patrons to do away with this insane patriotism. Celebrations that are harmless may be had without number, and the sooner other large cities follow the example of Toledo the better it will be for the nation.
The restriction or prohibition of the sale of firearms and explosioves and the substitution of sane methods of celebra- ting the anniversary are recommeded in the Journal of the A. M, A., which says editorially:
That the total number of injurieB, and also the total number of deaths from causes other than tetanus, were both greater than in an/ previous year since 1903, in spite of the widespread agitation against dangerous celebration that has been waged by the puhlic press for years, is striking evidence of the callousness and recklessness of the public Every one of these 5,460 injuries, 163 deaths, 104 blinded or half-blinded unfortunates represents an absolutely unnecessary and wanton sacrifice to a senseless and barbaric notion as to what constitutes a ''good time,'' and is an additional evidence of the cheapness of human life in tbe United States. Furthermore, the greater part of these casualties repre- sent actual violations of the law, for there are few towns or cities which ■have not statutes forbidding the use of revolvers and cannon crackers, at least, in Fourth of July celebrations.
But no matter how much agitation there may be, or how much legis- lation the **city fathers" may provide, the spirit of indepeodenoe continues to manifest Itself by violating every law of -public safety or common Reuse, and patriotism is attested by loss of lives, fingers, eyes and cuticle. All this absurd personal and civic mutilation is, after all, but one of the many manifestations of the disregard for life and property
EDITORIAL. 63*
with which our country continually shocks and amazes the rest of the world.
Baltimore and Toledo are reported as having practically prohibited all fireworks, with a very satisfactory diminution ip the acccidents of the day. With the example of these cities before them it is to be hoped ^at other communities will see the practicability of refusing longer to- tolerate the useless disorder, slaughter, destruction and waste to which they have submittdd every year without making any honest effort to- Buppress them.
ORTHOPEDICS AT HEBING COLLEGE.
In the catalogues of over twenty of the leading medical colleges of the United States, this subject is almost entirely neglected. Where it is taught, the ordinary text-books are used; perhaps it is well for humanity that there is so little teaching of that kind.
In the last 75 years, an entirely new system of ortho- pedics has been evolved by the Bannings. The father originated, and the son has continued it, until we have actually, a homeopathic system. The procedures are, of course, surgical and mechanical, but they are in strict accord with the law of similars. They will produce, when applied to well farmed persons, exactly the conditions which they will correct when applied to deformed persons.
The method is mainly suggestive to the muscles, and only the finer forces are used, in marked contrast to the plaster jacket and other severe contrivances which unsuc- cessfully endeavor to pull, push or compress a person into symmetry, and hold him there until the parts are so weak- ened as in most cases to be permanently injured, and in some cases to be beyond all hope of repair.
Hering is the only medical college in the world where this system is taught, and her graduates are the only ones so trained in the art of Orthopedics as to be able to bring deformed bodies into symmetry without pain, operation or confinement to bed. The students are enthusiastic over the clinical demonstrations of this method and the alumni would add greatly to their armamentarium and income by taking a post^^^raduate course.
640 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
The real importance of this branch of medicine is not appreciated until we consider the troubles that originate fi^om a primary curve or rotation at the junction of the dor- sal and lumbar 'vertebre. These are the principal diseases of the cord and brain; tuberculosis of the bones, lungs and viscera; many of the ailments of the stomach, and liver; pancreatic and intestinal troubles, appendicitis, and all dis- placements of the viscera, including those of the pelvic cavity. B.
The New York Homeopathic College. Under Dean Copeland the Chair of Materia Medica has been reorganized. Dr. R. F. Rabe is the head, with Dr. Stuart Close to teach the Organon — the Philosophy of Homeopathy. In Materia Medica, Dr. Rabe has the Seniors; Dr. W. H. Freeman, the Juniors; Dr. D. E. S. Coleman, the Sophomores; and Dr. Guy B. Stearns, the Freshmen, with Dr. A. E. Hinsdale on Physiological Materia Medica. This chair, the correct teaching of which is so vital to success, now has four well known Hahnemannians at the head of its staff.
In the College of Physicans and Surgeons, Denver, Dr. F. A. Gustafson, one of the best teachers in our school, has been unanimously elected Professor of Materia Medica and the Philosophy of Homeopathy.
The Louisville College has elected Alexander Vertes, M. D., Ph. D., H. M., Professor of Materia Medica and iPhilosophy of Homeopathy afid Professor of Clinical Medi- cine.
Don't incise a furuncle of the auditory canal. Tampon the canal with a wick of cotton or gauze saturated with liquor Burowii (acetate of aluminum), resorcin. alcohol, or balsam of Peru, and wait until pain has diappeared. Hot applications may be needed. A furuncle pointing and threatening to burst may be opened with a superficial cut. Avoid wiping the pus along the canal, the result is almost inyariably a fresh crop of furuncles.
[A furuncle treated as here recommended, paying no attention whatever to the underlying cause, will almost i-n'vi-riably result in a fresh crop. Furuncles are evidences of sickness and should never be treated locally. Ed.]
Comment anb Cdtidsm.
THE LONDON HOMEOPATHIC HOSPITAL AND HOMEOPATHY.
L>EAR Dr. Clark : You know our difficulties at the hospital— they are the difficulties of Homeopthy in England.
No schools to train men — uo men co do the training if we had schools — no men who would consent to be trained by any men we could get together for the purpose; a hospital, insufficiently manned, even now, and soon to be extended; an urgent need for a constant stream of good homeopaths, not only to improve iis present methods but to prevent its falling by and by into the hands of surgery and Allopathy.
Residents (internes) come to us with a view to learning Homeopathy. We give them no training, and we disgust them, and cause them to deride by the spectacle of, say, Dr. Dyce Brown solemnly holding forth to an audience composed of the two gynecologists of the hospital on the diagnosis of pregnancy! And this by way of spreading Homeopathy I
.Till a couple of years ago, when I appealed to my father, there was not a single book of homeopathic reference that a resident could lay his hand upon. He bad never heard of such a thing as a repertory, or been taught to use one, and this is a homeopathic hospital! He came to us with the gibe, **Buy a plark's Prescriber and carry it in your pocket. That is all you want to be a homeopath!"
After a year of self- training and experiments on the patients, and a little pleasant surgery, we turn these men out as **homeopathlc doctors,'' and some of the lay people who are keen tell me the result in very plain language. Of course a good man will laboriously train himself and work out his own salvation — but he is apt to get looked upon as a dangerous possible rival who had better work — anywhere else and as far away in the country as possible!
Again the patients come to us for homeopathic treat- ment and we put them into the hands of the resident, raw from an allopathic school, or blundering in his initial ex-
642 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
periments for the first critical hours of illness, when the right remedy would abort or modify the trouble in a way that no remedy on earth will do so effectually a few days later when actual time tissue changes have taken place. How much better our results would be and how much more honest would be our attitude if we had men, trained in a hoine- opathic school, as residents. And we must have results to appeal to ^hen, by and by, our time comes to clamor for a school of medicine of our own. If we had the money, the buildings, the licensing faculty at this moment they would be of no use to us. We have not the men. We have no men, or hardly any, who would appeal to young post grad- uates fresh in all the modern developments of science.
The whole thing has seemed to me a deadly deadlock— the most vicious of vicious circles— till suddenly 1 got an inspiration.
You people have sent one or two men to America, but after they had been at the hospital — and their larday train- ing has been no use to the hospital — useful to nothing but themselves and their private patients.
Now, my idea is to send your young doctors first to study in the homeopathic schools of America, where they can see the best work done and know what to expect of Homeopathy and how to use it; and see what homeopathic schools are like and realize how necessary they are to our very life in this country. Then only take them on at hos- pital as residents after they have got certificates from such schools.
I am told that €150 each is all that is required and that a six months' course ought to give them some insight into Homeopathy. I propose to send one such scholar myself each year, for the present at all events: and my mother will gladly send two, and I have no doubt that other people, anxious as to the future of Homeopathy, will be glad to send scholars.
In this way we shall be able to get, by degrees, quite a number of qualified men who have seen good Homeopathy under the best teachers in the world, who will be fit to as-
COMMENT AND CRITICISM. 648
8nme the care of our in-patients, who will be only too keen to be appointed to hospitals where they will be able to put in practice what they have learned, and who will tend to make our results, in time, something that we can appeal to. They must also, by weight of numbers and of better knowl- edge, gradually reform the practice of our hospital by mak- ing the lazy and effete impossible, and we shall have a healthier and a militant tone.
Also, in the course of a few years, we ought to get such • a number of good homeopaths in this country as to be able to bring pressure to bear on the licensing bodies, with a view to establishing our own homeopthic school of medi- cine. And with a view to our carrying weight with the public and with the profession I should propose that we select most carefully and only send out as scholars men with good qualifications and abilities. We must try to rob the allopaths yearly of their giost brilliant men. The rest are of no use to us.
This is the only way I can see in which we can ever hope to get a school of homeopathy in this country. It is useless to import men from America; they would have no qualifications here, and we should make their lives a burden to them. We have just got to use the tools at our com- mand; to employ the schools of America as a lever, to raise ourselves out of our hopeless and somewhat unsavory rut.
At the hospital the House Committee is, I believe, en- thusiastic about this scheme, simple and uncostly. Arm- brecht is also enthusiastic; but he says, '*Start at once; try to get, not three, but a dozen scholars each year.'* I am not sure that he will not give one himself.
Details have not yet been worked out.
It will be a condition that the men serve in the hospi- tals, or if there are many, in one of our honiieopathic hospitals for a year. The other hospitals also want men and one does not hear very good accounts of their work.
Now, Dr. Clark; a better scheme. Shall we swear that we will not die till we have a school of Homeopathy in
644 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
England? Or shall we at least swear to do our best to that end?
Yours sincerely,
M. L. Tyler.
P. S. — I also propose that the scholars be instructed to report for their benefit and ours cases of good drug action with indications on which prescribed, potency and repeti- tion. These we will publish.
I propose also that we waste no money, no men, in sending scholars to study gynecology, or any other "ology" in Vienna or any other centre. The one thing we have to teach is the scientific prescribing of medicines.
Also that our efforts go toward providing a fund the in- terest of which will send out scholars till we get the school. Then the fund will belong to the school.
MEDICINE AND HERESY.
Editor Westminster Gazette.
Sir: Will you permit me, through the medium of jour columns, to draw attention to the latest manifestation of that Odium Medicum that has done so much to hinder the pro- gress of medicine in this country.
My mother. Lady Tyler, and I are offering * 'three schol- arships of £150 each to fully qualified medical men desirous of studying Homeopathy in the schools of America," and an advertisement to that effect was sent to two of the leading "medical journals, the Lancet and the Practitioner^ to be in- serted in the usual way and paid for. It was promptly re- fused in the following terms: The Lancet **regretsthat the advertisement cannot be inserted;" the advertisement man- ager of the Practitioner **much regrets that the Editorial Committee will not allow him to accept the advertisement."
Can anything be more absurd than such a refusal? Are * 'fully qualified medical men" mere children, to be carefully guarded from the temptation to acquire a little extra knowl- edge that might prove useful to themselves and to their patients? Surely they are capable of deciding for them-
COMMENT AND CRITICISM. 615
selves whether or no they desire to study the science of drug prescribing — for that is what Homeopthy really amounts to. What possible harm can it do them to know that they are offered a chance of acquiring fresh insight into the art they profess to practice, and that in no hole-and- corner way, but by means of lectures and clinical teachings in the regular medical schools of a friendly State? Surely it is time that this puerile boycott should cease. Do the ex- ponents of the old school look upon medicine, in this twen- tieth century, as a mere creed with dogmas — that it should be a question of orthodoxy and heterodoxy? And is medi- cine here, today, in such a state of scientific perfection that no knowledge outside that taught in our own medical schools can conceivably prove helpful to its practice? ^
In America, where Homeopthy has its own schools and hospitals in abundance, and turns out a couple of hundred fully qualified medical practitioners every year, the. Odium Medicum has pretty well died a natural death. For the old school, having once discovered that to write up the word ^'homeopath'' means practically to get all the patients with long purses — since the mass of the educated classes over there will have homeopathy and nothing else — has bent the knee. **Take down that horrible word," has been the cry, **andwewill live together in peace. Incur difficulties we will come to you for suggestions, and in yours you shall come to us. We shall cease from war, and from henceforth dwell together as brethren'* — which has happened to a great ex- tent; with the result that, in America, homeopathic drugs are being more and more adopted by the old school, and thence filtering through into our own pharmacopoepia, where they are easily recognized as such, being prescribed, more homeopathicOi singly and in the form of tinctures.
In this country, where the licensing power is entirely in the hands of the old school, ignorant of and bitterly prejudiced against Homeopathy, the latter has to contend with overwhelming difficulties. Instead of the science of drug prescribing being diligently taught, as it is in the homeopathic schools of America, from the very first mo-
646 THE Medical advance.
ment to the very last of the curriculum, with examinations every three months in order that the peculiarities of drug action may be thoroughly mastered, in this country it is merely picked up as an extra by a few enthusiasts, who have accidentally seen the Homeopathic miracle work, and wish to perform it, but who have all their experiments to make de novo, all their experiences to struggle through with very little help and every discouragement; and Avho are, there- fore, penalized by all sorts of disadvantages and disabili- ties and have to endure professional boycott for the rest of their lives. But truth is hard to stamp out, and a small spark kindles again and again great fires; and those who have a law of nature at their backs are apt to do such bril- liant work as keeps scientific medicine alive, and must mean its final vindication in this country also. During the last few months, for instance, one of our keen younger men tells me that he has treated sixty cases of diphtheria home- opathically, without antitoxin, and that he has only lost one case out of the whole sixty; and his experience is by no means unique in Homeopathy. Can orthodox medicine, with antitoxin, match that? Not in the town where he practices, at any rate! The statistics of the regulars there are shock- ing.
But Homeopathy, like every other science, will do its best work only in the hands of the best men, systematically trained under the best teachers, and that is why these scholarships are offered. They are merely meant as a be- ginning. It is hoped that in future, as the importance of the question becomes appreciated, a large number naaybe forthcoming every year; for it is only through the best men and by the best work that public and medical opinion can be influenced, and the time hastened when Homeopathy shall claim her own schools in this country also, by reason of her wide and beneficent work in the combating of dis- ease and pain.
Your obedient servant,
M. L. Tyler, M. D.
London, Aug. 13, 1908.
NEW PUBLICATIONS. 647
NEW PUBLICATIONS THE LESSER WRITINGS of C. M, F. von Bonninghausen. Com- piled by Thomas Lindslej Bradford, M. D., author of *'Ljfe of Hahoeman/' "Homeopathic Bibliography," "Index of Proyings," *' Pioneers of Homeopathy," etc., etc. Translated from the original German by Professor L. F. Tafel. 350 pages. 8vo. Cloth, $1.50. Postage 15 cents. Philadelphia. Boericke & Tafel. 1908.
The homeopathic profession should be profoundly grate- ful to the compiler, translator and publisher for this work, the lesser writings of the sage of Munster, the Nestor of Homeopathy.
These letters and papers embrace much that every student of our science should read, should be familiar with in the early history of Homeopathy. Besides his Therapeu tic Pocket Book, the best working repertory ever compiled his Whooping Cough, Sides of the Body, Drug Affinities Intermittent Fever, Anti-Psoric Remedies and Repertory and his device for finding the Characteristic Value of Symp toms arc now invaluable. His letters to RunmeL Stapf and other colleagues and his intimate and friendly, even frater- nal relations with Hahnemann, render many of these papers classic, especially the Three Rules of Hahnemann.
It is often asked: **How high potencies did Hahnemann use in the last years of his practice ?'* BOnninghausen here gives a number of patients cured with the 200th, 1000th and 1500th in April, 1835, eight years before Hahnemann's death, and we may safely conclude that Hahnemann used these potencies of Jenichen and Korsakoff at this time.
THE CHRONIC MIASMS: SYCOSIS. By J. Henry Allen, M. D , anthor of '^Diseases and Therapeutics of the Skin'* and '* Psora and Pseudo- Psora.'* Professor of Dermatology, Hering Medical Col- lege. Pages 42.3. Cloth, $3.00. Published by the author. Chi- cago, 1908.
This work is dedicated to "that devoted band of physi- cians, natives of India and graduates of Hering College" who are doing such a grand work for Homeopathy in their native land.
648 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Of its 423 pages, the first 165 are devoted to an explana- tion of gonorrhea, acute and chronic, and a differentiation of sycosis and the sycotic diathesis. It is an attempt to eluci- date and clear up the great sycotic problem, constitutional and inherited sycosis, of which Hahnemann, in the Chronic Diseases, left us but three pages. Little or nothing is to be found in the text-books on this disease; inhented gonorrhea being by many specialists considered impossible, or from the viewpoint of modern pathology an almost unknown diathesis. Hahnemann gave it the name by which homeopaths under- stand inherited, tertiary or latent gonorrhea, sycosis; but while we have studied and relieved many patients suffer- ing from the ravages of this curse of the human race, we have done it without any clear understanding of its nature or pathology. Inherited syphilis is well understood; but of the constitutional effects of suppressed gonorrhea — inher- ited gonorrhea, sycosis — little is known. It is nearly 30 years since Neisser discovered the gonococcus, and when it is found in pneumonia or other acute diseases, many years after infection, the significance of the diathesis demands at- tention. It is this knotty problem of which so little is known that this work wrestles.
It is a companion work to Psora by the same author. The rest of the book is devoted to the therapeutics of syco- sis, acute and chronic gonorrhea, in both male and female, and is perhaps the best compilation on the therapeutics of the subject to be found in our literature.
Books received too late for review:
Health and Beauty. By John V. Shoemaker. Pp. 476, octavo. P. A. Davis Coy, Publisher.
Heredity and Prenatal Culture considered in the light of the New Psychology. By Newton N. Riddell. Pub- lished by the author. Chicago, 6328 Eggleston Ave.
Sex of Offspring. A Modern Discovery of a Prime- val Law. By Prank Kraft, M. D.
The Medical Advance
'^£7^ ■^^
Vol. XLVL
BITAVIA, ILL., OCTOBER, 1908. No. 10.
PHILOSOPHY ON HOMEOPATHY.
By Dr. J. C. Hallo way, M. D., Galesburg, 111. Read before the lotertional HahnemaQn Association, Ohicagfo, July 1, '08.
PART 1.
The constitution of medicine as a science demands cer- tain indispensible prerequisites to successful t>rescribing, all of which are found in Homeopathy and nowhere else. The practitioner must, therefore, adapt himself to these princi- ples or forever isolate hiiQself from the only system of cure known to man.
1. The first problem before the physician is: How to ascertain the nature and properties of each particular sub- stance which is to be employed in the treatment of the sick.
That the curative principle in medicine is not in itself perceptible is undeniable. Neither the color, taste, nor any other sensitive property will, in itself reveal the mystic power which Almighty God has hidden within the inner na- ture of each individual drug. Whether a drop of tincture or a grain of mineral, all that can be seen, or felt, or tasted, or smelt, corresponds to the hull. But where is the kernel? Where is that which is capable of deranging the vital force of the human organism and of thus altering its functions and sensations? It cannot be perceived by any of the natural senses, not even when assisted by the most powerful aids which the ingenuity and inventive faculty of man can sup- ply. It is even beyond the realm of human reason. It is "spirit like!'* But that power in drugs which cures human ills, mysterious as it is, is not more so than that force of the human body which it is to influence simultaneously with the
^1
650 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
physician's high and only mission. Scalpel in hand we in stitute a scientific search for that force. Aided by the most powerful microscope we scan the human structure from its integument to its most internal cell, only to learn that eye hath not seen, nor finger touched, nor reason discovered that mighty energy, that invisible power! It, too, is "spirit like!"
So we decide to join Hahnemann, our medical guide, whose memory is enshrined in the work he accomplished and in the hearts of all who have been able to appreciate him, in his decision that the power hidden in the inner na- ture of drugs is the curative power, and the animating force hidden in the human organism is the vital force, and that each is spirit Jike! The same hand that hid the one in the vegetable, animal and mineral kingdoms, secreted the other in the human body. The divine fiat has decreed that the spirit-like vital force which controls the harmonious action of the human organism shall not be deranged except by a spirit-like, dynamic power; that spirit-like must act upon spirit-like; dynamic upon dynamic. This picture in one view; and a fly carrying a germ of typhoid fever in an- other portray the contrast between truth and error on the medical canvas of the present century. Inasmuch as the vital force is itself a dynamis our master wisely concluded that tinctures should be succussed and minerals triturated, not that their material elements might thus be better adapt- ed to the size of blood corpuscles, as some have erroneously concluded, but that by the process of dilution and potentiza- tion the hidden power of drugs, the drug-dynamis, might be unfolded and developed as a spirit-like power, absolutely free from the material substance, and thus be brought into correspondence with the dynamis of the human system. This dynamization of drugs involves the scientific process of the transplantation of the medicinal force from the sub- stance of the drug to the substance of the vehicle used for dilution; and the transplantation again of the drug-spirit from the dilution to the vehicle used for medication when prescribing; and again the transplantation of the drug-spirit
^■m
PHILOSOPHY ON HOJ^EOPATHY.
651
from this vehicle, through the sentient nerves to the vital force of the human body.
Upon this hypothesis rested Homeopathy as Hahnemann left it; upon this it rests today, and upon this it must ever rest so long as there is a vital force to become deranged and a drug force to cure. Hence, if we ever discover the cura- tive principle in a given drug; if that principle is ever fully revealed to mortal man, it must be by the transplantation of that drug-spirit to the spirit-like vital force of the healthy human body. If the latter is deranged by it as evidenced by signs and symptoms, thus revealing its sick-making power, then we can conclude with absolute safety and cer- tainty that by some rule, some law, the once hidden power of that drug possesses a curative principle, and that by this experiment on the healthy subject its curative principle is revealed.
The crude idea of some materialists that the sick-mak- ing power of a medicine must be ascertained by the toxical drug is completely overturned by the fact that some sub- stances in their crude form are absolutely inert, but when dynamized and thus tested, prove to be most powerful; and secondly, their doctrine is set aside by Hahnemann in the following words: **Themost recent observations have shown that medicinal substances, when taken in their crude state by the experimenter for the purpose of testing their peculiar effects, do not exhibit nearly the full amount of the powers that lie hidden in them which they do when they are taken for the same object in high dilutions potentized by proper trituration and succussion, by which simple operations the powers which in their crude state lay hidden, and, as it were, dormant, are developed and roused into activity to an incredible extent." Thus it is that the curative principle of any drug is revealed by the impact of the drug spirit upon the spirit like vital force of the healthy human body. If this lesson were better understood we would have more Hahnemannian physicians, more successful prescribers and more ideal cures, cures which are rapid, gentle and perma- nent. This lesson understood, high potencies would not be
652 ' THE MEDICAL ADV*A*NCE
questioned in the treatment of the sick. It is worthy of re- mark that one of the very first evidences of materialistic views held by some so-called Homeopaths is, they find fault with Hahnemann's provings, deny the pathogenetic effects attributed to high potencies and suggest the advisability of making new provings of the old remedies by a method which shall modernize them and make them more practical. Behind such a plea lurks the most palpable materialism, ignorance and downright infidelity respecting all Hahnemann has taught as to the curative power of drugs being "'spirit- like." Therefore, I emphasize the importance of dynamic provings, provings which develop the finer shades and bring within our reach cures which would otherwise be impK)ssi- ble.
PART 2.
2. The second prerequisite is: The law of selection by which a given medicine may be singled out from all others whose curative principle has been revealed by the same in- fallible method.
This law is known as the law of similars; and without stopping to explain its details to this representative body which knows them so well, I wish to discuss briefly our right of calling our therapeutic rule a law. Our physiolc^- cal brethren scoff at a therapeutic law; but the true Homeo- path has the satisfaction of knowing that he has a therapeu- tic law which, in every case,!imakes a cure possible, and one which explains upon a scientific basis why a medicine is a specific in one case and not in another, though the patho- logical name is the same; and this must ever remain a mystery to the physician who has not been initiated into Homeopathy as Hahnemann taught it.
The general, comprehensive definition of law, as de- fined by Blackstone, is: '*A rule of action;" and this ap- plies whether pertaining to animate or inanimate objects. In our case the ** action" is that of selecting a given medi- cine as a specific for a given individual sickness. He says: '*Law is a *rule* because it is something permanent, uniform and universal." Here we welcome the definition and analy-
PHJLbSOAH^OK' HOkWoPAfrHY.
653
«is of the great coniment^tor, antJ submit that in Homeopathic prescribing our therapeutic law is ^permanent, uniform and universal.' " In defining tliese terms we shall quote from Web- ster: *^*Permanent, durable; lasting; continuing in the same state, or without any change that destroys the form or nature of the thing." Human laws and institutions maybe to a degree permanent, but our therapeutic law, like the xjharacter of God, is unalterably permanent. It is based on no theory as to the action of drugs, and it involves no theory whatever. It rests on the fact observed, that a drug will remove a group of symptoms in the sick if it has produced a similar group in the healthy. The law is simple, clean- cut and decisive. It does not rest on speculation, human theories and probabilities, but is definite, invariable and certain. It is not a shifting principle and can never become obsolete. It is as durable as man and as lasting as time. It is, therefore, permanent.
After the lapse of more than a century, the pathogene- sis of belladonna as ascertained by the pure experiments and keen perceptive powers of our Hahnemann, is its patho- genesis today, and will continue to be until the trumpet sound! Any medicine will remove in the sick symptoms similar to those which it has produced in the healthy, and do it always, among all nationalities, and in all ages. It will never fail. This law is as permanent and unchanging and unchangeable as the law that causes water to seek its level, or an apple to fall to the ground. It is hence a therapeutic law, permanent, fixed, exact, unchangeble, enduring and always reliable. It does not change with the moon, the seasons, nor the precarious tastes of men. It never has and never can be so unstable as to be Voted in one year and voted out the next. Unlike its- foes who have rejected it, it iihangeth not! It is not elastic that it may be stretched, and will not accommodate itself to the most autocratic. It was fixed in its limits and in its operations by Creative power for the scientific amelioration of His creature, man, and like its infinite Author, is the same yesterday, today and forever. The discovery of this therapeutic law, by which the specific
654 THE MEOIPAL ADVANCE.
lor each individual sickness may be choseu with certaintiy» and the invention of dynapiization, by which drug-spirit is- liberpited and set free from its material substance and by which its spirit-like power is intensified, made Samuel Hahnemann the peer of all men in the medical annals of the world.
(b) ** Uniform — Having always the same form or man- ner, not variable. Thus we say the dress of the Asiatics is uniform, or has been uniform from early ages." The law of similars is as uniform and invariable as the dress of the Asiatics. It always has this form: The medicine prescribed must have produced in the healthy an image of sickness similar to that in the patient. To the extent that men have attempted to alter this law in practice while professing to follow it in theory, to that extent have they repudiated the only law of cure known to man, and justified the master in his appropriate appellation when he styled them **the new mongrel sect.** We submit without fear of successful con tradiction, that this therapeutic law is invariably **uniform" in the hands of all who practice homeopathy.
When a so-called Hahnemannian physician tells me that be used to lose all his cases of malignant diphtheria,or about all, especially when the membrane extended to the nose or larynx, or both, when he relied upon his potencies, but that now he knocks the spots right out of all of them with anti- toxin, I conclude at once that there is something radically wrong with his homeopathy. One thing certain: It is not the kind Hahnemann taught and practiced. The idea of a homeopath casting aside his therapeutic law and adopting a fad or fancy without law, whether from the old school or any other source, is most preposterous. The only condition under which I would use anti-toxin, whether for my own or another's child, is to first dynamize the stuff, then test it on the healthy and ascertain, according to law, when to use it Those who have learned so little or diverged so far as to prescribe a medicinal substance for the iron-bound title of a so-called disease, as for instance, quinine for chills, opium for pain, or anti-toxin for diphtheria; or who under any cir
PHILOSOPHY ON flOMBOPATHY.
655
ciunstances prescribe a medicine whose curative principle has never been revealed, but who nevertheless prescribe it in an empirical fashion because some drug house or its repre- sentative says it is good for this or good for that, are not practicing according to the law of similars and are not amendable as homeopaths.
The baneful effects of allopathic treatment with homeo- pathic medicines; of the physiological treatment of a diag- nostic name, have poisoned homeopathy to its very fountain. The supporters of this spurious doctrine do not seem to realize that the real progress made by the dominant school has been in the line of diagnosis, surgery and sanitation; and that in therapeutics they possess no surer means of cur- ing a sick man today than they had a thousand years ago; that all their serum treatment is for the disease and not the patient, a theory which always has and always will prove futile, and that the only effective specific which they have ever discovered is the open air! I have never known a man to undertake a criticism of homeopathy as Hahnemann taught it, or of the homeopathic materia medica as he fur- nished it, who did not make an ass of himself and betray his woeful ignorance of both. Homeopaths of this stamp do not represent homeopathy. On the contrary, they have the right to full membership and to all the immunities and blessings in Hahnemann's **new mongrel sect" which is now old, in which, like the heathen, they have **a law unto them- selves." Medical drummers have a fashion of showing their order book to prove how many homeopaths have ordered this preparation for piles, that for bronchitis and the other for eczema; when, in fact, there is not a homeopath on their order list.
True homeopaths, when imposed upon in spite of all protests will cram their literature in the waste basket and order their samples buried where they can not harm chil- dren and innocent animals; for they need nothing but their dynamic remedies for hemorrhoids or anything else that is not strictly surgical. Right here I want to put myself on record as afl&rming unhesitatingly that the immense quantities
656 V^HE ME0I€ilL ADVANOB.
of medical trash sent out by 9o-<ialled hotbeopathic pharma- cies and' cotiotDerciatly dealt out to the mnocent'by so called homeopalthic physicians, is a burning disgrace to homeo- pathy and a detracting, disparaging and libelous slander against its fouiider! If no physician used toore of this medicinal rubbish than the writer, the manufacturers would soon retire from business; for he depends solely and wholly upon his dynamic remedies, except when he is comx)eiled to resort to surgery.
(c) ''Universal — All; extending to or comprehending the whole number, quantity or space." Here again, we submit that the law of similars comprehends or extends to the '* whole number." There are no exceptions. There are no individual cases of sickness to which the law of similars will not apply, and which may be cured without law. So the law of similars meets the requirement in Blackstone s definition, that it shall be universal. When Hahnemann tested cinchona and to his delight and satisfaction found that it would remove symptoms similar to those which it had produced, he did not know whether this was in keeping with a therapeutic law, or only a coincident; but after test- ing more than sixty medicines on himself and many more, on others, and applying them in natural sickness day by day according to the same rule, he ascertained beyond a doubt that this God-given rule which was permanent and uniform, was also universal, and constituted a therapeutic law. This law applies to all drugs and to all cases of nat- ural sickness which do not come within the province of manual surgery. It is therefore universal. It has with- stood the fiery darts of more than one hundred years, and is able to withstand all the combined opposition of apostate friends and avowed enemies for all time to come. But there is one more requisite, according to Blackstone, by which our therapeutic law must be tested. It is expressed in these words: **It is the very essence of a law that it be made by the supreme power." Here, too, we welcome the challenge. Municipal law must be made by the supreme power in the state; but our therapeutic law was made by the supreme
PHLLOSOPHY ON HOMEOPATHY.
657
>'^
Sovereign of the universe. Only God himself could so organize the human body, animated by a vital dynamis; hav- ing commanded into existence the innumerable medicinal substances, hiding within each a spirit-like power always possessing something peculiar and exclusive; and then so adapt the drug spirit to the vital force that the latter, when deranged, shall be curatively affected — provided the selec- tion is made by the law of. similars- And only God himself could make a Hahnemann and implant within his fertile brain that intuitive genius necessary for the discovery and application of this law, for the benefit of the whole human race. When I ascribe to Hahnemann the honor of this dis- covery I am aware that others had had a glimpse of the idea of curing by similars, but not as a permanent, uniform and universal rule; not as a therapeutic law.
PART B.
Our third prerequisite to successful prescribing, accord- ing to the philosophy of Homeopathy, is the single remedy. The first prerequisite, to which your attention has been invited, that of treating each individual drug on the healthy human subject, precludes the use of more than one medicine at the same time when prescribing for the sick, unless the additional drugs forming a compound were tested on the healthy in the identical compound form in which it is pro- posed to prescribe them. The reason for this is not based on mere arbitrary objections, but a scientific truth, viz.: that no two medicines when tested together, can possibly be equivalent to the sum of their pathogenesses when tested separately. To illustrate, we have tested the flowers of sulphur and the carbonate of lime together under the name of Hepar Sulphuris Calcareum. The pathogenesis of this combination is not identical with that of sulphur, nor that of calcareacarb., nor the sum of the two. Nor can we, in case we find an image of sickness similar to the proving of hepar sulphur, cure the patient by putting sulphur and calcarea carb. into one glass, nor by administering them in rapid alternation. Each individual patient has a personal individ-
658 THE MBDICAL ADVi&NGfi.
uality. Each individual druR has a distinct individnali^; and two or more drugs cannot have one individuality and thus become one medicine and the simillimum for a griven sickness, unless potentized together. No two medicines can become one medicine, by any other process known to man. Each possesses a drug spirit peculiar to itselt but by the -process of dynamization these become fused and constitute one spirit, as it were, in a new creation with new possibili ties, and its curative principle is new and distinct, which is to be revealed, like that of any individual drug, by testing it on healthy humto subjects.
The fathers of Homeopathy, such as Hahnemann, BOnninghausen, Hering, Lippe, Wells, Dunham and a host of others, by their fidelity to the science, succeeded in hand- ing to us the blazing torch, which in turn has been taken up by Allen, Kent, Nash and an army of co-workers who are determined, come what will, to perpetuate pure Homeopathy for future generations.
I wish to say a word in this connection concerning ''combination tablets.'' Of all the deceptions practiced in the guise of Homeopathy, this is the worst! The day was when combination doctors would call for from two to six tumblers; but the practice became so obnoxious because of its manifest odious departure from the Hahnemannian stan- dard, that they devised the scheme of putting the two to six different medicines in one tablet. This would deceive the very elect themselves! And the shame of it is that some of these so-called homeopathic pharmacists who manufacture and sell this article, thus making a solemn mockery of all that Hahnemann has written, send out literature in which an effort is made to defend the abomination on homeopathic grounds. In answer to all such twaddle, which never can be elevated to the dignity of argument, I quote the following from Hahnemann: '*It is not conceivable how the slightest dubiety could exist as to whether it was more consistent with nature and more rational to prescribe a single, well- known medicine at one time in a disease, or a mixture of several differently acting drugs. As the true physician finds
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PHILOSOPHY 0*r HOilEOPATHY.
659
In simple medicines administered singly and tiUcombitied, all that he can possibly desire (artificial disease forces which are able by homeopathic power completely to overpower, extinguish, and permanently cure natural diseases), he will, mindful of the wise maxim that Ht is wrong to attempt to employ complex means when sitnple means suffice,' never think of giving as a remedy any but a single, simple medi- <5inal substance^' This is why he laid down the following imperative rule for all true homeopaths: **Inno case is it requisite to administer more than one single, simple meid- cinal substance at one time" Let this be a finality then, regarding the single remedy, with all who believe in the homeopathic philosophy. True, few who buy these "green goods' know how to find' the simillimum in any given case, but this is no justifying cloak, for they, like others, can learn. No, they prefer to have the ''specific,'* like their traditional brethren whose fellowship they court, made ready to hand, directions and all. This bottle is for *Cough"; this for '*Amenorrhoea"; this for '* Rheumatism," and that is for ** Worms"! And such are the products of "Homeopathic" pharmacies! and the professional dupes who buy and deal them out to their lay dupes are "Homeopathic physicians"! What a travesty on Hahnemannian Homeo- pathy! Let them charge me with extortion, if they will; let them aver that my medicines are as worthless as they are harmless; let them even call me "doc," but let no man call in question the purity of my practice as measured by the Hahnemannian standard. Perhaps we ought to say in all kindness to those who, because of the peculiar kind of pre- ceptors and college faculties which brought them into professional existence, do not know that the only specific possible is the medicine whose pathogenesis is similar to the image of individual sickness found in the patient to be cured; and the combined wisdom of the universe cannot indicate by the label in what case a medicine is a specific, before the patient is seen, for a medicine must be a specific for the patient and not for the disease. Our most charitable view of the combination doctor would be to suggest that he
1
560 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
has never caught the true spirit of Homeopathy; but whea he knows that a combination has never been tested on the healthy as such, and that its pathogenesis is therefor un- known, he is not honest when he palms himself off as a homeopath and thus leads his patients to believe that he prescribes according to the law of similars. Not only does Homeopathy have to stand the odium of his slovenly methods and hapliazard results, but he thus becomes a waiter on Providence and tells laymen that Homeopathy has so modi- fied the old-school since Hahnemann's day that really there is not much difference after all! And in borrowed plumes he talks about '*quackery," but never seems to surmise or even dream what a decoy-duck the **regulars" are making of him! On the other hand, the men who have earned for themselves distinction as accurate and successful prescrib- ers, and who have contributed their mite toward preserving inviolate the fundamental principles of the Homeopathic philosophy, have universally sanctioned and confirmed the teachings of the master. So the philosophy of Homeopathy demands, in the very nature of things, the single remedy. The rapid alternation of remedies, or the administering of two or more drugs at one time which have never been poten- tized together and thus tested on the healthy, is incompatible with the theory of a true homeopathic prescription; but when one medicine has been chosen according to the law of similars, and that remedy is allowed to exhaust its action alone, and a collection of the symptoms the patient then presents is recorded, and the case is prescribed for afresh, that is Homeopathy. But the unscientific feature of alter- nation, as that term is commonly understood, is seen in the fact that the second remedy is ordered now, to be given two hours after the first, thus assuming that one dose of the first remedy will result in such a change of symptoms as to make the image similar to the pathogenesses of the second remedy, and that, too, in precisely two hours! Not only so, but the first remedy is ordered now, to be given again in two hours after the second, thus assuming that the first remedy will have the exact effect assigned to it, viz., that of convert-
PHILOSO?]^ ON Hp]!i^PA3;'9Y.
mi
ing thje i][V^^ back again tp tbe praise picture of symplboms which first eapjsted. If the hypothesis were true, wd if any physicians could be so accurately prophetic, what ^ould be gained by sucb a precedure? Tbe best that can be claimed for the theory is that at the ei^d of four hours tLe patient will be just where the doctor found him, and if the alteration is continued, at the end of ei^ht hours, like the hare, he is back again where he started.
The true homeopath studies fidelity to the homeopathic philosophy, and earnestly endeavors to shun all those exped- ients which, like alternation, adjuvants and combination tablets, are borrowed from the poly pharmacy of the old school, and are opposed to sound doctrine and sound principle in the domain of Homeopathy.
PART 4.
(4). The fourth and last prerequisite which we shall mention is: The minimum dose. That remedies prescribed according to the homeopathic law must be given in very small doses is a truth n6w well recognized. But some, still adhering to old school traditions, insist upon using those di- lutions which still contain some of the material substance, while those who would tread in the foot-steps of Hahnemann want none of the material drug, but the drug-spirit only. After an animated disputation covering a period of more than one hundred years there seems to be as much hostility against the. infinitesimal dose as in the beginning. There is stilly wonderful tendency, on the part of many, including - some doctors, to want nasty medicine. And here I want to register my unalterable protest against crude medicines as the common -and prevalent curse of the civilized world. There are more people suffering today from the effects of strong and obnoxious drugs than from natural causes. The vast army of incurable drug fiends in the world today, as the legitimate and necessary product of the old school practice, is a standing monument of shame which betrays their want of science and co-operation with nature. As' in the days of Hahnemann so it is now; the vast majority are on the side of crude medicines, or potencies so low that the material ele-
662 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
ments can be detected. And so will the status of this ques- tion ever continue, so long as men look upon disease, disease causes and the curative power in medicines, as things material. Materialistic conceptions have heaped more infamy on Homeopathy and blighted the otherwise brilliant prospects of more medical students, have changed their course from the goal of pure Homeopathy to that of the flesh-pots of Allopathy, thus making of them, mongrels instead of homeopaths, than all other causes combined. They are then in line for public sanction of the microbe theory as disease cause, and ready to send in their applica- tion for Allopathic affiliation, blandly agreeing over their own signatures to be known simply as **doctors." Well, be it so. But for one, I would rather be in the minority on the side of truth, with the consciousness that I have the means of curing any patient who is curable, and enjoy the distinc- tion of living and dying a consistent, loyal follower of the greatest physician the world has e.ver known, than to be identified with those who in their hearts have no confidence in medicine, no accurate conceptions of disease and no law of cure, even if their majority ranked with that which opposed Noah.
No materialist can ever hope to be a successful homeo- path until he divests himself wholly and completely of his materialism. The power of drugs to cure does not decrease in the ratio that their material substance is dimished, but rather just the converse. And this our master announced in the most positive terms; and this men must learn before they can expect to practice Homeopathy successfully. No amount of figuring, and no phase of true philosophy can make the material dose the minimum dose. Hahnemann said: '*The smallest possible dose," and this he gauged by the following rule: **The doses of all Homeopathic medicines, without ex- ception, are to be reduced to such an extent that, after their ingestion, they shall excite a scarcely observable homeo- pathic aggravation." This homeopathic aggravation is an evidence that the appropriate medicine has been selected; the fact that it was scarcely observable is proof that the
PHILOSOPHY ON HOMEOPATHY.
'663
medicine was not too low; and the fact that it was observable at all is undeniable proof that it was not too high. So this concise and comprehensible rule left us in the last edition of the Organon, draws the line and strikes rock bottom so far: as the homeopathic dose is concerned. Why will men not accept it, especially those who pretend to be homeopaths? I answer, because of their materialism. There is one lesson which they should learn well, viz: That no man can give, the wrong medicine crude enough, or in doses large enough to cure. The therapeutic law comes first, that the right remedy may be chosen; and then the philosophy of dynami- zation, that the medicine may be more penetrating and cure with none, or but a slight preponderance of its own symp- toms.
There is a sentiment entertained by some otherwise pretty good homeopaths to the effect that one can be loyal to the principles of homeopathy and maintain his true fidel- ity to the teachings of Hahnemann while prescribing tinc- tures. This I deny outright and without apology, for fojir reasons: (1) The crudity of a tincture is not a similar to the spirit-like vital force; (2) the smallest dose of the tincture is not **the smallest possible dose" of that medicine as Hahne- mann directed; (3) as a rule tinctures offend the taste, the very thing which Hahnemann says the suitable medicine in the homeopathic system never does; and (4) the great teacher and founder says, when speaking of injuries, the whole living organism always requires **active dynamic aid to put it in a position to accomplish- the work of healing," and further says that **when the external pain of scalded or burnt parts needs to be homeopathically subdued, then the services of the dynamic physician and his helpful homeo- pathy come into requisition.'' Just imagine Hahnemann calling a prexriber of tinctures aj*dynamic physician!*^ There would be just as much -philosophy in calling a so called ''regular" a dynamic physician. The term "dynamic" literally signifies power; but as Hahnemann used it it means "spirit-like power," that power of drugs which is hidden in their inner nature, but unfolded and developed by dynami- zation.
nm.
Here I want to express my honest convictions that no man can ever amount to much as a homeopathic prescrifoer, never reach the eminence in which his work, his marvdoos and brilliant cures, will rank him with such men as BOn- ninghausen, Hering and Dunham, unless he completely rids himself of this materialism, and in its stead imbibes a fall, clear, deep appreciaticm of the **spirit-like" power of drugs. This inevitable bar to success will, ipso facto, shut crff the brilliant light which would otherwise illuminate his homeopathic career.
Most anybody can become a materialistic doctor, but it calls for a higher conception of homeopigithy, for keener per- ceptive powers, and a deeper delving into the very gist and essence of that which Hahnemann taught in order to become what he termed a **dynamic physician,'' and in order that his services may be in deed and in truth * 'helpful homeo- pathy." Homeopathy, in order to be really helpful, must be pure. It is based on ''easily comprehensible principles," and there is no justifying excuse for rank and bold depar- tures under any circumstances whatsoever. It is the drug- spirit acting on the spirit-like vital force which give^ th cure the qualifications of rapid, gentle and permanent No old-school serum can effect a cure with these qualifications, if at all. No amount of the indicated remedy can kill, if prepared according to Hahnemann's final instructions, viz: capable of producing only the **very slightest homeopathic aggravation." This is not true of any old-school serum, and until they make it true, we need not entertain the least fear that they will lay down the fence and enter the homeopathic field from the rear. The doctrine pf dynamization has always been the impassable gulf between the two schools, and those arrayed against this doctrine, whatever their pretentions, should answer to the roll call on the enemies' side. I sub- mit that the doctrine of dynamization which supplies us with the drug-spirit absolutely free [from its material substance, is an indispensible, integral part of the homeopathic system; that Hahnemann announced it as a part of his system, and that no man has fully comprehended Homeopathy or ftiHy
m
'U
PHILOSOPHY ON HOMEOPATHY.
equipped himself for the display of all its possibilities who has failed to grasp this essential feature. Homeopathy will never reach its acme until the philosophy of dynamization is incorporated into the practice of all professed homeopaths and fully explained to the general public; until said practi- tioners quit imitating the traditional doctor by issuing disks of various colors, or large bottles of colored water, and in every other particular; and until all who would practice homeopathy acquire the knowledge and cultivate the cour- age necessary to the use of a good repertory in the office and at the bedside. Had these things been attended to from the beginning, homeopathy would be the prevailing system of medicine in this country today. Laymen must not be expect.ed to understand, advocate and defend that which they have had no opportunity to learn. The only rational reason that can be assigned as to why all families of intelli- gence and culture do not employ homeopathy is the fact that they do not understand its fundamental principles and superior advantages. The claims of homeopathic superior- ity must be spread before the public at large and elucidated until the people understand and accept them; and until they further understand that Allopathy, as a system of medicine, can not add one star to the glory of Homeopathy. Some practiticmers expect patronage because they are physicians; ottiers because of commercial reciprocity; but we must so conduct our campaign that patrons will choose us because we are homeopathic physicians and hence can give them what tfeey can secure nowhere else in all the world. There can be no permanent gain for the homeopathist or his sys- '^m by a policy of coddling the old school as if Homeopathy were not out of her teens. They have fought us with all the boldness, gallantry and intrepidity which they could command for more than a hundred years, and our armor is still complete and our banner unsullied; let them try another hundred! The law and maxims which have served us so ^well thus far will prove equally effective for our pK)sterity. The closer we adhere to the letter of Hahnemann's instructions the more sutjcessful we shall be in ameliorating
666 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
the suffering, healing the diseases and prolonging the lives of those who confide in us as homeopathic physicians. In their ignorace, indolence or erring judgment men may fall, but the law, never!
SURGICAL CASES.
By p. E. Krichbaum, M, D; tarsal tumorstrombidium. Mr. p., a middle-aged man, weighing 180 pounds, con- sulted me February 5, 1905, for a swelling in the upper lid of the right eye. There was no pain, no discharge and no lachrymation, in fact nothing but the lump in evidence, which was bright red and raw looking. I prescribed puis. March 11, 1905, he reported no change. Marth 21st told a similar story, except that he thought the tumor was in creasing in size. A few minutes work with the repertory called my attention to trombidium, and trombidium repeated April 24th cured the case.
DOUBLE FISSURE OP THE ANTRUM.
I asked this patient to give me the early details of his case. The account he supplied is so interesting I will give the story in his own words. I will explain that the dis- charge he mentions was yellow, of a coagulated consistency, and had some odor. I need hardly add that the man was nervous and exceedingly alarmed over his condition. The drug indicated and employed was calcarea sulphurica:
About the last of June, 1908, I consulted a dentist in the town in which I lived, who had been in practice there for a number of years, regarding the condition of my upper teeth, and under his direction I went to a dental office in New York city and under the influence of gas had four- teen upper teeth extracted. A few weeks afterward I vis- ited the dentist for the purpose of having an impression taken for a set of upper teeth. I would say that my lower teeth are in good condition, having lost but two of them. 1 reported to the dentist that I thought I could force water through my jaw into my nostrils while rinsing my mouth. He made an examination and stated that he thought I was
SURGICAL CASES.
667
mistaken, and proceeded to make a temporary. set of teeth. This set of teeth I used until the first week in January, 1907, and then went to him to have the permanent set made. I again told him that I was still of' the opinion and indeed quite sure that I could force water through the jaw to the nostril; he then made another examination and found that such was the case, there being a hole in the upper jaw to the right, about where one of my double teeth had been He could put his instrument through this opening at least two inches and found that there was a discharge of pus coming from it.
He told me that I had caries or necrosis of the bone, and that there was danger ot this extending in both directions and perhaps in time destroying my jaw and nasal bone, and that there were two treatments that he would suggest. One, going to hospital and submitting to an operation which he said would take from two to three weeks if not much longer, and be very expensive, and he did not recommend it. The other treatment was by the use of sulphuric acid applied with syringe and this treatment he did recommend and stated that it would probably take two or three months to cure the disease and that the treatment would have to be given almost daily. Acting upon his advice I consented to this treatment, which was continued at least five days a week, sometimes six, until the 1st of April.
The treatment consisted in syringing the antrum through the opening in the jaw, first with some antiseptic, and then v^ith a dilution of sulphuric acid, and plugging the opening with cotton saturated with sulphuric acid, the cotton remain- ing in the opening until the next treatment. During this treatment my health ran down, appetite was poor, and I was wakeful at nights. Sometime in March the cuticle of all my fingers festered and when the new nail grew out it came out rough and uneven. I consulted my family physi- cian regarding this and was treated for it and found that it grew better soon after taken his remedy.
The dentist during the time of treatment urged me to take a tonic. I found also that during the treatment I was
mMB
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663 THE MEDICAL. ADVANCB.
frequently tronbled with a cold. During April, after over three months' treatment I did not see that there was much, if any, improvement, as the pus continued to show itself when the cotton was removed from the opening.
The dentist wished me to continue the treatment, claim- ing that I was getting better, but would not give any defin- ite idea of date of probable cure. About this time, April, 1907, I decided to consult an eminent New York dentist who, after making an examination, stated that there might be a root of an old tooth there to act as an irritant, as he could feel something hard in the antrum, and upon his advice I consulted the dentist that extracted my teeth. He made an examination and stated that he did not believe that there was any root there. The New York dentist then sent me to have an X-ray picture taken of the inside of my antrum, and I had three such pictures taken and showed them to this New York dentist, but they did not help him to come to a decision as to condition of things in my mouth, and he made an additional examination and called in a specialist in an- trum diseases, who also made an examination, and after con- sultation they both very strongly reccommended that I should at once go to the hospital and be operated upon. As I did not go immediately, after a few we^ks, the matter had ^evidently been discussed between the New York specialists at a convention in a neighboring city, for I received a tele- gram urging me to go at once to the hospital and submit to an operation. This I did not do.
The specialist that was called in consultation by the New York dentist wrote me a letter when he found that I had not gone to the hospital as he suggested, in which he said: '*It is most unfortunate that persons affected with disease of the 'maxillary sinus as he is, seem to have the same difficulty in deciding upon operation, when, as a mat- ter of fact, nothing hut a radical operation can relieve the con- ilition from which they suffer. In one of four cases that I am treating at the present time the microscope shows that the patient waited just a little too long, for several micros- copic slides taken from the tissue that was removed show no
SURGICAL CAS^S.
669
malignancy, but one of them indi fixates very distinctly the beginning of cancer at one point. Mr has no indica- tion of such disease at this time, btit he ought to understand that he has no assurance of the permanancy of such free- dom from more serious trouble, for leaving out the ques- tion of the character of the diseased tissue, there being more or less difference of opinion with regard to the result of the degenerate processes, he has always before him the likeli- hood of extention to some of the accessory sinuses, such as the sphenoidal, or even the frontal and ethmoidal."
The last of May the New York dentist that I consulted received a letter from another New Jersey dentist, calling his attention to a case which this other New Jersey dentist had and asking this New York dentist's advice. The New York dentist replied, referring to my case, and stated that cases of this kind where conditions exist in the antrum which might lead to malignant results, should be referred to sur- geons as he referred my case. I mentioned this to show that my case was one which had impressed itself upon the mind of the various dentists.
It was a difficult matter to come to a decision as to the best course to pursue, and I therefore laid the entire case before my family physician, and while he hesitated to ad- vise as to the course to pursue, asking me to decide the question upon my own ideas as to what was best, he did give it as his opinion, after making a careful exainingttion himself, that an operation was not necessary, but that the disease could be cured by homeopathic treatment, and I therefore placed myself in his hands and he gave me m^d icine to take internally about the beginning of June, 1907. Tina treatment I continued regularly for several months, consulting from time to time, until the last of 1907, when to all appearances the disease had been arrested. The open- ing in the jaw having closed and there is now (April, 1908,) no opening and no indication of any disease or trouble what- ever in the jaw-bone or antrum, and I suffer no inconveni- ence and am not conscience of any trouble there, and my general health has been very much better since I have been following my physician's advice.
'■^i*S
670 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
A GANGRENOUS APPENDIX.
The following operation was performed by Dr. James W. Krichbaum. I will give the details as he wrote them out.
December 26, 1907, I was asked to see Elinor C, aged 11, who had been troubled for about four weeks with a pain in her abdomen. We leafned that the chUd whUe at school had been struck with a stone near McBurney's point, and though she had not remained at home there had been present more or less abdominal pain and tenderness ever since the injury had been received.
Examination showed a slightly distended abdomen. Rectus muscle tense, board-like, with tenderness over Mc- Burney's point. Temperature 102,2, pulse 120. I advised an operation, but her mother objected, so I put her on Pul- satilla cm.
December 27th I found the patient no better. She was 'restless and her tongue red- tipped. She received rhus tox. December 28th patient seemed better, temi>erature 100; December 28th temperature 98.2; December 30th per- spiration on the head, pupils dilated; pain present, temper- ature 100.1; prescribed colchicum. December 31st found the patient somewhat relieved of pain, so the remedy was continued.
January 1st saw a return of pain with restlessness. The temperature was now 103.4. The abdomen distended and tender. I hereupon ordered aix immediate operation and arranged to perform it at her home. On opening the abdo- men I found a large pus pocket, containing several large pieces of fecal matter and pus in abundance. The app>endix and part of the colon were destroyed by gangrene. I first washed out with sterUe water, followed by peroxide of hy- drogen and saline solution, inserted a drainage tube and closed the abdomen. For three days the temperature stayed below 100, but on the fourth day rose to 100 at noon, 102.2 at night. The fifth day saw it 100.4 in the morning, 101.5 in the evening. The discharge was thin, sanguineous and fetid. Sixth day temperature 102 in the morning, and 103.3
'^
THE SURGICAL ASPECT OF QONNOBRHEA.
671
in the evening. Patient quite restless. I now proceeded to reopen the wound by removing part of the stitches. I found the colon closed and in good condition. I broke up all ad- hesions- The wound and the discharge therefrom had a horrible fetid odor. On the seventh day the temperature in the morning was 102.3, in the evening 103.9; the discharge was now slight in quantity but the odor was beyond descrip- tion, so foul and fecal, that I could not get rid of it. The patient was extremely restless. I gave a powder of psori- iium in water, a teaspoonf ul every hour for three hours, if the child was awake. She took two doses and then went to sleep and slept all night. In the morning her temperature was 98. The discharge was slight and there was no odor. Her recovery from this on was uneventful. At the present time, to quote her mother, she is in better health than she has ever been.
To my mind this case brings us to the following conclu- sions: First, a blow may cause primary appendicitis; sec- ond, had I administered psorinum earlier in the case I would have escaped quite a bit of worry; third, had the child re- -ceived psorinum soon after the injury, repair instead of gan- grene would have followed; fourth, gangrene was well es- tablished and rupture probably had occurred before medical ^id was called.
THE SURGICAL ASPECT OP GONORRHEA.
By Guy B. Stearns, M. D.
The title of this paper was inspired by a case which has been under the writer's treatment for the past seventeen months.
The patient is a woman 33 years old, brunette, of small frame and nervous temperament. She was a delicate child, although she did not have any serious illness until her sev- -enteenth year, when she was very sick with pneumonia.
She was married at nineteen, but did not begin to men- struate until some months after. She had fairly good Tiealth during the next six years, although she had two :abortions performed during that time.
672 THE MSmCAL ADVANCE
Eight years ago dbe commenced to have hemorrhages^ from the bowels. These were profuse and occurred from a few days to a few weeks apart and continued for two years.
She then had pneumonia again and the hemorrhages ceased.
Soon after this she became pregnant and had another abortion performed. On the fourth day after the operation she was taken with what was called spinal meningitis, although her description of the symptoms indicate scwne form of sepsis. She was ill in bed for twenty-three weeks.
After this she did not again become pregnant, even though she desired to do so, and she was in fair health until about sixteen months before the writer first saw her.
She then had hemorrhages from botti bowels and the stomach and was confined to her bed for seven months before they finally ceased. After this she did not regain her strength and when I first saw her, presented the following condition:
Emaciated and pale, with dark rings beneath the eyes.
Spine sensitive over its entire length, with a mariced dorsal curvature to the left. This had developed only wifh- in the previous few months and was apparently due to mus- cular weakness. Menstruation regular but painful and associated with much backache and headache.
Plow lasted only one hour.
Cheeks flushed in the afternoon, though without rise of temperature.
Urine normal. No vaginal examination was^ made, but a thorough general examination revealed no organic lesions.
The associated symptoms pointed to phos. and this was given in the 200th dilution at infrequent intervals. Olive oil and cream were added to her diet. She steadily improved until in ten months she had gained twenty-five pounds and the spinal curvature had disappeared.
In January of this year she contracted what appeared to be grip, but did not respond well to remedies, and soon developed pain in the lower right side of the abdomen, with severe bearing down and painful urination.
m-
THE SUR|qHU:;iVIi J^Pl^GT O^ QOJ^PRRHEA.
678
ExawDiutUm revealed a sen^itiye and Unp^yaj^le ateru3 :ao.d the contii^pu^ tiasiies sq in^j3aed ti^ t^e adiiexa could iiot he palpatfed.
Inquiry of the husband developed tha fact tha<b he had had gonorrhea about a. yeair before the last abortion, but he had supposedly been cui^ at ti^e time and had shown no ^i^QS of the disease since.
The case was now clear. A gonorrheal infection con- veyed by the husband after he had been prpnounced cured. This had probably occurred before or at the time of the last •conception and had manifested itself at the time of the abor- tion as the supposed spinal meningitis.
It had then remained dormant until the present at(tack.
The right tube ^led with pus, some of which escaped into the peritoneum, causing a severe peritonitis. Her con- dition interdicted surgical interference, so she was treated expectancy. j
It is of interest to note that at the critical time when fuom the peritoneal invasion she was apparently dying, the remedy which had originally been selected as her constitu- tional drug became sharply in^cated and brought about a prompt reSiCtion. Her progress was very slow, and treat- ment was continued along conservative lines in the belief that the removal of the involved tube would be necessary when she was in condition for an operation.
At the present writing she is nearly well; the uterus is movable and the only indications of the inflammatory con- dition remaining are some slight adhesions to the right of the womb.
Aurum miir. 200th brought about the final disappear- ance of the pus and induration. '
]ga this citation, symptoms and remedies have been in- tentionally left out, as the purpose has been to draw atten- tion to the surgical aspect of gonorrrhea and the dangers which lurk in those cases which remain uncured but mani- fest no symptoms and to promote discussion as to the cura- bility of the disease.
In four cases of tubal disease which have come under
^"^1
674 THE MEDICAL. ADVANCE.
the notice of the writer, where it had been found necessary to renlove the diseased structure, the husbands had had gonorrhea from three to sixteen years previously with no subsequent manifestation of the infection.
In marriages where the husband had previously had gonorrhea, there are usually no children, or conception takes place followed by an early miscarriage and no subse- quent pregnancies, or one child is born and no more. Such women usually suffer from uterine or pelvic diseases.
The writer has lately examined the urine of several men who have had gonorrhea from two to twenty years ago and has found gonorrheal shreds in all of them and the gono- cocci in those cases submitted to microscopical examination. These were not all cases of suppression by injections, but had been treated in various ways, one of them homeopath- ically by the author and apparently cured. In one case the discharge had been redeveloped by the homeopathie remedy and then made to disappear.
It is a well established fact that the gonococcus can invade every tissue of the body and that there is no immun- ity from it. Once it gains a foothold on a mucous membrane it adheres, and as it proliferates, works its way into the deeper epithelia. Its life habits and reactions are such that it does not arouse the resistive forces of the body as do the germs of self limiting diseases, but it gradually becomes acclimated and maintains the position of a permanent guest and in its attenuated form it is so unobtrusive that its pres- ence may not even be suspected.
Many authorities maintain that gonorrhea is never cured and there is reason for doubt in tKe minds of the most opti- tuistic.
The writer's earlier sanguine attitude regarding the dis- ease, based on the apparently brilliant results from home- opathic medication, has changed on maturer observations to one of conservative agnosticism.
In all cases the burden of proof lies with the one who claims to make a cure.
CLINICAL CASES. 675
CLINICAL CASES.
(illustrating both sides of the question.) By E. a. Taylor, M. D.
'Case I. — Metrorrhagia. — Miss W., aged 31, had uter- ne hemorrhages some years since, for which an operation ^as performed, consisting of the removal of several uterine x)l3rpi. This corrected the trouble for some months; it then •eturned as bad as before. A second operation was produc- ive of similar results, and the surgeon consoled her with he statement that she might have to have an operation once t year.
The symptoms were as follows: Hemorrhage of bright "ed blood, comes in gushes, followed by a clot. The hemor- hage would cease for a short time, then start again, some: imes worse than others, but never ceasing entirely for any ength of time. As she expressed it, she never knew when ler monthly periods came — she was sick all the time. She vas exceedingly nervous, there was much twitching and erking of muscles, and she was troubled with insomnia; ome nights would not sleep at all. The flow was worse rom motion and very offensive.
She was pale and anemic; any emotion, pain or appre- lension would cause her face to assume a death-like pallor. Phe bowels were regular but the appetite was poor, except or certain things; she craved pickles and stuffed olives, rould eat* ground coffee by the spoonful and used much salt, ven salting her pie. She had a sensation as if the white of gg had dried on her face and the skin would crack if she Fere to laugh. She drank a great deal of water and was and of lemonade. Mentally she was greatly depressed; ^ ould not tell her symptoms without crying, and when I ttempted to console her, assuring her that she could be ured, she put up her hand protestingly, saying, *' Don't! on't! if you talk that way I shall never quit crying."
Her headache was in the temples, worse in hot weather; Fas of a throbbing character, seldom associated with nau- ea, but was worse from light and noise and from sleep.
Q76 THE MEDICAL AP74NCE,
She wanted to do everything in a hurry and i^onld fre- quently drop things from her hands. She craved the fresh air and felt better out of doors. She frequently puts her tongue out while talking as if to moisien her lips, and says she i9 always hungry with the headache.
She received nat. mur. Im, one dose dry on the tongue. In twelve hours the hemorrhage had greatly decreased and in thirty-six hours it had ceased. Prom that time on she menstruated regularly and normally. The dose of medicme was given five years ago.
Several remedies might be thought of. For the pro nounced anemia, with the mental depression, weeping, nervous and hysterical state, intermittent flow, etc., one might think of ferrum, but the ferrum patient's face, while very pale while she is in a tranquil state, becomes fiery red on any disturbance, mental or physical, while this patient would take on a death-like pallor. The craving for sour things would contraindicate ferrum, which loathes soar things. The amelioration in the open air, desire for sour things and tearful disposition might make some think of pul- satilla; but Pulsatilla likes consolation — this patient did not; Pulsatilla is thirstless — this patient was very thirsty; to the Pulsatilla patient everything tastes top salty — this patient covered her food with salt, even her pie. So giving partic- ular attention to the peculiarities of the mental symptoms as Hahnemann directs, the symptom-complex led to natrum mur. and the result was all that could be desired.
Case II.— Rectal Fistula.— Mr. J. M., aged 38, came to me for examination and treatment. He said that for two years there had been a '^leakage" from the rectum and he had been compelled to wear a pledget of cotton to absorb it. On examination a fistulous opening was found about one inch from the anus through which a probe could be passed into the rectum. He also had hemorrhoids which were more pronounced on the right side.
He had had gonorrhea years ago, for which he had taken old-school medicine externally, internally "and eter- nally, with the result that the hemorrhoids developed, to-
.^a
CLINICAL CASES.
677
aether with obstinate constipation, bleeding from the anus during stool, long, lasting burning after stool and a sense of awful constiiction of the anus, which would last for hours and often kept him awake all night.
His pulse was slow, often 54 when quiet, and his urine had a very strong odor and was highly colored. He received benzoic acid, 30th, and this remedy cured him in less than a year. The fistula healed, the hemorrhoids, rectal pain and distress and the constipation all disappeared and have not returned after ten years. In this case there was little chance for doubt or comparison, for to one who is familiar with the action of benzoic acid, the picture is so striking as to be readily recognized.
Case 3.— Ovarian Tumor.— Mrs. K., age 32, married six years, no children. Husband is healthy and denies any venereal taint. Mi*s. K. has been troubled for more than a year with sharp, stinging, shooting pains in the left ovary, which have been growing worse and distress her greatly at times, but she is always relieved during the menses. There is some pain in the right ovary at times, but not nearly so much as in the left. She eats well, sleeps well, looks well and her bowels are regular. I inquired about her desires and aversions but could learn nothing of importance. I asked if she ever drank any beer or wine, when with much animation she told me that she dared not touch wine, that one swallow would cause such a commotion and distress in her ovaries that she could scarcely endure it. She said, **it seems the effect all goes to my ovaries."
She had been examined by three good old school doctors who said she had an ovarian tumor and must go to the hos- pital at once and have it removed. I examined her and found the left ovary as large as an orange, sensitive and painful to pressure. * The right ovary was not enlarged.
She received zincum met. and in less than a year no tumor could be found, she was free from pain and well.
Case 4. — Empyema. — One evening several years ago a homeopathic physician who is an excellent prescriber, tele- phoned me asking me to come and see his son eight years
678 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
old who was ill. On inquiring what was the trouble he replied ''he has pneumonia, this is the nineteetith day, he is getting worse and I fear he is going to die." I hastened to his home, where I found the boy pale, thin, restless, with many symptoms pointing to many remedies. On examina- tion the left side of the chest, was seen to move less with respiration than the right, the intercostal spaces on the left side were obliterated, there was flatness on i>ercussion over the lower two-thirds of the chest on that side, with an absence of vocal, resonance and tactile fremitus over the area of flatness. The heart was displaced to the right and he had a temperature of 108 with increased respiration and pulse rate and frequent sweats. I advised the doctor to get a surgeon, which he did; a rib was resected, a great quan- tity of greenish, offensive pus evacuated and drainage main- tained. The temperature fell within a few hours and the boy made an uneventful recovery. What would have been the result without surgery?
Case 5.— Empyema.— J. S., age 12, had been ill for some weeks, under the care of an excellent prescriber of our school, when I was asked to see him in consultation. The appearance of the patient, the history and the physical signs were much the same as in the last case, only the trouble here was on the right side and in the right mid-axillary line at about the fourth or fifth intersiMtce; there was a pro- nounced bulging as large as one's fist witli fluctuation plain- ly perceptible. The diagnosis was empyema; the treatment advised, surgical. This was about ten o'clock at night, and about two in the morning the doctor was called to find that the pus had broken into a bronchial tube and the boy was expectorating great mouthfuls of pus. A surgeon was called who made an external opening and drained it, and he seems in a fair way to recover. How much better it would have been had the surgeon been called early.
Case 6.— Osteomyelitis.— Mr. W. 8., age 20, a well developed, well nourished German laborer who could not speak much English, was taken sick with what was thought to be pneumonia. I saw him after he had been ill a few
EXPERIENCES WlTff TUBERGULINUM AVAIRE.
m
days aiid He had, in addition to a tetiiperature of 103^ with pnlse and respiration some^Ka/t increased^ a severe paih in the left arm on the outer part above the elbow. It was red", ch'ctimscribed, swollen and wonderfully sensitive to touch; the pain was intense all the time, but very much ^aggravated by touch or motion. He kept the arm bent at a right angle all the time; the pain was so intense, he would tremble a^l over at times and could not help crying. The pain and swelling were not in the joint, but a few inches above it.
I advised the doctor, who is a homeopathic physician, to . call a surgeon, saying I considered it a case of osteomyelitis, but the doctor thought it was rheumatism, and continued to prescribe what seemed to be the indicated remedy. It was only after some days delay, when secondary infection had manifested itself in the other arm, both legs and elsewheVe, that the gravity of the situation was realized and a surgeon called; pus was evacuated from many places, but too late. The patient died. An early operation might have saved this patient's life. Is it not as culpable to neglect surgery when needed as to use it when not necessary? A time for every- thing and everything at the proper time should be our motto, and we should know not only therapeutics, but diag- nosis and surgery also— be doctors in the fullest sense of the term.
EXPERIENCES WITH TUBERCULINUM AVAIRE.
By R. E. S. Hayes, M. D.
Case I.— Mrs. E. M., age 40, came from England some- thing less than a year previous to the events related. She had not been as strong in this country. She has had what she calls "grippe" for several weeks and does not improve though she is about the house every day. Present symp- toms: Cough, worse at night, from tickling in the chest and throat-pit. Soreness inside the upper part of the chest. Hoarseness, worse in the evening.
In a general way she feels better in the open air and from motion; worse after a nap in the daytime, better after « ni^t'a sleep. Although a refined lady and well enough
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680 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
nourished, physically she appears to be of coarse fibre and to lack general physical tone from poor quality of vegeta- tion, evidenced by the coarse hair, skin, complexion, flat chest, stooping shoulders and angular form. This, with the decided lack of reaction following grippe, relief from mo- tion and open air decided positively in favor of tubercnli- num avaire. Tuberculinum avalre Im, S. P.
This not only cured the present illness but proved to be the general restorative needed. Rhus and lycopodium also came to mind. Rhus was the epidemic remedy for grippe and similar affections that season. All three have marked , relief from motion and open air. But rhus could not touch the evident dyscrasia. Lycopodium would be more suitable for a finer grade organization. There was no family histo- ry of tuberculosis. No history of previous illness.
Case II.— Mr. N. S. Age 46, looks 56. Schema- La grippe, ill in bed. Chilly yesterday. Has been troubled with sleepiness indoors. Has had much sore throat lately. Subnormal temperature.
The gentleman knew more about drugs than I did as evidenced by the few symptoms presented. He had been successful in curing about all symptoms of previous years except the above. In fact he had cured about everything except himself. He seemed to be in poor general condition. Quinine was his favorite, standby.
Nux vomica Im relieved so that there was/uo report for six weeks. Then: Chilliness, especially out of doors (win- ter) and on undressing for bed.
Ill in bed again today. Nux vomica 40m, P.
Five days later, no result worth mentioning.
Rheumatic pain in legs when tired.
Has had grippe twice a year for several years.
Tuberculinum avaire cm, S. P. 1.
Good improvement generally ever since. Pour m<mths later slight attack of grippe but better health since. One thing I could not cure notwithstanding his promises, the habit of taking tonics, catjiartics, quinine, etc.
I believe this man had a narrow escape from organic in-
EXPERIENCES WITH TUBERCQLINUM AVAIRE. 681
Tolvement. The nux was able to palliate some of the drug impression, but the vital force was insufficient to prevent a return of the acute attack nor could it even develop symp- toms. This fact, together with evidence of deepseated dys- -crasia and the knowledge that the avaire has a relation to such cases, was practically my only excuse for the prescrip- tion, and a slender chance it was for his fate to rest upon. Sulphur was indicated and made good a few months after- ward. But it developed a racking bronchitis and coryza.
Case III. Mrs. S. had not been well for one year. She spent much money on physicians, including frequent visits of a specialist (surgeon) from the city.
The present illness ^ which she called grippe, began with marked hydroa on lips two weeks previous.
Cough in paroxysms night and day.
Soreness in chest and back from coughing.
Constant perspiration while in the house.
Nervousness and anxiety while in the house, relieved by getting out.
Headache in the house, better out doors.
Sleepless after midnight until 5-6 A. M,
Constantly tired and weak, worse from slight exertion. ^ Generally worse from motion (probably exertion), relief from open air.
History of grippe every winter with frequent relapses from slight exposures.
Has increased in weight during the eleven months' ill- ness *'from tonics."
Menses have been absent six months (climacteric age).
Tuberculinum avaire Im S. P. 1 did splendidly. No more need of the specialist. Calcarea came in well four months later.
Case IV. — Mr. H., age 68. As the case was twenty miles distant consultations were held by telephone. Grippe was epidemic in that locality and this appeared at first to be ^ mild attack.
Vertigo on rising from bed.
682 " THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Acting m bed, relieved byicettiiig.iipandmovii]^f^t; worse in the m<miing, worse in legs ^md hips.
Bhos tox. 200. 1, (March 11, '08) i^ieved four dafs.
March 15. After heavy work and gettif^g wet a relapse
Hips ache, worse at night.
Stitching in the hips when sitting still. Soi^etimes dis- appears suddenly.
Respiration short, worse from slight exertion and ap- parently out of proportion to the acute illness.
Perspiration from slight exertion.
Face flushed; lever.
Rhus tox. 50m, Sk. 1.
March 16th. No better except fever.
Torturing pains in hips, worse at night. Restless, des perate at night, cannot stay in bed nor keep still.
Thinks there i^ no use in taking medicine and that there is no help for him- Also that the medicine made him worse which was probably correct. Emaciation very marked dur ing the last two days.
Weakness and dyspnoea increasii)g; pulse slow Mid weak. Tuberculinum avaire cm. S. P.
As this patient was my own father it may be believed that the prescription was not a hazard but the result of care- ful study.
March 17th. Slept well all night; very comfortable since. Convalescence satisfactory without further medica- tion.
There is 90 history of tuberculosis or allied disease in the family.
Case V. — Deals with Mrs. A. C, a sufferer from spinal irritation for about twenty years. She gave a history of tubercular affection of the chest in young adult life, with spontaneous recovery. A portion of the middle of the right lung, however, remained solidified until an attack of pneu- monia a few years ago, when it cleared up (under homeo- pathic care). After that incident the vegetative system became quite improved. The spinal symptoms became worse, however. When presented to me she had led the
EXPERIENCES WITJ? TUBERCUUNUM AVAIBE.
683
life of an invalid for several years, spendiufir much of her time in bed, with practical disability when out of bed.
She received single doses of rhus tox. in various poten- cies, arnica, nux vomica and bryonia in the order named at long intervals, according to the totality in the mechanical sphere of the difficulty. The pressure and irritation of the spinal nerves were relieved sufficiently for the spinal bones to limber up to some extent, the ligaments, tendons and car- til^^ to become more flexible and improved in nutrition. There was much relief from the various pains and disturb- ances of parts supplied by the affected nerves. But most striking of all, it allowed the vital force freedom to express its resistance to the predisposing cause of all this trouble. Some of the following symptoms had been present before but were never arble to be presented in an orderly form:
Fear as if some evil would happen, or, as if something (undefined) was wrong. Mentally restless.
Irritable; destructive feeling (momentary). X.
Weary of life's struggle; positive aversion to living; thoughts of suicide from hopelessness; worse late in the afternoon. X.
Tendency to get buried in thought, but not irritable if disturbed. X.
Desire to curse, at times, without provocation — a woman of finest moral sensibilities. X.
Anxiety int ihe evening, growing worse through the night if sleepless. X.
Depression at twilight. X.
Aversion to ccmversation; talking an effort. At times when nervous tension is most marked, she * 'could talk one's head off." X.
Company aggravates.
Aversion to any mental work; **seems to have no mind to work with"; cannot concentrate thoughts. X.
Sometimes difficult to comprehend even simple things. (Naturally a very intelligent and talented lady.) X.
Memory has failed, especially for what she has read.
Sensitiveness to all surroundings.
li
684 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Aversion to travel. X.
Nervous tension always present, though outwardly she is always calm and self-contained. X.
Nervous, involuntary gestures. X.
Sleepless from nervousness, from persistent, crowding thoughts; mind clear and active from 12 to 2 a. m., or sleeps until 4 a. m.; no more thereafter; from any trifle. X.
Canine appetite; craves meat and sweets. X.
Cold perspiration from any nervous excitement. X.
Craving for fresh air. X.
Generally worse from cool winds or drafts; takes cold but bears still cold very well.
Weakness worse in the evening. X.
Peels better generally after a night's rest.
Used to have grippe every year for several years. (?)
Timid, from fear of jar, touch or jostling; worse lately. X.
Uncertainty in walking; worse lately. X.
These last two symptoms were decidedly worse, in spite of the fact that there was much benefit from the previous prescriptions and that she was stronger. On observation, I decided that they were largely mental. Tuberculinum avaire Im S. P. 1. This developed severe and long-lasting coryza and bronchial irritation, with great temptation to prescribe on account of the mechanical conditions involved in sneezing and coughing. But eve,rything was withheld except S. L. Three weeks later: Tuberculinum avaire 30m S. P. 1.
This acted longer and deeper, resulting m great increase of strength and a greatly improved spinal system. Sulphur later became well indicated and is being prescribed at increasingly long intervals. Prom an almost helpless inva- lid, the lady has become able to take care of Iierself and do much for others.
The tuberculinum avaire prescription was the real turn- ing-point in the case. It was only one instructive aspect of this remarkable case, however. I shall, therefore, take the liberty of reporting it in full to the I. H. A. at some future
EXPERIENCES WITH TUBERCULINUM AVAIRE.
685
time. The symptoms cured or markedly relieved by tuber- culinum avaire I have marked **X."
Case VI. — Mr. L., a painter, suffered many years from funeral nervous weakness. Slender, deficient in muscle, a patient, honest plodder who worked when he was so tired .that his knees gave way with every step.
After strict prescribing for two years or more, with response to such antipsorics as lycopodium, calcarea, silicea^ and psorinum, he seemed to have more vitality, could follow his occupation more steadily, having fewer attacks of ex haustion and of grippe, colds and fevers, to which he was especially subject. He had a craving for liquors, but seldom indulged to excess. Nothing was known of his parentage or family history.
One day he was taken with croupous pneumonia of the right lung. Bryonia relieved the first stage. Phosphorus was later well indicated and seemed to finish the case. On the fifth morning as I was sitting talking with him, telling him that he was practically over the disease, I noticed sud- denly that he appeared to be staring at something. All at once he sprang from the bed in wild delirium, evidently uremic, or akin to that. With difficulty the two women and myself forced him into bed, where I administered a dose of hyoscyamus cm F., which relieved him. Albumen and casts were found in the urine, which was dark and scanty. This was the beginning of one of those remarkable delirant phe- nomena which the physician may see a few times in the course of a lifetime. To describe it would be to relate about every mental and nervous symptom given in the provings of hyoscyamus. The same remedy had to be repeated twice the next day. It effectually relieved the mania, but sopor came on, increasing finally to deep coma. In the meantime I was casting about for the curative remedy, but without success.
On the fourth day of the uremia, convulsions oc- curred, each one increasing in duration and intensity. In desperation, based solely on the history of many attacks of grippe and the failures of all my remedies to make a man of
THE MEDICAX, Al^VANCE
him, I iiave tubarcoUnum avaire cm S. P. 1, to be tahm every two hours tbroogh the ni^bt. Later in the evening I was sent for because the delirnm bad returned and fever ris- ing. I informed the family that it was a good sign^that he was traveling over the same road he came, that he was therefoBe- improving and that there might be a chance for him yet. I left him in charge of two heavy men and it required all their strength and activity to keep him in bed. The next forenoon I found him mentally clear but weak and the tem- perature 103. He could also swallow and desired nourish- ment. Spasmodic stricture of the esophagus had been present for several days. The men were rather exhausted, not only from their physical efforts but from night long laughter at his antics, impromptu songs, rhymes, witticisms, etc. During the next few days improvement was steady. But after that strength failed, emaciation being so rapid that it could be almost seen. Tuberculinum avaire was repeated without avail. Camphor caused slight temporal? reaction. Restless symptoms demsuided arsenicum on the thirteenth day of his illness, which caused euthanasia. Organic functions were normal as far as I could tell fxsm physical signs and tests. But the great strain on the vii9i forces had been too much, death resulting from nervous exhaustion.
This experience demonstrated, to my mind, the invalu- able sphere of tuberculinum avaire. I have had better results from the avaire in that class of cases which assooie grippe forms than from the hufnan or bovine preparations,, and believe, therefore, that this will be verified tbroogb collective experience.
THE STUDY OF MATERIA MBDICA.
By C. M. Boger, M. D. Our pathogeneses, in spite of showing many features due to the provers' idiosyncracies, the translator's conunand of idioms, clinical experiences and misinterpretations, are nevertheless excellent resumes which place the keynotes ia their true light, as points of departure only for their abnse
THE STUDY OF MATJIRIA MBDICA.
687
di9t€ir4)s natures image and often brings disaster which ends in skepticism or mongrelism. A concise view not only in- cludes the time and order in which symptoms arise, but also tixe things which modify them — the modalities.
BOnninghausen saw and corrected the tendency of Homeopathy to pay too much attention to subjective sensa- tions while it lacked the firm support of 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 com- pliment than to speak of its especial adaptability to children and old people.
Prom a very few provings, in which he saw but a small part of the immense circle of similia, Hahnemann predicted its amplitude, and finally gave us the immeasurable p>ower x>f potentization; a scientific demonstration which rests ther- apy firmly upon experiment and dispenses with learning our symptomatology by rote.
Study shows every drug to be a living, moving concep- tion with attributes which ari^ie, develop, expand and pass ftwfky just as diseases do; each holding its characteristics true through ^n evar widening scope, to its last expression in the highest potencies. The homeopathist is a true scien- tist, in that he spares no pains to learn the nature of this individuality; it lifts him above doing piece-meal work and the restraint of nosological ideas. Every day practice, too often, never gets beyond the simple lessons of student life and they remain the doctor "s only resource- This is very wrong and acts as a constant handicap. The true physician is the m*an who knows how to make the best cures and the ixM)8t expert healer is the man who knows best how to handle his materia medica. The faculty of mastering it is iK)t dependent upon encyclopaedic memory, but rather upon the inquisitors ability to pick out from among the essential embodiments of each picture the things which show how it e^dsts, moves and has its being, as distinguished from its iiearest similar. That a mental variation should be the de-
11
0 ■t^*^
THE MEDICAL ADVANCE*
termining 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 valued of related remedies for in essence each portrays a certain type, with variations which relate it to its complementaries, thus dovetailing into each other. The effect of material doses simulates acute diseases while the potencies bring out finer effects, although this is not an invariable rule.
A knowledge of many symptoms is of small value, while on the other hand learning how to examine a patient and then to find the remedy is of the utmost importance. The common way of eliciting well-known key notes and prescrib- ing accordingly is a most pernicious practice, which has earned a deserved odium and is no improvement upon the theoretical methods of the old 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 simillimum is capable. Such reports mostly lack individual- ity 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 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 judgment, the more clearly they follow the text the^reater is their similitude, hence usefulness. Hahnemann showed rare acumen in setting down each expression in a personal way, thus securing scientific as well, as psychical accu- racy.
The patient's relative sensitiveness is a very material help in separating remedies. The alertness of drugs Uke aconite or coffea is just the reverse of the dulness of gel- semium, phosphoric acid and the like, and yet fright may cause the oversensitiveness of the former as well as the de- pression of opium. If stupidity be due to high temperature or an overwhelming intoxication we don't await the devel-
THE STUDY OF MATERIA MEDICA.
689
opment of a sense of duality, which may never come, but think of baptisia, etc., at once. Such an early prescription saves many a live and forestalls pathological changes.
The various cravings and aversions are highly signifi cant, especially when combined with the patient's behavior toward solitude, 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, and is 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 undo- ing and insufficiency of liberal homeopathy.
We do not say however 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 dur- ing treatment and deserve our careful, but never exclusive attention. A baryta carb. patient may have adenoids; black teeth make one suspect that the patient drooled badly dur- ing dentition and the survivor of pneumonia may still carry earmarks calling loudly for phosphorus, etc. These and many more should suggest the patient first and the disease afterward.
The past history and the way each sickness leaned is both useful and interesting, for most persons develop symp- toms in a distinctive way through the most diverse affections. Such constancies are truly antipsoric and it should be your pleasure to search out the differentiating indications from among them. While their discovery is not always easy, for it involves a recital 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 ^^ell as lay a solid foundation for the prescription that will do much and reveal many things.
If we say that remedies typify patients and know that constitutions exhibit tendencies, then why are drugs not specifics? Simply because vitality is a varying force whose
690 THfi^MKDICAL ADVA'NCE.
mutations are always similar but never tUe same; it is^ modi- fied by every influence and keeps Itself in relative equili- brium 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 then discover this more or less constant factor? It lies in the peculiar personality 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 expre-sslon 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 obscnr- ing the choice. As students it Is of the first Importance to have a grasp of the type which each represents, leaving experience to master intricacies 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 bella- donna when accompanied by nervous erethism and dryness, while contrariwise moisture, puflftness and sluggishness make one think of calcarea-carb. Then we have the nervous irritability of a nux vomica patient to contrast with the mild- ness of Pulsatilla, etc.
The treatment of coughs is a severe test for the prescri- ber, 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 excitad. Ordinarily It Is the result of an irrita- tion starting from the throat, larynx, chest or stomach, but
THE STUDY OF MATERIA MBDICA.
691
it ifi^ especially necessary to know tJhe esoidd point of origin. ^ThoBe beginning in t^e throat pit genersdly call fbr bell., <5ham., nux-v., rum., sang., sepia or silicea. When the jnrimary seat seems to be on the left side of the throat or larynx bapt., bell., con., hepar., ol-anim. or salicylic- aci J 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- mar. or conium. If a sense of a lump in the throat excites it, we have b€^, calc-c, cocc-cact. and lachesis. So the matter goes okHlsdefinitely, 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 general picture. This is the true homeo- pathic way and will bring unexpected aid, doing more than any other possible method. The simillimum reestablishes 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 sensitive to the constitutional simillimum, and although it may not 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 reaction 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, particJularly the nosodes,they will be able to accomplish much more than they do now. We should keep in mind the fact that the premature repeti- tion or changing of remedies before reaction is finished does endless harm to the patient and almost hopelessly confuses the prescriber. The prescriber must know when to give the remedy and when to hold his hand while nature expedites the forces to which he has given a new direction. He must know the power of sac lac and remember that an inward movement of the symptoms bodes no good.
It is worth remembering that most prescriptions are
692 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
guesswork, a hidious trifling with human life, for every drug is either sunilar, 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 ra- tional medicine while it puts the conscience of the doctor to Bleep and, by suppressive measures, steadily pushes the pa- tient toward the grave. ^
To make good cures it is above all neoib^ary to avoid running to the specialist every time new symtoms arise, for very few men of this class are broad enoughjto see that the whole man is sick when he shows local symptoms and that the carefully selected remedy would render most of his work superfluous. 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 aAdthe remedial powers of medicine for surgeons, with the aid of the knife, have steadily pushed the use of medicines further and further into the background. This is especially true of allopathic procedures and although most homeopaths 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 sub- ordinate 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 glamour of the operating room over- shadows 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 disease in its inception before the microscope can possibly pass a doubtful verdict. No manner of cutting can do as much.
The simillimum^often surprises us by its power;what we^
THE STUDY OF MATERIA MEDICA.
693
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 homeopaths have not led them to expect anything better than the work of the sur- geon. I can fully confirm what BOnninghausen says in his Aphorisms of Hippocrates, Book 6, Aphorism 58, ' 'Homoe opathy 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 remain so and that the final cure depends upon the concomitants, all of which is true. He mentions Aco., Alum., Asar., Aur., Bell., Bry., Calcc, Caps., Cham., Cocci., Coloc, Guai., Lach., Lye, Mag-c, Nit ac, Nux-v., Op., Phos., Plb., Sil,, Staph., Sul., Sul-ac, Thuj., Verat-a. and Zinc, as the foremost remedies, fi'om which we choose Aco., Alum., Aur-, Bell., Calc-c, Caps., Cham., Coloc, Lach-, Lye, Nit-ac, Nux-v., Op., Plb., SiL, Sul., Sul-ac. or Verat-a. for incarcerated hernia. The predisposition to this disorder is often hereditary and the surgical closure of one ring is just the prelude to the formation of a rupture at another.
The domain of surgery lies largely within the tra-umatic sphere and in the palliative, which enables the chronic pa- tient to live, but on a lower plane. The vast majority of early operations for incipient malignant disease not only in- flict a severe injury upon the vital force, but at best remove a suspicion only. None but the grossest materialist would do such a thing. We should use the indicated remedy from the very start, well knowing that it sai^es the strength of the patient and improves his chance 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 ife.
The law leads toward morality and a natural expres- sion of:.inherent powers; it adds nothing and subtracts noth- ing, but harmonizes everything. Until the cutters can be brought to see this point and that the most facile method of
n
694 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
cure lies in its correct application, they can know nothing of homoeopathy and very little of nature.
Such thin^ may seem far off, but a clearer view is fast giving a better understanding of life, its ways and ends, and is beginning to see that sickness means ignorance and that a cure means a comfortable return to health instead of the old-fasioned, lame recovery. The former is what is ex- pected of homoeopathy, the latter is essentially the surgical way. To be a good homoeopath and at the same time a good surgeon; there's the 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 an internal effect and an internal dis- turbance 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 2nd Book of BOnninghausen*s Aphor- isms of Hippocrates. Among other things we read there' that **The discovery of the itch mite does not belong to mod- ern times, as 650 years ago the Arabian physician Abenzohr not only surmised it but the common people knew it by the name of Syrones. Pabricius, (Entomologist 1745-1808) also, in his **Pauna Greenlandica'* praised the dexterity of its in- habitants in detecting and destroying these insects with the point of the needle." He also points out that Hahnemann's critics have uniformly confused the product of psora with its cause. Hahnemann was perhaps unfortunate 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 symptoms in some persons and that their suppression often causes metastases. The seriousness of such accidents is perhaps plainest in the case of erysipelas. When this hap-
THE STUDY OP MATERIA MEDICA.
695
pens the simillimum generally includes the symptoms of the original disease plus those of later development which there- by become all important. Occasionally no one remedy cor- responds to the whole picture; then we must prescribe for the most recent phase first and for the earlier one when it is again uncovered.
A metastasis means that an ingrained affection is ex- pressing itself in another form and is demanding the pa- tient's constitutional remedy, rather than a time serving palliative. In this connection I cannot too strongly insist that the chronic diseases cannot be successfully 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 pro- ceeding nullifies the whole law of similia, but a more egre- gious blunder is hard to imagine for it is, on the one hand iadeed, unthinkable that the entire list of anamnesic symp- toms 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 have been so adroitly conjured up by the human mind. On the contrary t: ey bear much inherent evidence of having been reasoned out from the provings as rectified by innumerable experiences. Unfortu- nately 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; everyone wants to be cured quickly without regard 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 ma- terial mould grasps the idea of imponderables with difficulty; but recent advances of science are about to force the issue and it will no longer be possible to impugn the qualifications and motives of those who trust and use their powers with unrivalled success. Their advocates must of necessity per- sistently cultivate the habit of keen observation, correct reasoning, direct inquiry of nature and absolute honesty with themselves, and all will be well.
^.-^
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696 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
When we remember these thinj?s 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 comprehend. After all is said and done it sim- ply resolves itself into a matter of education; you must, first of all, educate away all prejudice and preconceived ideas. No man holding tenacioulsy 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 ma- terial; 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 mtin can stand in your place; there is a great image after which your mind copies and a perfect life toward which your 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 po tencies act 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.
WHAT KIND OF A HOMEOPATH ARE YOU f
J. B. S. King, M. D.
In that dreary stretch of land that touches Lake Michi- gan's southernmost border, there once dwelt a man who suffered from intermittent fever, accompanied with persist- ent vomiting Large doses of quinine, ofHuxham's tincture, of Osgood's Cholagogue and of Warburg's tincture had been taken, by advice of the neighborhood physicians, but in vain. One day while he was shivering and vomiting, at the door of his humble cottage, a neighbor dropped in.
'* While I was gathering wood yonder, I heard a noise like bones rattling together, and I allowed it must be your
WHAT KIND OF A HOMEOPATH ARE YOU?
.697
teeth chattering, so I brought this over to ye; found it in the brush yesterday/' so saying he placed a bit of printed paper in his shaking hand.
It was a circular, gotten up by the committee on Homeo- pathic Propagandism of the American Institute. How this therapeutic waif happened to be arrested by the sparse veg- etation on the sand dunes of Indiana might be a subject for speculation, but could not be certainly known. From it the sick man gathered the agreeable information that there was a Law of cure— a natural law — that physicians of the variety called Homeopathic all knew how to pick out one appro priate remedy for each case of sickness and thereby work a cure.
'^Sounds good to me," said he. **I'm going to Chicago to hunt one of them doctors up. I'm pretty tired of the.se country jays.''
Accordingly on the morrow he saddled his ass and started out for the great city, shaking violently and vomit- ing as he went, on the wayside weeds. The first Homeo- pathic physician that he went to said that he had symptoms calling for Quinine and Arsenic and gave him two bottles of medicine to be taken alternately.
*'That circular did not seem to talk that-away," quoth the patient; *'I guess you ain't the brand I want. How much is it?"
The second Homeopathic physician announced that he ^as a Homeopathical, Miasmatical, Mystical Expert and that the dase was evidently a mixture of two or three miasms that would have to be uncovered successively before a cure could be effected.
*'It don't seem to me," said the patient, vomiting with great accuracy into the cuspidor, '*that you are the kind I read of in that there circular either. How much do I owe [/o?i.^"
The third Homeopathic physician whom he consulted announced himself to be a Homeopathic Orificialist. '*Your trouble," said he, "undoubtedly arises from your rectum. I
698 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
have unfortunately mislaid my glasses and being very myopic can not at this moment make an examination."
Just then a junior Homeopathic Orificialist, with a blood- stained operating robe on, entered with a pair of glasses in his hand.
* Ha!" quoth the senior, smiling, '*now I'm all right. Where did you find them?"
**I found them in the rectum of that lady you operated on this morning. They must have dropped in while you were dilating the sphincters"
**Thank you," replied the senior, smelling them cau- tiously. **Have they been disinfected?" After an aflfirma- tive answer, he poised them delicately on his nose and turning to the new patient, said, **A11 diseases — in fact nearly everything— can be traced to the rectum. It is the only way you can be cured. Mount this table, my man, and allow me to make an examination."
**Well, by Jingo!" exclaimed our hero, shaking violently, *'you ain't the kind in that there circular by a long shot. How much do you want?"
With a certain* trepidation added to the natural shake of the chill, the man applied to the fourth Homeopathic physi- cian, with the not unnatural question, *'Say, what kind of a homeopathic doctor are you?"
*'Just an humble homeopath without any frills. Are you under the weather?"
*'Is this the kind you are?" asked the man, holding out the circular with one hand and rubbing his stomach with the other.
The homeopath read the circular attentively. *-That's about right," said he. Many questions followed, a medicme was given which stopped the iporbid symptoms very speed- ily, but as all the man's money had gone to the previous consultants, the humble homeopath had to pawn his watch as usual, when in need of funds.
■T'^^^i
SURGICAL CASKS.
699
SURGICAL CASES (SO CALLED) CUBEU THEBAPEUTI
CALLY.
By Nettie Campbell, M. D.
Neuralgia and Constipation. — Mrs. C. R., age 54. A Christian Scientist, no medicine in 10 years.
A most terrific case of left-sided neuralgic headache ex tending down the neck and shoulder; head constantly wrap- ped up in a shawl, only the nose peeping out; body bathed in hot, musty perspiration; room eighty degrees and yet patient is worse by the least breath of air if bedding is raised; also worse by light, every blind must be down.
Was called as an osteopath, with instructions by the husband not to mention medicine, as they were from a fam- ily of physicians of both schools; brother in-law at one time professor of materia medica in Hering College and all there was in medicine had been tried on her.
Neuralgic headache since a school girl.
The daughter asked me to give medicine to be put in drinking water. I replied when medicine cures your mother she must know it and give the credit to Homeopathy and not to Christian Science.
I explained to the family that osteopathy could never cure such a deep-seated miasmatic trouble and felt sure a class of remedies called the nosodes would reach her trouble and believed they had never been tried in her case, as even some Hering graduates were too prejudiced to give them a trial. After ten days confinement to the bed, with almost incessant, agonizing pain, during which time I was treating her osteopathically, she consented to try medicine once more.
The osteopathic treatment afforded me a splendid oppor- tunity to study her case and thus make a center-shot pre- scription for the headaches, where I would have been almost sure to have failed had I prescribed at the first visit.
The following were the symptoms:
1. Left-sided headaches, neuralgic in character, ex- tending down the neck and shoulder.
2. Pain in left shoulder at insertion of deltoid, worse
i
700 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
raising arm laterally, (either shoulder med. syph. rhus), ri^ht shoulder, sang. ; left, f er. met.
3. Ptosis — sleepy look from drooping lids— gels-caust., graph., syph.
4. Fissures of rectum — syph., tub., thuja., sep., nit. ac.^ graph., cham. All stand high.
5. Teeth decay at edge of gums — staph., tub., syph.
6. Obstinate constipation for years; only one movement in ten days; stricture in rectum, could hardly introduce the high rectal tube; she said the pain of passage after an enema was as bad as giving birth to a child — lacdef., tub., syph.
7. Inordinate desire for brandy, though strictly temper- ate; only thing the stomach would tolerate without nausea — this made me think of what our good dean told us when in college, viz: *'You will never find a drunkard except in a miasmatic patient."
s. Dread to see night come, not because pains are really so much worse, but lay awake all night, while others are sleeping and about day-break fall asleep.
9. Worse wrapping head up — hepar, sil., psor., syph.
February IT), 1907, three powders syph. an hour apart, followed by S. L.
Relieved of pain before time for the second powder, slept all night and until 9 a. m.; no trouble in sleeping after this.
Appetite returned, craving for stimulants ceased, no complaint when even high rectal tube was used.
In two weeks time bowels moving normally every day; saw her two weeks ago and she told me she had no trouble with constipation or headaches.
In this case I could find no trace of any syphilitic taint whatever.
Mp:DOKKiiiNrM IN Dysme>:orrhea,— Mrs. M , widow; manager in telephone oftice. Never had any trouble till since marriage one and a half years ago, and now must give up and go to bed for two days each month. The most distinctive symptoms were these:
1. Chronic ovaritis since marriage.
SURGICAL CASES. 701
«
2. During menstruation intense menstrual colic, want to draw knees up and press abdomen, but the thing that gives Ihe most relief is to grasp something and bear down as in labor.
3. Flow dark, clotted, impossible to wash out. (mag c). Gave med. c. m. In two hours pain all gone able to go
to -work, not the least pain. Three months later still well.
ANOTHER CASE.
Miss M., age 24. Menstruation profuse but painless, lasting five days; flow in gushes, on moving or even raising arms; 'flow is dark, clotted and hard to wash out.
Painful tenesmus of bladder, worse after last drops of urine.
Worse by pressing the vulva with hand.
Thinking of the painful irritation of bladder makes it worse.
Must get up to urinate four or five times at night, beginning after she gets warm in bed.
Med. c. m. complete relief of all the urinary symptoms in twenty-four hours, and next menstrual flow not so profuse or so hard to wash out.
She said, *1 have treated for the urinary trouble for months and this was the first relief I obtained."
PsoKiNUM IN Acute Coryza.— N. G., age 75. My next is a case of severe acute coryza, suggesting by turns ars.; sulph. and allium cepa., with symptoms common to such cases, which I failed to cure until I overlooked the cold and made a careful inquiry into my patient's past life — in other •words prescribed for my patient and not the pathological condition. The following are tlie symptoms which helped to clearly differentiate the case:
1. Typhoid in a malignant form when young, suggest- ing at once a psoric patient.
2. Must cover the head (especially forehead) winter and summer when sleeping. Relief from wrapping up the head — hep., sil., psor., nat. m., syph.
3. Knows when a thunder storm is coming because of a
702 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
nervous, restless feeling in bones for two or three days, causing sleepless nights and better as soon as the storm breaks.
Worse before a thunder-storm — gels., psor., sep., lach.
We have a number worse during a storm.
4. Always have a bad cold like this once a .year,eDding in a sore throat. Worse once a year— gels., lach., ars., psor.
Psor. m. in water every half hour; decided relief before time for second dose (although saturating four or five hand- kerchiefs in an hour), and by night all hoarseness andcoryza had disappeared and you would hardly suspect that she had bad a cold.
The most interesting thing about this case is the remedy so far as proven, has none of the symptoms of the coryza or hoarseness, which she presented.
TuBERCULiNUM IN Eye TROUBLE.— Mrs. M., age 40. Temp)^rature 97 in early morning. Brother and sister died of tuberculosis; almost constant dull aching pain in eyes; look tired and weak, lids heavy; want to close them.
Worse reading or using eyes at close work; marked photophobia.
Felt sure it could not be the fault of the glasses, as a good oculist had fitted her glasses about two months before and yet she could not read ten minutes without closing her eyes to relieve the pain and aching.
Cannot go to sleep till midnight; puis., sulph., tub.
Breasts enlarge and become painful for one week before menses; con., lac can., tub.
Craves ice cream before menses, a marked symptom.
Menses regular, almost to a day; tardy in starting, then very profuse and protracted for eight or nine days and weakening; calc. carb., tub.
Flushes of heat from the diaphragm up.
Feet icy cold, but not noticeable to patient till shoes are removed and she touches them.
Tub. c. m. in water for two days^ followed by s. 1. and tub. as needed.
MENTAL TROUBLES RELIEVED.
703
Third day could read better without glasses than she could with them.
Saw her three months later; temp, normal.
Sleep better; feet not so icy cold; breasts not painful be- fore menses. Menses not so profuse or exhausting.
Eyes still continue better and can read without glasses. This is but one of several cases in which I have found tuber- •culinum helpful for the eyes.
Convergent Strabismus:— R. B., age 65.* Trouble came on after an injury to the head, fracturing the bone slightly above and below the eye, causing internal strabis- mus of the right eye, the iris touching the internal canthus.
Forgetful of names of persons, recognizes them but calls them by another name.
Aggravated by heat of the sun.
Worse in cold weather, always chijly, which excludes sulph.
Can hardly be induced to take a bath.
Good appetite, must have three good meals of strong food a day, can't be put off with lunch.
Breath so extremely offensive can hardly talk to him.
Urine and perspiration almost as markedly offensive.
Psor c. m. once a day for two weeks.
In three weeks time could hardly notice the strabismus.
Breath, urine and perspiratinn not so offensive.
Not quite so averse to bathing; has more energy.
Memory improved.
In two months time eye almost normal.
MENTAL TROUBLES :REL1EVED BV HOMEOPATHIC
REMEDIES.
By Lee Norman, M. D.
In presenting this paper on Mental Troubles relieved by Homeopathic remedies, do not understand me to believe that surgical interference is never necessary or justifiable. I believe in surgical measures where a case is incurable with remedies.
Every mental disease is characterized by special symp-
704 THE MEDICAIi ADVANCE.
toms by which it may be recognized, as the disease appears in a variety of forms, such as delirium, hallucinations, mel- ancholy and insanity. I will not attempt to go into the pa- thology, as the pathology in the case would show us a very uncertain light. In order to obtain the best results in the treatment of these cases, it is essential to know everything possible about the case. Take plenty of time in examining the patient. The first important condition after taking the case is tolindthesimillimum, which in most of these cases is hard to do.
Mrs. V — , age \)'2, lived in a southern town on the Ohia River, two years ago suffered with malaria, had chills and fever which was treated with heroic doses of quinine and calomel, apparently became well; fairly good health until January 9th, when between 8 and 4 a. m., she awoke with a chill, she felt as if the blood had left her body, sent for a doctor and when he arrived she was delirious, talking about hearing voices calling her ugly names, saying all kinds of threatening things. The doctor gave her a hypordermic in- jection, when she became quiet he left, returning again that a. m., repeated the injection. He continued this treatment for a week; finally said that her ovaries were affected and she could not get well without an operation. Another phy- sician was then called in, be made an thorough examination and said she was perfectly healthy in that respect and an operation was not necessaiy. He treated her for hysteria, she appeared to be getting better but continued to hear the voices all the time. The medicine he gave her seemed to give her unnatural strength, which only lasted for a short time. She grew worse, husband took her to Cairo, 111., from there to St. Louis to different physicians; still showed no improvement. While in St. Louis she would get so fright- ened at the voices she would sit down on the street. One night she walked forty squares and was not tired, walked until her heels bled. Seeing she was no better, decided to return home and called in another physician who had treated cases of this kind successfully. After treating her two weeks and seeing that she was growing worse, told h^r she
MENTAL TROUBLES RELIEVED.
705
would have to help him by using her will power. This she could not understand, her mind being in such a state, she continued to hear threatening voices all the time, was afraid to eat, pulled her hair and begged them to give her some- thing to put her out of the way. Changed clean linens for soiled ones, would wake up at night out of a doze, for she never slept sound, and think she was talking to her dead parents, go out on the porch and say her little girl was sing- ing to her from the clouds. Would imagine her brother from New York was coming, would watch the cats make trip after trip to meet him never getting discouraged or. disap- pointed when he failed to come. She would declare the neighbors were trying to set fire to the house and some one was going to kill them, kept them up night after night. She would say the wild man from Borneo was after her and would get so frightened she would faint. It would take from ten to fifteen minutes before she would regain con- sciousness, then she would be completely exhausted. At times she would preach to the pictures on the wall. Voices would say that her mother and father were in hell, she would go into convulsions over it, cry as if her heart would break. One night she gave a spiritual lecture, said she was controlled by a spirit. The lecture was not a very pleasant one to listen to, she would talk the whole night through un- less under the influence of opiates. One bitter cold night she had them prepare her for burial and would not allow any fire in the room. She would take the character of different people, change her voice, would imagine herself strapped to the floor, scream and fight, say she was behind prison bars.
This is only a sketch of what went on for twelve weeks, when her husband was advised to bring her to Louisville and place her in a private sanitorium, which he did. After being in there a week she began to grow weaker and slept a great of the time, he became discouraged and almost des- perate; being a stranger here did not know what to do. He sought a brother Odd Fellow who recommend me and offered him his home and assistance. )
I was called about 3 p. m., April the 4th; found her very
706 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE-
nervous and excited, her mental state being in such a condi- tion I oonld not elicit reliable symptoms; had to base my prescription mostly on objective symptoms and what I could obtain from her husband. She was afraid to go to sleep— the voices would threaten to do her harm if she did; would sleep into aggn^avations; was suspicious of every move made; over-sensitive to touch and noises. I-gave lach. Im. This was about 6 o'clock p. m. Called again at 9 p. m.; she was just about the same. Was called at 2 a. m.; found her vio- lent; by this time she was getting out from under the influ- ence of the opiates given at the sanitarium. It was all one could do to manage her; she screamed, cursed; face flushed; would hold her head with her hands; complained of pain sticking her head; talked incessantly. Gave bell. 10m, dose every hour until three doses had been given. Stayed with her until 7 a. m. I called in consultation Dr. George S. Coon, one of Louisville's most efficient surgeons, whose unerring judgment and marvelously skillful hand places him at the very forefront of operators. He examined the patient and did not think an operation necessary, but' advised treat- ing the patient. He suggested to give a few doses of some hypnotic, as it was impossible to quiet her without it.
Gave Wampole's hypnotic, teaspoonful in one-third of a glass of water; dose, teaspoonful every half hour until quiet She passed a fairly good night. Next morning I took the case as carefully as I possibly could and worked it by reper- tory; to my surprise it worked out puis.
Gave puis 500 three doses two hours apart, improved from the first dose; sac 1. every hour, improvement continued slowly until the 13th. Patient hungry, aversion to food, bitter taste in her mouth, pressure in stomach as from weights an hour or two after eating, constipated, sensitive to cold. Nux. 200 powder night and morning. She con tinned to improve a little each day. On the 18th she walked to the dining room for her dinner. 20th not so well, would take spells of weeping, complain of being too warm. Nausea, never thirsty, puis. 10m. night and a. m, 21st, better with continued improvement until 25th. The 25th, not so well,
MENTAL TROUBLES RELIEVED.
707
spent very restless night, hysterical, violent, wanted to smash furniture, break windows. Now I became discour- aged, gave stram 1. m. one dose.
26th. Next morning found patient quiet.
27th. Old symptoms returned, puis repeated, 10m.
28th. Very much improved, wanted to go home, felt able to make the trip, voices not so frequent and fright^;ned her less.
30th. Left for home.
May 2nd. Stood the trip home as well as could be ex- pected.
May 6th. Sleeping very well, appetite good, voices about the same.
May 10th. Did not sleep well, wanted voices stopped.
May 14th. Patient writes, **I am sleeping better, took short walk, voices not so loud and strong, feel better when I am walking around, but too weak to walk much."
May 17th. Patient did not sleep well, feels weak after exercising, constipated, has the desire but they will not move, itching in anus, sore pain as from hemorrhoids, still bear voices. Nux. 10 m., 2 doses night and morning.
May 20th. Sleeping better.
May 2'4th. Very much better, received company, says she believes she will get well, voices not so strong.
May 26th. Patient feels much better, walked one square alone. I can now hold my thoughts. Yesterday I did not hear voices for twenty minutes.
May 28th. Had a dream that frightened her, awoke screaming, could not pacify her, would not be satisfied until the house was searched for robbers, very irritable, hammer- ing headache, weak and trembling, voices strong. Nat. mur. 1 m.
Maydlst. Patient writes, **I am gaining in strength, appetite good, constipation better, I eat ginger snaps and they keep my bowels regular, voices want me to listen to ttem like I use to, they say if I would talk to them like I did ttiey would have some fun, I would not do it, I have tried both wayis and find my way the best."
m
1
708 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
June 1st. ''Better but weak in my limbs."
June 6th. Patient, '*I feel much stronger this a. m., have been sewing some by hand. When I sew or read the voices keep still. Voices say they can't stay much longer, they are getting tired.''
June I'ith. Patient, '*I am getting stronger and cannot understand why the voices do not leave. Voices less fre quent and they cannot frighten me. I know it is my own' thoughts, and not any one else."
June 17th. '1 have just returned from walking six squares and do not feel tired. I have a pain going from left to right side of my head, feels like it struck a bruised place, it is a sharp pain, I feel like there was something in my throat and it keeps me swallowing, disagreeable taste in my mouth of morning, breath offensive. My voice sounds like a child's, once in a while it will be natural; those voices keep telling me I shall never be well,"
THE RELATION OF HOMEOPATHY TO PUERPERAL
FEVER.
By Julia C. Loos, M. D. A mother, dwelling in a beautiful country borough home, terminated her pregnancy and so happily and successfully delivered her child to present to her doctor husband that the nurse permitted her to sit up in bed to take breakfast next day. After a few days' siege of puerperal fever death ended the suffering. The new babe was motherless within a week. In a large city a young wife, active throughout her first pregnancy, papered her own bedroom and attended to many other preparations for her own period of confine- ment and for the expected new guest. . Her medical attend- ant was quoted to the effect that he never saw a woman go to her parturient bed in better physical condition. Within a week fever developed and persisted. Drugs changed al- most as frequently as the doctor's visits; morphine injections, ice-cap, oxygen inhalations; all forms of attention that her doctors conceived were employed. As a result at the end of
PUERPERAL FEVER. 709
three weeks the home was robbed of its mainspring and ight and held a motherless babe.
These instances are multiplied by the hundreds, where more or less functional disturbance has been noted before parturition. The shadow of possible fever hangs threaten- ingly over the joyous anticipation of new maternity. But it is to be emphasized that healthy women are not so vitally ft?
disturbed by slight extra exertion in the course of a normal •function. They may not be disabled by illness but to the careful observer there would be previous evidences of ab- normality before such an overwhelming storm should break. To the true physician attention to the early hints of disorder gives power to dissolve the clouds of threatening possibility. The prospective mother and her friends should be freed U:.
from the indefinite fear, and in realization extend her mater- lt$
nal care over the babe she has born. ft^
Pregnancy and parturition in any woman presents the l^^:^
opportunity for the most active and complete performance i;^ r
of her physical functions. In the creative impulse the sub- Tv
sequent nutrition of the fetus and its final delivery, the en- 0^ ,:-
tire economy accomodates its many functions to that su- Kl'
preme aim. At no period of life is there larger general de- it%
mand on the economy than when the vital force is control- ■ '
ling its wonderfully co-ordinated machinery to develop the new imagejwithin the uterus, at the same time maintaining repairjand activity in the body of which it continues the ijenant.
During these periods every organ is required to respond to larger demands. Weakness in any organ is apt to be manifest during the extra strain, presenting symptoms that on other, more ordinary, occasions are not revealed. All activityjis increased hence the active evidence of disorder is presented; the index of the quality of vital control.
To the student of disorder and its rational cure, who recognizes all symptoms as outward manifestations of inter- nal disturbance, these periods of more active expressions, -afford the opportunity for more positive recognition of the image ofjdisorder traced in the symptoms. Thereby is the
710 THE MEDICAL. ADVANCE.
remedy which the organism demands for its restoration to normal order more distinctly perceived* and the patient i» benefitted by its administratian. Whatever form of disorder arises in the pregnant or paturient woman is indeed an or- derly, harmonious expression of the internal disorder (strange as this verbal expression may appear). This knowledge proves the stimulus to close study of each case to interpret its symptoms, with assurance of the result when the remedy image is perceived and the remedy administered. This perception of the remedy image is for the time the pre- scriber's one aim.
Granting all the varied disturbances of pregnancy and parturition are manifestations of internal disorder, it is evi- dent that the nearer to normal order the patient remains or returns, the less will these manifestations exist; the less will the patient suffer. This is true concerning all forms which have been observed and considered under definite pa- thologic names as truly as the more vagub sensations with- out recognized pathologic foundation. Whims, cravings and aversions of pregnant women, cardiac and renal disturban- ces, spasms, manias, placenta retained, hemorrhages, fevers; these all belong to the category of expressions of internal disorder. These fail to occur or cease to continue in pro- portion as the patient is returned to order internally.
The peculiar province of Homeopathy is to restore order in the patient. Always and ever, whatever the complaint, the good of the patient is the aim of Homeopathy's claims. The condition of the patient, also the endurance and reac- tion, are judged by the groups of symptoms in their course of development and disappearance. From the foregoing facts the logical conclusion is that in the event of any dis- turbances developing during pregnancy or puerperium, the application of remedies according to the principles ot Hom- eopathy is the best method of relief. The use of the reme- dy, homeopathic to each individual case, is followed by dis- solution of the ailments which distress the patient or menace her safety.
In reference to puerperal fever our especial subject of
PUERPERAL FEVER,
7ll
consideration at present, the experience of the disciples of Homeopathy corroborates this philosophy. They report '*my patients do not develop puerperal fever when treated during pregnancy. I have been called a few times to see cases when it had developed and then the homeopp,thic rem- edy soon cleared it away." In patients who have had the benefits of this form of treatment during pregnancy, such an-orderly condition is established that the uterus is emptied of the products of conception and the waste products inci- dent to uterine involution are expelled, without exciting fe- ver and poisoning.
If the patient has not had the previous benefit of such treatment and the group of symptoms does develop, which so frequently invades what should be the chamber of joy and peace, Homeopathy's disiples need not approach with knees trembling in helpless alarm. Calmed and sustained by the unfaltering trust in the power of remedies, projierly selected and administered, with unprejudiced mind and at- tentive fidelity in noting the symptoms as they arise, the' homeopathic prescriber is able to testify to the efficiency of our art in these severe conditions. Under the influence of suitable remedies, the evidences of poisoning disappear while the uterine discharges increase and assume a character approaching normal and the fever subsides. No time is lost in the patient's progress as these remedies at the same time restore her vigor and reaction.
What is the relation of Homeopathy to pnerperaljfever? If employed before the period of its possible development, it carries a prevention. If called upon in the midst of the siege it can be trusted, without misgivings, to restore order in the patient so that evidences of its existence shall be de- stroyed within her. So long as the internal reaction is dis- regarded, no amount of attention to destroying the poisons externally will avail for the cure of the patient. With nor- mal conditions created internally, the poisons will not con- tinue to develop and all evil effects will disappear.
'^:
The Medical Advance
A Monthly Journal of Hahnemannian Homeopathy A Study of Methods and Results.
When we hhre to do with an art whose end is the saving of human life any neglect to make onrsei ves thorough masters of it becomes a crime,— Hahnemann,
Subscription Price .... Two Dollars a Year
We believe that Homeopathy, well understood and faithfully practiced, bis power to puve more lives and relieve more pain than any other method of ireai- mentever invented or discovered by man; but to be a flrst-class homeopathic pre- scriber requires careful study of both patient and remedy. Yet by patieni care ll can be made a little plainer and easier than it now is. To explain and define an<1 In all practical ways simplify it is tur chosen \iork. In this good work we aslc yoarhelp.
To accommodate both readers and publisher this journal will besentunti arrears are paid and it is ordered discontinued .
Communications regarding Sut)scriptons and Advertisements may be sent to the publisher. The Forrest Press. Batavia, lilinois.
Contributions. Exchanges. Hooks for Review, and ril other communicatioos should be addressed to the ICditor, 5142 Washington Avenue, Chicago.
OCTOBER, 1908.
EMtotlaU
It is one of the wonderful and impressive — almost awe- inspiring — features of man that he can study a thing for many years and yet know nothing of it. How many thous- and boys do you suppose have studied Greek without learn- ing it. How many thousands of girls have studied French and yet -have never mastered a single, complex French sentence.
It is related of a sweet girl student who had spent a year in studying physiography, that she was much amazed to learn that her mother's back yard was a part of the earth's surface, which she had studied so carefully and so long.
Law students have been known to spend four years in a law college and issue forth therefrom with beads full of con-
EDITORIAL. . 713
fusion and technical expressions, but as to any grasp of the law and its interior essence of right and justice, they had less than a hod-carrier.
It is one thing to memorize a page or two of verbal ex- pressions and quite another thing to really know that thing of which the words are an inadequate expression.
Lectures on painting — an interminable course of lec- tures—by the best painters, never taught anybody how to paint.
The law of similars can be expressed in a very short sentence. It, with its corollaries— the minimum dose of the single indicated remedy— can be fully explained in an ordi- nary page of printed matter, and yet there have been men, graduates of homeopathic colleges, calling themselves hom- eopaths, boasting of its merits as compnred with the old school, who have spent their whole lives at it, and then died not knowing Homeopathy in the least, and not knowing that they did not know it.
If there is one thing more than another that prevents a true knowledge of Homeopathy to these almost-homeopaths it is the practice of giving two-hourly or three-hourly doses until the next visit of the doctor. After reflection and ob- servation, we believe this is the crux of the whole matter.
As if to emphasize the above position, we lately received an invitation to attend a meeting of a Homeopathic society to listen to a paper entitled **The Inefficacy of Internal Treatment in Gonorrhoea."
At this meeting the statement was made by a local light- weight that he **had been trying to impress upon the profes- sion for years the uselessness of any but local treatment in gonorrhea." This statement, so made, is a subject fit for inextinguishable laughter.
Another happening, to bring the matter home, occurred this very week. A man, approaching middle age, came to see us, for the first time in ten years. This man came of good stock, his grandmother still lives at ninety-two; his mother still lives, his father died but recently at seventy- three. He should be healthy and his children should be healthy.
714 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
But he had this ''strictly local disease*' at the age of eighteen, treated by one who believed its internal treatment to be inefficacious and who used "irrigation" methods. He complained to me that of his two children, one had asthma at nine and the other had eczema at six.
There are facts enough in all conscience — facts grim, incontrovertible, multituduious, denunciatory — to prove that the local treatment of gonorrhea is inefficacious, and the ignorance that will not see it is invincible, ineradicable, in- veterate and inexpugnable.
K.
* * *
The Propag^andism of Homeopathy has received its due share of attention for the last three years, not only in the American Institute and International Hahnemannian Asso- <5iation, but in the state, county, city and local societies all over the country. The aim has been to interest the pec^le in the superior efficacy of the homeopathic system of medi- cine* and in doing this to advance the cause of the profes- sion everywhere.
The editor of the Medical Century, in the August issue, reiterates the fact of the apparent apathy of the profession. He says: *'In the last 15 years the increase in the total membership in the American Institute has only been 547. Hard work has been done both by circular and letter to in- duce some of the 10,000 non-institute members to join, yet without result.
* 'During these 15 years over 5,000 have been graduated from our colleges. Why have so many not become members of the Institute? Is it because 53 per cent of the members of the faculties of the colleges are not members of the In- stitute?"
The facts above presented by one of the ablest writers of our school demands investigation. The American Insti- tute and the International Hahnemannian Association are experiencing the same trouble that the American Medical Association has for many years, an unaccountable apathy in ^he profession. Apparently little but personal interest in
EDITORIAL. 715
their work. The American Medical Association changed its tactics and ppt a traveling agent in the field to make a per- sonal appeal to the medical profession to do its duty, and this appeal has been successful.
Now that the American Institute has decided ta com- mence the publication of its Transactions in a weekly jour- nal, and has appointed a traveling agent or secretary, we trust to hear of a different result in the near future. A per- sonal appeal evidently is what is needed, and no man in the profession could be selected who can do more effective work than Dr. W. E. Dewey, editor of the Medical Century, to whom this duty has been assigned.
While the National Society is making such an active campaign in the propagandism of Homeopathy, may we not suggest to the '^powers that be" that an effort be made at propagandism in the proression. Charity begins at home. Why should our propagandic work not begin in the same place? We have asked many professed homeopaths to be- come members of the American Institute and of the Inter- national Association. One objection to the Institute has fre- quently been raised: What is there to be learned by attend- ing its meetings? There is little Homeopathy in the papers or the discussions. In reply: There is more Homeopathy than many an objector dreams of. Last year, at Kansas City, Dr. Babe presented the best bureau in Homeopathy that has ever been presented in the Institute, a bureau the I)apers of which every homeopath may be proud, and still scarcely a baker's dozen remained to hear the papers or the discussion. The subjects contained in them were of vital importance, live questions, many of which struck at the root of the apathy so common in our school. While the combination tablet and the alternation and mixture of rem- edies are so prevalent, both in the theory and practice in many of our societies, there certpinly is some logical objec- tion that there is little to be learned by attending meetings. The earnest propagandism of a purer and better Homeopa- thy at the meetings of all our societies will soon make them of such interest that they may revolutionize the practice in our school.
716 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
IN THE FIELD.
Dr. Charles Adams has been appointed by Gov. Deneea Surgeon General of the Illinois Natiodal Guard, to succeed the late Col. Nicholas Senn. For fifteen years he was chief svrgeon of the First Infantry, with the rank of Major, and yfterward chief surgeon of the First Brigade. During the Spanish- American war he acted as chief surgeon of the bri- gade to which the First was assigned. He was formerly professor of surgery in the Chicago Homeopathic College, and since 1896 has devoted his entire attention to surgery.
Dr. L. Grace Spring is making an enviable record for herself and her school at Saltillo, Mexico, where she began practice about two years ago. She received her official li- cense to practice Homeopathy in Mexico in August, 1907. The alumni of Hering College will be pleased to hear of her success.
Dr. Gabriel F. Thornhil], Paris, Texas, reports a sue cessful and enthusiastic meeting of the Texas State Society this month at San Antonio. He secured a number of mem- bers for the Southern Association, which meets in New Orleans during Mardi Gras season, in February, 1909, and which bids fair to be a successful meeting.
Dr. Margaret B. Bargess has removed her office to the Roger-Williams building, Chestnut street, Philadelphia. The doctor is president this year of the Hahnemann Round Table Club, which will be addressed October 30th by Dr. Stuart Close, of Brooklyn, N. Y. This society is doing good work.
Errata: Through a proof-reading error, which we re- gret to say is too common in the Advance, the name of the remedy, Nux vomica, was omitted from the end of Case VII of Dr. Hawkes' article, page 603, September number. We ask our readers to add the name of the remedy at the end of the first paragraph, so as to make the article complete. Do it now while you think of it.
Dr. Helen B. Wilcox has removed her office and resi- dence to Lexington Ave. and G3rd St. The doctor is devot- ing special attention to diseases of children.
IN THE FIELD. 717
Dr. W. E. Belly, Fulton, Mo., has been appointed chairman of the new Bureau of Homeopathy for the meet- ing of the Southern Association, at New Orleans, in Febru- ary, 1909. The doctor aunounces that the text for his bureau address will be the third verse pf the 6th chapter of Nehe- , miah. Those familiar with the chapter and verse will see that there is one lively paper on the program, which prob- ably will receive its due amount of discussion.
The New Jersey State Society held its 55th semi- annual session at the Hotel Marlborough, Asbury Park, October 6th and 7th. The meeting was well attended and the papers and discussions of more than usual interest. A full report of the meeting and some of the papers will ap- pear in our November issue.
Dr. Norton Denslow, of New York, recently read a paper before the Academy of Medicine in which he claimed he had found a cure for. locomotor ataxia. This was exten- sively published in the daily press, and set the credulous public asking questions. Of course the true homeopath knew at once the claim was impossible; that the doctor, like many of his colleagues, was chasing a Will-o'-the-wisp.
Now comes the other side of the question, in which sev- eral of the most noted New York Neurologists, Drs. Wyeth, Sachs, CJollins, Fisher, and others, condemn the paper as ridiculous in the extreme, and condemn the oflBcers of the Academy of Medicine for allowing it to be read, thus re- ceiving a semi-official endorsement.
The claims of Dr. Denslow are so preposterous that they need not be refuted, yet it is only a repetition of the old method of discovery of the cure of a disease by one man which soon falls to the ground and is absolutely denied by another of the same school. Verbum sat sapientL
Doctor F. W. Gordon, aged 73, of Sterling,Ill., died Oct. 1st, following an operation*for prostatites. With Dr. O. B. Blackman he was a founder of the Rock River Institute in 1878, and his is the second death. The following resolutions were offered, and a copy forwarded to the bereaved family
718 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Whereat, God, our Heavenly Father, h*8 in His wisdom seen fit to call our brother and oo-laborer from his earthly toils; and
Whereas, As the Nestor of the Institute, who, sinee its inceptioo in 1878, has «o faithfully attended its sessions, aided in its maintenance and encouraged and benefited us all by his uniform Christian character tod council; and
Whereas, Without exception, during all tnese years, we have found him ever faithful to duty, consistent and courteous in life's actions, whether upon the floor in debate, or in private or profesaionallife; and .
Whereas, We have always found him honest professionally, ethlesl with his associates, and just in his dealings with all men; with a certain individual reserve, yet ever ready to extend the warm handed, tender hearted welcome to friend or competitor; and
Whereas, Having been brought, for so many years and in so manj ways, in such close and iutimate relationship with Dr. Gordon, ve would, as a society, as well as individually, give expression at this time and place, to those sentiments of our regard and shall always treasare his memory.
Resolved, That we extend to the family in this hour of their irre- parable bereavement our tenderest sympathies and heartfelt condolence*
DR. F, C. SKINNER, DR A. W. BLUNT,
President. Secretary.
A REPERTORY INDEX.
Editcrs Medical Advance:— ^\xox\Ay after receiving Kent^s Repertory and before I had had time to familiarize myself with its arrangement, I had cccasion to look up some peculiarity of the pulse. I have forgotten what the symptom was, but I have vivid recollection of a vain search for that section. It was not to be found under Heart or Fever and I fioallj directed my investigation to another and better-known repertory. I subsequently instituted a still hunt for the missing part in the great work, and, by a process of elimination, succeeded in loeatinjr it in Gen- eralities. I have no fault to find with the book on this score, for the classification is correct, but any change in conventionality should be off- set by an index to aid one in getting acquainted with the new arrange- menr.
Dr. Kent has placed Constipation under the rubric of Rectum where it very properly belongs, but as we are accustomed to look for it uoder the heading of Stool much valuable time is consumed in learning the correction; and the same objection will apply to the placing of UrinatiOD under Bladder instead of Urine. In his preface of the book Dr. Kent advises a study of its arrangement, but ii is not always possible to recall tne various peculiar ties when one^s mind is full of a brain-racking esse. Cross-references will aid somewhat, but are annoying and time-consum- ing, and the busy practitioner *^ wants what he wants when he wants it^' and the only solution to the difficulty lies in a concise index arranged on
IN THE FIELD. 719
•old, familiar 1iD#s. I compiled and have had such a ooe in use for a long time, and even now that I am fairly well acquainted with the book, still make daily use of this little auxiliary.
Feeling sure that others must have met with this difficulty (and per- 4iapa some of the younger ones may have discarded the book on this seeming inacuracy). I am having several hundred copies of the form printed and will be happy to send one gratuitoubly to any physician who may apply for it.
It would appear hardly necesmry to apologize to Dr. Kent for this un'\i8ual procedure as the practical value of his work in undoubtedly •enhanced thereby.
Sincerely, Wm. Jefferson Guernsey. Application should be made to Dr. Guernsey, Frankford, Philadelphia.
The Diagnosis of Appendicitis.— The following from Dr. J. B. Murphy, concerning the diagnosis of appendicitis is too valuable to be allowed to rest where the practicing phy- sician cannot see it:
Following an experience of operating in more than two thousand cases, Dr. Murphy says: **The symptoms of acute appendicitis are, in my experience, in the order of their oc- <5urrence:
1. Pain 'in the abdomen, sudden and severe.
2. Pain followed by nausea or vomiting.
3. General abdominal sensitiveness.
4. Elevation of temperature, beginning from two to twenty-four hours after the onset of pnin.
These symptoms occur almost without exception in the above order, and token that order varies Valways questhn the diagnosis^''
A TEXT-BOOK of CLINICAL MEDICINE
THE PmUCIPLES OF DIII6PSIS
By_Clarence Bartlett, M D>
245 Illustrations. Six Colored Plates. 976 Pages. Cloth,
$7.00, net. Half- morocco, $8.00, net.
Postage, 52 cents.
"Dr. B Artlett*8 work cannot fail to become the standard text-book on diagnosis in bath America and Great Britain." — London Homeoparhic Review.
"Here is a chance for our friends of the old school to show their fairness by admitting it as a text-book in their own colleges, for we venture the statement that i|^ they will examine this book as we have done they will find it the best work in the English language on the subject."— Jfedtcai Century,
"If a book is to be judged by Its helpfulness we predict for this a position on a shelf quite handy for ready reference, and it will retain that position for many years to come.'* — Medical Advance,
*'It makes no difference what school you belong to you need this valuable book." — Mediial Gleaner,
"Accurate, thorough scientific, and fully up-to-date." — Wm, Osier, M. D,, John Hopkiyis University.
Vlt seems to me thoroughly up-to-date in that seriously important department of medicine— Diagnosii—/. P. Sutfieiiand, M. D,, Boston School and University of Medicine.
* Taken as a whole, the book is by far the best of its kind on the market." — Critique.
The above comments are from representatives of every branch of recognized medicine and everyone highly endorses the book.
Boericke & Tafel,
PUBLTSHEK8
New York, Philadetpliia, Chicago.
The Medical Advance
Vol. XLVI. BATAVIA, ILL., NOVEMBER, 1908. No. 11.
THE CENTRAL NEW YORK SOCIETY.
Oak Hill Country Club, Rochester, N. Y., June 11, 1908.
The quarterly meeting of the Central New York Homeo- pathic Medical Society was called to order by the president, A. C. Hermance, at 12 m.
Members present: Drs. Beck, Bid well, Dake, FoUette, Fritz, Graham, Grant, Hermance, Hoard, Johnson, Leggett, Tretton.
Visitors: Drs. Fowler, Hagaman.
Minutes of the March meeting were read and approved.
The chairman of the Board of Censors moved that an application of D. J. R. Hagaman, for membership, be con- sidered formal from date. Seconded. Carried.
Dr. Stow desired to .say a word upon the old and new methods of diagnosis for tuberculosis. He disliked the idea of the tuberculin test, and referred to Hufeland's suggestion of bleeding until depletion. He considered that the methods mentioned by Dr. FoUette at last meeting were as effective as those of modern theorists.
Dr. Bresee being absent. Dr. Bidwell was appointed to read the Organon and Dr. Bresee's paper.
ORGANON OF MEDICINE. Section 57. — In order to carry into practice this antipathic method, the ordinary physician gives, for a single troublesome symptom from among many other symptoms of disease which he passes by unheeded, a medicine concerning which it is known that it produces the exact oppo- site of the morbid symptom sought to be subdued, from which, agreeable to the fifteen centuries-old traditional rule of antiquated medical school (contraria contrarils) he can expect the speediest palliative relief. He gives large doses of opium for pains of all sorts, because this drug soon benumbs the sensibility, and administers the same remedy for diar-
720 ' THE MEDICAL ADVANCE-
rheas, because it speedily puts a stop to the peristalic motion of the intestinal oanal and makes it insensible; and also for sleeplessntss, because opium rapid Ij produces astupified, comatose sleep; he gires purgatives when the patient has suffered long from constipation and costlveness; he causes the burnt hand to be plunged into cold water, which from its low degree of temperature, seems instantaneously to remove the burning pain, as if by magic; he puts the patient who com- plains of chilliness or deficiency of vital heat into warm baths, which warm him immediately; he makes him who is suffering from prolonged debility drink wine, whereby he is instantly enlived and refreshed: and in like manner he employs other opix)8ite antipathic remedial mean8,but he has very few besides those just mentioned, as it is only of very few substances that some peculiar (primary) action is known to the ordinary medical school. {Dudgeon's traKslatiou.)
The method of treatment described in this section is the third one named by Hahnemann, in his description of all the different ways by which the ills of the human system could be treated. It is a direct converse of the homeopathic law. As a system of medicine it is not distinct, but as a measure of treatment it is frequently used by all physicians, except- ing the strict homeopathic prescribers, and besides is much in vogue in the way of home treatment by the people them- selves. The ancient traditions combined with the small amount of knowledge that has seemed to be necessary for its application, has been to a great measure responsible for this unwarranted popularity.
The subject of antipathic or i)alliative treatment runs through the Organon from S 5() to S t)(>. but this paper is only expected to discuss S 7)7, although the temptation is great to infringe on the province of the next writer, and describe the effects which arc to be expected in the system after this method of treatment has been applied, rather than to be con- fined to ideas referring to this section alone.
I do not think, however, that it will be out of place to say that this method comprehends an attempt to cure dls ease by force. The term force, as used here, has the same meaning as it would have in a description of a conflict between two opposing powers, one overcomes the other by main force, or by reason of superior strength.
The following is a good illustration of the difference
CENTRAL NEW YORK SOCIETY. 721
between this and the homeopathic system. You can stop a rapidly moving train of cars on a railroad, by placing an obstrttction of sufficient size on the track ahead of the train. The result is certain, the train is stopped, but what of its condition? Would not its usefulness be impaired? How much better the other way of stopping the train. The engineer, on his engine, running at almost full speed into a statipn, easily moves the lever that controls the unseen power, shuts off the air brake,and stops the train in a rapid, gentle and safe manner. The selection of only one symptom as a basis for a prescription is a fault of this method that cannot be overlooked. If we consider for this once that the single symptom may be helped, we still have left the balance of the case which would be in need of relief.
Individualization of the case under this method is entire- ly out of the question, and, besides, one drug may be as effici- ent as another of the same class, the result not depending on the rebound of the vital force in response to the influence of a remedy administered according to homeopathic procedure. Those who apply drugs indiscriminately, after this fashion, ignore the fact that the vital force will resent this attack on the system, and because of that reason, the case is left in a worse state than before.
Medicine of the present day has so changed from what it was at the time Hahnemann wrote this section, that it is uncertain just how far this antipathic method may apply; but it is reasonable to suppose, with all the new combina- tions of drugs in use by physicians generally, and by the public at large, that the number of substances having this peculiar action would be increased rather than diminished.
Charles H. Bresee, M. D. Auburn, N. Y., June 1908.
DISCUSSION.
Dr. Stow: — Hahnemann has written truth. The old school men do not differ essentially now from those of Hahnemann's time. The difference lies in the ingenuity with which the doctors, druggists and pharmacists foist their products on the people. In my experience among the
722 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
doctors, old and young, the first thing thought of when called to a person in pain, is some form of opium. Then comes the diagnosis. There is not a particle of pro- gress in medicine unless it be in methods of diagnosis. They are just as much at loggerheads as to prescriptions as ever. Reference to the notable cases of President Garfield or Roscoe Conkling, is a fair illustration of the ingenuity with which physicians can interfere with the natural laws. When called to a case of diarrhea of late, with cough, found a cough mixture constantly administered to > that part of the sickness, which was a plain case for Podophyllum. The old school should have died out long ago.
Dr. Grant:— If doctors professing Homeopathy had practiced Homeopathy, that system would have died long ago.
Dr. Dake then read a paper upon:
HYGIENE OF TUBERCULOSIS.
Tuberculosis is a preventable disease, and because of this much of the treatment should be, and must be, hygien- ic in every particular. Now that this disease is receiving so much attention by the medical world, and through them and the many organizations formed for the breaking up of the foothold of the **white plague" upon the people of our com- munities, the laity are becoming educated and their interest aroused. We take notice that most of the efforts expended in these directions are hygienic in their character. We also notice that as medical knowledge and research progresses throughout the world, sanitation and hygiene play a most important role in the control and subsidence of various mal- adies, particularly the infectious aad contagious diseases.
In tuberculosis the hygienic, dietetic treatment, is very well, and very strongly indicated in the general conditions. But where the lungs are actually ill it necessitates, as we all know, more than this — it requires careful medical supervis- ion to cure.
In treating tuberculosis our success depends mainly on our ability to understand our patient thoroughly, i. e., his nature, mode of living, environment, habits and idiosyn-
CENTRAL NEW YORK SOCIETY. 723
crasies. So we see it is utterly useless to place any fixed rule that will apply with equal efficacy to each patient that may come under our care and supervision.
An individual, named Minor, once said, **let it never be forgotten that the patient is to be our partner and co-worker in his own case, and that a partnership in which one mem- ber is ignorant of the course of the business is sure to end in failure."
One of the first and important elements as to the hygiene of our patient is the clothing. This must not be too cumbersome or heavy. Chilliness and perspiration are both dangerous. Woolen or linen underwear, according to the nature of the individual. Extra coverings, or clothing should be at hand at all times. The use of chamois next to the chest, as a chamois or wool chest protector, must be done away with. The feet must always be kept dry, or if after exercise, there be perspiration, they must be dried. The head must be kept from the direct rays of the sun. The same article of clothing must not be worn for more than twelve hours without a thorough airing. The resistence to colds is acquired by acclimation, and it is sometimes sur- prising to see what resistance to colds by atmospheric changes the tuberculous will show under thorough hygienic care and direction.
The scheme or outline of living should be systematically arranged for every patient. This arrangement wotild, or should, place before the patient something for each fiour of the day, and have it specified.
One important element of treatment comes to my mind just now, and that is, that he must not be allowed to dwell in introspection, which is one of the greatest hinderances to both himself and his physician.
The hygienic, dietetic treatment, consists of good, well cooked, nourishing food, in proper amounts, at proper inter- vals, of fresh air day and night, and of exercise and rest regulated properly for each patient, according to conditions.
The fresh air treatment is now receiving, at the hands of physicians, its proper attention. I must say that it
724 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
seems to me that it is somewhat overdone, in some cases, and in others not enough consideration is paid to it.
Here we come up against individual peculiarities, and the physician to be successful must be a student of human nature, to be able to cope with the peculiarities of his patient, as they show themselves. In summer it is rather easy to get your * 'partner*' to coincide with your views, and he may agree to remain out of doors day and night. In winter I am strongly against the 24 hour out of door treat- ment. Eight hours is sufficient, the other sixteen to be spent in a sanitary, clean, sunny room. How many times we read and learn of faddists in the direction of winters out of doors, 24 hours, with no better results than the man who gives his patient eight hours of open air.
Rest and exercise: The regulation of these aids is very difficult. If we make a mistake here it would better be on the side of rest, for if a patient returns, after an attack, to his usual duties, his muscles will be so soft and weak that he is liable to a relapse. Rest in the acute cases is very essential. Assimilation, auto-intoxication, etc., are pro- duced by over fatigue. As the patient improves from bed treatment, and there is no hemoptysis, heart complications, or intercurrent diseases, he may be given a massage. This treatment to be followed by walking, properly modified and controlled. The rules for exercise should be printed, or typewritten, for each patient. The exercise should be taken out of doors, and between meals, rest being taken before and after meals.
An essential arrangement of the patient's time should be systematically ordered. No patient who is convalescent should be idle. Jjibrary, piano, photography, class work, nature study, are some of the many diversions forthis class of patients. W. E, Dake, Rochester, N. Y.
DISCHJSSION.
Dr. Grant:— Dr. Dake has touched the key-note, not only in tuberculosis, but of every other disease of the human orga n ism , in d i r id ?/ a I iza tion.
CENTRAL NEW YORK SOCIETY. 725
Dr. Bidwell asked Dr. Dake to report a case of tuber- <;ulosis, under his care.
Dr. Dake: — The patient was 36 years old, so weak from hemorrhages that he could not leave his bed. The temper- ature running all the way to 104 degrees. I kept him in bed, in a room open to fresh air, had him waited upon hand and foot until the hemorrhages stopped, the^ put him under a tent from March to October, giving him the occasionally necessary homeopathic remedies, after which he seemed to have, regained his entire strength, and the progression of the disease was stopped.
Dr. Graham had a case in the hospital that had been pronounced incurable by Dr. Ely, when sent to him in the Adirondacks, because of the high temperature, and advanced stage. Dr. Graham had given no medicine, had put the patient out of doors upon a veranda during the day. Dur- ing the rainy period of April he had given the patient oxygen, ten minutes, twice each day. This patient had ab- normal temperature no longer, was strong, and on the way to recovery.
Dr. Johnson mentioned the case of Dr. Hallock. a col- lege chum, who went to the woods and remained. He said that Dr. Hallock was well, received and treated patients sent to him. He quoted Dr. Hallock as saying, that in the woods a patient, tubercular, with temperature, is ordered to bed and to take no exercise. In Trudeau the report is, that there are- no bacilli found in at least half the cases treated.
Dr. Grant said that that bore out the experience of physicians in gen(u-al, and of bacilli in general. That patients died of diphtheria, frequently, in which no diph- theria bacilli had l)een found, and so with other diseases.
Adjourned for luncheon.
Called to order by the president at 2:20 p. ui. . Dr. Johnson said he had not prepared a pa)>er upon the subject of the '*X-ray as a Means of Diagnosis of Tubercu- losis,'* but had been greatly interested and had looked into the subject thoroughly. He said that Dr. Williams of Bos ton was the first man to bring out the possibilities of X-ray
726 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
in diagnosis of tuberculosis. He said that Dr. Williams used no plates, but worked with the fluoroscope, guarding him- self, with glass plates, and he was in that way able to study closely the various conditions presented. Dr. Johnson said that a photograph of any person's lungs would show spots, and a hasty conclusion had been too readily made that these were tuberculous spots, but that Dr. Williams had been able to show that these spots were only portions of the lung not inflated, or imperfectly filled with air, and would disappear when a deep inspiration filled the lung. Dr. Williams was the first to notice a faint shadow, which he finally deter- mined was uninflated lung tissue. Dr. Williams had finally confined his observations to, and worked upon, the excursion of the diaphragm.
If, in suspicious cases, he (Dr. Williams) found the ex- cursion of the diaphragm to be shallow, he considered the symptom more dependable than the shadowy spots, which were probably but non-inflated lung tissue. Dr. Johnson said that this shadow made by the excursion of the diaphragm could be seen above the dome of the liver. He drew attention to the difficulties of observation made by the distance or nearness of a solid body when seen by the X-ray; that it made a great difference as to the clearness of the shadow; if a shadow was deep in the lung, i. e., at a distance from the instrument, it was blurred by the motion of. the lung in breathing. He said that cases that showed well were so advanced that it was easy to diagnose by other mean^. He said that lesions three inches away from the plate were blurred. As to the value of the X-ray in the early diagnosis of tuberculosis, it was a question. In cases of tuberculous bone the X-ray is an addition to the physician's means of exact diagnosis. He illustrated the value of X-ray in treatment of tuberculous bone, by a case that had taken four trials with X-ray before a picture was obtained; by the time this was done the con- ditions had so greatly improved, the physician in charge suggested further treatment, and delayed operation, to the great advantage of the patient, who was cured. Dr. John- son's own patient, who had had various diagnoses, lungs.
^TT-
CENTRAL NEW YORK SOCIETY.
727
<tc., continued in his care and was cured with X-ray.
The next paper upon the "Therapy of Tuberculosis," by Dr. Hussey, was not received.
Dr. Leggett then read a paper upon:
MICROBE vs. MIASM.
Living in a period of violent agitation, mostly in tlie minds of health officers, who, anxious to be considered the beneficient forces of the communities in which they preside, seek out the infinitesimal microbe of various diseases, that they may sally forth as ** warrior knights of the windmill,'^ Quixote fashion, it behooves us to make inquiries as to facts in these matters.
To the student of Hahnemann, who. also lived in times of valiant * 'lighting of the windmill," it would seem, that al- though percautions hygienic, prophylactic, and preventive are right, and in degree necessary for the welfare of com- munities, that there are some other causes to be included in the quest of tuberculosis, for instance, than the tubercle bacilli of the sputum. Hahnemann was not only a profound observer, but a profound reasoner, when, after years of study, he was able to p)oint out facts, recorded in the arch- ives of old medicine, such as plainly indicated the results of suppression of the three great lesions which produce the three chronic miasms, whose primary expressions are so various, and whose ultimates are often so similar*
That the diseases, resultant from the chronic miasms, given early recognition, proper personal care, and the indi- cated remedy, are curable, I think we all believe.
Prom the fact that all three of the chronic miasms are transmissible, directly or by heritage, and that their termi- nal activities result in general or local conditions, such as tuberculosis general or localized, would it argue that the tubercular bacilli of the sputum was all that was necessary to prevent the spread of the * 'great white plague?"
It would almost seem that we are in danger of forget- ting that there^are other tubercular lesions than pulmonary, ^ and that there^are other methods of acquiring the disease .than by infected dust aad accumulations of garbage
m
m
72h the medicat. advance.
Every observant homeopathic physician has proved to himself again and again that each miasmatic disease is not only transmissible to generations following, but is com- municable. He has seen this in the close relation of mar- riage, in wives in whom no trace of dyscrasia had appeared until the closer bond was formed, and has seen the victim change and fade beyond recognition, even unto death; and he has learned that only through the careful prescription of the simillimum, made possible through the God-given in- sight of Samuel Hahnemann, could he combat the resultant disease. Having made these observations, and realized the fiendish miasm behind the disturbance, is he in danger of forgetting these facts in a mad search for a microbe, which, after having destroyed all visible means of its existence, he is sure to find lurking in some forgotten or hidden corner? Will he forget that even the tubercular bacilli must have a prepared soil, that sunshine and oxygen are still the most perfect of antiseptics, and that the ''rousing of the body's defenders, opsonins,'' is best done by the simillimum? In fact, what else is the object of the homeopathic physician than to rouse the life-force to the resistance of disease? In what way could we know the needs of the organism, except through indications made by the life-force itself, which, after centuries of mistakes, we have learned to interpret?
Right it certainly is to do what we can in preventative ipedicine, through constant teaching, through health boards, if you will, but most of al) let us constantly remind our- selves that not only the psoric, but the syphillitic and sycotic miasms prepare a ready soil for infection, as well as them- selves degenerate the organism to a condition productive of the results we are so carefully pursuing. No bactericide in the world can wipe out a miasm once introduced into the orgai ism. Teach men and women that suppression means torture, and frequently a painful death. Teach them that from each miasm they may expect the same ultimates, be they tuberculosis, cancer, or other degenerative process. Teach them that venereal disease suppressed or recessed, is more productive of the death ultimate, whatever its name, than all the microbes in the universe.
S. L. Guild-Leggett, M. D., H. M.
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CENTRAL NEW YORK SOCIETY.
729
DISCUSSION.
Dr. Bidwell feels that we make a mistake if we fail to recognize the fact that bacteria are an exciting, if not the predisposing cause of the disease. He likened it to seed, a grass seed if sown in proper soil would multiply indefinitely. He said the work in the laboratory was very convincing: the guina pig, a very susceptible animal, inoculated with the bacteria of tuberculosis, would die of the disease in any time from ten days to six weeks. He described the lyethod of in- fection, the protection offered to the tissues by the phago- cites, who, like soldiers, hedged about and walled in the bacteria until they were overcome by numbers. He be- lieved that there was no case of tuberculosis in which the bacteria were not present, but that they could not always be found in sputa for the reason that they might be walled off deeply in the alveoli and never reach the bronchi, to be thrown off; that nature tried to relieve the system of the foreign matter through other chanfiels.
He recognized the fact that there must be the right soil for growth as given by the predisposing cause in the lower- ing of the vital force, but could not ignore the fact that there must be an exciting cause, and such cause had been abso- lutely proven to be the bacilli of tuberculosis(?).
Dr. Leggett said that it was not the possibility of infec- tion that she doubted when writing the paper, but the dan- ger of forgetting the predisposing conditions, which, homeo- pathic physicians were especially fitted to control. She also believed that there was that in the human organism, which, given the proper environment, and depressing surroundings, would develop tuberculosis, if the patient was miles from any possible infection.
Dr. Stow mentioned the interest he had taken in a Vol- ume entitled. ''Physician vs Bacteriologist."
Dr. Johnson mentioned the experiments made by a French physician with dried sputum.
Dr/ Bidwell said that it had been determined that there ^Wasno danger of infection from dried sputum^^
730 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Dr. Beck thought that scientists should make search for the specific toxine.
(Dry sputum, or moist, the changes made by succussion and potentization, does not seem to have injured the power of the bacilli as a medicinal substance. L-)
The Secretary presented the following:
Resolutions concerning the death of the late Dr. Biegler.
WHEREAS, it has pleased the Ruler of all things psychi- cal and physical, to remove from our midst Dr. Joseph A. Biegler of Rochester, N. Y., member of the Central New York Homeopathic Medical Society,
WHEREAS, it was always the aim of Dr. Joseph A. Biegler, to be the highest exponent of the law of Homeo- pathy, as revealed to Samuel Hahnemann.
Rezolved. that we, members of this Society, shall con- tinue this jwork of developing the usefulness of Homeo- pathy, in the application of its laws of healing, before the world, and to all mankind.
Resolved, to extend pur sympathy to the family and friends of Dr. Bieglar;
Resolved, to publish these resolutions with the transac- tions of this Society.
A. C. Hermance, I nvx«.w«if*^n S. L. Guild-Leggett ] Con^mi^ee.
Motion was made, seconded, and carried that the reso- lutions be accepted as read, and published with the transac- tions.
The president called for a report from the provers of Pyrogen.
Dr. William M. FoUette was the only prover present. He had been recommended by Dr. Leggett to take but one dose, dry on the tongue, and await developments. He took one dose of Pyrogen cm dry, and waited ten days or two weeks, with no result Reported the same to Dr. Leggett, was advised to take several doses, in solution, during a day, a few hours apart, then wait. He soon developed a short, sharp, catching pain, in the region of heart line of left nip- ple. Pyrogen was stopped for a few days, then the several
NEW JERSEY HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL SOCIETY. 731
doses repeated, with same results, **pain near the heart." This experiment was tried three times, several days apart, with same result.
A committee was appointed to select the subjects for September. These reported.
Organon: S 58 Dr. Hoard.
Opsonins: Therapeutic, Dr. Bid well -
Berberis. Dr. Tretton.
Berberis: Cases, Dr. FoUette.
Berberis: practical application. All.
S. E. Guild-Leggett.
Secy.
TRANSACTIONS OF THE NEW JERSEY STATE HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL SOCIETY.
The New Jersey State Homeopathic Medical Society held its fifty-Hfth semi-annual session at the Hotel Marl- borough, Asbury Park, on October 6th and 7th. About 60 members and visitors were in attendance. The business session was called to order on Tuesday morning by Presi- dent Charles F. Adams, of Hackensack, and after the in- vocation by Rev. C. M. GifFen, of Asbury Park, Mr. Wm. H. Bannard, councilman-at-large, welcomed the society to the city. Dr. A. W. Atkinson, of Trenton, the 3rd vice- president, responded for the society.
The president in a few words told of the effort made to bring more homeopathic physicians into membership. About 70 per cent of the practitioners of the state are members of the State Society. He also recommended that the society f||
have but one meeting a year, and appointed a committee to provide for certain changes in the constitution.
The committee in its report recommended the following changes, and they will be voted upon at the next regular meeting. That the society shall hold an annual meeting only; that the following bureaus shall be appointed by the president: Materia Medica and Therapeutics, Clinical Med- |^*{[ . ;i
icine and Pathology, Surgery and Gynecology, Obstetrics, viii J
Physical Therapeutics, Pedology, Sanitary Science and i^^jl ir
■^"i.-
732 ^ THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Public Health, Ophthalmology, Otology and Laryngologj, Homeopathy and Drug Proving. That members shall be considered seniors after 25 instead of 30 years of continnoos membership.
Upon recommendation of the board of censors the fol- lowing were elected members: Drs. Henry H. Carr, Mulli- caHill; Wm. T. Hilliard, Salem; Allen S. Ironside, Camden; Chester A. Leigh, Trenton; Robert P. Miller, Hopewell; Lester H. Sparks, Lake wood; Howard J. Westney and Maurice D. Youngman, both of Atlantic City. Dr. Royal S. Copeland} of New York, was proposed for Honorary Mem- bership and will be voted upon at the next regular meetmg. The only honorary member at present, Dr. H. C Allen, of Chicago, was present at this session.
Dr. John B. Garrison, of New York, of the committee on Medical Education of the American Institute of Home- opathy was present and told of the work of the committee and urged all members to send their students to homeopath- ic colleges. Dr. Rabe reported that at the last meeting of the American Institute the representatives of the State So- ciety had pledged $100 for the fund of homeopathic propa- ganda. The State Society approved this action and will give the $100 to the Institute fund.
The necrologist. Dr. H. F. Datesman, reported the death of two members, Dr, E. H. Phillips, of Cape May, a Senior, and Dr. James Hoffman, of Jersey City.
At the scientific session the following papers were read and enthusiastically discussed. Sanguinaria in La Grippe, Neuritis and Diseases of the Chest, by Wallace McGeorge: Sinapis Nigra, by P. E. Krichbaum; The Care of Mental Cases, by David M. Gardner; Conservatism in Surgery, by E. B. Witte; Intestinal Obstruction, by Arthur F. Thompson; Asthma as a Nasal Reflex, by C. C. Straughn; Headaches of Ocular and Nasal Origin, by W. F. Beggs, and Sewers and Sewage Disposal as Applied to Cities of the Sea Shore, by J. T. Beckwith, of Atlantic City.
On Tuesday evening the Monmouth County Homeo- pathic Medical Society tendered a dinner to the members
:m^^
SANGUINARIA IN LA GRIPPE, ETC.
733
and friends of the State Society at the Hotel Marlborough. Nearly sixty sat down to the well-spread board. After the dinner Dr. L. E. Hetrick, the efficient chairman of the local committee, presided as toastmaster and introduced the speakers. Those at the tables heard an unusually fine set of speeches from Drs. J. E. Wilson and Wm. P. Honon, of New York, President Charles P. Adams, of Hackensack and Rev. C. M. Giffen, of Asbury Park. In the afternoon a re ceptign was tendered to the members and guests by Dr. Ella P. Upham, of Asbury Park, who was president of the society last year.
The society adjourned on Wednesday after an unusually good session, to meet at Cape May for the regular annual meeting, on June 3, 4 and 5, 1909.
SANGUINARIA IN LA GRIPPE, DISEASES OP THE CHEST AND NEURITIS.*
By Wallace McGeorge, M. D., Camden, N. J.
By request of the chairman of the Bureau of Materia Medica, I give you a few suggestions as to the use of San- guinaria in the class of cases named in the title, and on ac- count of the brief time allotted me I refrain from any ref- erence to its use in other morbid conditions.
I have selected the Blood Root for two reasons, because it is so pretty when the flowers come out in the spring and because it is so reliable in the class of cases in which it is indicated. I was in hopes I could bring you a specimen of the plant in flowei*, but those beds that I have seen bloom from the middle to the twenty -fifth of April, and the bloom is over for the year. The petals are white, the stamens yellow, the leaves dark green, the stalk white then yellow when it leaves the root; the root is dull or brick red on the outside, blood red on the inside or when it is cut, hence the popular name Blood Root.
Sanguinaria canadensis is essentially an American rem-
*R«ad before the New Jersey State Homeopathic Medical Society at. Asbury Park, October 6, 1908.
8^^
734 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
edy, and has probably cured more cases of the American sick headache than any other remedy, but it will not cure every headache, and is only indicated when there is pros- tration or exhaustion. Bering, in his Guiding Symptoms, gives all the symptoms calling for its use in our national headache.
In the depressing symptoms of La Grippe, we have a good picture of Sanguinarfti. Large doses of the drug re- duce the pulse in calibre and frecjuency, and produce nausea, vomiting, vertigo, faint feelings, irregular heart action with great prostration. **It slows the respiratory movement by prolonging the pause after expiration."
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 Sanguinaria 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. The Sanguinaria patient feels better from resting, wants to be quiet, but will move or change his position without complaint if he can make him- self more comfortable by the change.
In diseases of the chest the breath and the sputa smell badly. The smell is so offensive he cannot get rid of it, and it makes him sick. When a patient has a dry cough which awakens him from sleep and does not cease until he sits up- right in bed, think of Sanguinaria. If in addition the cough continues until flatus is discharged, upwards and down- wards, you need seek no further, for Sanguinaria is the only remedy.
In incipient tuberculosis, or consumption in its early stages, when the expectoration and breath are exceedingly offensive, with hectic flush, or circumscribed redness in one cheek, Sanguinaria will win out many times.
Dr. P. W. Andrews used Sanguinaria in lobar pneumonia when there is great hoarseness, or when the expectoration
SANCJUIKARIA IN LA GKIPPE, ETC.
735
is thick, green, glutinous, offensive. Also in hydrothorax when there is sharp pain in the lungs with shortness of breath, also in severe asthmatic conditions.
In pneumonia, with very difBcult respiration, when the cheeks and hands are livid or purple, with offensive breath and sputa, with prostration, think of Sanguinaria.
In patients suffering from valvular troubles, where the heart disease is aggravated by a fresh attack of rheumatism and the lungs have also become involved, Sanguinaria will enable us to pull our patient through. In cases where all these symptoms are present, and when the kidneys are throwing off large quantities of earthy phosphates, and the patient is loosing flesh rapidly, if the face gets the circum- scribed redness of one cheek, Sanguinaria will save your patient and start him well on the road to recovery. * In one such case, when the homeopathic physicians who had seen the case with me had given an unfavorable prognosis, San- guiuaria snatched the patient from the jaws of death, and in three months he had gained forty of the sixty-five pounds he had lost during his protracted illness.
In neuritis it is a good friend and helps us out of many a hole. When I was in college a patient came to the college* clinic suffering with reumatism, or pain in the right should- er joint. This man was a shoemaker and he could not work at his bench on account of the pain in the shoulder when he pulled his waxed thread all the way out. The late Profes- ser Henry N. Guernsey, who was conducting the clinic that day, examined this man, and finally gave him Rhus because he understood the man felt better from moving.
When the professor went home he studied out this case more thoroughly and went to see the patient at his home. He found that the man could not sleep at night on account of the pain, and it was the pain tliat made him get up and move about, not that he wanted to move. Dr. Guernsey then gave him Sanguinaria 200, and next week when the man came back to the clinic he said that he got some rest the first night after he got the new medicine, and after that he could sleep all night and could work at his bench without
736 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
any pain. He was then given seven powders of Placebo and told to return next week if the pain returned. He did not oome back, but one of the students who was skeptical of the curative powers of Sac Lac in such severe cases, hunted him up and found him working at his cobbler's bench free from all pain, and then this skeptic admitted there was some power in Dr. Guernsey's high potencies-
We used to call all these pains rheumatism. Now we are more particular in diagnosis, and call these troubles neuritis. Lippe's indications for Sanguinaria in rheumatism or neuritis are as follows: ** Rheumatic pain in riglU dkrm and shoulder, worse at night in bed; cannot raise the arm; motion (turning in bed) makes it much worse. Rheumatic pain in left hip; rheumatic pain inside of right thigh; rheu- matic pains in limbs, pains in those places where the bones are the least covered with flesh, but not in the joints; on touching the painful part the pain immediately vanished, and appeared in some other part." This symptom is a key- note for this remedy. Hering recommends Sanguinaria in acute inflammatory and arthritic rheumatism.
In conclusion let me say that while I use Sanguinaria in the high potencies exclusively, I have seen in other physi- cian's practice good results follow its use in the third and sixth potencies. It would be better to use the low potencies or even the crude powder of the blood root, when it is the remedy, than not to use it at all.
When Sanguinaria is indicated the low potencies will do some good, but the high potencies will work quicker, the effects of the drug be more lasting, and there will be less aggravation of the symptoms than when the crude prepara- tions are exhibited. When the high potencies do the work quicker, better and more profoundly than the low, he would be a dolt who would not use that potency which would do the most good.
[What is true of the dynamic power, the curative force or **high potency" of Sanguinaria is equally true of every remedy in the Materia Medica. Ed.]
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CONSERVATISM IN SURGERY.
737
CONSERVATISM IN SURGERY.*
By E. B. Witte, M. D., Trenton, N. J.
In selecting a subject to present to you it has seemed best not to recite any special surgical technique or give you in detail any particular operation, with the salient points of which you may be just as familiar as myself. But, after an urgent request from your chairman, I have decided to call your attention to and ask your serious consideration of a subject rarely presented.
There is perhaps no branch of our science — which has for its object the alleviation of suffering, the restoration of health and the preservation of life — which offers more temp- tations to trespass upon vital and sacred areas, than the field of surgery.
Men engage in the profession of surgery through the same motives and in much the same way, as they do in any other vocation of life. Some are moved in this direction by the opportunities of rendering assistance to their fellow men; some are fascinated by the glamor and halo that brilliant success has placed about the few eminent men who have, by rare ability and learning, achieved renown in the world of science, while some are attracted by the great mirage of glittering dollars that fancy has thrown upon the screen of professional life.
Having a body of men so heterogenious in point of purpose, striving for vastly different objects through the same medium ; with aims so widely divergent, a uniform result can hardly be expected; nor under the circumstances will the best inte- rests of the unfortunate sufferer always be conserved.
To obtain the most potent effects in surgery requires, in addition to natural adaptability, a judgment unbiased by any element or consideration other than the welfare of the patient. Commercialism and professional reputation should be relegated into the remote and undefined realms of obscur- ity. In dealing with such a complex organism as the human body, with an animation so easily checked, a life suspended
*New Jersey State Society, October, 1908.
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738 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
by such slender threads, we have a most forcible confirma- tion of the axiom *'A little knowledge is a dangerous thing/' while the operations of surgery just as forcibly contradict the adage * "Where ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise." In the field of surgery then, it is necessary to be fully equipped with a most generous knowledge and a superior wisdom, and these must be well ballasted by unalloyed be- nevolence.
A man may err in prescribing a medicine — he has his antidotes and restoratives which correct his error, and give him another chance to bring his case to a successful issue. But, if he errs in his surgical prescription or his surgical methods, he has absolutely nothing at his command to re- store the normal continuity of the severed parts. It be- hooves us, therefore, to regard the dissection of the human body with due reverence and more than ordinary care.
There are no operations which make a special plea for care, accuracy and conservatism more than those confined to the cranial and abdominal cavities, none are more attrac- tive to the surgeon, none yield a greater percentage of dis- appointments and failures, and none show more plainly the wanton disregard, inexcusable ignorance or purely commer- cial interests of the man who operates.
It is these occult cases which tax the learning and wis- dom of older surgeons, that are too lightly considered by younger men, who, flushed by an overwrought zeal to achieve success and acquire rank, or blinded by inflated ig- norance or exaggerated egotism, court the most serious ope- rations regardless of the consequences to the patient, and find in some trivial derangement abundant excuse for a sur- gical procedure. I have known of instances where amenor- rhea has been the sole excuse for an ovariotomy; menstrual colic has been the signal for an appendectomy; while the gaining of experience or the increase of revenue have been the chief factors in many more surgical processes; the sad results of which have been charged upon the pages of life's ledger to the wise and hallowed dispensation of Providence.
You will pardon me I know, if I mention two more oper.
CONSERVATISM IN SURGERY.
739
ations which point with singular emphasis to the importance of conservatism in surgery and the necessity of being men- tally equipped for the duties and responsibilities of this great science.
The first case was a young lady whom the surgeon took from the midst of a social gathering to the hospital, where she was prepared for an operation for floating kidney. The incision was made in the back and the kidney discovered normal and in its proper place. The wound was closed, an abdominal incision was at once made, the ovaries removed, and the patient died in less than twenty-four hours.
The next case was operated for stricture of the esopha- gus. An incision was made. The newspapers were full of the highest praise for the skillful and wonderful surgeon who had opened the stomach, and was then feeding the indi- vidual through a tube with prospect of curing the unusual case. In due course of time this patient also died, and the autopsy revealed a normal stomach, which had not been touched by the surgeon's scalpel, while an opening was found in the left pleural cavity through which nutriment had been poured for some weeks, to the satisfaction of the surgeon and the delight of his friends.
Many more such instances could be cited but they only add to the humiliation of the whole profession. These are the things that are occurring almost daily in many of our hospitals. These are the things that disturb the confidence of the people, lower the standard and dignity of a noble calling, and weaken the foundations of the Temple of ^Esculapius.
There are a number of important factors which enter into the domain of successful surgery, and not the least of these is the quality of feeling possessed by the surgeon to- wards the subject who seeks his advice. He should be in hearty sympathy with the best interests of the patient, and should have the highest regard for the sacredness of human life. Next, he must have a well-rounded knowledge of the anatomy which he essays to dissect; he must also be familiar with all the pathological conditions, and have intimate ac-
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740 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
quaintance with the sphere and efficacy of drugs. In addi- tion to the above the surgeon's armamentarium is not com- plete without having explored tiie realm of mechano-tiieca' py , electricity and the various other methods of curing dis- ease
It is not enough for the surgeon to know that a kidney can be removed and the patient live; that the cranial vantt can be opened and the cerebral hemispheres be explored, without the sacrifice of life; or that the sexual organs can be removed and every cavity of the body laid open for ocu- lar inspection or surgical readjustment. It is not enough for the surgeon to know these feats can be accomplished and the patient survive the ordeal. But what is equally essen- tial to success in surgery is the ability to differentiate the different pathological lesions and arrive at a positive diag- nosis before proceeding with an operation. It is said the ignorance of the law excuseth no man. How much less ei- disable is the man who, through ignorance, subjects a hu- man life to the risks of an unwarranted surgical process. Personal observations in the realm of surgery, both in this country and in Europe, convince me that very many un- necessary operations are performed, and force the convic- tion that some sentiment should be created against the reck- less use of surgical means, and some legislation should be secured to place greater safeguard around the innocent and unsuspecting public.
When would-be surgjBons will spend three hours in an un- successful attempt to tie the external carotid for malignant, inoperable cancer; when a doctor will open the abdomen for cystic tumor of the ovary and cut into a distended bladder; when appendectomy is performed for menstrual colic and ovariotomy for functional derangement of the catamenia; when men boast of their vandalism in the field of surgery, something should be done to wipe the smirch from the fair escutcheon of the noblest and most sacred of professions.
I cannot leave this subject without entering a gentle protest against the useless and senseless unsexing of women an operation that is growing alarmingly frequent, and in
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CONSERVATISM IN SURGERY.
741
the present state of modem medicine an operation but rare- ly needed.
In all the domain of surgery there is not an operation that measures the caliber of the man more accurately than the ruthless, unhesitating destruction of the noblest of God's creation. The man who for any other purpose than the saving of life despoils the sacred, reproductive functions of women is unworthy the high calling of this profession, and deserves the stigma and condemnation of the veriest crim- inal. Let every honest physician as he reveres the hallowed name of mother, raise his voice in earnest declaration against this most awful crime and make his sternest efforts to sub- vert a practice that so wantonly enters the consecrated do- main of posterity, renders barren the soil planted by an all- wise Creator and quickened by the magic touch of Provi- dence and robs woman of the high and holy ofl&ce of maternity.
I believe that every honest physician has the welfare not only of the community in which he lives, but the best interests of every individual at heart. I believe just as firmly too, that every honorable man in medicine deprecates with equal intensity any semblance of charlatanism, and would welcome measures to retard or eliminate the crimes perpetrated in the name of science. There should be laws enacted regulating the practice of surgery. No man should be allowed to assume the responsibility of a serious opera- tion until he has practiced medicine five years, been the as- sistant to a reputable surgeon for at least three years, and passed a special examination before a board of recognized surgeons. The penalty for violation of the law and convic- tion of malpractice should be the annulment of the doctor's certificate and expulsion from the field of medicine and sur- gery.
If it is incumbent upon lawyers to have practiced three years and pass a special examination before the supreme court before they may present the petty grievances of men to a higher tribunal, how much more important that the sur- geon's qualifications have the stamp of approval before he is allowed to jeopordize life, sacrifice health or unlock with his scalpel the sacred portals of the living soul.
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742 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE,
SINAPIS NIGEA*
By p. E. Krichbaum, M. D., Montclair, N. J.
In selecting Sinapis Nigra to present to this body, I fully realize that it is a remedy, in so far as its proving goes, of marked limitations, but its sphere of action is so unique, the results of its administration when indicated, so manifest-, that I beg your indulgence for a few moments while I give you only such symptoms as have been fully confirmed.
This remedy acts on the muscles, nerves, and mucous membrane, but more especially on the last named tissue. Mustard seeds contain a great deal of sulphur, indeed the sulphur element may prove to be so strong, that future in- vestigators may have to accord to S.napis Nigra a deeper acting quality than has yet been demonstrated.
It is in hay fever and acute coryza that it has been most used. The special indications are, mucous membrane dry and hot, often no discharge from the nose, worse in the afternoon and evening. Either nostril may be affected alone or they may be affected alternately (Clark). Or there maybe acute coryza with lachrymation, sneezing, and a thin watery excoriating discharge, the excoriating character of the dis- charge, worse at the alac nasi, being the most marked and characteristic feature of this phase of its action.
The sneezing may be caused by itching or a burning sensation in the nares, without cough, or with a hacking and at times a loud barking cough, attended by a desire to clear the throat. This cough is relieved by lying down. In the eyes, there is marked lachrymation; the eyes have a watery appearance; they smart, burn or itch, or all three. The voice is nasal. Right here I may mention a rather striking peculiarity of Sinapis Nigra, with these uncomfortable and oppressive symptoms of the head and throat, there is rarely enough headache, or head congestion to interfere with men- tal application, in fact mental activity relieves the congested feeling in the head.
The headaches of Sinapis Nigra are worse when thinking
*New Jersey State Society, October 1908.
SINAPIS NIGRA.
743
of them, worse in a warm room, better in the open air, better from eating and better lying down. The scalp feels hot and itches as if perspiration would break out.
This remedy of course has may sensations, but I will confine myself to the symptoms that have to do with the head and chest. Under Sinapis the thorax feels as though it was compressed from all sides, even to the point of impeded respiration. The tongue feels blistered, and you may be told that the mucus hawked from the posterior nares is cold. Another striking and peculiar symptom which may spread sudden illumination in these all too common cases of catar- rhal difficulties, is that the patient complains of or notes the odd fact that sweat appears on the upper lip and forehead. This symptom appeared in a patient of mine every time he ate mustard pickles, his scalp also became hot and itching violently. These pecnliarities plus an excoriating discharge which would blister almost instantly the part coming in contact with it, led me to prescribe this remedy in a case of Lupus Vulgaris, with prompt relief of the then acute activi- ty of the disease*
The tongue may be dry or moist, with cracks and a yel- low or brown coating down the middle. The breath smells like onions. There is a burning sensation the whole length of the esophagus, relieved by eating. Sore mouth is often observed accompanied by hot, burning eructations. These ulcers in the mouth are frequently so sensitive and painful, that eating and drinking becomes a most dreaded ordeal.
In view of. all these manifestations in the mouth and along the esophagus, one would naturally expect to find under this remedy heartburn, belching, etc. The eructa- tions taste of horse radish or of ingesta.
I will conclude by adding three cases, the first from the pen of the late Dr. C. W. Butler, reported in the proceed- ings of the International Hahnemannian Association of 1888; the second case by Dr. Harvey Farrington, of Chicago, in the Hahnemann Advocate of 1900. The third a case which I treated during the past winter.
Case I. During the winter of 1870 and 77 (I report
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744 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
this case from memory), I had under my care Mrs. D., aged 71 years, a small, dried up old woman, who had been my patient for three or four years, during and before which time she had been a periodic sufferer from bronchial asthma. I had never been successful in treating her in her asthmatic attacks, and can only understand why she continued to de- mand my services on the theory ^that the smaller doses ag- gravated her sufferings less than the allopathic drugging which she had formerly endured.
Her attacks would come on after free intervals of two or three months,usually, perhaps always as the result of **cold" from exposure, and would last in spite of attention and medicines for three or four weeks. During this time she would not be able to spend one night in bed. but was obliged to sit leaning forward, and her only sleep was while resting her head upon a chair in front of her. I had earnestly tried to help her, for the suffering of such an aged person was well calculated to exciter the sympathy of an onlooker. After Mrs. D. had been sick about a week, and I had pre- scribed any drugs, too many in fact, I gave her Sinapis Nigra 200 in water, a dose every two hours. At this time (it was 8 o'clock in the evening) she presented the following symptoms. She sat in one chair leaning her head upon the back of another. Her breathing was labored and noisy, the wheezing and rattling of mucus in the chest being plainly audible all over the room. She was anxious for death that she might be relieved of her suffering. Intensely despond- ent, and sure she would not recover. Indeed she had made her will during the day in view of her probable demise, and (I was present as a witness at her request) in so doing she had shown a mental vigor and clearness of comprehension which surprised both her lawyer and myself. She had now what I had frequently noticed before but did not attach much importance to, an acrid nasal discharge which had reddened the skin about the nose, and slightly on the upper lip. In a moment of ** desperation or inspiration" I now gave her the Sinapis Nigra 200 every hour a dose in water. The effect was little less than marvelous. I stayed with her .
SINAPIS NIGRA.
745
through the night and marked the changes with interest and delight. Before the second dose of the remedy had been administered, she evidently breathed easier. Within two hours she dropped into a sleep and slept for more than an hour, her breathing improving all the time. At four o'clock in the morning she was persuaded, being so much better, to get into bed, where, propped up with pillows, she slept again. Within the next three days the asthma had left her entirely. Prom this time till 1884, when she died, I was called to see her many times in beginning asthmatic attacks, and Sinapis Nigra never failed to relieve her entire- ly in from one to three days. She took it in the 200 and cm potencies at various times.
Case II. One day last September I was called about nine o'clock in the evening to see a gentleman 64 years of age suffering acutely with catarrhal asthma. For several days he had a severe coryza, but the difficulty in breathing had started sometime during the afternoon. He presented the following symptoms:
Dyspnea, puffing like a pair of bellows, face red, eye$ bloodshot, unable to lie down.
Acrid watery discharge from the nose.
Left nostril stopped up ever since first catching cold.
Sinapis Nigra cm. one dose and Placebo in water, a tea spoonful every fifteen to thirty minutes.
After taking the first dose the dyspnea began to sub- side, and in less than an hour the patient fell asleep. Next morning felt almost himself again.
Case III — Mrs. P., age 86, catarrhal bronchitis. The history of this case was one of a severe barking, yet loose cough> which continued during the whole twenty-four hours but was worse at 1 a. m. The patient was restless, thirsty, weak and much disturbed mentally. She feared death and argued that as she had pneumonia the previous year, her lungs were certainly much too weak to endure the present attack. The sputum was white, frothy and quite profuse. I prescribed Arsenicum. This was at 9 a. m. I was called that night in haste, to find my patient sitting straight up in
746 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE,
a chair. Her breathing was asthmatic, and almost every inspiration was followed by a cough. Her head was aching severely, but she complained most of the difficulty in getting her breath, and of the heaviness in her chest. The all nasi were sore, but at no time was there a discharge from the nose.
Sinapis Nigra relieved her asthmatic breathing within a short time, and cured the attack in a w$ek.
PULMONARY TLBERCULOSIS: A CALCAREA CASE.*
By James West Kingston, M. D., Chicago.
[Ju^t to illustrate — the unessential factor of exact diag^nosis, the virtues of the hicfher potencies, the false notion with many of frequent dosag-e, the error of chang^e too often indulged.]
Miss E. S. S., age 26, weight 96, former weight 123 pounds; height 5 feet 7i inches. This patient communicated with me from Laramie* Wyo., in the autumn of 1906. She had gone to Wyoming from one of the eastern states in the .si)ring of the same year, having been advised to seek the western mountains on account of pulmonary tuberculosis. She first reported to me that she had had an initial hemor- rhage in April 1902, while the last two had occui^ close together, October 15th and 22nd, just before she wrote to me. The hemorrhage on October 15th had been induced by walking against a violent wind on the Laramie plains; that of the 22nd had come when pounded on the back by a companion in a frolic.
She reported that the western climate during the sum- mer months had not done as much for her as she had expected and she was induced to write to me by a mutual friend.
Th(^ cough at this time was excessive, caused at times by a tickling in the upper bronchi, but more frequently by a ''filling of the larynx" with discharge from the lungs.
Coughing was < from talking, laughing, leaning for- ward, change from warm to cold or cold to warm, lying on
^South Kt^K^iltii' Homeopathic Society, Sept. 1908.
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PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS.
747
the left side or upon the back, any change of position, or by a drink of water.
The expectoration was greatest and excessive from 7 till 11 a. m.; profuse and of a deep yellow color.
Sharp knife-like pains in the chest, coming at various places and times, equally severe on each side; especially worse below the right axilla and shooting across to the re- gion of the heart. These pains were < by coughing, a deep breath, and by cold air.
Some years previous to the on-coming of this illness she had received in an accident a fracture of the inner third of the left clavicle and of the second and third ribs- Appo- sition had been poor so that the ribs were depressed upon the lung and the clavicle was more than an inch above the opposing one.
Immediately beneath the seat of the fracture of the ribs there was a sense of rattling and wheezing, both audible to herself.
The appetite was extremely poor. No special aversions or desires being given.
As indicated in the first statement she had lost weight from her usual 123 to 96 pounds; her accustomed full and rosy cheeks had become shrunken and bloodless, to express it in her own terms, so that at this writing she was extreme- ly pale and wan; she was so lean that she could span her arm at all points from her wrist to her shoulder with her thumb and forefinger.
Menses were too early, too profuse and too long lasting, coming about every third week and lasting six or seven days with a free flow all the time. A few days before the ap- pearance of the menstral flow her legs would ache exces- sively. The first hour of the flow was marked by slight ab- dominal pains which increased rapidly until the fourth or fifth hour when they became **terrible" — a constant, severe, dull ache all through the lower abdomen and pelvis, with sharp, shooting pains extending through the entire abdo- men until they became unbearable. These pains were < by motion, by drinking (she being very thirsty at the time);
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848 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
> by lying on the back and by heat to the knees and feet, though heat upon the abdomen gave no relief. The pains continued severe during the first three days after which they gradually abated until the end of the fourth day. There was very little leucorrhea of a mild, whitish character fol- lowing the menses.
I prescribed for her at this time, November, 1906, Cal- carea Im.
I will not give the history of this case from that time until the present as her many reports would fill a small volume. Suffice it to say that she steadily improved in every respect except two. In these she improved suddenly — her next menstrual period was practically painless and the expectoration had greatly decreased at the end of a month. The remnant of the cough and expectoration we^e more slow in disappearing; but gradually these together with the rattling and wheezing in the chest became less and less.
However, since she came under my care she had had one severe cold and several minor attacks, and early this year a very distressing and long continued attack of la grippe. After both of the severe attacks her whole condi- tion was very much aggravated for a time, but promptly re- sponded to the same remedy.
She commenced teaching school the first of September, 1907, and continued during the entire school year, with im- provement of the general health and abatement of the chest symptoms.
She was so well during last spring and the earlier part of the past summer that I had no report from her for sev- eral months. On July 16 I received a letter from her saying that her last menstrual period had again been very painful, with all the old unbearable symptoms, though the dura- tion was only for a day and a night. She attributed this relapse to some indiscretion at the previous period when she had also suffered somewhat. I again prescribed Calcarea Im. Today I received the following letter:
3ept. 4th, 1908.— You certainly hit the nail on the head this time. (I used the same hammer I had used before). I never had such an easj
PUMONARY TUBERCULOSIS.
749
time in my life. I felt fine the second day and seemed to retain my BtreDgtb. (She had been very much exhausted after the painful peri- ods). The only time the bronchial trouble seems to bother me is on lying down at night. Then my chest rattles a little and I raise once or twice a slight amount of transparent mucus, when the rattle oeases. You certainly are a wonder. (She meant Homeopathy certainly is a wonder). ,
She never had received a homeopathic prescription be- fore I gave it to her, and has not received more than ten doses in two years. I now believe two or three of these to have been superfluous. Let the young prescriber — and not a few older ones — learn that too frequent repetition frequent- ly spoils the case.
CAUSTICUM: ITS ACTION ON WARTS PRODUCED BY X RAT BURNS.
By J. W. King, M. D. Bradford, Pa.
In April 1901 I received a severe x-ray bum on the left hand and fingers from handling x-ray apparatus.
The static machine was used. It was a Holz, with 10 revolving plates, 30 inches in diameter. Speed about 350. Tube used, medium soft.
With fluoroscope, held in the right hand the bones of the left hand were viewed through it at a distance of ten in- ches from the target. Length of exposure about five minute*. The tube was a new one and was being ** broken in."
On the following morning the hand and fingers tingled and felt **frosty." Warm Water and soap irritated consider- ably. Two days after the exposure the hand was consider- ably swollen and had the appearance of a boiled lobster. Here and there a mealy-like substance made its appearance.
The sensation imparted to the hand from warm water was as if sand was rubbed over a denuded surface. In a few days the hand began to throb, burn and itch. Exposure to atmospheric air was intensely irritating to the hand, which was relieved by bandaging with dry boric acid gauze. To promote greater relief a solution of bicarbonate of soda was tried with satisfactory results.
The dermatitis reached its height in ten days, and now
750 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
assumed a purple color, at times a dusky red with islands of yellow patches. The pain at this time — burning, itching, smarting — would be relieved by gentle massage or cold soda solution.
It was < at night; from warm water or by scratching it — reminding one as if the hand was struck with cowhage (Dolichos P.). This recalled to my mind the boyhood days at the old swimming pool. The sufferings from **bren-eser' as my * 'dutch" companions called the stuff , was most intense. The ''torturing'' inflicted was enjoyed with hellish glee by the larger boys wt\en they applied cowage to our tender skins, and especially, when one was so unfortunate as to be sun-burned. The only relief offered was to cry all the harder to soothe the *'fiery" parts, or to plunge into the inviting cool waters, and remain there, sometimes for hours. Scour hand and fingers from x ray bums were soothed from wet applications weeks at a time.
I was not familiar with Homeopathy at the time or Del ichos would have come to mind and a trial, locally, and the internal use of the potencies, would have been tried. The "bren-eseF' sensation continued more or less for a year and a half.
The relief from cold ceased in a few months and the op- posite modality gave relief: dry or moist warmth >. A kid glove had to be worn most of the time, even in hot weather.
The hand today presents the following appearance: in- dex and middle fingers are spotted a light red (telangiectatic); the nails a light bronze and the hand at times assumes a purple-red color.
Two years after the accident a large seed wart appeared near knuckle of index finger, and several others on the hand. For two years no effort was made to rid myself of these warts. Then they became unsightly and various remedies were tried — selected by guess work, and of course without effect. If the remedy had been looked up in the Materia Medica, needless suffering and medication would have re- warded me.
But a wart was too insignificant to demand much at-
CAUSTICUM.
751
attention. The time will come, however, when these insig- nificant things will **get back at us'' for our indifference; then it may be too late.
The fact was that the seed wart on my finger became very important to me one morning upon awakening to find it painful and grown, mushroom-like in size, over night. Now it could no longer be ignored. The suspicion dawned upon my mind that the benign thing of yesterday, had be- come malignant today, I began the search for a remedy in dead earnest and soon found it in Causticum. I took one dose of the 200th and awaited results. No effects were noticed in ten days; repeated the dose in the same potency. After this second dose the pain ceased in a few days and the wart began to shrivel up. I allowed Causticum to act for a month when the final dose was taken— the cm. In a few days all the warts had disappeared and the blemished hand was restored with fine cosmetic effect.
After the warts had disappeared I recalled Dr. Wessel- hoef t's article in the Medical, Advance, October, 1906 issue, citing a case of a seed wart on index finger which was cured by Dr. Hartmann, as his father supposed, by Causticum. Dr. Wesselhoeft states that his father told him not to forget Causticum in considering a remedy if he came down sick, as that was his constitutional remedy and that it had saved his life on several occasions when he was attacked by croup. A letter from my mother informed me that I suffered from croup a great deal for years and in reply to my letter she informed me that I was a perfect Causticum subject.
The points of interest in this case are:
First. That the X-ray can produce warts — perhaps only in Causticum subjects— and that Causticum, high, cured. I could get no history of warts in the King and Pefler families. They are also free from malignant diseases.
Second. That X-ray warts may become malignant. I noticed no pain from them in the benign state. I do not re- member of injuring it previously. I was awakened early one morning to find it gnawing, pulling, drawing or throb- bing— as if the wart was taking to roots — evidence of malig- nancy.
4!l
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752 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Third. That Dolichos might prove valuable in early X-ray dermatitis. In my case I had many Dolichos symptoms.
Fourth. Since taking Causticum I have enjoyed the best of health. I was more or less "shaky" since the burn.
Fifth. That the ^-ray is curative in some warts not produced by the agent, I know. I have no experience if it will cure warts produced by the X-ray.
THE STATUS OF MODERN NODOSIC MEDICiTION.*
By Z. T. Miller, M. D.. Pittsburg, Pa.
The purpose of the Bureaux at this meeting is to de- monstrate the status of nodosic medication.
The present efforts on the part of biological investiga- tors tends to increase the importance of and interest in the use of such medicines; so much so, indeed, that it may be claimed that nothing has occurred since medicine men pulled apart that is so likely to pull them together,
That the product of a disease, whether prepared as a serum, vaccine or high homeopathic potency, should have within itself the power to throttle its own parent, is a the- rapeutic matricide that is little short of astounding. The most recent research seems to prove that it is a fact, and,, incidentally to confirm the inductions of Hahnemann. Bnt it is not well to be too enthusiastic. The byways are strewn with the carcases of scientific medical facts. That this discov- ery—if discovery it be— should have been -made, goes to show that all preceding discoveries have been conceived in more or less error that needed correction, ^and even this in turn may have to be corrected.
Haeckel says there is no absolute truth. I believe it. There is; however, a bad and worse. It is bad enough that medicine has to be given at all— in this class I place the homeopathic — but it is much worse to give vaccines and drug truck expecting to improve the appetite of a mite that measures tV^o of an inch in the hope that he will eat, what
♦Peunsylvania State Society, September. 19()H.
"^>v*
THE STATUS OP MODERN NODOSIC MEDICATION.
753
the Germans call *'gift*' with greater relish. That is the proposition; increase the voracity of the leucocyte, stimulate bis phagocytic capacity and he gulps the stuff that makes hell on earth. I must confess the more I try to figure out the rationalle of the opsonic business the more I get into the muck. The whole proposition is so nihilistically icon- oclastic—pardon me — that I feel that my own bugs have taken to the woods and left me a prey to that greatest of all bugs — skepticism. Something more than bugs and bug eating lies behind the proposition of health deviations, a something that no man knows and no man can find out. The grand push that materializes this universe of intricacies lies, and ever will lie, hidden in the recesses of nature's mystic house. When we think we have the key, the door open, the secret still remains unrevealed.
And that inverted bowl they call the sky. Where under crawling coop'd we live and die.
Lift not your hands to it for help, for it As impotently moves as you or I. Man's hope and helplessness are eternal. His alternate arrogance and humiliation are bi-annual, and yet withal some seeming truths crop out. When we read of the searches for the spring of eternal youth, we smile, but there are as many searchers today as there ever were and some more. They all come out the same door wherein they went and man's destiny made and marked by the eternal verities moves ^twixt the beginning and end as surely as the solar cycle, unswerved by his effort. Most of us do not believe this and it is well we do not for it is the confidence that the riddle may yet be solved that produces the energy that has un- covered much that is interesting if entirely foreign to the ends sought. We hug the seeming triumphs as though they were realities, and forget them when their futility becomes apparent, as a child blows new bubbles while he watches those past made explode. The medical and religious mix is so polypharmic that the unbiased inquirer after the best gets so '^bailed up" that a spirit of complete asceticism results. Christian Science and Medical Science, both misnomers, be-
I
I
754 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
fuddle while they throw dust to blind their devotees to the truely rational preventive measures of stirpeculture.
So long, however, as man does as he does, so long will the triumver of patchers keep open shop, wherein he gets what he wants. He damns his soul, the preacher prays for him. He mutilates his body, the doctor mends it. He does his neighbor, the lawyer does him. Upon such asinine substructure is the professional superstructure built.
In the enthusiasm of youth, promoted by a necessity for a livelihood, the profession of medicine as a means, sug- gests itself as congenial to our temperament. A demand on the part of people gives us employment sufficiently re- munerative to clothe our backs, feed our 8tomachs,fumish a place to sleep, a habitation and a home, and for this we build colleges, educate men to a possession of the combined ex- perience of predecessors. This has been going on for cen- turies, but the undertaker is still with us and Boards of Health are still stamping out disease.
To keep our semblance of erudition and progress, do not forget that I mentioned progress, we hatch a new scheme every moon, or nearly so, by which a percentage of returns on the investment for both is reasonably assured, at least so reasonably that both the served and the servant get their money's worth, or think they do.
The last great find, is the opsonic. To the followers of Hahnemann this is not new, at least the practical application is not. I shall shall not go into detail regarding the dis- covery (?) nor will I relate the homeopathic premises but con- fine the report of this Bureau to the experience, confirm- atory and otherwise of such physicians as have made use of nosodes.
As homeopaths the opsonic scheme being correct, we must claim that the potentized drug accomplishes all that the vaccines do in the way of raising the index to the pro- tecting place. Now the class of medicines coming within the scope of opsonic action are of necessity the products of disease itself. Psor. Med. Syph. Schir. Hydroph. and others all come from the ills they are expected to cure, but we hav-
THE STATUS OF MODERN NODOSIC MEDICATION.
755
-!^r
ing proven them, collected vast clinical indications, carry the therapeutic possibilities far beyond the mere patho-his- tologic manifestations of the parent pus.
The dark brown, watery, offensive stool, and stinking body of Psorinumis a condition that the medicine has cured. Where would that patient be if the opsonic procedure alone were to be relied upon for indications. No matter what the classification is,if the characteristics of Psorinum are present the medicine is effective. Compare the scope of the homeo- pathic possibilities of Psorinum with the beggarly circum- scribed sphere of the opsonic and you have at once a demon- stration of the superior status of Similia.
The symptom under Hydrophobinum, **Desires to uri- nate as soon as he hears water run." This occurs to persons who have never been next a mad dog. Many other of its symptoms brought out in provings, would be absolute rub- bish if the opsonic search had to be relied upon to find an inning. The gross manifestations of all the disease pro- ducing nosodes are palpably plain, but it requires the homeo- pathic laboratory to develop the more potent characteristics for therapeutic use. The index, unless amplified in manner not yet apparent is too circumscribed to occupy anything but a very limited sphere of curative activity. The technique attending its use makes it well nigh impracticable. How dif- ferent with Homeopathy in the same field. We have all that the opsonic offers and infinite resources besides, with method and means incomparably superior to the opsonic.
If it can be established that the internal administration of a nosode is curative of the disease from which it was pro- duced, the whole problem of cure of anything is settled. In the matter of vaccination, variolus virus as a prophylactic and cure of small pox is an example that has been tried out and received the approval of, not only local, county and national homeopathic bodies, but of the law, having been declared valid by the courts of Iowa. Illinois has re- cently passed an act against compulsory vaccination, Penn- sylvania's legislature passed a similar act at the last ses- sion, but the governor vetoed the bill.
756 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
The American Institute voted by a small majority against internal variolation^ giving as a reason that the In- stitute did not know enough about the method, an ac- knowledgement that was quite as much to its discredit as a vote in favor could, under any circumstances have been. This, notwithstanding the fact that Dr. Eaton, of Des Moines, Iowa, had presented a scholarly and conclusive paper on the subject at the same meeting. I believe yon have all received a copy of that paper. Here we have a confirmation of the ef&cacy of the internal administration of nosodes. If we accept the theory at all, we are bound to this homeopathic evidence and in addition, to claim that homeopathic technique is by all odds the superior. It is simplicity itself. Whereas the opsonic is so ponderously scientific and at the same time so limited of application that it is well nigh a costly brie a brae instead of a general com- modity.
Another advantage. The totality of symptoms so es- sential in homeopathic procedure, enables it to meet the condition of so-called '*mixed infection." Almost, if not every case we meet, is of mixed infection. It is mixed in- fection that changes the complexion-contour and course of every case of illness. No two people are sick alike. Syph- ilis and small pox will not, cannot present the same front that gonorrhea and small pox does, and so down the whole list of rottenness. The kaleidoscopic aspect of ailments is what makes you scratch your heads, and the facts that Homeopa- thy compasses that very situation is what is bound to cause it to survive every other system of therapeutics of which anything is known.
We are asked to believe that because one or more of the invading bacilli are found inside the leucocyte that the cause of ills ^re being consumed. I am not inclined to ac- cept that deduction as final. If the '*blood fluids modify the bacteria in a manner which renders them a ready prey to the phagocytes," is not the modification produced by the serum, the curative process and not the phagocytosis. If healthy serum is bactericidal all that is necessary is to keep
STATUS OF MODERM NODOSIO MEDICATION.
(Df
it healthy — and why did it become unhealthy. We are told that it is because of the great influx of bacteria. Yet on the other hand we are assured that bacteria do not sprout except where the soil is suitable. What makes the suitable soil?
I am got combatting the opsonic theory, because in the main it confirms Homeopathy scientifically, and because it polishes similia so that some will accept it as pure gold who have been lukewarm on account of the absence of the scien tific trade mark* Some people will not eat bread that ha.s not got the trades union stamp; it is bread just the same. An opportunity is now offered our school to demonstrate its right to existence by reason of its priority of use and method of application of a correct, or at least the best method of healing known. At best the opsonic can be looked upon as supplemental merely, for in no sense can it be demon- strated as superior to the old practice of covering the totali ty. This practice is being accepted everywhere as permisi ble. Even the high priests of the inner temple have so far loosed their strangle as to admit to the sanctuary a practi- tioner of Homeopathy and no questions asked. What does it mean? We are told that it is owing to the great and grow- ing liberality of the saints. I don't believe it. It is the lo^cal outcome of a tardy conviction that Homeopathy as a theory always has been true, that the opsonic is a scientific demonstration of its truth, which compels acceptance by every reasoning mind.
Some men prate about the *'best of all schools," and place upon their smiling brows the wreaths of conquering laurel. I am wrought with envy when I meet such heroes. For thirty or more years I have given reasonable effort to acquisition of the best there is in Hahnemann's Homeopathy and today am compelled to confess that at the present rate I will have to gulp Metchnickoff Clobber for 150, and then some more, before my hide is outside of the best of one school, and when it is, there will be no need for the *'best'' of any other.
758 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
RENAL CALCULI*
By Dr. W. D. Gorton, Austin, Texas.
We are assured by Hahnemann that every case of sick- ness, if taken at the proper time, may be cured by the ad- ministration of a remedy having symptoms similar to those of the patient. Many times we find it difficult to select the simillimum,and after much study and search for a remedy to cover an ill taken case, we find that the most important symptoms have been withheld by the patient, not enough time has been given to recording the case, the desire to be doing something has been uppermost and valuable time lost.
Sept. 22, 1905. G. W. W. 'phoned from an adjoining town that he was having daily fevers, and named a set of symptoms that seemed to call for Natrum muriaticum. The remedy was sent him with the result that all the symptoms complained of were removed, but that a kidney and bladder trouble had developed and was becoming unbearable. Some two weeks before some of the symptoms had occured on the right side in a modified form, now are on the left. Sharp pains in the left kidney. Sharp pains at the meatus < dur- ing and for sometime after urinating, but present all the time; < by standing and sitting, > lying down.
The reports were by mail and not complete.
Berberis and Lycopodium were given, without >.
Patient decided to come to me, and then the following symptom picture from personal examination made the se- lection of the remedy easy.
Sharp pain beginning in left kidney, going down ureter, left testicle and thigh.
Frequent urging to urinate all day, not so much at night, > lying down.
Dribbling of urine. Ineffectual urging to urinate.
Frequent and ineffectual urging to stool mo^tof the time. General. Patient had been using water from a well in- to which much surface water flowed early in the summer. Has been loosing flesh for several months. Irritable, noise
♦Texas State Society, October, 1908.
ACONITUM APELUS.
769
<, easily chilled, desire to be near a fire, face yellow and much drawn from suffering.
Nux vomica 200. Gradual relief of all pain with the first good night's sleep for a long time. Next morning patient passed a quantity of red sand, and there has been no return of the renal colic.
ACONITUM NAPELLU8.*
By Julia Helen Bass, M. D., Austin, Texas. I have gathered a bouquet of other men's flowers, And nothing but the thread that binds them is mine.
Aconite is a rank poison.
A violent poison yet producing no appreciable change in organic substance, as has been shown by post mortems on fatal cases of Aconite poisoning.
As to temperament it is classed as bilious — vital; that is to say that its best action may be expected upon bru- nettes and upon stout people.
The onset of the Aconite sickness comes with cyclonic suddenness; it comes when the signal-service flag shows white with black center, and is to be read **cold, dry winds.''
Here in Texas, in fact in the whole region east of the Rockies down to the country drained by the Father of Waters and its tributaries, when a ''Norther" is predicted, it is time to fill the Aconite vials in one's pocket case.
If the exact meaning of the word Aconite could be ex- pressed by a synonom, the synonym would be the word con- gestion.
Just as the cyclone wreaks its greatest force on the big things in its path, so the Aconite congestion centers in the big, vital parts of the human system: brain, heart, lungs, kidneys, and in proportion as each are affected do we see disorders most violent in sensorium, circulation, respiration and excretory functions.
Not nnfrequently we will have so violent an affection in all four of the vital points, that the patient is convinced he
♦Texas State Society, October. 1908.
760 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
will die, and consternation will seize the doctor unless he knows well his Aconite symptomatology.
Cyclones are storms of short duration, and like unta them in point of time are the inflammations of Aconitum.
In which of the vital organs is the most mischief done by the sick-making force? I think we shall be usually right if we say the mind. Does not the proving of the remedy confirm this statement? Let us' see. The total number of symptoms recorded in Bering's Guiding Symptoms for*Aco* nite is nearly one thousand. The mind has one hundred and eighteen, more than twice as many as any other given rubric.
The most primitive of human emotions, /ear, overwhelms the usual mental balance, and is pictured on the face as well as voiced in no uncertain tones.
Does the patient lie still and make his frightened little moan? By no means. On the contrary, the eye is wild in expression, angry delirium may be present, weeping per- haps, intense, violent restlessness of body and always the craven fear of death. Any attempt to calm this anxiety by soothing assurances is apt to prove abortive.
Aconitum inflammations are marked by suddenness bat are not prolonged attacks and never result in suppuration, though the discharges from inflamed mucous meinbrane will be hot, watery, perhaps blood-streaked. The skin un- der your hand is burning hot, dry, pale. The pulse is full and strong, or small and weak. It is not indicated in local- ized inflammations; the possible exception to this statement is that it may be indicated in the flrst stage of arterial ex- citement, before there is change of tissue or of funbtion. Here it is that we note the special and general senses to be unnaturally acute. Noise, light, odors, especially touch are unpleasant; why? Because of the exalted activity of the arterial circulation.
Dunham has stated: ''Aconite has no definite action on the sexual organs." This is an undoubted error, for note that the proving shows sixty-nine symptoms of the repro- ductive system, and its beneficial action in the first stage of
^^m
ACONITUM APELUS.
761
gonorrhea and upon the suppressed menstruation of ple- thoric women — suppressed from vexation — is now well known.
Its fevers are seldom synochal;usually without periodici- ty. To speak of fever at once suggests thirst, and the sick one who needs Aconite will not wait to be asked if he is thirsty; water, water, all you will allow, and you will be told that it is the only thing that does not taste bitter — it is good.
Coryzas, croups, ear-aches, facial neuralgias; these per- tain to the complaints of winter that will often call for Aconite. But with summers continued high temperature the teething, fat babies begin to pass green mucous stools or clear blood. Watch the face during the spasm of cramp and you will see the anxiety spells Aconite.
Retained urine in the newly born is supposed to be the result of shock, and routinists say Aconite is the simillimum. I am of the opinion that it is rather due to the sudden chill- ing of the body resultant from the pernicious practice of bathing the child as soon as it is born. Twelve hours is not too long a time in which to accustom the infant to the chang- ing temperatures of the new world, and babies so treated rarely have the snufftes.
While we are giving the baby Aconite for the retention of urine, Dr. Kent tells us to give the mother a dose of Caus- ticum for the same discomfort, and both will be relieved in an hour or so.
The urine of the Aconite patient, even in high fevers, has no sediment.
Dunham taught that: "In the commencement of typhoid fever, if Aconite is given it will unfavorably influence the entire course of the disease." I think this should dispose of the erroneous teaching put forth by some medical men of our school; i. e. that if a remedy is not indicated it does no harm.
To-day we read with surprise that in 1864, the allopaths were using Aconite as a stock remedy in Bellevue Hospital, New York, for typhoid fever.
The custom of alternating Aconite and Belladonna is
k:K:
762 THK MEDICAL A^DV^ANCK.
pernicious. Need I say why? If one is indicated the other cannot be.
The pains are agonizing, their character so well known I need not empathize them; but with Aconite the distress is prominent in heart and thorax; with Belladonna the trouble centers in the head.
Aconite is one of the leaders in ailments brought on by anger. Then on comes a headache with hot face which will terminate in a profuse flow of urine. Only three other remedies have this condition, so we may easily remember them, viz: Gelsemium, Silicea and Veratrum album.
The hemorrhages are bright red, and with them always the agonizing fear and restlessness that we recognize spells Aconite. Spitting of blood without restlessness, calls for Millefolium.
The veriest tyro in Materia Medica is acquainted with the Big Three that stand us in such emergencies as baby's attacks of croup. Aconite, Hepar and Spongia. Perhaps not all of us remember that the Aconite croup comes on in the evening soon after the exposure, and in the first sleep. Also, that Bromium is likely to be the remedy for summer croups rather than Aconite.
Here are some of its odd or peculiar symptoms:
Sneezing produces pain in the abdomen, or a stitch in left thorax.
Cracking in the temples, forehead and nose, as from bending tinsel.
CJough > lying on back.
The sensations on incomplete anaesthesia; i. e. tingling, pricking numbness. Only three other* remedies have numb- ness in like degree: Chamomilla, Platinum and Rhus.
Alternating mental states.
The fear: Of crowds; of crossing streets.
On rising: The red face turns deadly pale.
Sunstroke induced by sleeping in the sun. Lippe.
It is complementary to Coffea in sleeplessness and in in- tolerance of pain.
Is your chronic patient one that is improving on a kigb
SARSAPARILLA.
763
attenuation of Sulphur given at infrequent intervals? Then that patient is liable to want Aconite for intercurrent acute troubles.
We know the action (therapeutic action) of Aconite is suspended by vegetable acids; its common antidotes Acetic acid and Paris.
Finally.
Don't think of it for those of feeble constitution and such as are slow to recover from acute attacks.
Don't give Aconite because someone says there is in- flammation, the first stages of something or other. Con sider how the inflammation was induced, and then see that symptoms agree.
Don't give Aconite because patient is an infant and baby has fever, find out about it.
Don't give Aconite in zymotic fevers, it is not suitable for septic conditions.
Don't forget that its action is short, and frequent re- petition may be necessary.
8ARSAPARILLA.
By E. a. Taylok, M. D.
It is not the purpose of this paper to enter into any lengthened consideration of the action of this remedy but only to call attention to a few of its salient and distinctive features.
One of the first cases I ever treated with this remedy wieis a young man of 22 years of age, of tubercular stock, who was troubled with chronic constipation. It was only with great difficulty that he could have a movement of the bowels. He would go to the closet, sit and strain for a lon^: time, and often would break out in profuse perspiration and faint. Finally he would return from his arduous labor feel ing weak and exhausted. Sars. cured him. It has fainting during stool, whether the condition be constipation or diai- rhea, and is one of only four remedies given by Bell on diarrhea as having that symptom, hence its importance. The other three are aloes, crotalus and sulphur. If the
764 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
fainting is before the stool, then the same author gives only- two remdies — ars. and digitalis — while for the same condi- tion after stool he gives aloe., cocculus, crotontig., phos. and terebinth.
Some years ago I was called to see a tall, angular man who was complaining of backache, which had troubled him for many days in spite of the administration of what seemed to be well indicated remedies. It was mostly in the small of the back and was worse from motion, but bryonia and other remedies had failed to relieve. Now there are some who claim to have some one remedy as a sort of a harbor of refuge into which they glide whenever they fail to find suc- cess elsewhere -when the apparently indicated remedy fails. This pernicious practice should never bear the seal of sanc- tion of any true homeopath, for we should remember that our remedies are efficacious only in proportion to their sinai- larity, and if the remedy fails in a curable case it is because it is not indicated. What a mistake it is to suppose that- some particular remedy is indicated just because other rem- edies have failed I When, in a curable case, we fail, the fault is with us and not with the remedy, and it was so in this ca.se. The patient would frequently say that he would not mind the pain so much if it did not depress him so. It was this pronounced depression accompanying the pain that so greatly distressed him. Here then was the characteristic feature of the case. He received sarsaparilla 10m and made a prompt recovery.
I used it successfully in one case of nightly emissions in a young man who was profoundly depressed mentally as a result of this condition.
A peculiar urinary symptom that has been verified is^ "can pass urine only while standing; when he sits it dribbles."
Another peculiar urinary symptom is that there is pain just at the close of urination — just as he finishes. Not many remedies have that, hence it is a valuable symptom. There is also pain during urination, but this is much more com- mon, less distinctive, hence less valuable. There is often a
QUALIFICATIONS OF THE PHYSICIAN.
765
sediment in the urine that looks like gray sand. Child cries before and during micturition and passes much sand.
A married woman, mother of three children, consulted me about a bladder trouble which had bothered her for some years. It consisted in frequent urging and desire to urinate, she having to go often during the day and some- times at night. She had no other symptoms and seemed to be in good health, except this trouble. Nothing seemed to aggravate or ameliorate this condition, except that she said, **It is a queer thing that while I am flowing the bladder does not bother me, but as soon as the flow ceases the trouble returns and lasts till the next monthly period." This symp- tom is found under sarsaparilla, which was given and cured the case.
The remedy js rich in urinary symptoms many symp- toms show its influence on the kidneys and bladder. In renal colic with severe pain from the right kidney down- ward It may be the indicated remedy, and for the derange- ment which precedes and leads up to the formation of stone, whether renal or vesical, it may prove the curative remedy, but after the calculus is formed it is doubtful whether any- thing in the body can dissolve it. Sir Henry Thompson, the great English specialist, after carefully reviewing this sub- ject, says that there is no evidence that suclua thing can be accomplished and no proof that it has ever been done. Hahnemann said that the stone should be crushed. Some have claimed that the indicated remedy will dissolve the stone, but they have failed to produce the evidence. Let us have facts, not theories, and let us remember that it is detrimental to our cause to indulge in extravagant state- ments and dogmatic assertions. The truth is what we want.
THE QUALIFICATIONS OF THE PHYSICIAN.
By Frank A. Gustafson.
A lecture delivered at the Denver College of Physicians and Surgeons, The physician's sole duty is to restore health in the most gentle, prompt and permanent manner. In order to do this he must bear in mind that in both health and sick-
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766 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
ness the man is a unit; that he is to remove the disorder in the whole extent; that each man and each sickness is to be considered as an individual and an individual sickness; that the treatment is to be directed to him and to his state, rather than to his pathological condition.
The first problem then is: What is to be cured in the case? The physician knows the man is sick, for he presents symptoms. These are the picture of the disease. Symptoms are any consciousness of alteration or deviation from normal conditions in organs, or functions, or emotions. They are deviations from normal states such as can be perceived by the examiner, or felt by the patient. For the most part they are couched, in crude language and express feelings. To estimate the true value of these symptoms the physician must elicite the whole story, making careful record of each symptom, grouping them in their relations one to another and to the state of the patient, and thus acquiring the pic- ture of the whole. This will include the statement of the patient as to how he feels, when he feels it, what makes it better or worse, where it is. Also, the results of the exam- ination in the clearing of misleading statements, ascertain- ing the truth of the statements, determining the nature of the conditions, diagnosing the case, recognizing the patho- logical changes, etc. All these must enter into the case that the whole may be known.
This done, the physician is to determine what is cura- tive in the case. He must now perceive the relative values of the symptoms and their bearing upon the case as a whole^ both with reference to treatment and to prognosis. He must now separate the symptoms belonging to the man from those belonging to his parts. He must recollect that all normal functional activity is from centers to periphery and that mani- festations of disease must pursue the same course, hence that disturbances in outward parts are but the manifesta- tion of disturbance of these normal life currents, and that the whole man is to be set right. He determines what is curative by a study of the symptoms, both general and par- ticular. General, such as may influence a people as a whole
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QUALIFICATIONS OF THE PHYSICIAN,
767
and so be common to all in the same sickness. Particular, as they relate to him as an individual, and the manner in which he as an individual is affected by the sickness invad- ing his life forces. And it is through the comparison of these latter with the known peculiarities of drug action that his best information is obtained.
Having the picture of the totality of the case, having recognized the individuality of the case, having selected the most peculiar and strikingly characteristic features a.s the picture of the condition he is to meet, he must now deter- mine what is curative for that condition in the medicines at hand. This can only be accomplished through the study of drug actions upon healthy persons. Upon human beings, because to be used upon them; upon healthy persons, because in no other way can the true unmodified action of the drug be ascertained; and in single quantities, to determine the curative action in its whole extent and in its own peculiar manner and sphere. The symptoms thus elicited are to be compared with the symptoms presented in the case and as their relations are determined the indications for administra- tion become apparent.
The remedy found, what shall be the dose and when shall it be repeated? The proper dose is such quantity as shall bring about the desired effect with as little disturbance of the man as possible. This can only be determined by experiment and observation. We may know the case, that comes from the history. We may know the relations between remedy and symptoms, that comes from experiment with drugs and their comparison with symptoms. Know- ledge of dose comes as the result of observation of the rela- tion existing between them. Experiment has enabled us to determine as safe axioms the following: The single collec- tive effect is to be considered as the dose; single doses are effective at times, at others it appears necessary to frequent- ly repeat medicines until this single collective effect is apparent; any degree of potency may be called for; doses are to be repeated when improvement ceases, provided the symptoms do not call for a change of remedy; they may be
m
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70^ THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
frequently repeated in quick succession in acute disorders, rarely so in chronic disorders; curative power seems to increase when given at intervals, but judgment must be exercised in continuance and discontinuance; the best time for administration is at the time of aggravation, or as paroxysms are passing; that the danger is of too frequent repetition rather than too infrequent; that when improve- ment manifests itself all medicines are to be withdrawn so long as it continues.
The physician\s duty is not completed as he diagnoses the case and remedy as herein detailed, and administers the remedy according to th(\se specifications. He must recogniize obstacles to cure and remove them wherever possible. These may be:
1. Hygienic, as place of residence, occupation, clotliing, personal habits.
2 Dietetic, as stimulants, excess of meats, detticency in solid matters as residue in intestines for peristaltic action, improperly •])repared foods, excess of fluids with the meals, diet incom])atibh^ with the action of the remedy inhibitin«]^ its action, as wines, oysters, sugars, veal, salads, et?., known with certain remedi(\s to so inhibit.
8. Drugs taken, as hypnotics, cathartics, stimulants, suppresive measures, etc.
\. Errors of habit, as late hours, insufficient exercise, over exercise, st^xual relations, etc.
r>. Mental states, as worry, anger, sorrow, surround- ings prejudicial to proper states of mind.
(). Mechanical disturbances, -as pressure upon nerves, fractures, i)us-cavit:es, eye strains, any of which may require correction.
7. Occupational aggravations, strong lights and heat as of gas upon the head, occupations requiring labor in wet damp places, etc All such things will i-equire consideration in given cases that the gi-eatest opportunity for action and reaction may be s(»cured.
Proficiency and competence and success will result only as these things are given proper consideration. The i)hysi-
SURGICAL TECHNIQUE.
7t50
cian is qualified by his knowledge and adaptibility, his alertness tx) discover the truth about his patient and his condition, his wisdom in recognizing his patient's needs and eliminating those things which tend untowardly. The cause of failure is nonadaptabilitj" to the practice of medicine » slothfulness and indifference in taking the case, inadetjuatc knowledge of the means of cure, incompetency in tlio man agement of the case and the elimination of disturbing elements.
SURGICAL TECHNIQUE.
By J. B. S. KiN(;.
*lt was a beautiful operation,*' said the Entliasiastk^ Surgeon.
"Exquisite," murmured the Courteous Interne.
"Tell me of it," siiid the Eager Student.
"It was an operation for tuberculosis of the knue-joSnt^'^ 'explained the Enthusiastic Surgeon. "The patient (u>m plained of some ill-defined pains in the knee and tindinjx an uncle by marriage had died of consumption, I simply put the two together and arrived at a diagnosis. I beli^-vt^ I aai known to be pretty good at diagnosis."
"Who better," interjected the Courteous Interne softly,
"I resolved to o])en the .ioint; it is well to adopt iuiUn^ measures when we have the dread scour^a* tuberr-ulc^sis tr* deal with."
The Courteous Interne rapturously pressed Its liaiu!^ together as if dissolved in admiration.
"The cutaneous flap was detached and turned iImwik tin* patella divided with a saw and tlic synovial s:h^ fror^ly opened. The fluid passed out.''
''Gushed," murmered the Interne unctuously
"Was the condition as you expected?*' asked thr Ka^ei* Student. The Surgeon flushed slightly and th^^ Interne gazed at the ceiling as if it was eighty feet ofl 'fistead t>t fourteen. •
''Well ei — we found it er -as I may say cotimvshHl"
'*What! no tuberculosis at ally" ask^'d the Stiirtent,
770 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
The Courteous Interne frowned at the Student as who should say, **Do you expect the earth? ' and the Surgeon continued: **The articular surface was then irrigated with a hot solution of corrosive sublimate and freely sprinkled with impalpable iodoform."
The Courteous Interne sniffed delightedly as if he liked the odor.
* 'Owing to a nick in the popliteal artery, the hemor- rhage was tremendous; my robe was soaked." *
**Even got some on his trousers,*' murmered the Interne sympathetically.
**The parts came into the most perfect apposition, and "
**In short," burst in the Interne, **for neatness, celerity, perfect technique and "
*'And how did the patient get on?'' asked the Eager Student.
**Patient," said the Surgeon blankly. **0 yes, of course, the patient. What did happen to that patient, Bill?"
The Interne consulted a memorandum book, the covers of which were filled with display advertisements of under- takers.
''Ah! here it is. Why — er — he seemed to fade away as you took the last stitch; I suppose he must have had heart failure.''
THE PROPAGANDISM OF HOMEOPATHY.*
By Gabkiel F. Thornhill, M. D., Paris, Texas.
Any sane person who has not been perverted by the prince of the power of the air is ready and eager to hear one accept the truth when it is an agreeable truth, when it ac- cords and narmonizes with his own opinions, convictions, preferences, prejudices or interest. But it is vastly other- wise when the truth upsets ones confidence and affection and encounters suddenly and sharply the deeply rooted pas- sions of the human heart, not to speak of a hopelessly chronic
*Read before the Texas State Homeopathic Association, Oct. 9, 1908.
PROPAGANDISM OF HOMEOPATHY, 771
indifference and ignorance. It does not matter how well versed on all other subjects, prejudice will show ignorance on the subject in question. A physician may be up to -date on histology, biology, bacteriology, sanitary science and allied branches; he may be able to carve with the precisicJa of a butler; he may be a good diagnostician, able to tell you at a glance what this group and that group of symotoms mean and why they are thus and so; but if he is not in possession of the one single truth, the keystone tiiat caps the arch, the hoiv to cure, wherein is the good of all these grand truths? Yet if we tell him the one thinK Itickini^t the law of cure, his ignorance is aroused and his jTrejudicii is ruffled, and he is ready for a good stiff jab at our solar plexus.
They would rather die in ignorance of the keynote to a successful practice than to receive one ray of light from a homeopath. This is the deplorable state of affairs with our friends of the other school, with both the profession and layman. Any intimation that Homeopathy is the only scientific medicine, they are up in arms in defense of the old regime. We all understand the great question confronting every homeopath, the duty we owe the people: in fact, the work God has planned for us to do. But the burning ques* tion is how; how are we to present this grand truth in a manner acceptable to them? This is a problem no one man ' can solve, and it is the di^ty of this, and every other homeo- pathic society to discuss, and devise ways and in^^ans of the how.
The pioneers of Homeopathy were up and doing. TJiey did not hesitate to present the truth to the peoijle. Hahne- mann must have set things on fire, or he would never have been driven from his native land. It has been my method to use tracts and the press freely. Of course the allopaths fight me bitterly, but while they fight I practice, and todiiy I enjoy the second best practice in the city.
77l' TilK MEDICAL ADVANCE
CLINICAL CASES.
By Dk. Axdekson, Austin, Texas.
Mrs. C. R. K. 52 years of age; tall, dark, very slender. Comes to me for awful throbbing in the pit of the stomach — with sensation of a lump in the stomach; < morning, men- tal excitement, anger, summer. Cannot bear anything tight about the waist. Feels badly all the forenoon; generally > in the eveninjr, Extremely irritable; cannot bear contradic- tion; easily excited.
Burning of the back of the hands and wrists, always < in the summer, entirely relieved in the winter or by bathing them in cold water.
Very little perspiration; urine scanty.
Bowels regular.
Wakens often about 2 a. m., and lies awake; awakens easily from slight noise. Drowsy during the day.
Sensitive to cold and easily c!iilled, but always feels < in the summer time.
July '). Nux vom. cm., 3 powders and Sac. lac.
July 10. Reports improvement; Sac lac.
July 17 -^4. Improvement continues; appetite improved; burning bands >; no throbbing in abdomen; sleeps better.
Aug. 1 . Last night became angry and indignant over some social matters; couldn't sleep; this morning stomach pains and throbs; hands burn and feel terrible. Nux vom. cm., ten powders to be taken one hour apart until relieved, then Sac lac
Aug. 7, R^portJ^ entire relief after six powders. "The powders helped her very much."
Aug. 21. Improvement continues.
Sept. 7. Is feeling very well and says she needs no more medicine.
Mr. L. C Age T)').
Aug. '21. Was called to see Mr. C. at 2 p, m. Says he returned last night from a trip down the coast and was feel- ing badly. This morning at about 10 o'clock he was sudden- ly taken with a severe chill. Began in hands and feet which
CLINICAL CASES. 773
felt like ice; extended all over the body with shaking; no thirst and no headache. Lasted until 12:30, followed by high fever with slight thirst and desire to be uncovered; ya-wning and stretching; no headache or pain.
Gave Sac lac. and three powders Nat mur. 20m to be taken one hour apart, beginning at six o'clock.
Aug. 25, 3 p. m. Called at the office and reported a profuse sweat during the night. Peels better today; no chill. Sac lac.
Aug. 30. Reports that he has had no more chills and is feeling fine.
M!r. F. G. H. — Was called to see him at (> a. m. Found him suffering from severe pain in the region of the right kidney extending around and down the toward the bladder, sligchtly > after passing urine- pain severe, sharp, cutting. Abdomen bloated, sour eructations. Has had three attacks befoi^^e, but never .so severe. Had earlier in the morning taUon a hot bath for half an hour without relief.
l)isolved a powder of Lye. 30 in 1-3 glass of hot water. T^ef t directions to take a tcaspoonful every 10 minutes until better, then at longer intervals.
Next day he reported that the pain was entirely relieved aft or the third dose. Gave one powder Lye. ni and now after live months he reports that he has had no attacks since.
Johnnie C, 7 years old- Is brought by his mother. I smell him as soon as he comes in the room. The mother reports that for nearly a year he has been unable to retain his urine. No kind of treatment has done any good. On examination I find the parts red and inflamed and his legs look as though they had been scalded as far down as the knees.
Oave Sulph 30 one powder and Sar. lac. ad. lib. A week later he came to the office with glowing face and said: '*l'm all right now. I don't leak at all any more." Six of Sulph. 30 did it. What could the old school do with such a case ?
n.
The Medical Advance
A Monthly Journal of Hahnemannian Homeopathy A Study of Methods and Results.
When we have to do with an art whose end is the saving of human life aoy neglect to make ourselves thorough masters of It becomes a crime,— Uahnbmanic,
Subscription Price - - - - Two Dollars a Year
We believe that Homeopathy, well understood and faithfully practiced, has power to save more lives and relieve more pain i han any other method of treal- roentever invented or discovered by man; but to be a first-class homeopHiblc pre- scriber requires careful study of both patient and remedy. Yet by patient care it can l>e made a little plainer and easier than It now is. To explain and define and In all pracUcal ways simplify it is cur chosen ^ork. In this good work we aslc your help.
To accommodate both readers and publisher this Journal will be sentuntl arrears are paid and it is ordered discontinued.
Communications regarding Subscrlptons and Advertisements may be sent to the publisher, The Forrest Press. Batavia, Illinois.
i'Ontributlons. (exchanges. Books for Review, and rll other communications should be addressed to the Editor, 6142 Washington Avenue, Chicago.
NOVEMBER, 1908.
EMtoriaU
Vivisection and Taecination.— '*Forways that are dark, and tricks that are vain," the Heathen Chinee is not the only one that is peculiar. The tricks to which some professional men will descend in order to bolster up a weak and dying cause seem incredible. Dr. Wm. Jefferson Guernsey relates the following incident, which recently occurred in Phila- delphia:
Mrs. White, president of the V\roraen's S. P. C. A. (of which my wife is a manager) was here to lunch today and told me of a letter thai appeared in one of the papers telling of the writcr*8 intention to cootri- bute ip the anti-vivisection cause: of his son's illness; that the doctor refused to use anti-toxin: the child died. A neighbor had a similar case; anti-toxin was used; the child recovered. Comment: — no oontribu' tion to the anti-vivs. A friend of Mrs. White's wrote to the man whose name was signed to the letter and told him that their society did not object to serum, but etc. In six weeks the letter was returned
EDITORIAL. 775
to her marked "Not claimed.*' She wrote to the postmaster to inquire if he knew anything of the mao; and he said that he had been postmaster in that town for blankety blank years and that there had ruver been suc/i a man in the place.
Today there was a long half-page article in the Philadelphia Fublic Ledger in favor of vaccination. It appeared in the advertising •column.
♦ *
The Sonthern Medical Association announces the fol- lowing bureau chairmen for the meeting in New Orleans, February, 1909, during Mardi-Gras season:
Homeopathy and Propagandism, W. R. Reily, Pulton, Mo.
Materia Medica and general Therapeutics, Gabriel F. Thomhill, Paris, Tex.
Clinical Medicine and Pathology, H. R. Stout, Jackson- ville, Fla.
Surgery and Gynecology, Willis Young, St. Louis, Mo.
Obstetrics and Paedology, W. A Boies, Knoxville, Tenn.
Sanitary Science and Public Health, M. F. Mount, Hot Springs, Ark.
Ophthalmology, Otology and Laryngology, J. T. Creb- bin. New Orleaas, La.
Neurology and Psychiatrics, Minnie C. Dunlap, Lex- ington, Ky.
Both the president. Dr. Hallman, and secretary. Dr. Harper, as well as the chairmen of various bureaus are do- ing a large amount of energetic work, and propose to make the coming meeting a grand success. They certainly have made a good beginning, and if the physicians south of the Ohio river will only do their part, as they can do it, this should mark a new era for Homeopathy in their section of the country. A number of good men -from various parts of the country have promised to attend, and these men usually bring with them papers worthy of discussion and of preser- vation, and we hope for the credit of the cause, especially in the Southern States, that the Association will turn over a new leaf in its work, and a new bond of professional enter- prise for the future by publishing its transactions, and then
77t) THE xMEDICAL ADVANCE.
by holding an annual meeting during Mardi-Gras season every year. The annual meeting of the Southern Associa- tion in February should be as well attended as the meeting of the A. I. H. or the I. H. A. in June. In this way by some enthusiasm and earnest work on the part of those most deeply interested, a new propagandism for the cause may be carried to a successful issue. Loud calls for work- ers, for physicians, come from many cities in the South, and if those who practice there, and see the necessity for sup- plying the demand, will only put their shoulders to the wheel and do a little genuine missionary work, by sending students to our colleges, it will not be many years before there will be few openings in the South that are not well tilled. What man has done man can do. Where there is a will, there will be a way. Hahnemann and Hering did it in
their day; why cannot we do it in the 20th Century?
» *
-X-
The Journal qr the Amerieau Institute of Uonieopatby
is an accomplished fact. The first number will appear January 1, 1U09. Several years ago Dr. B. F. Bailey, in his presidential address, recommended an Institute Journal. This was followed by Dr. Royal, and these two progressive homeopaths, with some of their colleagues, have been work- ing for the establishment of an Institute journal ever since, and finally, at the meeting in Kansas City, their efforts were practically crowned with success.
Dr. W. A. Dewey is to be editor. The Medical Ceniunj is to be discontinued and merged into the Institute Journal. The cost to every member of the Institute will be the same as the present subscription to the Century^ S2 per year, instead of sS.TiO, as authorized at Kansas City. At the meet- ing this month in Cleveland of the members of the executive committee, the members of the journal committee and the members of the council on medical education, final arrangel ments were completed, and Dr. Dewey is to be the editor as well as field organizer of the Institute, a fortunate and happy selection and one that augurs well for the advance- ment of our cause. These two steps, the appointment of a
COMMENT AND CRITICISM. 777
field organizer for the propagandism of Homeopathy and the support given his work by the editor of the Institute Jour- nal, certainly places our school in a position which it has never had before in this country, and while Dr. Dewey and the Journal and the committees of the Institute cannot do all the work, backed by the loyal efforts of the entire homeo- pathic profession they will be able to revolutionize our cause and double the membership in every national, state, county and city society in the Union. Their work will be hailed by every lover of Homeopathy, not only in the United States, but throughout the world.
«
The natural result of failure in one line or branch or department of a science, is greater activity in some other department, where success is more probable. It is the fail- ure in therapeutics that makes the allopaths so active in diagnosis, in sanitation, in the study of bacteriology, of pathology, etc., and also so eager to consider every new fad that is started, in the hope that it may open up some way to the sole function of the physician — the cure of the sick. Thus the energy of the mind is more or less squandered in alien fields.
Homeopathy, on the contrary, offers a field full of hard
work, enough if not too much for the most powerful mind,
and from the very start it moves in the right direction —
towards curing disease.
* *
The Committee on Homeopathic Propagandism of tlie American Institute did good work last year, and now with more money at command, will probably do better work than ever- The result of such work will inevitably have a two- fold beneficial effect. Like Shakespeare's mercy, it will bo **bwice blessed." First it will advertise Homeopathy per s(\ second it will improve and purify tho practice of Homeo- pathy among the profession.
Every unbllishing alternater and heedless repeater, every routine prescriber, every proprietary medicine dispen-
778 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
ser with a diploma from a homeopathic college will pause in his shamfully unscientific treatment and approach somewhat nearer the homeopatic ideal in the face of the good work done by this committee before the public.
It is an excellent thing to have our stock ideals dusted and brushed up and ventilated and elevated before the pub- lic eye once in a while. It helps us to live up to them.
COMMENT ANU CRITICISM,
Editor Medical Advance: — As the course of instruc- tion that I gave last year on Orthopedic Surgery was merely the ground work, I did not have a chance to more than mention the fact that the etiology of tuberculosis of the lungs is often orthopedic. I wish this year to hold a tuber- culosis clinic of reliable patients, that is to say, those who, by education and circumstances, will report regularly for treatment and have sufficient means and intelligence to eat and be clothed and housed in the manner I may prescribe.
The patients composing this clinic to be examined at the time of their entrance by Beveral physicians of standing who are willing to serve as clinical experts, to be examined also from time to time during the course of treatment and the examination recorded. These tubercular clinical cases to be divided into separate groups, each group representing a different stage of the disease; and these separate groups to be again divided as follows:
First: Those who have purely orthopedic treatment and nothing else.
Second: Those who have the orthopedic treatment plus the indicated remedy.
For many years I have demonstrated this in mv private practice, but have said very little about it as the work left me by my father was to ''carry out 'logically and clinically demonstrate each of the many branches of the orthopedic thought to their end, and then present it to the world, in- vincible, symmetrical, complete.*'
All that my father desired in this matter I have accomp- lished except the full presentation of the subject. But I am
COMMENT AND CRITICISM. ' 779
now at work collating notes and records kept by him and myself, and hope to present them in my work on Orthopedic Surgery if my life is spared until 1910.
Some of my propositions in the matter of pulmonary tuberculosis are as follows:
First: It is not so much more and better air outside of the body that the patient needs, but more and better air inside the body.
Second: That more air may be received inside the body in a natural way necessitates a full, complete and normal respiration; and to be a normal respiration, it must be an automatic one.
Third: That as no machine can work long and well only in proportion as each and every part of such machine retains its perfect relation not only to every other part but to the entire machine itself, it follows that a normal respi- ration can only exist in a mechanically normal body.
The true orthopedic thought has suffered by commer- cial doctors and other mountebanks stealing only parts of its philosophy, and through these only partial thefts the world has been afflicted with the plaster jacket, mechanical barbarities, absurd physical culture methods, osteo and other paths, and ridiculous treatment of effects by surgical procedure. Therefore, I do not feel that there should be any one except the physicians that may be selected and • myself connected with the matter, that there may be no interference with, the treatment and no chance for medical politics to prevent a fair and square report on the results, results that I know from repeated clinical demonstrations in my own practice are most wonderful, and that will give great glory to my father, to Homeopathy, and to Hering College, and will, above all, be a great boon to humanity.
E. P. Banning, M. D.
THE COMPOUND REMEDIES.
Editor Medical Advance: In the history of Homeo- pathy faked provings have been known; but the fakers were soon exposed and always came to grief. This I recall after
780 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
reading S. S. C.'s criticism of the proving of compound rem- edies, in September Advance.
He quotes: **that no two medicines when tested together can possibly be equivalent to the sum of their pathogeneses when tested separately.'*
In order to assure, him he is wrong it is only necessary to place before him the provings offered by Dr. Kent and compare the symptoms t)f the compound with the symptoms of the medicines which go to the making of the compound.
Quoting from Dr, Kent*s proving of Sulphur iodatum, in the Critique for August, we find under Vertigo: '* Vertigo in the morning on rising, while lying, during menses, rising from bed, rising from a seat, stooping, walking." Those symptoms are all found under Sulphur, and all but one under lodum.
Under head. Dr. K.'s proving shows: The scalp feels cold to the patient, eruptions on the scalp, crusts, eczema and a number of other symptoms, all of which may be found under either Sulphur or lodum The same with the eye symptoms, as well as symptoms of other parts. * So far as Dr. K.'s proving goes, all go to show marked similarity to the symptoms of sulph. and lodum.
If CT. C. S. will take the time to go over the proving of Sul. iodatum he will find precisely what I have recorded above. The study will repay him and impress upon him the power for good of the two remedies. And if he will then take the September number of the Critique he will see a proving of Zinc. phos. by Dr. Kent, and learn much of Zinc and Phosphorus alone, as well as^ in combination. If he looks for unique symptoms he will find at least one worth adding to his materia medica: **unconsciousness from faint- ing.'' .
Hence in all the provings of the compounds by Dr. Kent we readily see that the symptoms of the compounds equal the symptoms of the two remedies when taken separ- ately, and thus it is superfluous to make a proving of the compounds.
It is unfortunate that Dr. Kent did not follow the ex-
COMMENT AND CRITICISM. 881
ample of Hering and Hahnemann and give the authority for each proving. If he will now do so th^re can be no unfa- vorable comment.
I am glad to be able to be at one with S. S. C. in part of his comment. I am astonished that any homeopathician should send papers to a journal that prints such **ads" as found in the Critique, The moat appropriate parallel I can think of is that of a religious journal advertising and recom- mending resort to the Lupanaria.
Yours for the cause,
Geo. H. Clark. IIG W. Walnut Lane, Germantown, Philadelphia.
THE RELATIONSHIP OF HOMEOPATHY TO PLERPUAL
FEVER.
Editor Medical Advance: In the October issue ap- pears an article by Dr. Loos with the above title, in which the reader might surmise that the doctor considered this disease to be the result of some constitutional taint or chronic miasm existent prior to delivery, which, if so, is contrary to the known facts.
In a somewhat extensive obstetrical experience the only cases of the disease ever seen by the writer have appeared following delivery by physicians who ought to have been sent to jail.
The disease is not due to any inherent dyscrasia, but on the contrary is always due to direct inoculation of the par- turient canal by the attendant and the good or bad condition of the patient previously has very little to do with the case.
Rigid aseptic technique will invariably obviate the necessity of hunting for any relationship between this dis- ease and Homeopathy. Such is the experience of thousands of concientious and reputable obstetricians of all schools. The promulgation of false doctrines on the subject in a homeopathic journal is detrimental to our school and is of doubtful benefit as a shield for those criminally careless physicians, who continue to have cases of this disease in spite of modern aseptic teaching.
782 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Any physician so crazy as to pin his faith to medical treatment to the exclusion of rigid asepsis, should either be compelled to abandon obstetrics or be sent to an asylum for the dangerously insane.
W. H. Freeman, M. D. 263 Arlington Ave-, Brooklyn, N. Y.
IN THE FIELD.
Dr. Adaliue Keeney removes from Albert Lea, Minn., to Oregon, and wants a successor at Albert Lea.
Drs. M. C. and Bessie A. Van de Venter (Hering 1907) have located in Ligonier, Indiana. They are enthusiastic homeopaths and will practice Homeopathy.
Dr. H. C. Schmidt (Hering 1908) has located at 310 East 17th St., Tucson, Arizona. The doctor passed the Arizona examining board very creditably, standing at the head of the class.
Dr. Thomas Franklin Smith, treasurer of the Ameri can Institute of Homeopathy, and one of its most respected seniors, gives us an encouraging note and verification of the teaching of Hahnemann:
There is nothing like Homeopathy, and I am happy to be able to state tnat in nearly forty. nine years of practice I have never yet, except when I was in the army, given a dose of quinine, and 1 have had splen- did success in my fever cases, of which I have had a very large number. All that is necessary, and this I have proven by a varied and extended experience, is to do the studying and the medicine will do the rest.
Dr. Alexander Vertes, of the South-Western Homeo- pathic Medical College, says: '*I believe if everyone of us would consider himself or herself a missionary, and would distribute among our patients homeopathic literature, as did the pioneers of Homeopathy in its early days in this country, many converts would be the result, and an increased practice would necessarily follow. Not only would our patients become instructed, but their friends would also read the literature. They would begin to investigate the merits of our system of practice, give it a trial, and generally that is
NOTES FROM THE FIELD. 788
all that is needed. They would soon select their physician among the Hahnemannian homeopaths."
The Oklahoma Institnte of Homeopathy held its third annual meeting at Oklahoma City, October 8th and 9th, at the office of Drs. Hensley & Lott. Ten new members were admitted, and the following officers elected:
President, Dr. D. W. Miller, Blackwell; Vice-President, Dr. P. W. Hammond, Lawton; Sec'y. and Treas., Dr. Mary E. Ray, Tecumseh.
Dr. Hensley,- who has been president since the organiza- tion of the society, was unanimously elected honorary presi- dent, and he and Dr. Mary E. Ray were appointed delegates to the American Institute at Detroit, June 1909. A number of interesting papers were read by members of the Institute, and a successful meeting was the opinion of all present.
Texas Homeopathic Medical Association.— The twenty- fourth annual session of the Texas Homeopathic Medical Association was held Oct. 8th and 9th at San Antonio, Dr. H. B. Stiles, president, in the chair.
Acting upon the suggestions of the president's address, the Association formulated a bureau for the systematic study of the science of Homeopathy, a three-year post graduate course, certificates to be given those who complete it.
To Dr. G. p. Thornhill was assigned the subject of Homeopathic Philosophy; Dr. W. D. Gorton, The Repertory; Dr. C. E. Johnson, Materia Medica; Dr. Wm. L. Smith, Homeopathic Propaganda.
The Association voted S5100 to A. I. H., to be paid in two instalments, for the use of its committee on propaganda, and doubled the dues for 1909.
Dr. Gorton of Austin was given sole charge of legisla- tive work. Dr. Stiles read a paper on Education; Dr. Gor- ton on Radium and Renal Calculi; Dr. Thornhill on Homeo- pathic Propaganda; Dr. Bass on Aconite. ,
The Association passed a vote of confidence in the late Homeopatic Medical Examining Board and its secretary, Dr. H. B. Stiles of Waco, and emphasized it by re-electing Dr:
784 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Stiles to the presidency, no other nominations being offered. The other officers are: 1st V. P., Dr. W. L. Smith, Denison; 2nd V. P., Dr. O. Hartman, San Antonio; Secy., Dr. Julia H. Bass, Austin; Treas., Dr. P. L. Griffith, Austin.
THE ANTI-VACCINATION CONVENTION.
The anti- vaccination convention was held in Philadelphia, October 19th and 20th, for the organization of a National Anti-Vaccination Society to be composed of all the anti- vaccinationists in the United States and Canada, in order to concentrate the movement against compulsory vaccination. The other purposes set forth in the call for the meeting are:
To promote the universal acceptance of the principle that health is nature's greatest safeguard against disease, and that, therefore, the state has no right to demand the impairment of the health of any per- sons, whether by vaccination or by any other means.
To advance the campaign of education among the people respecting the effects of vaccination, including its influence in causing degenera- tion, deteriorating the public health, and spreading small-pox, cancer, tuberculosis and other diseases.
To discuss the best methods to be pursued in the effort to eliminate all laws supporting or enforcing vaccination, and to take such poliiical or other action as may be deemed the most effective to maintain the natural rights and civil liberties of the people against the encroachments of the vaccine power.
To take steps to abolish all oppressive and unconstitutional medi- cal laws, and to resist the proposed enlargement of the scope of State medicine.
Mr. C. O. Beasley, an attorney of Philadelphia, in be- half of the Anti Vaccination League of Philadelphia, of which he is president, welcomed the delegates with the following address:
We are assembled in obadience to the c ill of humanity itself. The •devastating evils of vaccination have become so intense and so wide- spread that local protests must now assume national scope. We demand an accounting from the medical upholders of the vaccine cult.
The prevailing opinion at the recent National Veterinary Conven- tion held in Philadelphia was that the cow is responsible for sixty-five per cent of ail human tuberculosis, and the announcement of thii) fact has produced a profound popular impression. There are but three waya however, for the products of the cow to obtain admission to the human system— by its meat, by its milk or by vaccine virus. As meat and milk have the protection of human digestive apparatus, and as vaccine virus
NOTES FROM THE FIELD. 785 -
is injected directly into the blood, it is certain that tuberculosis ih more frequently transmitted by vacqine virus than by meat or milk.
Vaccine virus is a product of running sores on diseased beasts. Vaccination )s the inoculation of blood poison into the human system, which blood poison is the result of the inoculation of human small-pox into the calf. Today and for six months a fearful epidemic of small-pox has been raging among the vaccioated in Japan. In the United States during the last six months there has existed 35,000 cases of small-pox, mostly in vaccinated communities. We are coofronted, therefore, with a huge campaign of truth suppression by the medical profession. This truth suppression by those who ought to leadens to the right must stop. We are confronted by an organized band of official medical mercenaries who can only be satiated by the life blood of every child in the land.
In Pennsylvania at the last session of the legislature we succeeded after an arduous struggle in passing the Watson anti-vaccination bill by a rote of 133 to 9 in the house of representatives and 27 to 11 in the senate. But Governor Stuart, under the pressure of organized medical influence, saw fit to veto this.
Thus we are summoned again in the line of battle. This fight will go on until it will be considered a disgrace for a physician to vaccinate any one. and until good health and pure blood shall be safe from invasion by either ignorance, superstition or greed.
DR. STRAUBE'S CHALLENGE.
Challenge to Dr, Dickson^ State Health Commissiner, and if Dr. Dickson decline to accept he would challenge Di- rector Neff of the Philadelphia Board of Health:
You claim th&t vaccination will prevent small-pox. I know that it will not, but that it only helps to spread tuberculosis, cancer and other dlsecM^s. I know that pure blood and a good constitution always grant immunity. You and I, however, agree on this, that in all known epi- demics of all times not all the people of a community were attacked, many eecaping contageon— being naturally immune as you would put it; or healthy, as I would say. This being the case, then why should all ^he people be blood-poisoned in order to sa/C the **non-immunes'' from contagion? Why should rotten pus, technically called vaccine virus, be introduced into the systems of presumably healthy beings, under the supposition that it will render tbem immune, that is, health yV Echo answers— why? The true character of this pus is not divulged to the people for the reason that if it were known to them they would resist vaccination with shotguns. The aversion which human beings have to being vaccinated can be traced to their instinct of self-preservation, which causes them to shrink from the touch of the vaccine lancet even as animals recoil from the fang of the raitiesnake in the grass; the vac-
786 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
cine lancet and the snake's fan^ alike bringing blood-poisoning, each of its kind, with all its dirt? consequenoes-
In order to settle this question of immunity from small-pox between you and roe, by means of this open letter, I challenge you to a test You have undoubtedly been vaccinated time and «gain; hence in your esti- mation you are imoSune. 1 have never been vaccinated, but claim im- munity from small-pox by reason of pure blood and a good constitution. I will stake my normal health against your vaccine scars in defying smallpox, and challenge you to occupy the same bed with me, at the same time, with a small- pox patient lying between us. Thus we shall prove the honesty of our convictions, and, perhaps, something more.
If your belief is from your heart, and not from your mouth alone, you will accept this challenge.
Dr. Straube aroused great enthusiasm by declaring that as Dr. Dixon had not accepted his challenge^ he now extended it to Dr. Joseph S. Neff, Director of Public Health and Charities, of Philadelphia.
If he does not accept, shouted the scientist, the gauntlet is thrown down to any one in the medical profession who believes in vacci- nation.
According to the terms of the challenge, the physician who accepts it will occupy the same bed with Dr. Sit^ube, who is not vaccinated. Between them will lie a small-pox patient.
Good blood and a healthy constitution, declared Dr. Straube, will grant immunity from the dreaded small-pox. Experience has shown this.
A letter was read from James R. Brewer, of Baltimore, former chairman of the Maryland State Board of Charities.
Forty years ago, he wrote, people were inoculated with scabs taken from the arms of healthy children. This was found to produce scrofula. The method was changed. Bovine inoculation was adopted. Now tuberculosis, a bovine disease has tbecome epidemic. Mr. Brewer predicted that the advocates of compulsory vaiticination v/ould be sWept with ridicule and disgust from the face of the earth.
This challenge of Dr. Straube to **8leep with a variola patient*' appears to us to be the childish work of an innocent crank and will do much more harm than good to the cause. The majority of people will look upon it as a *' bluff game*' played to the galleries, and entirely beneath the dignity of an hon- est opponent.
The committee on publicity of the Philadelphia County Medical Society, in answer to the challenge, quoted the in- cident of Dr. Iramanel Pfeiffer, an opponent of vaccination in Boston, who boasted his immunity to small-pox, visited
NOTES FROM THE FIELD. 767
Gallup s Island Small-pox Hospital; in about ten days he was seriously ill with small-pox, yet lived to reiterate his disbelief in the efficacy of vaccination. They also refer to two other cases, those of Drs. Mcintosh and Houghton, who both contracted small-pox from attending patients.
A spirited refutation of assertioDB made by the Publicity Committee of the Philadelphia Medical Association concernii;g the anti- vaccination- ists, was made at today's session of the conference.
The speaker was John Bonner, of England. He characterifed the iitterances of the committee as '4diotio piffle.' As the result of the challenge to Dr. Dixoa, State Health Commissioner, to a life and death test of the value of vaccination, the medical society brought up instan- ces of three an ti* vaccinationists who fell victims of small-pox.
These alleged assertions of the Publicity Committee of the soci'ity are neither more or less than idiotic piffle, exclaimed Mr. Bonner.
The committee brings up the case of Dr. Immanuel Pfeiffer, a foe of vaccination, who contracted something that was diagnosed as small- pox. To show that he was immune the doctor mingled with the patients in the Gallup's Island Hospital. That much is true, and I must confess that PfeifTer was a first clasb idiot in doing what he did. The anti- vacoinationists do not claim that they are immune from small-pox.
The committee says that Pfeiffer suffered a virulent attack, becom- ing seriously ill. He did not. During the entire time that he was ill be was out in his garden enjoying life. So much for that.
Mention is made of two other physicians who cpntracted small pox. Dr. Houghton of Boston, while in a greatly run down condition, was called to attend a smgtl-pox case. He went. He called in for consul- tation a brother physician. Dr. F. L. Mcintosh, who also was in poor health.
Eleven days latei^^these two men became ill. They had small-pox in the mildest form. While they were confined to the home of Dr. Mc- intosh they had what they termed a real good time. The cfisease affected them no more than a bilious attack or a headache. They were attended by two nurses who had never been vaccinated and were in splendid condition. These women did not suffer the slighest from the possible contagion.
Living iCiext door to Dr. Houghton was a medical stndent who had been vaccinated seven times. He took the small-pox and nearly died. This last instance the medical society conviently ignores, as it does many others. I recall the cases of eight physicians, exponents of vac- cination, who contracted small- pox. Three of them died.
788 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
In their statement, the memben of the pnbliottj committee deoUre that the ciyilised armiee and navies are racoinated. That n^j be so^ but the men who ordered them yacoinated aie not oiriliaed.
This sallj elicted liberel applause. Mrs. Henderson, delegate from Massaehnsetts, told of a medical student at Harrard who had been vac- cinated seven times, and died of small-pox.
Every time we saj anything against vaccination, declared Oscar Beasley, chairman of the meeting, the Philadelphia County Medical Society gets scared and adopts a set of resolutions.
Editor Medical Advance:
Dear Sir:— Will you kindly correct the mistakes made in the October number, in the cases reported by me. First the title should have been **Clinical Cases Cured by the Nosodes," and you have it **Sargical Cases (so-called) Cured Therapeutically," this puts my paper in a rather rediculous light.
Again, page 700, "Worse wrapping head up — Hepar, 811. Psor. Sulph." should read, relief wrapping head up.
Again, page 701, **wore by pressure of valva with hand," should read, relief by pressure of the valva with hand.
I can overlook the mistakes, knowing how easy the printer might make the mistakes, but it is misleading to others.
The first mistake was made by putting the wrong .title on the wrong set of papers when you gave them to the editor.
Yours truly,
Nettie Campbell, M. D.
Onosmodium Virginianum.— The valuable proving of this remedy by Dr. W. E. Green furnishes one of the best pictures to be found in the materia medica of the general outlines of depraved or lost sexual life in women; and the consequent nervous wrecks, mentally, morally and physical- ly of this age of a one child or childless families. The supposed imperious demands of society and the Malthuslan determination on the part of the modem woman to comply with the requirements of wife-hood without assuming the joys and responsibilities of motherhood, has led to all kinds
NEW PUBLICATIONS. 789
of preventwe measures. The practice of the genesaic fraud and kindred devices soon destroys all sexual desire and enjoyment on the part of the woman, breaks the silken bond of wedded life, ruins the nervous system and ends in the divorce court or suicide.
After a careful study of the case compare these guiding symptoms:
Loss of memory; she cannot remember what is said.
Mentally dull, drowsy, confused; cannot concentrate her thoughts; complete apathy and listlessuess.
Dull heavy pain in occiput and cervical spine.
Eyes dull, heavy, sore; lids are heavy as from loss of sleep.
Bearing down pains in the uterine region.
Soreness in region of uterus worse by pressure-
Sexual desire completely destroyed.
Leucorrhea, yellow, offensive, acrid, profuse, running down the legs. (Alum., Lys.)
NEW PUBLICATIONS
THE PROCKEDINGS OV THE TWENTYNINTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE INTERNATIONAL HAHNEMANNIAN ASSOCIATION. Forrest Preas, Batavia, 111. 300 pages.
As usual with the published volumes of the I, H. A., this account of its twenty-ninth annual meeting is a rich treasury of homeopathic philosophy and a plethoric record of cured cases.
The use of rieported cases is to form a permanent record of what Homeopathy can do, to recall remedies to the mind, to refresh the memory as to prominent symptoms and thus to establish and extend the truth. There are few books that better fulfil these functions than the twenty-nine annu- al reports of the Transactions of this society, and this new- est addition to the list is fully equal to the others.
Excellent cures and instructive cases are reported by Drs. E. A. Taylor, H. H. Baker, C. M. Boger, R. E. 8. Hayes, Amelia L. Hess, Julia M. Green and others. In the 3ureau of Philosophy there is a loud-resounding paper by
790 THE MEDICAT. ADVANCE.
Dr. HoUoway, also a much copied and praised paper by Dr. Rauterberg, a new member. Here also Dr. Hayes gives a very practical discussion of the effects of repetition of po- tencies.
The Bureau of Materia Medica has a study of Sarsapa- rilla, by Dr. Taylor, some interesting studies and experien- ces with Tuberculinum aviare, and a deep and thoughtful paper by C. M. Roger, on the study of Materia Medica. Prom this paper we quote the following:
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 key-notes and prescribing accordingly is a most pernicious prac- tice. '
Phytolacca decandra receives consideration by Dr. j
Grace Stevens, and there is a good paper by Dr. Julia C. j
Loos in the Bureau of Obstetrics. !
We cannot mention all the papers — there are three |
hundred pages of them — all good and some excellent. f
The volume is well bound, cleanly printed and free j
from essential errors. The secretary upon whom falls the j
thankless task of preparing all manuscripts for the printer, |
arranging papers and reading proof is to be commended for j
his successful work. J. B. 8. K. !
WALKING TYPHOID.
An investigation of the source of a case of typhoid fever brought to the attention 6f the department led to the suspicion that some member of the household was a typhoid bacillus carrier. The patient, who was 4 years old, had consumed nothing but boiled milk and distilled water, had not eaten raw vegetables or other food that would likely be contam- inated with typhoid bacilli. An anal v sis of the dischargres of one of the inmates of the household showed that person to be voiding typhoid ba- cilli in enormous numbers in the urine and faeces. The blood of this ' person also gave a slight Widal reaction. This individual has not bad typhoid for several years, although continuing to spread living virulent bacilli duringr the entire time. This is the fir^t bacillus carrier discov- ered by the Chicago Department of Health.— C/»ica(/o Weekly Bulletin.
This verifies Hahnemann's statement made in the Chronic Diseases 80 years ago, that psoric diseases may be communicated by contact, by hand shaking, by sleeping with the infected person.
The Wedical Advance
Vol. XLVL BITAVIA, ILL, DKOBMBBR, 19J8. No. 12.
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS.
By T. H. Hudson, M. D., Class of 1907-08.
It is my duty, and if you are interested, it will be my pleasure, to teach you what I can, of medicine and of the law for its administration. I hold that it is the teachers' duty tD make his subject interesting. I hope that you be- lieve it your duty to find interest in the subject. I hope that both you and I will find a higher or at least a happier motive for the work we have set ourselves to do than even duty. Duty is an uncompromising kind of word — hard, stern, straight, stiff and unyielding. I doubt if any sinner ever kept out of Hell, or any saint ever reached- Heaven, who had no higher motive than the discharge of duty.
I should rather rise to a question of privilege. At best we are liable to fall below our ideals. Duty is a mediocre, common place kind of rightiousness. The priest andLevite, by avoiding contamination fulfilled the letter of the law — discharged their duty when they passed the wounded travel- er by on the other side; but the Master called the Good Sa- maritan—neighbor.
If we attempt to discharge our duty, simply that and nothing more, we shall hear the raven tapping, tapping at our chamber door.
There is a motive power compared with which duty is almost impotent, a power which keeps this old earth spin- ning in space and holds each star and sun steadfast in its course. It is a force that will never weaken, never tire, never end. It is as gentle as it is strong, and as kind as it is gentle. It bears, believes, hopes and endures, endures when prophecies have failed, tongues have ceased, and
792 • THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
knowledge has vanished. In an ancient book, and one which I can commend to you, it is called charity. In modem times we translate the meaning by a more comprehensive, a stronger, yet a sweeter and a better word.
Duty conveys the idea of eye service, perfunctoriousness, so much and no more, and unless you students of medicine can mount upon the wings of Love and leave duty leagues behind, better attempt no flight, better stop now, better turn aside and find that calling into which you can put heart and soul.
Unless you love your work it will be dragging. Unless you can divest yourselves of any sordid purpose and get heart and soul, mind and body in love with your chosen pro- fession your choice is unwise, and will lead you along a dusty road where no flowers bloom, no fountains sparkle, no shade trees grow and no aspirations lead from the valley dust to the mountain top.
Irksomeness of a task depends upon the attitude of him who undertakes it. Failures in life are due to wrong choice of vocation. Interview the hoboes, the ne'er-do-wells, the failures higher up, read between the lines of their stories, and you will find they were pitchforked into vocations, busi- nesses, professions for which they had no fondness, no fancy, no love. What but failure can you expect of one who toils without ambition, labors without hope, strives without in- terest, sees no reward along the stony way, and no bow of promise in the stormy sky. There is work, delightful work, exhilerating work, grand, glorious work for every man on this good old earth.
Read the conversation of two young attorneys. Light- wood and Wrayburn of Mutual Friend fame and see the mis- take that parents make in selecting for their boys, willy nilly, a profession. Get your lessons you young men before you assume the responsibility of boys of your own, and see if it be well to shove them into positions for which they have no ability or aptitude. The best food for your patient will be that which he can take with relish. Cram something distasteful down his unwilling throat, it goes down dry and
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 793
stays dry.. It was easily enough digested in a retort, but you are dealing with something more than a retort and arti- ficial digestants, when you deal with a live stomach. It has a will of its own, and a way of its own. So too, you deal with more than a machine when you deal with a live boy. The best profession or business will be that for which he discovers some fondness, some fancy, His inclination will indicate the direction in which genius lies, if haply it exist, if not, inclination will yet point toward the path wherein lies success.
Of the two, a boy is a better investment than an auto- mobile. They are about equally expensive, equally un- certain, equally dangerous. The auto may break your neck, the boy may break your heart, the auto may go to smash, the boy to the devil, but sooner or later the auto is bound for the junk heap, while the boy may take the upper road, and do credit to his bringing up. Of the two I'll take chances on the boy. Gentlemen, in choosing medicine as a profession, you have chosen well, if you have chosen wisely, and you have chosen wisely, if your heart is in your choice. If you pursue it for the sake of knowledge, if you enjoy it for the sake of science, if forgetful and unconcerned about fame or fortune, you are willing, glad to dig and delve after know- ledge just to know, ready and happy to seek, just to find, satisfied to investigate, just to discover, every morning will be a song of praise, every evening a hymn of thanks- giving and every day of all your life a poem sweet as a dream of love.
Whether you have or have not chosen wisely and well is for you to decide. If you have, fortune and fame may tarry or hasten, come or come not, they will not be missed. Your work will absorb you, content you, and contentment is the secret of happiness. Your joy as Kipling says will be found in the working.
**When earth's last picture is painted. And the tubes are all twisted and dried,
When the oldest colors have faded. And the youngest critic has died,
794 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
We shall rest— and faith, we shall need it. Lie down for an hour or two
Till the Master of all good workmen Shall set us to work anew,
Then those who were good shall be happy, They shall sit in a golden chair
And splash at a ten league canvas With brushes of comet's hair
They shall find real saints to draw from The Magdalen, Peter and Paul,
They shall work for an age at a sitting And never get tired at all.
And only the master shall praise us And only the master shall blame,
And no one shall work for money, And no one shall work for fame, But each for the joy of the working
And each in his separate star Shall draw the thing as he sees it
For the God of things as they are.
His idea seems to be works for work's sake, which is'but another way of saying; Right for Right's sake. Not in the hope of reward, not through fear of punishment, not for ap- plause, not simply in the way of, or in the discharge of duty, but for the joy of the working, the satisfaction of accomp- lishing, the love of service. When I say, that in choosing medicine, you have choosen well if you have choosen wisely, I mean to commend not only the wisdom of your choice, but the choice itself. In all the world there is but one better calling than yours, and yours is a close second to the best. To relieve human suffering is the next thing to abolishing human sin.
Healing physicial maladies is close kin to straightening moral obliquities, and if you be so minded opportunities for the latter service will often fall in your way. But I find my- self talking more as if you had reached the end of one stage, the shorter one, I hope, of your journey, while the fact is
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 795
that some of you are, perhaps, just beginning your career as students.
The way ahead looks long, some of you may be fresh from the village where each dweller was friend or acquain- tance. Some of you may be just from the farm with mem- ory of meadow bloom, and rustling corn still lingering, and mother's goodbye! and good boy! still sounding in your ears, and the city is so noisy compared with the quiet of the coun- try, the city smoke so foul, the country air so pure, and boarding house hash — I shall not insult your father's board and your mother's viands by mentioning and mixing them with scents of garlic and odoi*s of onion, but according to the Persian proverb **This too will pass."
Other disagreeables will also pass, or better still will be as though they were not, if only you are interested; ab- sorbed in your work. The work is worthy of your best — of any man's best endeavor: full of interest and of inspiration if from any standpoint we consider only its purpose, its mission; but doubly interesting and inspiring it is, or should be to you as homeopaths by reason of the assurance and cer- tainty that may be yours with unerring law to guide you. Gentleman you cannot overestimate and in the callowness and inexperience of youth are apt to underestimate this advan- tage. It can only be measured by comparison. Fancy your- self in mid-ocean, no matter how worthy your ship, sun, moon and stars hid and no compass, no needle, pointing ev- er and ever in one direction. Fancy a country without a government. A universe with no God, earth, ^ stars, suns, rolling, revolving with no guide, no let, no bounds, no re- gularity, no appointed time or place.
Fancy a world of chance when a man may have two eyes to be sure, but one in the palm of his hand, the other in the sole of his foot. If he wore gloves he would have to go bare- foot or go blind. Or perchance nature would grant but one eye and place that in the crown of his head. He would have to go bareheaded all kinds of whether. He would have to carry an umbrella rain or shine, to look a friend in the face he must make profound obeisance, and if out in the open at noon>
796 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
time on a clear day he chanced to take his hat off he would be liable to sunstroke of the eye, conjunctivitis, ophthalmia, what not.
However the sun might not be in the Zenith at n<K>n time, it might happen then at mid-night. It might rise when it should set, or set at breakfast, or rise and set any old time.
The seasons too would be very unreliable: the middle of May might suddenly slip into the Christmas holidays, and June roses be iced candied and preserved in a January sleet. Gentlemen, chance and accident won't do. If God Almighty can't run this universe nor even this little planet built for man's habitation without law and order, surely we should not attempt to play our puny parts without a governing principle. Now dear boys get in love with your work, you have some- thing here to love, honor and obey. No other so-called sys- tem of medicine rests upon any foundation. They are all Babel towers of confusion. No order, no law, no science has directed, no plumet, no level, no square been used in their construction: They are patch work and piece work from sandy bed to toppling tower. They are composed of the opinion, the beliefs, the guess work, the experiments and experience of men. Of what value are these? They are as epJhemeral as a flower, as inconstant as the .wind, they come and go and change and fade away; an enactment of yester- day is repealed today, the verdict of today will be set aside tomorrow.
False piK)phets arise and cry lo here! lo therel Yester- day it was coal tar products, to day it is serum therapy, to- morrow God knowsl Dead and don't know it. Nothing stable, nothing settled, nothing sure, nothing endures, no. thing lasts longer than its propagandist and he is often smothered by the smoking torch of a later aspirant.
What are opinions, fancies, inventions, compared with facts, figures, discoveries, an invention lasts until sup- planted by another. A discovery is good for all time.
Our law of cure is not an invention, but a discovery. Not man made, but God provided, not a chimera, but a fact,
^=J
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 797
not a product of fertile imagination, but a careful research. It was and is and is to be. It existed and Hahnemann dis- covered it.
It was covered by traditional dust and rubbish, he uncov- ered it. It was hid, he folind it. Others have come near it,he came to it. Newton saw the apple fall and discovered the law of gravitation. Hahnemann saw cinchoa induce inter- mittents, and discovered the law of similars.
The apple will not fall upward; the earth's attraction shall not cease, the law of similars the attraction of likes shall endure forever. It is a law of nature running through nature kingdom. Animals, birds and insects of like species find their affinities in each other and gather together, bees in swarms, quails in coveys, cattle in herds, sheep in flocks, horses in droves. Men of similar political opinions form into parties, people of like religious faith unite in denomina- tions, and so always and everywhere like attracts like.
As medical students it is essential at the very outset that you should be rooted and grounded in the faith that law must govern, and that the law of similars is a law of cure. For as according to your faith so will it be unto you. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. The evidence of things unseen. And things unseen are greater than those which do appear. Faith the substance. Sub means under, and stance to stand, and faith must stand under, support all endeavor. It is evidence. The proof, the testimony of things unseen, which though unseen are yet believed. Things which appear are but shadows, manifestations, results of realities, of causes, unseen and unseeable, invisible to mor- tal vision, incomprehensible, it may be, to human under- standing, for how can the eye, a material organ, see beyond the material object, or the finite mind comprehend the infi- nite? Whenever things can be seen they are results. Germs therefore are not causes but results. Some one will ask you as a student, and later as a practitioner, how you know that the law of similars is a law of cure? You may answer that you have seen it tried. You have put it to the proof. But some one of a philosophical turn of mind will want the phil-
798 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
osophy of it, your theory of the **modus operandi" Yo\r may answer that theories are insignificant compared with facts. Still it is worth while to be able \o give a reason for the faith that is in you, and a reasonable answer to one who inquires. There is a reasonable an^er, and if it has never been found failure in the search should stimulate investig^a- tion. Therefore investigate. Who knows but that one of you may prove a discoverer who shall add something to the world's sum of knowledge- At all events the exercise will be beneficial both to yourselves and others, for no man ever yet went upon a tour of investigation who did not discover something, and benefit ^ome one. He may not have reached the north pole, but as far as he has gone he has blazed a way for his successor.
If the law promulgated by the "Porcelain Painter's Son" be true it is not only practicably, but also theoretically de- monstrable. That no one has yet demonstrated it theoreti- cally need be no bar to your effort. If you desire to theorize and speculate I could suggest no more fruitful theme. You have truth supported by facts and figures as a basis, and so long as discovered truth serves as a solid foundation upon which to stand, there can be neither danger nor harm in reaching here and there in an effort to apprehend the undis- covered reason for its existence. For my own part I have not refrained from speculation regarding the modus operan- di of our law.
Many a time, while still practicing Allopathy, after some faint glimmering of Homeopathy began to dawn upK>n me, I have asked myself how can similars cure similars? If like for like be true how is it true? If there is reason in it there is reason for it- What is the reason? At first my answers were — there is neither reason, logic nor truth in it.
But when the morning really broke
And I awoke;
When the sun shone upon a new day
And drove the clouds away, I began to speculate and theorize until at last I find what, seems to me a philosophical answer to my questions.
BOENNINGHAUSEN'S POCKET REPERTORY. 799
As however our first interview has perhaps lasted long
enough (according to Mr. Weller's reason for short love
letters), we will resume the subject at another time . . .
SYMPOSIUM ON BOENNINGHAUSEN'S POCKET REPERTORY.*
By W, H. Freeman, Secretary.
Dr. Stuart Close said that BOnninghausen instead of considering the symptoms as brought out originally in the provings, resolved same by analysis into three different ele- ments, namely: Character of sensation, location and modal- ity, and upon such analysis of all the symptoms erected his repertory. In the practical use of the repertory everything depends upon how the case has been taken and upon the selection of the right symptoms and rubrics for repertory comparison. He said we should always search for the local- ity affected; the predominating sensations; and the different aggravations and ameliorations. Also that the modality of the original proverbs symptoms was not limited in its prac- tical application to this one symptom alone, but applied more or less in a general way to all other symptoms of the drug as well.
Dr. John B. Campbell said he had used BOnninghausen and nothing else for years. He is quite convinced that the drug valuation as indicated by the different type used is not always reliable, and said we must not be governed by same too rigidly.
Dr. B. L'B. Bayliss said that the generalization of BOn- ninghausen rendered same capable of the widest application in practice. He thought the concordances in the back of the volume and the modalities were the most important of all. In use he usually selects that rubrical modality which is carried by the smallest number of drugs, and next considers the symptoms of sensation, and then considers the i^emain- ing modalities, but is guided by intuition greatly. He cited
Extract of proceedings of Bayard Club, New York.
800 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE
several cases of which he had made a note to illustrate the method.
Patient with wandering pains — knee, shoulder, above the eyes — stitching — begin below and ascending. Acute stiching ball of eye.
Frontal headache < morning on waking; < heat of the sun; < hard stepping; < ^hen fatigued; < sun light; < after sleep; < beginning to move; < touch; > bathing eyes in cold water. Worked out according to BOnninghausen as follows:
Page 302 <sun; Agar, ANT. CR.; Bar c, Bell., Bry., Gale., Camph., Clem,, Euphr,, Qlon,, Graph., Ign,, lod., Ip., Lach,, Mag. m., NAT, C, Nux, PULS., Selen., Stan.,5itZ., Valer., Zn.
Page 300 < after sleep; Bell,, Bry,, Calc,, Camph. ^ Euphr., Graph,, Ign., LACH,, Nux, PULS., Selen., Stan,, BUL.
Page 301 < hard stepping: Bell.., BryCalc., Camph. Euphr., Graph., Lach., Nux, Puis,, Stan., Sul.
Page 292 < beginning to move: Bry,, Cftlc, Graph., Iod„ PULS.
Hage 311 > bathing: Bry., PULS.
Page 304 <, touch: BRY., FULS, " Page 170, wandering pains: Bry., PULS,
Summary — type valuation, Bry. 18; Puis. 24.
Dr. R. F. Rabe »aid he used BOnni]igfaaase& crften, it being one of his most important took. M% uses diflerest repertories, however, aocording to the (diaracter of the case. The uncommon and peculiar symptoms are always of high- est value in the analysis of the case, and one most start from correct premises in order to come out right* and he cited an instance to illustrate — aaothw physician eame to him to find out why the repertory failed to work out the eoir- rect remedy for a certMn case. He had been guidsd by cer- tain conditions which induced him to preseribe a oertaiii remedy which cured, but in his hands B&i»inglMkiiseD liid worked the remedy out differently aad be was aU «t ssa. Dr. Rabe without knowing which the curative remedy had
THE OWL, THE MONKEY AND THE GOAT. 80l
been went over the case with him and pointed out the symp- toms which should be considered in using the repertory and told the doctor how to work it out. After having done so the doctor returned to say that Valerian was the remedy that worked out on the method recommended by Dr. Rabe and al- so that Valerian was the remedy which had cured the case.
Dr. Rabe called attention to the fact that many valuable remedies were either not in the pocket-book at all or were repertoried very incompletely and that if we depended upon any repertory exclusively and invariably we would frequent- ly fail.
Dr. Rabe also called attention to the concordances and especially to the fact that in the concordance for Aconite that Belladonna was given highest rank whereas in the con- corcordance for Belladonna the opposite was true which is contrary to what we would at first thought expect to find and asked for the opinion of those present regarding same. In an- swer to which someone suggested that this was due to the fact that Belladonna was higly complementory after Aconite but that the reverse was not true — Aconite being but seldom if ever indicated after Belladonna, one of the important things BOnninghausen intended to point out vndoubtedly in the arrangement of his concordances of drug relationship.
THE OWL, TEE MONKEY AND THE «OAT.
By J. B. S. King. M. D.
A constipated goat and a dissipated monkey were once condoling each o^her upon their respective troubles, "My digestion/' said the goat, *'|s simply terrible. I tried a re- laxing diet of scrap Iron^ garni^ed with stramonium weed, but although very dainty^ it didn't agree with me."
''Your digestion," said the monkey, "is nothing to the state of my eyes. I just now saw a green camel and a striped rhinoceros trying to bite my tail, Had I not known intellectually that animals of that color are not possible, I should have been tempted to run. I fear I have been over- working at the office."
802 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
"Say rather," replied the goat with a sapient wink, **at the i^aloon. Now my bowels "
* 'Pardon me, my dear friend," interupted the monkey in a low earaest voice, ''but will you first oblige me by telling me whether you see a green snake witii four rows of teeth smiling at me in a significant manner?"
''Not at all," answered the goat staring.
The monkey drew a long breath of relief. "Then go on with your bowels," said he.
"They won't move— they never will move," said the goat desperately,
*'Did you ever think of trying Christian Science?"
The goat gave a thoughtful twiggle with his tail, '^Yes, but it never seemed strong enough for my bowels."
"Look here," said the monkey abruptly, "Don't move your tail that way, it makes me nervous. How about Hom- eopathy?"
'*Too mild," groaned the goat, "I am npw on my way to consult an allopathic medical owl, who claims to have lately discovered a very powerful drug for moving the bowels." ,
The medical owl promised immediate relief and produced some dynamite pellets such as are used for blowing up tree stumps. **Take two of these," said he to the goat after col- lecting his fee, "and then jump around a bit."
The goat did so; there was a detonating^ roar ^nd imme- diately the air was darkened with flying intestines and other hircine viscera, moving in parabolic curves from the^ point of projection. , .
"The goat's bowels are. now movingj" said the owl, solemnly, "allopathic medicine is always effective,"
Said the monkey, "I believe I'll try Homeopathy,'*'
THREE SIMILAR CASES.
TMRiS glKlLAB CASm, TSREE mFFEIIfiJfT R£aE»IB8.*
By pR. H. Parrington, Chicago.
Case I. Mr. F. M. B., aged 50, has had tic douloureaz for nearly 80 years. His mother and a brother also suffered from the same affliction. The pain starts near the root of the canine tooth, upper left side, extending to the wing of the nose, upwards into the left eye and at times to the ver- tex. It comes like a flash, lasts a varying period of time and goes as quickly as it came. It is worse from the slight- est motion of the adjacent parts, talking, eating, light touch — even touching the mustache. It is worse in the wind, whether cold or warm, probably because it causes the mus- tache to vibrate. Sometimes it comes on the first moving in the morning. It seldom occurs at night while lying down. It is relieved very slightly from hard pressure, and occa- sionally, though not often, by heat. During the pain tears roll down the cheek from the eye of the affected side, and after the paroxysm the eyeball itches. Prom January 24, 1906, to June of the same year he received Magnesia phos., Sepia, Magnesia carb. , and Spigelia with very slight, if any, benefit, and finally becoming discouraged he returned to his old school physician.
Indirectly I heard that he still had spells of excrucia- ting pain and that his nervous system was gradually giving way under the strain.
However, early last June I received word that Mr. B. wanted to see me at his residence in Evanston. On -arriv- ing there I found the poor man in the midst of a severe spell of his old neuralgia, thoroughly disheartened and almost on the verge of nervous prostration. Through the persuasion of some of his friends he had determined to try Homeopa- thy once more, as he had obtained no relief from any other form of treatment.
The symptoms were practically the same as those given
*Read before the S. S. Regular Hoa:eopathl3 Medical Society. Nov. 10.
63 4 THE MEDIO At AO VftNC E.
abovfe, fexteptlAfe 15toW ttiJere 'Vi^as^o rfeHelf'ltoili heafe br pres- sure. The effect of slfght iAbli6rf Sf lip or tongue was in- creased so ttiat^uckin^ or even swallowing almost invari- ably renewed the attack. But two new syrnptoms were ad- ded: itching oi ^he affected parts before the pain and ting- ling and itching afterwards. He always knew when the 'paiii'was about to start because the side of the face or the upper lip began to itch, This placed the case in a new light. A brief review of the repertory showed Mezereum u> be the only remedy which covered the symptom group, then lie was given the 30th potency to be taken every three hours until the pain was relieved, then at longer intervals. The effect was almost immediate, and he continued to improve until he was able to start for Santa Catalma, off the coast of California, for a much needed rest.
Case II. By Dr. Edward R. Miller, . quoted from the Neto England MedUial Gazette for November.
^'November 2, 1899. Mr. A. H. N., aged 72, consulted me, relating something like the following story:
* 'About eighteen months ago had the first upper left molar tooth extracted, since which time he has had pain in that part of his face, extending at times into ear or eye. The pain is of sharp, jumping, piercing character as if a knife were thrust into the parts. He is perfectly well ex- cept for the pain. He never had rheumatism. Has had pneumonia twice. Has not been sick for ten years. His ap- pearance is that of a healthy man, having a clear skin, good color, clear bright eyes, an alert manner, appetite and di- gestion good and bowels regular. The pain, however, gives him great trouble and is getting worse. His family physi- cian has treated him for a long time, and at last said he could do nothing more and advised him to go to the Massa- chusetts General Hospital, where he was advised to have the Casserian ganglion removed. As they did not assure him that the operation would result in a permanent cure he decided that he would not have it done. I found upon ques- tioning him that the pain was worse from eating; worse gen- erally from drinking cold water; worse mornings and fore-
THREE SIMILAR CASES. 80 5
noons (after he moved around awhile). Worse from exer- tion generally; worse from taking spiced or sour things; better from taking, hot drinks (an4 sometimes from cold drinks, but generally worse from the latter). Better at night (no trouble at all at night). Better after dinner (by two or three o*clock). Generally very easy evenings. If he exerts pressure upon the tooth cavity in the morning or forenoon it is extremely sensitive, but it is not so at all in the afternoon. Magnesii phos. 3x. One powder every three hours.
'^November 10th. On the 3rd. 4th and 5th inst. the pain was easier, but on the 7th it was as bad as he had ever . had it. On the last three days it has been rather better ex- cept that at night it seems to be coming on harder again. Aconite 3x dil. Two drops in water every two hours.
**November 16th. No appreciable improvement. Ar- senici albi 6x trit. (pulv. gr. iv.) One powder dry on tongue every three hours.
^'December 7th. He is no better. Merc. Sol. Bx pulv- gr. iii. Powder every three hours.
December 16th. Patient much the same. Further questioning brings out prominently these facts: The pain is not made worse so much by cold air as by * 'suction" or from the act of swallowing. Very much worse in morning after rising and moving about. Swallowing brings it on, but if he swallows before rising it does not bring on the pain. One day he was having the pain very severely. But on ly- ing down it soon ceased. Whenever the pain is present in the evening it ceases entirely soon after retiring. Eating ag- gravates the pain most of all. He eats soft foods as much as possible so as not to aggravate the pain. The act of swal- lowing liquids aggravates about as much as chewing and - swallowing food. The pain is made worse by talking or laughing. The parts are extremely sensitive while the pain is present, but as soon as the pain leaves the soreness ceases. Lachesis 6x pulv. gr. iii, Powder every three hours.
** After a week the patient reported much better. Lach. 12x, pulv. gr. iii. One powder befere each meal.
806 THE MEDICAL At)TANt3E.
'* After another week he reported himself practioally free from pain. Lach. 30 x, pulv. gr. iii. Powder every -ac- oond night at bedtime for a week, then stop all medicine and report in a month.
**By the end of the month the patient reported entirely cured.
"After this whenever the pain recurred, which it did very slightly two or three times, it was quickly and entirely removed by a few powders of Lach. 30x
*'The gentleman died the next winter from an attack of pneumonia, his family physician attending him."
Case III, By Dr. Edwin A. Taylor, Chicago.
Mrs. G. aged 57, had suffered from attacks of neuralgia affecting chiefly the right side of the face.
The pain was very severe, coming suddenly, sharp, shooting, lightning like in character worse from eating, the slightest touch, from pressure, talking, motion, jar, noise, and cold. The slightest motion of the affected parts, a slight jar or at least draft of cold air would precipitate a paroxysm terrible suffering.
Thinking it was due to defective teeth she had them all extracted but without any relief. She had suffered for many- weeks, could take only liquid food and was a nervous wreck. Every day she suffered this torture but was frte from pain when lying down at nighty — in fact the only relief she got was while lying cloion. She would not go out for the air would aggravate the pain. Magnesia phos. cured her promptly and permanently.
These three cases illustrate the importance of careful observation and painstaking care in **taking the case." Bach patient manifested symptoms that were identical, yet in each there were a few peculiar things which were not found in the others and which indicated an entirely different -reme- dy as the simillimum.
THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. OF HOMEOPATHY. 807
THE AffiBRICA?) INSTITUTE OF UOMBOPATH V.
It wUl be of interest to the members of the Institute to know that October 30th, there was held at Cleveland, Ohio, a meeting of a number of its Committees. The entire Exe- cutive Committee was present, consisting of President Pos- ter, Vice-Presidents Carmichael and Hensly, Treasurer Smith, Registrar Ball, and Secretary Horner. The Journal Committee was represented by Drs. Bailey, Roy a. Cope- land, and Sawyer; the Incorporators by Drs. Custis, McClel- land and Smith; the Council of Medical Education by Drs. Royal) Dewey, Sutherland and Gates; the Institute of Drug Provings by Drs. Custis, Wolcott,Bailey, McClelland, Dewey, Royal, and Sutherland; the Pharmacopoeia Committee by Drs. Carmichael and Sutherland, while the Monument Com- mittee had present a majority of its members in Drs. Mc- Clelland, Custis and Smith. The two latter Committees did not convene for the transaction of business, their members being present in connection with work on other committees.
The Executive Committee held a meeting in the morn- ing at which were transacted a number of items of business. Secretary Homer and Registrar Ball were appointed a spe- cial committee to cooperate with the Local Committee of Ar- rangements at Detroit in the preparations for the Institute meeting in June.
The Journal Committee also was in session all morning, the other committees being called for the afternoon.
At two o'clock the Executive Committee held an open meeting to which were invited by the President all those i*ho were in attendance at the meetings. The principle bus- iness presented was the report of the Journal committee. Preceeding this, Dr. Custis, for the Incorporators, reported that incorporation had been accomplished by Drs. W. R., King, J. H. McClelland, Swormstedt, Smith and himself. Dr. B. P. Bailey, chairman of the Journal Committee reported their recommendations. The first was that the* Journal be made a monthly instead of a weekly. The second was that a proposilJion made by the Medical Century Publishing Com-
808 ' I^Hfi MEDICAL ADVANCE.
pany be adopted- Tbis provdded that the. Medical. Century should be made the Journal of the American Institute of Ho- meopathy, the Medical Century Company beinj? the publish- ers and Dr. W. A. Dewey the editor with Dr. J. Richey Hor- ner as Associate.
The committee also recommended that a small volume conforming in shape and appearance with the former vol- umes of Institute Transactions be issued, this volume to con.- tain the minutes of the business sessions, the report of the Committee of Organization, registration and statistics, the memorial report, the constitution and by-laws, the lists of officers, members and committees and such other matters as are of importance from the standpoint of permanancy and reference.
A very free discussion then took place, 'the President inviting expressions of opinion from each one present. There was united opinion that it was for the best interest of the Institute that the report of the Journal committee should be adopted by the Executive committee.
This latter committee then went into executive session and on motion of Dr. Hensly, seconded by Dr. Ball, adopted the following resolution: **That the Executive Committee adopts the report of the Journal committee and empowers that committee to make immediate arrangements with a reli- able publishing company to issue an official journal, monthly instead of weekly."
The President reported the resignation of Dr. R. P. Rabe, of New York City, as chairman of the Bureau of Ho- meopathy and the appointment of Dr. J. B. Kinley, of Den- ver, to fill the vacancy. He reported also the resignation of Dr. Annie W. Spencer, of Batavia, III., as Chairman of the Bureau of Pedology and the appointment of Dr. Sarah M. Hobson, of Chicago, to fill the vacancy.
There being no further business, the committee adjourn- ed to meet at the call of the President.
J. RiCHEY Horner,
Secretary, A. I. H.
CASEtS^ FROM* MY NOTB BOOK. 809*
The institate of Drufe proviiig met tinder thie chairman- * shipofDr.J.B.GreggGiistis. Dr, W.A.Dewey wUs elected s^ec^ ' retafy pro-tern. Dr. J. -fl. McClelland was announced as? the memberof the Board of Trustees sticceeding^ Dr. Charles Mehn deceased.
Dr: E. fi; Wolcott was elected Secretary ahd Treasurer of the Board.
On motion of Dr. Royal it was recorded as the sense of the Board that the sympathy and cooperation of all colleges and other institutions in affiliation with the Institute assist in proving the drug or drugs selected by this board.
On motion of Dr. Bailey, Dr. Royal was constituted the director in charge of provings with the understanding that he is to cooperate with college faculties in securing compe- tent directors for the work.
In addition to the general business, Dr. Custis announced that the active cooperation on the part of the Bureau of Plant Industry of the Government Agricultural Department had been secured and that all remedies hereafter proven un- der the auspices of the Institute would be of preparations standardized by the government. He announced also that a drug had been selected to be proven this year and it is now under course of preparation. Many of the colleges had agreed to take up the work.
All those present attending the meetings of the various committees were entertained at luncheon by Dr. J. C. Wood and at dinner in the evening by the Honorary President of the Institute, Dr. H. P. Biggar.
CASES FROM MY NOTE BOOK,
By J. C. Roberts, Barbados, W. I.
Case I. Cina. A girl, four years of age, had large abdomen and very thin legs. Spent most of the day in lying across a chair as if she experienced relief having the abdo* men in contact with the chair- Temperature above normal. Complained during the day from the heat of the sun, al- though the weather might be of the most agreeable charac-
810 THE MWDiCAL ADVAHOB.
ter^ The little thing when aroused would rise up t^m the chair and say ''sun too hc^." There was more or less cut- ting and pain in the abdomen, with slipping down <^ the anus when at stool. Cina 3z, continued for some time, pro- duced a perfect cure, and the child is now a jolly-looking creature with well develc^ed limbs, enjoying perfect health, and dreads nothing in the shape of weather.
Case IL Alumina. A boy about 16 years old was brought to me four years ago by a friend of his mother's, and I was told that his mother had been watching bis case for some time and trying all kinds of domestic remedies, but to no purpose. His trouble was severe pain in the lower ab- dominal region every month, which seemed to be governed by the phases of the moon. His case resembled that of a girl with menstrual trouble, and was of a few years' stand- ing. So said the individual who accompanied him. I was also told that his mother had grown anxious about bis con- dition because he had reached an age when he should be apprenticed to some tradesman, and she did not care to send him to work as long as he suffered from these peculiar pains. I prescribed Alumina 6x. He has never since suffered an- other attack.
Case IH. Aconite. A man about 46 years of age com- plained of pain in left chest extending down left arm. Could hardly contain himself out of bed. Lying on back afforded relief. Aconite 3x removed the pain, and it has not since returned, now about two years. Patient some years before had a severe attack of angina pectoris and nearly lost his life.
Case IV. Secale. A female appeared at my dispen- sary with a note she had received from a friend asking her to get a homeopathic remedy that would arrest a uterine hemorrhage. I was requested to suggest the remedy. The hemorrhage, I was told, had kept up in spite of tiie use of several remedies. The applicant could assi^ no reason for the persistence of the hemorrhage, and knew nothing about other symptoms, but merely stated that the patient waJ weak and debilitated. The first remedy I sui^lied failed as
CASES FROM UY KOTB BOOK.
weU ft» the second. By this time I was supplied with one or two symptoms which, however, did not help me very much in making a prescription, but they led me into the track. I' asked and was told that the patient had been keeping com- pany with a young man whom she seemed to love, and that he had been in attendance giving her remedies without ef- fect. It struck me that there had been some foul play on his part; that he had secured an abortion, but that his skill ended th^e. I knew the patient and could well recall her picture. I prescribed Secale Ix which had a magical effect; the hemorrhage began to diminish immediately after the first dose. Information subsequently obtained through an old nurse who attended the patient during her sickness satisfied me beyond a shade of doubt that the case was one of willful abortion.
Case V. Drosera. A young man about 30 returned to Barbados last winter after a residence of three or four years in New York. He was ordered home by the physicians of one of the New York hospitals, where he was laid up with what was diagnosed as bronchial catarrh. This was the second severe attack of the disease. His first attack was either near the end of 1906 or the beginning of 1907, and he had given up hope o f recovery,but he recovered sufficiently to return to work, ' The second attack in the latter part of 1907 proved even more severe than the first, and he was advised to get home in order that he might die with his family. He arrived at Barbados either late in December, 1907, or early in January, 1908. He saw one or two allopaths ^vho pre- scribed for him, but he got no relief from their treatment, and a friend of his advised him to consult me.
My first note of the case was made on the 10th of Feb- ruary last. The symptoms he gave me were:
Spells of barking cough.
Cough makes such a disagreeable noise that I am ashamed to cough in the presence of strangers. I therefore keep indoors*
Severe coughing paroxysms on going to bed at night, ending in emptying the stomach of its contents.
612 THIV MSDCCAli ADY^AKOE. -
I lose my milk every^ nigbA by vomiting' befove I can get
ix) sleep. : . , . , ...ti ,.
Cough worse at night and early boars^ q& tiie mortrin^.
Cough excited by much talking.
The case seemed to me to-be one Dposera;fot. which rem- edy I prescribed low. He never vomited again. His recov- ery set in with the very first dose of the medicine, ' which I repeated three or four times, varying the^ potency ou each occasion. The drug was, however, never given in a high potency. Seeing the good result obtained from the low, the time of the repetition of the dose was gradually lengthened.
The patient succeeded in getting a situation some months ago, and had to return to work before he had entirely recov ered, but that did not seem to interrupt his recovery. He is now rather jubilant over his condition, as he came home prepared to have his remains in the family burial place be- fore he was many months older.
This case proves the soundness of the advice of the old teachers of Homeopathy, that a remedy should not be changed so long as it seems to be doing good.
Case VI. Bacilinum. A young woman of 19 summers developed ringworm, which made its first apperance on one of the arms. All domestic treatments recommended by friends failed. The victim did not believe id Homeopathy. She consulted the most popular allopath in Bridgetown, who prescribed a y arasiticide and an ointment. After a time the ringworm disappeared from the arm but reappeared on the back with greater vigor and then under the arm pit. ,
After chasing it from place to place with the lotion and ointment, it started to duplicate itself. Eventually a large ring appeared between the thighs and extended to the pu- denda. The parts involved were so. tender that she got about the house with great difficulty. Having reachedsuch a bad stage under the treatment of a supposed skilled phy- sician, she decided to try another allopath. At this stage I tried to persuade her against allopathic treatment which I described as wrong and dangerous, but she ^ had seen- my globules and small vials of -tinctures -^nd they were too in-
CASES FROM' MV NOTE BOOK; 818
^ignificatit to impress her that they were capable of curing • a disease thati had' resisted such powerful remedies as the allopath bad prescribed.^ > However, to prove it to me she consented to try one of' my remedies. I prescribed Telluri- um, but it was not the magician's wand, and in a couple o^ days she was ready to break away.
I willingly consented to a return to allopathic treatment, and another allopath was called in— one of the oldest prac- titioners of the city. This physician has a splendid reputa- tion as an allopath, and is recognized by the whole prof es sion as a skilled surgeon. He thought no more seriously of the disease than his younger confrere. He sat on the bed- side and delivered a short lecture on the disease and its cause. The laundress was blamed for it; she, he said, had brought in the parasite on the clothes. He gave his word that he would destroy the fungi in a very short time, as he had often done before, and that the patient would soon be restored to perfect health. All this was said within my hearing. His treatment was of a rather elaborate character, and consisted not only of the use of a parasiticide and an ointment, but of the regular boiling of the clothing in a ves- sel secured for that purpose. **Unless you boil the gar- ments," he said, *'you will never get rid of the fungi," In- ternal treatment he declared to be absolutely useless, and was absurd besides. His instructions were carried out in every detail, but, like the previous treatment, it drove the ringworm off, only to take up its position an another part of the body, and although the treatment was kept up for a con- siderable time the ringworm could not be prevented irom reappearing. At last «he gave up all hope of ever curing the disease which had now become the terror of her life, and consented to give Homeopathy a fair trial.
Now, thought I, my chance has come. I decided to give her the indicated remedy or rather the constitutional treat- ment in, the form of **spider eggs" as one of the leading al- lopathic practitioners of my city once disparagingly dis- ■cribed our globules to. a patient who ventured to make ref- •erence to hcHneopathic treatment in his presence. I placed
814 TH& KmiUUlL ADVANCE
on her tongue a half dosen globotes (No. 85 B. & T.) from a- vial saturated some days before with Bacillnom 30. I re- peated the dose three three or four time» at intervals of several days, and then I gave a couple of doses st in- tervals of several weeks. The ringworm gradually faded and finally disappeared sometime after the last dose of Ba- cllinum had been taken. It is now nearly two years, and there is no sign of the return of the trouble.
No one who has studied Homeopathy can possibly be- lieve that the external treatment of ringworm is right. Such treatment can only deal with external manifestations of the internal organismic ailment. ''Ringworm," as Dr. Burnett says, '4s an internal disease of the organism having for its outward sign the ringworm consisting of fungi thriv- ing in a certain order; the fungi are the guests of the dis- eased host; cure the iiost's diseased. state, and the fungns— the ringworm dies off from lack of a proper medium."
A SIMPLE CASE.
By John Armour Kirkpatrick, M. D.
In reporting this case it is my desire to illustrate an essential point or two in prescribing.
It sometimes takes many reverses to bring a wanderer back after years of unsettled mind and misguided concept- ions of truth.
I believe in the old gospel admonition **confessyour faults one to another. '*
If we could only estimate the harm done, the mi^ry caused by commercializers and time serving teachers who teach for doctrines the materialized conceptions of men.
If it had not been for the'clinical dem<»istrations by Drs. Hawkes and Hoyne in old Hahnemann I am sure I would have gone farther from the safe path of true Homeopatiiy.
It is a fearful thing to have ones faith shaken by doubt- ful insinuations by scoffers who smile at the daims the teaeh- ers of truth make for the jingle remedy or higher potency.
Even while instruction is being given the smile goes^
A SIMPLE CASB. 815
round . How often you 'will hear the student say : * *That is -a nice theory but it wont work in practice."
Why should instruction be given in such a way and in the name of science which takes the doctor from fifteen to twenty-five years to find what is false and what is true?
Mrs. M. L., age 48, blue eyes; blond and slightly anemic, married, mother of four children, complains of a soreness in the right maxilary joint, temperature normal, pulse 75, ap- petite good, digestion good, bowels regular, menstruation normal, movement of the ;jaw caused pain. I could not elicit any other characteristic symptoms except she had a slight soreness in the left wrist which passed away in a few days.
She sxrff ered no inconvenience when the jaw was at rest.
I gave her Bryonia 6x three doses; improvement began immediately; recovery was rapid and seemingly complete. About a year afterward she had a similar attack which oc- cured last Christmas. Domestic remedies were tried and local applications were made without relief. In January this year she was exposed to wet and became thoroughly chilled which aggravated the trouble. As she got no relief so far, she applied to me for professional advice.
On going over her case I found the symptoms very similar to those of the first attack and gave Bryonia 6x.
There was a slight improvement for a few days; then it became so much worse she almost cried from pain when she attempted to chew or talk. I went over the case again and could find no new indications. After a week, there being no change I gave Magnesia Phos. 6x, no results; gave Perum Phos., no improvement. The patient became impatient for relief; I gave several vibratory treatments with only partial relief. I now saw something must be done, so I went over Xhe case again and could find indications for Bryonia only. I gave it c. m. one dose on the tongue followed by placebo and told her that if that remedy did not relieve her to come back in one week.
She called up in two days and reported that she was much better, continued to improve until perfectly free from all symptoms.
816 THE MEDICAL.ADVANCE.
She is grateful for the relief and thankful that she had the faith to continue, . . -
This may seem }ike a very insignificant ailment but to her it was serious.
The folly of changing remedies is shown when once you have found the indicated remedy; what woijld have been the result if the higher potency had been given at first, I will not say, but of this I am certain that the higher potency should have been given when the lower failed.
Another point which ought to be emphasized is the time factor; cellular changes are slow, they follow physiological laws, both in repair and formation. The more I study into the metabolic processes, the more I am led to rely upon the life force to effect its changes.
Who can estimate the duration of an impulse when once started in ,vital processes. Only molecule, of highly organ- ' ized matter oxidized in the human system may thrill the sentient nerves which preside over metabolism and be all that is required to completely transform a morbid into a nor- mal process. It is enough to know that favorable changes are effected even if we yet must confess our lack of compre- hension of how it is done.
THE ANTITOXIN FAD.
Dr. A. C. Madden, IngersoU, Oklahoma, writes: I am the only Homeo. in our county. I should like to be where I could affiliate with an M. D. of our own school who prescribes^ the single homeopathic remedy. The doctors here are like all allopaths, **long on diagnosis and short on cure.'' I was in a near-by town a short time since, and met a regular (?) with whom I was acquainted, and he informed that he had a very interesting case on hand and invited me to go with him and see it. He said it was a case of paralysis. The vocal cords and muscles of deglutition were first affected and later the limbs. Said he did not know the condition. I found a child about nine years of age, a boy, well developed in body, black hair, firm muscles with a history of good health until the present sickness. I asked if he had had diphtheria, his par-
,. ^HE: A^T^TO^m.FAJ)^ , ,817
ents, said be b^d )aot,,but sta^d,.after a njomenta. reflection, that he had muujps. twa w.eeks bef pre be had began to show symptoms of pa;*alysjis. , lEhef^pes,. though formed, pjissed involuntarily. ' -r . , . .
The, doctor stated that the case b^d received antitoxin at 1 p. m. and 5 p. m. he was going, to adpainistrate about 5000, more units. The hearts action seepied to be good when I saw him at 4 p., m. The doctor asked me what I would do for the case, and I replied, **I would give Causticum Im.'' . **I have .never heard of that medicine" he replied, and he ad- ministered the. antitoxin apd tbe little boy died at 2 a, m. the following day.
When I saw him a few days later he admitted that the case was not an antitoxin case. It was rather unfortunate for the child that the doctor had not found that out sooner.
SOME EXPERIENCES WITH THE NOSODES.
By Anna D. Varner, Wilkinsburg, Pa.
In a little discussion on the use of the nosodes a few days ago, a physician whose reasons seem well-founded, de- clared that if the nosodes were used at all, they should be administered hypodermically, because the gastric juices so changed drugs of that class, that the results could not be de- pended upon.
Injecting a remedy directly into the blood does not necessarily alter its homeopathic action, but it is objection- able to use the same syringe for potentized remedies, no dif- ference how thoroughly it has been cleansed, and it would be both expensive and inconvenient to carry a syringe for each remedy used. On the other hand when one used a single dose of the thirtieth and higher potencies enough is absorbed in the mouth and oesophagus to do the work. At any rate I have had good results from the nosodes adminis- tered per orum, and this short paper will treat only of care- fully selected conditions where these remedies have been successfully used.
Psorinum is the nosode most frequently prescribed, be-
818 THE MEDICAI.' ABVAWCB.
cause it has a symptomatology very similar to that polycrest Snlphtir. The discbarges of Psorinum are even more of- fensive than those of Sulphur, its eruptions more repulsive, its sweats, filthy habits aud emaciation more pronounced. It is a slum-child remedy, one that I used much more in my dispensary than in private practice. The majority of the children of the poor who live in the crowded tenement districts are dirty, but it is the scaly, scabby, filthy children, offensive both in habit and appearance who need Psorinum. In the upper walks of life the Psorinum and Sulphur patients are less filthy — not that they love to bath the more, bnt be- cause of their training and environment they are obliged to to keep clean. When you find children of this class, thin, nervous, listless, cranky, whining all the time, think of Psorinum.
It is an excellent remedy for cross babies, when there seems to be very little the matter, and other remedies fail The most pronounced action of Psorinum that ever came under my observation was in a case of typhoid fever, where the temperature bid fair like **Tennyson's Brook" to go on and on forever. The child who was about eleven years old was emaciated to a shadow. All through her illness, she was sleepless, restless and delirious. In the seventh week she was still tossing from side to side on the bed, whining continually, and picking at her fover-burnt lips. One dose of Psorinum soothed her like an opiate and in a few days her temperature dropped to normal. This occurred in my dispensary practice years ago in Philadelphia. My assist- ant had the case, and the Psorinum was given at the sug gestion of Dr. Strube. Diphtherinum is worth considering as a preventative of diphtheria. I use it in the thirtieth potency, one dose a day for a week or ten days, and it has yet to fail me. Due allowance must be made for a limited number of such cases in my practice; the early isolation ot the patient which reduces the danger of contagion to the other members of the family, and that children exposed to the disease frequently escape, even when no preventative measures have been taken. In three large families where
SOME EXPERIENCE WITH THE NOSOEES. 819
there was no opportunity to isolate the patient, hence con- tinued exposure — diphtherinum was used, and no other case developed.
Tuberculinum is indicated in phthisis, when the cough is hard, sounds dry, but a profuse yellow sputum is raised with difficulty. It gives great relief from night-sweats when the other symptoms agree.
My only experience with Medorrhinum has been in chronic pelvic disorders of women, and there it seems indi- cated when there is an offensive yellow, watery, leuQorrhea, offensive menses and chronic pains in tubes and ovaries. I began using it for such patients in sheer desperation be- cause everything else had failed.
We find the nosodes often indicated in chronic skin di- seases. And why not? Are not the large majority of di- seases of the skin almost an infalliable indication that the victim was born with a heritage the Lord never intended him to have. Syphilis, gonorrhoea and tuberculosis are the most universal diseases known, and they have so weakened the human race that there is scarcely a family without some mark of struma upon it.
We do not agree with the prevailing idea that **a nosode should be prescribed for the result of a disease, just because it is a product of a disease." It should be prescribed when indicated. But we do believe that we will find them indi- cated even tc» their peculiar symptoms and aggravations, in patients, tainted in some remote manner with the disease of which they are a product. Tuberculosis is not an in- herited disease, but the children of such parents are born tired, with lax fibre, low recuperative powers and suscept- ibility to changes in weather and diseases in general. Young girls of such type are frequently afflicted with acne, and not- withstanding claims made in this body on former occasions by some of our most learned men, their complexions clear up under Tuberculinum or Bacilinum better than with the use of the flesh brush. I have known girls, most particular in their habits to scru^), scour and steam their faces most per- sistently with no results until they received the indicated constitutional remedy.
820 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Syphilinum you will find of use in old chronic cases where the skin is rough, indurated, scaly, with large red- dish brown itching patches something like psoriasis. In eruptions on very young babies when the stools are bright yellow Syphilinum is better than Sulphur, because more systematic. Psorinum of course has a very decided action upon the skin, and cures boiles, urticaria, $caly or pustular eruptions in dirty, greasy looking individuals when the it- ching is aggravated by the warmth of the bed. Remember also its use in suppressed eruptions in nervous, debilitated subjects, easily startled and with great depression of mind.
The nosodes have indeed been a valuable addition to my list of remedies and though my use of them has been con- fined to a lipited number of select cases, doubtless more thorough provings would add materially to their range of
action.
I't^nnsylvania State Society, Sept. 1908.
THE ETIOLOGY OF APPENDICITIS.
By E. B. Beck with, M. D., Chicago.
No disease in recent years has been more generally dis- cussed by the public, nor perhaps more carefully studied by the medical profession than appendicitis- Nearly every article of diet has been accused of causing it, and some articles like grape and other seeds below the size of the peach pit, have been found in the appendix, postoperatively or at the post mortem. More recent studies, however, tend to show that the cause was not necessarily some such foreign body, as only one casein about three hundred could be traced to that cause.
The * 'fecal concretion" next became popular, and lias been very frequently found in the appendix. How and why did it get there? Theories varied, but the **concretion'' got there just the same. Some writers said that the **concre- tion" occurred at the mouth of the appendix, and forced an entrance. Others, that as the tissues of the organ were re- laxed, the fecal matter entered, and was then concreted by the peristaltic action of the appendix itself But, as many
THE ETIOLOGY OF APPENDICITIS. 821
cases of api>eiidicitis occurred, and some of them even show- ing perforation of the appendix when no concretion was present, that theory had to be abandoned.
Another theory was that after some slight inflammatioiji of the appendix, either acute or chronic, bacteria gained entrance. This resulted in the finding of streptococci and pus bacteria, or else the coli communus and others which are quite at home in the colon. But why should they make so much trouble in one appendix and quite overlook many others?
Another theory that seemed well founded was that a sten- osis was occasioned by inflammation, and the retained secre- tions of the appendix generated a new kind of concretion. But this did not explain -**those cases, occurring especially in children, in which the most severe inflammations develop in anatomically perfect organs."
Most able investigators have advanced the theory that appendicitis is an infectious disease, and may become epi- demic. Of course the infection was not directly into the ap- pendix, but the infection might be general, and then localize in the appendix.
The very latest theory of our old school brethren is found in the latest issue, (volumn III) of *'The International Clinics" for 1898. In a very scholarly article Dr. Kretz, of Prague, says:
Appendicitis bejrins as a mettistatie di«ea^e of the adenoifl tissue; and the lymphatic tissue of the throat and nose is to be regarded as the mo8t frequent primary localization and portal of entry of the infection. An infectious tendency may exist for years in the adenoid tij?sue of the pharynx.
The enunciation of this theory follows eight years of in- vestigation by Dr. Kretz with the microscope and otherwise, in connection with a hospital where ''material" is abundant. Dr. Kretz has made many demonstrations of the Bacillus of Influenza that does the damage. Any good healthy bacillus will do, and more frequently others are found, such as the streptococcus. The respiratory tract is not the only portal of entry, either, as any bacteraemia consequent upon any other infection, phlegmonous or pueri^eral, will do as well.
822 THE MEDICAI. ADVANCE.
All this sounds well, and is undoubtedly true; but is it the ultimate cause of appendicitis? Whence arose the in- fection, and the lowered resistence of the cytoplasm, so that the virulent bacilli could multiply? Diphtheritic antitoxm and vaccine virous are often injected directly into the human system; but rarely do other bacteria or their products gain entrance directly to the blood stream. Appendicitis seldom has a chance to follow the antitoxin, but often some serious infection does follow vaccination.
One cause which is very much more common than is generally recognized is enteroptosis. A small degree of enteroptosis materially increases the weight to be supported by the organs situated in the lower abdomen, and produces trauma.
The smaller and more delicate the organ, the more readily is it injured, the weight of the superimposed viscera upon it prevents the possibility of healing. Activity on the part of the patient would increase the degree of the injury to the organ. Boys and young men are most active, and most cases of appendicitis occurs in males under thirty years of age.
Back of the enteroptosis is a condition perfectly rec- ognized, but not sufficiently considered. Spinal curvature or rotation. Government statistics show that one child in every four in the public schools has a lateral curvature of the spine, and nothing is said of the number (probably greater) who have antero-posterior curvature. Every case of stoop-shoulders either is or soon will be an antero-pos- terior curvature. All curvatures are due directly or in- directly to trauma from without, or from attrition and con- sequently trauma within the body.
Either lateral or antero-posterior curvature at once cause a. change in the length of the ligaments by which the viscera are suspended from the spinal column, with con- consequent displacement of the viscera. The force of grav- ity prevents that displacement from being upward, and re- lieving pressure on the viscera underneath. Hence, the dis- placed organs are jarring and crushing each other, and by
THE ETIOLOGY OF APPENDICITIS. 823
pressure interfering 'with each others circulation at every step or motion of the patient.
The appendix is one of the smallest organs of the ab- dominal cavity, and by nature very delicate, and so, more readily injured than the others* and following the trauma, however slight, is readily attacked by bacilli.
The precipitating cause of appendicitis is undoubtedly bacteria, but the ultimate cause is the trauma which pro- duced spinal curvature. Correct the spine, and it will not be necessary to extirpate the appendix. [Here is a practical suggestion for our diagnosticians and surgeons. Let us have future discussions on this question. Ed.]
MATERIA MEDICA NOTES.
By j; p. Edgar, El Paso, Texas.
Morphia Sulph has the symptom: **I11 effects of light- ning; cannot suffer much heat afterwards."
Why not use this remedy in potency? if called to attend a person who has been injured by electricity in some way — some life yet there— the body not fully disorganized.
A suggeston, desiring verification: Asafoetida and Verat. *alb (Allen's repertory) have ill effects of electricity.
At meeting of I. H. A. an abnormality was reported as relieved and maybe cured, by Conium, the remedy being selected by comparative deduction.
Amelioration after coition, and for a short time after- wards.
Conium has aggravation from enforced continence and, reading between the lines, from that symptom Conium was selected rendering relief; whether it will be complete or not is to be demonstrated.
Camphora has relief of toothache, from coition, and might be considered if needed in that patient, or by Hahne- mannians, for similar conditions with their patients; verifica- tions are always useful.
The Medical Advance
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DECEMBER, 1908.
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ALUMNI OF HOMEOPATHIC COLLEGES.
In the response of Dr. R. S. Copeland, Dean of the New York Homeopathic College to the congratulatory addresses, the following significant and somewhat startling announce- ment was made in regard to the obligations, morale financial and ethical, which the alumni of all our colleges owe their Alma Mater;
You have been the recipients of a broad and liberal education. Tak- ing the average of a number of years past, in addition to the fees you paid, the graduation of each one of you cost the trustees of our college $1.2GG. You still owe the institution that amount. It is not expected, of course, that this obligation rests upon you in so direct and personal a way as to demand a return of that sum of money. But you neglect youp duty, I am sure, unless you make some effort, moral or material, to repay your Alma Mater for what it cheerfully did for you. For every dollar
EDITORIAL. 825
you left with the Registrar you received in return $3.43. On this ac- count, with 1100 living graduates, the amonut due to the institution from the alumni is $1,400,000. I believe the trustees will approve my proposi- tion to take $1,000,000 and cancel the debt.
This means that our duty to our mother college does not cease when we receive the well-earned and coveted parch- ment on commencement day. There are obligations, moral and professional, due and to be paid from each of us, but very few appear to recognize them. Each alumnus can do much to cancel this indebtedness if he or she will.
In the plain matter of fact, dollar and cent way, in which Dr. Copeland puts it, every one can see his duty, for what applies to one college applies to all; and the renaissance of homeopathic enthusiasm which began at Kansas City and was duplicated at Chicago Beach Hotel in June 1908, ought not to be soon forgotten by the homeopaths of America. Our ranks need recruiting to supply the call for homeopathic physicians from every state in the Union. If our alumni will fill the class rooms, the colleges will do the rest. Send us the students and cancel the debt you owe Alma Mater.
COMPULSORY MEDICINE.
The Health Commissioner of Chicago proposes to take drastic measures in the prevention and cure of diphtheria . With the use of Antitoxin he believes diphtheritic cases in large numbers are unnecessary.
In the Health Bulletin, issued November 30th, he says: * 'Physicians will be instructed to administer Antitoxin to all 'contacts' as well as to all patients suffering from diphtheria. If the physicians will not do it, we will do it for them. We can stamp out diphtheria just as we did small-pox."
We recently published a fatal case, taken from the Jouimal oj the A. Ji. A. in which Antitoxin was administered as a prophylactic to a healthy man and the dose was fatal in a few minutes. The Journal recently requested information from practitioners as to their experience in regard to this use of Antitoxin. Dr. Herbert P. Gilmore, of Cuba, N. Y., reports, in the October 3rd issue, twenty -\hree cases where
826 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
more or less serious results followed the prophylactic use of diphtheria Antitoxin. Of these twenty -three, ten died, others were seriously affected, but ultimately recovered more or less completely.
The conclusion arrived at by the editor is, that: "There is a certain element of danger in any form of horse serum in subjects who suffer from any form of respiratory embarrass- ment," and in the fatal cases **the heart continues to act long after respiration has ceased." Yet in the face of this fatahty from one practitioner, the Health Commissioner proposes to make the prophylactic use of Antitoxin compulsory in all cases that have come in contact with a diphtheritic patient.
In the same issue the leading editorial is devoted to "Prevention of the Fatal Intoxication that Sometimes Fol- lows Sero- Therapy," and claims that the manufacturer of the serum is not at fault. Of course not! He did not ad- minister the Antitoxin, he only made it. The same may be said of Morphine, Cocaine, Arsenic and every other poison. It is the use, not the manufacture.
It is not many years since Koch discovered his tuber- culin serum and proclaimed it not only as a cure but as a prophylactic. A few months use of the serum demonstrated the fact that it frequently produced fatal intoxication. In the case of Koch's Tuberculin, further fatal cases were pre- vented by not using it, for its general use was promptly abandoned. Why not do the same thing with diphtheria Antitoxin? Instead of that the Health Commissioner pro- poses to make its use compulsory and "if the physicians do not do it, we will do it for them "
We very much doubt if the law gives him this authority. He may quarantine, but he cannot dictate treatment. The Illinois Supreme court has decided that compulsory vaccina- tion is unconstitutional, under the laws of the State, and the same may be found true with the compulsory use of diph- theria Antitoxin.
Our contemporary, The Homeopathic Recorder^ asks a leading question in this connection. "These deaths were no doubt lawful, but* would they be lawful under any other
EDITORIAL. 827
system of medicine?" Suppose the homeopathic physician had a remedy that was being used in the treatment of any disease with such fatal results, what would the Health Com; missioner do? It is probable the physician employing such treatment would be promptly arrested and tried, if not for his life, at least for malpractice. As we look at it, this '^slaughter of the innocents" is entirely unnecessary and un- called for. It may be scientific, and in that sense it may, be legal; but it is an unjustifiable experiment, and if compul- sory prophylaxis is necessary let it be safe. Homeopathic prophylaxis is always safe and much more efficient, yet, what would be thought of the official, state or city, who would order the general use of homeopathic prophylactic measures in diphtheria, scarlatina or variola?
THE PHARMACOPEIA OF THE A. I. H.
In the November Recorder Dr. C. M. Boger replies to the Pharmacopeia committee as follows:
The logical deduction is, that because no matter can be demonstrated beyond the 12th potency, therefore all such preparations are offi- cially tabood, and if your bill passes congress, will belong to the class of outlawed nostrums. You surely don't expect any sane homeopath to put such a gag in his own throat, to say nothing of the pseudo-scientific attitude which it assumes. It is the old warfare over again when log* icians 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 them- selves homeopaths.
In V Art Medicate, Br. Jousset, in writing of ** Hahne- mann's troublesome hypothesis" upon drug dynamization, claims there is demonstrable drug action in the 30th Hahne- mannian potency. Here is a resume of his experiments for the benefit of the committee:
I have taken the trouble to demonstrate by means of experiments performed during the last twelve months in the laboratory of the St. Jacques' Hospital, that the thirtieth dilutioD of salts of silver and mer- cury, made according to Hahnemann'd method (i. e., with thirty separate bottles), has still an incontestlble action upon the development of Asperg- iUux niger. I can therefore affirm that the thirtieth Hahnemann ian dilu- tion has an action upon the living cell, but I am still waiting to hear th( t similar experiments have demonstrated the action of the 20,000 dilution
828 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
This action was demonstrated by W. P. Wesselhoeft years ago in an absolutely unanswerable paper in the Med- ical Advance and transactions of the I. H. A.
And he might go even further and say, that hundreds of homeopathic physicians have clinically demonstrated that not only the thirtieth but the 200th, 1,000th and even the millionth, did curative work every time and everywhere, when the remedy is carefully selected. Notwithstanding the opinion of the scientists who are members of the Pharma- copeia committee we maintain that they must offer better reasons than they have already done before this work should become the legal Pharmacopeia of the homeopathic pro- fession.
THE OFFICIOUS HEALTH BOARD.
Under the influence of blind zeal, the offspring of igno- rance, the Chicago Commissioner of Health is offending the medical profession, exercising tyranny over certain business- es, interfering with the rights of individuals to choose their own doctors and treatment, and drilling the police and the school nurses to interfere with the private practice of phy- sicians.
The methods of the Health Board favor the abuse of medical charity and tend to array the medical profession as a whole against it instead of for it. The following clipping from the Chicago Examiner indicates that the Chicago Medi- cal Society is going to resist the impertinances and officious- ness of the commissioner.
A spirited war of words is on between City Health Commissioner Evans and critics of his administration among the medical profession, who charge he has "fostt^red the abuse of medical charities" and exer- cised ''unnecessary interference m the treatment of contagious diseases." Allegations that free rhedical care and nursing have been given to pa- tients able to pay for the services are at the bottom of the hostilities.
The attacks on the commissioner's work first app.ared in the form of a resolution drafted by President C. W. Leigh of the North Shore branch of the Chicago Medical Society, published in the current bulle- tin of the society, issued last Saturday.
The first step in the campaign to have the society go on record as
EDITORIAL. 819
condemning the methods of the Health Departmeot as "unlawful and unethical" will be taken this eveninsf at a meeting of the Douglas Park branch. At this gathering, which will be held at Gad's Hill Settlement, South Robey and Twenty-second streets, the resolution will be present- ed. On Tuesday it will be offered at a meeting of the North Shore branch. The Council of the Chicago Medical Society will be asked to adopt it at its January session,
••This fight is not only against indiscriminate medical charity by the Health Department, but the abuse of the free dispensary and free clinic all along the line," said Dr. Leigh, author of the resolution, yes- terday. '*Not only have the poor received medical attention, but it has not been denied to people amply able to pay."
The resolution demands: *' Measures to eradicate the abuse of med- ical charities; that school nurses be kept from practicing medicine: that the Health Department cease unnecessary interference with the private practitioner in the treatment of infectious and contagious diseases; that the department cease to vaccinate children whose parents are able to pay for such a service."
THE INAUGURATION OF DEAN COPELAND.
The reception and banquet of the Alumni Association of the New York Homeopathic Medical College and Flower Hospital and the inauguration ceremonies of the new dean. Royal S. Copeland, A. M., M. D., were held at the Hotel Astor, Friday evening, December 4th.
In the receiving line were:
Hon. M. B. Gary, President of the College Corporation.
Royal S. Copeland, Dean, New t^ork Medical College.
Clarence Bartlett, representing Hahnemann^ Medical College, Philadelphia.
Howard R. Chislett, Dean, Hahnemann Medical College, Chicago.
Helen C. Palmer, Dean, New York Medical College for Women.
John P. Sutherland, Dean, Boston University School of Medicine.
George Royal, Dean, College Homeopathic Medicine, University ol Iowa.
Wilbert B. Hinsdale, Dean, Homeopathic College, Uni- versity of Michigan.
830 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
Charles E. Walton, Dean, Pulte Medical College, Cin- cinnati.
Henry C. Allen, Dean, Hering Medical College, Chicago.
Hamilton F. Biggar, Honorary President, American In- stitute of Homeopathy.
John Prentice Rand, President of the Alumni Associa- tion.
The reception took place promptly at 6:30 in the beau- - tifully decorated parlor adjoining the banquet hall. About three hundred guests accepted the invitation and nearly all appeared to be present.
The doors were opened to the banquet hall at 7:30 and the banquet and decorations were fully up to the high stand- ard set by the former entertainments of the kind.
The Alumni Association and the officers having the cel- ebration in charge may certainly be proud of this inaugura- tion banquet. Nothing but praise was expressed on every hand for the complete arrangements and the promptness with which everything on the program passed off.
The president of the Association, Dr. Rand, made an- admirable toast-master. He evidently had occupied the po- sition before. The various brief speeches of the deans of the several colleges were witty, interesting, and some of them eloquent, and all speakers were enthusiastically re- ceived.
New York has rectiived one of the ablest and most popular men in the school for its new Dean, and notwith- standing all the compliments which were showered on him and at him by every speaker, we know he is not vain enough to think this was alone a personal demonstration; it was not Copeland, but the cause; it was not the Dean, but Homeo- pathy; it was not the Alumni Association, but the College, for which this magnificent demonstration was given, and it will long be remembered by everyone fortunate enough to have been present. The cause, not the man, was the key- note of every speaker.
The enthusiasm for Homeopathy which was voiced by every College Representative will be re-echoed in everjr
EDITORIAL. 831
part of the country. The New York Homeopathic College has taken an advance step in the teaching of the principles of our school. The faculty, one and all, is harmonious and is doing good work in therapeutics, work that has not been done since the time of Dunham, Allen, Deschere and Lilli- enthal.
Saturday, December 5th, a medical clinic was held in the college, at 10 o'clock, by Dr. Rabe, who illustrated the taking of the case and the selection of the remedy from BOnninghausen's Repertory, and one old practitioner who was present remarked: *'What would I not have given if I could have received such instruction during my college days."
At 11 o'clock there was a surgical clinic in the Helmuth amphitheatre, conducted by William Todd Helmuth.
At noon the Alumni Committe was addressed by H. D. Schenk, Chairman of the Alumni Committee.
A lunch was served at the College at 12:30, and after lunch the guests boarded a steamer at the foot of 63rd Street for the Metropolitan Hospital, where the members of the hospital board explained the various features of interest connected with the hospital. This is the largest general hospital in the United States, and clinics were held by Drs. Harrington, Howard and Laidlaw. And thus ended the first popular inauguration of the Dean of a Homeopathic College ever held in the United States.
Oklahoma State Board of Medical Examiners. The
next State Medical Examination occurs at Chickasha, Okla- homa January 12, 13 and 14. There are many fine locations for homeopaths in this new state; many towns from 2,000 to 15,000 have no homeopath.
There are two homeopaths on the new State Medical Ex- amining Board, Dr. Hensley, Oklahoma City, and Dr. D. W. Miller of BlackweH,Okla. Pour homeopaths took the exam- ination at Muskogee, Nov. 10, 11 and 12, the first session of the new Board, The Oklahoma Institute of Homeopathy pledged $25.00 to the national fund to promote Homeopathy.
D. W. Miller.
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
THE PHYSICIAN'S VISITING LIST, for 1909. -P. Blakiston's Soa & Co., 1012 Walnut St., Philadelphia, Pa. Price fl.OO.
This is the 5Bth annual appearance of this popular work. It has been recognized all these years as a standard visiting list, by American physicians, or it would not have continued its annual visits, hence the only conclusion is, that itis worth all the merit it has received.
During the life of this little book, medical science has made rapid progress in every direction, and the publishers have evidently endeavored to *'keep up with the procession," by improving the book from year to year. The publishers
say:
^'It has been seen and used by ihe raostof the famous American med- ical men and investig-ators, as well as by thousands of others whose names.perhaps, were never known beyond their own local scenes, but who, nevertlieKss, have done a large share toward the total sum of human happiness. It has made many long journeys in saddle-baps and bu^crjes; to-day it is traveling in automobiles. It has been at the death-beds of rich and poor, famous and infamous alike, and its volumes hold the life records of numberless physicians.''
Hi: U/: II AN i) i;i': \[^TV. By John V. Shoemaker, M. D., LL D., i'rof > u cf Tlutciia Medica, Pharmacolof^y, Therapeutics and Clin- ical ATLviiciiio, and Clinical Professor of Diseases of the Skin in the M(*mi o-Chirurgical (College, Philadelphia; Physician to the Modico Chirurgical Hospital; President of the American Therapeutic So- ciety; Member of the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Medicine, the British Medical Association; Kellow of the Medical Society of London, etc. Royal Octavo, pp. 476 Bound in P]xtra Cloth, Beveled Edges. Price, $3.00, net. F. A. Davis Company, Publishers, 1914: Cherry St., Philadelphia. Pa.
This work, of nearly r)00 pages, is the culmination. of years of thought and labor by its distinguished author. It is intended not only for the professional, but for the layman; it is a subject which is of interest to every woman especially; and in this department a chapter will be found devoted to the '^inrtuence of beauty in human society," illustrated by quota- tions drawn from works of poets and fiction, recognized by the world as standard authorities.
NEW PUBLICATIONS. - 833
Chapter XI, on the '^Education of the Body," giving a history of the results of physical exercises, in the gymnasi- um, the army and elsewhere, from the palmy days of the Greeks and their Olympic games, to the present rage for rol- ler skating, is alone worth tlie entire cost of the book and will many times repay its study.
Health and beauty are closely allied, the latter de- pending upon the former, and this is nowhere better or more clearly expressed than in the condition of the skin. Herbert Spencer has said, it is '*that surface by which we come in contact with the universe;" hence it is so essential that it present a good appearance, and it is well-known that a beau- tiful skin can only be found where there is perfect health.
The author points out, in consecutive chapters, the var- ious methods by which health may be influenced by climate, diet, clothing, ventilation, bathing and exercise. He also discusses, briefly, some of the diseases to which the hair and nails— a part of the skin— are subject, and finally the legi- timate employment of cosmetics.
To this part of the work a most serious objection is to be offered, for a perfectly healthy skin can never be obtained by the external use of cosmetics or medicated applications; in fact, the treatment of skin diseases by local medicated ap- plications, tends to make diseases of the body as well as of the skin, and this treatment mars an otherwise excellent work on health and beauty.
SEX IN OFFSPRING, by Frank Kraft, M. I)., late editor of the Amer- ican Physician; late Secretary of the American Institute of Homeo- pathy; a modern discovery of a primeval law. 12 Mo. Pp. 115. B. Borshuette, Cleveland, Ohio. Price, ^2.00, prepaid.
The author claims that he has discovered a law determin- ing the sex of offspring. From time to time fragmentary articles have been published, and a number of writers have proclaimed the same thing. These Dr. Kraft describes as an addition to the other observations. His claim is that he has found a natural law, so simple and obvious, the won- der is no one has thought of it before. Perhaps this
834 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
is all true, for Newton discovered the law of gravitation by seeing an apple fall,and was the first one,apparently,wlio thought to ask the question, why it did not fall up instead of down. Hahnemann was the first to observe the natural law in therapeutics, by testing Cinchona bark on the healthy. The author's investigations have convinced him not only of the importance, but the truth of this discovery, and claims that any person who has a farm and farm animals can convince himself likewise, by applying the law to the breeding of his live stock. In this discovery a new field of practice both interesting and profitable is open to the physi- cian.
The law, in brief, is based upon the fact, that lunar in- fluence controls the processes of the reproductive system in the female; that such processes all move in lunar period cy- cles; that the lunar monthly cycles, and its product operate in rise and fall under the lunar influences, that the ovum, while it lasts, is double sexed, constantly alternating from one sex condition to the other, in i5<eriods of about six hours each. The ovum, if fertilized during one period develops in- to a male, if during the next succeeding period a female, and this again in rotation. The law, he claims, accounts for many things hitherto inexplicable, including the balance of the sexes at birth.
On account of the sudden illness and death of the author, a large number of illustrative cases of sex determination, in- tended for the work, was never completed.
HEREDITY AND PRENATAL CULTURE, Considered in the Light of the New Peychology, by Newton M. Riddle; a lecture on Hered- ity, Child Culture, Psychology, Psychic Phenomena, Brain Build- ing, etc. Chicago. 1908. Pp. 350.
This volume is intended to meet the increasing popular demand for a practical treatise on heredity and prenatal cul- ture. The author has endeavored to reduce the facts and laws of reproduction to definite science, and to present them in a concise non- technical form, in order that thinking pa- rents can practically apply them. Biological problems and
NEW PUBLICATIONS. 835
theoretical speculations on the physical basis of heredity have evidently been avoided, and the subject presented im the light of the new psychology. The new psychology, th« efficacy of suggestion in life building, is a demonstrable fact, and has no doubt come to stay.
This is the result of fifteen years spent in gathering the subject matter and preparing a work that would be helpful in solving the problem of life and human progress. Over a hundred authors, on similar and kindred subjects, from Dar- win, Heckel, Spencer, Drummond, Huxley and Galton, down to the present days of Dewey, Schuyler, Anderson, etc., have been consulted, but, in the long list of authorities, we fail to recognize one of the greatest of them all, Swedenborg.
This is a valuable contribution to the subject, and every physician should have a copy and should be familiar with its contents, for there are many subjects here discussed; and many cases illustrated, that will be of great help to every homeopathic physician The homeopath, however, will be able to add the missing link in the problem, viz., the prena- tal treatment of the child. Here is where our law of simi- lars, practic illy applied, is capable of revolutionizing the race, and of its beneficent, all powerful work the author has apparently never had even a hint.
The work is well printed, with side heads in heavy type, on good paper, and will be a valuable addition to any library, for the physician or the family.
The chapter on hereditary criminality reveals some startling statistics, well worth the study of every physician.
PUTNAM'S NBW MONTHLY MAGAZINE, or as it is now known, PUrNAM'S MONTHLY AND THK RKADEK, has rapidly come to the front as one of the best of our illustrated monthlies.
The December number contains many valuable articles: The one on Bulgaria, The Passion Play by American Indi- ans, As Europe Sees Us, are among many of the able arti- cles.
We congratulate both editor and publisher on giving >us one of the most readable and interesting of American month- lies.
886 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. BjJohn Eastman Wfl- son, A. B., M. D. ProCesbor of the Diseases of the Nervons system , New York Homeopathic Medical College and Flower Hospital, aod in the New York Medical College aod Hoi^ital for Women; Nen- rologist to the Flower Hospital, Women's Hospital, Hahnemann Hospital, Laura Franklin Free Hospital for Children, St. Marj*s Hospital, Passaic, N. J., and Consulting Neurologist to the State Hospital, Middletown, N. Y. Pp 5<H). Cloth $3 50. Half Mo- rocco $4.50. Boericke & Ilunyon, New York and Philadelphia, 1908.
This work is the sequence evidently of the writer's lec- tures upon Nervous Diseases, rounded out and completed so as to furnish students and general practitioners a concise description of the etiology, pathology and differential diag- Mosis or as the author puts it, **a simple dogmatic statement ot neurological facts." The majority of books of this class are too bulky, too elaborate, too technical, for. the student or busy practitioner. A few, on the other hand, are too brief, too much condensed to be practical. The author evi- dently has aimed to strike the happy medium, to give the anatomical facts in such a form that they can be readily re- ferred to, and under these limitations many statements are necessarily dogmatic.
In the preface the author says:
The medicinal treatment of many nervous diseases is at present eor- sidered to be futile, so far as cures are concerned, and the physicians of all schools are driven to symptom atological prescriptions and to pallia- tires. Under Buch conditions we have a right to feel that we are the best symptom hunters yet evolved, and that by faithful work we may occasionally chancre the classical prognosis; for this reason the literature of our school has been diligently searched for remedies that are indi- oatedf and also for those giving some clinical basis for their employ- ment.
In everything that goes to make up a practical work on the Diseases of the Nervous System this work appears to be almost ideal for the general practitioner, and where an at- tempt is made to treat these diseases the compilations and therapeutic suggestions are as complete as can be found anywhere. We doubt if the author or anyone else could
NEW PUBMCATION^S. 837
have done any better in the building of a book on these lines.
But for the Hahnemannian the treatment of a nervous or ally other disease iu the way laid down here must neces- sarily be empirical. No two persons can have any nervous disease in the same way or can present the same symptoms; «. g., on page 163: **If, therefore, the case is rheumatic, we should at once think of Bryonia, Rhus, Actea or Apis." No, that is not homeopathic; any one of fifty other remedies might be equally well indicated as those above mentioned. Or again: *'In alcoholic cases the usual prescription will be either Nux vom. or Actea;" as if Nux vom. or Actea were the only remedies for alcoholics! Asarum, Opium, Rhus, Sulphur or a hundred others may fit certain ca^es for which the symptoms of the patient (not alcoholism) call.
Again, on page 274, the author says: Phyuioloj^ical medujine luaialy relies upon Strycbniainsome dosi^e, lo the atrophies, Gowers says that by the mouth it is ot no value, but the nitrate, hypodermatically, id valuable. He bejrins with a dose of MOOth of a grain daily, cautiously increaS' d to 15th. It has ariested very bad cases. Srarr does not believe in it, but would rather giv.* it by the mouth, I-50oh of a grain dally for four days, and then Arsenic l-50th the other three days of the week.
Here the opinions of Gowers and Starr differ materially, and this is necessarily true of all other writers on the same subject. It is the ipse dixit of their experience and is not based upon natural law in the medical world. This same difference of opinion will be found in the writings of every nerve specialist in the homeopathic ranks when they attempt . to treat nervous diseases and overlook the patient. The work is well illustrated chiefly with original drawings.
AN ENGLISH-CHINESE LEXICON OF MEDICAL TERMS, prepared by Dr. Philip B. Cousland, has just been published in Shanghai. Though the author is an English- man by birth, he has based his book largely upo|i the Medi- cal Dictionary of Dr. George M. Gould, of Philadelphia, a high compliment to American scholarship. Dr. Cousland al- so has recently published a translation of Prof. Halliburton's edition of Kirkes' Physiology.
FROM THE FIELD.
Dr. George M. Cooper announces the removal" of his oflSce to 1809 Chestnut street, Philadelphia. Residence Bryn Athyn, Pa.
The death is announced of Elnora L. Wheeler, wife of Dr. J. D. Graybill, of New Orleans, on Nov. 5, 1908. He will have the sympathy of his colleages in his sorrow.
DR. P. N. (iROULEFF, Goteborg, Sweden, was recent- ly fined for practicing Homeopathy in his private sanitarium. On appeal to the highest court the decision was reversed, and the doctor was declared free from all resp)onsibility, because the homeopathic remedies were not drugs under the medical practice act. Thus Drs. Axel and Grouleff are now practicing Homeopathy in their native land, but under many difficulties.
Dr. Clara Sterling, demonstrator of Anatomy in Hering Medical College has accepted a po iition as resident physici- an in the new institute for the treatment of tuberculosis at Hartland, Wis., a'suburb of Milwa ikee. Th3 institute has recently been opened under tlie muiagement of Dr. Milcon Rice as president and medical dire -tor, with a corps of ten surgeons and i^hysicians on the staff. The best means known to science will be used and the medical treatment will be strictly Hahnemannian.
Hotel Citronelle, Alabama, on the Mobile & Ohio R. R., about 30 miles north Of Mobile, is located on a high, rolling plateau of pine forests, the highest point on the coast survey between the Rio Grande River and the coast of Maine. The hotel is furnished with electric lights, thoroughly heated, sanitary in all its arrangements, and an- nounces that it is open for the reception of winter tourists. Sorry we cannot go South.
For the benefit of homeopathic families, Dr. A. M. Duf- field, one of the best homeopaths in the South, is available.
The Metropolitan Hospital, New York, is in search of
nurses:
NOTES FROM THET FIELD. 889
The School is registered and offers a three years' course of training.
An allowance for current expenses is made as follows: $10.00 a month for the firist; $12.00 the second, and $15.00 the third year.
Applicants must be over 21 and under 35 years of age, and have one year in High School, or its equivalent. Class- es formed every two months.
Dr. Dewitt G. Wlleox, after a sojourn in Buffalo of 22 years, during eighteen of which he was Chief Surgeon in the Lexington Heights Hospital, announces his removal to Boston, where he will be associated with Dr. M. W. Emer- son, Prof, of Surgery in the Bostx>n University Medical Col lege, and proprietor of the Emerson Hospital. This move will be a great surprise to the profession, as Dr. Wilcox was looked upon as one of the fixtures in Buffalo. His associa- tion with Dr. Emerson will form a strong surgical partner- ship, and as they propose to enlarge the present hospital of 40 to 60 beds or more, it will make one of the most complete private hospitals in the city.
The reputation which Dr. Emerson has throughout New England, where he stands in the front rank of Boston sur* geons, and the reputation which Dr. Wilcox carries with him from the West, equally good and equally extensive, will give Boston a private surgical institution of which every member of the profession may be justly proud.
The Mayo Brothers in Rochester, Minn, have been a great object lesson to the profession, demonstrating what two men can do by working together harmoniously , unitedly; and we trust that this surgical partnership may be as success- ful in Boston as it has in Minnesota. If so, it will enable one of the members of the firm to have the freedom of along vacation and the advantage of travel and study to increase the technique and skill of the operator. Success.
Boericke& Runyon, the Homeopathic Pharmacists 11 West 42nd Street, New York, are apparently doing an ac- tive business in snakes. The firm has secured another live snake, a Lachesis Mutus, in fine condition, from which a
840 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
quantity of virus has been extracted. The genuineness of the reptile is attested by Prof. R. L. Ditmars, Curator of the Zoological Gardens in New York.
The firm now have secured fresh preparations, tritura- tions and various potencies of the Lachesis Mutus (Bush-mas- ter), and the Lachesis Trigonocephalus (Lance-headed vi- per, and are prepared to furnish either or both as may be desired.
The enterprize of this pharmacy certainly deserves re- cognition. At great expense they secured a true Lachesis Trigonocephalus, and after doing so the question arase as to whether it was the one from which Dr. Hering obtained the original virus with which the provings of Lachesis were made. It was finally decided that it was the Lachesis Mutus which Hering employed, and after considerable trouble and further expense the firm has now secured a living specimen of the Lachesis Mutus.
This work has not been done apparently for financial gain, a& the entire amount of Lachesis sold by all the phar- macies in the country in the course of a year amounts to Very little, a mere fraction of the expense attending the^ se- curing of a single reptile.
When Hering first announced a proving of Lachesis, many homeopathic physicians declined to use it, because they could not secure it in the tincture, and now for the same rea- son apparently many members of the homeopathic profession have lost confidence in the efficacy of Lachesis, because it was not a fresh preparation, hence the desire of Boericke & Runyon to do away with this senseless objection.
Our experience is that Lachesis, if properly selected and administered, works every time and everywhere notwith- standing its age. The remedy in the dynamic form, well protected is good for a life time. But a great many, appar- ently, expect Lachesis to cure a Sulphur case, irrespective of the symptomatology, and these prescribers frequently say, '*Lachesis is the remedy, but I am afraid to trust it. Would that somebody might give us a fresh supply I'' And now that this firm has given us a fresh supply of both varieties, the profession can obtain any potency, low and weak or hi and strong, and that too a fresh one, when required. A sincerely hope that the enterprise of the pharmacists w be followed by a little more enterprise on the part of t profession in selecting the remedy, and hence better succf- and less fault finding with Lachesis.
jL-iPiPEiKriDrK:.
WHAT IS HOMEaPATHY?*
*By Royal S. Oopeland, A. M. M. D., Ann Arbor, Michigan.
*'When years after his death the world agrees to call a man great, the verdict must be accepted. The historian may whiten or blacken, the critic may weigh and dissect, the form of the Judgement may be altered, but the central fact remains, and with the man, whom the world in its vague way has pronounced great, history must reckon one way or the other, whether for good or ill." But to properly measure a man, long since dead, we must know something of the time in which he lived; something of hife environment, something of his contemporaries. If, as was Hahnemann's <5ase, the subject of our study belonged to one of the learned professions, we must know, not only his own personal at- tainments, but also how these compare with the most ad- vanced thought of the medical leaders of his time.
Samuel Hahnemann, born in Saxony, a century and a half ago, was the founder of the Homeopathic School. Medicine, in his day was a mass of chaotic and unscientific pretence. Disease was looked upon as due to the presence in the blood of certain so-called humors or morbid products. The removal of these by means of large doses of powerful ^rugs, the nature of whose action upon the organism was not understood, was considered necessary to the restoration of health. It was thought that drawing large quantities of blood from the body accomplished this; therefore, without regard to the nature of the disease which affected them, all patients were bled. Disease was considered to be a material -entity, which had to be destroyed, without regard to the -effect on the body of the measures and drugs employed. Besides many drugs yet familiar to the profession, it was oommon practice in that time to prescribe such things as
*By invitation of the Regular Homeopathic Society, this address was delivered in the Chicago Public Library, Dec. 3rd, 1007. The audience was made up of laymen, as well as physicians, and for that reason the thesis was couched in popular language.
2 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
hearts of vipers, earth worms, green lizards, live frogs^ river crabs, and, to quote from a famous old prescription, **shavings of a man's skull that dy'd a violent death."
In opiX)sition to the prevailing crude, and disgusting ways of treating disease, Hahnemann proposed the simple and scientific method which has become the rule and guide of a great and growing profession. Hahnemann and Home- opathy are so intimately related that to think of one must be to consider the other. The Hahnemann of history lives in the Homeopathy of reality. To properly estimate Hahne- mann, the physician, we must take the record of the multi- tude of his cures. To appreciate Hahnemann, the scientist, we must consider the man who promulgated, for the first time in history, a law of practice universal in its application. It was not alone for the eighteenth century and for Germany: it was lor the twentieth century and for us.
The ordinary man is satisfied with his surrounding and contented if he possess the talents common to most of his professional brethren. The legal standard is high enough for him and as we all know, that requires of every physician simply an average degree of intelligence and average pro- fessional skill. The men in medicine who have taken l^ositions far in the lead of their colleagues are conspicuously few in number. By the very nature of his calling, his vital relation to human life, the physician is conservative, ultra cx)n8ervative in fact. He knows enough of the human or- ganism to realize it is not a machine to be dealt with as the mechanical engineer deals with the problem presented him. Furthermore, the human organism differs from the machine, too, — the doctor's problem has a throat and it is capable of vocal protest against would-be experimenters.
This prejudice against innovations in medical practice has prevailed for all time; indeed it is so pronounced that in some countries it has been customary to mete out punish- ment to the practitioner departing from the recognized and standard methods of treatment. In old times, burning at the stake and burying alive have been favorite rewards for the genius who thought to attach his name to an advanced idea
WHAT IS HOMEOPATHY? 3
in medicine. The modern way is not so trying physically, but Samuel Hahnemann in his life-time could testify to per secutions most vexatious.
But in spite of opposition from a profession naturally unprogressive and unnaturally jealous, Hahnemann, the physician and scientist, promulgated a theory of cure and a method of drug administration which for a hundred years have proven to be an unconquered fortress against the assaults of every foe. To-day, this theory of cure, while unaccepted by the dominent school, as a law of nature, is verified in every procedure of its practitioners, at least, in every procedure regarded by those therapeutic agnostics as being among the certainties, the verities of practice.
With the consideration of Hahnemann's method of drug administration, our cup of joy o'erfloweth. Ridiculed and laughed at for a century, the scientific world has come to admit that Hahnemann was the chief scientist of his time. Not only so, but his doctrine of the efficiency and increased efficacy of drugs in infinite dilution is accepted to-day in every laboratory of the world.
LIFE AND HEALTH.
To the lay mind, health and disease are terms which define conditions, one desirable and the other to be avoided. Beyond this vague mental description no further thought is given the problems which vex and perplex the scientists and divide the medical profession into great factions or **schools." With the conflicting ^nd vacillating opinions of the past, it was necessary to be something of a mental gym- nast to keep abreast of the rapidly changing ideas of scienti- fic thinkers. Fortunately, however, this chaotic condition is giving way to an orderly arrangement of established facts and, to-day, we know for a certainty many very interesting things about health and disease.
It is now believed that life depends upon the activity of the bodily cells. Going from the gross mass of the body to the separate and distinct tissues and from these to their minuest XX)rtions, it has been determined that the smallest possible division of living matter, capable of form and function, is
4 THE MEDiCAi:^ ADVANCE.
tbe cell. The infimtesimal siie of 4^e cell is aosnetMng amaeing; in the liver, for instanoe, it has been found, bj careful measurements and estimates, that a single cubic inch of that organ consists of 156,000 million separate and distinct cells!
Health depends upon the well-being of every cell of the body. The cells must be nourished and refreshed, waste products must be carried away, and new material supplied as required. In the light of present knowledge, disease con- sists of some disturbance in the metabolism of the cell. By this term, metabolism, we mean the balance or equilibrium which exists between food supply and waste; normally, this condition is reached when the active cell constantly receives and assimilates precisely the right amount of exactly the proper food. In disease i\is balance is disturbed; insufficient or improper food interferes with the cell, causing it to be over-active or under-active, or to die. Then the individual becomes conscious of certain symptoms which are indicative of disease, and the physician's duty b^ins.
THE SMALL DOSE.
With this much scientific knowledge, briefly stated though it is, the lay mind wiU at once appreciate that medi- cine, to be of use to one of these bodily cells, must be ad- ministered in such form and quantity as such an infinitesi- mal thing is capable of receiving. One might as well attempt to patch a pin prick with one of the pyramids as to expect a tea spoonful of medicine to be appropriated by a cell. Only a very, very minute portion of such a dose, re- latively so enormous, can be appropriated by the diseased cell; the untouched portions of the dose are in the system as a menace to myriads of other cells, which may and probably will be poisoned by the unwelcome drug. Perchance the cell or cells originally diseased may be restored to health, but the patient has gone from Scylla to Charybdis by having thrust upon him an illness quite as bad or worse, the direct result of drug action/
The quantity of medicine to be given in each dose bears no essential relation to Homeopathy; it is the privilege of
WHAT IS HOMEOPATHY? 5
the prescriber to administer a grain, an ounce, or any amount which appeals to him as required by the patient. The home- opathic physician believes, however, that the * 'minimum dose" should be administered, that is, that the smallest possible quantity, capable of relieving the need of the patient, should be given. This is the ideal prescription, because it exactly supplies the demand of the diseased cells, without disturbing other normal cells. In practice, therefore, the homeopathist usually dispenses small doses.
The popular notion that the strength or power of a chemical is in direct proportion to its mass, is no longer the view of scientific men. It is now held that a very small amount of a drug or chemical, when perfectly dissolved in water or some other liquid, is much more potent than a thousand times as much of the same chemical in the dry state or imperfectly dissolved. This is the teaching in every laboratory of the world. Practical application of this fact is found in the modern use of blue vitriol in purifying water. A quantity so small as to have no effect upon the cells of the human body is yet capable of causing the death of certain algae which possess a selective affinity for this particular chemical.
In the human body the cells of particular parts possess this same selective affinity for certain drugs or chemicals. When an infinitesimal amount of silver, for instance, is taken into the system, it may be found in certain tissues of the brain and always there, when it cannot be discovered else- where. Thus it is apparent that when any cell of the body lacks a given element necessary to its well being, its power of selection of the missing element, or **tissue proclivity", as it is termed, enables it to appropriate the same from the blood stream if it be there in ever so minute quanti- tv s.
It will be seen, therefore, that the efficiency of the small dose and the capability of the human system to appro- priate and utilize medicine administered in minute quantities are facts based, not upon a vagary of the imagination, but upon the most modern of accepted truths.
6 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
THE LAW OF CURE.
Not only does the homeopathic physician prescribe the **minimum dose," but also, in selecting the remedy for given symptoms of disease, he employs a fix;ed formula, expressed by the Latin phrase, SimllM similibus curantur, translated *'Similars. are cured by similars," i. e., like ailments aire cured by like remedies. The possible existence of a law of cure is denied by the dominent school. The latter scoffs at the '^theory of Similars," and, in prescribing, depends largely upon experimental and empirical methods. That is, the physician of the dominant school in treating scarlet fever, for instance, tries this, that, and the other remedy, which he thinks might possibly be of some use, until he hits upon one which seems to control the issue of the disease. Or he pre- scribes in the condition, this, that, or the other remedy, which has obtained a reputation for usefulness in this disease. The first of these methods is, of course, experimental, and the second empirical in the extreme. Besides these, ex- cluding the use of remedies which act simply in a clinical sense as neutralizing agents, a physician of the dominent school has but one other method of therapeutic procedure. This is to prescribe **allopathically," that is, to give a remedy which, by reason of its drug action, produces symptoms the opposite to those induced by the disease. To illustrate; If the patient have fever, some drug is given to forcibly hold the heart, thus preventing its rapid action with the resulting increase of temperature; or, in flagging heart, the organ is whipped on and forced into more rapid action by the administration of a stimulant, )ike whiskey or strych- nine. Such practice is too often fatal in its results and, in any case, the reaction from or secondary effect of such treat- ment is bound to be pernicious.
With no fixed formula and no unity of thought regarding the use of medicine, every physician of the dominent school is authority unto himself in the selection of his remedies. The result is, that for any given disease, or set of symptoms, there may be as many different prescriptions as there are doctors of the dominent school .
WHAT IS HOMEOPATHY? 7
SECTARIANISM.
The homeopathist is frequently called by the dominant school a sectarian and in terms of opprobrium accused of sectarianism. Homeopathy, then, is a sect. Does it there- fore differ in this respect from the other school? The word sect is defined as *'a body of persons distinguished by peculiarities of faith and practice from other bodies adhering to the same general system." It is a party or faction.
In the light of this definition, the accepted one, is the dominant school free to cast stones? Let us pause a moment to inquire into their practice.
Hare of Philadelphia declares his faith in the usefulness and efficacy of drugs as a means of restoring health.
Osier absolutely abandons drugs and looks upon them as useless and many times harmful.
Abbott advocates the alkaloids as universally applicable and beneficial.
Trudeau disregards internal medication and considers the out-of-door life and forced feeding as the essentials in practice.
Kellogg considers disease only in its relation to meta- bolism, and, standing in the high place of liberal medicine, broad and unsectarian, proclaims to all the world that the vegetable diet is the one and only means of cure for suffer- ing humanity I
General Terry wrote me recently, saying that every patient admitted to the Battle Creek Sanitarium has a most careful examination, blood count, chemical analyses of the excretions and secretions, but, strange to say, all paths lead to the one goal— the * 'shadow" diet.
Studying the announcements of the specialists, the wondering sufferer discovers that Dr. A. uses electricity ex- clusively. The '*life currents^' are disturbed, and, to follow nature's way of cure, electricity is the proper treatment for all diseases. Dr. B. depends upon photo- therapy. The X-ray, the Pinsen light, the Leucodescent light— in one of these is healing for the nations. But along comes Major Woodruff who says nay to all this. Sunlight he declares,
8 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
is fatal to the nervous system, and to live long and be happy one must keep in the valley of shadows; the mortality rate is highest where the light is brightest, and longevity is pro- moted by dwelling in the rainy and gloomy regions of the earth.
The next specialist consulted is a rythmo-specialist, who has a jiggling machine for every vital part. In com- mon with the hydro- therapeutist he seeks to increase phago- cjrtosis and, by active or passive hyperemia, to accomplish the healing. Then there are the serum-therapy and the organotherapy specialists. Neither must we overlook the prophylactic doctors who discover the germ and dispatch it ere it begins its deadly work.
We have now reached the last letter of the alphabet and find here the zy mo- therapy specialist who, to the horror of that other non-sectarian. Dr. Kellogg, feeds his patients upon meat, thereby, he says, increasing the antitoxins in the blood and neutralizing the products of germ life.
In all candor, is it fair of a profession so broken into parties and factions, each party and each faction so ex- clusive in its ideas of therapeutics — is it fair, for the ad- herents of that school to accuse the homeopathist of sectar- ianism? Like Saul of Tarsus, they breath out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of a mistaken idea, yet they are as narrow, as sectarian indeed, as they believe the homeopathist to be.
Your speaker has no desire to be bitter or unkind. He numbers in his friendships and remembers in his prayers many followers of the other practice. But we do not believe the diverse practices of the dominant shool show a remarkable degree of scientific exactness.
THF: CF.KTAINTY OF THE LAW.
'All this is different in Homeopathy. For a given set of symptoms, no matter where the homeopathic physician was educated, or where he may practice, be it in Maine or Cali- fornia, the Dominion of Canada or the British Isles, *'from Greenland's icy mountains, from India's Coral strand'* the remedy selected will be the same. As in the selection of
WHAT IS HOMEOPATHY? 9
glasses for a definite error of refraction, scientific oculists from one end of t>ie World to the other will reach the same conclusion as to the need of the patient; so, in homeopathic practice, definite and positive symptoms of disease will call for the same remedy with every prescriber.
The reason for this marked difference between th^ schools, as has been said, is because the homeopathic physi- cian believes that in disease and health there are certain laws, as there are in every other department of the physical world, while the physician of the dominant school denies this, or at least denies the value of the so-called law of Similars. It is not possible, perhaps, to explain the rationale of this law of cure, but the homeopathist is not the only scientist forced to acknowledge ignorance of the underlying laws of his specialty. Where is the physicist who can ex- plain the law of accelerated motion or the law of magneto- electric induction, or the law of gravitation? He can demon- strate the law by showing experiments to verify it. but to ■ensibly or convincingly explain why or how, he cannot.
The theologian has the same difficulty with the doctrine of the immaculate conception and the chemist can hardly account for some of the chemical affinities familiar as work- ing truths. Thus it may be excused the homeopathist, per- haps, if he fail to scientifically account for the theory of similars. It is the conclusion of the homeopathic profession that this theory affords a working hypothesis satisfactorily accounting for certain medical phenomena, and the terms of which, outside of purely chemical processes already referred to, evenj certain procedure known to the medical profession can be explained. Further, in order that the lay mind may not misunderstand its position, it is claimed by the homeopathic school that every single remedy, known to have curative properties in the relief of disease, acts in harmony with and is prescribed, even if unknowingly so,in accordance with the theory expressed in the phrase, Sim ilia similibas curantur.
The dominant school today, therapeutic skeptics* as they
The skepticism, almost nihilism, as reg^ards the value of remedies, of the dominant school; is shown by this quotation from one of its eminent
10 THE MEDICAL, ADVANCE.
admit themselves to be, certify to four sure remedies — mercury in syphilis, quinine in malaria, salicylate of soda in rtieumatism, and iron in anemia. The most radical of the dominent school, denying the homeopathicity of these remedies, would admit that the poisonous action of each is remarkably similar to the disease it has power to cure. If time and space permitted, in addition, your speaker would attempt at least some citations of remarkable scientific facts which exist and which apparently vindicate the claims of 8imilia, but enough has been shown to prove that the entire homeopathic practice and such of the practice of the domi- nent school as is conceded by that school to be of positive therapeutic value, are in harmony with and are explained by the theory of Similars. It is not begging the question, tiierefore, to leave the matter here and claim that until future generations find a better hypothesis we have the right to accept the theory of Similars as the law of cure.
THE VAT.UE OF THE LAW,
One who has observed the great variety of symptoms met in different types of typhoid fever, or any other disease, will at once appreciate the value of a system which seeks to select a remedy suited to the particular case inhand,andto differentiate it from all other remedies useful in other types of the same disease. It is not enough to treat a disease by name, as is the practice of the dominent school, or to pre-
exponents, Prof. H. C Wood, in the preface of his '^Treatise on Thera- peutics:"' ''Experience is said to be the mother of wisdona. Verily she has been in medicine rather a blind leader of the blind, and the history of medical progress is the history of a man ^ropinjf in the darkoess finding: st eming^ g^ems of truth, one after another, only in a few minutes to cast each back into a heap of forgotten baubles that in their day had ulso been mistaken for verities. Narrowing" our graze to the regular pro- fession to a few decades, what do we see*:' Experience teaching not to bleed a man for pneumonia is to consign him to an unopened grave^ and experience teaching that to bleed a- man suffering with pneumonia is to consign him t(» a grave never opened by nature. Looking at the revo- lutions of the past, listening to the therapeutic babel of the present, is it a wonder that men should take refuge in nihilism, and like Jotus eaters dream tnat;all alike is folly, that rest and quiet and calm are the only human fruitionsV"
WHAT IS HOMEOPATHY? 1 1
scribe for a disease because of the peculiar manifestations which are common to all cases of the same disease. The remedy must be selected to fit the special symptoms pre-, sented by the individual patient. When so selected, the remedy fits the disease as the wing of the bird fits the air. Any other method of prescribing is as likely to result in misfits as would happen in a ready made shoe store if the ridiculous rule prevailed that to every soldier customer a No. 8 shoe should be sold, to every blacksmith, a No. 9 and to every farmer a No. 10. Homeopathy is exact in its methods and employs no ready made garments to fit its patrons, regardless of form, height and station. Every garment is made to order and is fitted only after careful con- sideration of many patterns.
DISEASE INCREASING.
In the language of Dean flinsdale of my own college, I do not wish to consume my entire time in an arraignment of the profession of which I am, at least legally, a qualified member. The conclusion drawn is, in part, that the physi- cians have been human, and in spite of whatever liberal training they are supposed to have had, their horizon has been neither regular nor broad. Of course, old school mag- nanimity has often shown itself, Dr. Hinsdale continues. A few years ago the American Medical Association held its meeting in the city of St. Paul. At that meeting its learned president. Doctor Charles A. L. Reed, proclaimed a new school medicine. One without dogma, gross medication, absurd attenuations, ridiculous anti-mineralism, with refined pharmacy and a more rational therapy. A science in which all may delve, a school of human tolerance and honesty, without premium upon personal prerogative, no proclamation of completeness, that recognized the progressive revelation of truth and that **greets him who thinks, though he think error.*' The doctor wishes to live in a democracy of medi- cine. Others of his class have given expression to similar views, but, perhaps, with less liberality. Their drift is en- tirely away from medicine as a system of therapeutics, in favor of the abandonment of drugs altogether preventive And toward preventive medicine.
12 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE
*'No one restrains the ardent desire for the full develop ment of the new science, Preventive Medicine, or the hope that the time may come when the causes of diseases are stamped out. When tuberculosis, malaria, yellow fever, cholera, plague, typhus and typhoid, small-pox, djphtheria^ and all the other infections and contagions, together with drug poisonings, like slavery and feudalism are only known historically to have prevailed among men, the medical mil- lennium will have arrived and the doctor, as he has been known or as we know him will be extinct. Until that takes place, the functions of the ordinary practitioner of medicine will be with the concrete, actual presence of the results of infection and other morbid changes.
**A pitiable tale is told by Manager of United Hebrew Charities, Prankel, of New York. Prom the census reports he demonstrates that the death rate per 100,000 for the most common diseases increased during the decade between 1890' and 1900. In only three diseases out of a list of fourteen was there a decrease, viz.^ cholera infantum, diphtheria and consumption. The decrease in diphtheria the doctor will certainly attribute to the use of antitoxin, which is not par- ticularly a sanitary method of treatment. Had he consulted the rate for the British Islands for the same time, he would have found an increase in diphtheria rather than a decrease. The decrease for consumption is probably due to sanitary precaution, but tuberculosis is not the only pulmonary plague. The death rate for pneumonia is about the same as that for consumption. In some localities, pneumonia, as a cause of death, leads consumption. The percentage of decrease in consumption for the period referred to was about twelver the percentage of increase for pneumonia, for the same period, was eleven. The decrease of the one pulmonary- disease is offset by the increase of the other.
Sanitary science has kept back many pestilential diseases from our shores, and seemed to bring under pretty complete control some others that were one time formidable; but it cannot be successfully maintained that all the changes in the character of diseases, the ebbs and flows of disease tides
WHAT IS HOMEOPATHY? 13
are due to, or are controllable by, human efforts. Long periods of time have elapsed . when certain diseases have seemed almost suppressed, as we would say, naturally, owing to conditions that we do not understand. These same diseases break forth again with violence and sweep over large portions of the world.
*'In spite of all that is being done to purify water sup- plies, in 1900 there were 3,405 deaths from typhoid fever per 100,000, against 3,210 for 1890; an increase of 189 per 1,000,- 000. It is probable that typhoid fever has been more pre- valent for the past two years than it was when the statistics embodied in the last census report were gathered.
'* During the statistical period referred to there was an increase in diseases of the stomach of 338 per 100,.000. The increase in cancer is alarming, having arisen from 2,203 per 100,000 to 2,837, an increase of 636. Diseases of the circula- tory system, by which is meant organic defects in heart, arteries and veins, are becoming more deadly both in this country and in England. During 1900 1,347 more deaths from heart disease occurred than in 1890. There were as many again cases of angina pectoris in 1900 as there were ten years before. The number of deaths from diabetes also doubled. Bright's disease and other diseases of the excre- tory organs ^increase annually by a large percentage. Acci- dents and suicides, which, of course, are not diseases in the ordinary sense, are increasing out of proportion to the pop- ulation. Convulsions, which is largely a condition occurring in childhood, seem to decrease, but other disorders of the nervous system, as causes of death, increased by ten per cent. These statistics may be taken by the young physician as encouragement, for they seem to promise him lucrative business for quite a time yet."
When hygienic improvements, serum -therapy, electric- ity, tubbing, dietetics and other experiments have failed to accomplish all their several promulgators have promised for them, taking advantage of all there is good in them, Dean Hinsdale asks, is it not worth while to turn again to internal medication as a mea^s of curing a part of what cannot be
14 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
prevented? Of all branches of medicine, therapeutics has been the most neglected. As has been said it has been abandoned by a great many, if credence is to be placed uxxm their utterances.
In the nature of things, then, the public must turn to Homeopathy because it embodies and represents faith in therapeutics. It is, indeed, the therapeutic specialty. But the layman investigating Homeopathy for the first time has a right to ask whether or not it is a success in practice. Homeopathy must prove beyond cavil that its system is at least the equal of any other in percentage of cures, short duration of disease and low death rate. It is not incumbent upon it to show more, but it is greatly to its advantage to prove, not alone its equality to other systems, but also, if possible, its superiority. If its results are equal to those shown by another system it may be accused of adopting the methods of that school; if they are superior, however, either the practice is actually different or else the homeopathist has a way of more successfully employing the methods of the other school. In either event the public will be satis- fied to give preference to the homeopathic physician.
SUPERIORITY OF HOMEOPATHY.
Statistics are not always reliable, but for the purpose of the present discussion there seems no other way of present- ing the truthfulness of this claim. The cities of Baltimore, Cincinnati, Brooklyn, Detroit, St. Paul, Providence, Denver, Indianapolis, Syracuse, Rochester, Nashville and Seattle, are selected as fairly representing every variety of climate and every phase of therapeutic practice. Because the fig- ' ures are at hand, the year 1894 is chosen and it is no more favorable to the argument than any other year would prove to be.
During that year the practitioners of the dominant school in these cities had a death rate in measles of 3 per cent.; the homeopathic profession lost 0.8 per cent. The mortality rate in scarlet fever was 9.24 i)er cent, for the dom- inant school; 5.66 per cent, for the homeopathic. The ty- phoid fever mortality was high for both schools, for the
WHAT IS HOMEOPATHY? 15
dominant school 22.56 per cent., for the homeopathic 15.15 per cent. These figures are duplicated wherever the two schools are brought in competition, as for instance in Cook County Hospital, Chicago, at the Uuiversity of Michigan, the University of Iowa and the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Edwards, of this city, professor in North Western Medical College, in his 1907 book on practice, gives the allo- pathic mortality in pneumonia in private practice as 10 to 38 per cent., in hospitals 33 to 50 per cent., in asylums as from 50 to 100 per cent. Dr. Dewey, of Michigan University, is authority for the statement that the homeopathic mortality^ taking all these classes together is less than 6 per cent.
Not only is the death rate very much reduced by hom- eopathic prescribing, but also the average duration of the disease is shortened. This fact was shown by some figures prepared by the British government, whereby it was demon- strated that a homeopathic hospital at Melbourne, Australia, treated as many cases of typhoid fever as a hospital of the dominant school having twice as many beds.
It is useless to multiply figures: they all lead to the same conclusion. The eminent Dr. Osier, recently called to Oxford College from Johns Hopkins University, admitted that the homeopathic school is at least the equal of his own when he said: **Nobody has ever claimed that the mortali- ty among homeopathic practitioners was greater than those of the regular school." But the homeopathic profession claims, and without fear of successful contradiction, that the mortality rate among its practitioners is far less than the mortality in the dominant school, and the duration of the disease much shorter.
' SUBSTITUTION.
It is customary for the homeopathic physician to dis- pense his own medicines. This fact is sometimes put for- ward as an argument in the line of economy, for the em- ployment of this school. There is an advantage in the prac- tice greater than the saving in drug bills; the physician him- self becomes responsible for the purity and the accurate preparation of the remedy. Undoubtedly many a practi-
16 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
tioner of the dominet school, depending upon the pharma- cist for the proper filling of the prescription and trusting that it will fall into competent hands, suffers defeat in the struggle with disease because of "substitution," careless or incompetent preparation, or delay in filling his prescrip- tion.
The Medical Record stated that a great number of Chica- go apothecaries are liable to prosecution for selling adulte- rated drugs. This prominent journal of the dominant school, in the issue of Dec. 17, 1904, says; **Chemical tests have been made and evidence produced which proves the presence of alien matter in many prescriptions calling for pure drugs. In nearly 20 per cent, of the samples obtained there was not even a trace of the drug called for by the pre- scription. The tests, conducted by Dr. John A. Wesener, showed the following: 23 prescriptions, no trace of the drug called for; 66 prescriptions, 80 per cent, impurities; 10 pre- scriptions, 20 per cent, impurities; 9 prescriptions, 10 i>er cent, impurities; 81 prescriptions, pure.'' A similar scandal, involving New York City druggists, recently stirred the medical profession and the laity of that metropolis.
Besides avoiding the possibility of substitution there certainly is an advantage to the patient in having the rem- • edy prepared on the spot and the directions regarding its use made clear by explanations of the physician himself. Many mistakes and many failures in medical practice have resulted from the indirect methods of the pharmacist and the brief, unsatisfactory directions written on the label of the medicine.
OPIATES.
While the homeopathic physician may admit the oc- cassional necessity for prescribing medicines liable to induce drug habits, if continuously used, yet, as a matter of fact, this procedure is rare in his practice. On the other hand, there is no denying that the more careless of the practitioners of the dominant school have been responsible for the de- velopment of such habits and have made inebriates of all too many patients.* While this criticism may perhaps apply to-
It is well known that chronic constipation results from the abuse of laxatives and cathartics, too commonly prescribed by physicians of the domiuant school.
WHAT IS HOMEOPATHY? 17
-some individual members of the homeopathic profession, it cannot be passed upon the system itself, as, it is sad to say, may be done with the dominant school. This writer has no desire to say harsh, unkind, and above all else, untrue things of the other school, but it must be apparent that; with the greater wealth of remedies and the greater confidence in therapeutic effects, the homeopathic prescriber has far less temptation to resort to purely palliative methods of treat- ment. For these reasons he rarely employes the hypodermic syringe and as rarely administers anodynes of any sort. Of necessity, therefore, the victims of induced habits are seldom found in homeopathic families.
DOGMATISM IN MEDICINE.
The Journal of the American Medical Association is published in this city. In issue of Nov. 30th, 1907, in an editorial on **Dogmatism in Medicine," is found this language:
The recent action of the Philadelphia County Medical Society, in •opening its raoks to all legally qualified reputable physicians who rep- udiate exclusive dogmas has not been received in the best temper by some officers of the local homeopathic organization, which has taken occasion to reiterate specifically by resolutions its faiih in the exclusive Jaws of cure. It makes very liitle difference, however, whether the resolutions were passed or not. Only the progressive men m all schools are wanted for recognition, and such are coming over to rational medicine hU the tim •, and the worthiest element in the membership of the homeo- pathic medical profession will find its way, sooner or later,into less nar- Tow and more scientific associations. The element in the luity to whom homeopathy is a sort of religion, is decreasing and will ultimately dis- appear, and with it the reason for the existenc*^ of the special homeo- pathic school.
It is, perhaps, bad taste for a guest of the evening to find fault with one of the brilliant men of an entertaining profession. But this failure to appreciate the true mission of the homeopathic profession is due, in all probability, to mental confusion regarding all the features of the homeo- pathic doctrine. Admitting then, that the writer quoted is honest, though ignorant of our profession, you will excuse your speaker, he is sure, if he criticises this editorial and attempts briefly to state the facts involved.
The perpetuity and promulgation of Homeopathy are related to a greater question than the possible affiliation of our practitioners with *'less narrow and more scientific associations," to quote the Chicago editor. Underlying the whole problem is a great sociological, humanitarian, yes, even a moral question. The homeopathic physician believes the application of similia suailibus curantur offers suffering humanity a means of escape from pain, shortens the duration
18 THE MEDICAL ADVANCE.
of human ailments, and promotes the longevity of the race. Believing this, would we be honest men, could we face hu- manity, could we stifle the accusations of conscience itself, if we failed in season and out of season, to impress upon the public the superiority of the homeopathic practice? It is not because we fear the perpetuity of a natural law. We know a natural law will persist and continue to operate even though we neglect to talk about it, or seek to promulgate it. It is not because we fear our position as prophets of the cause may be assailed. It is on higher grounds than this that we take our stand. Love of humanity is more impor- tant to us than "less narrow and more scientific associations.'* The amenities of life, of course, are more attractive than the sacrifices. It is comfortable and delightful to be in the swim. But greater than these is the satisfaction of doing what we feel to be our duty to God's children.
It is concientiously believed that the superiority of the homeoi)atliic practice has been proven in every disease, in every climate and in every season. Yet it must not be imagined that the homeopathic physician looks askance ui)on the advances of general medicine. The sputum examination, for instance, in the diagnosis of throat and lung diseases, is given the same importance in the homeopathic world that it receives elsewhere. The most radical opponent of Home- opathy would not say that in the choice of a drug the presence or abscence of the germ would influence his selec- tion of a curative remedy. It would simply decide the question of climate or the general disposition of the patient. It means at least that much to the homeopathic prescriber. The laboratory methods of science receive the same patron- age and the same encouragement in the homeopatliic school as elsewhere. In surgery, in gynecology, in ophthalmology , the same careful technique, the same skill, the same methods are everywhere employed. No one dare claim that the re- sults of surgery in other schools are superior to those gained by the homeopathic operator.
The American Institute of Homeopathy has officially de- creed that ''A homeopathic physician is one who adds to his knowledge of medicine a special knowledge of therapeutics. All that pertains to the great field of medicine is his by tra- dition, by inheritance, by right." The patient, therefore, who employs the homeopathic physician gives himself all that the dominant school offers and in addition, the wonder- ful resources of the homeopathic Materia Medica. He loses nothing except the greater probability of escaping surgical procedure by the saving grace of a more potent medical
WHAT IS HOMEOPATHY? 19
armament. He reduces his chance of mortality and decreases the duration of his illness. All that pertains to chemical methods, to bacteriological research, to surgical ideas, to the great field of general medicine — all these belong to the homeopathic physician to give to his patient, together with the possibilities of the homeopathic remedy. In the language of the Chicago Inter-Ocean editorial, truly *'They who have not tried Homeopathy have not half tried to get well."
CONCLUSION.
I have the feeling that a physician to truly succeed must be conscious of his high calling. To enter into the sacred precincts of the home, to come into intimate contact with the growth and development of the family, to deal with human life; indeed, all the relations of the physician to his profession, make it necessary that he should be a man of the greatest good sense, of the highest character, of the widest bulture, and of the tenderest heart. We read in holy writ that on one occasion, Moses, observing the burning bush, which burned and yet was not consumed, turned aside out of mere curiosity to inspect the great sight. He found himself in a sacred place. The voice of God calling to him from the mid.st of the bush, said: ''Draw not nigh hither; put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." So, it seems to me that when a man enters the medical profession, he should take up his life's work in the manner demanded of Moses on this oc- casion, and in the same devout spirit that the priest of old entered the Holy of Holies.
This picture perhaps represents the ideal, but I believe Samuel Hahnemann in every sense possessed the qualities which I have mentioned. The earnestness of his writings anri many expressions from his pen indicate this. I am the fortunate possessor of a letter which Hahnemann wrote to one of his patients; in this he mentions his dependance upon the God of Hosts and his reliance upon divine guidance in the practice of his profession. His description in the Qr- ganon of the ideal physician is undoubtedly an unconscious autobiography. The splendid dignity of the man, the self poise, the patience in tribulation, the modesty in success, the cool headed judgment in the emergencies of practice, and, above all else, his abiding faith in the efficiency of medicine, all indicate that Hahnemann was indeed a physician whom every practitioner may well select as his ideal and his example.
In common with others here tonight, it has been my pleasure to journey to Switzerland and to pass a night on the Rigi. Next morning to the music of chattering teeth
20 THE MEDICAID ADVANCE.
we climb to the observation tower and await the arrival of Old Sol. It requires a vivid imagination to make one's self believe he is on a mountain top and that far below him stretches out a wonderful landscape. In the fog and clouds, objects fifty feet away are indistinct. Directly, however, a rosy hue appears in the east. The clouds, rolling away form indistinct and grotesque images to startle our anxious eyes. The red light in the eastern sky stretches more and more widely across the horizon. An exclamation causes us to turn our backs on the expected sun and there! Away off to the west, higher than the rest and first to catch the outrid- ing rays of the approaching orb of day, is the Jungfrau! She stands in appearance like molten gold, solitary in her grandeur, yet still the young bride adorned for her husband. As we gaze in breathless amazement at the supernal grandeer of the view, suddenly, away to the north, another mountain peak comes out of the clouds to give company to the first. One by one, like iK)ints of golden nails driven by the unseen hand of some mighty giant, come the mountain tops from the unrolling mists which hide the earth. Then as we turn to face the easti suddenly, with one mighty effort the sun forces its way above the horizon and sends its golden beams in a flood of glorious light across the expectant world. Miles upon miles of the grandest scenery upon the globe are revealed to us. Green valleys, shimmering lakes, sparkling waterfalls, rug- ged mountains, verdure covered hills, dazzling snow peaks — a moment ago like gold from the fire — all these things in nature are now seen as God made them in the beauty of his handiwork! In the world of knowledge, the traveler, prepared by proper study to appreciate and properly correlate the achievements of history, has before him a prospect more inspiring than any Alpine view. The sun of Medical Science for untold centuries was far below the borizen of human vision, and for many centuries more was obscured by the clouds of imperfect knowledge. Even when the rosy hue in the east indicated the near approach of the day of knowledge, the mists of materialism distorted verities into grotesque and misshapen shadows. But when the orb of truth shall have swept aside the last cloud of prejudice and revealed the scientific world as it truly is, among the moun- tain tops of greatness, like unto the glorious Jungfrau, dazzling in her beauty, there, the most attractive feature of the whole medical landscape, the first to intercept tl\e rays of scientific therapeutics and the last to loose the eye of the honest critic, will stand forth Samuel Hahnemann, physician and scientist. University of Michigan, Dec. 1907.
HC MFSt ♦
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