In the March 1931 number of the Recorder Mr.H.C.,Roberts asks “How the laity can tell, other than by trial and error,the true Homoeopathic physician . . . from those who use the words similia similibus curentur for nothing but a grand hailing sign”.
This question is so simple and straight forward that one must get all set to answer it before fully realizing what a poser it is.
I propose to do a little “snipping” on it before risking a direct attack.
The average layman, and I care not what his education or position may be, is a very simple hearted soul to whom personalities mean much and principles of medicine very little. q Ninety-give per cent of all patients have faith (more or less) in their doctor. “My doctor says this and my doctor says that”.
A physician can, if he will, gradually instruct certain of his patients in the rationale of his particular medical view point, but even then their faith will be fixed more in him than in the system of medicine he represents.
Having disposed of ninety-five per cent of he laity what about that portion of the five per cent who know and want Hahnemannian homoeopathy? Such can, upon careful inquiry, sometimes contact a known follower of Hahnemann. There are some much scattered here and there over the land in spite of the stifling dictatorship exercised by the allopathic medical cult.
The medical college from which a man graduates affords on clue as to the methods or the principles he will later follow in his practice. Many a graduate from so-called homoeopathic institutions is more truly a follower of Enrich and Posterior than of Hahnemann.
How then can a real homoeopathist be recognized either by his colleagues or by the discriminating layman,
Only by studying the doctor and noting well all the symptoms.
Note:Symptoms common to all doctors such as the air of self-confidence, the scientific approach,etc., have been purposely omitted as they are of no selective value.
1. The kind of investigations and examination made by the doctor.
(a) When and how patient was first taken ill?.
(b) What were the first symptoms noted by patient or his. family?.
(c) Inquires in detail as to present symptoms,noting. particularly what aggravates and ameliorates the patient.
(d) Pays especial attention to eliciting and mental symptoms present in the case. (Highly characteristic but do not confuse with psycho-analyst).
(e) Very apt to inquire as to any marked desires or. aversions in respect to food and drink. Also as to what. foods aggravate or ameliorate. (One of the keynotes of a homoeopathician).
(f) Informs himself as to the patients reaction to heat and. cold, to motion and rest, to the open air,etc. Whether. better or worse after sleep,time of aggravation, etc. (This kind of inquiry is almost pathognomonic of a HOMOEOPATHIST. In fact it is “strange, rare and peculiar” and therefore “characteristic”.)
2. Physical Examination:.
Sometimes careful, sometimes perfunctory,sometimes obviously of minor importance in the physicians mind to the symptomatic investigation above outlined. (The reverse is often observed-asks no questions,gets busy right away examining, percussing,auscultating,testing- he may be a diagnostician,a surgeon or a specialist but he is no homoeopathist.) 3.Laboratory Examinations:.
If properly co-ordinated with the symptomatic studies and. the physical examination well and good; but if stressed. out of all proportion and to the neglect of the. subjective and objective symptoms, our friend has at. best but causal interest in the law of similars.
4.The Prescription:.
(Affords a good opportunity for differentiation).
(a) Writes out a regular prescription and says, “Get this filled at any drug store”. (He may be a jolly good fellow but the chances of getting the similimum are certainly slim.).
(b) Leaves a bottle of “horse medicine” and some husky. looking tablets that can only be swallowed with the aid. of a “chaster”. (Suppose he did graduate from one of. our homoeopathic colleges.).
(c) Advises immediate operation or perhaps counsels waiting. until the acute symptoms subside and then operating.
(This man is a surgeon,or at least surgically inclined.).
(d) Advises a course of serum treatment. (Hes got the bug. but its not the homoeopathic breed.).
(e) Asks for two tumblers half full of water. Puts strong. looking and strong tasting medicine of different kinds. in each and orders than taken in alternation every two hours. (This doctor needs to study homoeopathic philosophy.).
(f) Gives a “sugar powder” dry on the tongue and deftly from. another vial makes up some more “sugar powders” to be. taken every so often or he may fix up same “water. medicine”, or may leave a vial of pellets to be taken as. ordered.
If would seem that we have found him at last for while we cannot absolutely prove if the evidence is that the doctor believes in the single remedy, the potentized drug,the minimum dose and Saccharum Lactis as often as may appear necessary.
Our doctor has taken the case according to the principles long ago laid down by Samuel Hahnemann and his method of prescribing has not disappointed us. The totality of the symptoms point to his being a Hahnemannian and one well-grounded in homoeopathic philosophy.
May success ever crown his efforts.
PHILADELPHIA,.
Eugene passed away at his country home on Spring Hill, Tuscarora Township, Bradford County, PA. He had been in ill health for several months. His wife, the former Caroline Davis, whom he had married in Philadelphia in 1910, had passed away in 1961. They spent most of their marriage lives in Swarthmore, PA.
Dr. Underhill was a member of the United Lodge of Theosophy, a member of the Philadelphia County Medical Society, and the Pennsylvania Medical Society. He was also the editor of the Homœopathic Recorder.