THE SECOND REMEDY
The first remedy having done all that it can, we must proceed to choose the second one. If the symptoms came in the order a, b, c, d and e, and after a dose of an antipsoric remedy we find great improvement for 6 for 8 weeks, with the disappearance of symptoms e, d, c, and then a and b again increase and even e returns, but d and c have permanently gone; finally a new symptom f appears, so that we now have a, b, c, f; this last appearing symptom, f, is guiding and will appear in the anamnesis as best related to some medicine which has it as a characteristic. Hering says that this new symptom, f, will generally be found amongst the symptoms of the last given remedy, but only of low rank. It is on account of the appearance of this new symptom and the disappearance of d and e that the original remedy is now contraindicated.
The second remedy must bear a complementary relation to the first, and hence the last remedy, either homoeopathic, or allopathic, that has acted, forms one of the most important guides in the choice of the second remedy.
If a case has been much drugged we are often forced to give Nux as an antidote. This giving of Nux vomica, however, does not confine our choice of the remedy that is to follow to the 8 or 10 remedies which bear a complementary relation to Nux vomica, for Nux has a wide range and after giving the case will open up and you can give any remedy excepting, Zinc, which would have to be avoided.