“Get the strong, strange, peculiar symptoms,” (it will bear repeating!) “and then SEE TO IT THAT THERE ARE NO GENERALS IN THE CASE THAT OPPOSE OR CONTRADICT.’
And again he says, ” When looking over a list of symptoms, first of all discover three, four, or five or six (or as many as may exist) symptoms that are strange, rare and peculiar: work these out first. these are the highest generals, because strange rare and peculiar must apply to the patient himself. When you have settled upon three, four or six remedies that have these first generals, then find out which of this list is like the rest of the symptoms, common and particular.
“When you have taken a case on paper, you must settle upon the symptoms that CANNOT be omitted in each individual. If he is worse from motion, you cannot omit that, unless it is common, which means if due to inflammation. (Every inflamed and swollen joint is worse from motion, hence in that case, aggravation from motion is not worth much). Worse from consolation, she hates her mother, shed hates her children. she is worse from music, she is sad before the M. Period, she is chilly during menses, during stool, during urination., Eliminate these from, she is always too warm, worse in a warm room, craves cool air, all symptoms come on when she is dressed too warmly, etc., etc. Then see how many remedies you have; perhaps only three or four, perhaps only one. Notice whether there is anything in the case that opposes this one., If there is nothing, then give it. If you see the keynotes of Arsenicum, next see to it that the patient is chilly, sensitive to air, fearful, restless, weak, pale, must have the pictures on the wall hung straight, and Arsenicum will cure.
“Or if the keynotes look like Pulsatilla, see to it that she is not chilly, that she likes the windows open, wants she is not chilly, that she likes the windows open, wants to walk in the open air, is better from motion. tearful, gentle. The great trouble with keynotes is that they are misused. The keynotes are often characteristic symptoms; but if the keynotes are taken as final, and the generals do not conform, then will come the failures.” And now, at last, to the REPERTORY! We know what we want; let us see where to find it,
In the Repertory it is a question of Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last the MENTALS in the first section of the book, the GENERALITIES, (or GENERALS) at the end, in the last section. These are what most import us. Many a chronic case may be worked out on mentals and generals only, and the particulars will be found to fit in, in a marvellous way.
Observe that in the Mentals at the beginning, in the Generals at the end, and in all the intermediate sections, from cover to cover, the same arrangement holds; so that we can master it at once, and for all.
Everywhere it is the same
First, TIME.
Next, CONDITIONS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER.
Then, when it is a question of pain, LOCALITY, CHARACTER, EXTENSION.
Take a mental symptom from the first section of the book; take anxiety.
First, always, TIME, ANXIETY; morning. afternoon, at night; at some special hour.
Then, conditions under which anxiety has been observed, in alphabetical order ANXIETY; in open air, in bed; as of a guilty conscience; during fever; for others; before menses; about salvation; on waking, and so on
Now turn to the last section of the Repertory, the Generalities, or GENERALS. Here we have the aggravation, ameliorations and reactions of the patient as precisely the same arrangement is found.
First, in regard to TIME. the patient is generally worse in the morning, at noon, at night, at such hour. (Where nothing is specified, aggravation is always understood. “On waking”. mean worse on waking. It is normal to be ameliorated by sleep. We do not repertorise the normal!)
Then, after time, come the general conditions of the patient as a whole, in alphabetical order. these always apply to the patient generally. (The aggravations of his various parts, head, skin, stomach, limbs, occur earlier in the book, each in its own section.)
Among these Generalities at the end of the book we find worse and better from bath and washing; from cold; from wet and dry; from position, motion, pressure, eating, sleep, and so on. Here also, inserted alphabetically among the rest, you will find nearly all that there is of pathology in the book, and that is not much. Also certain conditions in their alphabetical place, such as faintness; convulsions; fullness; pain in general-its onset, gradual or sudden; and its disappearance in the same way, and their combinations; its character, burning, pressing, shooting, etc.., and its direction, pains that shoot up, down, inwards, outwards, across.
(Elsewhere under different headings, in their different sections we must look for particular pains, located in head, limb, joint or organ.)
But under these broader headings, such as faintness, convulsions, you will again find qualifications, aggravations and ameliorations; and in all of these, down to smallest sub- sections, the same order reigns, down to first, then CONDITIONS, alphabetically. (AS FAINTNESS morning; after morning after midnight; at such an hour; during fever; before or after eating; on exertion; after M.P.; while standing, and a host of others.)
But there are also a few Generals scattered through the earlier sections of the book, and we must know where to look for them.
Desires and aversions in regard to foods are to be found in the section STOMACH, with hunger and thirst -these latter with their modifications and qualifications in regard to time, first, and the other conditions in alphabetical order. Observe that while hunger and of diet are placed in the section STOMACH, the aggravations and ameliorations from eating, drinking, and from different kinds of food and drink are found (most of them under the heading food) among the Generals at the end of the book.
In the same way, while the general aggravation and amelioration in regard to the menstrual function are placed in the Generalities, as we saw; all the important menstrual conditions are to be found in the section GENITALIA-FEMALE. While particulars with menstrual modifications will be found scattered from end to end of the book, as for instance, various headaches modified by menses in the section HEAD. Stomach or abdominal distresses modified by menses in the section STOMACH or ABDOMEN.
Everywhere and in everything the self-same arrangement holds The better and worse of the patient as a whole occurs always under the Generalities: the better or worse of a part or organ (the particular) is always found in its appropriate place, whether under HEAD, STOMACH, CHEST, EXTREMITIES.
Between the MENTALS at the end, the intermediate bulk of the book, with these few exceptions, is concerned with PARTICULARS; that is to say, not with the patient as a whole, but with his various parts.
Let us now take pain in the extremities, the most alarming and bewildering of all to the neophite; for it occupies more than 120 pages of the book, and is absolutely hopeless without knowledge of the arrangement.
If starts, as usual, with what is more general. PAIN GENERALLY IN THE EXTREMITIES. FIrst as to TIME, then the usual modifying conditions in alphabetical order, as-during chill;when lying;during M.P.; rheumatic; alternating with different ailments; wandering and shifting; in wet weather, and so on.
NEXT, pAIN, as LOCALISED GENERALLY; in bones. flexor muscles; joints, nails, tendons; always qualified as to various conditions, first as regards time, and the rest in alphabetical order.
Then PAIN as localised in the UPPER LIMBS GENERALLY, right; left; with the same conditions following; first as to time, then the rest alphabetically, then EXTENSION.
After finishing the upper limb as a whole, Kent now takes its parts, SHOULDER, UPPER ARM, ELBOW, FOREARM, WRIST, HAND, FINGERS, with all their details, to individual fingers, with joints, nails tips; each time with conditions in the same order- time; other conditions alphabetically, then extension.
The upper limbs so far disposed of, the LOWER LIMBS are now taken in precisely the same way, with the same detail, and the same arrangement; and that ends localities generally; and Kent next proceeds to consider the CHARACTER OF THE PAIN, and that ends localities generally; and Kent next proceeds to consider the CHARACTER OF THE PAIN,A ND UNDER THE VARIOUS HEADINGS, ACHING, BURNING, CUTTING, DRAWING, & C., the whole thing is gone into again!
For instance-
ACHING, generally, with its TIME and other conditions.
ACHING in BONES, JOINTS, EXTENSORS, FLEXORS.
ACHING IN UPPER LIMBS, with time, other conditions, extension.
Then ACHING in all the LOCALITIES in order, first of upper limb, then of lower, with in each case, the usual conditions, first as to time, then the rest in alphabetical order, then extension.
So through all the various kinds of pain, burning, pressing, shooting, tearing;l each being carried down through all the localities, from the larger and more general, to the smaller and more particular, with always, time aggravations, other conditional aggravations and extension. Truly an amazing work.
