Moreover, various substances are known to cause cataract- such as ergot, nitric acid, common salt, alcohol, santonine, and sugar; and certainly of as many different kinds.
CASE VII.-Cataract of right eye; man, aet. 61. August, 1859, Cannab. Sat., 30; September 1, Mag. Met., 30; October 30, Cannab. Sat, high potency; Nov. 9, Mag Met, high potency. The eye, dry before, is now moist, and the sight commences to improve. March 18, 1860, Sulphur, high potency; May 22, Sulphur, high potency, July 22, Caustic., 30; September 22, Sulphur, high potency. Sight clearer, but no dissolving of cataract, November 21, Silicea, high potency. Seven days after, great improvement of sight. January 5, 1861. Silicea, high potency; entire disappearance of cataract.- (Dr. Kirsch, Senr., Allgemeine Hom. Zeitung, lxxxiv. 214. From Raue.)
There is no mistake about this case; the persistent treatment persevered in from August, 1859, to January, 1861, is a worthy example to be followed. And one is very apt to be senile, at 61, especially if there is a cataract.
CASE VIII.-Cataract in a lady, aet. 60, was cured by the administration of Sulph., Pulsat., Silicea, Calcarea Carb., Baryta Carb., Ammonium Carb., and Mag. Met., given at long intervals and high attenuations.-(Dr. Kirsch, Sent., Allgemeine Homoeopathische Zeitung, 1xxxv. 44)
Here, too, we trace the hand of a great master in the therapeutic art.
CASE IX.-Cataract. Mrs. E., aet. 48; complains of heaviness of the eyelids, mist and gray fog before the eyes, and a feeling as of sand in the eyes. She was nursing a baby. In the right eye beginning of cataract. Burning in forehead; flashes in right eye; pain, as if beaten, in small of back. Sulph. 200, December, 1871. Nebulous sight, ERUPTION ON EARS; the eye becomes clearer. Feb. 1, Sulphur 400; and March 1, 1872, Caustic. 60; perfect cure- (Ibid). In fact, rapid medicinal cure of incipient cataract.
CASE X.-Woman, aet. 63; cataract in both eyes, worse in the right. October 18, 1869, Sulphur 60; January 4, 1870, Ammonium Carb. 30, and higher potencies till May. May, Calcarea Carb., high potency; July 7, Lycop., high potency; latter part of August, Mag. Carb., high potency; October 24, Baryta Carb., 30; December 21, Baryta Carb. 200. In the last two months A NUMBER OF RHAGADES APPEARED IN THE PALMS OF BOTH HANDS; the eyes got entirely clear in that time-(Ibid).
This is good honest therapeutic work of the right stamp.
CASE XI.-Cataract Dura Incipiens. A lady, aet. 67, was suddenly attacked, after taking cold, with pressing pain around the eyes, which was worse in the open air; before the eyes she constantly saw dark figures, like spider-web or lace, of the size of a hand. She had been subject to sick-headaches all her life. Sepia 3, one dose night and morning, for fourteen days. In four weeks the large dark figures were reduced to mere specks, and her general health greatly improved.-(H. Goullon Junr., Internationale Hom. Presse, 1875, p. 691. In Raue.)
Dr. Goullon, Junr, is a man of considerable reputation.
CASE XII.-Young man, aet. 20, had had the itch one year and a half ago, of which he got rid by internal and external use of medicines. Later, he had an attack of intermittent fever, which he cured with pepper and whiskey. A short time since he discovered that he could not see with his left eye. The eye had a dead look; pupil was enlarged and immovable; in the middle of the lens there was an opacity, as if it had been punctured by a needle; the lids and conjunctiva were somewhat reddened. On holding the hand quite near to the eye, he could dimly discern the figures. August 2, Sulphur 6; August 9, SEVERAL PIMPLES ON THE FACE AND ARMS. Sight better. Sulph. 6. which was repeated on the 19th, 26th, and 29th of August, and on the 3rd and 23rd of September. THERE APPEARED A NUMBER OF FURUNCLES ON THE ARMS; the eye looks natural again, and he sees as well as ever before.-(Fr. Emme-rich, Arch., XIV., iii.. p. 115. In Raue.)
In Hale’s New Remedies, 1875, vol. ii., p. 569, we read under the heading, Pulsatilla Nuttalliana: “Dr W.H. Miller, of St. Paul, Minnesota, struck with the many points of similitude between this plant and the European Anemone Pulsatilla, conceived the idea that in chemical composition and therapeutical effects they were also closely allied, if not identical. He instituted numerous experiments with a view of verifying the latter surmise, and according to his statements, they proved to be entirely successful. He claims to have established the value of this remedy in many chronic diseases of the eye, particularly cataract, amaurosis, and opacity of the cornea. Very decided advantage was also experienced from its employment in cutaneous eruptions, and in secondary syphilis.”
This latter remark, regarding its good effect in skin diseases is significant, considering that the lens and its capsule and the skin are embryologically of indentical origin.
It may be remarked that our Pulsatilla was already considered by Stoerck to be a remedy for cataract.
At this moment I have a lady patient suffering from cataract, who is taking Pulsatilla Nuttalliana.
It must not be given in too low a dilution, or it causes considerable distress at the neck of the bladder with frequent micturition.
In Hale (op.cit.), p. 671, under the head of Santonine, we read:
“It was also used in nine cases of cataract, of which four were cured, the rest not benefited.”
We will next quote from Ophthalmic Therapeutics, by Timothy F, Allen, M.D., Surgeon to the New York Ophthalmic Hospital, and George S. Norton, M.D., Surgeon to the New York Ophthalmic Hospital, and Ophthalmic and Aural Surgeon to the Homoeopathic Hospital on Ward’s Island, New York, 1876.
On p. 252, we read `A large number of cases are to be found in our literature, in which the internal administration of a few doses of the properly selected remedy has worked a wonderful cure of cataract, but the great majority of these must be taken cum grano salis, and put aside with the remark “mistaken identity.”
“We are however, certain that by a careful selection of drugs according to the homoeopathic law, and by continuing the use for a long period, we may succeed, in a large proportion of cases, in checking the progress of the disease, and are enabled to clear up a portion of the diffuse haziness, thus improving vision to a certain extent. But after degeneration of the lens fibres has taken place, no remedy will be found of avail in restoring its lost transparency and improving the sight. We must then-providing the vision is seriously impaired and it is senile or hard cataract-wait until it has become mature, when the lens should be extracted.
“The medical treatment will consist in the selection of remedies according to the constitutional symptoms observed in the patient, for the objective indication are entirely or nearly absent, and we cannot yet decide from the appearance of an opaque lens what remedy is required.
“The drugs found below have been verified by us, as having arrested the progress of the cataract: Baryta Carb., Calcarea, Causticum, Lycopodium, Mag. Carb., Phosphorus, Sepia, Silicea and Sulph.”
Now, even though we accept these statements of Drs. Allen and Norton at the same price at which they accept the like statements of others on the same subject, viz., cum grano salis, still they are of considerable weight, even allowing that they, too, are sometimes mistaken in their diagnosis. The italics are mine.
In the North American Journal of Homoeopathy, vol. xiv., 1866, p. 592, is this article:
Cataract.-Dr. Quardi, of Italy, has for several years been treating cataract with Ammonia. He gives the following case: A woman, aged 22, perceived a diminution in her power of vision. Her mother, two of her brothers, and her sister had all been afflicted with cataract. Her eyes presented a cortical opacity, which appeared greater at the circumference than towards the centre. Dr. Quadri prescribed the daily application of liquid Ammonia in a watchglass to the temples, and a few centigrammes of Hydrochlorate of Ammonia administered internally. After following this treatment for two months her eyes had so far improved as to enable her to resume her needle-work. The ophthalmoscope revealed at the same time a diminution in the extent and density of the opacity. The patient persevered in this treatment for five years, during which the affection continued to diminish; she left it off for a month, but was obliged to resume it at the end of that time, the infirmity having again gained ground; her return to the old treatment was attended with success.
From this case we may at any rate learn patience and perseverance in treatment. What the modus operandi of the Ammonia is, may not be readily determined (let us call it revulsive), but as there are numbers of cataract patients waiting for the completion of the maturation process, it would not harm them to give Dr. Quadri’s Ammonia treatment a fair trial.
The treatment of cataract with Ammonia, is, however, by no means new. Ammoniated counterirritants have been successfully used in the treatment of cataract; a very convenient form is Goudret’s Pommade Ammoniacale, certainly less objectionable than Dr. Quadri’s method.
Burnett was one of the first to speak about vaccination triggering illness. This was discussed in his book, Vaccinosis, published in 1884. He introduced the remedy Bacillinum. He authored twenty books, including the much loved "Fifty Reason for Being a Homeopath." He was the editor of The Homoeopathic World.