Dr.Hubert-Begenne, in his Traitement Homoeopathique des Maladies des Yeux, declares himself uneqivocally for the curability of cataract with purely internal treatment, that is, in a certain number of cases.
Dr. Bernard continues: “That which Boerhaave, one may suppose, thought to himself when he wrote Cataractas Mercurius Solvit; that which others have thought to obtain by the prolonged use of Belladonna or of Pulsatilla, or by energetic revulsion in the neighborhood of the eye, we may say, can be better obtained with medicaments homoeopathically appropriated to the state of the subject, and amongst which we cite Conium, Phosphorus, Pulsatilla, Causticum, Cannabis, Calcarea, and Silicea, administered for a long time in infinitesimal doses, and consequently always without danger.”
Mille faits negatifs ne sauraient infirmer un fait positif.
Dr. Anastasio Garcia-Lopez, Medical Director of the Mineral Water Establishment of Segura, published a memoir on the effects of the Segura waters upon cataract. His statistical table was thus: Of 118 patients suffering from cataract, 14 were cured; 65 relieved; 15 received no benefit; and of 24, the result remained unknown. These were treated between the years 1859 and 1868.
A discussion on the Homoeopathic Treatment of Cataract took place at a sitting of the Cercle Medical Homoeopathique des Flandres, on January 30th, 1879.
Dr. Martiny had treated three cases of hard cataract successfully with medicines; he had not only succeeded in arresting the progress of the affection, but had got the patient well enough to do without atropine. One of his cases he treated with Silicea alternated with Phosphorus; the second case with Calcarea, and the third improved under Cannabis.
Dr. De Keghel had obtained a very manifest amelioration in three cases of soft cataract: one with Sulphur 30; another in an obese lady, with Sulphur followed by Calcarea; the third case, in a lady at the change of life, with Pulsatilla 30.
Dr. Schroen published the following case in Allium H. Ztg. This case, and several of the following, I take abridged from Peters:
A tailor aged sixty, affected with capsulo-lenticular cataract of both eyes, could barely distinguish light from darkness. Magnes. Carb. 30 was given once a week in alternation with the essence of Cannabis Sativa. Two months from that time he could read large-sized print. He received several other remedies, but no further improvement was effected.
Mrs. B., aged 31, was left after typhus fever with weakness of the eyes and eyesight. Everything appeared as if she were looking through a mist; she could only see outlines of objects, and did not dare to walk out alone. The left eye was most affected; behind the pupil there was an opacity of the lens, the bulb of the eye not affected, the pupil responded to the influence of the light; menses was suppressed. Pulsatilla, Sepia, and Cannabis, were used without benefit. Lycopodium (4) was then given, and six days afterwards the menses reappeared; in two weeks more there was decided improvement of the sight, so that she could discern smaller objects, and in three weeks her sight was entirely restored.-(Dr. Diez in Hyg., 18, 457).
Dr. Becker treated a carpenter who had been affected for some time with tetters about the face, which disappeared after a while without his taking any medicine, but his sight became impaired; everything appeared in a place different from its real position, so that he was unable to use his tools properly.
The pupils presented a misty, smoky appearance, as in the forming stage of cataract. He received Sp. Sulph., ten drops three times a day; the old eruption reappeared, and he now saw everything in the right position, but otherwise his sight was not improved.
Then on March 22nd, Aq. Silicea was administered in doses of seven drops daily, and this was followed by a great improvement in his sight. He perspired easily, and had much perspiration about the feet. Deposit in urine like lime.
July.-A rheumatic inflammation of the foot set in(plb.)
The same gentleman treated a lady whose feet generally perspired freely, and then became very dry, and thereafter she noticed that her sight became affected in such a manner that everything she looked at appeared to be enveloped in a cloud; she could only read large print.
Aq. Silic was administered in doses of ten drops twice a day. The accustomed perspiration of the feet returned again in about a month. Her eyesight became much better. Two months later, at the time of menstruation, her eyes became worse again, and she then took twenty drops Aq. Silicea, three times a day, after which she improved very much, could read better, and continued taking the same remedy.
I have before referred to Dr. Caspari’s case. It is this: “Mrs. D., aged 36, had had small-pox while a child, and her eyes have been affected ever since.
“Her symptoms were: Tears from the right eye, of a corroding, salty nature, which caused constant irritation of the lower lid and cheek; trichiasis of the few remaining eyelashes of the upper lid; conjunctiva pale red; varicose vessels running to the cornea; sometimes a sensation as if sand were in the eye; agglutination of the lids during the night: for six months past she had simple light-gray, lenticular cataract; she could still distinguish very large objects at a distance of four yards.
“After she had taken Pulsatilla 9, there was subsidence of the inflammation and photophobia; her sight was improved; the lens became clearer at its circumference, and the pupil was distinguishable; after a further use of Pulsatilla there was observable only a small, grayish speck in the lens; the circumference was fully transparent, and the sight only remained slightly obscured.
“The essence of Cannabis, and lastly, Opium 6, rendered the lens perfectly transparent.”
Dr. Caspari examined the eye on several subsequent occasions, but there was no return of any of the former symptoms.
Dr. Argenti published the following case (Arch, 19, 1, 77):
“A young man, aged 20, otherwise healthy, except that he was subject to inflammation of the eyes and weak sight.
“During one of these attacks, which had lasted for sometime, he was found in the following condition: conjunctiva of both eyes much inflamed and very much swollen, resembling a piece of raw meat; great intolerance of light; lids agglutinated in the morning; pressure on the eyes, especially on opening them; slight almost extinct.
“Belladonna 30, in often-repeated doses, subdued in two weeks the inflammatory state of the eyes, but produced no change in the eyesight. After a more critical examination, a cataract in each eye was noticed.
“Belladonna was continued. without benefit. Finally Silicea 30, once in six or eight days, perfectly re-established the eyesight in three months.”
Perhaps I have already given a sufficient number of cases of the medicinal cure of cataract to show that the thing is at least possible. Some of my readers, who may have read thus far, may be already convinced of this; but others may be skeptical, and these I must punish with yet a few more cases. At all events, I shall give plenty of work to such as may attempt to explain them all away.
“Mrs. E. became afflicted with arthritic ophthalmia and leucomatous opacity of the cornea, and after the gradual clearing off of the opacity, the lens was noticed to be of the color of a beginning cataracta glaucomatosa.
“After receiving Phosphorus 3), the lens returned gradually to its former healthy state.” (Arch., 8, 3, 156, by Dr. Schuler.)
“A gentleman, aged 38, in consequence of a cold in the face, became affected with an inflammation of the left eye, with the following symptoms: Towards the cornea an arterial network was noticed, over which were coursing some larger vessels towards the circumference of the cornea; drawing pain between the shoulder-blades and right upper arm. Bryonia and Pulsatilla were given without benefit; four days later, however, the inflammation had somewhat diminished, but was followed by nebula of the left eye, in consequence of which the patient could distinguish large letters only; behind the pupil could be noticed an opacity of the capsule of the crystalline lens; the pupil was round, and the iris was also unchanged; there was no photophobia, and no secretion from the eye. The accompanying symptoms were, pressure and distension over the region of the stomach, extending as far as the right breast and lower lumbar regions. Great uneasiness, pressure in the forehead, feeling of heaviness and drawing in the thigh, and sleeplessness.
“Nux was given, without benefit; then Bellad. 3 was used night and morning for two days, with such surprising results that every vestige of disease disappeared.” (All Homoeopathische Ztg., 37. 340. Lembke.)
“M., aged 20, tinsmith by trade, was affected a year-and-a- half ago with the worst kind of itch, and subsequently with fever and ague. Sometimes he had tearing pains in the left eye, and some itching of the skin, to which he paid very little attention; suddenly he noticed, however, that he had become completely blind in the left eye.
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.