Cases



And now, nearly at the end of 1894, he is almost a normal boy, wildly roughing it with others in a school preparatory for Eton or Harrow.

That this boy’s life was saved by the treatment is, humanly speaking, certain, and that his physical and mental state has been very notably ameliorated is willingly conceded by all his relatives, one of whom is the headmaster of one of our public schools, who, in consequence of the course of this case, has placed his own very delicate children under my treatment.

In this case three remedies acted with very striking power- viz., Bacill., Aurum, and Fragaria vesca 0. The last-named greatly improved his mesenteric glands and his digestion.

Midsummer 1895.-Is now a fine lad, and quite well.

I will add that Levico, in 5 to 10 drop doses, in a valuable intercurrent help in grave cases where there is much debility, notably after the searching remedies such as Bacillinum.

CASE OF CONSTITUTIONAL BLIGHT DUE TO VACCINATION; ECZEMA AND ASTHMA.

A boy of 9 was brought to me in the month of June 1892 to be treated for asthma and eczema, both of a severe type. His cough and dyspnoea were dreadful, and his eczema very distressing. “He ails every week, and has to be kept in and nursed.” His teeth were rudimentary imbedded in tartar; his tonsils much enlarged; and noticing that his cervical glands on the left side were so much worse than on the right, the left side being where he had vaccination marks, I enquired how said vaccination had run its course.

“Oh, it did not seem to take, and the skin came out all over with eczema, and he has never got rid of it”

The boy is bent forward, and generally ill-grown.

Rx Thuja occid. 30.

July 8.-Much better; cough much better; skin very rough; very moist eczema of left ring-finger. Many pips; glands of both sides of the neck now equally indurated and enlarged.

Rx Bacill. CC.

August 8.-“Oh, his teeth look so much better, much of the tartar has fallen off them; *In regard to the accumulation of tartar on the teeth, already in my own first proving of Bacillin, I thereafter noticed the falling-off of two or three cakes of tartar from my lower incisors (never before or since); and in many of my published cases this curious influence of Bacillin. has been noticed.* tonsils swelled”

Rx Acid. nit. 30.

Sept. 5.-Glands nearly well; eczema about the same; pretty bad of both ring-fingers.

And thus the treatment went on till the fall of 1893, when patient ceased attending. He had up to that date several nosodes, Thuja 30, and for months a course of Bacillin.

(C., CC., and 1000).

January 1895.-His half-sister informs me that the boy is quite well, and thriving beautifully.

BLIGHTED BY SUPPRESSED RINGWORM.

Young organisms are stunted by many acute diseases: this no one denies; “he has never got over the effects of the measles.” It is an often-told and ever-believed story- That vaccination very frequently blights the young organisms. I have often shown, and do now solemnly re-affirm, that the suppression of common ringworm frequently also blights the organisms of the sufferers: by suppressed I mean the ordinary external wash-and-scour method of ridding the outside of the body of the outside manifestations of the malady, the inward disease-essence remaining choked-up within.

A stunted little maid of 12 1/2 years was brought to me on June 27, 1892, because she was undersized and deaf. The glands under the right ear are indurated and enlarged; her tongue pippy; she is dusky in the neck. Patient had ringworm for two years, and when that was cured (?), she went deaf. She has been twice vaccinated.

Rx Bacill. 30.

July 25.-She has begun to grow! Rx Rep.

August 26.-Her teeth are clearing.

Ib. CC.

September 26.-Is growing; hearing much better; teeth getting cleaner and of a better colour.

Ib. C.

And thus the treatment was continued till the summer of 1893, at which date I find in my case-records the following note:-“Has grown enormously; her glands are better; still deaf;” since when I have not seen her, but quite lately I heard from her mother that patient is in good health and away at school at the seaside, but she is still hard of hearing.

PUNY GROWTH, NOCTURNAL FRIGHT, AND DEAFNESS.

On February 21, 1887, Edwin was brought to me for his puny growth, deafness, and habitual alarming fright at night. In aspect Edwin was thin, very bony, flat-chested, and his skin “nothing but veins,” so to speak. In both groins and in both sides of his neck very numerous hypertrophied glands were discernible; and, as if to be quite certain of physical destruction, he was the slave of a certain secret habit. He was brought to me about every month for three years, and was then discharged cured, and he has since taken, and still maintains, a very high position in his chosen profession. He had from me during the first year-Lueticum CC., Thuja 30, and then Aurum muriaticum natronatum 3x, Pyrogenium 6, Psorin. 30, and Bacillinum 30; and by this time he had improved in every way,-his nights were good, the frights disappeared, he began to be less veiny and to grow; and his deafness had disappeared. He had fought manfully against his evil habit with partial success.

In the second year he had several months of Bacill. C., Sabina 30, Platina 30, Fragaria vesca 0, and at the end of it his physique and morale were much improved, and I find in his case- record at this date the significant word, clean. Some of the same remedies were repeated during the third year, until he was discharged, as above stated, cured. Pyrogenium 6, three drops in water night and morning, continued until a two-drachm bottle was taken, appeared to cause his nose to bleed. Edwin continues to thrive to date, but is still shy and taciturn, but so is his mother. As to the habit of self-abuse, which was a great obstacle in this case, I shall refer to that later on, under a separate headline. Here I would just remark that, according to my experience, the thing is most commonly physical disease,-evil rather than vice or sinfulness. In fact, it is an aberration purely in the animal sphere rather than sin on the spiritual plane.

GLUMNESS; A TACITURN BOY.

There is a certain type of child -more frequently boys than girls -who hang their heads and who will not willingly answer questions put to them, and who will not talk if they can help it. The boy in question was brought to me on May 21, 1892, and although reputedly in good health, he hung his head habitually and refused to talk. In asylums this kind of individual is a familiar sight. Such people will sit for hours together bent forward and looking steadfastly at nothing, and when spoken to they vouchsafe no reply,-they are just mum; though if irritated will fly at you. Although fifteen years of age he still had a lady to accompany him everywhere, and to whom he was greatly attached. He gave no answers to my various questions, only assenting very decidedly to the lady’s statement that he suffered greatly from headaches. At his school he was considered a dullard, and no one ever heard of his even wishing to distinguish himself or get a prize. The headaches were over his eyes; his tongue was white, with many red pips imbedded in the thick coating. He had been twice vaccinated, he tanned unduly in the sun, and his superficial inguinal glands were hypertrophied; testicles small.

Rx Tc. Fragaria vesca 1, ten drops in water night and morning. This was given on account of the state of the tongue, and with such a tongue the Fragaria is a very notable stomachic, the headache being evidently from the state of the abdominal glands. Under its influence the boy visibly improved in every way: his headaches became much less severe, and he looked brighter; moreover, he held himself better, and would answer questions sometimes.

This was followed by Thuja occid. 30, and after this he had no more headaches at all.

After that he had Bacill. CC., Pulsatilla 1, and finally, on account of his poor testicular development, he was a month under Aurum metallicum, third trituration, which effectively righted that wrong, and he forthwith took a proper position in his school, and at the next prize distribution he greatly astonished those who had known him by carrying off several prizes. He afterwards called to say good-bye to me, and gleefully told me of his triumphs. He had ceased to be mum or peculiar.

A year later his father accosted me at London Bridge Railway Station, and expressed his great satisfaction at Tom’s capital condition.

SPINAL CURVATURE; STUNTED GROWTH. In the spring of 1894 a boy of ten years and a half of age, of fairly good weight, viz., 4st. 8lb., but in height only 4 feet 3 inches, was brought to me by his mother (herself for many years a sufferer from spinal disease), on account of slight spinal curvature and stunted growth, or, perhaps, I should rather say backward growth. He had the too-wide and too-stodgy aspect of such a condition. An examination revealed indurated and hypertrophied glands in both sides of the neck and in both groins, and very small testes indeed. This boy had a somewhat pleasing but peculiar aspect and manner that I have occasionally seen in boys whose testicular development is backward. I first noticed it in such a boy in a Continental hospital many years ago, and have never forgotten it: once seen always remembered, but very difficult to describe. I would say that there is an unusual openness and frankness in their gaze and approach, too much empressement, a full-of-confidence, jump-down-your-throat, meaningless, laughing unconsciousness that is very striking, and not entirely pleasant.

James Compton Burnett
James Compton Burnett was born on July 10, 1840 and died April 2, 1901. Dr. Burnett attended medical school in Vienna, Austria in 1865. Alfred Hawkes converted him to homeopathy in 1872 (in Glasgow). In 1876 he took his MD degree.
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.