This boy had from me, in a six months’ course of treatment, Tuberculinum test.C; Bacill, 30; Thuja 30; and Aurum metallicum, third trituration; and during that time he had taken to growing, and the following letter from his mother tells the rest:-
“Sepia 5th.
“DEAR DR BURNETT,-My little boy’s school opens on Sept.25. I suppose he is now well enough to return to his work? He continues to grow and look well, and the difference in the appearance of his back is perfectly magical to me, to whom this weakness has always been a trouble. You certainly have given him exactly the help needed, and I am truly grateful. The other two boys are both benefiting, the younger more especially. The neck gland is not visible to me now. I say to me, because I seem to notice these things more than the others, and realize their importance.- Believe me, with many thanks”
And, again, in June 25, 1895, the mother writes me :- “I was at Eastbourne for a school festivity, and saw L., who looks splendid, so much so, that I think you need scarcely see him before his holidays; but he has no more powders, and I wondered if you would kindly send him another box to go on with. I do not want him to stand still, but to an ordinary eye he is in perfect health.
“I shall see G. at Harrow on the 3rd July.
“I remain, with many grateful thanks”
PUNY GROWTH; SPINAL CURVATURE; ACNE.
A young lady, 22 years of age, was brought by her mother to me on May 6, 1890, for her spine, and what might be termed general puniness, and for which there seemed no assignable reason. In her face we saw a large spider naevus, *Spider naevi generally disappear under Thuja 30, long used and infrequently repeated.* and the skin of her shoulders was the seat of a fair crop of acne pustules. Her spine was curved, but it was that kind which ought, I think, to be called lopsidedness, and which is in reality an undue preponderance of the right half of the body over the left; and the spinal curvature is due to the pulling over of the muscles of the stronger side. It is not really a spine affection at all: the great bulk of the “spines” of young ladies are of this nature. Patient stoops a good deal, and squints a very little. This case is the type of very many, and they arise from malnutrition of the (commonly) left half of the body. In observing the mode of growth of children, I have often remarked that their strong parts, so to speak, grab the nourishment first, and thus, if too little is absorbed and assimilated, the weaker parts go short. I will narrate a case that bears this out by-and-by.
As this young lady’s left side was at fault, and as she had been vaccinated on the left side, and was suffering from squint and acne, and her spleen being, moreover, swelled, I began with Thuja 30, and then continued with Bellis perennis 0, of which latter she took altogether an ounce. She was under these two remedies for about a year.
Then followed, in the order named, Viscum album 1, Fragaria vesca 0, Bryonia alba 0, Saw Palmetto 0 (with vast benefit), and I shortly afterwards heard that she was engaged to be married.
STUNTED GIRL.
An anaemic, dusky, undersized mite of a girl was brought by her mother to me on August 29, 1888, for debility. She had hepatitis; her incisors were markedly notched, she suffered much from toothache and croup, and her superficial glands were greatly hypertrophied, and, finally, she was much plagued with oxyures. During the first nine months she had Lueticum CC., Bacillinum C. Condurango 1, Sabina 3, and Thuja 30, and during that period gained 7 lbs. in weight, and she looked much better and was notably brighter.
Then followed Pulsatilla I, Ferrum picricum 3x, Psorin. 30, Nux vomica 1, when a further increase of a pound in weight was noted, and the seat-worms had ceased from troubling. Some other remedies were then given, notably Rubia tinctoria 0 and Hydrastis canadensis 0, and my last note of her case is dated February 26, 1890, and runs thus: “Vastly improved, and now weighs 4 st. 6 lbs”
By the way, Rubia tinctoria is an excellent remedy in splenic anaemia. I usually give 10 drops of the strong tincture three times a day.
ARRESTED GROWTH; CHRONIC SWELLING OF THE SPLEEN; PERITONITIS AND DROPSY.
An extremely freckled, dusky, dropsical lad of 16 years of age was brought by his father to me on October 7, 1881, to be treated for…. “He is in a very bad way and has dropsy in his stomach.” As a babe he nearly died from the bottle, his mother being unable to suckle him, when a good wet nurse was obtained, and he grew fatter and stronger than his brothers and sisters, and was doing well until two years ago, when he was at school at the sea-side, and there one day was caught in a storm, and ran home a distance of two miles, thereby hurting his left side, from which he has never really recovered; it has pained him ever since. He has ascites, his micturition is painful, there is a kind of chronic diarrhoea, and although sixteen years of age there is not the faintest sign of pubescence. His spleen and liver notably enlarged, his face thin, his chest bony and very veiny, teeth notched, tongue thin and cracked, abdomen distended with water, the skin dirty-looking and earthy, glands in the groins enlarged, and legs thin, almost like long sticks.
Clearly abdominal glands were diseased, and the outlook was very gloomy.
In such a case one hardly knows where to begin. What struck me was the enormous number of freckles on his face, and as I had a few times succeeded in ameliorating that condition with Badiaga, I put patient on that remedy for two months (1 and 3x each for one month), with the result that his freckled state lessened, and patient, who had weighed 6 st. 9 1/2 lbs., came down to 6 st. 4 lbs.; but whether this diminution was a good sign or a bad one we could not readily determine, because it
might have been from loss of flesh or from less water within the abdominal cavity. Damp weather made his diarrhoea worse, and he had now taken to wetting his bed. As he was distinctly worse in the wet and damp, I gave him the fourth trituration of Nat. sul., and of that 6 grains three times a day. After this, on January 4, 1882, his weight was 6 st. 3 lbs., and he had ceased wetting his bed. Still very distinct ascites.
Rx Ceanothus 1.
January 12.-Weight, 6 st. 1 lb.
Rx Thuja 30.
January 20.-He is worse; the dropsy is increased, and the whole of the belly is very tender.
Rx Psorinum 30.
February 1.-The diarrhoea has ceased; weight, 5 st. 13 lbs.; belly so very tender that he can no longer bear the jolting of the carriage. During this month he had Calcarea carb. 30, Colocynth 6, and the second trituration of the Iodide of Arsenic, and at its end weighed just 6 stones.
He went on all March, April, and May under Berberis vulgaris 3x, Ammonium carb. 3, Dioscorin 3x, Dioscorea 3x, Argentum nitricum 1, Nux vomica 3x, and then Mercurius iod. cum Kali iod., 3x trit., and on June 5 the body-weight was 5 st. 6 lbs., and patient was still almost as ill as ever. And what rendered it so very difficult to really gauge our patient was the diminution in his weight, viz., whether was that less flesh or less dropsy.
Rx Lueticum CC. was at last determined upon, and straightway improvement set in.
June 26.-Much better all round. Weight, 5 st. 5 3/4 lbs.; measures 24 in. round the belly; sleeps better.
Rx Rep.
July 12.-Weight, 5 st. 5 lbs. He looks cleaner, whiter (less brown). The change in the coloration of his abdomen is marvellous; it is now not very much too dusky, and the belly is very much less tender; glands less prominent.
Rx Rep., et Hepar sul. 3x.
He was discharged as being in a normal condition on February 8, 1883.
On September 12, 1883, he saw the late Dr Dunn, formerly of Doncaster, who was then acting for me during my holiday, for “Enlarged inguinal glands, painful; Hepar sulph.,” which words I see in my case-book in dear old Dunn’s handwriting.
ELEVEN YEARS LATER.
Patient is now a busy city man in good health and condition, and just on the point of getting married: “As soon as business gets a bit better,” in his own words.
This young man’s mother had water on the brain as a child, whereof the shape of her head still bears eloquent testimony.
PUNY GROWTH; RINGWORM OF SHOULDER, AND CHRONIC INSOMNIA.
A little lassie of 8 years of age was brought by her mother to me on November 21, 1892, because she was weedy, pale, non- thriving, sleepless and restless at night, grinding her teeth, etc. The delicacy appeared to date from chronic diarrhoea from which she suffered a good deal as a baby. Her teeth were not growing properly, and her lymphatic glands were indurated and feelable in neck and groins.
Bacillinum CC., C., and 30, Thuja 30, and Tuberculinum test. C., were the principal remedies I employed in the case, and after a few months much improvement set in. Patient sleeps well. After two years the young patient was quite a fine girl, although in my judgment still too pale, which I ascribe to the state of the air of the neighbourhood in greater London, where she resides.
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.