A.A young lady just over twenty of age, had very bad varicosis of the left lower extremity, for which she had long worn an elastic appliance with much ease to the pains. Dancing and riding made the leg unbearable; and hence these pleasures, usually considered natural to her age and position, had been given up. The dancing she did not care for, as her views of the serious reality of life led her to think that rhythmic romping was unseemly, but she missed the riding very much. On my telling the Countess, her mother, that the case could, I thought, be cured by medicines, I was not believed. I found the left ovarian region occupied by a swelling of about the size of a baby’s fist : it was very tender, and there was very distressing leucorrhoea of long standing. I directed my attention to curing the ovarian swelling that appeared to me to be the cause of both varicosis and leucorrhoea. It might be too tedious to detail the two years’ treatment, but the result was as I foretold : the ovarian swelling very slowly disappeared, and so did, pari passu, the varicosis and the leucorrhoea. The elastic stocking was of course, abandoned, and riding was resumed. Once or twice I had to treat a threatening return of the ovarian swelling, but eventually the cure proved permanent. The mother received my prognosis gracelessly, and was quite thankless for the cure; but a physician who stands up for new theories and a heterodox practice must put up with antecedent gracelessness and subsequent thanklessness, and if he fail must bear the reproach of impurity of motive. By special grace it may not sour him.
B. An unmarried lady, of about twenty-two or twenty-three years of age, the daughter of a staff-officer, was brought to me by her mother some time since suffering from varicosis of the right leg, for which she was wearing the usual elastic stocking. Her sister had previously been operated on for ovarian disease, and on percussion and palpation a swelling in the region of the right ovary was readily made out. She complained also of pains in the right ovary and right breast at this period.
The further course of the case was just as in the last, only the amelioration was comparatively very quick.
I might enumerate other cases of unilateral varicosis, but these two exemplify all I have to say on the subject. merely emphasizing the point that unilateralness of effect leads me to seek unilateralness of cause, and both are usually on the same side of the body.
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.