HOW TO CURE THE SICK – SOME GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS



Samuel Hahnemann thundered against the habit of giving different medicines almost simultaneously, and he condemned the mixing of drugs, a habit in which orthodox prescribers delight. When I discussed this question with Dr. Clarke he told me quite frankly that there was no absolute rule, that he was guided by experience. In fact, I have seen Dr. Clarke and other eminent homoeopathic physicians mix drugs because they had discovered that a mixture of certain drugs acted very favourably on their patients. After all, there are many drugs which are composed of a considerable number of different materials.

If one gives China bark or Pulsatilla or some other herbal medicine, one does not give a single drug. The analytical chemist has ascertained that many of the simple natural medicines have a very elaborate make- up. In some of them ten, fifteen or twenty different drugs are contained which have been cunningly and most efficiently combined by all-wise nature.

I have experimented with high potencies and low potencies, with single drugs and drug combinations of every kind, and, like so many busy prescribers, have formed a Materia Medica of my own, based on practical experience. I do not consider it my principal duty to vindicate the pronouncements of Hahnemann. I worship Hahnemann, but my principal duty lies towards my patients, and I should consider it utterly neglectful if I risked preventing a cure or prolonging illness if I should abstain from giving a number of medicines which apparently are called for by the symptoms of the patient.

At the interrogation of the patient, the prescriber may be struck by the fact that the sick individual has very pronounced Sulphur symptoms, Nux vomica symptoms and Natrum muriaticum symptoms. He may find it absolutely impossible to decide whether he should give the first, second or third medicine. He may make a good selection, or he may be unfortunate, and if he gives the wrong medicine for two or three weeks, or longer, then the patient may lose ground and he may turn away from Homoeopathy.

If such a case comes to me, I may give the patient Sulphur first and last thing, Natrum muriaticum between meals, and, let us say, Nux vomica before meals, and I have the satisfaction of knowing that I have covered all the principal symptoms of the patient. If, in addition, the patient has a tuberculous inheritance and has been poisoned with vaccination, I may give him last thing every Monday a dose of Bacillinum 200, and last thing every Thursday a dose of Thuja 200 to antidote vaccinial poisoning.

I may start a patient with five different medicines, to the horror of the strict Hahnemannians. However, the applause or derision of homoeopathic doctors is less important than success in curing. The patient who comes to the prescriber appeals to the prescriber appeals to the prescriber, wishes to be cured. He offers money for treatment, and it is surely the duty of the doctor or lay healer to do the best for the patient, regardless of the applause or condemnation of doctors who may be less successful because they use only one drug at a time.

Of course, there are cases where a single drug will cure, but I have found these cases very rare. There are patients who have nothing but Nux vomica symptoms. They are dark-haired, dark-eyed, irritable, have a dark skin, are constipated, they take an abundance of condiments, take too much tobacco and alcohol, feel better indoors than in the open air, etc. Such a case demands Nux vomica. Or a gentle, tearful woman who is usually blonde and blue-eyed and somewhat stout and flabby demands help.

She complains about many things, but the experienced prescriber sees at the first glance that he has before him a Pulsatilla type. In order to make certain whether Pulsatilla is really indicated he will ask whether periods are delayed and scanty, and if the woman says yes, they are delayed and scanty, and if in addition she has a dry mouth and no thirst, cannot digest fat, weeps at the slightest thing, then pulsatilla should be given, whatever patient may complain of, and pulsatilla alone may cure. There are similarly characteristic types of patient who need Arsenicum, Mercurius, Calcarea, Bryonia, and so forth.

It happens occasionally to me, and to many other prescribers, that a patient from the country writes: “I have a fearful rheumatic pain. Please send me something at once.” If the patient sits in front of the prescriber, the prescriber can ask questions which will indicate what medicine the man with rheumatic pain requires. If the pain is relieved by lying still, preferably on the painful part, then Bryonia is indicated. If, on the other hand, the pain becomes intolerable when lying still, and is relieved by moving about, then Rhus tox. should be prescribed.

If I receive a letter from the country telling me that a patient has violent rheumatic pain, I immediately send him Bryonia and Rhus tox., and perhaps some other remedy such as Cimicifuga and Colchicum, etc., with a few indications how to select the right remedy, or I tell him to take in alternation Bryonia and Rhus tox., because the two act well together.

Again, if a patient writes to me from the country: “I have a pain in the abdomen.” there is no time to enquire whether the pain is relieved by doubling up or by straightening out. So I may send him Colocynthis marked “Pain relieved by doubling up”, and Dioscorea marked “Pain relieved by straightening out.” He can either make a selection of the two or he can experiment with each by itself, or can alternate them, and I feel fairly certain that there will be prompt relief.

If a man telegraphs me from a distance that he has an attack of influenza I may give him in constant alternation Aconitum, Gelsemium and Eupatorium perfoliatum, telling him to take a dose every half-hour, and to take doses less frequently as soon as there is improvement. Aconitum is an excellent remedy for chills and fevers. Gelsemium is an excellent all-round remedy for influenza, particularly if the nervous system is suffering. Eupatorium perfoliatum is particularly helpful in those forms of influenza where there is bone pain. Experience has taught me that this combination of medicines is extremely helpful in attacks of influenza.

Of course,if there is pronounced gastric influenza Baptisia is called for. I may add Baptisia as a fourth to the medicines to be taken in alternation. I cannot imagine that the spirit of Samuel Hahnemann will rise in indignation at my procedure if prompt benefit results. If I should have sent only Aconitum, or only Eupatorium, I might have done as well, but on the other hand I should feel terribly guilty if, in due course, I should receive a letter saying that my medicine had done no good and that the patient had to send for the orthodox doctor, and I should have to reproach myself very seriously if I should receive a black bordered letter telling me that the patient had died.

Unfortunately, many Homoeopaths are dominated by extraordinary notions. The guiding principle of Homoeopathy is that likes may be cured by likes. Hahnemann used a disease product which he called Psorinum, derived from the well-known eruption. His successors evolved other disease products obtained from tuberculous lungs, from cancerous growths, from patients suffering from measles, scarlatina, diphtheria, and so forth.

There are actually homoeopaths who condemn the use of disease products, technically called nosodes, because they seem to them opposed to the principle that likes should be cured with likes. They consider it opposed to the spirit of Homoeopathy that a disease product should be employed for fighting a disease, because there is no likeness but identity of disease and drug.

I have never allowed theoretical notions to influence me in my determination to cure the sick. My one and only duty consists in curing the sick who come to me for advice and help, and my only satisfaction consists in achieving cures. I would rather achieve cures and be haunted by the spirit of Hahnemann than please the spirit of the defunct founder and kill my patients or allow them to die unnecessarily.

Most people suffer from inherited diseases and infections. If a patient has had terribly septic throats many years ago I allow for the possibility that he may have had diphtheria, and may give him occasional doses of Diphtherinum. If there has been tuberculosis in his family I may give him occasional doses of Bacillinum. If he sleeps very badly and is very depressed I may give him Syphilinum in rare doses, whether he has actually had an infection or not. He may have inherited syphilis from two or three generations back. If I find he sleeps well and suffers in the daytime,has much catarrh and other symptoms which suggest the possibility of inherited gonorrhoea I may give him Medorrhinum.

A good pianist may play the piano tolerably with one finger. I prefer playing the piano with ten fingers. I find one can have still better musical results by employing an orchestra. I employ a battery of remedies instead of relying on a single gun, rarely fired. Strict homoeopaths of the Hahnemannian persuasion may look down on me with contempt. I can bear their derision far more easily than the reproaches of my conscience because I have not cured cases which I might have cured, or have allowed patients to die.

J. Ellis Barker
James Ellis Barker 1870 – 1948 was a Jewish German lay homeopath, born in Cologne in Germany. He settled in Britain to become the editor of The Homeopathic World in 1931 (which he later renamed as Heal Thyself) for sixteen years, and he wrote a great deal about homeopathy during this time.

James Ellis Barker wrote a very large number of books, both under the name James Ellis Barker and under his real German name Otto Julius Eltzbacher, The Truth about Homœopathy; Rough Notes on Remedies with William Murray; Chronic Constipation; The Story of My Eyes; Miracles Of Healing and How They are Done; Good Health and Happiness; New Lives for Old: How to Cure the Incurable; My Testament of Healing; Cancer, the Surgeon and the Researcher; Cancer, how it is Caused, how it Can be Prevented with a foreward by William Arbuthnot Lane; Cancer and the Black Man etc.