Croup Cured By Boenninghausens Powders


A case of membranous croup of great severity, which had been in full blast at least twelve hours before I was called to it; in which the purple turgid face and the exhausted aspect of the child showed that the powers of life had already begun to fail….


On the evening of January 24th, I received a message to the effect that a little boy, aged eighteen months, fat and healthy, was slightly feverish, and somewhat hoarse. I was requested to send some medicine. I sent a powder of Aconite12, mentioning to the messenger that croup might perhaps be threatening, and requesting to be sent for on the first indications of that disease. The next morning I was told that the child was not much better, and was requested to visit it in the course of the day. I went immediately. As soon as the hall-door was opened, I heard the hoarse ringing respiration of the child, which was in the second story, and which I found sitting up in its crib, with an expression of great anguish, breathing at the rate of 35 in the minute and with great labor. There was but little cough; occasionally, an effort which resulted in a hoarse dry bark, but which was immediately suppressed, apparently because it interfered with respiration. The face was turgid and of a purple hue. The hands were frequently applied convulsively to the larynx, but as a general thing the child was quiet, looking with pitiful appealing eyes to the by-stander as if for aid. The skin was hot and dry except on the forehead, which was moist and cool, pulse hard, not full, 130. On saying to the mother, “The child is exceedingly ill,” I was told, “He has been as bad if not worse all night.” He had vomited once, about an hour before my arrival, bringing up a small piece of tough membrane.

Here was a case of membranous croup of great severity, which had been in full blast at least twelve hours before I was called to it; in which the purple turgid face and the exhausted aspect of the child showed that the powers of life had already begun to fail under the imperfect decarbonization of the blood. Considering the gravity of the case, and its long duration before treatment was begun, I hesitated to give the powders recommended by Boenninghausen, but gave at once Bromine, first centesimal, in water, a teaspoonful of the solution every fifteen minutes.

At the end of two hours the child was in no respect better; the pulse was weaker and more frequent; there had been no relief for an instant to the labored character of the respiration, which numbered now 40 in the minute. I gave Hepar sulphuris, second trituration, alternately with the Bromine. At the end of two hours there was still no change for the better; the disease was steadily advancing, as it seemed, to a fatal termination. Already it had reached a point at which I have seen both Guersant and Trousseau at the Enfans Malades refuse to perform tracheotomy, on the ground that the disease had, by its long duration, so prevented oxygenation of the blood and consequent renovation of tissues that a favorable issue could not be hoped for. I determined now to give the Boenninghausen powders; waiting therefore a half hour from the time at which the last dose of the Hepar was given, I gave a powder of Aconite200, to be followed at intervals of a half hour by Hepar200, Spongia200, and this series repeated

(the method indicated in a foot-note to my translation of Boenninghausen’s article). (1 1American Homoeopathic Review, vol. ii., p. 212.) It was now 5 P.M., a time of day after which croup generally begins to be aggravated. At 7 o’clock the child was greatly relieved, respiration 30 in the minute, much less labored, the sound softer, cough rather more frequent and somewhat loose in sound. I left a second series of the powders to be taken at intervals of one hour. The child slept at 11 P.M., and at intervals during the night, and the next morning was so much better that it seemed unnecessary to give more medicine, although I left a series of the powders to be given in case of a relapse. They were not given, however. The child recovered rapidly without relapse or sequelae of any kind, and on the fifth day was as well as usual.

This was unquestionably the most severe case of croup that I have ever seen recover in this or any country. Judging from my experience with Bromine and Hepar in other cases, I have no hesitation in saying that, not acting more evidently and more promptly than they appeared to do in this case, nothing whatever was to be hoped for from them. In croup, if they act beneficially at all, they do so promptly. It seems impossible, therefore, to ascribe the recovery of this child in any degree to these remedies or to deny the curative action of the Boenninghausen powders.

Carroll Dunham
Dr. Carroll Dunham M.D. (1828-1877)
Dr. Dunham graduated from Columbia University with Honours in 1847. In 1850 he received M.D. degree at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York. While in Dublin, he received a dissecting wound that nearly killed him, but with the aid of homoeopathy he cured himself with Lachesis. He visited various homoeopathic hospitals in Europe and then went to Munster where he stayed with Dr. Boenninghausen and studied the methods of that great master. His works include 'Lectures on Materia Medica' and 'Homoeopathy - Science of Therapeutics'.