Ailanthus Glandulosa



“Eruption plentiful, of a bluish tint. Typhoid scarlatina.”

“Eruption is slow to make its appearance, remains livid.”

“Body and limbs covered with an irregular patchy eruption of a very livid color.”

Here you see but one type of scarlet fever. This low type of fever sometimes needs Sulphur or Phosphorus, or Belladonna, or Baptisia, or Lachesis. That you may be able to distinguish one from the other and keep the picture of each remedy clearly in mind requires a prolonged study of the Materia Medica.

It is an easy matter to compare remedies for yourself after you have first studied each one separately.

You can then bring out many comparisons, and especially in this case at the bed side. If you go to the bedside with a good knowledge of the generals of Materia Medica you will be surprised at the number of symptom pictures which will come into your mind, called up by the signs of the sickness.

When you go to the bedside of scarlet fever you should not call to mind the names of these medicines you may have heard recommended for scarlet fever; let the appearance of the patient bring to mind such remedies as appear like this patient, regardless of whether they have been associated with scarlet fever or not.

When you see the rash perhaps you will say that looks like an Aconite rash but there is such scanty zymosis in the nature of Aconite that it is no longer thought of.

Belladonna is not suitable, for in that remedy the rash is shiny and smooth, the typical Sydenham rash.

On the other hand, you will say Pulsatilla has a measly rash, and often associated with a low form of fever, but not so low as the typhoid type, so Pulsatilla goes out of your mind.

You now think of the remedies that are typical of all zymotic states; the prostration, the aggravation after sleep, general stupor and delirium, and almost at a glance you see Lachesis, the type of such forms of disease.

Its picture comes into your mind speedily. You see another case of scarlet fever where there is a scanty rash, the child before you keeps on picking the skin from the lips and nose, lies in a state of pallor and exhaustion, no rash to speak of, urine nearly suppressed; almost in a moment you think of Arum triph.

It is the aspect of things that will call the remedy to the mind. In another case you have all the purple appearance I have spoken of in this remedy; horrible foetor a good deal of sore throat, and the child cannot get water cold enough, wants a stream of water running down the throat all the time; you may safely trust to Phosphorus.

In these low types of sickness there is always something to tell the story if you will only listen, study and wait long enough.

James Tyler Kent
James Tyler Kent (1849–1916) was an American physician. Prior to his involvement with homeopathy, Kent had practiced conventional medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. He discovered and "converted" to homeopathy as a result of his wife's recovery from a serious ailment using homeopathic methods.
In 1881, Kent accepted a position as professor of anatomy at the Homeopathic College of Missouri, an institution with which he remained affiliated until 1888. In 1890, Kent moved to Pennsylvania to take a position as Dean of Professors at the Post-Graduate Homeopathic Medical School of Philadelphia. In 1897 Kent published his magnum opus, Repertory of the Homœopathic Materia Medica. Kent moved to Chicago in 1903, where he taught at Hahnemann Medical College.