Antidotes Prophylactics Diet Regimen



The same common-sense principles continued to guide him at the period when he made his discovery of the prophylactic power of belladonna in scarlet fever. In the treatment of that disease he advises us to allow the patient a free choice of all kinds of drinks, and warmer or cooler coverings to suit his feelings. “The patient’s own feelings, ” he says, “are a much surer guide than all the maxims of the schools.” It should be remembered that at the time Hahnemann enunciated these sensible opinions, the general method of treating scarlatina and other exanthematous febrile diseases was to half- smother the patient with blankets and rigid exclusion of air, and to refuse to allow him to drink according to has thirst. We have all become wiser since then, but Hahnemann was one of the first who attempted to overthrew the ancient superstition.

In the Medicine of Experience, (Lesser Writings, p. 541.) he hints that there are certain principles to guide us in the dietetics of chronic disease; but “in acute diseases,” he says, :” the delicate and unerring tact of the awakened internal sense that presides over the maintenance of life speaks so clearly, so precisely, so much in conformity with nature, that the physician needs only to impress on the friends that attendants of the patient not to oppose, in any way, this voice of nature, by refusing or exceeding its demands, or by a hurtful officiousness and importunity.”

In the Organon (Aphorism cclix-cclxi) Hahnemann dwells at greater length on the subject of the diet in chronic diseases, and he there lays it down as a vital rule that everything that can have any medicinal action must be removed from he diet and regimen of such patients. In a note, he give as lost of things that may prove obstacles to the cure by reason of the disturbing effects that may have on the system. This list comprises coffee, tea, herb- teas, some kinds of beer, liqueurs, punch, spiced chocolate, perfumes, strong-scented flowers in the room, tooth-powders and sachets composed of drugs, highly seasoned dishes and sauces, spiced cakes and ices, raw or cooked medicinal vegetables, old cheese, high meats pork, ducks, geese, very young veal, excesses of all kinds, whether in food, sugar, or salt. He also forbids spirituous drinks, heated rooms, flannel next the skin, sedentary life in close rooms, indulgence in merely passive exercise, as riding, driving or swinging, prolonged suckling, sleeping long after dinner, late hours, debauchery, the perusal of observance books, anger, grief, vexation, gambling excessive labour, mental; or bodily, a marshy situation, damp rooms, penurious living, and so forth,. Some of the last mentioned things it might often be more easy for the doctor to forbid than for the patient to renounce.

As regards the diet in acute diseases, he repeats (Organon, Aphorism cclxii) his former assertion that the instinct of the stomach is the best guide as to what the patient should have and what he should avoid; and he insists that officious attendants should not interfere with the opticians longing. “The desire of the patient affected by an acute disease,” he continues, (Ibid,., Aphorism cclxiii) “as regards food and drink, is certainly chiefly for things that give palliative relief; they are, however, not, strictly speaking, of a medicinal character, and merely supply a sort of want. The slight hindrances that the gratification of this desire, within moderate bounds, could oppose to the radical removal of the disease, will be amply concentrated and overcome by the power of the homoeopathically suited become and the vital force set free by it, as also by the refreshment that follows from taking what has been so ardently longed for. In like manner, in acute diseases, the temperature of the room and the heat or coolness of the coverings must also be arranged entirely in conformity with he patient’s wishes.” He adds in a note, (By some accident this note has been omitted in my translation of the Organon) that it is seldom the patient desires anything prejudicial. In inflammatory diseases, for example, where aconite is indispensable, whose action would be destroyed by vegetable acids, the patient almost always desire pure cold water only.

On the subject of diet and regimen in chronic diseases he enters at much greater length in his last greet work. (Chr. Krank., i.181 et seq) He says he cannot lay down any down any rules that will be adapted to every case, the practitioner must, in his directions to his patients, be guided by the peculiar circumstances of each case.

The following are the principal directions he give in addition to those laid down in the Organon. Where, says he, there is strength sufficient, the patient should pursue his ordinary occupation, provided it is not one that is prejudicial to health. Those accustomed to a sedentary life should take more exercise in the open air. Rich patients should make it a point of duty tool walks more than they are used to. Moderate dancing is not hurtful, nor the company and conversation of friends. Music and lectures may be indulged in moderately; the theatre very seldom; card-playing not at all. Amorous dalliance with the other sex and reading meretricious romance must he forbidden. Those addicted to too much study should be restricted in that, and made to engage in some annual work.

All domestic medicines are to be discontinued. Setons and issues cannot be moved all at once, in aged persons especially; we must wait until considerable improvement has taken place before we can venture to dry them up.

Baths (I presume he means warm baths) must be left off; venesection and cupping cannot be permitted under any circumstances

In chronic diseases, among the poorer class, where the digestive functions are not involved, we need not be very strict with their diet; we should only make them moderate their use of onions and pepper.

He who is anxious for his recovery, he adds, may find, even at the sumptuously spread table of a prince, dishes that are perfectly suitable for a diet in conformity with nature.

As regards coffee, young people can give it up at once, but those who have been used to drink it for thirty or -forty years, can often only abandon it gradually. (In the first edition of the chronic Diseases he permitted the use of coffee to elderly persons; but here he says it must be absolutely abandoned.) Roasted rye or wheat may be substituted for it. Tea he forbids absolutely, whether weak or strong.

Wine cannot be so entirely discontinued by those accustomed to its use, without bad, often dangerous, effects. He recommends that it should de gradually diminished in quantity, and plentiful diluted with water.

Brandy must be left off wine, and after wars wine and water, substituted for it.

The practitioner cannot allow his patient to drink all sorts of beer, for some are made with unwholesome ingredients; he must therefore be careful that kind he allows his patient to drink.

Vinegar and lemon-juice are to be eschewed, especially by those affected with nervous or abdominal complaints. Sour fruit must be taken very sparingly, and sweet fruit moderately; stewed prunes, to help costiveness, are not advisable. Those of weak digestion should shun very young veal, and those whose sexual powers are low should avoid chickens, eggs, vanilla, truffles, and caviar. Women with scanty menses should not take saffron or cinnamon, nor should persons with weak digestion indulge in spices or bitters flatulent vegetables should be avoided in all cases of abdominal ailments and constipation.

Beef, good wheaten or rye brad, milk, and fresh butter with little salt, seem to be the most natural and innocent diet in chronic diseases. Next to beef come muttons, game, old fowls, and young pigeons. Chronic patients cannot be allowed to take the flesh or fat of geese, ducks or pork. Pickled and smoked flesh must rarely be eaten. Raw vegetables pot-herbs, and decayed cheese should not be indulged in.

Fish is best when boiled in plain water. Dried and smoked fish should not be used, and salted fish very rarely.

Tobacco-smoking may be often allowed to those accustomed to its use, and who do not spit when they smoke; but its use should be limited when the mental functions, the sleep, the digestion, or the motions of the bowels are disordered. In those who are in the habit of only obtaining stool after smoking, its use should be very much restricted. Snuffing is much more objectionable than smoking. Hahnemann, as is well known, smoked incessantly, but did not snuff,. Perhaps to this circumstance we may ascribe his apology for the one practice and his condemnation of the other.

These, then, are Hahnemann’s chief directions in reference to the diet of patients in acute and chronic diseases and it will be observed that they are by no means of a very rigid character. As regards acute disease, indeed the instinct of the patient’s stomach is to be the physician’s guide; and as regards Chronic diseases, there are very few articles that are absolutely forbidden, most of enumerated viands, condiments, and drinks being only prohibited in special cases, but allowed to be partaken of moderately in other cases.

R.E. Dudgeon
Robert Ellis Dudgeon 1820 – 1904 Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh in 1839, Robert Ellis Dudgeon studied in Paris and Vienna before graduating as a doctor. Robert Ellis Dudgeon then became the editor of the British Journal of Homeopathy and he held this post for forty years.
Robert Ellis Dudgeon practiced at the London Homeopathic Hospital and specialised in Optics.
Robert Ellis Dudgeon wrote Pathogenetic Cyclopaedia 1839, Cure of Pannus by Innoculation, London and Edinburgh Journal of Medical Science 1844, Hahnemann’s Organon, 1849, Lectures on the Theory & Practice of Homeopathy, 1853, Homeopathic Treatment and Prevention of Asiatic Cholera 1847, Hahnemann’s Therapeutic Hints 1847, On Subaqueous Vision, Philosophical Magazine, 1871, The Influence of Homeopathy on General Medical Practice Since the Death of Hahnemann 1874, Repertory of the Homeopathic Materia Medica, 2 vols 1878-81, The Human Eye Its Optical Construction, 1878, Hahnemann’s Materia Medica Pura, 1880, The Sphygmograph, 1882, Materia Medica: Physiological and Applied 1884, Hahnemann the Founder of Scientific Therapeutics 1882, Hahnemann’s Organon 1893 5th Edition, Prolongation of Life 1900, Hahnemann’s Lesser Writing.