Homoeopathic Remedy and its Pharmaceutics


In the fourth edition of the Organon, Hahnemann alludes to the employment of medicines by olfaction, a procedure the subsequently grew very fond of; for in the fifth edition of that work he prefers it to every other mode of administering the remedy….


Modes of administering the remedy adopted by Hahnemann-His early external employment -Vehicles in which he gave it internally-He afterwards advises it to be always given dry-He introduces the globules- Various sizes used by him-His administration by olfaction, to supersede all other methods-Olfaction of the dry globule-Olfaction of the dissolved medicine-He returns to the giving of medicines in solution-Modes of preserving the solution- His endermic employment of medicines-His early employment of this method-His later mode of employing it-At one time he forbids its use-He afterwards recommends it strongly-Resume of Hahnemann’s methods-AEgidi proposes to give medicines in solution-Hering approves of AEgidi’s plan-He warns against stirring the solution too much-AEgidi approves of olfaction in some cases-Rau says olfaction is seldom useful-Rummel has seen it of use in certain cases-Perry advocates its employment-Gross approves of olfaction of the high potencies-Mure’s ingenious mode of giving his patients the benefit of olfaction without their knowledge- Drysdale’s mode of giving arseniuretted hydrogen-Kampfer alludes to the endermic method-Want of uniformity and rule in the administration of medicines-Practitioners generally guided by caprice or convenience- Dry vehicles for the medicine-Rotuli, pastilles, Norton’s pilules-Olfaction occasionally, useful-The endermic method-Its antiquity-Plistonicus, Dieuches, Diocles, Dioscorides, Rufus, Berengarius, Amatus-Classes of practitioners mentioned by Celsus-Lembert, Lesieur, Ahrensen on the endermic method-Madden’s experiments on the absorption of medicines- Solids-Fluids-Gases-Hering’s peculiar endermic method-Utility of the endermic method in certain cases-Mode of employing it- Inunction of medicines-The local employment of medicines- Hahnemann’s early denunciation of the local treatment of syphilis-His subsequent local treatment of other diseases-His local treatment of itch and cancer-He afterwards denounces all local treatment-Except of contusions and condylomata-Gross recommends local treatment in some cases-Schron also-Backhausen advises it in many cases-Griesselich, Veith, Koch, Mayrhofer, Segin, AEgidi, Patzack, employ it in certain cases-Trinks is not partial to it-Lippe recommends it in burns-Henriques also uses it in burns-Giving medicine by the mouth is often a local employment of it- The method is useful in some cases, but dangerous in others-Black’s ophthalmic ointment-Blake’s calendula lotion to the womb-Utility of a collyrium in ophthalmia neonatorum-Local employment of the remedy in toothache-In syphilis- In scabies-Homoeopathic pharmacy-Hahnemann’s early pharmaceutic innovations-His soluble mercury-A bad preparation- He afterwards abandons it-Want of uniformity in his first modes of preparing tincture of belladonna, opium, ipecacuanha, chamomilla, bryonia, rhus, and hyoscyamus-Lays down rules for the preparation of different substances-He occasionally deviates from these rules-He afterwards proposes a uniform process for all medicines-His mode of triturating-Hering proposes various proportions of the vehicle and drug-His economical and expeditious mode of preparing the dilutions-Vehsemeyer approves of the decimal scale-Gruner prepares medicines on this scale- Rummel suggests the proportion of 2 to 98-Relation of decimal to centesimal scale-Various works on homoeopathic pharmacy-Caspari’s dispensatory-Hartmann’s Latin translation-Buchner’s pharmacopoeia-Gruner’s pharmacopoeia-Schmid’s pharmacopoeia- Mure’s pharmaceutic propositions-His triturating machine-His apparatus for producing a vacuum-His succussion machine-Weber’s proposed to triturates all medicines up to 15-His dynamizator- Madden’s pharmaceutic suggestions-Hahnemann’s antiquated chemistry-Need of a new homoeopathic pharmacopoeia.


MODES OF ADMINISTERING THE HOMOEOPATHIC REMEDY LOCAL EMPLOYMENT OF MEDICINES HOMOEOPATHIC PHARMACEUTICS

HAVING with all due care selected the most appropriate homoeopathic remedy, and determined the magnitude of the dose, or potency of the dilution in which we deem it necessary to exhibit it, the next question that offers itself for consideration is this:- How is this medicine to be administration, in order that the patient shall derive the greatest amount of benefit from it? And we shall presently find the mode of administering a remedy admits of considerable variety, both in respect to the form in which it is given, and the part of the organism to which it is applied.

I shall now proceed to run over the modes of administration of remedies proposed and adopted by Hahnemann, and then go on to consider the variation on his modes proposed by others.

In the essay on Scarlet Fever, published in 1801, he makes mention of several mode of administering the remedy. Thus, for the fully developed scarlet fever he employed opium either externally or internally. If he resolved to give it externally, he laid upon the child’s epigastrium a piece of paper (according to the size of the child, from half to one inch in length and breadth), moistened with strong tincture of opium; and if he thought it advisable to give the remedy internally, be gave the dose mixed with from one to four tablespoonfuls of fluid, either water or beer.

At a later period, he rejected entirely these methods of giving the medicine, and he asserted, (Organon, 1st edition, Aphorism 252) that by its intimate mixture with a fluid the medicine obtained a great increase of power, as its volume was thereby increased; he now directed it to be given in the smallest possible volume, viz., a drop mixed with starch, or milk-sugar, or a sugar-globule imbibed with the dilution, to be lain upon the tongue and allowed to melt there; and he cautions against drinking anything for some time after taking the medicine, for fear or increasing too much its strength by its solution in the stomach in any considerable quantity of fluid. The introduction of sugar-globules into homoeopathic practice by Hahnemann seems to date from the year 1813 or thereabouts, if I may be allowed to judge from an expression of his in the fifth edition of the Organon, published in 1833, where he says, (Organon, Aphorism 288, note.) that his experience of the capability of globules to retain the medicinal power extends to eighteen or twenty years. Although he at first probably used globules of various sized (for he states that 10, 20, 100, (Ibid., Aphorism 288, note.) 200, (Chr Kr., i. 188.) or 300, (R.A.M.L., i., Int. to Belladonna and Aconite) may weigh sizes, ranging from a mustard-seed to a poppy-seed in size-the former chiefly for olfaction, the latter for ingestion; one drop of alcohol was, he tells us, sufficient to moisten 300, (Org. Aphorism 285, note.) 1000, or many more than 1000. (R.A.M.L., loc. cit). He was at one time very particular that this globule should not exceed a poppy-seed in size.

In the fourth edition of the Organon he alludes to the employment of medicines by olfaction, a procedure the subsequently grew very fond of; for in the fifth edition of that work he prefers it to every other mode of administering the remedy. He believed that a medicinal aura was always emanating from the globules without in the last impairing their strength, and he directs that one dry globule shall be place in small phial, and if a moderate dose is to be given, the patient is to inhale the medicinal emanation with one nostril; if a stronger dose is requires, he is to repeat the process with the other nostril. If the nostrils are stopped up from any cause, the inhalation may be effected by holding the phial to the mouth. This method, re reiterates, is preferable to every other made administering the remedy, and he states in this edition of the Organon that, for a year past, he had treated almost every patient in this way; and that he had found the action of the medicine just as powerful and as long by olfaction as by ingestion into the stomach.

As he had previously been particular in insisting on the ingestion of only one globule, so now he is particular about the olfaction of one only, but subsequently he was not so strict, but speaks of smelling at several in one phial; (Chr. Kr., 2nd edition, iii., preface.) and afterwards, as Croserio informs us, (N. Archiv, i. 2, 31.) he went back from his plan of smelling dry globules, and when he did practise olfaction, the globules were first dissolved in a mixture of water and alcohol.

However, the olfaction-process seems latterly to have fallen into disfavor, with its inventor, and in his last work, (Chr. Kr., loc. cit.) he restores to his first plan of giving the medicine dissolved in water, and in divided doses, for several successive days. In order to keep the solution sweet, he directs us to add a small quantity of spirits to it, or a few small pieces of hard-wood charcoal. The latter expedient is, however, attended with this disadvantage, that the solution becomes discolored in a few days, if much shaken.

I have already alluded to the circumstance that Hahnemann directs the potency of the solution to be altered by several shakes, before every successive dose of it is given.

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.