DISCUSSION Dr. McCRAE thought the paper was masterpiece. There was nothing in it criticize there was details of valuable help to everybody which were like the artist sharpening his pencil to produce some line of particular splendour which would make the picture complete. Most had pencils but they were blunt and the homoeopath would always be grateful for these amazingly useful hints. He hoped Dr. Borland would soon return so that the members could thank him personally. He also thanked the president for the way in which he had read the paper.
Dr. JOHN PATERSON said that they had listened to a real clinical paper. There was not much which one could criticize but one might add a little with regard to the cardiac cases, Arsenic and sulphur his experience was that ARsenic was often the acute of sulphur and on the mental side they were the exact opposite.
One found that a sulphur patient swung in the acute condition to “Arsenic and Dr. Borland had brought out that point. He was interested in the question of Aconite acting in the first attack but not in the second. There had been many discussions about covering the totality of the symptoms and here was evidence that the homoeopathic remedy could be prescribed on the mental symptoms which worked in the first instance but it did not cover the whole of the case. It was possible to prescribe homoeopathically without covering the whole of the case, only covering a phase because obviously on the next occasion the pain was present but not the fear the Aconite had removed one phase of the case mental fear. Aconite came out very strongly in the air raids. Another remedy was Natrum Mur.
He wondered if any orthodox practitioners were surprised that there was no mention of Digitalis but Digitalis was quite useful in these slightly relaxing hearts in massive doses given in allopathic medicine.
With regard to renal colic, in examining the stools of patients the Bacillus Morgan came out very frequently and he associated Lycopodium with it. Lycopodium had always been considered to be a right-sided remedy but the peculiar point about a case in which it had proved successful was that the pain had been left-sided and when the case had been x-rayed it had been found that the right kidney was more involved than the left, so that it looked as if the actual renal colic condition started in the left kidney but gave no trouble. It was only when the right kidney was involved that the first symptom developed so that even with a left-sided renal colic Lycopodium should not be excluded.
Dr. STONHAM said that the paper was excellent and the sort of paper which would appeal to the general practitioner, who was always coming up against acute cases. To have such cases so plainly stated with the drug indications for them was very valuable. There were one or two points he would like to mention with regard to “Aconite which as Dr. Borland had said was very useful in many cases. The case which which he did not mention was the acute pulmonary oedema.
He had given Aconite 30 in such cases and it quickly calmed the patient in that distressing ad somewhat dangerous condition and he had found it valuable not only in the first case but also in case when the attack has been repeated. Dr. borland said he gave Laurocerasus in acute heart complaints. He had had an acute case with Cheyne-Stokes respiration it looked as if the patient would die, he gave Hydrocyanic Acid and he recovered very nicely. Many people would substantiate the value of Dr Borland’s Paper.
Dr. G.R. MITCHELL said that a clinical paper was most useful. He wanted to criticize something Dr. paterson said when he took the Aconite example as not prescribing on the totality. He would have thought it was an example of prescribing on that procedure because in the first case, on all the manifestations there was a different totality and the Aconite did not work. That was the way he would have regarded the matter.
Dr. HARDY added her grateful thanks to Dr. Borland for his paper. With regard to medicines for heart complaints she agreed with Dr. paterson that Digitalis 200, one dose was very effective in the semi-chronic or chronic case of the right sided congestion blue face and blue nails, but not in the acute patient. She also used mother tincture Crataegus for heart patients because it was specific for the cardiac muscle. Another drug which was used in russia was Adonis mother tincture, five drops to a dose. there was a remark which she did not like about chelidonium that the patient did not respond and that it must therefore be cancer. The case was Lachesis to start with and that did not exclude the possibility of cancer. She has a very bad case of cancer which was cured by Lachesis, a liver case with constant pain. In her personal experience Raphanus was indicated in the hepatic lesions, and Momordica in splenic lesions.
Dr. LE HUNTE COOPER did not think too much could be said about the work which had been put into this paper and the wonderful collection of details on which indication had been given and which were of the greatest possible value.
The paper would require a great deal of study so that these indications could be taken for future use.
He was rather in favour of trying to keep the remedies which were very definitely specific for particular conditions because in cases where there was an emergency, there was no time to seek for all the exact indications which might help, but he was rather surprised that Dr. Borland do not make more use of the snake poisons in heart cases because he must admit he would not be without Lachesis. If there was any suggestion of heart failure he would give Lachesis and would be surprised if it did not answer; There was one rather interesting point from the homoeopathic point of view with regard to snake poisons and that was to think of the first thing which an individual felt when he was bitten by a snake which was death, threatened the patient the prescriber should think of the snake poisons. He mentioned this in a paper he read on snake poisons in a paper he read on snake poisons in Berlin just before the war and it attracted the attention of reporters who were present. In the Berliner Tageblatte there appeared in Headlines “When death threatens, think of the snake poisons.
Another point was the that he thought a little more might have been made of pulsatilla for the ear. His experience was that a pain in the ear was met by pulsatilla irrespective of the indications of the pulsatilla patient. One liked to have something at the back of back of one’s mind which could help immediately without having to think too completely of other remedies. If one had too many remedies they came in afterwards but at first one might fall between two stools.
Dr. ALVA BENJAMIN said regard to the collapse cases one would one would have thought that Dr. Borland would have mentioned Veratrum Album for cases of great coldness and excessive sweating. With regard to heart cases he had had a lot of help from chamomilla, particularly when the pain was very severe. With regard to ear cases he was surprised Dr. Borland did not mention Bryonia for inflammatory condition; he had found it admirable.
In one case the child was developing mastoid. Dr. Cunningham to come to see the case, meantime giving the child Bryonia 10M, and almost immediately there was no need for him to attend. He had had other cases in which he found Bryonia 10M extremely valuable.
DR. HARDY added that Bryonia was very useful. In one case she gave a dose of Bryonia where the patient was lying on the painful side and did not want to move, which cleared up in ten minutes.
DR. FRASER KERR said that the Aconite cases had interested him; he thought that the mental aspects were not so much mental as characteristic of the whole case. In one of his own cases of a child of 11 or 12 with asthma who was in a dreadful state he gave Aconite and within a few moments she was relatively easy. The mental aspects characterized the whole case.
DR. GHAI said that during the last four or five years he could not remember a case where he had used morphia in a very large panel and private practice. He could recall three or four cases of children with earache, flushed, dilated pupils with the pain coming and going constantly, for which he gave Belladonna 30 and the next day the child was better. Pulsatilla was very useful but usually in the Pulsatilla patient the pain did not come and go constantly.
DR. C E. WHEELER thought that as all the members felt the same about Dr. Borland’s paper a special message should be sent to him the meeting. Dr. Borland would be gratified to know that his paper had been enjoyed so much. From the earlier years that he knew Dr. Borland he had always realized that he had the gift of classifying his experience to himself and getting the maximum value of it and that was why he could express himself clearly. He had managed to get what he wanted to say into a succinct space, although the paper was long there was no over-elaboration of detail.
He wrote a number of books: Children's Types, Digestive Drugs, Pneumonias
Douglas Borland died November 29, 1960.