(Translated by Dr. R.K. Mukerji, Chandernagore.
From L Homoeopathic Moderne).
Heal Thyself, Nov., 1935.
LYCOPODIUM is a very important remedy; it suits as well with children as with the adult. It is not as frequently used as it should have been, and the cause lies perhaps in the fact that, it is not so often sought for in children;s disease. Moreover its symptoms are numerous and many doctors are often unwisely afraid of its possible aggravations. In order to avoid aggravations we have three possible means.
1. To begin with a lower dilution, say 12.
2. To give a high dilution as 200, and divide the dose in three parts and give each at an interval of two hours according to the advice of Dr. Boger. I have followed this method with much satisfaction. Recently I got a case where I gave Lycopodium 200 according to Bogers advice. No aggravation followed, and I got the expected good results instead. But no sooner had I repeated the full dose at time, than I had to face a very annoying aggravation. This method of division of the dose is useful for all medicines.
3. To drain out the disease before giving Lycopodium as instructed by Dr. Nabel and then follow the advice of the school of Modern Homoeopathy.
Dr. Fergie Woods has written a very interesting article on Lycopodium in the British Homoeopathic Journal of January, 1932, under the heading “My favorite remedy”. According to this author Lycopodium children are physically weak with an intellectual development not only normal but much above ordinary. It is of the venous type. Lycopodium acts better in October.
The Lycopodium child has the temperament of an artist; he is a musician had has a philosopher-like appearance. But his mind rebels at the thought of mathematics. He is idle and does not like to exert.
A Lycopodium child is often misunderstood by his parents. His timidity, his sensibility, compels him to act contrary to his sentiments. He is very sensible to remonstrances. He should never be chastized with a corporeal punishment, which is quite unnecessary. He, if punished unjustly, will remember it long and will brood over it for several years, because he has a high sense of justice.
The child is afraid of darkness, and of being alone; it must not be left alone, nor should it be confined in a dark room. The child is afraid of being examined by a new doctor; at first it will yield but if the examination is prolonged it will burst in to tears and have a flushed appearance. The child of Calcarea carbonica, on the contrary, submits itself to examination either for loss of imagination or for want of sensibility.
It is curious that as the child will grow up gradually, that fear of solitude may be replaced by fear of crowed. That fear of crowd is of a physical nature, because the child has an urgent need of fresh air and he feels stuffed up in a crowd. As in Argentum nitricum, the Lycopodium child has the fear of being closed up within a narrow space.
A lycopodium student suffers for the timidity and for his incapacity of making himself worthy, intelligent and his memory sharp. He finds interest in his study. He absorbs himself in his study and knows nothing but his lessons. This fact of thinking nothing but his study makes him forget his existence and makes his sleep full of dreams. “See fait dela bile pour ses lessons.” (His lessons make him choleric) is keynote of Lycopodium.
The Lycopodium student is handicapped by this memory, forgets proper names. He fixes his attention with difficulty because his brain is soon exhausted. Makes mistakes when speaking and writing. He speaks out just the contrary to what he intends to. Such a boy should not be directed to study mathematics. He will never learn the least of it.
A Lycopodium child has a bad humour in the morning on rising.
He requires some time to realize where he is and to recognize his surrounding objects. Never gets up with a jolly heart. He does not like anybody near him, but because of his fear of solitude he likes to know that someone is nearby.
A Lycopodium child is impatient, he does his work hastily, he eats hastily which causes flatulency, he walks hastily. This is one of the exceptions to the nature of Lycopodium: cannot bear anxiety but curiously he is compelled to act as an anxious persons.
His sensibility is abnormal; cannot bear noise, he starts for nothing.
Lycopodium has as well an aggravation in cold as in the heat; but if he is well examined, we will find out that he has a horror of cold, but he can bear it better than heat, probably because he hardly perspires. “Insufficient perspiration” is a keynote.
Never forget the aggravation of Lycopodium from 4 to 8 p.m., which is one of its absolute characteristics.
Fergie Wood has informed us that if Lycopodium, when it is symptomatically prescribed, gives not result, give Luesinum which is its best complementary.
We have broaches the LYCOPODIUM type from the physical and the general view-point. We are now going to enter into some more interesting details which will help us to recognize a child that is well suited to this medicine.
Lycopodium is suitable to children having developed head, but sickly, poor appearance, nervous, irritable.
When they rise up from sleep they are peevish and angry, push away their entourage with anger. They cannot recognize their nurse or their mother for more time. when they come back to their self they again fall asleep and again after some time they get up terrified, with a stupid look, and begin anew their scene of violence.
When they are undressed their clothes are seen to be covered with a red sediment, which comes out with urine, with this symptoms we will find the following: startling with the least noise. A remedy of incontinence of urine at night, abundant polyuria, red sand with urine. Redness of the parts due to their contact with urine (Medorrhinum).
Lycopodium is a master remedy in infantile eczema, Over and above the above mentioned symptoms present, there may be eczema in emaciated boys, perpetually famished, having pulsating headaches, pressing pains, as if the head will burst out, with aggravation in cold, noise, and between 4 to 8 p.m. The boy of Lycopodium looks like an old, worn-out man. The boy of Lycopodium looks like an old, worn-out man. Weeping eczema behind the ears. Lycopodium will, at first, make the eczema prominent, then it will cure it up completely and gradually.
It is a remedy of diphtheria. The false membranes commence in the right amygdalyn and gradually change place to the left. This is surely a characteristic of Lycopodium. Post-diphtheric paralysis.
Lycopodium is a remedy of pneumonia in the hepatization period affecting the right side and also a remedy of the consequences of pneumonia; repeated bronchitis. Rheumatic patient, aggravation in the least cold. Headaches at night after having been overheated.
Emaciation of the neck and the face. Lycopodium is also applied in the incessant dry cough of children. A remedy of neglected pneumonia.
It is also a medicine of constipation, of hernia-inguinal, right- sided. The child cries before micturition- is a symptom of Lycopodium. It moreover acts in otitis, following scarlatina. Otitis with green yellow and foetid flow with hypoacousy. Ear abscess.
Lycopodium is also a remedy of stuffed nose. The child can breath but through the mouth, owing to the presence of thick, greenish mucus in the nasal canal and in the throat. Nasal catarrh is always accompanied with headache of the type described above. In girls it is a remedy of amenorrhoea with non-developed breasts. Lycopodium develops the breast in such girls and makes the course appear.
We may say that Lycopodium, Calcarea and Sulphur, these three great antipsoric remedies are very useful in children. We should know that if Calcarea and Sulphur are easy to broach, Lycopodium can challenge them in importance and that the cases of Lycopodium are to be found in children oftener than it is believed. The cases of Lycopodium are not always evident, but they should be tracked. This is why I thought it wise to draw the attention to this great remedy.
