Take for example: you apply Lachesis 200 to a patient who has never been treated or who is having a homoeopathic treatment for the first time. In such a case the duration will not be more than 7 or 8 days. The negative phase is 24 hours; the positive phase begins on the 2nd day: amelioration continues for 6 days and from the 6th day the amelioration begins to fall and the patient feels less better.
You repeat the dose and as gradually you go on repeating the dose even in the same dilution the duration of its action will increase. If instead of giving Lachesis 200 you apply 1000, the duration of action will be 15 days of positive phase and next you will have one month with another dose of M and you will obtain a positive action for 2 to 3 months with Lachesis 10,000 Korsakow.
The duration of action varies according as the patient has only begun the treatment or he is having a treatment for a long time. But there are so frequent exceptions to this rule that in reality it can only be learnt by individual practice.
Here we have an excellent argument for propaganda of Homoeopathy to other doctors who never busy themselves with the question of the duration of the action of their medicines. The official school busy themselves only in case of preventive vaccinations as regards the duration of action.
As regards the lower dilutions, they are to be applied rather in acute case because they act superficially and for a short period. On the other hand for the drainage of a chronic case we must get a real hierarchy of actions by giving a high dilution which acts for a long time, followed by some functional remedies which are repeated every day or at an interval of two days for the reason that their action is short lasting.
Very recently Cahis of Barcelona and Dr. Nabel have used some mixtures of dilutions and it has been seen that by mixing dilutions an action is obtained which is intermediary between a high and a low dilution and that the action is very deep because of the high dilution, acting at the same time very rapidly (because there is a lower dilution) and that the duration of action is intermediary. The mixtures of dilutions act soon, deeply and their duration is medium.
In summary we may say: while the high dilutions have a negative phase of aggravation for one or two days followed by a slow amelioration continuing for a long time, the lower the dilution acts for a short time, it acts superficially and it should be often repeated. The mixture of the two kinds of dilution give a result intermediary between the two.
In practice we have made some mixtures for some remedies Dr. Nebel often used to mix 30, 200, 500 or 40, 200, 5000, 1,000. Cabis tried to obtain a violent reaction of the patient with these mixtures causing at the same time a fall of potential. He used to give for ex: Silicea 18, the next day a mixture of 300 dilutions from 4,7000 to 5,000 for Silicea. He used to give in this way 300 dilutions, simultaneously.
This was a work of considerable patience. Cabis of Barcelona had thousands of phials. He worked on Sunday to prepare the dilutions which he applied during the following week. He obtained very interesting results by alternating one very low dilutions with a very high dilution. He did this for example for Theosinamin.
Dr. Nebel used mixtures of dilutions. I have also used them. The mixture of dilution often diminishes the chance of aggravation.
(in my practice I have very often verified the rapid and sure action of a remedy by using two of its dilutions alternately. In chronic cases I generally use a remedy in the following manner: 6,200; 200, M; M, 25M etc. applying the high dilution first following it with its corresponding lower one. The higher dilution is repeated in an interval more or less according as the dilution is high or low).
According to the works of Berne, it seems that the dilutions always made in the same phial are but some mixtures of dilutions in which the element of depolymerisation corresponds to the high dilutions and the elements already polymerised to the lower and medium dilutions. The superiority that is attributed to the Corsakowian dilutions, is perhaps due to the mixture of dilutions and to some physical phenomena which will result out of the mixtures.
There is also another rule which has been equally formulated, but for which there are so many exceptions. It should be followed with great prudence.
When it is necessary to act on very subtle symptoms as for example mental, sympathetic or nervous it is better to use high dilutions when you descend to the materiality of morbid symptoms apply medium doses in lower dilutions. Such is the case for the diseases of digestive system. But to speak the truth, most of the gastrointestinal manifestations are some neuro-digestive syndromes. They are some phenomena which we believe to be purely material, however of energetic order. This is really true for the stomach and for the caecum.
As regards Phosphorus, when you read the pathogenesis you find in a general way that the symptoms caused by the poisoning corresponds to the acute stage of a disease. The symptoms provoked by the high dilutions correspond to the Chronic stage but in reality it is necessary that we should establish the pathogenesis of Phosphorus in different dilutions and to understand them well we must take into consideration the
chronology of appearance of the symptoms. You will find this kind of the chronology in the Materia Medica established by Hahnemann himself. You find for example that the patient of Lycopodium had such and such symptoms that appeared primarily and such other symptoms that appeared secondarily and still others that appeared latter on.
In a general way the symptoms that appeared in the beginning are the symptoms of acute stage, and the secondary symptoms are the symptoms of chronic stage. In a word we may say that three or four pathogenesis of the same medicine should be established because the different pathogenesis are not the same. There are some homoeopaths who try to do so but pathogenesis are not always done in this way. There is however an optima dose for each medicine.
In leaving aside the action of a remedy different according to the dilutions, sometimes the homoeopaths have ignored some very simple facts. The pathogenesis of Magnesia Muriaticum have been prepared with very high dilutions. Some aspects have been neglected and it has not been noticed that the disappearance of a wart may follow absorption of Magnesium Chloride and corresponds to a very special sycotic state with the possibility of a secondary nephritis.
(It is necessary that first of all a pathogenesis of the tincture should be prepared then we must proceed to the different dilutions).
Now we will consider the errors that we should try to avoid in repeating doses, in the intervals and times of application of remedies. Lastly we will consider some particular cases for individual remedy.
REPETITION OF DOSE
Almost all homoeopaths, if not all, have tendency to prescribe for a long time the same remedy inspite of the amelioration obtained. We have tried much to fight against this habit. We may have to deal with an acute or a chronic case. We treat it for a given period and it is very difficult for us to tell to the patient when he will begin to have amelioration. It is also necessary to lengthen the interval of the application of doses and to stop it totally when there is complete amelioration of symptoms.
Thus the patient is left alone to his own initiative and he may either stop the remedy earlier before the amelioration has become manifest or it may be prolonged because of the uncertainty. On the other hand we must also take care of consolidating the amelioration obtained. But it is necessary Hahnemann has said, to increase the time of application of doses of the same remedies as soon as their action has become evident.
