During the month of May I gave a post-graduate course of lectures to a class of physicians in Indianapolis, Indiana. They were more than pleased and satisfied with the course of instruction. I have seldom seen a class so enthusiastic as they were. It is the kind of instruction that all our doctors need to fit themselves to heal the sick. It is the kind of instruction that they dont get in the medical colleges. I gave from five to six hours lectures each day and evening. This made it the most profitable time a doctor ever spent anywhere.
I read a very amusing story, told by Dr. S.E. Chapman in Pacific Coast Journal of Homoeopathy. It is so good I want to share it with my readers:
“During the first year of my practice there came into my office an old teamster. He skinned up his shift sleeves to above the elbows and roared:
“Doc, can you cure the itch?
“I examined him and found that he had chronic urticaria. The symptoms were those of Sulphur, and I put him up a package of that remedy, 3x. It cured him. But listen. I was very young in the game at that time, and did not possess a remedy above the 3x. I told him to take a powder before each meal and at bedtime. About two weeks later he came in, skinned up his sleeves as before and propounded, “What do you think of that, Doc?”.
“His arms were as clean of eruption as a babes I flushed and began to swell with pleasure and pride; for, to tell you the truth, very few people up that time had accused me of curing them. But I came to earth again with a shock.
“Did you take all the powders?” I asked.
“Take them be d-d! shouted the blasphemous old wretch as he pulled the package of powders from his shirt pocket to show me that it had never been opened.
” Just having the medicine in my pocket has cured me. The other doctors in town couldnt do a thing for me. Heres another dollar for you poor little devil. I wouldnt take a hundred dollars for that bunch of powders.
“For many months after, whenever I met the old fellow coming into town on a load of hickory cord wood, he would pull that package of powders from his dirty woollen shirt pocket and shout so that he could be heard a mile. Got em yet, Doc! Ill never die as long as I carry these powders”.
In your stubborn cases of sciatica, dont forget Tr. Apocynum 3ss added to four ounces of water. Give one teaspoonful every half-hour until relieved.
The above remedy is especially indicated when the pain is in the hip.
A very important indication for Crataegus in old people is this: When you read the pulse, if you feel a trembling or quivering sensation to the pulse, it tells you as plain as words could tell you that the heart is getting tired out, and unless the right remedy is given the heart will gradually grow weaker, until it ceases to beat. This is where Tr. Crataegus proves a God send to these old folks.
Give ten drops every three hours. It calms and strengthens the nerves of the heart and steadies the hearts action. I have no doubt but I have been the means of prolonging the life of many an old person by the judicious use of Crataegus. The old people are the veterans in the battle of life, and it is our duty as physicians to keep them with us as long as we can.
Be kind to the old folks, for remember this fact, “That just the way you treat old people when you are young will you be treated when you are old.” It has been a great source of comfort to me, now in the “sere and yellow leaf” of old age, that I was kind to my father and mother.
A woman may complain of a violent pain in the small of her back, at the approach of the monthly period, which, seems to interfere with her breathing. For the above symptom give. Tr. Asarum can., twenty drops in half a wine-glass of hot water every half-hour until relieved. In a case of diabetes mellitus, when there is loss of appetite, losing flesh, listless, increasing anemia, the remedy for the above condition is Tr. Chionanthus, ten drops four times a day.
We must not forget Tr. Chionanthus 2d x in that form of sick headache where they vomit up a greenish liquid bitter as gall. Give five drops every hour until headache is better, then three times a day between the attacks. When there is a burning of the skin, certain parts very sensitive, especially of the nates and thighs, flashes of heat, the remedy needed is Tr. Helleborus Niger, ten drops in four ounces of water, teaspoonful every hour.
I have found the following a good local application for the relief of pain.
B.
Epsom Salts 3.
Carbolic Acid grs x.
Hot Water OJ.
Mix.
Sig.
Bathe the painful part and apply a compress wet with above wash, changing them every hour or two. For your fever patients you can prepare a nice drink that they will enjoy. To a half-pint of water add a teaspoonful Cream of Tarter, also the juice of half a lemon. The whole is sweetened with white sugar. This makes a cooling drink for fevers.
Since the above paragraph was written. I have met with a great loss in the sudden death of Mrs. Jones, May 30th, from angina pectoris. I am quite sure that many of may students and medical friends will remember her kindly. They will not forget her pleasant smile and cordial grasp of the hand. To them she seemed like a mother.
We had fought the battle of life side by side for nearly fifteen years. It was a terrible shock to me-but God knows best.
“After lifes fitful dream she sleeps well”.
