EDITORIAL NOTES AND COMMENTS


In Arsenicum iodide we have a pain in the forehead directly above the nose; the frontal sinuses are involved; the patient feels weak, dragged out; the nasal discharge is hot and watery burning and much of it passes down by way of the posterior nares. The head in general feels heavy and dull. The patient himself feels better in the warm room.


Similia Similibus Curantur.:- We have much pleasure in presenting in this issue, an article with the above title, by Prof. Hugo Schulz, of the University of Greifswald, Germany. It is this article which perhaps, more than any other, first aroused the present interest in homoeopathy throughout Germany and which has caused men of eminence, such as August Bier, to investigate the claims of Samuel Hahnemann. We are indebted to Dr. W.J.Sweasey Powers and his wife, Dr. Lillian D.Powers, for the English translation.

Nasal Sinusitis.- Irrigation of the sinuses is never without danger, especially in acute processes. In case of fever, or when a fibrous exudate has formed, irrigation should not be performed. Riedel believes that operative treatment of the antrum frequently entails inflammation in the ethmoidal and frontal sinuses. The latter and the sphenoidal sinus should be operated on only when persistent headaches cannot be cured by an antrum operation and conservative treatment:- J.A.M.A.

Frank and honest confession; too bad that the advice implied, is not more often followed! Too much monkeying with the nasal accessory sinuses is productive of serious mischief, especially in the hands of the inexpert; and Heaven knows, there are plenty of these.

Carefully chosen homoeopathic remedies are quite capable of doing much good, in the various forms of sinusitis. Arsenicum iod, Iodin, Kali iod, Pulsatilla and Silicea can do wonders here.

In Arsenicum iodide we have a pain in the forehead directly above the nose; the frontal sinuses are involved; the patient feels weak, dragged out; the nasal discharge is hot and watery burning and much of it passes down by way of the posterior nares. The head in general feels heavy and dull. The patient himself feels better in the warm room.

The Iodin patient is likely to be thin and lean, dark and hungry-looking, an appetite which demands attention and compels respect; he always feels better when his paunch is full and like Oliver Twist, is apt to cry for more. Pressive pains in the forehead are complained of, or a small, painful area above the nose. Fluent coryza and a great deal of sneezing, discharge is hot and excoriating and fever may be in evidence. The cold open air relieves.

Kali iod. is usually without fever; in fact, the temperature is often subnormal; stretching and aching of the limbs is complained of; sneezing is both violent and paroxysmal and accompanied by a filling up of the eyes with tears. The nasal discharge is at first watery, hot and burning, corrosively so. Sneezing is frequently painfully ineffectual. The eyes and nostrils are red and the upper lips is sore. Heat, locally applied over the nose and forehead, is very agreeable, but in general, the potassium iodide patient feels better in the cold open air. Great weakness is present. In general also, there is an aggravation at night, as with other anti-syphilitics. Later on the nasal discharge becomes thick and yellow.

Pulsatilla is especially familiar to us all, with its afternoon and twilight aggravation, its docile placidity, its bland, thick and yellowish-green discharges and its amelioration in the cold open air. The head feels better in the cool open air which indeed is more agreeable to the sufferer, whose frontal and facial pains may be due to an inflammation of the frontal sinus itself, or even of the antrum of Highmore. Fever may be present and is apt to be high, with absence of thirst. Smell and taste are temporarily abolished, or at least greatly diminished. Pulsatilla is more likely to be needed during the later stages of sinus inflammations.

In Silicea we find a remedy of much value when the frontal sinuses are affected, with severe pressure in the forehead, as though from a heavy weight above the eyes. Cold air especially a draft of cold air, aggravates the pains, the head is extremely sensitive to drafts and feels better when wrapped up warmly. Chronic sinus inflammations are likely to be helped by this great remedy. The nose is obstructed and sore and bloody mucus as well as acrid watery mucus in blown from it.

Other remedies may, of course, be required; they often are and symptoms must decide, but the five remedies mentioned are important and often most useful; we ought always to bear them in mind, especially when tempted to resort to local measures of doubtful value.

Should Schick Test Be Abandoned? -: Observations are recorded by Kellogg showing that the Schick test is subject to errors in its application, which more than offset the value of the information derived from its use. A high percentage of false negative Schick tests has been found in persons following immunization, the information as to their true status having been determined by laboratory test using the Kellogg method. The Schick test is of academic interest only and should be abandoned completely for the following reasons:

It is subject to a sufficient percentage of false negative reading to result in the failure of protection of children who otherwise would have been protected. Knowledge of the immune status of children is not required, as most of those in the age group most concerned are susceptible, while immunization of the balance is open to no objection. General immunization of children without further attention to whether or not immunity has been attained will result in complete public health control of diphtheria. For determining the immune status of individuals and small groups, where this information is specially desired, the laboratory test devised by the author is convenient and accurate.

The above is abstracted by J.A.M.A. from the American Journal of Public Health, Albany, N.Y. October, 1925. The question presented and the conclusions drawn are quite remarkable, if not bewildering. The infallibility of the Schick test has been rammed down our throats so persistently, that we gasp in astonishment at Kelloggs revelations and we are sorely tempted to cry out in the language of the street: “Where are we at and where do we go from her?”.

Rheumatism and the Tonsils.

Gording reports clinical and experimental research on 260 cases of joint and muscular rheumatism, all but 25 percent in women. A history of tonsillitis was known in only thirty of the 108 cases of primary chronic polyarthritis, and in thirty-four of the 107 muscular and nervous rheumatism cases. The average age that the onset in the tonsillitis cases in both groups was twenty-seven, and in the non tonsil cases forty-three and forty-four. In the thirty-for cases treated with tonsillectomy, improvement followed in twenty-two but not in the others. J.A.M.A.

Sehr interressant, nicht wahr? Evidently tonsillectomy is not always successful; still, the modern slogan is “teeth and tonsils” four out of five get pyorrhoea, unless forsooth, all use some celebrated dentifrice; the immaculately dressed dental surgeon, with his charming, white-clad office nurse as partner, looks down upon the passing throng beneath his office window and with a saintly expression of true benevolence, utters his prophetic words: Four out of five, four out of five! The psychology is compelling and off we rush to the nearest Liggetts and purchase a tube of prophylactic toothpaste.

Effect of Ovarian Therapy on Menstrual Cycle.

The clinical features and course in a group of 132 women who complained among other symptoms of hot and cold “Flashes” and who received as therapy desiccated whole ovary are reported by Sharlit, Corscaden and Lyle. They have been most favorably impressed with the value of this therapy. J.A.M.A.

Our homoeopathic Ovarian in 3x or 6x is at times of value in the condition cited in this abstract. But other remedies, such as Lachesis, Sepia and Sulphur, must be thought of as well. Their indications are well known to all and need not be repeated.

Pernicious Anemia.:- In a series of forty-two cases of addisonian anemias under Hunters observation, only two have apparently been cured by transfusion, drugs and dietetic measures. Of the forty-two cases, thirty four were Type II blood, three Type IV, and one case was Type III, according to Moss method of blood grouping. Whether or not there is any significance to the large number of Type II cases, has not been determined. Two of the patients died after transfusion, with hemoglobinemia and hemoglobinuria, indicating hemolysis, one having been transfused thirty-six times, the other twenty-eight times.

Both were given homologous blood after direct matching in a last desperate attempt to bring them out of a severe relapse. On the other hand, one to bring them out of a severe relapse. On the other hand, one patient has had thirty-two transfusions, many times by the same donors without any hemolysis or untoward reactions. All the patients have either shown a frank pyorrhea alveolaris or increased amount of oral bacterial flora, particularly the spirillary forms. J.A.M.A.

Well, here pyorrhoea did play a deadly villanous part. No doubt these forty-two patients had not read the street car “ads” and so, had failed to prevent disaster by using the “four out of five” treatment. Moral: Always read the street car “ads”, even if you are carried away beyond your destination!.

Allan D. Sutherland
Dr. Sutherland graduated from the Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia and was editor of the Homeopathic Recorder and the Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy.
Allan D. Sutherland was born in Northfield, Vermont in 1897, delivered by the local homeopathic physician. The son of a Canadian Episcopalian minister, his father had arrived there to lead the local parish five years earlier and met his mother, who was the daughter of the president of the University of Norwich. Four years after Allan’s birth, ministerial work lead the family first to North Carolina and then to Connecticut a few years afterward.
Starting in 1920, Sutherland began his premedical studies and a year later, he began his medical education at Hahnemann Medical School in Philadelphia.
Sutherland graduated in 1925 and went on to intern at both Children’s Homeopathic Hospital and St. Luke’s Homeopathic Hospital. He then was appointed the chief resident at Children’s. With the conclusion of his residency and 2 years of clinical experience under his belt, Sutherland opened his own practice in Philadelphia while retaining a position at Children’s in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department.
In 1928, Sutherland decided to set up practice in Brattleboro.