HOUSTON, TEXAS.
The first impression of the uninitiated, who first take in hand our voluminous works on materia medica, is to perceive no difference between the recorded provings of many medicine. He thinks on glancing over the pages of the materia medica, that every medicine has caused some giddiness, some headache, some fever, some cough; all and every one of them. He remains unavoidably puzzled on the subject, until he begins to compare the records more closely and accurately, he then sees clearly the differences that exist between the various medicines and the manner in which they are similar and differ. He will first try to ascertain what kind of a pain a remedy generally produces, and on what part of the body, on what organ or part of an organ it is most apt to act.
He will find under that conditions the changed sensations in the organism are produced, and these conditions he will subdivide first as to the time, at what time of the day, month, or year, periodically and so forth; under what change of position at rest or in motion, by what kind of food or drink, and b what mental emotions the condition is either aggravated or ameliorated, and lastly in what connection the various changes appear, and their accompanying symptoms.
In this manner the progressive student will obtain the characteristic symptoms of each medicine; he will find by so studying each medicine, that various medicines have in some respects great similarities, but that in other respects they differ, in various ways, much from each other; he then makes comparisons as to similarities and differences, and he so finds out their relationship.-AD.LIPPE, 1864.
