All remedies like individuals, have a peculiar characteristic mark or stamp that differentiates them from all others, and, if they are to be positively identified, this characteristic mark or stamp must be searched for and found. It is not sufficient to be able to state that this man is the nearest to a similar man, to the one who committed the murder, but he must be positively identified before we can prosecute him, and thus it is with the remedy to be used. The fact that we consider it the similimum or most similar remedy is not sufficient-it must be the similar remedy if we are to get a final result, in other words, a complete eradication of the disease to be cured.
It is commonly accepted among the majority of those who call themselves homoeopaths that there is neither method in remedy selection nor intelligence in potency selection. A given set of symptoms may simulate a certain drug and yet the characteristic mark or stamp be entirely overlooked, them we wonder why a remedy apparently so well indicated, to us the apparent similimum, or most similar remedy, failed to effect a cure. How many times we homoeopaths try to play Hamlet only to find Hamlet missing.
The great majority of us go into disease ignorant of how to combat it, it scares the very life out of us, then we begin to dope and dope and dope, simply because on top of this ignorance and fear we do not know our materia medica. In this way we pile up, on top of the original disease, an artificial drug disease for which eventually the very best prescriber on earth could never find a remedy.
It is expected of the alloeopath that he prescribe drugs without even giving them a second thought, but for homoeopaths to do so is unpardonable. In order to make a totally efficient prescription his remedy must bear the characteristic mark or stamp, which marks the remedys individualism, and this must carry with it the proper amount of power or potential. Even if the characteristic or individual mark or stamp is present in the list of symptoms or indications and the proper power or potency is not exhibited the result will be delayed, but if the proper power accompanies the characteristic stamp the result will be prompt, continuous and final, without either fear of injury from too much power, or delay from not enough power.
In other words if the power is too high a sharp aggravation, not always benign, will be the result and consequently the cure retarded for a short period until the effects have worn off. If, on the other hand, the power is too low the case will be long drawn out and the patient would have been better off without the remedy. Such cases are very apt to be only partially finished and are very apt to relapse. If the drug used does not contain the characteristic or individual mark or stamp and seems like the similimum, or most similar remedy, certain symptoms will be caused to disappear or be suppressed, and the case will be masked, and it will be impossible to find the truly similar remedy.
We note in kents Lectures on Materia Medica, in the lecture on Arsenicum alb., p. 152, that he uses the term “similimum” instead of “similimum” and think that he had in mind, perhaps, a similar idea that we had ourself of the proposition, i,e., that the term similimum relates to a changed form of the term similar and not to the Latin similimum, an representing the accurately selected remedy, which must, if we are to be specific, artistic and especially scientific, include the exact potential of the drug, or potency if you so wish to term it.
As examples of what we are trying to get at, let us take Calcarea carb. and Sulphur as examples, two opposites: The characteristic or individual stamp of Calcarea carb. is represented by four words: Cold, moist, weak and pale, defined as follows: Generally cold and sensitive to cold air; sweaty, especially about the upper part of the body and more especially upon the occiput, wetting the pillow far around during sleep; cold, sweaty hands and feet, the stockings feeling damp or as if the feet were in cold water; desire for eggs, especially hard boiled; generally weak, especially from the least mental or physical exertion; generally pale and anemic, even though fleshy.
The characteristic or individual stamp of Sulphur is represented by four words: Heat, red, dry and faint, defined as follows: General heat, sensitive to heat, palms and soles hot and dry, must put feet out of bed to cool soles off; all orifices abnormally red; so faint especially at stomach around 11 a.m. (suntime) that he must eat to relieve it.
Those symptoms must be present, in their respective indications, if they truly similar remedy is found and a radical cure to be expected. Those two remedies cover so much ground that various groups of symptoms may be covered by them and look positively like the truly similar remedy. But the case that includes those above symptoms will be the one from which we can expect a complete and final result or cure. Here are two cases:.
A child, about 18 months old, had eczema capitis from the first month after birth, and had been under constant alloeopathic care until turned over to us. In the long history the above Calcarea individualistic stamp appeared. The child was given a single dose of the 10M. By the end of the week the mother returned utterly discouraged. When asked why, she said: “The eruption had all dried up and scaled off, but the urine was so acrid and strong that it brought tears to her eyes and choked her as she breathed so that she had to hold her nose while she changed the napkins”. She received a Placebo. At the end of the second week everything had cleared up and now, over two years later, the child has not known a sick day, is health, active, strong and rosy-cheeked.
A man of 55 years had suffered for 10 years with a heel that had grown almost ebony black, extending from the ankle to the ball of the foot, covered with a foul, thick, moist eruption and an ulcer discharging freely a thick, foul, yellow pus. His father died with an almost identical trouble. For over ten years an had been under alloeopathic treatment, the foot growing worse all the time. Dr. D.T.P. took this mans history carefully, covering two pages of closely written matter, amongst which there appeared the characteristic stamp of Sulphur.
He was given a single dose of the 10M. The first week he felt quite a little improvement, by the end of the second week his friends began to notice it and spoke to him about it. The improvement went on until he had an accident, bruising the foot. This interfered with the continued progress, but as soon as this was cleared up he was given a second dose of Sulphur 10M which carried the case through to a beautiful completion.
Thus we get a glimpse of the characteristic or individual stamp of two of our greatest polycrests, easy to remember, absolutely essential to an accurate prescription and an unerring guide to the right remedy to be studied.
The one and only reason that our materia medica needs to be so large is, that for want of the proper remedy, the yet unproven remedy, with which to compare, we are compelled to treat so many cases with remedies not related to the case, that we are compelled to retain a lot of symptoms of very little or of no value, to give us a clue to the nearest remedy we can find.
A point on which we wish to touch is our approach to the patient. Some say watch the patients approach to you. A patient comes into your office with a face a blank, he sits down and shuts up like a clam. You ask him to tell you how he feels. He replies, “That is what I came here for, for you to tell me”. The greater part of the patients we get either wish to hide something, or else they forget half of what they would like to tell you. In all those cases it is absolutely necessary that we leave no stone unturned to get at their characteristic stamp, and to do so we must learn how to diplomatically approach them without psychological suggestion, in order to get them to open up and talk.
With no thought of ipse laudit, let me refer to a case that had consulted Kent, H.C. Allen and several others, now dead, but equally prominent, as well as some of the very best talent on this floor, who told a doctor friend of mine that we had been able to give him the most relief that he had had. We only got to the bottom of that case by diplomacy. A question straight but diplomatically put brought out the necessary information that had been lacking to bring out the characteristic stamp. Always watch the patients approach to you, but should that alone fail, do not forget to learn how to diplomatically approach the patient.
And now a word as to drug power, potency or potentization. Do not allow our contact with modern medical science to so addle our brain that we lose sight of the very object for which we are gathered here to discuss the principles which we wish to preserve. Let us not go at these things pseudo-scientifically, but intelligently. It seems to me that all our trouble lies in a misunderstanding of what we really mean by the term drug, and by the term potentization. Every individual drug represents a fixed power that never varies, no matter what the potency or potentization used the same results will always be produced.
