All that we can possibly know of disease is expressed in symptoms; all that we can possibly see of it, its external manifestation or end product. Disease represents progressive death, which if not checked goes on to finality; it is the result of misdirected energy brought about by disturbing the ability of the internal relations to adjust themselves to the external relations, thus bringing about a chaos that results in broken down tissue, morbid products and abnormal formations.
Drugs are of a similar force to that of disease and produce similar results, not cures, but disease similarity, and thus verify and confirm the validity of the homoeopathic law of “Similars”. Drugs, in the themselves, do not cure disease, the primarily induce it; ;secondarily, when potentized, if specifically indicated , simply oppose natural disease force, thus suspending the nullifying that disease forces action, which thereby allows Nature to readily adjust itself. When this is completed, what we understand and terms cure, takes place. The drug causes the primary action, the reaction is the effort of the vital force to assist the system to right and adjust itself.
Our potentization does not alter this drug force in any manner or form, neither does it decrease its energy, on the other hand it rather increases that energy by reducing the resistance of the drugs physical confines and render in that contained force the more readily available. It is a common error, prevailing among doctors generally, that potentization both reduces the power and the volume of the drug force to a negative point. On the contrary-taking Silica as an example-by rendering its confined power more readily available through potentization, it so increases its action as to make a powerful active force out of what was considered an inert substance. It is not a matter of how much of the physical container of the drug we have that counts, but of the quality and the availability of the force contained therein.
When, in our ignorance, we are called to attend a serious case of any kind, as pneumonia, and are inclined to resort to crude digitalis, crude morphine and tanks of oxygen, let us revert back to the above and ponder over it carefully, that we may not wantonly snuff out a valuable life.
In the treatment of acute pneumonia, the genuine homoeopath is doubly blest, for on the one hand, pneumonia is readily amenable to the indicated remedy which will in all cases at least shorten, if not entirely abort, the attack, while on the other hand he has the remedies to apply. There is no royal road to the treatment, each case is individual hence a law unto itself and the drug must be carefully selected. Here as well as everywhere else any remedy in the materia medica may be called upon “If, and when, the symptoms agree”, and as time and space forbid all we will take up are the more prominent and pressing ones. The one which demands our most immediate attention is:.
Aconite: Whose identification mark is: Agonized tossing about, and whose essential symptoms, including the above mark, are: Extreme anxiety and restlessness; great fear, especially of death; expression of anxiety and fear; high fever; dry, hot skin; full, bounding, rapid pulse, and an unquenchable thirst that seems to increase with the drinking. The Acon. patient comes down rapidly and violently, he takes a severe cold during the day and comes down violently that same night and adds to the above: Sudden dyspnoea, a dry cough with an expectoration of rust, or hot bright blood, or mucus streaked with blood. He must lie on the back slightly elevated which relieves.
If Acon. has been improperly prescribed and has only removed the restlessness, Bry. is to be thought of ; if Acon. was prescribed too late and exudation has taken place, Iod. is to be thought of as Acon. is useless after exudation has taken place. If Acon. has been roundly abused by the crude drug prescriber it is then that Sulph. come in. (Our common error is in the grounded misbelief that Acon. is merely a superficial remedy when on the contrary, when truly indicated, it is a deep acting remedy having proven itself in chronic glandular troubles, and in a least one case of allopathically diagnosed gallstone colic which has now held for over two years, after appearing monthly under allopathic treatment of hypodermics of morphia.). Along with Acon. we have another valuable remedy that is capable, when properly indicated, of not only cutting short the duration of, but of completely aborting, the disease. We refer to:
Veratrum Viride: Whose identification mark is: Intense arterial excitement and a red streak down the center of the tongue, and whose essentials are: The above mark, cerebral congestion; high fever; hard, strong, quick pulse; white or yellow tongue with a red streak down the center. To those may be added: Dilated pupils; flushed, livid face; dry mouth, tongue and lips; breathing labored and slow; often a faint, sinking feeling a pit of stomach; cough with bloody, or clear bloody mucous expectoration; heart beat loud and strong. Like Acon. it is useless after exudation has taken place. Coming between Acon. and Bell. we have another valuable remedy in:.
Ferrum Phosphoricum: But unlike the other plethoric two this remedy is anaemic and chlorotic. Its identification mark is: Hyperaemia dependent upon relaxed muscular fibre of the blood vessels, and whose essentials, including the above mark are: Full, round pulse; high fever and vomiting, especially green. Added to those we have: Great oppression of chest; dyspnoea; stitches in chest on deep inspiration; a short, spasmodic and very painful cough, worse lying, with an expectoration that is quite bloody and often accompanied by epistaxis. It is extremely valuable in the first stage of infantile pneumonia, especially if caused by suppressed sweat on a summer day. Like the two preceding remedies it is useless after exudation has taken place. Again we have another remedy that simulates Acon. in the violence and suddenness of onset, we refer to:.
Belladonna: Whose identification mark is: Burning heat and redness, so hot as to almost burn, the hand , and whose essentials, including the above mark, are: The sudden appearance and disappearance of the pains and sweats; the aggravation from jarring and pressure; the red face; the enlarged pupils; the throbbing carotids; high fever and the general dryness which is quite characteristic. Added to those are: Aggravation from light and noise; glistening eyes; great thirst especially for lemonade; full rapid pulse and the general 3 p.m. aggravation. Like Bry. Bell. affects the right side, but cannot lie on it, Bry. must like on it.
Again when Acon. has been prescribed too late, the patient becomes quiet and exudation has taken place we have a valuable remedy in:.
Iodum: Whose identification mark is: A peculiar mental and bodily anxiety that increases the more the patient tries to keep still, and whose essentials, including the above mark, are: High fever; ravenous hunger, worse if he fasts. Added to those are: A desire to be bathed in cold water or to have the face cool sponged; suffocates in the warm room during the fever; dreads the heat. Iod. is associated mostly with Acon. and Bry., it has the high fever of both but lacks the agonized tossing about of Acon. and the stitching pains of Bry. Again, if Acon. has been prescribed when not indicated and the patient become irritable and averse to motion and to being spoken to, we have a splendid remedy in:.
Bryonia: Whose identification mark is: Aggravation from, and aversion to, motion, which Bry. holds in the highest degree, he does not even wish to be spoken to because it will cause him motion in answering, and whose essentials, including the above mark are: Relief from pressure, or lying on the affected side; irritability; taciturnity; sharp stitching pains; dry mouth with great thirst for large quantities, especially at long intervals; usually constipation with no desire for stool, stool usually large, hard, dark as if burned, or brown diarrhoea. Add to those: High fever; copious sweats; short dry, hacking cough with rusty expectoration, and general relief from cool air and cool applications we get a picture quite apart and distinct from any other remedy. The Bryonia patient, while plethoric, comes down slower than the above mentioned; he is compelled to lie on his right side or back. As we go over this remedy it vividly recalls another with those sharp stitching pains, we refer to:.
Kali Carbonicum: Whose identification mark is: Bag-like swelling under the brows with the 3 a.m. general aggravation, and whose essentials, including the above mark, are: Sharp stitching pains; extreme sensitiveness to cold; all the pains go to the cold parts; extreme ticklishness of the soles. Add to those: Extreme irritability; full of fear and imaginations; most violent cough with a copious, tenacious, offensive, thick, yellowish or yellowish-green, pus-like or blood-streaked mucus, and aggravation on lying on the right side and we get a splendid picture of Kali c.
