PROVINGS OF LAC VACCINUM BUTYRACEUM


On examining a patient there is not only the difficulty of estimating symptoms on the part of the physician, but he must bear in mind the possibility of the patient misleading him, through a variety of reasons-unintentionally, through ignorance, or through a desire to conceal the nature of the disease, or again from fear that he is actually suffering from a malady the existence of which he would prefer to ignore.


From original manuscript.

1871, Dec. 19th. Took one dose of 30th in evening. At 11:30 p.m., pain in bone beneath right eye, pressive as with the point of a finger.

Dec. 20th. Scanty urination, slow in passing. Took a dose at eight oclock.

Dec. 21st, 22d. No marked symptoms, except loose lumpy stools. Dryness on skin of hands, requiring constant wetting of the fingers in order to hold anything or turn leaves of paper.

Dec. 22d. Great dryness of hands. Rumbling in abdomen, loose lumpy painless stool, the lumps the size of small peas, with a pressure on anus as if the rectum protruded, though this was not the case. Hands feel very hot. Pulse 76. Tongue natural.

Dec. 25th. Same loose lumpy stool, sometimes very foetid. Scanty urination, extremely slow in passing, dribbling. Pimples on skin, in various parts; a group, slightly itching, midway between distal and of clavicle and umbilicus; also in the fold of nates, on the back, abdomen and thighs; they are painless; except when rubbed or scratched.

Dec. 30th. Great heat and dryness in nostrils, mucus becomes hardened and difficult to remove. Great restlessness at night. Musty smell from body with moisture of skin, but no sweat.

1872, Jan. 1st. Soreness under nail of right index finger as if it had been torn the flesh. Great depression of spirits, the future looks dark and hopeless.

Jan. 2d. Dryness of posterior fauces.

Jan. 3rd. Itching of point of right elbow at night.

Jan. 7th. Took one dose of 200th.

Jan. 8th. Soft lumpy stool, very offensive. Itching pimples, very small, in various parts. Dreams of the bodily appearance of the devil.

Jan. 9th. and 10th. Itching on metacarpal bones of thumbs.

Jan. 15th. Moist itching eruption in left popliteal space.

Jan. 16th. Heat in head, with dull pain in coronal region with fullness; a creaking sound as the head is turned, with throbbing in base of occiput. Dryness and heat in nostrils; plugs of hardened mucus. Small white vesicles on sides of nose.

Jan. 17th. Pain in and around right eye, the ball is sensitive to pressure.

Jan. 19th. In evening, profuse secretion of watery mucus from left side of right nostril, which was shortly followed by a sharp pain in forehead over eyes, with a slight soreness in right eye; the pain extended to the inner region of the superior arch of the orbit to the root of nose, followed by an increased discharge of mucus.

Jan. 20th. Woke at 4a.m. with no further desire for sleep. Sore spot on inner commissure of left eye on which a scab morning; hawks from posterior nares a large plug of mucus discolored probably by dust.

Jan. 21st. Pain in forehead over and in outer end of right eyebrow. Sleepy during day.

Jan. 22d. A sharp hot pain passing through left eyeball leaving a sense of heat afterwards.

Jan. 23rd. Burning in both lids of left eyes with redness of the meibomian glands, and dull pain in superior arch of orbit. Tough adhesive mucus in left posterior nares, difficult to hawk out, but which instigates frequent swallowing. Inflamed pimple on point of nose. Numerous pimples on states and thigh, no sensation, on had a white head, the rest were simply red with slight areola.

Jan. 25th. At night great dryness of larynx, especially at region of glottis, causing irritation and coughing.

Jan. 26th. Continued dryness of larynx, not causing coughing, but unpleasant irritation.

Jan. 27th. Dryness better, but very hoarse; no cough.

Jan. 28th. Coryza and hoarseness, slight dryness, sneezing. Both shoulders pain as if dislocated.

Feb. 1st. Took one dose of 1M. In afternoon, tickling and itching of left edge of tongue.

Feb. 2nd. Itching on metacarpal bone of thumb, no eruption.

On waking, stitch in left breast above nipple, on stooping or drawing a deep inspiration, as if there was an adhesion between lung and pleura; it passed away after breakfast. At 10a.m. pulse was 92, respiration 16, skin dry and hot 96 degree, temperature of hands 96 degrees, under tongue 99 degrees.

Feb. 7th. Watery running from nose while eating; for several days. Stinging sensation on left edge of tongue, several times. Canker sores on inside of cheeks and lips. At 11 a.m. touched my tongue to the 16th potency. In a short time great drowsiness, could scarcely keep eyes open.

Feb. 9th. Dull heavy pain over eyebrows, with sensation of heat in forehead.

Feb. 16th. At 6p.m. dulness of hearing as if right ear were filled with water, or as if there was thin film of wax on membrane tympani, lasting two hours.

Feb. 18th. Recurrence of the last symptom, morning after breakfast. At 10 p.m., itching in dorsal surface of first metacarpal bones, particularly the right.

Feb. 22nd. Tough adhesive mucus in posterior nares, difficult to hawk out. Dulness of hearing as if there water in right ear (examined by an aurist and found perfectly healthy).

Feb. 27th. Rough skin on inside of metacarpal phalanx of left thumb, with painful transverse fissures bleeding slightly.

March 7th. On making, painful throb in right testicle, seemingly in epididymis and extending up the cord; accompanied by a slightly sinking sensation at pit of stomach, as if, should the pain be intensified, I should faint.

March 23rd. Took one dose of 1M.

March 25th. Great deal of flatulence.

March 31st. Flatulence passed involuntarily.

April 7th. After evening dose (potency unfortunately not recorded) the following night I had a nocturnal emission, generally unconscious and without dreaming; for the most part of next day the glans is congested and quite hard as during an erection while the rest of the penis is flaccid.

April 8th to 10th. Itching eruptions under left knee, rough.

April 10th. Stitch in left side below nipple and to the left of it, on drawing a deep breath. Great deal of flatulence in bowels.

April 11th. Violent itching on dorsal surface of second phalanx of right middle finger, slightly red spot.

May 2nd. Took one dose of 200th. Painful stitch on right side between 6th and 7th ribs, a little to the right of a line from nipple down. Slowness on urinating, there seems to be no power to urge the urine. A slight painful numbness on upper side of left thumb between carpal and metacarpal joints, most on outer side with slight sensation of heat.

May 6th. Tightness under sternum just above centre; a peculiar sensation; and after stooping it seems as if the anterior mediastinum were filled with something tenacious sticking the parts together, and inducing a disposition to stretch and throw the shoulders back in order to separate the parts.

1874, Jan. 26th. About five days since, I took two doses of 30th, Yesterday, noticed and eruption on various parts of body apparently in groups, slightly itching, but sore to touch so could not scratch them. Today, took one dose of 1M. Pain in gluteus medius and gluteus minimus, a tired aching that makes sitting very uncomfortable.

1872, April 1st. Gave one dose of 10M to Mrs. B., who suffers from flatus from uterus. Result, a great increase of flatus which could be felt passing into uterus and down through it and vagina, like marbles; the discharge was with a puff instead of a report as before taking the remedy. Bromine caused a violent aggravation followed by an almost entire cessation of the flatus as well as the throbbing or hammering experienced in the ovaries, leaving an apathy and indifference to everything. 1873, Dec. Miss C. took a dose of 1M. Began to yawn immediately, continuing for 20 minutes. Menses appeared next day, one day too soon. Was wearied at the time she took it, but soon began to feel easy and soothed (compare Sac. lactis). Lameness through chest.

CURES.

Dr. Boardman reports a man of 68, after cerebral typhoid fever, had erysipelatous inflammation of right eye, lids both swollen and of light red color, with much heat, some itching and great photophobia.

A compress wetted with buttermilk applied to the eye immediately relieved the soreness, and by the third day the eye was quite well.

I have cured a throbbing beating in right ear with 1M. I have also verified with cures of dulness in ear as if filled with water; the scab in corner of eye; and the soreness under finger nail.

Finckes potencies were used in the above.

Dr. Price writes that he cured a severe case of dysentery, where the passages were nothing but bloody mucus, with the free use of buttermilk; while in a case of dyspepsia, milk produced dreadful flatulence and constipation.

One single word, one look, may illumine one who knows the materia medica. Not seldom after I had failed to grasp what a patient meant I would later come across the very symptom he had attempted to describe. In the treatment of patients suffering from the chronic miasms, especially when two or more are present, the symptoms will manifest themselves in such manifold and mysterious guises, physical, physical and mental, that the sufferer is puzzled to explain and the physician to understand.

On examining a patient there is not only the difficulty of estimating symptoms on the part of the physician, but he must bear in mind the possibility of the patient misleading him, through a variety of reasons-unintentionally, through ignorance, or through a desire to conceal the nature of the disease, or again from fear that he is actually suffering from a malady the existence of which he would prefer to ignore. The examiner must be on the alert against all such contingencies. And yet in spite of his being aware of such possible pitfalls, he will not succeed in avoiding them.- PROSPER BENDER, M.D., 1895.

S. Swan