The above leads us to answer our critics request to “give our explanation of our distinction between the similimum and the similar remedy”, or what I prefer to call “the similimum”, and to illustrate it with examples. These cases I have emasculated of the primary pathogenetic symptoms, and only the important symptoms as given by the patient retained. They embrace a case of gall-stone colic, a case of mastoiditis, a case of herpes, all allopathically diagnosed, and a case of scarlet fever.
CASE I.
Gall-stone colic. Anxiety; anger; excitability; fear; irritability; restlessness; dry mouth; eructations; nausea; bitter taste; great thirst; distended abdomen; cutting pains; frequent pulse; sweat without relief; scanty urine; internal pulsations; sensitiveness to pain; worse night, cold, open air, and lying.
Those symptoms are all covered in importance by Aconite, Arsenic and Rhus. Three physicians receiving that set of symptoms, and not seeing the patient, could easily each send in any one of those three drugs as the similimum and feel in his own mind that he had the correct remedy for that particular case. On entering the room in that case I noticed the following: Patient tossing about the bed in great agony, expression of great fear and anxiety, calling frequently for water and drinking freely, dry, hot skin, full, bounding pulse, etc. Those few italicized symptoms immediately fixed the choice, and a single dose of Aconite 30x has held that case now over two years. For two years previous that woman had almost monthly recurring attacks under allopathic treatment.
CASE II.
Mastoiditis. Active, anxiety, fear, irritability; starts in sleep; vertigo; headache; photophobia; inner ear inflamed, pains, pulsates; face red, hot; throat and tonsils dry, pain, inflamed; extreme thirst; backache; fever; lassitude; pains in ear boring, stabbing; pulse full, hard; sensitive externally; affected parts swollen; worse night, every draft of air, lying on painful side, motion, before and during sleep, touch, and uncovering.
Those are all prominent symptoms of Belladonna, Hepar, and Mercurius, any one of which could be considered the similimum according to the individual prescribers view. Yet they are useless in the selection of the similar remedy. As we entered the room in that case our first gaze met a scarlet patient with a dry hot skin that fairly burned my fingers, pupils dilated to the limit, carotids throbbing violently, sudden stabbing pains in ear, unable to lie on painful side on account of the pressure, and a “please dont jar the bed”. That was the very picture that had preceded four delicate operations on the mastoid. A single dose of Belladonna 30x put the little patient to sleep in just 30 minutes. It is now over fourteen years and there has been no return.
CASE III.
Moist herpes. Dullness, worse mental exertion, irritable restless, sad, vertigo; headache; dry mouth; white tongue; bitter taste; great thirst; constipation, stools hard; urine dark, cloudy, copious and offensive; restless sleep, wakes frequently; eruption herpetic, moist, burning; worse evening, night, draft of, and open air, bathing, cold, during and after eating, before sleep, and after waking. A beautiful similimum could be found in that case for either. Sulphur, Lycopodium,or Calcarea.
Here is what we observed: Extremely red lips (strange how Aconite displays its hyperaemia in the cranium, Belladonna on the skin and mucous membranes, and Sulphur on the mucous connective tissue around the orifices of the body). On further investigation I found offensive odors emanating from the body, aversion to bathing, and aggravation therefrom, burning palms and soles, especially nights, compelling putting feet out of bed to cool off soles, faint, hungry, gone feeling at stomach, especially worse at 11 a.m. (sun time), must eat a little of something, thirst increased, appetite diminished, etc. Sulphur restored the patient promptly.
CASE IV.
As a last example I will append a case of scarlet fever, whose emasculated symptoms repertorize down nicely to Acon., Bell., and Sulph., and put the three primary heads over the body of those most important symptoms:
Aconite Belladonna Sulphur
Agonizing tossing about, Burning heat and Lips and other
extremely anxious and redness, skin dry, orifices of body
restless,great fear, heat almost burns extremely red, sore at
especially of death, fingers, throbbing times, faint,hungry,
expression of anxiety of carotids, gone feeling at
and fear, extreme pupils large, eyes stomach worse 11 a.m.
thirst, high fever, glisten, face (sun time), must eat
dry, hot skin, full, flushed, scarlet a little, body odors
bounding pulse, etc. red, etc. offensive, burning.
palms, soles, etc.
Anxiety, confusion of mind, delirium, dullness, excitability, fear, easily frightened, irritable, restless, sensitive, startled, weeps; vertigo; congestion to head; eyes dry, red and sensitive to light; face red, hot, expression anxious; mouth, tongue and throat dry, red and inflamed; restless sleep, anxious dreams; fever worse evening and night; skin red; pulse frequent, full, hard, small; extremely sensitive and to pain; generally worse evening and night, open air, cold, jar, motion, rising up, during sleep, and touch. Sulphur covered the case and gave an excellent account of itself.
You will note how the primary pathogenetic symptoms change the whole phase of the above case; how they change the character of the remedy; how few they are in number; how unimportant they make the otherwise important symptoms covering the body of the case; and how important it is that we properly sort and classify the symptoms in our materia medica.
The lack of knowledge of the characteristic mark or stamp of the drug, the essential primary pathogenetic symptoms of each drug, as well as what constitutes the real drug, will always make our priceless system appear a bungling art, rather than the exact science it really is. All that homoeopathy needs to make it, and complete its claim to, an exact science, are proper provings, accurate and intelligent sorting and classifying of the results of these provings, and the exact amount of drug potential required in a given case. This would lighten the burden of the prescriber fully 75 per cent or more.
You will note that, from the cases cited above, the symptoms, though important and well marked had no real place in indicating the drug, though excellent for repertorizing in order to find a similimum. The symptoms as italicized were the only ones of real value, because they were the ones produced directly by the drug, hence the primary pathogenetic symptoms, whether they appeared early or late in the proving makes no difference. It takes those to complete the base of the symptom totality, from which, when the proper amount of potential was added, there could be no appeal.
I do not believe that even Hahnemann, himself, ever dreamed fully of what he had really rediscovered, its real value, perfection when its unfolding is fully completed, and its far reaching influences, when he found that he had rediscovered homoeopathy. I fully know that we do not. Only our own ignorance of it represents its limitations. The only reason that homoeopathy has not been more openly and extensively accepted is due to our ignorance of it, and because of this our bungling presentation of it, and due also to the lack of knowledge of what constitutes the drug proper. From this lack of knowledge we were unable to explain our remedies, why they acted, and why they all tasted, smelled and looked alike. Hahnemann left us the nucleus to the full construction of the medical prize of all ages. It is too bad, it is criminal that we have neither the desire, nor the ability to complete it.
With apologies to, and paraphrasing Hahnemann: When any man (or body of men) professes openly to the world that he practises, or is prepared to practise, an art, or a science, whose end is the saving of human life, any neglect on his part to perfect the same and make himself thoroughly master of the same becomes a crime, and puts him in a position of obtaining money under false pretense.
TOLEDO, OHIO.
