Give the indicated remedy at the start and you can well afford to wait for the crisis. Watch but dont be frightened. The pneumonias that die are usually those that have been given digitalis (crude dosage), antipyretics, coal tar products, etc. In typhoid Arnica and Baptisia are indicated once in a while, Arsenicum fairly often, Rhus and Bryonia frequently. These five remedies probably cover over 80 per cent of the cases. Patients should be immobilized to stop their thrashing about. In this way the inflammation of the Peyers patches is made milder by inaction and the ulceration of the second and third stages and intestinal haemorrhage are avoided.
It is a very important point. On the twenty-first day or earlier when the temperature drops, due to the remedy or to the natural course of the disease, dont give a remedy when the temperature drops to subnormal, say 962 degrees. If you do you will cause a relapse. In my earlier years I mistook this for collapse and gave Carbo vegetabilis. In every case there was a relapse and its consequences of another run of fever. It taught me a lesson and now I give no remedy at this point to interrupt the action of the first remedy or to start up fresh inflammation. Such cases, left alone, come back to normal in a few days. The well indicated remedy will usually finish up your typhoid cases in ten to fourteen days, about the time you would ordinarily think you had a real typhoid to deal with.
PARKERSBURG, W. VA.
Susceptibility and reaction are basic principles, and are very closely allied to the problems of immunization. The similar remedy, the similar disease, satisfies susceptibility and establishes immunity. H.A. ROBERTS, M.D.