FOR THE FOUNDATION OF HOMOEOPATHIC RESEARCH.
The Committee which was appointed by the I.H.A. in 1922 to investigate the claims of Abrams verified certain effects produced when vials of potentised remedies were brought in contact with a person. We of the Committee concluded that these effects were due to an energy which caused a reaction through the autonomic nervous system. When, in 1926, I demonstrated to Doctor Samuel Sobel that, if an individual is touched with a vial of medicine, a dielectric rod rubbed on his skin is impeded, Doctor Sobel came to the same conclusion. Wishing to test the theory, Sobel requested that no other effects should be described to him, in order that he himself might experiment without prejudice or pre-knowledge, for the purpose of finding in how many other ways the autonomic functions would respond. Somebody had already observed that, when a suitable drug is touched to a person, both his pulse and his pupils are affected.
Sobel not only discovered these two effects, but he demonstrated, by means of transillumination an effect in the capillaries of the ears and webs of the fingers; by direct observation, variation in the calibre of the veins on the back of the hand; by means of the fluoroscope, alteration in amplitude of the heart-pulsations; by direct observation, movements in the fine reticulations of the skin and changes of shade of coloured pigments when they are rubbed on the skin.
I do not know who first observed the effects on the pupil and on the pulse but, amongst all of the effects, these two are the most easily observed and they are reliable for determining the value of any remedy as a similimum. The reason for this is obvious because the pulse and pupils are wholly under autonomic control and, as all curative impulses originate in the autonomic system, a remedy, in order to be curative, must have specific relation to the same mechanism. The important fact in these phenomena is that medicinal substances cause effects through the walls of their containers. Not every drug will cause these effects on every person but every person will respond to certain drugs.
THE PUPIL-EFFECT.
To observe the pupil-effect, one must first find a drug to which the person under observation is sensitive. The homoeopathist can see the effect by using a patients similimum. If he be in doubt between two or more medicines, he can ascertain which is best by comparing their effects on the patients pupils. By testing a large number of drugs, one can be found for any individual.
When making the test, remember the following essential factors: A somewhat darkened room is best but any room can be used, provided light does not shine in the patients eyes from more than one direction.
The subject should be comfortably seated in an armchair facing the least light side of the room and, during the test, he should relax his accommodation by looking toward but not at the opposite wall.
The experimenter should sit close in front of the subject and a little to one side nearby and have some sort of artificial light to be used for contracting the pupils. A goose-neck electric lamp with opaque shade is suitable. The drugs to be used must be near at hand, where they can be readily picked up. When ready, the experimenter holds the lamp about two feet to one side of the subject and turns it so that the light is reflected into the subjects eyes. The pupils will contract and then will expand slightly and come to rest.
When they do come to rest, pick up a vial of medicine and touch it to the subjects hand. If an assistant handle the remedies, he should stand near the subject and, when he picks up the vial, should immediately touch it to the subject. If the patient is sensitive to the remedy, his pupils will dilate. In rare instances, they will first contract and then dilate.
Some subjects have very sensitive pupils which are continually dilating and contracting under the influence of the light. With them it is not as easy to demonstrate the effect but, with perseverance, the drug-effect can be separated from the random fluctuation. Crude drugs, as well as drugs in the highest potencies, cause the effects.
It is an interesting fact that a drug may be lying close by the subject without affecting him but, the moment it is picked up, the effect occurs. If an assistant bring it from several feet away before touching the subject, the pupils will have reacted by the time he reaches the subject and the effect will not be observed unless the experimenter has been alertly watching the pupils from the start. It is really not necessary to touch the vial to the subject at all, but it is essential to move the vial quickly, once the procedure is begun. The effect will be as great if the motion suddenly stops a short distance away. If the assistant holds the remedy behind his back, so that his body shields it from the subject, the energy is apparently blocked and the effect does not occur.
If repeated tests be made with a hundred remedies, the small group which causes the reaction will differ with each test but, if there be one remedy to which an individual is very sensitive, it will come through each time.
In the first crucial test which I made, twelve hundred remedies were used. One test a day was made and about one hundred were tested each time. The pupils responded to an average of six drugs in each test, and these were mixed with the hundred used in next days test.
Thirteen tests were made and the thirteenth test included only the remedies which had come out in each of the previous twelve. In the first twelve tests, half a dozen drugs had repeated themselves three or four times in succession and then dropped out but one particular drug appeared in all thirteen tests. These seeming inconsistencies are not inconsistencies at all. A living thing is not like an inanimate apparatus. It is constantly varying in its responses to external conditions and the energy with which we are dealing is extremely elusive. If the effect is to be produced at all, just the right person from a large number of people and just the right drug from a large number of drugs must be brought together.
COLOUR-CHANGE IN THE IRIS.
At the time the pupils dilate, the colour of the iris changes, usually becoming lighter. It is difficult to see accurately two things at the same instant, so do not undertake to observe the colour-change at the same time that you see the pupil-change; first observe the pupil-change and then repeat the experiment for the colour-effect.
When using the pupil-effect for finding the similimum, retest the small number which come through first. Most of these will not cause the effect the second time. Continue eliminating by retesting until only one is left. Retest the best two or three by means of the pulse.
THE PULSE-EFFECT.
Both the rate and the quality of the pulse will be affected by the drugs which are most active on the pupils. A remedy which is homoeopathic to an individual will always cause the greatest effect and a nearly homoeopathic remedy will act to a lesser degree. If a patient with a healthy heart has fever with increased pulse-rate, a remedy which is homoeopathic will lower it. If the rate is unnaturally slow, the remedy will increase it. To observe the effect, first note the rate and character of the pulse for purpose of control-data; then touch the remedies, one at a time, to the patients hand and count the pulse for a quarter-minute for each remedy. If the effect be at all pronounced, it will cause a variation of two or three pulse-beats in this period and a change in character of the pulsation. The vial need not be in contact with the patient for longer than a second or two. Often the effect will last as long as forty-five seconds.
Another way to observe the effect on a pulse is to have the drug brought suddenly close to the individual while the pulse is being felt. The one who does this should stand behind the subject where he cannot be seen, with the drug held behind his own body so that it shall be screamed from the subject. When everything is ready bring it up toward the subjects back with a swift swing, stopping suddenly when a few inches away. At the instant the drug is brought near, the pulse will hesitate, sometimes for a half- beat, and then there is a stronger beat, followed by a perceptible change of character, lasting from a few seconds to almost a minute. The effect can be plainly distinguished with the stethoscope or with the fluoroscope. Where the heart is arythmic, it may be difficult to observe the reaction.
The foregoing effects are so definite, so easily observed, that no especial training is required to master the technique for utilising them practically; just a modicum of experimentation.
EFFECTS REVEALED BY PERCUSSION.
Another type of effect is revealed by percussion. Anyone who can percuss skillfully for diagnostic purpose can easily adapt his technique to this purpose. These effects are among the most interesting of all. Seat the subject, facing East or West, in an armchair, as described in the pupil-experiment. The experimenter sits in front and at the left side, so that he can easily percuss the upper and outer section of the subjects chest, or he may stand behind, so as to reach over the subjects right shoulder and percuss in front. The assistant stands about five or six feet away, with the vials of remedies on a chair. The experimenter begins to percuss the outer upper chest at the exact point where the percussion-note is between flatness and resonance, the percussion-strokes being continuous.
