I recall a recent case in Springfield, Ohio, about twenty- eight miles from Dayton. This man had some so-called boils and they all healed, and he came down with severe chill and high temperature and was rushed to the hospital, and has a blood count and all the diagnosis tests taken, and a culture of the blood and streptococcus viridans was the diagnosis.
The attending physician, in consultation with other physicians in the hospital, told the family if was only a matter of a few hours, maybe a day and there was no hope for the man, so they insisted on calling me from Dayton. I went up there; the physician was, by the way, a graduate of our homoeopathic school, but he absolutely refuses to have himself identified in any away as a homoeopath. I saw the patient lying listless, unable to sleep, with the characteristic tongue and blueness of Lachesis, I told him to give Lachesis. He said, “Lachesis! Did you ever see a man with streptococcus viridans recover? I never saw it and nobody in the literature has seen it. This man is going to die.”.
I said “That being the case, give him some Lachesis anyway.:.
He said, I will do it.”.
So he gave a dose of Lachesis and said.” That wont hurt him because by tomorrow he will be dead.”.
The next day the man was better. The temperature come down and he felt better and he slept that night. He took some nourishment and kept on improving until he had his own particular brand of coffee made by home and brought to the hospital, and he was getting along fine. The temperature was 101 and 102.
I passed through Springfield and called the doctor and asked him how he was getting along and he said, “The patient is getting along fine,” eight days after he was going to die.
“Well,” I said, “give him another dose of Lachesis, and then wait a week, and if the temperature is not clear down, give him another dose.”.
“Oh,” he said, “he is getting along fine.”.
“Remember that. Give him another dose.”.
“All right.”.
Forty-eight hours afterwards the patient had a relapse. The temperature began to go up. He wouldnt give him any more Lachesis or anything of the kind, the in three days the patient died.
Now, anybody would think that because of the improvement he saw, he would have repeated the remedy, but no, he told the patient that he was going to die, and therefore, he practically saw to it that he did die.
DR.EDWARDS:The doctor mentioned that one point that I should like to bring out, and that is that the whole practice of medicine in the old school seem to be on scientific principles and medicine has never been and never will be a science; it is an art. No remedy ever cures a person. It is a stimulant to nature to assist nature in curing the case, and that is what i tell my patients and try to preach that homoeopathy and medicine are arts,and we cant cure cases by any scientific methods.
You constantly heart of a death where every scientific thing known has been tried and used and the patient dies, and they have never given nature half a chance to get the patient well. So with medicine, if we get away from the principle of trying to teach medicine as a science and bring it back to an art, and get the people educated that medicine is an art and not a science, we will get along better.
DR.DAYTON PULFORD: I agree with Dr.Edwards. There is no doubt about the efficacy of Lachesis in these types of infection.
Father reported a ear or two ago the case of a meat cutter who had an infection treated scientifically, and he had one finger removed and the thing refused to heal, and Lachesis brought it around to nearly normal, as nearly normal state of affairs as one could wish for.
I think an important part in Dr.Browns paper and one that ought to be stressed is this trouble he has had with the life insurance company. It is rather a bad state of affairs to have a patient getting to feel he is pretty good and have to kill him and hold an autopsy see if we have cleared up the thing. There ought to be some way to make insurance companies and other companies with medical departments in them realize that we have been able to accomplish what we set out to do.
In relation to that, I might say that I knows two railroad men, engineer and fireman, ordered to Fort Wayne for the annual physical examination, and they told the engineer his heart was in bad condition, and as far as he was concerned, he was off the road for good; they told the fireman he was in excellent health, and could go out on his night run. The engineer was alive a year later, and the fireman made his nights run and died at the end of the run, and never came back.
DR.HEIMBACH:Dr.Panos reminded me of an incident. Ninety miles from my place there was an old school doctor who had a patient for years and it was one of his regular calls, two or three times a week; he went away and they called a homoeopath in during the two weeks vacation, and by the time the old school doctor came back, the patient was continuing to feel a good deal better. When he came home, he made his call the next day and said, “How do you feel?”.
“Oh,” he said, “I feel quite a hit better.”.
“You do” What have you been doing?”.
“I called Dr. So-and-So.”.
“What kind of medicine did he give you?”.
Its over thereon the table.”.
He looked at it and threw it out.
The patient said, “Oh, dont, Doctor: that is helping me.
He said, “Oh you only think it is.”.
In two weeks he was dead. they accused him of not doing the right thing.
Well,” he said.,”he died regular anyhow.”.
I dont know whether you people realize that it is just as characteristic in Lachesis to have an aggravation when they fall asleep as when they wake up. I found it almost more so than on waking up, and I have had some desperate cases that responded very quickly and nicely.
DR.ROBERTS: I think the difficulty is the Lachesis aggravation comes on during sleep and they sleep into the aggravation,and it wakens them.
Personally, I have found in a few cases, three cases of pure staphylococcic infection, instead of streptococcic infection, they are very much more virulent than anything I have ever seen in streptococcic infection; where you get the than anything I have ever seen in streptococcic infection; where you get the mixed infection, you are better off. They fight each other somewhat, but the staphylococci alone, to me has been a holy terror. I have never lose a case of it, but I had one man a year ago who went down from 150 to 75 pounds before he began to come up. He weighs about 160 now.
DR.BROWN:Dr.Pulford testified to one point that might be more dealt with and that is simply, what are we going to do? It is very easy for you fellows to tell me that if I simply have the proper remedy, I can prevail on my patients to do this and that. Please tell me how to to it.
I spoke of this young man who died that horrible death. A couple of years afterwards his little niece was taken with a most severe form of intestinal infection. Do you think I was called to treat the case ? I was not. It was treated allopathically. They spend about three thousand dollars on consultation and doctors, and the little thing finally died a mere skeleton.
It is a tremendously vital point with me. The others simply treat these cases homoeopathically, as you said.
I have had experience of streptococcic and staphylococcic infection, and in my experience they are about equally divided.
DR.ROBERTS: In regard to that, Dr.Brown, my attitude is this: When I am in charge and they insist on council, I am at the helm until I am through. If they dont follow my advice, and wont agree to it, I prefer to retire right there than go on. I think you make yourself weak by acceding to their demands,, and at the same time retaining the helm. When you put the responsibility on them and the family chooses between you and them, you are going to be called again, or you are going to stay there.
DR.EDWARDS: I want to corroborate exactly what Dr.Roberts said. You have to be at the helm or you cant accomplish anything and if they want anyone else to come in, granted: I will withdraw. You have a better advantage that way than by trying to consult with somebody who does not agree with you.
I had a case like that at the Windsor Hotel. The man said he couldnt to give him something to sleep. I tried to get a word in edgewise and I wouldnt and after I listened for a little while, I said, “Did you ever hear about Father Kneipp, the water-cure priest? You listen to me while I tell you this.”. The pope sent for Father Kneipp and when he came down, he thought he was going to get a going-over on account of his ecclesiastical relation with the parish, and he sat on the edge of his chair telling the Pole all about his parish.
The Pope said, I didnt call you here to ask about your parish. I called you here to ask about my health.”.
“Oh,” said Father Kneipp, “is that so?”.
So he sat back in his chair and began to talk to him like a doctor, and the Pope said,”Father Kneipp, how is it you have changed you attitude?”.
“Well, when Your Holiness called me to see you, you were the Pope, but now that it is about your health, Im the Pope.” (Laughter).
