LACHESIS


In this section of the country there is a tradition to the effect that an open winter means a full graveyard. What is implied is that a winter season with little snow and mild temperatures produces more illness than the severe climatic disturbances usually manifested.


WHEN WINTER COMES.

In this section of the country there is a tradition to the effect that an open winter means a full graveyard. What is implied is that a winter season with little snow and mild temperatures produces more illness than the severe climatic disturbances usually manifested.

Fifteen years experience in one of the northern New England states has convinced this writer of the fallacy of putting much faith in folk-lore. Our observation has taught us that cold and snow are more conducive to illness than are milder climatic conditions. A further observation is that frequent variation in temperature and weather is more certain to be followed by sickness than are long continued cold or consistently mild temperatures.

The present winter season may serve as an illustration. Five days of sub-zero temperature in mid-December were followed by a week of snow, sleet and rain in which the temperature for the most part was above freezing. There ensued a day or so of normal winter weather – 20 F. and sunshine-then a sudden drop to below- zero temperature, which persisted for six successive days.

During all this time there was much sickness, but we observed a definite relation between the onset of illness and the fluctuations in temperature and weather; with every change in either temperature or weather came influx of new cases. Those already ill apparently were not affected by the variations mentioned. Indeed it would appear that only well persons are susceptible to the influence of the changeable meteorological conditions typical of New England in winter. Related to what we have written above, though not offered in proof of our contention that an open winter does not make a full graveyard, is the observation that, during the present winter at least, children are more sensitive to the changes in weather conditions than are adults.

We assume the truth of this from the fact that the greater number of new cases of illness have appeared among persons of the younger age-group. Specifically, individuals ranging in age from four months to four years are more frequently affected than are older children or adults. Strangely, morbidity would appear to be greater among those individuals more protected from actual contact with the weather than among those who, for one reason or another, are obliged to brave cold, snow and rain in the routine of their daily living. Every illness traceable to the unusual meteorological variations of the present winter makes itself evident in the respiratory sphere. This in itself is not unusual; commonly, Vermont winter ills are respiratory in nature.

The unusual feature is the frequency with which babies and young children become victims. In past years our experience has taught us that these individuals are least likely to suffer respiratory disease because they are more protected against exposure to the inclemency of the weather. The majority of cases have presented two common features of value to the homoeopathic physician as therapeutic guides. The first of these is the extreme irritability of the little patients. They do not want to be touched or looked at; they must be rocked or held, however, to keep them contented. This symptom leads us at once to a consideration of the well-known “crosspatch” remedies: Antimonium crudum, Cina, Chamomilla, Antimonium tartaricum, Bryonia, and Gelsemium. In our own experience Cina has suited the greater number of cases.

The second characteristic to be mentioned is a chest full of rales – rales of all types – accompanied in a number of instances by an increase in the respiratory rate out of all proportion to the amount of pathology present. This symptoms forces the consideration of a much larger group of remedies than does the symptom of crossness, but many of them can be eliminated as not including also the characteristic mental feature.

Two cases seen recently should be mentioned here; one was a triumph for homoeopathy, the other a complete “bust”.

1. A two-year-old boy fell ill with the current respiratory infection. He showed the common mental and respiratory symptoms usual in these cases. However, a peculiar mental was the sensation of falling, which was aggravated on waking, being lifted, or being turned in bed. When ever this sensation appeared the child would cry out, grasp whatever was at hand, and exhibit every evidence of fear. Borax helped but did not hold; Gelsemium cured.

II. A three-year-old boy had had a “slight cold” for two days. At eleven a.m. on New Years Day he began to cough and coughed constantly for five hours. We are all familiar with the “minute- gun” cough of Niccolum and Corallium rubrum. This cough was a “second gun” cough. There was no let-up in it except when his attention was distracted, as when the fire engines went by. We confess our ignorance of the remedy. We also with shame, confession to prescribing a cough mixture. This case is one of the dark spots in our practice. But let us hasten to add that we know know what remedy the child should have received: Ignatia. This continuous and continued cough was an expression of the characteristic Ignatia symptom: “tickling as from a feather in the throat, becoming stronger from repetition (the more he coughs, the more he wants to).” – ALLAN D. SUTHERLAND.

Eugene Underhill
Dr Eugene Underhill Jr. (1887-1968) was the son of Eugene and Minnie (Lewis) Underhill Sr. He was a graduate of Swarthmore College and the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. A homeopathic physician for over 50 years, he had offices in Philadelphia.

Eugene passed away at his country home on Spring Hill, Tuscarora Township, Bradford County, PA. He had been in ill health for several months. His wife, the former Caroline Davis, whom he had married in Philadelphia in 1910, had passed away in 1961. They spent most of their marriage lives in Swarthmore, PA.

Dr. Underhill was a member of the United Lodge of Theosophy, a member of the Philadelphia County Medical Society, and the Pennsylvania Medical Society. He was also the editor of the Homœopathic Recorder.