QUESTION AND ANSWER DEPARTMENT


The records should be as complete as the doctor can possibly furnish, comprising the objective symptomatology as well as the subjective one, leading to the prescription. Laboratory data, if available, should be included. Records in pictorial form, showing the temperature curve with clinical annotations are particularly desirable.


Question : AFTER A REMEDY HAS BEEN PRESCRIBED, HOW SOON SHOULD EVIDENCES OF ITS ACTION BE EXPECTED ?.

Answer : In very acute conditions anywhere from a few minutes to several hours. In sub-acute cases, several hours to a day. In chronic patients anywhere from one to several days. Belladonna is often indicated in very acute throat infections and it may begin to give relief in less than five minutes.

Ignatia will often quite patients with voluble, hysterical grief and much sighing in less than ten minutes. Gelsemium is generally somewhat slower paced and may require hours to show results.

Any remedy may act quickly in acute illness and much more slowly in chronic conditions. Sometimes it is necessary to wait a week or even ten days before attempting to evaluate the patients reaction to a medicine. This is particularly true of the deeply chronic, ambulatory case.

Question : WHAT HOT DRINKS WOULD YOU ALLOW WHEN COFFEE IS NOT PERMITTED ? IS COCOA OR HOT CHOCOLATE A GOOD SUBSTITUTE FOR COFFEE ?.

Answer : 1. Plain hot water with or without a little fresh lemon juice.

2. Cambric tea which is hot water with cream and with or without sugar.

3. Malted milk, a heaping teaspoonful in a teacup of hot water.

4. Very weak, plain tea ; though seldom as a routine beverage.

We regard cocoa or hot chocolates as much worse than coffee to tea as far as its effect on digestion as much worse than coffee health should use it very infrequently and certainly not more frequently than once a week.

Beverages with meals should be regarded as only a habit. They are not at all necessary. Most people would be better without any of them.

Question : HAVE YOU FOUND Influenzin, IN ONE OF ITS FORMS, TO BE THE REMEDY NEEDED, THOUGH Nux Vomica MAY LEAD IN THE SYMPTOM VALUE ?.

Answer : Unfortunately, Influenzin has not been run though the repertory. Therefore, repertory analysis will not yield this remedy even though specifically indicated. In cases of this kind it is only knowledge of the symptomatology that will guide one in making such a prescription.

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE I.H.A.

The Bureau of Research of the International Hahnemannian Association wants to engage in statistical research in the field of homoeopathic treatment of infectious diseases, infantile paralysis and pneumonia in particular. As there are no homoeopathic hospital records available at present, the lack must be and can be compensated for by the voluntary contribution of the records of homoeopathic practitioners. It is hoped that there are still enough true followers of Hahnemann who administer good homoeopathic treatment in cases of pneumonia also. All records are desired, regardless of success, in order to arrive at a true statistical picture.

The records should be as complete as the doctor can possibly furnish, comprising the objective symptomatology as well as the subjective one, leading to the prescription. Laboratory data, if available, should be included. Records in pictorial form, showing the temperature curve with clinical annotations are particularly desirable.

More than ever the homoeopathic profession needs statistical proofs of the value of its method. Statistics are what our opponents demand, and statistics are the most convincing proof to the public at large. For the sake of homoeopathy, all homoeopathic physicians are urged to go over their old records and to send them along with the current records regularly. From now on, there should be no case of pneumonia or infantile paralysis, treated purely homoeopathically, a record of which is not sent to our Bureau. In time material will accumulate, which may prove of the greatest value to our profession.

The doctor are asked to send the material to :.

WILLIAM GUTMAN, M.D.

Director of the Bureau for Research of the

International Hahnemannian Association,

139 Payson Avenue,

NEW YORK, N.Y.

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.