Presented for the I.H.A., Bureau of Homoeopathic Philosophy, June, 1943.
AN APPEAL TO HOMOEOPATHIC PHILOSOPHERS.
Kindly bear with me and be a little more explicit, than to say that the Organon answers all of my queries for wisdom. No man ever creates anything. All that any man can do is to make new combinations and distributions of material already existing.
Please draw the line between the similar remedy and the similimum. Does the similar remedy ever cure or does it simply remove the symptoms or the totality of symptoms for which it was given, while the similimum completely cures the whole case?.
Many remedies have been added since Hahnemann’s time and many remedies are still unknown. Have we at out command the similimum for every case that presents itself?.
As illustrative of my quandary of mind may I ask your aid in interpreting a personal experience. For five consecutive years I have had a series of unpleasant symptoms each fall; in late October or early November I have had the following cycle. In the night I would be awakened suddenly by a severe sore throat, centrally located, most painful, dry, hot, rough, and raw with mouth full of saliva. I was most uncomfortable and the one thing most to be desired was relief. I took one dose of Mercurius 1M. I dropped off to sleep in a few minutes and awoke in about an hour greatly relieved, throat very much easier. When I awoke in the morning my throat was about normal. I went about my work as usual.
In the morning of the second day I was awakened by an active “cold in the head,” profuse acrid discharge from nostrils, the nares and upper lip very red and painfully sore. I took one dose of Arum triph. 1M.; the relief was most prompt and gave me the assurance of a cure. However, the following morning I was conscious of a severe cold in the head, nose dry but full, with occasional dropping through post nares, some sneezing with persistent tickling in throat and larynx causing a very irritating cough.
I succeeded in getting some relief by blowing some hard scabs from both nostrils but the cough with painful pressure at the bifurcation of the bronchi was increasing, accompanied by much wheezing and expectoration of a tough, ropy mucus.
I took one dose of Kali bi. 1M. which gave a prompt relief lasting for three days. This was followed by a persistent cough which lasted for several weeks in spite of any remedy.
I related my experience, of which I am no too proud, to four good Hahnemannian physicians. To quote from them: “You did not start right, for you did not have your similimum, the next time the Lachesis or Hepar sulph. or other suggested possible remedies”.
For five consecutive years I had the same experience: marked temporary relief of symptoms for which the remedy was given, but one stage followed the other always sending in a persistent cough from which I was unable to get relief for several months. Last fall in desperation I took one dose of sulfathiazole, with immediate relief of all symptoms. The pulse dropped fifteen beats the first forty minutes following the taking of the sulfathiazole. It was about two weeks before my heart action was normal but I have had no recurrence of the cycle of miseries since and I have had the longest continuous period of relief and comfort that I have experienced for six years.
Two more cases and then I will submit to your judgment Mrs. B. a case of severe asthma. Her case had been carefully taken, thoroughly analyzed and the remedy selected by a Hahnemannian, the latchet of whose shoes as a homoeopathic prescriber, I am unworthy to unlatch. Lycopodium was given in the 1M. potency with absolutely no result. I took the case very carefully and Lycopodium came out as the head of the list. I too prescribed Lycopodium with no result. I later gave Lycopodium 30X. in broken dose of two hour intervals with most gratifying results. Was Lycopodium simply the similar remedy?.
Mrs. S. consulted me about wakeful nights; sleep well the first of the night but unable to sleep after 2 a.m. After carefully taking the case I prescribed Kali carb.; for two nights she slept well, after that her nights were worse than ever. Was the taking of the remedy coincidental, similar, or what? True, three swallows do not make a spring.
I am at the mercy of you as judges and as Dr. Frank Kraft of Cleveland used to say “Hew to the line, let the chips fall where they will”.
Please give me of your wisdom– similar, similimum or simply coincidental and an illustration of poor case taking and poor selection of remedy in improper dose.
