EDITORIAL


EDITORIAL. The following abstracts of cases culled from the pages of the Transactions of the International Hahnemannian Association illustrate the efficiency of Magnesia Phosphorica when its action has been exhibited according to the best traditions of Homoeopathic prescribing:.


A SEDATIVE HOMOEOPATHIC.

Magnesia phosphorica has become so sell as favorably known among Homoeopaths as an effective destroyer of pain that it has been called the Homoeopathic morphine. But this designation,while leading to frequent use of Magnesia phosphorica, has by the same token led to more frequent abuse by reason of its empirical employment in painful states Let any remedy acquire pneumonia- 0and it will soon be used on the basis of its reputation in,and not because of its homoeopathicity to,that condition.

It is this tendency to err and stray like lost sheep which helps to bring discredit on homoeopathies and homoeopathy. To remember that the reputation of Magnesia phosphorica is founded appointees use according to the Law of Similars is to avoid the error or empiricism and thus to remain within the fold of homoeopathic orthodoxy.

The following abstracts of cases culled from the pages of the Transactions of the International Hahnemannian Association illustrate the efficiency of Magnesia Phosphorica when its action has been exhibited according to the best traditions of Homoeopathic prescribing:.

1.Mr.J.M.,age 72, spare, plain liver,uses no tobacco,alcohol or coffee, methodical in all his habits, and in excellent health for many years was, in September, 1885,on opening his mouth to take the first bite at breakfast,attacked by violent, lightning- like, infraorbital neuralgia,right side,and extending to a right bicuspid tooth. Pain was relieved by keeping the mouth closed and applying heat,unless he attempted to eat or sleep. Belladonna 200. helped and he was able to take liquids but could not chew solid good.

In February, a like attack from facing a severe cold wind,after which he could not tolerate the least cold air. Aconite 30. gave prompt relief. A few weeks later bother attack decidedly intermittent from 6 to 12 a.m. with aggravation from the slightest touch. Chininum sulph 200. now gave gradual relief with re appearance in the right deltoid muscle and entire inability to raise the arm or to dress or feed himself. Now Rhus tox,Sanguinaria Plumbum,Ferrum, and Tarantula,on indications, gave only partial relief.

The next attack,in a few weeks, with pains supra-and infra orbital, extending to all front teeth, right side, intermittent, stabbing and extremely sensitive to touch, relieved by heat and pressure coming and going suddenly, with marked prostration and profuse night sweats. When pains in face were most severe, the shoulder was comparatively free and vice-versa. Now obstinate constipation,stool inhered round balls, difficult to expel and no inclination whatever. Magnesia phos. 200 promptly cleared the whole picture including the constipation. For a slight nipping, months late, the CM returned the patient to normal health.

(ALLEN, H.C.;Magnesia Phosphorica,Trans.I.H.A.,1889,pp.200,201).

II. A lady,age 26,dark complexion,7 months pregnant, terrible right supra-orbital neuralgia, pressing, drawing,band ling,extends to jaws and teeth. Chelidonium,a few doses,gave relief for three weeks when it returned with pains intermittent, lightning-like appearing and disappearing suddenly. Magnesia phos. 200, gave prompt and permanent relief; and with it disappeared on obstinate and annoying constipation which, despite several well-selected remedies, had persistently followed her during the entire gestation.

(ALLEN, H.C. :loc.cit.,p.201).

III.An old lady, age 66,attenuated,Anaemia. The pain was supra-orbital,right-sided,sharp,intermittent,and relieved by warm applications. It had lasted,with short intervals of relief,for three years. She received at intervals of four or five weeks single doses of Magnesia phos. CM for three months. she has remained practically free from pain ever since.

(WESSELHOEFT,W.P.:discussing Tissue Remedies, Trans. I.H.A.1887. p. 65).

IV. Miss S., brunette, short, plump, large, active brain, since puberty severe,unbearable pains several hours before flow and during first days. heat did not help. One large dose of Magnesia phos. 6x gave relief. the same medication,three doses on the day before the next period for the next two months. No no return for over three years.

(ALLEN, H.C.;Magnesia Phosphorica, Trans.i.h.a., 1889,p.209).

V.Last winter, I had a patient who suffered intolerably with right-sided chest pains,a pastor. I relieved him a number of times but the relief would be only temporary until a severe northwest storm set in;then they would come back-those chest pains.

I found a few of his symptoms under Magnesia and decided,taking all into consideration, to give him a few doses of the 30th trituration of Magnesia Phos. I think that was a victory. He has been blowing my horn all over the city ever since and has not had an ache or pain in that right side.

(ALLEN,H.C.;discussing Tissue Remedies, Trans.I.H.A.,1887,p.67).

VI.Not long ago,I was called to a case official neuralgia, of long standing,which had been treated by anodynes,large does of Belladonna being the last one used,the point where the muscles of accommodation were paralyzed. Her only momentary relief was by hot applications to the painful nerve. Here was a good opportunity to try Magnesia phos.I gave it in the 12th trituration,a small powder dissolved in water,teaspoonful doses every 2 or 3 hours. A few doses soon relieved her of pain and in a few days, Pre she had recovered from the weakness consequent upon such long suffering.

(NASH,EUGENE B.: Tissue Remedies, Trans. I.H.A.,1887, pp. 61,62).

Magnesia phosphorica acts especially on the right side of the head,face,ear,chest,abdomen,ovary and sciatic nerve as do Belladonna,Bryonia,Chelidonium, Kali carbonicum, Lycopodium, Podophyllum and Sanguinaria. The pains are sharp,cutting, piercing,stabbing stitching,lightning-like incoming and going as in belladonna, intermittent paroxysm a becoming almost as in Belladonna,m intermittent paroxysm becoming almost intolerable, often rAPIDLY CHANGING PLACE,. (Kali. carb., lac., can., and Puls.) with the squeezing, constricting sensation of Platina.

In reviewing these cases it will be recognized that, while all but one of the patients suffered from facial neuralgia, Magnesia phosphorica was prescribed on the basis of the specific similarity of its pathogenetic symptoms to those exhibited by the patients the diagnosis. One can understand the temptation to :”try” Magnesia phosphorica in cases of a similar nature. Many times such use this remedy out of a certainty that it will be effective because the symptoms of the patient call for it. For this is the sure road to success.

Royal E S Hayes
Dr Royal Elmore Swift HAYES (1871-1952)
Born in Torrington, Litchfield, Connecticut, USA on 20 Oct 1871 to Royal Edmund Hayes and Harriet E Merriman. He had at least 4 sons and 1 daughter with Miriam Martha Phillips. He lived in Torrington, Litchfield, Connecticut, United States in 1880. He died on 20 July 1952, in Waterbury, New Haven, Connecticut, United States, at the age of 80, and was buried in Waterbury, New Haven, Connecticut, United States.