If you turn to page 508 of Allens Nosodes you will find that Tuberculinum has cured “clonic convulsions of the musculus orbicularis inferior,” and “convulsions in region of facial muscles, especially buccinator.” Whether this syndrome is a reliable indication for the nosode, I cannot say, as fortunately I never again met a case like this one. But it was a last straw. I gave a dose of the 10M. Then I lay down to catch a few minutes of sleep. At 2:15 a.m. by the clock, the youngster began to howl in a loud, hoarse voice and to move his arms and legs. The mother called me in great distress, “Come doctor, quickly, hes dying.” The unearthly noise of the child had already wakened me but it was music in my ears. I took one look at him and said to her, “You must not be frightened; your boy is coming to life again”.
When the boy was well enough, a lady osteopath and homoeopathic physician was called in because his bowels were not moving. She soon detected an accumulation of feces to the left of the umbilicus. Careful manipulation removed what seemed to be lumps of feces, but there was one small object that resisted all her efforts. It seemed to be about an inch long and an inch and an eighth wide. It had two little protuberances, one at one corner and the other diagonally from it. It was about a quarter of an inch thick. Then the mother remembered that a little cow was missing from a Noahs Ark that the boys were very fond of.
Dr. C. Edward Sayre was asked to examine the child. He confirmed the size and shape of the little object and the mothers conclusion that it was from the Noahs Ark. However, he said that the boy was rather too young to be operated on and that it would be best to wait for a week or two. In about two weeks it disappeared, probably due to the dissolving effect of the intestinal juices. Whether it had had anything to do with the convulsions is problematical. A well-known pediatrist said that the boy had had a cerebral hemorrhage, which was probably true, for there was a slight paralysis of the left arm, which disappeared slowly over a period of three months. A bizarre case with an equally bizarre ending. The last time I saw this boy he was a husky grownup, twenty-one years of age. CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.
DISCUSSION.
DR. A.H. GRIMMER [Chicago, III.]: This paper illustrates what the homoeopathic physician sometimes must do, and it is only a master homoeopath that can take positive symptoms, and sometimes in dire emergency, arrive at the remedy needed.
The ability to read between the lines in a given case, a case presenting mostly common symptoms, common to so many remedies, then to pick out that which is best in an unconscious case or in a case with just a few pathological symptoms, there is where it really is a test of what is in the subconscious mind of the physician. You may call it intuition is only stored up knowledge that has been acquired by years of use and application.
This is a very nice paper, Dr. Farrington.
DR. H.A. NEISWANDER [Pandora, Ohio]: A number of years ago, perhaps twenty-five, I was called upon to see a certain lady to confine her. She had had two girls that were normal. This was the first time I had taken care of her in delivery. She had lost two or three boys.
The delivery was normal. She was a very nervous individual. The baby seemed normal. On the third day I made my return call, and this baby had a temperature of 103, maybe 104. It was rather jerky, had a somewhat flushed face. I loomed at it a minute. I said to his mother, “Can I take this baby along home with me?”.
I no sooner got that out of my mouth when she said, “Yes.” I thought I stuck my neck out a long way that time. I took the baby along and let my wife take care of her. For about four days we worked with that baby. It had one convulsion after another. We gave that baby Helleborus. Today that boy is a husky chap. I think he is in the Army. I am sure she would have lost him if we hadnt taken him home and worked with him. [Applause].
DR. O.O. SINK [Smithfield, Ohio]: I wish to confirm the Doctors use of Crotalus horridus. I delivered a mother of a nice baby. Just the next day we has a severe hemorrhage in the auditory canal. I took the fathers blood, made a serum and injected it but with no result.
The next time I called, I got there just as the babys bowels moved. They were black, watery blood. Crotalus horridus 200th cleared that up nicely.
Another case, a man about forty-five, and a tooth pulled, and they called both me and the dentist about three oclock in the morning. After working about three hours, we finally got it stopped, but about eight oclock they called me back, and there was that black, watery blood coming out at the mouth. A few doses of Crotalus horridus saved the case. [Applause].
DR. A.W.HOLCOMBE [Kokomo, Ind.]: It is a pleasure to take in a discussion of this kind. It is not often I have the opportunity. I hope you folks dont get bored over what I say. I like this kind of paper. It shows that homoeopathy is dependable. One does not have to depend on a lot of surgical knowledge and surgical interference and manipulation and a lot of those things. If one gets the right homoeopathic remedy, things ease off and everything is all right.
I have a case that I want to relate. It wasnt an emergency case, and it wasnt a case of acute trouble. Up in our part of the country a great part of Northeast Indiana is settled with Amish people, originally from Pennsylvania, of German extraction. They dont go very much for medicine. They have a lot of simple remedies that they use themselves. They wont be vaccinated. I have an office full of them every once in a while.
One morning a man brought a baby in there, about two years old. It was about an hour before my office hours began, and I was up filling the medicine case to make calls. He came in and had the boy all wrapped up in two or three blankets. He said, “I want you to wait on this boy”.
I said, “What is the matter with him?”.
He said, “He got a mastoid. I am on my way up to the surgeon to have operation. It will cost dollar 350”.
“All right,” I said, “open him up”.
There was a large swelling back there, very tender, red, swollen, painful. The kid would yell if you touched it. He said, “What do you think?”.
I am going to give him a dose of medicine and you can do as you please. You give him this medicine and you wait until tomorrow before you fulfill your surgical appointment”.
I gave him a dose of Capsicum. The surgeon never did see that fellow. The point of the story is that doctor wont speak to me to this day. [Laughter].
Another peculiar case I had, and I never saw one like it or never heard of one like it. You probably think I am springing a lot of extraordinary cases on you folks, but this one gave me more satisfaction, for personal reasons, than any one I think I had.
An Amish lady brought in a female baby about eight months old. Her speech was broken; I could hardly understand her, although I used to speak German.
That baby had no vagina opening. The opening from the rectum and from the urethra were perfect. The baby was small and couldnt talk, so I couldnt get subjective symptoms. I had to prescribe objectively. I was up against it.
As Dr. Farrington says, I was behind the eight-ball. I didnt know what to give her but I happened to think of how old H.C. Allen, in his lecture on Graphites, spoke of its effect on scar tissue. “I think I will try it,” I said to myself.
I gave her a dose of Graphites 50M and told the mother to go home and I would see the baby in a month. I Knew it wouldnt die. It wasnt until two weeks that she had a normal vaginal opening. [Applause].
DR. FARRINGTON [closing]: Thank you for your discussion. Dr. Grimmers remarks are especially to the point. I feel as if Dr. Holcombes case goes me one better. [Laughter] I would give a great deal to know what kind of a condition that actually was there and what was the structure of the closing of that vagina.
DR. HOLCOMBE: I couldnt find out. i just short at her in the dark. [Applause].
CASES
Read by title before the Bureau of Clinical Medicine, I.H.A., June 27, 1952.
DAYTON T. PULFORD, M.D.
1. Mr. D. acquired a typical Lachesis sore throat last winter. He received three doses of the 200th in the afternoon and by morning was feeling enough better that he returned to his work as an automobile mechanic. being required to lie on damp floors he received a setback and the symptoms returned. A second prescription cleared up his throat but was shortly followed by a left-sided sciatica which finally kept him home. The most characteristic thing about this sciatica was that he could find no relief in any position.
On this indication he was given Natrum sulf. 30X which brought him great relief. However, his legs began to swell and he became puffy about the eyes and was heading for a general oedema. When I tested his urine for albumen it nearly dropped through the bottom of the test tube. Arsenicum in ascending potencies cleared the albumen steadily and completely along with complete general recovery. Since then I have wondered if Arsenicum might not have been the remedy instead of Natrum sulf. As a rule he is of the restless, impatient type.
