On August 15, 1953, an old school physician, a neighbor of mine, inquired what Homoeopathy had to offer for the treatment of glaucoma, as the pilocarpine he had been using in his eye was making the pains worse instead of better.
After an explanation of the principles and philosophy of Homoeopathy, he was duly impressed with the Mackenzie method of determining his required treatment and related the following history:
He was sixty years of age. Several weeks ago he had experienced the sensation of “smoke before his eyes.” Next he had had dull headaches upon waking in the morning two or three days each week for about three weeks. Then one night he was awakened after midnight by a severe sharp pain in his left eye.
He sat up in bed and held the palm of his hand over the painful eye for about half an hour before it subsided sufficiently for him to return to sleep. Subsequently the pains increased in frequency and severity, and extended from the left eye along the nerve to his gums (on the same side) where his teeth had been removed several years before.
On August 1, 1953, he had consulted an ophthalmologist who found an increased intraocular pressure and decreased visual field on the painful left side. The diagnosis was glaucoma and the prescription was pilocarpine. After two weeks of this treatment, as stated above, the pains became worse, so there was no trouble in stooping it when homoeopathic treatment was started.
Other symptoms of the patient were: paroxysmal tachycardia following the noon meal; chronic discharging left-sided otitis media; night sweats, head and trunk; head so sensitive to exposure that he must wear a night cap; dyspnoea on exertion; chronic hacking cough; and history of thyroidectomy 15 years ago.
The Mackenzie potencies selected were: Arnica, Hypericum, Phosphorus, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus and Sulphur. One drop of each was injected intradermally at two inch intervals down the inner aspect of his arm.
After 24 hours he reported that his eye had been very painful. The Hypericum and Phosphorus tests showed marked positive reactions. Hypericum being slightly the large and more indurated.
Although Sulphur had been the high point remedy on the repertory analysis it showed only a mild reaction. All others were negative.
At the end of48 hours he reported that last night had been his best in several weeks. The Hypericum test was still markedly red and indurated (positive), whereas all others were negative.
On August 22, 1953, the patient was again examined by his ophthalmologist who was astounded at finding normal intraocular pressure and normal visual fields in both eyes, and remarked that evidently he had been mistaken in his diagnosis of glaucoma.
The patient improved and, after the pains ceased, the sensation of “smoke in the eyes” returned. By December 1953, this had subsided. The positive reaction of Hypericum was evident until March 1, 1954. Because his improvement was continuous, one treatment was all he needed. During this time his chronic otitis had flared up, drained, and subsided; his chronic night sweats had improved; his chronic hacking cough had become an occasional loose cough which the described as pleasurable because it was productive; his paroxysmal tachycardia and effort dyspnoea were improved but still present; and he still wears a night cap when the weather is cold. As he expressed it, these are only symptoms, not complaints.
30 East Ohio Street
Indianapolis 4, Indiana.
DISCUSSION.
DR. ELIZABETH WRIGHT HUBBARD (New York, N.Y.): I hate to speak. I have a smile on my face. That paper is just a beauty, if you are listening, if you hear how one dose carried him through, and more than that, how the things came back, the smoke returned before the eyes, the sweats, and the previous troubles came and went like the shadow of a bird across the landscape, as they s should reported.
I think if I ever go by his home town, I shall be treated by DR. Eikenberry. (Applause).
Would the doctor in closing tell us what he means by the Mackenzie method? Frankly, I dont know.
DR. HARVEY FARRINGTON (Chicago, Ill.): I agree with the last speaker. This case doses illustrate the process and the direction of homoeopathic cure, as we all realize.
Many years ago Dr. Neary said that the best we could do under all circumstances was give the Similimum 55 per cent of the time, that is, in a little over half of the cases that we treated, and I have a notion that that ratio hardly applies in general in the practice of homoeopathic physicians, because what he meant was not that we got a remedy that helped 55 per cent of the cases, actual remedy.
