When Mrs. Causticum saw her child in convulsions, she almost fainted. She had the awful deadly sinking feeling like fainting, but did not lose consciousness. She soon had complete control of herself, however, for the sake of her child. One of the Causticum children had diphtheria. The doctor probably didn’t give him the right remedy, for it left him with post diphtheritic paralysis and complete loss of voice. Causticum took the case in hand and cured the child himself. In spite of all precautions, the contagion went over the fence to the Phosphorus mansion and one of the little Phosphoruses came down with it. He didn’t fare so well as the little Causticum. The adynamic character of the disease showed itself early. There was rapid prostration and threatened paralysis of the heart; but Phosphorus managed to pull him through all right, even though he didn’t know so much about paralysis as Causticum did.
Phosphorus has a weak stomach. He vomits everything soon after swallowing it. Ice water remains down until it becomes warm and then is thrown up. He has a weak empty feeling about 11 a.m. with pain in the stomach and pain in the back opposite the stomach, made better by eating. The pains in the stomach are made better by eating cold food, ice-cream, ice etc. Causticum is disgusted with any one who won’t refrain from ice-water and ice-cream when they are suffering from dyspepsia. Ice-water causes so much pain. Causticum has to be very careful of what he eats. Bread causes pressure, fresh meat causes nausea and waterbrash, coffee and acids seem to aggravate his symptoms. He has great burning in the stomach, severe pain and cramps in the pit of the stomach. It is sore to touch. Phosphorus also has great burning in the stomach. He drinks cold water, seems as though he couldn’t get enough but he throws it up again as soon as it becomes warm. Phosphorus has the cramps in the stomach also and severe cutting pains, cannot tolerate the least pressure. Both have sour vomiting and both vomit blood. When Phosphorus goes along the street, Causticum watches him stumble and stagger and diagnosis the case progressive locomotor ataxia and is thankful it is Phosphorus instead of himself who has the disease. He doesn’t know that his own disturbances of vision, his inability to always put his hands and feet in just the place he wishes, is but the beginning of the same trouble.
Causticum has much burning. It is almost everywhere and as though they didn’t have burning enough on the inside, the little Causticums are always burning their fingers. Phosphorus has great burning from his mouth down to his stomach, but he doesn’t let the Causticums know and when he sees their burnt fingers, he says they will be well prepared for what may come in the future. Mrs. Causticum wonders how Mrs. Phosphorus can be so foolish as to use cold applications to the head during headache when warmth makes the head feel so much better and Mrs. Phosphorus wonders how it is that Mrs. Causticum is so prejudiced against cold applications and insists upon warmth when she has the headache!.
And so the warfare goes on and so I suspect it will continue as long as one Causticum and one Phosphorus are left in this world with breath enough to continue it.
She was one of the first students to graduate from the Philadelphia Post-Graduate School of Homeopathy and served at the school as Clinician, Professor of Children's Diseases and Professor of Repertory. She taught from 1933 until her health failed. She also taught Pierre Schmidt how to use the repertory.
Her accomplishments include being one of the founders of the American Foundation of Homeopath. She was a frequent contributor of articles, many of which are printed in the Homeopathic Recorder. She died on May 7, 1931.