Drugs:
All persons, and especially those under homoeopathic treatment, we strongly advise not to take herb-tea, senna, slats, castor oil, pills, or other drugs. Caution in respect to aperient drugs is especially required now that such numerous patent medicines are advertised and sold in every part of the country, doing an incalculable amount of injury.
CHAPTER III 3.
Medicines: their Administration, etc.
Forms of Medicines:
The following brief description of the different forms of medicines used in homoeopathic practice will afford the beginner the necessary information on the subject. The preparations are of four kinds Pilules, Globules, Tinctures, and Triturations.
Pilules. Pilules consist simply of a porous non-medicinal substance, medicated, by saturation, with any remedy desired. They are very tangible, and if kept in a well-corked phial, retain their virtue for years. They are well suited for domestic use, especially for commencing the practice.
Globules. Globules are about the size of poppy-seeds, and are prepared in the same manner as Pilules. Though considered convenient for administration to infants, they are not very tangible, and their appearance has done much to excite prejudice and ridicule. We are not sorry, therefore, to find that they have now been almost entirely replaced by Pilules.
Tinctures. Tinctures contain the more active principles of the vegetable medicines in a greater or less concentrated form, and are supposed to be more decided and rapid in their action, in acute diseases, than Pilules. It is therefore advisable for those who reside at a distance from medical aid to be furnished with a selection of the tinctures adapted to sudden and acute diseases, in addition to a complete case or chest of the Pilules, especially those numbered 1,5,7,11,16,23,27,28,30,31,33, and 35, in the list, page 69.
Triturations. Triturations are in powder and contain a portion of the original crude substance triturated with a given quantity of sugar-of-milk; they are necessary to the administration of the lower attenuations of insoluble medicines, such as Calcarea Carbonica, Hepar Sulphuris, Mercurius, Silicea, etc., but are not largely used in domestic practice.
Genuine Medicines. To obtain a beneficial action from the remedies prescribed in this manual, it is essential to procure them absolutely pure. As a safeguard, it is best to obtain them from a person who has been educated, and is exclusively engaged, as a homoeopathic druggist. Although there are now many respectable firms in whose ability and integrity the fullest confidence may be placed, yet caution is necessary; many persons offer for sale homoeopathic medicines who have had but little pharmaceutical training, or who are chiefly occupied in preparing or selling strong-smelling drugs and other articles likely to deteriorate delicate and carefully prepared homoeopathic remedies. When domestic treatment is likely to be much resorted to, as in districts distant from a professional man, or in the cases of clergy-men, missionaries, or emigrants, a medical man should be consulted, who will not only be able to direct to trustworthy persons, of whom the medicines may be obtained in their pure and most efficacious forms, but also to suggest hints as to the most useful remedies, the dilutions, etc., most likely to meet special requirements.
Medicine Case:
A medicine-case should be constructed expressly for the medicines, and used for no other purposes; it should be kept locked, under the charge of a respectable person, and be protected from light and heat; it should also be kept quite apart from substances which emit a strong odour. Immediately after using a phial, it should be corked again, and the corks or medicines never changed from one phial to another. If these directions be carried out, the medicines may be kept unimpaired for years.
Directions for taking Medicines:
Pilules may be taken dry on the tongue, but it is better, when convenient, to dissolve them in pure soft water. They should not be swallowed whole. If Tinctures are used, the required quantity should be dropped into the bottom of a glass or cup, by holding the bottle in an oblique manner, with the lip resting against the middle of the end of the cork; the bottle should then be carefully tilted, when the tincture will descend and drop from the lower edge of the cork. Or, which is a much easier method, a piece of solid glass, bent at a right angle, about 3/16 of an inch diameter, should be introduced into the bottle. This simple contrivance enables the most timid person to drop the tinctures with exactness. Water should then be poured upon the medicine in the proportion of a table-spoonful to a drop. The vessel should be clean, the mixture kept covered, and the spoon used should not be left in the mixture. Fine glazed earthen-ware spoons are the best for this purpose. If the medicine have to be kept several days, a new bottle, with a new, sound cork, should be used.
Medicines. A list of the chief medicines, and their dilutions, prescribed in this Manual:- h
Latin Names. Dil. English Names.
1. Aconitum Napellus 3 Monk’s Hood
2. Antimonium Tartaricum 3 Tartar Emetic
3. Arnica Montana 3x Leopard’s-Bane
4. Arsenicum Album 3x Arsenic
5. Belladonna 3x Deadly Nightshade
6. Baryta Carbonica 6 Carbonate of Baryta
7. Bryonia Alba 3x White Bryony
8. Calcarea Carbonica 5 Carbonate of Lime
9. Carbo Vegetabilis 5 Vegetable Charcoal
10. Chamomilla 3x Wild Camomile
11. China 1x Peruvian Bark
12. Cimicifuga Racemosa 3x Black Snake Root
13. Cina 3x Mugwort of Judca
14. Coffea 3x Mocha Coffee-Berries
15. Colocynthis 3x Bitter Cucumber
16. Drosera 1x Sundew
17. Dulcamara 3x Bitter-Sweet
18. Ferrum Muriaticum 3 Perchloride of Iron
19. Gelsemium Sempervirens 1x Yellow Jessamine
20. Hamamelis 1 Witch Hazel
21. Hepar Sulphuris 3 Liver of Sulphur
22. Ignatia Amara 3x St. Ignatius’ Bean
23. Ipecacuanha 1x Ipecacuanha
24. Kali Bichromicum 3 Bichromate of Potash
25. Lycopodium 5 Common Club Moss
26. Mercurius 3 Mercury
27. Nux Vomica 3x Vomit Nut
28. Phosphorus 3x Phosphorus
29. Podophyllum 3 Mandrake
30. Pulsatilla 3x Wind-Flower
31. Rhus Toxicodendron 3 Creeping Poison-Oak
32. Silicea 5 Pure Flint
33. Spongia Tosta 3x Burnt Sponge
34. Sulphur 3 Sulphur
35. Veratrum Album 3x White Hellebore
Alse the strong Tincture of Camphor to be kept separately.
External Remedies:- Arnica Montana, Calendula Officinalis, and Rhus Toxicodendron.
For informations respecting the properties and uses of the medicines, in the above list, and a few others occasionally prescribed, consult the Materia Medica.
Hours. The most appropriate times for taking medicines, as a rule, are-on rising in the morning, at bedtime, and, if oftener prescribed, about an hour before, or two or three hours after, a meal.
The Dose. In determining the quantity and strength of doses, several circumstances should be considered, such as age, sex, habits, nature of the disease, etc. As a general rule, without reference to individual peculiarities, the following may be stated as the proper dose in domestic practice: For an Adult ONE DROP OF TINCTURE, TWO PILULES, FOUR GLOBULES, OR ONE GRAIN OF TRITURATION. 1 Small spoons are made which just contain one grain of trituration. For a Child- ABOUT ONE-HALF THE QUANTITY. For an infant-ABOUT ONE-THIRD. A dilute, or a drop, is easily divided into two doses, by mixing it with two spoonfuls of water, and giving one spoonful for a dose.
Repetition of Doses:
The repetition of doses must be guided by the acute or chronic character of the malady, the urgency and danger of the symptoms, and the effects produced by the medicines. In violent and acute diseases, such as Cholera, Croup, Pleuritis, Convulsions etc., the remedies may be repeated every ten, fifteen, or twenty minutes. In less urgent cases of acute disease, the remedy may be repeated every two, three, or four hours. In chronic maladies, the medicine may be administered every six, twelve, or twenty- four hours. In all cases, when improvement takes place, the medicine should be taken less frequently, and gradually relinquished.
Alternation of Medicines:
To avoid the confusion resulting from mixing different drugs in one prescription, and to ascertain the pure action of each, Homoeopaths do not mix several together; but in acute diseases, where the symptoms of the malady are not converted by a single remedy, and a second one is indicated, the two are sometimes given in alternation; that is, the one medicine is followed by the other at certain intervals of time, and in a regular order of succession. But the alternate use of medicines should, as much as possible, be avoided.
CHAPTER IV 4.
Nursing, Diet, Baths, and other Accessory Treatment.
On Nursing. The following hints on the nursing of the sick generally, and persons in fever particularly, should receive special attention.
1. The Apartment. If practicable, the patient should be placed in a spacious well-ventilated room, which allows an uninterrupted admission of fresh air, and the free escape of tainted air. Fresh air can only be ensured from an open window or door, or both. In severe and prolonged fevers, there should be two beds in the room, one for the day and the other for the night. This allows the beds to be made and aired, and the fever-poison immediately around the body changed. It is generally desirable to have a blazing fire kept burning night and day, both in summer and winter; this also assists ventilation; but the patient’s head should be protected from its direct effects.
LICENTIATE OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS; MEMBER OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS; LICENTIATE IN MIDWIFERY, LONDON AND EDINBURGH, ETC. PHYSICIAN TO THE READING AND BERKSHIRE HOMOEOPATHIC DISPENSARY.
Author of "The Stepping Stone to Homeopathy and Health,"
"Manual of Homoeopathic Treatment". Editor of "The Homoeopathic World."