Madame K-, pregnant for the third time, was reduced to a state of great emaciation. She had frequent cough; nourishment of the lightest kind disturbed her much; she had strong desires to vomit, yet the vomitings were painful; and she, besides, was a prey to mental sufferings.
It as in the midst of these unfavourable circumstances that I undertook her treatment. - After having recommended abstinence from spices, vinegar, wine, and coffee, I desired her to take three globules of Nux vomica at the thirtieth dilution. There was great aggravation of the symptoms for many days: the stomach became painful; and the other disturbances more tormenting that they had ever been; but a very remarkable amendment succeeded to this state.
This lady, being obliged to go to a distance, I did not wish her, before her departure, to take another dose of Nux vomica , but desired her to wait a few days longer, and then to make me acquainted with her situation. For many days after her departure, the amendment continued, though without making much progress.
I sent her three globules of Nux vomica. The aggravation of symptoms was now less; and all uneasiness disappeared.
I saw the patient again many weeks afterwards. She was well, with the exception of her cough, which she still retained. - I administered Sepia , which was attended with much success. The cough disappeared under its influence.
Madame R- had been cured of a very violent toothach by homoeopathic means. She came to solicit my care for certain inconveniences attendant upon pregnancy. She had, at this time, been in that condition about a month, and suffered much. She did not vomit, but felt a continual and very painful desire to do so; all kinds of nourishment increased the evil; she was a prey to a deep melancholy; and she visibly lost flesh.
I prescribed three globules of Nux vomica at the thirtieth dilution; the patient took them in the evening, going to rest. Next day, the increase of the symptoms was well-marked; there were no vomitings, but the stomach was painful during many hours. The day following, she was relieved from all her previous inconveniences, and could eat of any food with impunity.
I administered nothing farther; and the symptoms never reappeared.
One important circumstance should here be noted. Madame R- had already been a mother twice, and her pregnancies had always been accompanied by much uneasiness. It is, therefore, evident that the improvement must be attributed to homoeopathic treatment, although three globules only of Nux vomica had been employed.
Paris. - There prevailed in Paris , in 1834, an epidemic, not of a serious character, but of which the principal symptom of which was abundant alvine evacuation. I had occasion to treat a very large number of those affections, and the cure always promptly followed the treatment.
It is in these acute, but not dangerous cases, that I beg of my fellow-practitioners to make their first essays; such cases being, from the first, very simple; the appropriate remedy being readily known; and there being no fear of losing any precious time. When they have succeeded in these easier case, they will be encouraged to undertake cures more difficult.
Mr. M-, residing in Montmartre, begged of me to call on him, and my attendance for a great inconvenience which he was then suffering under. He was attacked by the colic accompanied by frequent liquid stools, distaste for food, the mouth clogged with mucus, but no thirst; and he had desire to vomit, dryness of the palate and tongue, and great prostration of strength.
The symptoms being perfectly those belonging to Pulsatilla , I prescribed, of that substance, three globules at the thirtieth attenuation. The patient took the medicine at nine o'clock in the evening. Some hours afterwards, he found himself much worse. The desire to vomit was succeeded by vomiting; the stools were frequent; and toward the latter part of the night, he slept profoundly, and awoke about seven o'clock in the morning, feeling but little feebleness. He rose to breakfast, and went out the same day to his business. The disease never returned.
The lady of Mr. M-, the last-mentioned patient, eight months and half advanced in pregnancy, had been subject for more than eight days to a very loose diarrhoea, which had greatly enfeebled her, and which had rendered her almost unrecognizable, her face being lengthened and yellowish. She felt a slight colic; and stools happened chiefly in the night, and were extremely frequent; she had no rest; her appetite was entirely gone; nor was there the least feeling of thirst. The mouth was notwithstanding dry; the tongue, red.
Pulsatilla appeared to be the most appropriate medicine, on account of the nature of the stools, the total absence of thirst, and the diarrhoea occurring principally in the night. At my visit, I administered to her three globules of Pulsatilla at the thirtieth attenuation. Several hours after the administration of the medicine, the stools thickened, and diminished considerably in frequency.
The patient suffered colic on the succeeding day, and heaviness of the stomach. I prescribed three globules of Chamomile at the fifteenth attenuation. From that moment, convalescence began; and the patient regained her full strength in a little time.
Madame D- sent for me in the evening. She had been for ten days suffering under frequent diarrhoea with gripings. Two days before, the matters passed had been bloody, and their evacuation accompanied by tenesmus. The pulse was at eighty-six; the appetite was almost entirely gone; thirst was present; and there was prostration of strength, and restlessness.
I desired that she should take 3-20 of corrosive sublimate. The medicine was accordingly taken at half-past nine in the evening. From that time, without any appreciable aggravation, the sanguinolent diarrhoea, the tenesmus, and the gripings disappeared; and there were no more liquid evacuations.
Next day, the patient had a solid stool, and the appetite returned.
In simple cases of diarrhoea, such as those which I have reported, allopathic physicians say it is nature which has produced the result, the patients being restored so quickly that, without medicine, the same favourable terminations have been seen to follow. That without medicine, such disorders may be cured, there is no doubt; for, in fact, a diarrhoea or a dysentery, which is not too sever, will yield to the efforts of nature alone. But never, except under homoeopathic treatment, do these cases, simple though they are, yield so completely and so quickly; they leave also behind them a weakness, which may be said never to be the case when they have been subjected to homoeopathic treatment.
Madame D-, aged thirty-six years, residing in Paris , asked my advice on the 30th of June, 1835. She had been confined seven days previously; and, dating from the second day after her accouchement, she had been attacked by a diarrhoea which had reduced her rapidly. The tongue was charged with a thick mucus; the appetite annihilated; the thirst very great. She had frequent evacuations, the aspect of which resembled water, mucus, and blood, and which were offensive to the smell. After stool, she had violent strainings; and, before the evacuations, colic pain throughout the abdomen. The lochial discharge flowed moderately. There existed oppression, slight febrile excitement, faintness, weakness, and lowness of spirits.
I prescribed thin gum-water for a drink, and a globule of soluble mercury a the fifteenth attenuation. A few hours after the administration of the medicine, the appetite reappeared, and the patient took some soup. She had had, up to that time, an evacuation of the bowels every twenty minutes or half an hour. After the medicine, she had but four in eighteen hours, and the colic was moderated.
I again prescribed a globule of mercury; and the same day, the colic and blood in the motions disappeared. Next day, she had no stool.
The patient having, however, yielded too soon to her appetite and being fatigued, the diarrhoea returned: it was mucous and bilious, and shewed itself during the night and morning; the patient complained, besides, of pains and swellings in the breasts.
I prescribed a globule of Pulsatilla at the twentieth dilution. Health was completely re-established three days afterwards.
The disorder which I have described, is one of those in which allopathy triumphs the most easily, but it is obliged to have recourse either to leeches applied to the anus, emollient clysters, cataplasms and fomentations, or to saline purgatives, &c. and in all cases to abstinence from meat, perhaps for some weeks. But, in homoeopathy, the treatment has been infinitely shorter: three minute doses have sufficed to re-establish the disturbed equilibrium, and to restore health, without either loss of blood, or long and severe abstinence,- with nothing, in a word, which could injure the constitution, nothing also which could be disagreeable to the patient.
Mr. F-, mechanician, aged forty and upwards, consulted me on account of colic having caused him an inguinal hernia, with which he had been afflicted for some years; he had, at the same time, constipation; in other respects, his health was good. He was of middle height, but of strong constitution, ardent temperament, quick and hasty, and a little too much addicted to wine.
I prescribed a dose of Nux vomica , which I repeated ten days afterwards. Mr. T- found himself thereby relieved; his stools became more easy; and I discontinued seeing him.
Some time afterwards, he desired to see me again for the same indisposition, saying that the pain was much greater than on the former occasion. I discovered that the hernia was not supported, and that the truss compressing it was the principal cause of his suffering. I advised him to have recourse to an experienced truss-maker, in order to prevent strangulated hernia, which otherwise he could not fail to have.
My prediction proved true. He word his old truss, during the time that another was being made; and he was suddenly attacked by still more violent pains, which obliged him to keep his bed, and take off the truss. He sent for me again.
I found him suffering much. The hernia had attained a considerable size; the least contact increased the pain; the hernial sac was tender and hot, and it was evident that there was no time to exercise the operation of the taxis. The patient had frequent belchings; no air escaped by the anus; the abdomen was but little sensible; the patient nevertheless experienced gripings from time to time.
I prescribed a globule of Nux vomica. It was eleven o'clock in the morning; and the patient took his medicine immediately. - Two hours afterwards, the pains appeared to be much quieted, that he took a light repast.
This meal was the cause of fresh misfortune: a little afterwards, he had a very visible aggravation; and at eleven o'clock at night, the malady had redoubled , with extreme violence. I went to the patient, and found him a prey to indescribable anxiety. He was sitting by his bedside, with his head down upon the clothes; soon after, he quitted that position; he got up into the bed, and got out again; he them walked about the room with his body bent double: he hiccuped much, he felt desire to vomit: and a quantity of air escaped by the mouth. I was at last able to induce him to remain in bed. His limbs were chill; his face betokened pain: a cold perspiration covered his forehead: his pulse was little perceptible, small and rather frequent. The tumour had nearly doubled in size since the morning; it was painfully sensible, tender, and hot.
I made him take three globules of Nux vomica. - Scarcely had they been swallowed, when a decided action manifested itself. The patient became colder; his agitation redoubled; he could not for an instant, retain the same position; he slid to the foot of the bed, and rolled himself on the floor; he felt as if death were approaching; he took leave of his wife, and of me; he entreated me to give him something to hasten death, and put him out of pain. This scene of affliction lasted for about twenty minutes. I was then able to get the patient again into bed; he found himself better; the tumour was less rigid; the abdominal gripings less severe.
I remained for twenty minutes longer with him, and left a dose of Nux vomica to be taken at three o'clock in the morning, and a dose of coculus indicus to be taken at six o'clock, if the first should not produce any result.
The patient was agitated all night, but there was no other crisis than that which I have related. There was a marked action after the administering of the Nux vomica.
The tumour, however, not having altered, I gave the coculus at six o'clock. - No phenomenon produced till eleven; the patient was tolerably calm; but he had desires to vomit, and from time to time violent gripings in the belly.
I could not ascribe any effect to the action of coculus; and I prescribed three globules of Nux vomica to be taken at noon. _ At two o'clock, the patient sent for me. I went, and according to the relation of his attendants, it was certain that the Nux vomica had acted powerfully. the patient had become again chill; the perspiration on the face and forehead was cold; the features discomposed; he was again a prey to the most painful anxiety; he foretold his speedy death. I assured him, in a few hours, he would be relieved. After a few instants, he became entirely changed.
His limbs were warm again; the cold sweat had ceased; the tumour had diminished at least one third; I could touch it, and the patient did not complain. I did not, however, attempt to interfere with it, but left the patient calm and free from alarm. A quarter of an hour after my departure, the intestine returned by its own action, without the patient applying his hand to the tumour; all the symptoms had disappeared.
Twenty-four hours had thus sufficed to cure a malady of the most formidable kind. This fact says more for homoeopathy than all the remarks on it that could be added. A disease the most dangerous, for which every expedient (and its result is very certain) leaves a painful and cruel operation as the only chance to save life, - such a malady is cured by means of an internal agent, establishing health without the tortures and dangers attached to the operation, even were it performed in the happiest manner, by the most experienced surgeon! Has imagination ever cured such diseases?
London, 1835. - Mrs. L-, whose accouchement had taken place fifteen days previously, was attacked by violent burning sensations in some haemorrhoidal swellings; the pain being great enough to render sleep almost impossible for many nights. She was in other respects perfectly well. I had therefore only to treat an affection recent and well-defined.
Arsenic having the power to provoke the appearance of haemorrhoidal swellings, with burning pains, - was the remedy most suitable. A single globule of Arsenic , at the thirtieth dilution, was administered in the evening.- The same night, the pains has become calmer; and they disappeared in the course of the following days.
Since that time, they have caused no more inconvenience.
It was easy to foresee that this immediate cure will by some be attributed to chance. I do not know how many physicians can cite a case of very painful haemorrhoids dispersing between one day and another. - In cases of chronic piles, a cure is not affected so quickly as we may readily suppose. If, however, the malady is simple, homoeopathy ever triumphs speedily.
In the month of February, 1833, I was consulted for the child of a labouring man which had been suffering under hooping-cough for three weeks. The child coughed frightfully night and day; it threw up a great quantity of phlegm; and the disease daily augmented in intensity.
On the day when the mother brought it to me, I prescribed three globules of Drosera at the thirtieth dilution, to be taken next morning, and ordered that no nourishment should be given but such as the child could digest easily. - At the end of a few day, the mother of the child brought to me her eldest girl, who was phthisical. She told me that the child who had had the hooping-cough, had coughed for three or four days after it had taken the medicine, but that, since that time, it had not coughed at all. I wished to see the child in order to assure myself of the fact; and I found it to be true.
I bestowed my attention on the elder child for many months; and, during the whole of the time, the younger one, had no relapse.
In the month of February, 1833, there was brought to me, a child of five years of age, who had been the subject of hooping-cough since Christmas. The disease had already much enfeebled the little patient, and it existed at that time in all its intensity, extremely frequent fits of it occurring with great violence.
On the 7th of February, I prescribed three globules of Aconite at the thirtieth dilution, and repeated the medicine in the course of the night. - The fever which existed at that time sensibly diminished, but the cough did not receive much appreciable modification.
I order, on the 10th of February, three globules of Drosera. - For several days, the parents complained of seeing the state of their child worse. On the 18th of February, however, the disease had decreased in a decided manner: the child had but a few returns of coughing during the night; in the day, there were but one or two; while, before the homoeopathic treatment, the fits had succeeded each other with fearful rapidity.
On the 21st, I again prescribed three globules of Drosera. - Immediately after this dose, the paroxysms diminished both in length and frequency.
On the 25th, I repeated the medicine once more. - A few days afterwards, the patient was entirely cured.
On the 28th of January, 1833, I was consulted for F- W- aged five years. This infant had always enjoyed excellent health, until about fifteen days before, when she was attacked by a very violent hooping-cough. The face was puffed; the pupils dilated; the skin gave a sensation of heat to the touch; the pulse was rather quick: the lips were cracked and blackish; the tongue foul and more vivid than ordinary. The little patient had lost her appetite; she was constipated; the belly was painful; the respiration rather frequent. She had had three paroxysms in the night, and slept well during the intervals. In the day, she was frequently in a state of somnolency. She had, during the day, two paroxysms very long and very violent, and threw off much phelgm.
I ordered for the patient three globules of Aconite at the thirtieth dilution, at three o'clock in the afternoon; and, at eight o'clock in the evening, three globules of Drosera. - I could not watch the child for some days; and it was consequently impossible for me to prove it there was any aggravation of the symptoms. But, when I saw her again, there was a very evident improvement, which continued for some little time.
On the 7th of February, the infant had relapsed into its former condition, and it might even be said that it was much worse; for it could not take any nourishment - the food being all rejected by the efforts of the cough.
I gave the same day, three globules of Drosera. - This dose allayed the violence of the cough, in a very little time. The patient had no occasion for any other medicine. She complained still from time to time for fifteen days, but without any paroxysm.
I saw the little patient again in the month of March. She had been exposed to bad weather, and had taken cold: yet she did not cough. She had a diarrhoea, which was removed at once by means of two globules of Rheum.
It is well known that children who have been attacked by hooping-cough, retain for whole months such susceptibility that the least cold renews the complaint. In the case which I have reported, the hooping-cough was thrice removed very speedily by Drosera , and did not reappear, notwithstanding a very severe cold which was taken immediately after the cure of the disease.
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