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One of the distinguishing features of homoeopathy is that the cure is accomplished by administering a medicine, the characteristic symptoms of which correspond with the characteristic symptoms of the patient. Within its distinctive sphere it is quite unfailing and immutable. Homeopathic medicines, following the analogy of nature, are all specific - definite agent with a definite purpose with power only for the fulfillment of its attainable object. Quite apart, however, from this viewpoint treatment is traditional theory and traditional practice which may be truly termed anti-pathic in application. The modus operandi may best be exemplified by example - a patient has pain, its opposite, opium is given. The malady is not cured, but stifled by stupor, only to awake with renewed violence with the wearing away of the effect of the drug and demanding augmented dosage for fugacious assuagement at each successive return. Homoeopathy, on the other hand, chooses a remedy capable of producing the same pain. It is directed solely to the part affected in minimal dose. From this action a cure results, for two similar diseases cannot exist in the same body at the same time.
The effects of medicine can only be ascertained by provings on the healthy human and the symptoms which these medicines have produced constitute the bulk of the Homoeopathic Materia Medica. In order to effectively cure, it is first necessary to ascertain the characteristic symptoms of the patient, as Hahnemann teaches in the "Organon," and next, to find the medicine which corresponds in the characteristics with those of the patient, which is done by means of the Homeopathic Materia Medica.
Characteristics symptoms show the peculiarities and differences of medicines, and have been ascertained by repeated verifications of symptoms obtained by provings on the healthy and cures on the sick. In one case the locality may be characteristic, as, for instance, under the apis mellifica , the right ovary, and under lachesis , the left ovary; in any case the sort of pain may be characterized as the burning-stinging pain of apis mellifica , or the burning-like-coal-of-fire pain under arsenicum album , or a gnawing pain under ruta. In another instance the conditions may be characteristic, as the ameliorations by heat under arsenicum , and the amelioration by cold under iodine and vice-versa; or conditionally the time of day, as under nux vomica , in the morning, lycopodium 4 P. M., arsenicum from 11 P. M. till 2 A. M., or in another instance the concomitant symptoms as cough with stitches in the small of the back (or rectum) under nitric acid , or cough with paleness of the face under cina. In some instances the mental symptoms may be characteristic, as convulsive and maniacal deliriousness with biting rage under belladonna , extreme mental excitability in association with pronounced sleeplessness under coffea cruda , or aggravated mental apathy with comatose states under arnica. Again the cause may be quite characteristic, as the effects from getting wet while in a perspiration, which comes under the pathogenesy of the rhus toxicodendron.
From a casual observance of these views it will be at once seen that the fundamental doctrine in homoeopathic therapeutics is the doctrine of individualization. Man becomes affected primarily in his internals, and by this is solely meant his affectional and intellectual spheres of consciousness, which in point of face, make up the man himself, for it is the will and understanding which form the real individual. Sickness it its essence is a derangement proceeding from the innermost which spreads towards the outermost and it is a realization of this fact which has made homeopathy a distinct science of therapeutic law. Consequently the homoeopathic physician views pathological tissues as results or ultimates and tries to perceive how the entire man has been changed from first to last, from mind to external tissue. Each person qualifies illness, as it were, by his or her distinctive personality and that coined aberration, as it were, has its simillimum in the pathogenesy of some homoeopathic medicine. From this it will be seen how a sickened individual is cognate to a sick-making substance - a thoroughly proven drug of our Materia Medica. The sickened one stamps his or her individuality upon a case of sickness, making it quite different from every other case, whilst the latter also behaves in a similar manner, for while it affects man in health through and through - from the mind to the hair and nails - it has a strange and peculiar way of doing it, quite different from any other drug in the entire materia medica. What is it but the inner nature of the drug, almost resembling the will and understanding of man, that has made it quite a distinct entity?
As regards potency, it may be stated that the suitable dynamization is best arrived at by practical experience. There is really no law of potency in one sense. Nevertheless all causes are in the simple substance which exists only in degrees of fineness, for a quantity can barely be predicated of it and as the innermost of the patient has similarly the series in degrees, the remedy to correspond to this must also be administered in potencies of various grades or degrees.
When Hahnemann refers to the "spirit-like" vital force and power liberated by the casting off of the coarser envelopes of material particles of the drug, which liberates those finer and intramolecular forces that are vibrating and pulsating with a rapidity which enters into correspondence with the invisible, unweighable, imponderable essence of life itself?
The requisites for homeopathic prescribing are: (1) The law of cure, (2) The single remedy, (3) The minimum dose. All of these items must enter into every correct prescription. It is interesting also to recall that the order in which the above requirements are enumerated are exactly that followed in their development. Hahnemann developed, to its most marked extent, the law of similars. His experiments to obtain the pathogeneses or sick-making powers of drugs naturally led him to apply them singly in diseases, that he might approach as closely as possible the correct correspondence. Finally the adoption and recommendation of the minimum dose was the result of the oft-verified observation, that in order to avoid exacerbation and, at the same time, to expedite cure in a direct, rapid and permanent manner the drug must be administered in the smallest possible amount, duly commensurate with its power of exciting similar symptoms in the healthy. In this connection, the drug, if properly chosen, exhibits the power of exerting a correspondingly strong reaction of the vital forces in the direction of health. Such a system of therapeutics, embracing, as it does, the most careful individualization of the case at hand, as to its origin in hygienic, psychic or medicinal (abuse of drugs) causes, cannot be any other than the broadest, most truly scientific, and all-inclusive system of healing known to the health seeker of the future.
For valuable considerations given me in the compilation of this little work I wish to thank Dr. Wm. H Yaeger and Dr. Wm B. Griggs for proof-reading and suggestions germane to the form of presentation of the notes themselves and to Dr. E. P. Anshutz and John A. Borneman, Ph. D., for valuable suggestions. To my friend, Dr. G. Harlan Wells, I wish to extend many thanks for his kindness in publishing many of these characteristics in our state organ The Hahnemannian Monthly.
Donald MacFarlan.
1805 Chestnut St.
Philadelphia.
One hundred years and more have now come and gone since the author of these posthumous manuscripts first saw the light of day, on the family estate of "See" of his noble forbears in Germany. A blood relation of the reigning House, he was descended from a long line of distinguished ancestors. He was the eldest son of the late Count Ludwig and Countess Augusta zur Lippe and was destined by them for the profession of law. He, therefore, finished his academical preparations and was graduated from the University of Berlin. While prosecuting legal studies there, however, taste and opportunity attracted him to the more congenial pursuits of medicine, and at the close of a year, he devoted himself thereto.
Emigrating to the United States in 1839 he presented himself to the sole school of the homeopathic practice in this country - the old Allentown Academy of the Homoeopathic Healing Art. After assiduous application he was granted his diploma from Dr. Constantine Hering, as President of the institution, on July 27, 1841. Removing to Pottsville, Dr. von Lippe practiced with success and growing ability until called to a larger field, at Carlisle. Here the prevalent epidemics of the Cumberland Valley gave him a new distinction, by means of which he was, six years later, induced to settle in Philadelphia. Here he speedily attained a marked distinction in the most fashionable practice of his day. Aside, however, from his strictly professional labors, Dr. von Lippe had been a regular contributor to homoeopathic literature and an active correspondent with his confreres in foreign parts, and more especially with Wilson in London and Rocco Rubini in Naples. The correspondence, now turned yellow with the lapse of years, is both interesting and instructive and quite fully attests the warm friendship of many admirers. Rubini's original pamphlet in Italian, introducing the cactus grandiflorus , is particularly valuable.
Dr. von Lippe filled the chair of materia medica in the Homoeopathic College of Pennsylvania from 1863 to 1868 and with distinguished success. He also translated valuable Italian, German, and French Homoeopathic essays and treatises, that are now standard. He augmented and improved the homeopathic materia medica, and by his clinical reports has shown how this may be rendered practically available and utilized in the application of homoeopathic knowledge and principles. Adopting homoeopathy after careful examination, when qualified to institute and conduct it; believing it to be progressive rather than stagnant, and having devoted the best years of a prosperous life to establishing its claims in this country, he absolutely rejected all claims and solicitations that would have recalled him to Germany.
Just now when the thought of the entire medical profession the world over is veering away from polypharmacy and courting the single agent, when men like von Behring and Wright and Roux are tempering the actual etiological factor in degree for the acquisition of a beneficent immunity, when the size of dose as exemplified by preparations of tuberculin are reduced to one millionth of a milligram, when the physicians of all schools unite in admitting the need of testing the action of drugs on humans themselves and when in a state of health, it may surely be of interest to read and pursue the works of this great German nobleman who was in point of fact the indomitable Ajax of the homoeopathic practice of his day. Standing at the very door of the citadel of truth he kept the sacred fires of healing science alit by the broad-axe of truth itself.
Like the sire of Hahnemann himself he lived the motto of that man's belief "To act and to be, not merely to seem."
Vivit, vivetque ad sempliteranam aetatem.
William B. Griggs.
Philadelphia.
It was deemed best to give each remedy a page, or more, because by this means the running heading forms a convenient index, the remedies being in alphabetical order, and the blank space can be used, if desired, for pencilling in additional rubrics.
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Sensation of soreness of the body, and of heaviness in inner parts.
Tearing in outer parts.
Tingling in the fingers, oesophagus and back.
Painfulness of the whole body to contact (he does not wish to be touched).
Pulsating pain in the head and teeth.
Inflammation of inner parts (mucous membranes).
Stitches in internal organs.
Tightness of the muscles (acute rheumatism).
The pain is insupportable, driving to despair.
Sudden and great sinking of strength.
Restlessness and inconsolable anxiety.
The patient is full of fears and tosses about as if in agony.
Dry, burning skin.
Heat, with inclination to uncover oneself.
Miliaria like eruption of measles.
Pulse full and hard, or imperceptible.
Bad effects from catching cold, from anger, or from fright, especially with females during menstruation.
When rising paleness of the face.
Aggravation in the night.
Amelioration in the open air.
Most symptoms disappear while sitting quietly, but at night
and in bed it is unsupportable.
The most valuable febrifuge in the entire range of therapeutic agents.
Produces and cures drenching sweats.
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Itching with burning and redness, as if frost-bitten, of the nose, ears, fingers and toes.
Great sensitiveness of the body to pressure and cold air.
Great debility and heaviness in the limbs.
Boring or dull pains.
Sensation of soreness in the nose and mouth.
Tearing pains in the limbs, which are continuous while at rest, but disappearing on moving about.
Twitching of the eye-lids.
Clonic spasms.
Rage with great efforts of strength.
The patient is excessively fanciful and full of ecstasy.
The symptoms frequently appear diagonally, as in the right arm and left leg.
There is an aggravation after motion, and an amelioration when moving about slowly.
Bearing-down pains of a violent character at once benefited by the action of this medicine.
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Melancholic and hypochondriacal mood.
Absentmindedness.
Rumbling of flatulence during sleep.
Corrosive itching of the perineum and difficulty of passing soft motions.
When pressing at stool there is discharge of prostatic fluid.
Thirstlessness and aversion to all drink.
Nausea first in the pit of the stomach, later in the stomach, with the sensation as if all the intestines were pressing downward.
Diminution of sexual powers, the penis is small and flaccid and the testicles are cold. Itching on the genital organs with yellow discharges from the urethra.
The sexual desire is suppressed.
Drawing along the spermatic cords.
In the female, there is suppressing of the menses, with drawing pain in the abdomen and lack of sexual desire.
There is deficient secretion of milk in lying-in women.
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Pulse full and accelerated.
Heat, with rumbling in the abdomen, coryza and thirst.
Soreness of the lower extremities.
Breathing oppressed from pressure in the middle of the chest, worse in the evening.
Cough when inhaling cold air.
Pressure and other pains in the region of the bladder.
Sensation of weakness in the bladder and urethra.
Increased secretion of urine, with coryza.
Urine red, with much pressure and burning in the urethra.
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Mental dissatisfaction and bad humor about himself, and more especially during the state of costiveness or when he suffers from pain.
Giddiness on moving.
Great weakness and weak pulse after vomiting.
Aloe is frequently called for in correcting the bad effects from sedentary life and habits and is especially suitable to persons of a lymphatic and hypochondriacal constitution.
The taste is bitter and sour and tasteless eructations are present, with portal congestion and a sense of abdominal fullness, heaviness and heat.
Bloated abdomen, more on left side, or along the colon and worse after eating.
Pain around the navel, worse from pressure.
A discharge of much flatulency, burning and swelling offensively, which relieves the pain in the abdomen.
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Unpleasant want of animal heat.
He feels as if some parts of the body were enlarged.
Great debility from exercise, as in walking.
There is present tearing pain in the limbs and a sensation of constriction of the internal organs (oesophagus).
Involuntary motions (jerking of the head and other parts are associated in this condition).
Weakness of the memory and inability to think coherently.
Chapped skin and bulbous eruptions.
The aggravations are in the afternoon, occur periodically and are present during the act of micturition.
The amelioration is effected during moderate exercise, in the open air, in the evening and on alternate days.
Very efficient in the cure of intractable costiveness in women of an extremely sedentary habit.
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Tearing in the muscles of the joints, often one-sided.
Itching from the small of the back through the right leg and burning, especially where the skin turns into mucous membranes.
External numbness of the whole body in the morning.
Weakness in the morning and at night when awakening.
Ebullitions and pulsations in the whole body after walking in the open air.
One-sided complaints (perspiration, tearing, numbness and sensation of coldness in the abdomen).
Spasms and twitches in the muscular parts.
Ambra is especially suitable for lean or aged persons.
Asthma of children or old people.
Itching and burning in the skin.
Suppressed cutaneous eruptions.
Many complaints appear while sleeping and disappear after rising.
There is an aggravation in the evening, while lying in a warm place and on awakening.
Many complaints, however, are relieved by slow motion in the open air, or while lying on the painful part.
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Tearing in the joints, relieved by the heat of the bed.
Stinging and tearing pains.
Drawing and tension as from the shortening of the muscles.
Inclination to stretch the limbs.
Pain as of dislocation in the joints.
Pain as from sub-cutaneous ulceration.
Debility which only permits to lie down.
Disinclination to walk in the open air, and from it aggravation of many complaints.
Restlessness of the body in the evening.
The right side of the body is mostly affected.
Dry cough, as from dust in the throat.
Cough only at night or only in day-time.
Exanthemata of a scarlet color.
Itching eruptions - desquamations of the skin.
Great sensitiveness to the cold.
Talking and hearing others talk affects him greatly.
Reappearance and aggravation of some symptoms from washing (bleeding of the nose, swelling of the veins of the hands, and blue hands).
There is an evening aggravation and an aggravation during wet weather.
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Sensation of soreness in different parts of the body.
Burning, stinging and throbbing, as from a boil.
Tension in the joints, as from shortening of the muscles.
Ebullition with anxiety and weakness.
Hiccough.
Blisters on the tongue.
Many groups of symptoms are accompanied by cough.
In the morning hours she feels stiff, but is relieved by walking in the open air.
Aggravation of the head and chest symptoms in the morning, of the abdominal symptoms in the afternoon, of the skin and fever symptoms in the evening.
Amelioration in the open air.
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Maliciousness.
Swearing.
Loss of memory.
Crampish pains in the muscles.
Contraction of the joints.
Sensation of a band or hoop around the parts.
Pain in different parts, as if a plug and entered.
Trembling debility and paralytic weakness.
Diminution of the senses (smell, sight and hearing).
Liability to catch cold, and sensitiveness to the draft of air.
Periodicity of the symptoms.
Itching of the skin, worse from scratching.
Many symptoms appear after eating, while more of them appear duing dinner.
Aggravation when lying on the side, from rubbing, and from taking hold of anything.
