The Genius of Homeopathy
Lectures and Essays on Homeopathic Philosophy
By Dr Stuart M. CLOSE
Chapter XI: SYMPTOMATOLOGY
* MM (Materia Medica) has a foundation of natural law. H(ahnemann) apprehended new general principles, and had to create new means by which the principle might be applied.
* New MM contained facts and phenomena of the action of drugs upon the healthy
* Previous MM only contained observations, theories and opinions of drug action. Facts were more confused by drugs being given in combinations.
* H did single drug provings with rigid scrutiny and controls, kept careful fact records over many years.
* Drug symptoms were derived according to the anatomical parts and regions of the body in which they occurred
*MM is a master reference once you understand the logical classification and interpretation of symptoms and use of manuals, indexes and repertories
* DEF: symptomatology- the first requisite to a correct understanding of the subject of symptomatology is to know the full meaning of the word "symptom" and all that it involves.
* Incorrect beliefs of the nature and constitutions of symptoms have lead to bad provings
* DEF: symptom- in general, a symptom is any evidence of disease, or change from a state of health. H def- "any manifestation of a deviation from a former state of health, perceptible by the patient, the individuals around him, or the physician." more H def " evidences of the operation fo the influences which disturb the harmonious play of the functions, the vital principle as a spiritual-dynamis."
* Subjective and Objective symptoms
* Subjective: symptoms which are discoverable by the patient alone such as pain and other morbid sensations of body or mind presenting no external indications
* H made these of primary impt, unlike general medicines, provides insight into patient
* Objective: H def - "the expression of disease in the sensations and functions of that side of the organism exposed ot hte senses of the physician and bystanders" H def "a pure science of experience, which can and must rest on clear facts and sensible phenomena clearly cognizable by the senses"
* Totality of the symptoms is expression peculiar to homeopathy. H def "The ensemble or totality of these available signs or symptoms, represents in its full extent the disease iteslf; that is, they constitute the true and only form of which the mind is capable of conceiving." Also " all the symptoms of the case which are capable of being logically combined into a harmonious and consistent whole, having form, coherency and individuality."- meaning may be not based on just number of symptoms, but choosing those that fit together.
** Includes: totality of each indiv symptom
**the location sensation and modality of each symptom
** modality= circumstances and conditions that affect or modify a symptom, esp those that aggravate or ameliorate
** totality must express an idea
** classification of symptoms alone represents the diagnostic idea
** the totality of the symptoms for homeopathy represents the therapeutic idea
* Genius of the Remedy - genius being the dominant influence or essential principle of the remedy which gives it its individuality
* Risks:
1. Error may arise in placing too much emphasis upon a single symptom or perhaps actually prescribing on a single symptom as many thoughtlessly do.
2. Error may arise in attempting to fit a remedy to a mass of indefinite, unrelated or fragmentary symptoms by a mechanical comparison of symptom with symptom, by which the prescriber becomes a mere superficial ''symptom coverer."
3. Failing in both these ways the prescriber may fall to the level of the so-called "pathological prescribers," who empirically base their treatment upon a theoretical pathological diagnosis and end in prescribing unnecessary and injurious sedatives, stimulants, combination tablets, and other crude mixtures of common practice.
* Characteristics- H "the more striking, singular, uncommon and peculiar signs and symptoms of the case"
** most impt attributes, most likely to indicate remedy as they are less generic
* Keynotes - Dr. Henry Guernsey's method. Musical reference to 'keynote'. Found when patient speaks of being 'Out of tune', disease is the loss of harmony in function and sensation. He re-invented H's ideas, gave new name for it.
* A characteristic or keynote symptom is a generalization drawn from the particular symptoms by logical deduction
* symptoms peculiar to the individual patient rather than the symptoms common to the disease - Dr. Adolphe Lippe
* Characteristic symptoms are those which individualize both the disease and the drug - Dr. P.P. Wells
* Characteristic symptoms DO NOT belong exclusively to a single remedy - Dr. Charles G. Raue
* Every stool must have at least three legs - Dr. Hering
* Boenninghausen: worked on cases with incomplete symptoms. Discovered that many if not all of the modalities of the case were general in their relation.
** Wrote the Therapeutic Pocketbook, symptoms were put into seven sections:
(1) Moral and Intellectual Faculties;
(2) Locality or Seat of the Symptoms;
(3) Morbid Conditions and Sensations;
(4) Sleep and Dreams;
(5) Circulation and Fever;
(6) Modalities, Etiology, etc.;
(7) Concordances.
* Dr. Wm. Boericke: remedies may be applied where symptomatology is 1) in a certain location 2) correspond with sensation 3) posess the modality WITHOUT necessarily having in the proving the very symptom resulting from the combination
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