A text-book of materia medica and therapeutics

Front matter

Glass Book

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT

A TEXT-BOOK

Preface To The Sixth Edition

In the present edition the entire text has been completely rewritten and thoroughly revised. Every symptom of doubtful origin has been expunged, and a few authentic symptoms not appearing in former editions have been added.

The ''General Analysis" of each drug has been rewritten, and in many instances changed to conform to ideas resulting from more recent investigations in drug pathogenesy. Only those clinical symptoms that have been repeatedly verified, and which are undoubtedly reliable, are retained, and these are given a distinguishing mark (°), so that the student can tell at a glance whether a symptom is of pathogenetic or clinical origin.

An important feature consists in the section on "Therapeutics" under each remedy. The brief "Therapeutic Range" of former editions is omitted, and in its place is given aresume of the clinical uses of the drug, and which, while comparatively brief, is intended to cover the entire range of therapeutic action, so far as at present known, together with the chief symptomatic drug indications in all important diseased states. The author has endeavored to include everything reliable in Therapeutics, as found in modern homoeopathic literature; but he is especially indebted in. this connection to Farrington's Clinical Materia Medica, and Allen's Hand-book of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, from both of which excellent treatises he has derived valuable material.

Other new features have been included in this edition, which, it is thought, will commend themselves to the reader without prefatory comment.

The author desires to acknowledge his indebtedness to Leora Johnson, M. D., for valuable assistance in thoroughly revising the Clinical Index, which latter, it is hoped, will prove more than ever an attractive and valuable feature.

With many thanks to the Profession for their cordial reception and appreciation of former editions, the present volume is submitted, with the hope that it may bind still closer the professional and social relations existing between them and

THE AUTHOR.

Iowa City, June 1st, 1891.

Preface To The Third Edition

In preparing this edition the author has not deviated from the plan adopted in the second edition. It is hoped, however, that the careful revision to which the work has been subjected may have eliminated most of the errors appearing in former editions. The text has been entirely rewritten, and many symptoms, especially clinical, have been added, while nearly one hundred remedies, not included in the second edition, have been incorporated.

For the sake of uniformity in the literature of Homoeopathic Materia Medica, the author has changed the nomenclature of Actea Racemosa and Calcarea Ostrearum respectively to Cimicifuga Racemosa and Calcarea Carbonica.

The thanks of the author are due to Dr. Jas. E. Gross for the valuable Pronouncing Dictionary he has prepared for this edition. It has been compiled from the most recent and reliable authorities, and it is hoped may materially aid in making the pronunciation of these terms more uniform.

Hoping that these additions and changes may add to the usefulness of the book, and render it still more acceptable, it is again submitted to the Profession, with the thanks of the author for the many expressions of favor and appreciation which the former editions have elicited.

A. C. COWPERTHWAITE.

Iowa City, August 1st, 1885.

Preface To The First Edition

In presenting to medical students and to the Profession another Text-book of Materia Medica, a few words of explanation may not be inappropriate.

Homoeopathic literature already abounds with valuable compilations of Materia Medica obtained from the most authentic sources, and it is not the ambition of the author that the present volume shall, in any sense, supersede these or render their use unnecessary, but rather does he desire that it may, by presenting in a clear and concise manner the prominent feature of our most important remedies, furnish the beginner with a systematic basis of knowledge, that may facilitate his study of the complete Materia Medica, and enable him the more readily to comprehend the wider application of drug action as there afforded. How well this task has been performed the reception of this book alone will tell. Certainly no one is more conscious of its defects than is the author himself, who can only bespeak the charity of such as may not realize the difficulties to overcome in condensing the symptoms of the Homoeopathic Materia Medica, retaining only those which are essentially characteristic, and sifting out only those which are of less importance.

Up to the present time even the most condensed works on Materia Medica present to the mind of the student only a vast array of unmeaning symptoms, with nothing to point out their comparative value, or to assist in their practical application, so that, as a result, he stands discouraged at the outset, with little prospect but that the subject which should be to him the most entertaining, and of necessity the most important, will ever remain a confused mass of symptoms, which he surveys with mysterious awe, but which, in fact, he scarcely attempts to unravel or to comprehend. In view of this fact it has been the aim of the author to present in this volume only the characteristic points of the Homoeopathic Materia Medica, and to include