The homœopathic therapeutics of diarrhœa, dysentery, cholera, cholera morbus, cholera infantum, and all other loose evacuations of the bowels

Preface To The First Edition

^ I ^HIS little work was prepared for my own use as a labor-saver, and as a receptacle for clinical observations, and for gleanings from others and from the periodicals.

It has been the work of odd moments and little remnants of time, redeemed from busy days.

Even the young physician, of a single summer's experience, must have felt the want of such a work, particularly when dealing with the frequently occurring and obstinate diarrhoeas of infants. It was the difficulty of treating these that first awakened the desire to possess in one little work all that was known of our Materia Medica as applied to loose evacuations of the bowels.

It has not been intended to include every remedy that has been known to purge, but only every remedy of which enough is known, either of its stools, or conditions, or concomitants, to distinguish it from any other remedy.

But some may inquire. Why should diseases of the bowels he honored above others by a special monograph?

Those who have Boenninghausen on Cough, on Fever, and on Headache, will not ask this question, but will desire that the work go on until w^e possess such special aids in the treatment of all affections that most tax the busy practitioner.

The present work is now printed because colleagues, who had seen it, desired to possess a copy — one going so far as to copy it himself, — because Mr. Tafel, who had seen it, desired to print it, and because the work had already repaid me for the time and labor it cost in the same coin, and I was therefore happy to believe that it would be of like use to others. The clinical test will be found to disclose mauy valuable

4 PREFACE.

symptoms not to be met witii elsewliere, and, alas, doubtless, many errors.

The carefully collated experience of ten active years, which it contains, would indeed be better if they were twenty or thirty, but perhaps the Lord in His goodness will permit this to be added also.

It would be a grateful task to indicate throughout the work the sources from which many yaluable symptoms were drawn, but this would detract from its practical character as a work of reference.

ACGUsTA, Feb. 2. St, 1S69.

James B. Bell.

Author's Preface To The Second Edition

^T^HE material for a new edition of this little work has been collecting ever since the first was published, and such an edition has long been called for, but I do not think it would have ever seen the light had I not persuaded my friend and successor. Dr. W. T. Laird, late of Watertown, N. Y., to undertake its preparation for the press. He has also added much from his own collection of material, and to him is due the entire remodelling of the Eepertory, which, in the first edition, was quite defective.

My former partner, Dr. T. M. Dillingham, had kindly made a partial revision of the work, but went abroad before its completion.

It may be necessary to add, by way of a personal explanation, that my "specialty" lies in quite another direction than "Diarrhoea" or Materia Medica, and it is only as a lover of sound therapeutics that I have taken up these subjects.

Dr. Ad. Lippe has contributed two annotated copies and many suggestions, and I wish to tender my thanks to him and to all who have added any observatioiJs to its pages, as well, also, to the great numbers in the profession who have so kindly and heartily commended the book. To me its only merit is its practical application of the principles of Hahnemann, and I am rejoiced, therefore, that so many still hold firmly to those principles and seek to be guided by them.

EDITOR'S PREFACE.

TN the revision of a monograph like the present work, after the lapse of twelve years, many new remedies demand recognition. These may be conveniently divided into four classes.

In the first, we place those which have been thoroughly proved and repeatedly verified in practice.

The second consists of drugs, which have also been well proved, but whose symptons, as yet, lack clinical confirmation.

The third embraces the medicines of which we possess only fragmentary and imperfect pathogeneses. These may be styled " the suggestive remedies," and include such drugs as Goto Bark, Gent, lut., Geran., Gnaph., Hura, CEnothera, Paullinia, etc.

The fourth division contains those remedies whose indications are derived solely ah usu in morbis.

Of the first and second classes every remedy is plainly entitled to admission, "of which enough is known, either of its stools, or conditions, or concomitants, to distinguish it from any other remedy."

Many of the drugs in the third class are doubtless valuable, and will prove of great service when further provings, experience and observation have developed their characteristic indications. Some of them have already been successfully used in practice. Unfortunately, however, at the present time the symptoms of the majority of these remedies are too few and too uncertain to render their selection easy or to entitle them to a place in a work which is intended to be purely practical.

Remedies of the fourth class — those having no basis except empiricism — must be viewed with distrust and received with great caution.

In the second edition the same general plan has been followed as in the first, with the exception that the important symptoms are italicized,

PREFACE. /

while those which are especially characteristic are printed in black type.

The term "cholera infantum" has been retained in many cases, which, according to strict pathology, would be more properly designated as entero-colitis and gastro-enteric catarrh. Although this use of the term is not defensible from a scientific standpoint, it is sanctioned to such an extent by common usage that in has been thought inexpedient to make any change.

The present edition contains over 100 pages more than the first. Thirty-two new remedies have been added, and the old ones thoroughly revised, and, in some instances, entirely rewritten.

Numerous clinical symptoms have been incorporated with the text, but only those whose genuineness is attested by trustworthy observers or which the writer has frequently verified in his own practice. Many others have been rejected on the ground of insufiicient evidence.

The writer lays no claim to originality in the additions he has made to this work. His task has been mainly one of compilation. He has gleaned from our literature all that he deemed valuable, and has conscientiously endeavored to make the book as accurate and complete as possible ; yet none can be more painfully aware of the many imperfections and errors of omission which it must necessarily contain. It is especially to be regretted, in this connection, that the request for contributions, printed in our journals, has met with such meagre responses from the profession ; for it is only by unity of effort that we can hope to attain the best results.

The writer would gratefully acknowledge his indebtedness to Drs. W. P. Wesselhoeft and Ad. Lippe for valuable notes and suggestions ; to Prof. E. A. Farrington for important information, and also for his kind permission to make free use of very complete notes of his lectures on Materia Medica; and to Dr. F. F. Laird for assistance in preparing manuscript.

Augusta. Me., March, 1881,

W. T. Laied, M.D.

Preface To Third Edition

^ I ^HTS book has been most thoroughly revised, with the earnest purpose of making it as nearly complete as possible. Four remedies of little importance have been omitted, viz.: Cactus, Euphorb., Opuntia and Castoreum, and five of much value have been added, viz. : Acetic acid, Crotalus, Angiistura, Carbolic acid and Valeriana.

The more closely one follows the principles discovered by Hahnemann the more priceless appears the legacy which he has left us. We have no occasion to join in the pursuit of our new, but speedily discovered drugs, lauded first as specifics, then thrown over for their failures and harmful effects. We are able at once, by proving and observation, to rightly estimate and use the new as w^ell as the old remedies, and the knowledge thus acquired will be just as valuable centuries hence as now, and so we work on with the solemn joy of those whose work will never cease to bless mankind while there remain any sick to be healed.

Dr. Samuel A. Kimball, author of the Monograph on Gonorrhoea, has given faithful and most valuable assistance in this revision, and Drs. J. G. Allen and W. Jefferson Guernsey have furnished annotated copies of the earlier edition. Many others also have contributed observations and suggestions, to all of whom most cordial thanks are tendered.

Boston, June, 1888.

James B. Bell.

Introduction

CHARACTER AND OBJECT OF THE WORK.

^ I ^HIS work is intended to apply to all loose evacuations of the bowels, and to describe them, their aggravations and ameliorations, with their immediate accompaniments and general accompanying symptoms.

The character of the stool is used as an adjective, and after it the "stool" is always to be understood. The semicolon stands for it.

Under the head of aggravations and ameliorations those influences are given which affect the stool, and also those which act as exciting causes of the attack. When referring to other symptoms, they will be found indicated in parentheses.

The concomitants of the stool have been studied and observed with much care.

The general accompaniments include all the symptoms that occur during the attack.

Under each of the best known remedies some symptoms will be found italicized. These, it will be understood, are the symptoms which have been most frequently observed, and which also serve to most sharply distinguish that remedy from others. The more of these emphasized symptoms we have under any one remedy the easier the selection. The sooner we are able by careful observation to emphasize symptoms under all our remedies, the more we shall perfect our art. It should be the self-appointed task of every Homoeopathic physician to confirm, and define, and add to the symptoms of all our remedies, but more especially of those that are but little known. Many of that class will be found in this book, some of which have many symptoms of clear and distinctive character, derived from provings, but whose

10 IXTRODUCTION.

relative and positive value awaits clinical determination. If those who use this book will add the fruits of their observations by underlining and writing-in symptoms, they will be gladly incorporated in a future edition, should any be required.

The remarks, which follow nearly every remedy, should be understood as embodying only the personal opinions of the writer, whether confirming or contradicting what may have been published by others. It is hoped that they may sometimes aid in the selection of the remedy, but they are of wholly subordinate authority to the text.

THE SELECTION OF THE REMEDY.

All who subscribe to the law of similars agree that the problem in each case is to find a remedy w^hose symptoms are most closely similar to the case in hand. This problem finds a somewhat different solution, however, in different classes of mind.

One class thinks the solution is found in a similitude to the pathological state. If able to diagnose hypersemia, hypersesthesia, ulceration, plastic exudation, atony, atrophy, hypertrophy, and so on through the catalogue, this seems to them sufficient. They have only then to diagnose a remedy producing a similar state. This has a great fascination for some excellent minds, because it seems to utilize the splendid developments of Allopathy in this direction, and connect them directly w^ith therapeutics.

Another, and growing class, believes that those w^ho stop here will never comprehend the true genius of Homoeopathy. The demand for exactness, minuteness and delicacy of observation in all branches of science was never greater. The same is true of Homoeopathic Therapeutics. Those who are ardently following in this direction soon discover that the selection of the remedy requires, so to speak, two similars, viz. : one corresponding to the general symptoms, or those which bring it into relation to the pathological state to be treated, and one corresponding to the special and characteristic symptoms, or those which bring it into relation with the individual case to be treated.

To illustrate: a patient has stools consisting of bloody mucus, small and frequent, with tenesmus. We diagnose dysentery; hypersemia

INTRODUCTION. 11

and inflammation of the mucous membrane of the colon, with exudation of blood and secretion of mucus. Forty-four volunteers stand ready, armed and equipped with a similar pathological condition. But we want but one, and how shall we learn which one? We must be more exact, and discover that our patient has restlessness, dry heat and much thirst. Our volunteers are now reduced to three ; but still too many. Applying our magnifying-glass again, we observe a recent exposure to cold, dry wind, and a flushed face becoming pale, with faintness on rising, and now we have the man we want.

It becomes evident, therefore, that the individualizing symptoms possess the greater value, and are, indeed, indispensable to a certain selection.

It should be noticed, further, that these distinguishing symptoms are of all kinds and qualities, from the most purely objective and pathological, to the most subjective and delicate complaints which the organism is capable of uttering. As instances of the former may be cited, the green frothy stools of Magn. c, the dark acid urine of Benz. ac, the blue varices of Mur. ac, and of the latter, the aggravation from hearing water run, of Hydroph., from sudden depressing emotions, of Gels., and the relief, from cold food and drink, of Phos.

But whatever the character of these symptoms, in this particular, it is to be observed that they are hardly ever obtrusive enough to thrust themselves upon the notice of an unobserving man, and that they often require a patience and acuteness of observation hardly excelled by astronomers, microscopists and other followers of natural science.

This mode of diagnosing the remedy is also in exact accordance with that pursued in other sciences. The chemist would be thought hardly worthy of his title who should attempt to recognize arsenic by its cruder properties of color, weight, or taste. He must be familiar with its most delicate and characteristic tests and reactions. He does not ignore the other properties, yet it is only after applying the characteristic tests that he will give an authoritative decision, and on these he will rely, even in cases involving w^eighty questions of human guilt or innocence.

But now the question arises, and it is a very important and practical

12 INTEODUCTIOX.

one: suppose we find that the only remedy for a given case, that corresponds to the peculiar and individualizing symptoms, is one that has never been known to cause the pathological state under which our patient suffers. The answer is, that we may safely infer that the remedy does possess also the general and organic symptoms of the case, and that it will remove them, together with the distinguishing indications.

Thus has our Materia Medica been enriched by at least one-fourth of the most positive and valuable pathological symptoms which we possess. Thus, for example, have we learned that Bry., Ars., Rhus, Bap., etc., have ulceration of Beyer's glands in their pathogenesis ; that Hep., Lach. and Lye. produce pseudo-membranous exudation; that Spong. causes and cures plastic endo-carditis ; or that (and a fact now published for the first time and obtained purely by observing the characteristic symptoms) Buls. and Sep. are known to cause and cure trachoma or granular conjunctivitis.

Yet some affect to sneer at this method, and only a little time ago the author had the honor to acquire an enviable title, because he had observed the power of Bodoph. to cure true pneumonia when selected by some characteristic symptoms, although it has never been known to produce that condition.

Yet here, too, we are following closely the example of the chemist, who from the yellow band in the spectrum is able to assert that there is sodium in the sun, or from the lines in the spectrum of the Diirkheim spring-water is able to declare that a new metal is there. He does not hesitate to attribute form, weight, malleability and other metallic properties to the stranger, long before he is able to possess himself of a little bar of Indium.

Our conclusion, then, is, that the problem of selection is solved by seeking the remedy which possesses the 2:)hysical and diagnostic symptoms of the case, and which corresponds also to the special, distinguishing and peculiar symptoms which mark the individual case. And further, if a remedy is found that possesses distinctly the latter symptoms, but not, so far as is known, the former, we may conclude safely that it does possess the former, and admiuister it with confidence.

INTRODUCTION. 13

THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE REMEDY.

In the present state of our science upon this point, each can only contribute the fruits of his own observation.

The writer began the practice of medicine with the preconceived idea strongly fixed in his mind, that, while the thirtieth potency might be useful and perhaps the best for chronic and nervous affections, the lower aud even crude preparations would prove more satisfactory for acute affections and particularly for diseases of the bow^els.

Hard experience has taught him the contrary, and " though convinced against his will," he is not "of the same opinion still."

There is indeed a somewhat prevalent opinion, that the strength of the dose makes up for want of due care or knowledge in selection.

This maybe stated in mathematical terms as follows: If the thirtieth potency of Ars. is equal to a complete knowledge of the drug, one-fifth of a grain of arsenious acid is equal to complete ignorance of it. Stated in this, its true form, we grant it.

Personally, our experience has been most satisfactory with the use of the twelfth, fifteenth, thirtieth, two hundredth, and often higher potencies, of our remedies, administered in water, and repeated every one to six hours according to the urgency of the symptoms, and suspended as soon as decided improvement appeared. If the same remedy was needed to be resumed again, it has seemed to do better in a higher potency, but on this point we cannot yet speak with entire assurance.

We have not been able to perceive that age or sex or habits (we might add color, race or order in natural history) form any element in the choice of the dose. All classes have been found to respond favorably to the high potencies. As regards temperament, we cannot speak with equal positiveness, but we have no certain testimony proving it to form an exception.

Homoeopathic Therapeutics,