The Vital Force

By Henry Clay Allen

Presented by Sylvain Cazalet

"THE VITAL FORCE." - In the November number of last year,

we took exception to Dr. Bayard's position as set forth in the Popular
Science Monthly, in his explanation of Homeopathy, that, as a
science, it "is the law of the vital force." Dr. P.P. Wells, in a late
number of the Homeopathic Physician, has discussed the question at
some length in his peculiar way. Allowing all he says to be true, it
reduces him to the absurdity of attempting to prove a self-evident
proposition. When the point at issue is assumed by either party, to
say the least, it cuts out the party, so assuming, and argument is
ended. We cannot, therefore, follow Dr. Wells, since to our mind, the
question is debatable, and worthy of study; and is one which cannot
be settled by flippant assertions. It is also clear, that so broad a
question cannot be properly discussed in a brief editorial. We are not,
Dr Henry Clay Allen
however, disposed to leave the controversy as it stands at present.
(1836-1909)
We repeat, that the facts of Homeopathy are one thing; the theories
which help to explain them are another thing. It is a necessity of the human mind to have things
explained. The best of all explanations, is a demonstration. A thing which can be demonstrated is
a scientific fact. We, however, incorporate much into science so-called, which we cannot
demonstrate; and we explain, all such things by the help of theories. Many points are settled by
the theory of authority. An ecumenical council, a synod, a conference or an individual, is often
considered sufficient. There are persons who would take Dr. Wells' statement upon almost any
question as a final settlement of it. Upon this theory it is only necessary to point out what the
authorities say; and most of the hard questions that might otherwise vex the mind of man, are in
this way answered and disposed of. Next to the theories of this sort, stand theories founded on
imagination or superstition. Given a series of phenomena, apparently inexplicable, and all you
have to do, is to, construct an ideal cause. The ocean, the forest and the air were once filled with
imaginary beings, who drove the winds about, made the seas boil and hurled thunderbolts
through the heavens. Spirits, malign and benign, filled every unexplored corner of the universe,
and became the efficient source of its mysterious phenomena. For centuries, imagination, backed
by authority, covered the whole ground, and solved all riddles. Subsequently, Science came into
the field, and claimed her right to answer these puzzling questions. This she does in two ways:
First, by demonstration. She repeats the phenomenon at will and shows every step in the
experiment. In this way she curbs and controls imagination and destroys the specters of
superstition. But secondly, science must employ theories respecting many things she cannot
demonstrate. But such theories are always essentially scientific theories. They hold no relation to
the theories of authority or imagination, because in essence, they always correspond with the
facts of sciences.
Now to the point at issue. The phenomena of life were easily settled a thousand years ago by
imagining a life principle to exist in the living body This theory came to us first by authority.
The Bible settled the question when it declared that God breathed into man and made him a
living being. We had the authority of the Church for it, and that was enough. But the imagination

now holds the same theory in place as a convenient solution of life's mysterious problems. It is
however a theory, whether true or false, that has in it no element of science. Once it was potent
to shut out all investigation. Life was "a sacred mystery," and we could raise no question which
the "life principle" could not solve. But during the last century, the investigator has invaded the
domain of life and stripped it of much of its mystery. And upon that small part which yet is not
capable of demonstration, it has resolutely placed well defined scientific theories, and so, in
effect, shut out the old imagination of a "life principle." As scientists we take Matter and Force
as our ultimates, and out of them construct, where needed, good working theories, to which we
hold tentatively until demonstration shall come up take final possession. We have no need to go
outside of the laws which govern matter and force, to understand life and disease, and the nature
of drugs and the mode of curing disease. Nothing can help us on with more certainty than
Chemistry and Physics, if properly applied. Upon these Homeopathy can stand with no fear of
falling. We reject the assumption of a "life principle," first, because it is an unscientific theory;
and secondly, because it is not needed to account for the phenomena of life or health or disease.
And we more especially object to making it the foundation of the Homeopathic, healing art,
because it is quite too shadowy and untenable; and we can only lose by resting upon a false
foundation. Dr. Wells declares that "without this force as a chief factor, Homeopathy has no
philosophy; neither can there be without this force included in it, any rational philosophy of lift,
health or sickness." And he adds as his belief, that "it is indispensable to a useful and successful
practice of this philosophy." But what we want is not a rational philosophy but a scientific
philosophy; and that we certainly have, and it as certainly shuts out all superstitious beliefs in the
old and exploded notion of a "life principle" otherwise known as "the vital force."

Notes on frequently indicated remedies

with comparative similar symptoms.
By Henry Clay Allen
Presented by Sylvain Cazalet

1. ABIES NIGRA.
Stomach : The guiding symptoms so far as our provings or
clinical experiment go, appear to cluster about this gastric
characteristic :
Sensation of an undigested hard boiled egg at pit of stomach. This
is not a weight or a heaviness but a sensation causing a constant
uneasiness and discomfort. The patient is often dull and drowsy
during the day, with loss of appetite ; wakeful, restless and hungry at
night. There may be constipation, nervousness, dysuria ; vertigo,
flushed face and distressing headache, but they all appear to hinge
upon this one symptom and are removed with it.

Dr Henry Clay Allen

(1836-1909)

Bryonia, has pressure in stomach, as from a stone, after eating,

makes him fretful and irritable. But under Bryonia the stomach is sensitive to touch, cannot
endure the pressure of the clothes and is aggravated from motion, especially a sudden or false
step.
Calcarea, has pressing pain as if a load or stone were in it, after a moderate supper, and like
Bryonia is worse from motion and better lying quietly on the back. Also, like Bryonia, pressure
is painful, but the saucer like distention is wanting under the latter.
Nux vomica, has pressure, as from a stone, worse mornings and after meals. The region of
stomach is sensitive to pressures but not to false step or jar, like Bryonia. The high living, abuse
of drugs, sedentary habits and debauchery of Nux, serve to fur, their distinguish between them.
Pulsatilla, has weight as from a stone, early morning on waking, and an hour after a meal, but
is better by eating again. Pains are worse from walking, miss-step and when stomach is empty ;
from fats, pastry, fruit, ice cream, etc.

2. ACETIC ACID.
In the treatment of many severe cases, both acute and chronic, this remedy is frequently
indicated and as frequently overlooked, Any yet soma of its leading symptoms are so clear-cut
and so characteristic as not easily to be forgotten. It is especially adapted to persons of lax
muscular fibre ; pale, anmic, chlorotic, with more or less rapid wasting of the body.

Hmorrhages : active or passive ; from nose, bronchi, lungs, stomach, bowels, genitalia.
Diarrha : profuse, exhausting ; in ascites, diabetes, typhoid, typhus, tuberculosis.
In these, or any affections, the characteristic indications for Acetic acid will be found in the
following :
Intense, burning, insatiable thirst, even after drinking large quantities of water.
Passing large quantities of clear, watery urine, both day and night.
Profuse night sweats with great debility and marked emaciation.
These form the three points of support for the exhibition of this remedy ; and it matters little
what the name of the disease is, a host of minor ailments revolving about them as satellites about
a planet, will often be promptly dissipated by a few doses of this medicine. It acts promptly and
effectively in the 30th potency. It may act as well in any other potency, but I have never used it
lower or higher.
Arsenicum, is the remedy which is usually thought of and generally given in many of the
before mentioned affections, instead of Acetic acid ; and we are often astonished at our failure. A
careful comparison in the first place would have promptly excluded it. While Arsenicum has
emaciation, great prostration, marked debility and intense, burning thirst, and while in these
particulars there is striking correspondence, there is also as striking a difference. The thirst of
Arsenic is almost invariably "little and often" and when a large quantity is taken it is almost
certain to be rejected or to produce nausea and vomiting, which never occurs under Acetic acid.
The mental restlessness of the debilitated Arsenic patient is also wanting in Acetic acid.
The peculiarities of the Arsenic diarrha also, are entirely different ; like the thirst of Arsenic
the uterine discharge is scanty ; it is painful and followed by great prostration ; while under
Acetic acid it is profuse, watery, painless.
Ferrum, has the ashy pale face of the anmic or chlorotic patient, and this paleness extends
to the lips, tongue and mucous membrane of entire buccal cavity, which is rarely found under
Acetic acid. But the earthy pale face is also subject to congestions, becomes easily flushed and
bright red, from mental emotion, pain or other symptoms, which is never found under Acetic
acid.
Ferrum has watery, painless, even involuntary diarrha ; or diarrha of undigested food ; but
is aggravated at or after a meal and by drinking cold water, while that of Acetic acid is not
affected by eating or drinking. It has profuse, debilitating, long-lasting sweat ; clammy, stains
yellow, strong smelling, fetid on going to sleep ; but it is aggravated by motion, may occur by
day as well as night and patient is always worse when sweating.
In the marasmus which occurs during the first summer of teething children, we have found
Acetic acid exceedingly useful.

There is loss of appetite, the child drinks much and often, pain in stomach and abdomen,
diarrha with stool of undigested food restless or sleepless nights and great emaciation, with
sometimes swollen dematous legs. To this picture add the characteristics of the remedy and an
apparently desperate case will be promptly restored. Hare a comparison with Arsenicum or
Iodine maybe necessary.
In myelitis, or cerebro-spinal meningitis, when the pain in the back is only relieved by lying
on the abdomen, this remedy should always be thought of.
Acetic acid causes and cures menorrhagia. In some parts of the west the servant girls are in
the habit of taking a tablespoonful of strong vinegar to check the menstrual flow, if the
unwelcome "visitors", should occur when "a party" or other festivity is to be attended. It will
promptly check the flow for a few hours or days, as the case may be, when a menorrhagia wilt
take place of the normal flow, or nature may find relief in a hmorrhage of the lungs, stomach or
bowels.
The gastric symptoms are often valuable ; violent burning pain in stomach ; cannot bear the
slightest pressure ; sensation as if an ulcer were in the stomach, or as if its contents were in a
constant ferment. This may be accompanied by sour eructations soar vomiting, profuse salivation
and water brash day and night and call for its use in morning sickness, gastric ulcer, etc., and
provided the three characteristics are present, prompt and permanent relief may follow.

Notes on Sepia.
By Henry Clay Allen
Presented by Sylvain Cazalet

This wonderful anti-psoric has a profound action on nearly

every tissue and organ of the body, and like most remedies of
its class its medicinal effect is long lasting-a single dose being
often sufficient for many weeks. It appears to first expend its
energy upon the brain and nervous system, thus deranging the
life forces, or as Hahnemann termed it the "vital force," and
thus producing organic change. The tendency is to produce
organic change of tissue as first seen in its effects on the skin,
in the well known discoloration's, "yellow-saddle," "moth
patches" as well as the characteristic herpetic eruptions ; hence
the ability to cure the deeper and more malignant diseases,
epithelial cancer has been reported by Dunham and others as
coming within its healing influence.
As "there is nothing new under the sun" Sepia is not by any
means a new remedy. For dysmenorrha and other
derangements of women Hippocrates placed a high value upon
it, and Galen likewise used it extensively, but in what form we are not told, for atonic conditions
of the gastro-intestinal canal. Notwithstanding all this it has not yet found an abiding place in the
Pharmacopia of our allopathic brethren, as neither "Murrili's Digest of Materia Medica and
Pharmacy" (1883), nor the "Sixth Decennial Revision of the U. S. Pharmacopia" makes any
mention of it whatever. The chief explanation of this rejection is probably due to the fact, that in
its crude form as drugs are usually compounded, it has been found to be practically worthless.
Like Alumina, Calcarea, Carbo veg., Lycopodium, Natrum mur. and Silicea, the dominant
school has not been able to obtain results from Sepia that would warrant its introduction into the
Materia Medica. In our school, for his very reason, many practitioners place little reliance upon
it, its action being deemed vague and uncertain. In this they are no doubt correct. Those of us
who accept Hahnemann's law and reject his dynamic theory and its practical results in our
treatment of the sick, are not very much in advance of our benighted half-brother of the other
school. As Sepia is so frequently used in alteration with Lachesis I want to point out some
objections to such practice based upon its pathogenesis.
Dr Henry Clay Allen
(1836-1909)

CHARACTERISTICS.
Sepia.
Adapted to women of dark hair and eyes, rigid muscular fibre, mild disposition, but are easily
offended and then are irritable and often vehement.
Inclined to abdominal adipose especially after child bearing.

Climacteric troubles especially when based on portal congestion.

Hot flushes, sudden accessions of heat followed by momentary sweat and disposition to
syncope.
Paralytic affections of pelvic and abdominal viscera.
Menses : never regular, too early, too profuse ; too late and too scanty.
Coldness on vertex.
Feet and ankles cold.
Yellow ; face, conjunctiva, chest ; yellow saddle on cheeks or across nose. Herpes on upper
parts of body, < at menstrual period.
Prolapsus ; intolerable bearing down as if contents of pelvis would extrude from body ;
relieved by sitting down or crossing limbs. Usually feet and ankles cold.
Pains extend from other parts to back ; are attended with shuddering not chilliness and are
relieved by motion or pressure.
Sensation of ball in inner parts ; during menses, pregnancy, lactation ; with constipation,
diarrha, hmorrhoids, leucorrha and uterine affections.
< at New moon, in snowy weather, during or before a thunderstorm.
< on awakening when aroused from sleep (deep), but relieved after sufficient sleep.
Hmorrhage : during climacteric, pregnancy especially 5th and seventh months, flow dark
and sluggish.
Lachesis.
Suitable for women with dark eyes and complexion, or red hair and freckled, inclined to low
spirits with indolent, choleric, melancholic temperament.
Thin, emaciated, changed mentally and physically by effects of disease.
Climacteric troubles when mental or nervous symptoms predominate.
Hot flushes, burning vertex headache, hmorrhoids, hmorrhages, especially after cessation
of menstrual flow.
Paretic symptoms of left side. Left sided apoplexy.

Menses : regular as clock work, punctual almost to the hour ; too short, too feeble, Pains
relieved by flow. Heat on vertex. Feet, especially soles, burning.
Bull, yellow, purplish or dark, from bloody serum. Carbuncle, malignant pustule, bed sores
with dark or black edges. Malignancy.
Prolapsus ; bearing down, labor like pains, as if every thing would issue from vulva. Uterine
region extremely sensitive to touch cannot bear clothes to touch her. Constitutional symptoms
are guiding.
Pains : neuralgic, tearing stitching, pulsating, burning, < after sleeping, and from, noon till
midnight.
Sensation as of worms crawling in heels, bladder, rectum ; of beating as with little hammers
in rectum, temples, vertex.
< in Spring, during extremes of heat or cold ; sun's rays.
< after sleep ; or the aggravation wakens him from sleep, or he sleeps into the aggravation. A
mental condition.
Hmorrhage during climacteric ; blood lumpy, black or acrid. Hmorrhagic diathesis ; small
wounds bleed much.
Sepia and Lachesis are incompatible and like most animal poisons should rarely follow each
other and never to be given together.
A careful individualization would certainly prevent such a catastrophe for the patient, as they
are rarely if ever indicated at such a time.
Each of these polychrest remedies has only obtained a foot, hold in the homopathic Materia
Medica after a severe prolonged and bitter contest against the doubts and unbelief's of members
of our school. But they have nevertheless come to stay.

HEADACHE.
Dr. Rockford reports the following case :
Mrs. L---., of nervo-sanguine temperament, had for several years a headache recurring every
Saturday. Thought it sometimes came from the noise of her children who were home from school
that day ; but so sure as Saturday came the headache returned the pain was of a boring character
from within outward, and was attended with nausea and vomiting. Binding the head up tightly
gave some relief and if she could get a good sleep would awaken much relieved. Sepia 200
cured.

Dr. H. C. Allen : I was called 20 December, 1884, at 3 A. M., to visit a lady suffering with a
congestive headache, and requested to bring my "hypodermic syringe or chloroform." As I have
no use for palliatives and do not use either, I did not take them. She is 46 years of age, of
medium size, dark complexion, black hair and eyes, and except an occasional headache, usually
enjoys good health. Menstruation regular, normal ; occurred two weeks ago. The present attack
was attributed to some mental excitement to which she had been subjected in the afternoon. The
pain began in the evening, and thinking to obtain relief she retired early, but from the violence of
attack was soon compelled to leave the bed and walk the floor to obtain relief. The pain was
pressing, throbbing, bursting ; as if the head was too full ; as if it would burst or force the globes
from the orbits. The head face and neck were red and hot, and the carotids throbbed violently.
The pain was terrible, and she declared she "would became insane if it continued another hour."
The only relief she could obtain was by pressing the sides of her head with both hands and
walking as rapidly as possible from and to end of a suite of three rooms. The character of the
pain, the intense congestion of head, face, eyes, and throbbing carotids, certainly pointed to
Belladonna, But the manner of obtaining relief from rapid motion, which was here the most
uncommon symptom, promptly excluded that remedy. Any remedy that would cure this case
must contain among its totality, this peculiar symptom, which is a characteristic of Sepia. A few
pellets of Sepia 200 were prepared in water and a teaspoonful ordered every ten minutes until
relieved. Before the time for the third dose had arrived, she had lain down on the lounge and was
asleep, and the next day was as well as usual. Would the "hypodermic" have done the work
quicker or better ? Should we not be thankful for a law of cure, and does it not pay to follow its
guiding star ?

EPITHELIAL CANCER.
Sepia produces swelling on lower lip with soreness, burning and a pricking, slivery sensation.
Guided by these and the constitutional symptoms, Dunham and others were led to the
employment of Sepia in the treatment of epithelial cancer of lower lip. Two cases cured by Sepia
200 are reported by Dunham as having come within his personal knowledge.

Dunham says, in his Materia Medica : An epithelial cancer

far developed had been excised. The wound healed kindly. After a
few months the patient began to emaciate, and to exhibit every
sign of cancer cachexia. Eminent surgeons diagnosed internal
cancer. The decline was alarmingly rapid. No hope of recovery
was entertained. The complex of symptoms indicated Sepia, which
was given 200 and effected a complete and rapid restoration of
health. The health remains good to this day (ten years).

NERVOUS SYSTEM.
Dr. Hesse reports the following case showing its profound
action on the nervous system :
Dr Carroll Dunham

Mrs. H---., a delicate brunette with pale face, con. suited the
Doctor on account of spasmodic shaking of the head The attacks begin suddenly, and with
fearful rapidity, the head is thrown to the right and left around its vertical axis. She is perfectly
conscious during the attack, without a participation of any other part of the body, lasts several
minutes and repeats itself several times during the day, especially after emotions, and she may
remain free from them for several days. After an attack she feels prostrated. From childhood on
she always was nervous irritable, and suffered from convulsions. The shaking of the head began
four years ago after a fright and it worse before or during menses, from emotions and even when
she meets persons disagreeable to her. Appetite fair, no thirst, diarrha and constipation
alternating. Nights restless, cannot lie on her back, throws herself about and awakens
unrefreshed. Much flatulence in the morning which she relieves by gymnastic exercises, better
towards evening. Heavy atmosphere and hot rooms disagreeable ; heaviness of head in foggy
weather and before a storm. She always feels restless, and cannot sit for a long while, she must
do something ; bites her nails, scratches her head or pulls out hair. Menses regular, scanty ;
during the interval moderate leucorrha. Hemicrania and lightning-like dizziness. Cannot wear
garters or rings, as her extremities feel swollen. After the failure of Ignatia for a week she
received :
July 2 : Sepia 30, one powder a week.
July 16 : After every powder, the next morning a severe paroxysm ; on the other days only
very slight ones ; feels encouraged.
Aug. 4 : No more paroxysms, though she menstruated.
Aug. 17 : A slight attack. She complains of poor sleep and morning malaise. One powder.
Sepia 200.
Oct. 12 : Sleeps better. During November a severe aggravation followed from anxiety and
continued nursing of her sick family ; but gradually she improved again under Sepia 1200, but ,

doubt if her predisposition to nervous affections can ever be entirely eradicated. We find under
Sepia :
"The head jerks and twitches forward six or seven times with full consciousness ; in the
morning, jerking of the head backward when rising."
This gave a valuable hint for its selection.

INTERMITTENT FEVER.
The paroxysm of the Sepia intermittent strongly resembles that of Arsenic in the mixed,
irregular character of its different stages. As a rule neither stage is prominent nor well-defined in
Sepia, but is a very picture of what is known as an undeveloped, partially suppressed or "spoiled
case," -or as Hahnemann calls them "cases of Cinchonism," -by the use of Quinine or some-other
anti-periodic. The symptoms are so mixed with drug effect as not to appear to call for any
particular remedy, the completion in this class of cases strongly resembles that of Sepia. It
presents a sallow, dirty, doughy, sickly appearance, and in all old cases of so-called "malarial"
poisoning we no doubt have portal stasis or congestion as the pathological basis. The abdominal
vessels in both these class of cases are engorged, and they often find their simillimum in Sepia.
In homopathic Practice, however, there is no such thing as "always will." There must be some
symptomatic indication in harmony with the condition presented by the patient, or the remedy
will not, cannot. In many of these cases a few doses of Sepia, high, will clear them up, effect a
return of the symptoms of the original, Paroxysm so that the curative remedy may be readily
selected, is class of cases, in the writer's experience, are more frequently met with in the South
than the North, but wherever found and correctly differentiated good results will be obtained.
Sulphur should not be over-looked here, if the symptoms correspond.

DISCUSSION.

Dr. Porter : I would like to ask Dr. Allen if he honestly thinks that
Sepia, or any other remedy in the Materia Medica will cure cancer ?
If we have any remedy or remedies capable of curing cancer or other
malignant affection very few members of the profession have yet
found it out. For one I have it yet to learn. I doubt the diagnosis, and
the cure.
Dr. Allen : I have found very few writers in our literature, or in any
literature, more reliable as accurate diagnosticians than Dr. Dunham.
He would certainly be considered as good authority as Dr. Porter or
myself. But Dunham tells us more emphatically that, "the complex
of symptoms" presented by the patient called for Sepia, and we all
know that he prescribed for the patient and not for the cancer. This
Dr E. H. Porter
is just where we so often make our most serious blunders. We
prescribe for our diagnosis, or the diagnosis of some one else, and we too often base our
prognosis on the treatment of the other school instead of on that of Hahnemann. If we would
follow our law of cure in its entirely as laid down by Hahnemann, we would see fewer cases of
disease with a malignant termination. The patient would be cured before he reaches the
malignant line.
Dr. Obetz : This reminds me of a case which came into my hands from the old school in the
early years of my practice, when I was fresh from college and the Materia Medica teaching of
Dr. Barnes. A married woman, Mrs. F---., t. 45, was passing the climacteric. Although she had
raised a family she had not been well about 17 years. There was much general emaciation ; she
was unable to sit up the latter half of the day. Had a firm, hard tumor in each breast for some
time, attended with sharp, lancinating pains. She presented a sallow, bleached appearance ;
yellow patches on the chest and the "yellow saddle" across the nose. The totality of the
symptoms were covered by Sepia and much to my surprise the 30 potency cured the case. It
presented every appearance of malignancy and had been pronounced malignant by other
physicians. And yet, because it was cured by Sepia 30, I never could think the tumors were
malignant. The authorities all say the true cancer is incurable by any internal medication.
Dr. Porter : I think there is just where we make our mistakes. We think it a case of cancer, but it
is not. Our diagnosis is faulty. It is a generally accepted fact that after tissue change has taken
place, after the breaking down has begun, there is no remedy that will cure a case of cancer.
Dr. Allen : Every disease, and especially those profoundly-affecting the entire system, has its
stages of advancement distinctly marked, and it is possible that in every case of cancer there is a
line of demarcation between malignancy and non-malignancy ; a line within which the tumor is
benign, and beyond which it is malignant. This probably is equally true to every fatal case of
sickness. In the cases of both Dr. Dunham and Dr. Obetz I have no doubt of the correctness of
the diagnosis but the homopathic remedy stayed the progress of the affection and prevented
what might have been a fatal termination. How it disheartens a physician to prescribe for what he
believes a fatal case, according to his prognosis. But if he would only close his eyes to his
pathology, diagnosis and prognosis and rely on the "totality of the symptoms" as laid down by
Hahnemann he would often be as agreeably disappointed as was Dr. Obetz.

Materia Medica Notes.

By Henry Clay Allen
Presented by Sylvain Cazalet

Benzoic Acid : Urine ; ammoniacal, strong-smelling,

excessively offensive, the odor penetrating the whole room.
This is a guiding symptom in enuresis nocturne, dysuria
senilis, irritable bladder, gravel, enlarged prostate, dribbling
urine ; Diarrha ; stool, copious, grey or white, like dirty soapsuds with excessively offensive, strong pungent odor, like the
urine, scenting the entire house. The name of the disease
matters little, if these characteristics be present the result will
usually be prompt and entirely satisfactory. We recently
obtained almost unexpected results in chronic tonsillitis of
right side, from a few doses of Benzoic Acid 200, the first time
we ever prescribed it in that affection. It must not be repeated
too often if we would obtain the best effect.
Dr Henry Clay Allen
(1836-1909)

Nitric Acid : Has dark, brown, turbid urine, like the

sediment of a cider barrel, and strong-smelling like horse's
urine, but it lacks the pungent, penetrating character of the odor

of Benzoic Acid.
Sepia : Has turbid, blood-red, dark brown, very offensive urine with a white or reddish-white
sediment which adheres so strongly to the vessel that it can be removed only with great
difficulty. The odor is atrocious and must be at once removed from the room.
Argentum Nitricum : Children with constant craving for sugar or candy ; irresistible desire
for sugar, but diarrha may be caused or aggravated by it.
Oxalic Acid : Sugar aggravates pains in stomach, but, unlike Argentum, rarely causes
diarrha. Dr. Deschere says, "Children so often get sick from eating candies it should be more
frequently thought of, and I know of no other remedy which will as certainly cure gastric
ailments aggravated from eating sweets."
We have used it for years, when, after eating candies, colic or cramp pains in the stomach
usually follow, and verify the observation of Dr. Deschere.
Ipecacuanha : Has craving for sweets, for dainties, and gastric ailments from indigestible
food-ice cream, raisins, cake, pastry, salads, fruits-but it is nearly always attended with more or
less constant nausea, and the nausea is referred to the stomach.
Kali-carb., Lycopodium, Mag-mur., Sulphur and other have desire for sweets, but the effect
produced by indulging in them is not so marked.

Spigelia : Cancer of Sigmoid : I was led to use Spigelia in a case of cancer of sigmoid
occurring in a stout plethoric lady with black hair, florid complexion and apparently in perfect
health. She suffered fortunately from a moderate diarrha, and the cancerous mass had so
contracted the caliber of the intestine that nothing approaching a normal passage of fecal matter
had occurred for months, and the terrible pains through the pelvis, shooting into the back, hips,
and down the limbs, were not even palliated by repeated doses of morphia which produced
distressing nausea and insomnia. Guided by the following symptoms-a recent proving by Dr.
Hoyne in January Advance- Spigelia 200 at once relieved the pains and diarrha and for ten
days she had a normal stool. The pains then began to return when Spigelia 1000 again relieved.
On their return the second time Spigelia 3000 afforded relief and for three weeks more she was
comfortable and free from pain. I have since used it in two cases of incurable disease with
intolerable pains in back, chest, pelvis, etc., with gratifying results.
Spigelia : Stomach and sophagus : Severe constricting pain in the sophagus, in two
places ; one stricture is one inch and one-half above the cardiac orifice, and the other about the
middle of the tube, at which point the pain is constant and severe, passing through to the back
just below the inferior angle of the right scapula, aggravated by every attempt to swallow either
liquid or solid substances, and by vomiting. Spasmodic constructions the entire length of the
sophagus, so severe that for days and nights, could neither rest nor sleep without the constant
use of ice.
Sharp, cutting pains streak across abdomen, low down, and extend into back and lower limbs.
Severe labor like pains, coming in paroxysms, gradually increasing and decreasing in
strength, preceded by the chili and aggravated by change of position, making face and feet cold,
hands remaining warm.
Pressure and pain in whole pelvic region, the pains shooting down the limbs. Burning heat in
vagina, with sense of fullness and pressure ; worse standing. Heat, pain and pressure in uterine
region ; a dislike to move.

Pyrogen - A clinical case.

By Henry Clay Allen
Presented by Sylvain Cazalet

In August, 1888, N. B---., a child of four years spent a

weeks with his grandmother in Detroit, in whose resident !
sewer pipes and plumbing were being repaired. September 1, a
few days after his return, he was attacked at 2 A. M. I was
called at 5 A. M. and found the following :
Vomiting and purging ; stools profuse and watery. Cold
extremities, cold ears and nose ; forehead bathed in Did
perspiration.
Tongue heavily coated, yellowish gray fur ; edges and tip
very red.
Great prostration. No pain or cramps.
Dr Henry Clay Allen
(1836-1909)

Veratrum, 1M. in water, a teaspoonful after every attack of

vomiting, which would average about 10 minutes.

Saw him again at 8 A. M. Could not take the medicine in water.

Vomiting and purging no better, though the stool was not profuse. The coldness and
prostration were marked and the ale face was bathed in cold sweat.
Great restlessness, mental and physical. Pulse 140, feeble and wiry ; temperature 99F.
Great thirst for small quantities, but the smallest quantity was instantly rejected by the
stomach.
Arsenicum., CM three powders, one every half hour, and ten S. L. until I saw him.
12.30. No improvement.
Nausea and vomiting persistent, and the stool though not so profuse as in early morning was
now horribly offensive-a carrion like odor.
Face pale and sunken, and bathed in cold perspiration.
The tongue was dark red, and devoid of the heavy coating of the early morning.
Intense thirst but water < both vomiting and purging. No pain.

Carbo-veg 1m. every 15 minutes for four doses, then S. L., 4 P. M. ; no improvement, patient
evidently sinking, impossible to count the pulse.
The symptoms being unchanged, except for the worse especially the odor of the stool, I gave
him Baptisia 200, in solution of alcohol and water, every half hour, but at 8 P. M. there was still
no re-action from the evidently downward course.
Thinking perhaps that sewer gas poison may have been a factor in the cause and the clean,
fiery red tongue persistent vomiting and purging and the horribly offensive color of the stool
with entire absence of pain, called my attention to the report of a case in the Homopathic
World, by Dr. Burnett, cured with Pyrogen. Pyrogen CM. Two doses dry on the tongue and S. L.
gave prompt and permanent relief.
April 24, 1890 : Elsie B---., age 14, could not go to school. Had complained for a week of
feeling tired, but in every other respect was well, she said. Her father on application of
thermometer found the temperature 102, pulse 108 and was alarmed. I found her tongue
abnormally red, with a very thin white fur at base, but no symptoms. As she had a slight epistaxis
in the morning and the genus epidemicus at the time being Bryonia, I gave her a dose of the 1m,
and left S. L. There was no further nasal hmorrhage and a conspicuous absence of symptoms ;
yet the pulse and temperature continued to rise each day reaching 120 and 104.5, respectively,
while the tongue was dark red and very dry, but without thirst. She took S. L. for a day waiting
for symptoms on which to hang a prescription. As they declined to appear and suspecting sewer
gas a cause Pyrogen, one dose, was given and she rapidly recovered. An examination revealed a
defective pipe in the basement.

DISCUSSION

Dr. Guernsey : Is a fiery, or dark red tongue an indication of

Pyrogen ?
Dr. H. C. Allen : Both ; first fiery, and then dark red and
intensely dry like a scarlatina tongue.
Dr. Campbell : Do you always associate such a tongue with
sewer gas ?
Dr. H. C. Allen : Not necessarily ; but sewer gas is one of the
things they are stirred up about in Chicago. The previous case
called my attention to it.
Dr. Thomson : Was the tongue denuded of its epithelium ?
Dr. H. C. Allen : No it was clean, smooth, dry ; first fiery and
then dark red, glossy shiny and easily moistened.

Dr H.N. Guernsey

Dr. Wesselhoeft : When there was a great deal of talk about sewer gas in out city, I had an old
privy vault obliterated and filled up. I said to one of the workmen : "Poor fellow, you must be
awfully sick, working all the time in sewer gas." "What are you thinking about." Said us "I am
never sick. I never know a healthier set of fellow than sewer workers are."
Dr. H. C. Allen : That bears out the investigation of science. It is the sewer gas that you cannot
smell that is dangerous. The offensive kind takes care of itself.

Tabacum : Some guiding symptoms.

By Henry Clay Allen
Presented by Sylvain Cazalet

Of American habitat. Tobacco belongs to the natural order

Solanacc, that vast genus which gives the deadly Belladonna.
Dulcamara. Hyoscyamus and Stramonium on the one hand,
and the esculent potato, egg-plant and the tomato on the other.
The mountain goat and the tobacco worm eat the green plant,
and the discovery of its narcotic properties by man has
certainly been of doubtful benefit-we might almost say a
calamity to the race. Although extensively proved in the crude,
in the form of tinctures, clusters, local applications, injections,
olfactions, chewing and smoking- the Encyclopdia, devoting
32 pages and giving 177 authorities as the basis of its
pathogenesis-yet there is no drug in the Materia Medica whose
careful proving with the alternations will reap a richer harvest
than Tabacum.
Dr Henry Clay Allen
(1836-1909)

From the indiscriminate use, misuse or abuse, this valuable

narcotic occupies a most anomalous position as a therapeutic
agent. So many medical men are users of it in some form that they are prone to overlook its
physiological effects as a disease-producing factor in the ailments of their patients, possibly for
the reason given by Cowper :
"That all men think all men mortal but themselves." As a natural result of this failure to
recognize the disease-producing cause, there are many failures to cure otherwise curable
affections, until a functional disturbance terminates in an organic lesion. For this reason we shall
first consider the following :
Antidotes : Narcotics generally palliate the symptoms they produce. This rule is so universal
that it might almost be considered a law. If the symptoms are palliated or promptly relieved by
smoking a cigar or chewing tobacco, it is proof positive that they are to be attributed to the drug.
The coffee or tea headache, neuralgia or nervousness are promptly relieved by a cup of coffee or
tea. And so of all the rest. In my practice I have for many years found the potentized drug to be
not only the best antidote for chronic tobacco poisoning, but very often one of the curative
remedies. Furthermore, as in cases where patients are suffering from drug effects of Opium, the
potentized remedy will act promptly either as the antidote or curative, even though the patient be
saturated with the crude drug. As tobacco affects no two persons in exactly the same manner, it
necessarily follows that there is no universal antidote for the constitutional effects of the drug,
the symptoms must be antidoted as met with in each individual case by the simillimum. Tabacum
200 (Dunham), 500 to 1000 (B. & T.) is the remedy I most frequently use with which to begin
the treatment of the chronic effects of tobacco ; and usually with the most happy results. But it
must not be repeated too frequently.

For the congestive headache from excessive smoking, Belladonna. Glonoine ; for the
occipital headache from excessive use, Gelsemium ; for constant nausea and obstinate vomiting.
Ipecacuanha or Lobelia ; for the bad effects of excessive chewing, Arsenicum ; for gastric
disturbances next morning after smoking, especially in beginners, Nux vomica ; for attacks of
violent palpitation, Lachesis, Phosphorus ; for toothache Clematis, Plantago ; for dyspepsia,
hepatic troubles, nervousness, neuralgia of right side of the head and face. Sepia, Tabacum, for
the periodic "bilious attacks" from moderate or excessive use of tobacco, Bryonia ; for impotence
from excessive smoking, Lycopodium, Staphysagria ; Caladium, Belladonna, Plantago, Quassia
and Tabacum 200 have, each in its place, relieved the terrible craving for it, producing in some
cases complete aversion for months and sometimes for life. But whatever the antidote be, the use
of the drug must be abandoned ere its effects can be permanently cured.

Nicotiana Tabacum, L.
Photo: Dr Michel Sret

Modalities : Aggravation. Paleness, coldness, deathly nausea and vomiting worse from least
bodily movement ; palpitation, angina pectoris, attacks worse at night ; all the symptoms and
especially the head ; by great heat, or a close, warm room ; skin symptoms, by heat of bed ;
palpitation, lying on left side.
Amelioration : Open air, all the symptoms and especially the head ; deep inspiration and
weeping, the terrible apprehension and thoracic oppression ; walking, the pain in back.
The symptoms occur paroxysmal, predominate on the left side, and like Pulsatilla and Kalibi., are constantly changing.

Mind : Confusion of ideas ; slow perception. Great difficulty in concentrating his mind for
any length of time on one subject. Cannot listen to a lecture, or fully comprehend what he hears.
Cannot study or read, or understand what is read. Despondent, gloomy, fearful, apprehensive of
sudden death yet attempting suicide, and with this fear, anxiety, apprehension there is combined
great cowardice or timidity about any business undertaking, no matter how frequently he has
transacted it before. Very forgetful. Cannot bear to be alone night or day on account of anxiety.
With each nervous, attack, a terrible apprehension of sudden death. "From a bold, healthy,
fearless man, he had become weak, nervous, irresolute, and as timid as a child." He is easily
startled or thrown into a nervous paroxysm by any ordinary noise or confusion. An intoxicated
feeling as from spirituous liquor is frequently complained of. Children often become idiotic.
Diseases which originate in cerebral irritation, followed by or attended with marked gastric
symptoms as a consequence, not cause, find their true remedy in Tabacum if the symptoms
correspond.
Dr. Guernsey says : "I have frequently prescribed it most successfully for those medical
students, who had worked hard and smoked much while at their studies, but finally could not
hear with comprehension nor study any longer." I have myself successfully prescribed it for
similar conditions in patients who were not medical students.
No drug in the Materia Medica corresponds more closely with the condition of so-called
nervous prostration or nervous exhaustion, brain fag, and loss of intellectual power among
literary, professional and business men than Tabacum. The following case, taken from the
Encyclopdia. Vol. IX, page 473, the result of excessive chewing, smoking and snuffing is not
infrequently met with in practice :
"from having been one of the most healthy and fearless of men, he had becomes sick all over
and as a timid as a girl" he could not even present a petition in Congress, much less say a word
concerning it, though he had long been a practicing lawyer, and had served much in a legislative
body. By any ordinary noise he was startled and thrown into tremulousness and afraid to be
atone at night. During the narrative of his sufferings, his aspect approached the haggard wildness
of distemperature.
That Tabacum blunts the intellectual faculties, producing mental dullness and a general stupid
indifference, is shown by many observers, and smoking does this quite as if not more, effectually
than chewing. That it produces mental derangement, amounting to irresponsibility and complete
insanity, has been denied by many writers, yet the unfortunate records of the asylums of
Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, with the isolated cases reported from time to time in our
periodical literature, appear to confirm the terrible fact. The despondency, gloom, anxiety,
apprehension and fear of sudden death are characteristic.
Head : While the symptoms of the mind are more characteristic of the chronic form of
poisoning, these of the head mark with greater clearness the primary action of the drug. Here,
too, we find the modalities running through the entire group and forming the "red strand" of the
rope. Desire for cold air, better in the open air, better out of doors, is a condition constantly met
with in affections of the head. (Arg. nit., Pulsatilla).

Vertigo, excessive, so great cannot rise up, with deathly pale face. Head is so heavy it can
hardly be held up. Headache with severe vertigo, worse indoors, better in open air. -Hahnemann.
Sick headache, beginning in early morning and gradually increasing, becomes intolerable by
noon ; greatly aggravated by light and noise, and attended with deathly nausea and terrible
vomiting. I have relieved, permanently, many cases of sick headache in ladies by antidoting
tobacco and prohibiting smoking in the house.
"always think of tobacco for total loss of consciousness, or coma, attended with extreme
pallor and cold sweat ; pulse small, weak, almost imperceptible."
"Persons attacked with weak, faint spells fall to the ground, nearly or quite unconscious,
break out with cold perspiration, and become deathly pale. They are picked up and resuscitated,
when sooner or later the same scene recurs." -Guernsey.
"Bilious headache :" the head feels heavy, stupid, dull ; constant vertigo on motion ;
confusion of mind so that mental labor is almost impossible ; great weakness, bad taste, loss of
appetite, constipation.
Eyes : The effect on the organ of vision is pronounced, and though occultists are not united in
the exact symptomatology of the affection, they agree that it produces various forms of defective
vision, chiefly of a functional character. Amblyopia and amaurosis are the two most common
variations from the normal standard. The eye is listless, heavy, loses its brilliancy, deeply sunken
in the orbit. The globes are injected, cornea vascular, dim and covered with mucus, must wipe it
frequently. Confused sight, double vision, widely dilated pupils, and quite insensible to light of
candle held close to the eye. Vision dim, indistinct, almost amounting to blindness. Dr.
Hutchinson's numerous examinations (London Hospital reports 64) reveal the following
conditions common to all cases. "White or gray atrophy of the optic nerve, commencing at the
outer part of disk, usually with a sharply-defined margin, and with diminishing size of retinal
vessels, in a few cases neuritis, with indistinct outline of disk. In some cases the centre of disk
was found depressed and atrophied. The left eye was first and most affected in nearly every case.
Vision failed suddenly in a few, rapidly in many, while in others the course was fitful. Some had
flashes of light, others fog, but the majority had simply indistinct vision. As the atrophy
advanced, the pupils dilated and became insensible to light."
De Weeker says, tobacco and alcohol combined cause amblyopia, but he is not convinced that
the evidence is clear on tobacco alone. Yet a tobacco amblyopia is recognized in all modern text
books on the eye.
The symptoms and evidence of its effect on vision might be indefinitely extended. My object
is to direct the attention of the general practitioner to the fact that in all cases of defective vision
in tobacco-users he should carefully scrutinize the case and compare the symptoms with the
pathogenesis of the drug. If satisfied of the possibility of the cause, try the antidotal action of the
potentized drug before relinquishing the case as hopeless or turning him over to the allopathic
oculist. Tabacum 200 will sometimes clear up the eye like magic.

Ears : Red and burning hot. Sensation as it something closed the ears. Nervous deafness.
Sensitive to slightest noise. Neuralgic earache. Roaring, rushing, hissing, ringing in the ears, all
cleared up by going into cold air. (Compare Quinine). Also very often cleared up rapidly by
smoking a strong cigar in those accustomed to the use of the weed.
Nose : Epistaxis in smokers. Catarrh. Coryza. Continued paroxysms of sneezing for weeks,
with a crawling sensation in nares (sensation of squirming in nostril as of a small worm, in hay
fever, Natrum mur.). It is simply impossible to cure the catarrhal affections of tobacco-users
without antidoting the drug or securing its discontinuance. I have found Tabacum very effective
in some cases of hay fever. I have relieved some severe cases of epistaxis in business men of
sedentary habits by the use of the indicated remedy-very often Tabacum 200. When the attacks
occur early in the morning, from 3 to 6 o'clock, hmorrhage profuse, bright red, accompanied by
vertigo and fainting, Tabacum is followed well by Nux vomica or Bryonia. The olfactory
function is often seriously impaired and sometimes entirety lost.
Face : The Tabacum face is always characteristic. It is pale, deathly pale ; often cold,
collapsed and covered with cold sweat. (Compare Ver. alb.). The features are pinched, drawn,
distorted ; eyes deeply sunken and surrounded by blue rings, and terrible tearing neuralgic pains
in bones of face and teeth.
Mouth : The lips become dry, sensitive, cracked or swollen, and often pale and bloodless.
According to Leroy d'Etiolles, cancer of the lip is found in twenty-seven out of a hundred
tobacco smokers in men, and one and a half in a hundred among women.
The saliva is increased and the taste perverted, in the morning the tobacco user complains of a
bad taste, or it may be flat, slimy, bitter, like rancid oil. He is sure he is "bilious", and this
condition is often a precursor of "a bilious attack," the direct of the drug.
For these symptoms of the lips and mouth and the "bilious attacks" of tobacco users I have
found Bryonia the most frequently indicated and effective remedy I have ever used. Dr.
Guernsey says :
"I have cured many of these cases with Bryonia, which I know is a great antidote of some
forms of tobacco poisoning."

Dunham says :
"For the bilious attacks so common in persons who have for
many years have accustomed to take frequent doses of
Calomel or blue mas for headache and biliousness. Bryonia is,
in the majority of cases, the remedy. If early resorted to, it will
break up the attack ; and a repetition rarely fails to destroy a
tendency to its recurrence."
It is for this "bilious condition," the result of direct drug
action, of tobacco proving or tobacco poisoning, that Bryonia
is so effective when it corresponds to the case.
The mouth is often full of tenacious, viscid mucus, which
sometimes extends to the throat ; it is difficult to detach, yet
must be frequently expectorated, and causes a constant
hawking. The pharynx is dry as if burnt, and there is a
sensation of rawness and constant scraping.

Dr Carroll Dunham

Teeth become stained and dirty ; violent drawing, rending, jumping toothache, which
becomes intolerable. Caries of the teeth. For this tobacco odontalgia, Clematis or Plantago have
done the best work for me. The latter is characterized by the most intense nervous restlessness,
which has served to distinguish them.
Stomach : Appetite may be greatly increased with constant, craving hunger and nausea if the
hunger be not satisfied ; or, what is still more frequently found, diminished appetite with disgust
for food. Eructations of food in mouthfuls ; hot, sour or bitter fluids ; loud, noisy incessant
belchings. There is a sensation of coldness of stomach like Calcarea., Camphor., Colchicum : a
weakness, faintness, sinking and relaxation at pit of stomach.
Nausea and vomiting as soon as he begins to move ; vomiting of pregnancy in morning on
first waking ; seasickness, deathly paleness, coldness, worse from least movement, better on
deck in open air. The gastric symptoms usually are promptly relieved by smoking or chewing but
patient "knows it is not caused by tobacco because a cigar affords such prompt relief."
Abdomen : Severe colic pains in paroxysms ; loud and constant rumbling of flatulence ;
tympanitic distension. Pains are aggravated by eating, yet he is so hungry he must eat. Painful
contraction of abdominal muscles in paroxysms ; retraction of navel.
Stool : Alternate constipation and diarrha. (Nux., Op., Verat.). Morning diarrha, sudden
and painless, watery, (Aloe. Sulph.) papescent, green or yellowish-green slimy stool, sometimes
with tenderness and tenesmus and often with large quantities of flatus. (Aloe). Cholera morbus ;
characteristic stool and vomiting ; body and extremities cold and bathed in cold sweat ; abdomen
hot, cannot bear any clothing on abdomen ; fainting, sinking, collapse (Secale).

The cholera morbus attacks of tobacco are as liable to occur in winter as summer, and appear
to be an aggravated form of the periodical "bilious attacks." Tabacum 200 usually affords prompt
relief when Veratrum and other remedies fail. Obstinate constipation ; stool in hard round balls
and evacuated with great difficulty (Opium and Plumbum). Opium 200 often cures the tobacco
constipation.
Urine : Profuse, watery or high colored and scanty. Renal colic ; terrible pains along course
of right ureter (Lyc. -of left side, Berb., Kali-c.) ; with deathly nausea, pale face, fainting, cold
sweats and great exhaustion. I have found Berberis or Tabacum the remedy for this nephritic
colic. If a tobacco user, I first give Tabacum.
Heart : (Pulse, etc.) : Its action in the cardiac region is very pronounced. On the central organ
of the circulation and on the muscular coat of the large arteries the chief force of the drug seems
to be expended. Here it destroys the elasticity of the muscular walls and as a consequence
renders them liable to aneurismal distention. Many of the cases of sudden death in tobacco users
occur from heart collapse or rupture of an aneurism. The irritable heart is often subject to attacks
of violent palpitation, suffocation, faintness at night when lying on left side ; is relieved by
turning to right.
Angina pectoris ; sudden precordial anguish ; attack usually at night ; legs tremble, cannot
walk with angina pectoris. Pulse : may be full and quick ; small, weak and irregular, intermittent,
soft, feeble and extremely slow.
Dr. Troitski contributes the following conclusions to the Annales d'Hygine :
In non-smokers of average constitutions, the mean temperature of the twenty-four hours
amounts to 36.76C. (or about 98F.), and the pulse rate 72.9. In smokers the temperature
reaches 37.02C (98.6F), and the pulse rate 89.9. Tobacco-smoking, therefore, raises the
temperature .26C and the pulse-rate 16. In persons of feeble .26C and the pulse-rate 16. In
persons of feeble constitutions the temperature rises .43C, and the pulse-rate 11.9 Taking a
mean, tobacco may be said to raise the temperature .29C (nearly 1F.), and to increase the
cardiac pulsations by 12.7. Representing the normal temperature at 1000 in non-smokers, it rises
to 1008 ; and, whereas the pulse of the former may be taken at 1000, that of the smoker is 1180.
It is by increasing cardiac pulsations that tobacco has such an injurious effect on some
constitutions.
Tabacum is most frequently indicated in commencing the treatment of these heart troubles, is
followed well by Digitalis, Gelsemium, Arsenicum or Convallaria. but these cases can never be
permanently cured until the cause be removed.
Skin : Eczematous and herpetic eruptions on various parts of the body, especially on the
extremities, groin or perineum. The eruption is greatly aggravated by warmth of bed, is
compelled to throw off the clothes because the heat of bed becomes intolerable (like Mercury,
Secale-reverse of Arsenic). Herpes and eczema are often produced by excessive use of tobacco. I
have relieved some terrible cases by detecting and stopping the cause.

Dr. H. N. Guernsey relates the following cases :

About ten years ago a gentleman from Washington
called on me. He was utterly unfit for business ; thin,
weak, had no appetite ; slept badly, had no confidence in
his abilities, and could find no one to help him. He had
been a great smoker of tobacco, but now smoked very
little ; did not care for it much. A few doses of Tabacum
made a new man of him in every way in a very short time.
For over nine years past he has enjoyed perfect health, and
is conducting an immense business.
Recently an aged gentleman called on me to obtain
relief from an intolerable itching in his legs. He had been
for years a great tobacco chewier. This rash has troubled
him much at night for years ; the only relief obtained is to
lie with his feet and legs uncovered. The cold air stops the
Dr H.N. Guernsey
itching. Tabacum 200 quite cured him for a long time, but
he would not stop chewing, and the red, itching rash has returned.

The dynamic element of the remedy.

By Henry Clay Allen
Presented by Sylvain Cazalet

If apologies were useful or helpful I should apologize in

advance for an attempt to throw any light on the long debated
question. Potency. But the acceptance of similia as a natural
law in therapeutics has had a slow growth. Is it any wonder
then that the dynamics of the remedy should still be an
unsolved problem ?
Hippocrates, Von Haller, Anderson of Edinburgh and others
had glimpses of the law of Similars before the time of
Hahnemann. Others saw the star of similia on the Eastern
horizon, but to Hahnemann was left the Herculean task of its
practical development.
Franklin first proved that electricity could be brought to the
earth by means of a good conductor, but it was left to Morse to
Dr Henry Clay Allen
(1836-1909)
apply it in the telegraph and to Edison to utilize it in the
telephone and the mechanical arts. He occupies the same
position in the scientific application of electricity that Von Haller and others do to the Law of
Similars.
In 1771, forty years before Hahnemann published the first edition of the Organon, Von Haller
wrote, in the Swiss Pharmacopia :
"In the first place the remedy is to be tried on the healthy
body, without any foreign substances mixed with it. A small
dose is to be taken and attention is to be directed to every
effect produced by it ; e. g. on the pulse or temperature, the
respiration and secretions. Having obtained these obvious
phenomena in health, you may then pass on to experiment
on the body in the state of disease."
But Hahnemann is very careful to give full credit to Von
Haller, for he adds in a foot-note :
"No single physician, as far as I know, during the
previous 2500 years thought of this so natural, so absolutely
necessary and only genuine mode of tasting medicines for
their pure and peculiar effects in altering the health of men,
except the great and immortal Albrecht Von Haller. He
alone, besides myself, saw the necessity of this."

Dr Albrecht von Haller

As Franklin's experiments with the kite proved a hint to other workers in electricity in the
mechanic arts, this statement of Von Haller may have been a hint to Hahnemann, for he adds the
following pregnant words :
"But no one, not a single physician attended to or followed up this invaluable hint."
It was left to Hahnemann to not only announce a new system in therapeutics based on a
natural law, but to begin drug provings on the healthy and thus build a new Materia Medica. To
this indefatigable worker and accurate observer it was left to make drug provings the chief
business of a life, and to this we are indebted for practical Homopathy.
Every member of this association believes more or less firmly in the Law of Similars, and, in
a more or less scientific and accurate method, attempts to apply its wonderful possibilities in the
cure of the sick. These various methods of application, more or less correct, depend upon our
knowledge of the law, of the Materia Medica and of the philosophy of its application in
therapeutics. But, while we have-thanks to Hahnemann's labors -a practical law in therapeutics,
up to date there has been no law discovered or formulated for the dynamic strength of the dose,
the dynamic of the remedy.
Thus far, this question had remained an individual one for each member to solve according to
his knowledge, and this very largely has been based upon clinical experience. Has the time not
arrived when every energy of the profession should be directed to the perfecting of our own
science ? Why not endeavor to find some rule approaching a law in practice on this question of
dose, often so vital to the best interests of the patient ? We have here a vulnerable point in our
armor ; let us attempt to mend it. Why not improve our system of practice instead of running
after the "false gods" of empirical therapeutics ? Hahnemann demonstrated that we have a
natural law in therapeutics as unfailing and universal as the law of gravitation or chemical
affinity. I appeal to members to strive to find, and to recognize when we do find a rule of action
or a law of application for the dynamic strength of the remedy.
Among the first paragraphs of the Organon Hahnemann lays down the broad dividing line
between the homopathic system of therapeutics and all others, in his recognition of the
dynamic, spirit-like vitality or life force of the organism. He tells us that it is in this life power,
this invisible principle we are to look for the disturbing agent in sickness. It is dynamic, not
material.
In 9 he says :
"In the healthy condition of man, the vital force or dynamic that animates the material body,
rules with unbounded sway, and retains all the parts or the organism in harmonious operation ; in
other words health."
Again in 10 he says :

"A body without the vital force is capable of no sensation, no function, no self-preservation, it
derives all sensations and performs all the functions of life solely by means of the immaterial
being, which when removed leaves us the cadaver."
In 11 he says :
"When a person falls ill it is only this spiritual, dynamic force every-where present that is
primarily deranged by the dynamic influence upon it of a morbid agent inimical to life."
In 12 he affirms :
"It is the morbidly affected vital force alone that produces diseases ; the morbid phenomena
which we perceive express at the same time all the internal changes the whole morbid
derangement of the internal dynamic ; in a world, the whole disease ; and the removal of these
alternations in health, these derangement's, which we call symptoms, restores health to the whole
organism.
It is this power or organic force when healthy that protect us against all diseases : la grippe,
pneumonia, diphtheria, scarlatina, small pox, coughs, colds, consumption, etc. The susceptibility
to elements to disease producing agents-depends upon a lowered vitality, or weakened dynamic
or life force, and it is the first and-highest duty of the physician to employ such means as will
increase the strength of this.
This is a simple common-sense system of maintaining health, dynamic resisting power and
restoring health, and is advocated by physicians of all schools.
This places the system of Hahnemann upon a different basis from that of all others. The
homopath is dealing with the dynamic effects of deranged vitality which we call disease.
Physicians of all other schools of practice may be dealing with the same, but they attempt to
control dynamic derangement by mechanical or material means. The system of Hahnemann is
based upon dynamics both as to cause and cure. All other systems of medicine are based upon
mechanics in their attempt to afford relief.
Faith has no place in science. Confidence is a plant of slow growth, and is the result of
experimental knowledge, laboratory, pathogenetic and clinical. The homopath should know,
not simply believe.
Our colleagues of other schools have confidence in their laboratory experiments, but none
whatever in therapeutics ; largely for the reason given above, that they attempt to treat dynamic
derangements by crude drugs or mechanical methods, and the nearer we approach their methods
in practice the nearer will our results approximate theirs. The more advanced allopaths are using
the simple remedy our liberal homopaths are using the combination tablets. Is union of the
schools imminent ?

Every homopath need not be told that Belladonna never can cure a Nux vomica case ; the
symptom picture are so totally different. There is no such thing in our practice as substitution.
And we believe the same thing is true in regard to the
dynamic strength of our remedial agents.
Dr. S. A. Jones, in "The Grounds of a Homopaths
Faith" says :
"If I were asked to state what chiefly distinguished the
homopathic physician from his older brother in the science
and art of medicine, I should at once reply : "not the law of
cure, not the infinitesimal dose, not the Hahnemannian
hypothesis of chronic diseases, none of these ; but simply
this, his fixed faith in the efficiency of drugs."
This fixed faith, this confidence, depends upon
knowledge ; knowledge of the correctness of the
pathogenesis of our remedies, a knowledge gained in the
cure of the sick from their accurate use under the law.
The dynamic must be individualized as well as the
remedy. The 1st, 3rd, 6th or 12th potency can only cure,
Dr Samuel Arthur Jones
quickly and, safely, a similar dynamic in the patient, and
vice-versa, the 200 or 1,000 may cure or fail to cure on account of its want of dynamic similarity.
Now in Sec. 16 Hahnemann gives us the nearest approach to a working law of dose that has
yet appeared in our school.
He says :
Our vital force, as a spirit-like dynamic, cannot be attached and affected by injurious
influences on the healthy organism caused by the external, inimical forces that disturb the
harmonious play of life, otherwise than in a dynamic way, and in like manner in all such morbid
derangements cannot be removed from it by the physician in any other way than by the dynamic
curative powers of medicines.
Perhaps by reading between the lines we may observe the true meaning of Hahnemann, where
he says that our rule of action for the selection of the dynamic strength of the remedy must be the
dynamic strength of the patient. The crude drug has a dynamic force and has cured many cases to
which it is similar in symptoms and similar to the dynamic strength of the patient, but it is not the
fault of the drug if it fails to cure, only that it is not in dynamic harmony. This harmony of
dynamic strength runs through every line and every gamut in the natural scale of life.
We say one man is strong and vigorous, or is possessed of a phenomenal vitality of mind or
body that enables him or her to undertake or accomplish what seems almost impossible, some
super human task, perhaps ; while on the other hand we say the man or woman may be weak

both mentally and physically- We recognize this vital or dynamic difference in the examination
of patients, in the anamnesis, but how often do we overlook it entirely in the adaptation of the
dynamic strength of the remedy to what we assume to be the dynamic strength of the patient.
There are different planes of dynamic strength and a susceptibility in the healthy, and these same
planes become far more pronounced and more puzzling factor in the sick.
Some men or women, endowed with the accurate observation of Hahnemann or the inventive
genius of the American mind, will yet discover the secret of the dynamics of the dose, and
perhaps out of the discovery formulate a law. It is apparently not more difficult to solve than the
method accidentally discovered by Hahnemann of potentising a remedy, of obtaining the
dynamic power from a drug which is practically inert in its crude form. Hipp's Chromoscope, by
which the dynamic difference between the 3rd, 6th, 12th or stronger powers could be readily
distinguished in a healthy sensitive person, may, in future, in some way, be adapted to the needs
of the sick.
What great advance has been made in our science of therapeutics either in accuracy or ready
selection of the remedy since the death of the Master in 1843 ? What vital progress in the
philosophy, the science or the art has been added since the last edition of the Organon ? Neither
the science nor the art can be perfected along the empirical line of Allopathy, for that is outside
the realm of law. As members of the profession we are daily adding our mite to improvements in
surgery, gynecology, in fact every department of medicine, except therapeutics. It is true we-are
continually adding new remedies and verifying old ones, but not an advance has been made in
the question of dose.
H. C. Allen, M. D.,

THE BACILLARY EMULSION.

(pulverized bacilli in glycerin and water)
Hallock (Hahn. Monthly, February, 1912) has found that "the bacillary emulsion" in dilutions
produces the best results in patients who are without fever, and whose general condition is good.
A temperature up to 99 or 100 degrees Fahrenheit (about 38 degrees Centigrade) is not a contraindication ; but if the temperature is higher, we must expect no effect from the tuberculin until
the acute symptoms have disappeared.

BACILLINUM OF COMPTON BURNETT.

Dr James Comptom Burnett

(1840-1901)

The idea of prescribing for phthisical patients the sputum of

anyone suffering from the same disease is old.
In 1638, Robert Fludd, a professor of anatomy, advised, in a
treatise, the following : Sputum rejectum a pulmonico post
debitam prparationem curat phthisin (Sputum rejected from the
lungs, after its proper preparation, cures phthisis).
Martino, a Portuguese homopathic physician, who resided in
Rio, and died in 1854, favored tubercina before Compton Burnett.
In 1874, Swan, a New York homopath, triturated, with sugar of
milk, the sputum of a tuberculous patient, and called this
substance Tuberculinum.
Some years later Burnett (a homopathic physician of London)
prepared his Bacillinum, by triturating in alcohol a portion of lung
taken from a typical tuberculous patient in a manner so as to
include the walls of a tuberculous cavity with their adjacent
tissues, in a word, the bacilli, debris, ptomaines and tubercles of

all kinds.
In his book, "The new cure of consumption by its own virus," 2nd edition, 1892, Burnett made
the following recommendations :
1st. The virus must be administered by mouth, in what the homopaths call high potencies.
The lower dilutions are inadmissible.
"I have never used it below the thirtieth centesimal strength," says the author, "and when I fear
starting up constitutional troubles, I never go below the 100th centesimal dilution."
2nd. The doses must not be administered too frequently ; one dose each six or ten days is my
rule in practice.
3rd. In a certain stage of consumption the virus no longer benefits the case, but I have not been
able to determine the exact period at which it ceases to act curatively.
It is neither the chronicity nor the length of continuance of the phthisis, but its degree of intensity
which determines our point.
According to Rovirata (Hom. practica of Barcelona, May, 1912) Bacillinum acts best in acute
cases : its chronic equivalent is Psorinum.
The characteristic of Bacillinum is its rapid action.
If it does not act at once, there is little to be expected from it.

As a rule, it is efficacious in simple, in non-complicated and in not too advanced cases of

pulmonary phthisis.
In the tuberculous process there are numerous complications that require special treatment, as
alcoholism, syphilis, malaria, anmia, dyspepsia, and vaccinosis.
An important consideration in the administration of Bacillinum is to employ it in infrequent
doses.
Mookerjee thinks that Bacillinum has been curative in many cases of doubtful nature ; that
sometimes it benefits the condition of the lungs, solely by relieving the congestion of these
organs and thus facilitating the action of other remedies.
Bacillinum 30th does not cure advanced phthisis, but one or two doses a week notably relieve the
most alarming and the most painful symptoms, as the cough, night sweats and fever (Hom.
Envoy).
A detailed study of Bacillinum may be found on page 155, in the homeotherapy of the
tuberculins.

BACILLINUM TESTIUM.
Description :
A nosode prepared from tuberculous testicle.
Clinical :
Inguinal glands, disease of.
Mesenteric glands, disease of.
Phthisis.
Testicles, tubercle of.
Characteristics :
This preparation has been used by Burnett as having a more direct relation to the lower half of
the body than the pulmonary Bacillinum. My own experience confirms the correctness of this
inference ; but it must not be supposed that Bac. test. does not act in pulmonary cases, or Vice
versa.

CARCINOSINUM.
Description :
Carcinomin.
The nosode of Carcinoma.
Clinical :
Cancer.
Melancholia.
Worms.

Characteristics :
This is one of the principal nosodes of cancer, and is one of Dr. Burnett's preparations. I use it
more frequently than any other as a diathesic remedy. Burnett had a number of different cancer
preparations, and followed his instinct largely in their use and selection. In addition to
Scirrhinum, of which I have given an account in the Dictionary, he had a preparation which he
named Durum (a Latinised form of Scirrhinum, as I take it). This he used in treating depraved
inherited conditions in children, such as infantile self-abuse, with good effects, which I have
confirmed. I have met with a suicidal tendency in several cancer patients, so that the cancer
nosodes may be appropriate in many mental cases, especially where the heredity points that way.
Relations :
Compare : Compare Scirrhinum.
Epihysterinum
Description :
Epiphysterin.
A nosode.
Clinical :
Fibroma.
Menorrhagia.
Metrorrhagia.
Characteristics :
This is one of Dr. Burnett's nosodes, used by him in cases of hmorrhage and obtained, as I
conclude, from a case of hmorrhage in a patient suffering from fibrous tumour, possibly with
malignant elements. At any rate, I have found it of great value in controlling uterine
hmorrhage, whether connected with fibrous growth or not. I have used it in the 30th upwards,
giving one or two doses weekly.
Relations :
Compare : The cancer nosodes : in fibrous tumours and uterine hmorrhages. Thlaspi b. p.,
Fraxin., Hydrastis and its alkaloids.

COQUELUCHINUM.
Description :
Pertussin. The nosode of Whooping-cough.
Clinical :
Cough, paroxysmal.
Whooping-cough.

Characteristics :
In all cases of whooping-cough suspected or defined I give the remedy in the 30th attenuation
every four hours as a matter of routine, and as a rule it quickly assumes control of the case and
does all that is necessary. In my experience it agrees well with all other whooping-cough
remedies, and when their specific indications appear I give them also in alternation, or else alone.
Relations :
Compare : Bell., Cocc. c., Coral. r., Dros., etc.
Eyes :
Coryza with hacking cough.
Face :
Intense flushing with cough.
Mouth :
Itching of the palate on lying down at night.
Throat :
Intense tickling in throat causing cough.
Stomach :
Vomiting or nausea at end of cough.
Respiratory Organs :
Dyspna with cough.
Sobbing or sighing at end of cough.
Strangling sensation with cough on waking.
Cough provoked by intense tickling in throat - fauces or trachea.
Hacking cough ; with coryza.
Deep-sounding croupy cough.
Spasmodic choking cough.
Spasmodic cough with intense flushing of face.
Cough in frequently repeated paroxysms.
Chest :
Stinging pain in or on the chest with cough.

ERGOTINUM.
Description :
Ergotin. The alkaloid of Secale cornutum, Ergot of rye. Trituration.

Clinical :
Anal incontinence.
Gangrene.
Hmorrhages.
Heart, paralysis of.
Sphincters, paralysis of.
Characteristics :
Ergotin is best known by its physiological use as a hmostatic in uterine and pulmonary
hmorrhages. It acts by causing contraction of the arterioles, and its effect is produced most
promptly when it is administered by subcutaneous injection. Its homopathic uses are in the
main identical with those of Secale, but Ergotin will sometimes succeed when Secale fails.
Secale, like Phosph., has "wide-open anus" in its symptomatology.

HIPPOZNINUM.
Description :
Mallein, Glanderin, Farcin. The nosode of glanders of farcy. (The disease is called "Glanders"
when the catarrhal symptoms are pronounced : "Farcy," when these are not noticeable, the skin
being chiefly affected, with deposits in the lungs. Homopathic preparations of both have been
made. Those made from Farcy are distinguished by the letter "F.") Triturations of sugar of milk
saturated with the virus.
Clinical :
Abscesses.
Bed-sores.
Boils.
Bronchitis.
Cancer.
Carbuncles.
Caries.
Catarrh, chronic.
Colds chronic.
Diphtheria.
Elephantiasis.
Erysipelas.
Glanders.
Glands, inflamed.
Hip-disease.
Liver, enlarged.
Lupus excedens.
Nasal cartilages, ulceration of.
dema.
Ozna.

Parotitis.
Phlegmasia alba dolens.
Phlegmon.
Plague.
Pustules.
Putrid fever.
Pymia.
Scrofula.
Small-pox, confluent.
Syphilis.
Tuberculosis.
Ulcers.
Whooping- cough.
Characteristics :
Of recent years Mallein, a toxin prepared from glanders, has taken an important place in
veterinary practice of the old school as a test injection for deciding whether a horse suspected of
glanders actually has the disease or not. If the horse reacts it is concluded there is glanders. In a
number of cases in which animals have reacted to the first injections, a repetition of the "test" has
failed to elicit reaction, thus proving that Mallein is curative as well as diagnostic (H. W., xxxv.
149). The nosode has been used by homopaths, at the suggestion of Garth Wilkinson, on the
phenomena of the disease as guides, and in a large number of cases involving low forms of
suppuration and catarrh, malignant ulcerations and swellings, abscesses and enlarged glands ;
and also in conditions similar in kind, but less in severity. I have used it with excellent effect in
cases of inveterate nasal catarrh and of glandular enlargement. The nasal affection may go on to
Ozna, ulceration of nasal cartilages and bones.
Glanders in the horse affects the lungs no less than the upper respiratory tract, causing coughs
and disseminated ulcerations and deposits throughout the lungs.
It has cured papules and ulcerations in frontal sinuses, pharynx, larynx, and tracha ;
hoarseness ; old cases of bronchitis, especially in old persons where suffocation from excessive
secretion seemed imminent. Bronchial asthma. Whooping-cough. A cough commencing at
Christmas and lasting till June has been cured by it.
Relations :
Compare : Bacillin., Avi., Luet., Variol.
The Serpent poisons, Aurum, Cadm. s., Kali b., Hepar, Psorin.
Head :
Fainting turns with headache.
Inflammation of membranes of brain.
Purulent collections between bones of skull and dura mater.
Scattered abscesses in brain substance.
Tubercles may appear in periosteum of skull, in dura mater in plexus choroides.
A diffused myelitis malleosa, attributable to infiltration.
Bones of skull and face (frontal most) necrosed.
Hair loses its glisten.

Eyes :
Eyes full of tears or slime.
Pupils dilated, with collapse.
Papules on choroid coat of eye.
Ears :
Tinkling sounds in ears.
Hoarse and deaf before fatal termination.
Inflammation of parotid gland.
Nose :
Swelling and redness of nose and adjacent parts, with severe pain.
Catarrh : nose inflamed with thick and tinged defluxion ; tonsils swollen, fauces gorged.
Obstinate catarrh.
Discharge : often one-sided, albuminous, tough, viscous, discolored, gray, greenish, even bloody
and offensive ; acrid, corroding.
Chronic ozna.
Nose and mouth ulcerated.
Cartilages of nose become exposed and necrosed, septum, vomer, and palate bone disorganized.
Caries of nasal bones.
Checks the liability to catarrhal affection.
Face :
Maxillary gland swollen, like a distinct ball of sausage, firmly attached to the maxilla, uneven,
rugged, tuberculated, mostly painless, burning only at times.
Submaxillary and sublingual glands swollen and painful at times ; abscesses are formed which
open externally.
Teeth and Gums :
Gums show a tendency to bleed.
Gums covered with a black, sooty deposit.
Mouth :
Act of speaking difficult.
Tongue dry, thickly covered with a black, sooty deposit.
Ulcers appear in mouth.
Buccal passages filled with tenacious lymph and mucus.
Odour of breath putrid.
Scrofulous swelling of left parotid gland in a child.
Throat :
Ulcerations upon velum of palate.
Swollen tonsils closing posterior channels.
Upon mucous membrane of pharynx ecchymoses, redness, swelling, eruptions, and foul ulcers.

Appetite and Stomach :

Thirst excessive, esp. with diarrha.
Gastro-intestinal catarrh ; loss of appetite, indigestion, constipation ; in later stage, Diarrha.
Abdomen :
Liver greatly enlarged, often showing signs of fatty degeneration.
Hepatitis with gangrenous and ulcerative inflammation of gall-ducts.
Spleen enlarged, filled with blood ; softened and liquefied, of a greyish or dark colour ; wedgeshaped abscess in spleen.
Inguinal glands swollen.
Stools :
Colliquative diarrha with a general cachexia and exhaustion precede the fatal termination.
Constipation.
Urinary Organs :
Tubercles and abscesses in kidneys.
Albumen in urine, also leucine and tyrosine.
Male Sexual Organs :
Tubercles and abscesses ; of glans penis ; of testicles ; in kidneys.
Female Sexual Organs :
Slimy discharge from vagina.
Uterine phlebitis.
Abortion.
Respiratory Organs :
Papules and ulcerations in frontal sinuses, pharynx - Larynx, and trachea.
Hoarseness from the altered condition of larynx.
Bronchitis : in the worst forms ; esp. in elderly persons ; where suffocation from excessive
secretion is imminent.
Noisy breathing ; loud snoring respiration before fatal termination ; breath fetid.
Cough and obstructed respiration, resulting from cicatricial contraction of mucous membrane of
nose and larynx ; had lasted eleven years ; patient presented picture of decided cachexia.
Respiration at first partially impeded.
Cough commenced at Christmas and lasted till June.
Whooping-cough.
Patients cough severely and expectorate profusely, sputa usually bearing a strong resemblance to
the discharge from the nostrils.
Tubercles, size of millet seed to a pea, of a grey, yellowish, or reddish colour.
Given in phthisis, it diminishes expectoration, abates constantly recurring aggravations of
inflammation, and checks liability to catarrhal affections.
Lung disease of Cattle (F.).

Pulse :
Pulse very frequent and small in volume, 110 to 120F ; in some cases retarded.
Limbs :
Obscure pain in limbs, most in muscles and joints.
Upper Limbs :
With sore finger, swelling of arm, phlegmonous and erysipelatous with pustules and ulcers.
Lower Limbs :
Hip-disease.
Psoas and lumbar abscesses (F) - Old bad legs (ulcers).
Anasarca of lower limbs (F).
Generalities :
Weakness, fatigue, general discomfort ; they give up their business.
General prostration with considerable emaciation.
Tissues ; Numerous ecchymoses in internal organs ; inflammation of lymphatic vessels and
swelling of glands ; phlegmasia alba dolens.
Skin :
Erythema, erysipelatous or phlegmonous processes, abscesses, pustules, and ulcers are spread so
extensively over surface of body that hardly any part remains free.
Malignant erysipelas, particularly if attended by large formations of pus, and destruction of parts.
Confluent small pox.
Ulcers have no disposition to heal, livid appearance.
Sleep :
Insomnia and great restlessness.
Nocturnal delirium.
Fever :
Frequent chilliness.
Chills and fever in cases of abscesses and ulcers.
Skin becomes cool with collapse.
Fever when a series of abscesses follow in rapid succession.
Putrid fever.
Plague.
May be tried in scarlatina, where odour of breath is putrid, buccal passages filled with tenacious
lymph and mucus, tonsils greatly swollen.

INFLUENZINUM.

Description :
The nosode of Influenza.
Clinical :
Catarrh.
Colds.
Influenza.
Characteristics :
The nosode of influenza has with many practitioners taken the place of Baptisia as the routine
remedy in epidemics. It may be given in the 12th or 30th potency, either in the form of tincture,
pilules, or discs. When "colds" appear in a family let all those who are unaffected take Arsen. 3
thrice daily, and let the patients take Influ. 30 every hour or two. This generally prevents the
spread of the trouble and clears up the "colds", whether they are of the influenza type or not.
Influenza has the property of developing old troubles, and thus it takes an infinite variety of
forms in different persons, so that Influ., need not be expected to cure all cases unaided, or
indeed, to be appropriate to every case.
Relations :
I find Influ. compatible with Act. r., Ars., Bell., Bry., Hep., Merc., and many others.

MELITAGRINUM.
Description :
The nosode of Eczema capitis. Dr. Skinner's Fluxional
Centesimal attenuations.
Clinical :
Crusta lactea.
Eczema capitis.

Dr Thomas Skinner
(1825-1906)

Characteristics :
Dr. Skinner has given a brief account of this nosode,
introduced by him, in H. W., xvii. 89. He prepared it from the
lymph and blood of a case of eczema capitis. Very severe
cases were cured with Melit. c. m. (F. C.) given in single
doses at considerable intervals. In one case there was an initial
aggravation.

MORBILLINUM.

Description :
Morbillin.
The nosode of Measles.
Clinical :
Catarrh.
Coryza.
Cough.
Ear, affection of.
Eye, affections of.
Measles.
Skin, affections of.
Characteristics :
The well-known symptoms which characterize an attack of measles may be taken as guides for
its homopathic use. Its chief use hitherto has been as a prophylactic against infection, and to
clear up after-effects of an attack. As the measles poison has a great affinity for the mucous
passages, the eyes, the ears and the respiratory mucous membranes, Morbil, may be used in such
cases like any other homopathic remedy, when the symptoms correspond.
Dose :
Use 30 dilution 8 or 10 globules in 6 oz. of water a dessert-spoonful every 2 hours, as a
prophylactic, a dose twice or thrice daily.
Relations :
Complementary : Bell. Compare : Puls., Hep., Merc., Sul.

NECTRIANINUM.
Description :
Nosode of cancer of trees (Nectria ditissima). Dilution. Trituration of the parasite.
Clinical :
Carcinoma.
Epithelioma.
Characteristics :
Nectrianinum is a clear liquid of a yellowish brown hue which was prepared by Bra and Chauss
(Med. Rev. of Rev., April, 1900, quoted H. M., xxxv. 533) as follows : Injected into healthy
animals in 5 c. c. doses several times a week no result is observed. In cancerous men and
animals, on the contrary, the injections cause a rise of temperature in from two to four hours of
1 to 3. If the dose is increased the hyperthermia is accompanied by chills, sensation of cold,
accelerated pulse, palpitation, headache, thirst. The crisis terminates after some hours in polyuria
and profound sleep. In very advanced cancer reaction may not occur. In a summary of the results

the observers say that Nectrianinum has caused : "Arrest or diminution of hmorrhages ;
suppression of fetid discharges ; a tendency at times to epidermisation of the neoplasm with a
corresponding well-defined arrest in its evolution." The patients were < when treatment was
discontinued and > when it was resumed. A maximum of 4 c. c. per day was never exceeded.
Relations :
Compare : Scirrh., Epitheliomin.

PAROTIDINUM.
Description :
The nosode of Mumps.
Clinical :
Glandular affections.
Meningitis.
Mumps.
Orchitis.
Salivation.
Characteristics :
Parotidinum has been used as a prophylactic against infection by mumps. In this instance it is
generally given in the 6th or 30th two or three times a day to those exposed to infection. In the
disease itself it may be given every four hours, either by itself or alternated with other indicated
remedies. The well-known complications which sometimes occur with mumps, cerebral
inflammation and orchitis suggest its possible use in these conditions.
Relations :
Compare : Merc.

PESTINUM.
Description :
Plaguinum. Nosode of Plague. Trituration of the virus.
Clinical :
Bubo.
Plague.
Typhus.
Characteristics :
The prophylaxis and treatment of plague with injections of more or less modified virus of plague

by old school practitioners affords evidence that the nosode of plague is available, like other
nosodes, for the treatment of cases of the disease from which it is derived.

SCARLATININUM.
Description :
The nosode of Scarlatina or Scarlet Fever.
Clinical :
Albuminuria.
Nephritis.
Scarlet fever.
Skin affections.
Throat sore.
Characteristics :
Scarlatinin has been used, like other nosodes, for the prevention and for cure of the disease from
which it takes origin. But its well-known affinity for the skin, throat and kidneys suggests its
applicability for affections of those organs.
Relations :
Bell. is the nearest analogue and should be its antidote, and the various Mercuries come next.
Compare also : Apis, Arsen., Rhus, Morbillin, Diphtherinum.

SCIRRHINUM.
Description :
Carcinominum. The nosode of Scirrhous Cancer. Trituration.
Clinical :
Breast, cancer of.
Cancer.
Cancerous diathesis.
Glands, enlarged.
Hmorrhages.
Varicosis.
Worms.
Characteristics :
Burnett is my authority for this nosode. He proved it on himself, and produced "a tremendous
sinking at the navel," which he regarded as a keynote for its use. Scirrh, has aided the cure of
many cases of breast tumour in Burnett's hands. With it he cured a man of hard glands which

appeared on the left side of the neck after other glands had been removed by the patient's brother,
a surgeon. Hmorrhages and varicosis of legs and feet, with purple points, have also been cured
by Burnett with Scirrh. A patient to whom Burnett had given Scirrh. mentioned to him that it had
caused the passage of an enormous number of threadworms. On this hint Burnett gave it with
great success in many cases of this troublesome complaint ; and I have verified this experience.
In inveterate cases where Cina and Teucr. have given little relief, Scirrh. has wrought a great
change for the better. The time of < Scirrh. is from 5 to 6 P. M., and irregularly on through the
night.

THE DILUTE SERUM OF MARMOREK.

We are here concerned with his antituberculous, not with his
antisteptococcic, serum. Marmorek does not believe in a tuberculous
infection ; for him there is only an intoxication, and it is only
antitoxins that he has tried to manufacture. Without discussing here
the advantages or disadvantages of this serum in the doses advised by
the author, and without speaking of the accidents that the remedy has
caused through its excessive strength in hypodermic injection
(accidents that suggest its employment per rectum), I will begin at
once with that side of the question which interests us : the
employment of the serum in homopathic doses, diluted to the 6th,
10th, or 30th centesimal attenuation, and administered by mouth.
Nebel was the first to advise the serum in medium homopathic
doses. For five years, Leon Vannier, upon the advice of Nebel, has
employed this dilute serum, and he has been able to collect 530
Dr Lon Vannier
(1880-1963)
observations grouped by him into two categories, the tuberculinics
(those predisposed), and the tuberculous. He places in connection with the group of tuberculinics
certain conditions which, by a few modern authors, would be considered prodromes of
tuberculosis, a classification which suggests the similarity between tuberculinics and the pretuberculous or good subjects for tuberculosis. According to Vannier, tuberculinics present
themselves under various aspects ; 1st. the febrile (febrile without apparent reason) ; 2nd.
persons subject to colds (persons who have cold after cold, and coryza after coryza during the
winter) ; 3rd. dental patients (persons predisposed to tuberculous, said he, seem to make a
rendezvous of the dentist's chair) ; 4th. constipated persons ; 5th. cardiac patients (especially
functional heart disease). All these types of intoxicated persons are benefited by one or more
doses of the diluted serum of Marmorek (l'Homopathie franaise, May, 1912). Vannier passes
then to the truly tuberculous. The serum of Marmorek, being essentially an antitoxic serum, suits
the pulmonary tuberculous, who, notwithstanding the gravity or extent of their lesion, have poor
resistance. Vannier has always observed a rapid improvement in the general condition, and a
progressive increase in the weight of those under the influence of the diluted serum ; but he has
remarked that on the first, and especially on the second day following the absorption of the
serum, there appeared pains in the apex of the lungs, an obstinate cough, and a state of
unaccountable fatigue. Then there is a return to normal conditions. This series of transient
aggravations prepares the way for a progressive improvement. Everything continues as if there

existed a truly negative period, similar to that caused by the vaccines, this negative period being
followed by a positive condition much more prolonged, and in the latter the cure is completed.
This is also the opinion of Nebel. In osseous tuberculosis the serum
has always brought a considerable improvement of the pains
(clinical observations of Pott's disease and spina ventosa), and with
this improvement the rapid diminution and even the complete
disappearance of the violet discoloration so characteristic of
tuberculous fistul. When there is pus, the discharge for the first
few days is more abundant and then gradually diminishes. Two
cases of peritoneal tuberculosis have been successfully treated with
the serum, one by Vannier, the other by Mondain. Three cases of
tuberculosis of the urinary tract were cured with the diluted serum
(l'Homopathie franaise, April, 1912). Tuberculous meningitis ;
one favorable case by Renaud-Badet.
Regarding a case of peritoneal tuberculosis, Mondain says : "If the
case is acute, or the organism too much depressed, we furnish to the
cells in peril the prepared antibodies by administering a dilution of
the antituberculous serum of Marmorek ; later, when the general
Dr Antoine Nebel
condition has sufficiently recovered so as to easily allow the patient
(1870-1954)
to manufacture his own antibodies, we may, after studying his
constitution, his temperament, and his symptoms, make a choice of the most suitable tuberculin,
both to complete the cure and to effect immunization. Is not this method of isopathic protection
the best ? It is the one that nature herself employs in her spontaneous cures. We, faithful servants
of nature, only imitate and assist her."

TUBERCULIN
or tuberculin of birds.
It was tried in human tuberculosis by Pierre Jousset, nearly twenty years ago. Although the
patients requested the remedy, Jousset, Sr., has never confirmed any effects in human
tuberculosis. I have, in speaking on page 161 of the homotherapy of the tuberculins, insisted
especially upon the value of Aviare in the non-tuberculous diseases of the respiratory organs.
According to Jos Galard, Aviare, in tuberculosis, is especially indicated when the symptoms are
acute and of such a nature that they may develop into broncho-pneumonia, Wheeler, also, prefers
Aviare in acute cases, but especially in the exacerbations of chronic pulmonary affections with
profuse expectoration. His favorite dilution is the 100th, repeated every twenty-four or fortyeight hours, until improvement appears. An enthusiastic student in Allentown, a Mr. Schmid,
made a very good proving ; and one of our nearest friends (an experienced prover, a former
engraver, Bechlert, by name, at that time a paralyzed man) persuaded all his acquaintances, a
dozen of women and girls, and some boys, to prove the higher preparations. None of his provers
knew anything of the origin of the drug, and they were examined every day with great care,
according to the advice of Hahnemann.

BOVINE TUBERCULIN
or tuberculin of animals (cattle).
It's prepared in homopathic attenuations, in London, by Epps and Nelson. Moir and Hay
think that, in accordance with what they have seen of its use, the bovine tuberculin gives better
results than does the ordinary human tuberculin. According to Ord, an occasional dose of bovine
tuberculin in the 30th is undoubtedly useful to those who have been treated by the old method of
frequent doses of ordinary tuberculin, but Ord has never been successful in completely curing a
case by bovine tuberculin only. Bishop has mentioned the necessity, when the condition remains
stationary, of changing the human tuberculin for the bovine.

THE OLD TUBERCULIN OF KOCH.

A splendid article of Harlan Wells', entitled "A practical and favorable method of treating
pulmonary tuberculosis with tuberculin," has appeared in the Journal of the American Institute of
Homopathy, February, 1912. Wells employed the old tuberculin of Koch in hypodermic
injection. Wells always commenced the treatment with the 6th decimal dilution. If the patient
was an adult, and if no reaction followed the first dose, he gave one-tenth of a cubic centimeter
of the 5th decimal. He then increased the dose one-tenth cubic centimeter at each injection, until
it reached the 3x dilution. If a reaction followed, Wells waited that everything might be calm,
and then resumed the dilution above the one that caused the reaction. Concerning the intervals
between the injections, he generally gave two injections a week till the third week. It will take at
least two or three moths to judge if the treatment has proved of any permanent benefit.
Wells cites many cases where the bacilli disappeared from the sputum. He explains the favorable
action of the tuberculin in about the usual manner, namely, that it stimulates the cells of the
body, enabling them to form agglutinins, opsonins, and other substances related to the
immunizing process. In a patient whose nutrition is poor, and who is functionally disordered, the
organism is not in condition to respond to the stimulative action of tuberculin, consequently the
tissue cells cannot form immunizing substances.
In the opinion of Moll, of Brixen, tuberculin is not only a specific for pulmonary tuberculosis but
it is also a good remedy for bony suppurations, especially in cases that have been rebellious to
other remedies. In these conditions we must employ only the high dilutions.
The 60th decimal gives prompt reactions. Moll cites many favorable cases in which he used the
250th decimal dilution.
Lambert makes frequent use of Tuberculinum 200th, one dose every week ; the 30th generally
producing aggravations (British Hom. Society). It has been remarked that homopaths speak as
often of aggravations with the high dilutions as with the low. Do not the phenomena of
anaphylaxis occur more commonly as a result of small quantities ? Yet medicinal aggravations
are less pronounced in homopathic than in physiological doses, weak as the latter may be.
In a brochure entitled The Modern Treatment of Tuberculosis Barcelona, 1907, Olive y Gros
states that he employs the tuberculin of Koch generally in the 200th, residual tuberculin in the
200th, dialyzed tuberculin in the 100th, the filtered bouillon of Denys in the 200th, chloroformed

tuberculin in the 100th, the serum of Marmorek in the 30th, the serum of Ferran in the 12th, and
Aviaire in the 100th.

THE NEW TUBERCULIN OF KOCH

(Tuberculin T. R.)
The new tuberculin of Koch, as well as the emulsions and filtrations, must according to
Trudeau, be preferred, because with it the tendency to febrile reaction is less than is the case with
the old tuberculin. Jager, of Hildesheim, employs the new tuberculin in the 6th and 7th decimal,
by mouth. Scheidegger, of Aarau, Switzerland, has had the best success with the T. R. (residual
tuberculin) in low dilutions, administered at long intervals, in the early stages of the disease.

THE FILTERED TUBERCULOUS BOUILLON.

Humeau and Ravet, of Havre, have published lately the results of their practice (Art mdical,
January, 1912, and Archives mdico-chirurgicales de Normandie, March, 1912).
These physicians are using the tuberculin of Denys, in true homopathic doses, either
hypodermically or by mouth.
Humeau and Ravet never commence lower than the ninth decimal, and often much higher.
Once the initial dose is fixed, 9th, 12th, or sometimes the 15th decimal (20th in one case), the
treatment is continued by three injections a week, until the 3x dilution is reached. If there is no
reaction, these doses are of 1/10, 2/10, 3/10, etc., of each solution. After 9/10 of one dilution,
they pass to the next lower decimal dilution, so as to have a regular and constant progression.
When a reaction is produced, it is an invariable rule to suspend all further injections, until the
disappearance of all reactionary phenomena. The custom of Humeau and Ravet is, even at the
beginning, to avoid aggravations, they never begin at once with tuberculin. In treating a case of
pulmonary tuberculosis the patient is first given hygienic treatment, more or less severe,
sometimes rest in bed, the individual requirements governing each case. The patient's
temperature is taken, he is given, according to the indications, an internal remedy, and
meanwhile, before the injection of tuberculin, is given close study.
This minute knowledge of the patient is necessary for fixing the initial dose, and the character of
the further specific treatment. The dose, that is, the intensity of the excitation, must be such that
the affection will take on a more acute form during which, temporarily, the patient will be
weakened. Its action, to be effectual, however must not pass beyond the successful reactionary
struggle of which the organism of the patient is capable. Humeau and Ravet have seen the great
majority of their curable patients obtain from the treatment, amelioration and even complete
cure ; but besides these results they have had, also, cases where the same remedy in widely
different dosage, did not appear to act. They were unable to judge in advance the favorable or
unfavorable reaction. In another series of tuberculous cases these physicians have adhered to one
and the same dilution satisfactorily, without increasing the dose.

P. Jousset gives the filtered tuberculous bouillon of Denys

successfully in the 6th, 10th, and 12th decimal. As soon as a
reaction appears, he prefers to suspend the injections entirely
rather than continue with weaker doses. In another article,
collaborated with G. Proust (Art mdical, Nov. 1907), Jousset's
opinion, from an experience with more than forty phthisical
patients, was that the bouillon of Denys, with a careful technique,
is entirely inoffensive, and that its beneficial influence is shown by
the constitutional condition, the febrile movement, and even by the
condition of the pulmonary lesion. Jousset remarks that, in this
treatment, the cure is assured when the injections of pure filtered
bouillon do not produce an increase in temperature.
In such case, and then only, we must discontinue the treatment.
Tuinzing uses the 7th and 8th decimals.
Rankin, in a sanatorium, employed doses from 1/1000 of a
Dr Pierre Jousset
milligram to 10 milligrams.
(1818-1910)
I have personally given, by mouth, the tuberculin of Denys in the
form of globules saturated with the high dilutions, the 100th, the 200th and the 500th centesimal.
As extreme as these dilutions appear, it is yet with them that I have in advanced cases most
frequently and most easily arrested the progress of the disease : I refer to cavities.
Again, as extraordinary as may seem what I am about to say, these tuberculous cavities are not
protected from medicinal aggravations, not even against these imperceptible doses that old
school physicians have termed quackery. To deal with the theory of attenuations in this cursory
manner is vain, when we have examined from every angle, and confirmed the facts. I have often
arrested, temporarily, with these high dilutions, the development of a progressive tuberculosis
characterized by a persistence of the fever (but not the fever having great fluctuations, from
streptococci or acute pneumococcal infection), an incessant cough, abundant expectoration,
pulmonary perituberculous congestion, and anorexia. I give one single dose of ten globules of the
100th, 200th, or 500th ; in the beginning I repeat the dose every three to eight days, till an
improvement takes place (requiring sometimes only two or three doses). As long as the
improvement continues we must not renew the dose. I have thus been able to lengthen the
intervals between the doses, from eight to twenty-one days, and from fifteen days to a month.
The tuberculous quiescence may last many months. In a patient who appeared unusually
improved and who had only a slight expectoration in the morning, I had this expectoration
examined : it still contained a number of the bacilli of Koch, and some pneumococci. Here, then,
was a case of temporary cessation of perituberculous congestion all about the tuberculous faci,
without a cure of the tuberculosis. I have at present among my patients a young girl with a cavity
in which the tuberculous process progressed rapidly, and who during her paroxysms of coughing
vomited almost incessantly. For the past year and a half this patient, taking Denys' 500th, has
kept fairly well. The cough having almost left her, the poor girl announces to me that she is
cured. No class of persons exceeds the tuberculous in optimism ! Temporary as the ameliorations
are, they constitute nevertheless, a real progress in tuberculinotherapy, and the above method of
treatment far excels the sedative syrups, which latter have a depressing effect, excels equally
Creosote, which ruins the stomach, and superalimentation, which occasions enteritis. There may,
of course, be some advantage in employing, during the interval of the doses, any accessory
measure which may assist in bringing about a favorable result. But the two cases that I have

cited, and also others, have been treated solely by these attenuated doses of Denys', without the
employment of any adjuvants. Many of the patients were too poor to undergo expense. The
tuberculin of Denys' in high dilution is also used by Nebel, Vannier, Chiron, and others.