Apis will likewise afford speedy and certain help.
Many symptoms in the American Provings confirm this statement. More particularly 1198 to 1210, and 1232 to 35: "very soon thick nettle-rash over the whole body, itching a good deal, passing off after sleeping soundly; violent inflammation and pressure over the whole body; friction brought out small white spots resembling musquito-bites; suddenly an indescribable stinging sensation over the whole body, with white and red spots in the palms of the hands, on the arms and feet; her Whole body was covered with itching and burning swollen streaks, after which the other troubles disappeared; swelling of the face and body; the parts are covered with a sort of blotches somewhat paler than the ordinary color of the skin; eruption over the whole body resembling nettle-rash, with itching and burning; nettle-rash in many cases; spots on the nape of the neck and forehead, resembling nettle-rash under the skin; consequences of repelled urticaria; whitish, violently itching swellings of the skin, on the head and nape of the neck, like nettle-rash;after the rash disappeared, the whole of the right side was paralyzed, with violent delirium even unto rage; after taking Apis the eruption appeared in abundance, and the delirium abated."
These provings have been abundantly confirmed by my own experience. The use of Apis in these eruptions has been followed in my hands by the most satisfactory results; and I feel justified in recommending Apis as a most efficient remedy in these diseases, which are still wrapt in a good deal of obscurity. An additional source of satisfaction to have obtained more means of relieving human suffering. The experienced Neuman writes, in his Special Therapeutics, 2d Edit., Vol. I., Section 2, p. 681, about urticaria: "Howsoever unimportant a single eruption of urticaria may be, it becomes disagreeable and troublesome by its constant repetition, which is not dangerous, but exceedingly disturbing. It would be desirable to be acquainted with a safe method of curing this eruption, but so far, it has been sought for in vain." The same physician, speaking of pemphigus, writes in the same place, that its etiology, prognosis and treatment, are still very dubious; that it leads to extensive chronic sufferings, and often terminates fatally; and that no specific remedy is known for this disease. The more frequent opportunities we have of observing both these diseases in different individuals, the more frequently we observe them in conjunction with serious chronic maladies characterized by some specific chronic miasm, or in conjunction with the most penetrating and disturbing emotions, such asfright and its consequences; the more frequently we observe the sudden appearance and disappearance of such pustules, alternating with corresponding improvements or exacerbations in the internal organism, where we have to look on utterly powerless, as it were, the more uneasy do we feel at the mysterious nature of this malady, which, during the period of organic vigor, seems to be a sort of trifling derangement, somewhat like urticaria, but which, as the vital energies become prostrated by age, becomes more and more searching and tormenting, breaks forth again and again, exhausting the vital juices and leading irresistibly to a fatal termination; a result which is particularly apt to take place during old age, although I have likewise observed it, but rarely, among new-born infants.
These developments lead us to suspect that urticaria and pemphigus are identical in essence; this fact is richly substantiated by the homœopathic law which furnishes identical means of cure for either of these affections. In either case, if the vital forces are prostrated, and the sensitiveness of the organic reaction is considerable, one pellet of Apis 30, and, if there is considerable resistance to overcome, two pellets shaken with six dessert-spoonfuls of water, a spoonful night and morning, is all that should be done, after which, all further treatment should be discontinued as long as the improvement continues or the skin remains clear from all eruptions. If the improvement cease or the eruption should reappear, we have in the first place to examine whether the improvement will not speedily resumeits course, or whether the eruption does not show itself more feebly than before, or if the cure is not evidenced by some other favorable change. In the former case the medicine should be permitted to act still further; in the latter case, another dose of Apis 30 should be given, after which the result has to be carefully watched. In all benign cases, more particularly if no other means of treatment had been resorted to before, this management will suffice. If this should not be the case, if the eruption should appear again, we may rest assured that a psoric miasm lurks in the organism, and that an anti-psoric treatment has to be resorted to. The best anti-psoric under these circumstances, is Sulphur 30, one pellet, provided this drug has not yet been abused; or Causticum 30, one pellet, if such an abuse has taken place. Syphilis may likewise complicate the disease, in which case Mercurius 30, one pellet, may be given; or, if Mercury had been previously taken in excessive doses, Mercurius 6000, one globule.
After one or the other of these remedies, the symptoms should be carefully observed without doing anything else, with a view of instituting whatever treatment may afterwards be necessary, we wind up the treatment with another dose of Apis 30, one pellet, after which, the organic power is permitted to complete the cure. The result is, that the most difficult and complicated cases yield perfectly to such treatment, which is based upon the strictest scientific principles.
are likewise cured by Apis in the speediest and easiest manner.
We find the following symptomatic indications in the American Provings: "682, painful pimple, suppurating in the middle, with red areola; painful like a boil, in the hairy region on the left side above the os pubis, continuing painful for several days; 1196, furuncles with stinging pains; 844, 845, violent, stinging, burning pain at a small spot on the left side, in the lower region of the nape of the neck; also on the back part of the head; swelling at the nape of the neck, so that the head is pressed forward towards the chest; 1222, dark bluish-red painful swellings, with general malaise; 1167, acute pain and erysipelatous swelling, very hard and pale in the centre."
Apis has been a popular remedy for boils from time immemorial; the people have been in the habit of covering boils with honey, more particularly honey in which a bee had perished.
Apis, homœopathically prepared, is better adapted to such an end than honey. A few drops of Apis 3, shaken with twelve tablespoonfuls of water, a tablespoonful of this solution every three hours, generally relieves the pain in a short period, promotes suppuration, effects the discharge of the decayed cellular tissue, and a speedy cure of the furuncle.
If furuncles incline to become carbunculous, theichorous matter is speedily changed to good pus, and all danger is averted.
In a case of carbuncle the gangrenous disorganization of the skin and cellular tissue becomes very soon confined to a small spot; the dead parts are separated from the living tissues; the fever is hushed; the disorganizations which it threatens are averted; a healthy suppuration is established throughout the gangrenous part, detaching and removing all decayed matter, and replacing the loss of substance by new granulations until the sore becomes cicatrized in such a hardly perceptible manner, that any one who is acquainted with the ravages of this disease, and is in the habit of seeing deep and disfiguring cicatrizes, even in the most successful cases, is disposed to deny the fact that such an intensely disorganizing process has been going on in this instance. No other remedial means are required, much less a surgical operation.
Inasmuch as carbuncle is generally preceded for a longer period by a deep-seated feeling of illness in the organism, showing that the psoric miasm pervades the tissues, it behooves us, in order to secure all the better a favorable result, to give a dose of highly-potentized Sulphur at the very outset of the disease. After having used the first portion of Apis, a globule of Sulphur 30 or 6000 may be interposed, the former in all cases where no Sulphur had been used, and the latter in cases Sulphur had been used in large doses. We permit such a dose to act for twenty-four hours, after whichApis is resumed, and continued according to the above stated rule.
Sulphur should likewise be given in all cases where the furuncles reappear at different periods. Such a reappearance of the eruption, after it had once been cured by Apis, shows that a psoric taint pervades the organism which it is absolutely necessary to meet with specific counter-acting remedies.
The more frequently we meet such difficult complications, and see with our own eyes their successful treatment, the more we learn to appreciate the fact,that Apis cures to a certainty the most dangerous affections of this kind, and that the anti-psoric remedy corrects at the same time the primary degeneration of the tissues, without either interfering with the operations of the other drug, on the contrary, by assisting each other. In
Apis proves the same invaluable remedy.
Genuine panaritia only spring up in psoric ground, and in regard to extent and intensity of development, depend altogether upon the existing psoric taint. Hence it is indispensable to extinguish this taint by appropriate remedies. This is most effectually accomplished by at once giving Sulphur, the most powerful of our anti-psorics. Sulphur seems to attack the evil at its very foundation, and we feel perfectly satisfied with its action, except that we would like to hasten the course of the disease still more, in order to abbreviate thetortures inherent in this malady. This result is most certainly accomplished by means of Apis.
If panaritia are the result of excessive doses of Sulphur, Apis meets our case perfectly. In hundreds of cases panaritia spring up and will continue to spring up from such a source, as long as the world continues to live in darkness, and to reject the rays of truth which the genius of Hahnemann has sent forth among the benighted understandings of his fellow beings. Notwithstanding Hahnemann's teachings concerning the medicinal power of Sulphur, which the world has now been in possession of for years, and which the most thoughtful minds have accepted as a truth, the true friend of man has still to weep over the quantities of Sulphur which all apothecaries sell to any one at his option; hæmorrhoidal patients continue to swallow Sulphur from day to day; almost every body, from the child up to the old man, who is affected with catarrh, swallows the so-termed pulmonary powders which contain Sulphur, and of which relief is expected; whole legions repair every year to the Sulphur Springs; young and old use sulphur-baths at home; all over the world, the itch, which is a very common disease, is removed by means of a sulphur ointment, &c. One of the evil consequences of this ignorance, which particularly oppresses the laboring class, is the artificial development of panaritia; the more frequently these occur, the more necessary it is to employ speedy and safe means for their extermination. In such a case we can no longer depend upon Sulphur, of which we cannot possibly knowhow far it has already poisoned the organism, and to what extent it may still be able to rouse a reaction; in which case, even those who know, may be led to make dangerous mistakes. In all such cases Apis is of the best use to us; it is even sufficient to arrest the disorganizing process, and to bring about a satisfactorily progressing cure.
The curative indications contained in the "American Provings," have been confirmed by my own experience. We read in Nos. 903-911, "the phalangeal bones are painful; burning jerking, like a stitching, contracting sensation, in the right numb, from without inwards; drawing pains reaching the extremities of the fingers; distinct feeling of numbness in the fingers, especially in the tips, around the roots of the nails, with sensation as if the nails were loose, and as if they could be shaken off; burning in the tips of fingers, as from fire; fine burning stinging in the tips of the fingers; burning around a hang-nail, on the outside of the fourth finger of the right hand, with pain internally, without redness and without aggravation from pressure, with continual burning in the tip; swelling of the fingers, which remained painful for several days; 915, blister at the tip of the right index, discharging a bloody ichor when opened, and afterwards a milky pus, with violent burning, throbbing, and gnawing pains, continuing to spread for two days."
From all this we deduce the highly important practical rule: In a case of whitlow, first ascertain whether and how far Sulphur has been abused by the patient. Unfortunately the non-abuse of Sulphuris an exception to the rule, whereas the abuse of Sulphur is quite common even in our age. Would that in this respect the ancient darkness might yield to the new light.
In case Sulphur had been abused by the patient, we mix a few drops of Apis 3 in twelve tablespoonfuls of water, giving a tablespoonful every hour, or every two or three hours, according as the pains are more or less violent. This treatment has to be continued until the pains cease. They cease either because the inflammation has been dispersed, and the morbid process is terminated, or else a healthy suppuration has been set up, so that the swelling will discharge of itself, and a cure will be effected as speedily as the nature of the panaritium will admit. In either case the medicine need not be repeated, and the organic reaction will be sufficient to complete a cure without the interference of surgery. A simple bread and milk poultice may be used as soothing palliative, especially if the external skin is of a firm, hard texture. Resolution may be depended upon in every case, where Apis has been resorted to in time. A healthy suppuration will always set in after the exhibition of Apis, provided Sulphur or a psoric taint do not gain the ascendancy. If the Sulphur miasm gains the ascendancy, there will be no marked improvement during the first days of the treatment. In such a case we have at once to resort to a very high potency of Sulphur. A single globule of Sulphur 6000 would frequently ameliorate the worst aspect of the case as by a miracle, after which a few more doses of Apis 3, adrop morning and evening, would so improve the symptoms, as to render all further medication unnecessary.
If the psoric miasm should be the cause of the retarded improvement, as may easily be determined by the predisposing circumstances of the case, and if no Sulphur should have been administered previously, it is expedient to discontinue the use of Apis, and to at once exhibit a globule of Sulphur 30, which may be allowed to act for twenty-four hours, after which Apis is to be resumed in the same manner, until a cessation of the pain manifests the cure of the disease.
These explanations likewise point out the true course to be pursued, in case we should at the outset find that a whitlow owes its existence to the psoric miasm.
Ever since homœopathy has enabled us to treat this dreaded affection with positive and specific remedies in a most satisfactory manner, the horrible pains which characterize this trouble, and the mutilations to which it so frequently leads, only exist in quarters where egotism, the love of lucre and the absence of all conscientiousness prevents physicians from inquiring into the merits of our superior mode of treatment. Is not this unpardonably wicked?
is another affection which we cure with Apis.
This disease which causes so much distress in life, is likewise, in its essential nature, an outbirthof psora, and, as regards its local character and its effects upon the constitution of the patient, it seems to be characterized by the same inflammatory and suppurative process as whitlow, and be endowed with a similar tendency to organic destruction. In the American Provings, symptom 917, "Painful soreness in the left hip-joint, immediately after taking a dose of Apis 2, afterwards debility, unsteadiness, trembling in this joint," is the only symptom that seems to indicate the curative power of Apis in this distressing malady. What experienced physician has not often seen the hip show such symptoms of disease, particularly after violent frights and anguish? Who has not seen blows on the back and nates, by way of punishment, attended with such consequences? Who has not seen coxarthrocace develope itself during the course of a severe cerebral disease, scarlatina or typhus, where the patient, on suddenly awakening to consciousness from a state of stupor, is made sensitive of the presence of this insidious disease, perhaps already fully developed? Since I have used Apis, I have never had to deplore such saddening results.
According to my observation, we may regard Apis as a specific remedy for spontaneous limping; every new trial confirms me in this statement. Apis may be depended upon as a capital remedy in every stage of this disease, as long as the psoric miasm is kept in the background; but as soon as the psoric taint is fully developed, a suitable anti-psoric has to be given in alternation with Apis. My experience has led me to prefer Kali carbonicumto all other anti-psoric remedies in this disease. But inasmuch as the keenest observer may overlook the right moment when the psoric poison begins to operate, it is well to forestall the enemy at the very commencement, which may be done with the more propriety, the more certainly we know that these two remedies, Apis and the anti-psoric, not only not counteract, but mutually support each other from the beginning to the end of the treatment. After many experiments, I have hit upon the following course as the most proper:
If the limping, as is often the case in the severest forms of the disease, sets in gradually, almost imperceptibly and without much pain, I give at once a globule of Kali carbonicum 30. As a general rule, this one dose is sufficient to arrest the further development of the disease, and to award all danger so completely, that one, who is unacquainted with the nature of the malady, feels disposed to assert that it never existed. But if the pains continue, and are accompanied with fever, I resort to Apis 3, after Kali had been allowed to act for a day or two, mixing a drop in twelve tablespoonfuls of water, and giving a dose every hour, or every two or three hours, according as the pains come on more or less frequently. This treatment is continued until the patient is quieted, after which the two remedies are permitted to act without any further repetition of the medicine.
If the inflammation of the joint sets in suddenly and with a violent fever, as is often the case after violent commotions, castigations, etc., we prepare asolution of Aconite in the same manner as the Apis, and give these two medicines in alternate tablespoonful doses every hour. After these two solutions are finished, and the first assault of the disease has been controlled, we give a globule of Kali 30, and permit it to act for twenty-four hours. After this period we again give Apis every hour, two or three hours, as above, until the pains cease, after which Kali is allowed to act until the disease is entirely cured.
If suppuration and caries of the joint have already set in, no matter whether the pus has found an outlet in the region of the joint itself, or burrows down the thigh to find an outlet somewhere else, Kali is no longer sufficient, Silicea has to be exhibited; it is more homœopathic to caries than other anti-psorics. We give a globule of Silicea 30, and allow it to act for two or three days, after which a drop of Apis 3, is repeated morning and night, until the pains—which may require a more frequent exhibition of the drug—cease, and a healthy pus is secreted. After this change is accomplished, Silicea is sufficient to complete the healing of the osseous disorganization, and should be left undisturbed to the end of the treatment.
I have found this simple proceeding so perfectly efficient in this dreadful malady that the fever was speedily controlled, and rendered harmless, the inflammation was scattered without leaving a trace behind, the secretion ichor was transformed into that of healthy pus, and the disorganization of the joint was prevented; the limb, even after it hadbecome elongated, again assumed its normal shape, the carious masses were expelled, the various channels of suppuration were stopped, and the danger of a fatal consumptive fever was averted. If our aid is not sought untilthe head of the femur is destroyed, and the bone has completely slipt out of its socket, it is impossible to prevent shortening and stiffness of the limb. Another splendid triumph over a dreadful source of danger and disease!
is very similar to this affection of the hip-joint. Here too we observe the same insidious inflammatory beginning, the same irresistible tendency to ichorous suppuration and disorganization of the constituent parts of the joint, the same tendency to destroy the organism by gradual exhausting fever. We have unmistakeable proofs of the presence of a poisonous process pervading the whole organism. He who has had frequent opportunities of observing this disease, knows perfectly in what mysterious obscurity it is still enveloped, and how specifically different this affection of the knee sometimes appears to us from the hip disease. The homœopathic law teaches us more positively than any thing else could do, that every case of disease should be viewed as something specifically distinct from other cases, and should be treated with medicines that are specifically adapted to it. An experience of many years has taught me that iodine is the bestremedy to meet the symptoms which generally characterize white swelling of the knee. Even at the present day Iodine is one of those remedies that require a good deal of elucidation. Hence we should not, carried away by analogy, conclude from those things which are not clear, concerning other things which are no more so. Nevertheless the observations which have been made so far, have led to some highly important, more or less positive conclusions, and have shown us with a certain degree of satisfaction and certainty, that iodine is an inestimable gift of God, by means of which we are enabled to free mankind from one of the most frightful complications, the psoric, sycosic and mercurial miasms. I have been induced by various signs to believe that, in white swelling of the knee such a complication exists.
Considering the paucity of our observations bearing upon this important point, it seems impracticable to make any positive statements with reference to the assistance that we might possibly derive from the use of Apis in this disease. My own opportunities for observation having been very few, I recommend the use of Apis in white swelling of the knee, to my professional brethren. The following symptoms in "Hering's American Provings," seem to indicate it; No.'s 828, 829 and 931, "violent pain in the left knee, externally, above and below the knee, particularly above, somewhat in front; painful œdematous swelling of the knee; burning stinging about the knee." In white swelling of the knee, where no allœopathic treatmenthas yet been pursued, I recommend Iodine 30, one globule, in six dessert-spoonfuls of water, a dessert-spoonful morning and evening, until the whole is finished; after this wait three days, and then give Apis 3, as before mentioned, a tablespoonful every hour or three hours, or a drop morning and evening, according as the pain or danger is more or less pressing. Apis is more especially useful in removing pain, in changing the secretion of ichor to that of healthy pus, and in arresting the consumptive fever. After these results have been accomplished, we permit the previously given Iodine to achieve the cure. If Iodine had been abused under allœopathic treatment, before the homœopathic treatment commenced, we give Iodine 5000, one globule, in order to subdue the Iodine diathesis, and thus remove the most powerful obstacle to a cure. Any one who knows more about this point, will please mention it.
Although Apis acts well in white swelling of the knee, which is comparatively a rare disease, yet it is far more useful in
It is undoubtedly true that Hahnemann has revealed to us the means of surpassing in this disease the allœopathic wisdom of a thousand years, by a far more successful, safe and expeditious treatment. Nevertheless, much remains to be desired in this dreaded disease. Who does not know that medicinalaggravations are particularly to be dreaded in this malady? Who has not often felt embarrassed to select the right remedy among three or four that seemed indicated by the symptoms, and where it was nevertheless important, in view of the threatening danger, to select at once the right remedy? Who has not been struck by the strange irregularity that in a disease which generally sets in as an epidemic, different remedies are often indicated by different groups of symptoms? Who has not become convinced after a careful observation of the course of the disease, that nothing is more deceptive than the pretended curative virtues of corrosive sublimate in dysentery, and that it is a matter of duty to be mindful, in this very particular, of the warning words of the master who, having himself been deceived at one time by the delusive palliation of mercury, addresses to us the remarkable warning that "mercury, so far from responding to all non-venereal maladies, on the contrary is one of the most deceitful palliatives the temporary action of which is not only soon followed by a return of the original symptoms of disease, but even by a return of these symptoms in an aggravated form." (See Hahnemann's Chronic Diseases, Vol. II.)
This delusive palliation is more particularly one of the effects of corrosive sublimate in Dysentery; and is exceedingly dangerous in this disease. Hence we warn practitioners against this danger.
We feel so much the more grateful to the principle Similia Similibus, which, even though it did not protect its discoverer from faulty applications,yet finally led us to the discovery of the right remedy for dysentery.
No.'s 590 and 599 in the American Provings, read as follows: "Violent tenesmus; nausea, vomiting and diarrhœa, first lumpy and not fetid, afterwards watery and fetid, lastly papescent, mixed with blood and mucus, and attended with tenesmus; afterwards dysenteric stools, with tenesmus and sensation as if the bowels were crushed;" combining these symptoms with the general character of Apis, particularly the circumstance that not only the ordinary precursors and first symptoms of dysentery, but also its terminations and its sequelæ, and its most important complications find their approved remedy in Apis; all this shows us that Apis is a natural remedy for dysentery. This truth is abundantly confirmed by experience. All my previously obtained results in practice, testify to the correctness of this statement.
At the very commencement of the disease, a globule of Apis 3 is sufficient to cut short the disease so that the patient feels easy, and sleeps quietly. During this slumber, fever, pain and tenesmus disappear, and the patient wakes with a feeling of health. If this should not take place in three hours, owing to the more advanced state of the disease, another dose of Apis is required, after which the patient soon feels well.
If the dysenteric disease has had a chance to localize itself, and to assume a higher degree of intensity, it becomes necessary to excite the organic reaction all the more frequently. Under these circumstanceswe repeat the medicine every hour, or every two or three hours, one globule at a time, until all further medication has become unnecessary.
It is well known that epidemic diarrhœa, viz., a diarrhœa resulting from peculiar alterations of the normal condition of the atmosphere, earth, water, indispensable food, or from other still unknown elementary influences inevitably acting upon every body, commences in the form of a simple, apparently unimportant diarrhœa; that it gradually increases in intensity as the processes of nutrition and sanguification become more deeply disturbed, and that it finally terminates in life-destroying cholera. All these different stages of diarrhœa, whether with or without vomiting, watery or papescent, of one color or another, with or without pain, with or without fever, have yielded readily, safely and thoroughly to Apis in my hands. I must except, however, cholera of the epidemic form, where I have not yet been able to try Apis for want of opportunity. As far as my personal observations go, I am disposed to affirm that the best mode of effecting a good result, is to give Apis 3 and Aconite 3, in alternation, one drop of each preparation well shaken in a bottle containing twelve tablespoonfuls of water, and giving a tablespoonful every hour or three hours, if the danger is great, and in milder cases a full drop alternately morning and evening. This treatment is continued until an improvement sets in, after which the organic reaction is permitted to develope itself, which will terminate in a fewhours or days, according as the disease is more or less violent, and assistance was sought more or less early, in the perfect recovery of the patient.
This end is not always attained with equal certainty and rapidity, if Apis is not given in alternation with Aconite. In such a case, Apis alone often develops a powerful reaction, which is avoided by the alternate use of Aconite. Wherever the case is urgent, and it is important to shorten the durations of the organic reaction, the two remedies should be given in alternation. In most cases I have seen a few alternate doses give rise to a pleasant perspiration, speedily followed by quiet sleep and recovery on waking. May we not expect the same result at the commencement of Asiatic cholera, and thus arrest the further development of the disease?
Apis is no less effectual againstchronic diarrhœa, more particularly if resulting, not from any deep-seated disorganizations, but from some permanent inflammatory irritation of the intestinal mucous membrane, and which causes and fosters so much distress, by rendering all normal digestion impossible and finally bringing on its inseparable companion, the last degree of hypochondria. This misery is so much more lamentable, as it is, so to say, forced upon mankind from the cradle to the grave by the still prevailing and almost ineradicable delusion ofcathartic medication.
Scarcely has the little being seen the light of the world, when the process of purgation begins. Nurse, aunt, grandmamma, everybody, hasten to hush the cries which the rough contact of the outer worldextorts from the little being, by forcing down its throat a little laxative mixture, and the family-physician, who goes by fashion, approves of all this. It is his habit, in after-life, to combat every little costiveness, every digestive derangement, every incipient disease, by means of his cathartic mixture, and his skill is considered proportionate to the quantity of stuff which the bowels expel under the operation of his drugs. Laxative pills, rhubarb, glauber-salts, bitter-waters, aloes, gin, etc., etc., are in every body's hands, and become an increasing necessity for millions. An ancient prejudice decrees that, to permit a single day to pass by without stool, would be to expose one's life to the greatest danger. Every year we see thousands rush to warm and cold springs that have the reputation of being possessed with dissolvent and cathartic properties. Those who cannot afford to go to the springs, use artificial mineral water in order to accomplish similar purposes. Very seldom a disease is met with, that is permitted to run its course without dissolvent or cathartic means. It is still a profitable business to sell patent purgatives, such as cider in which a little magnesia has been dissolved.
Everybody feels how offensive these things are to nature; how they attack the stomach and bowels; how they derange digestion and nutrition; how slowly patients recover from the effects of such drugs; how chronic abdominal affections, after having been eased for a while by such drugs, soon return again with redoubled vigor; how the dose has to be increased in order to obtain the sameresult; how the intervals of relief becomes shorter and shorter, and how, in the end, the stomach is totally ruined, and the abnormal irritation and paralysis of this viscus, with the diarrhœa and constipation, corresponding to these conditions, gradually lead to the complete derangement of the reproductive process.
In spite of all this, long habit has secured to these pernicious customs a sort of prescriptive right. The distress consequent upon them, increases in proportion as the reactive powers of the organism decrease, which is more particularly the case in the present generation. The suppression of these abuses has never been more necessary than in our age. Indeed, the old proverb is again verified: "Where need is greatest, there help is nearest."
The world is not only indebted to Hahnemann for a knowledge, but also for a natural corrective of this serious abuse. His provings on healthy persons show this beyond a doubt. Few men, if their attention has once been directed to this abuse, will feel disposed to deny its extent. Nor has a favorable change in this respect been looked for in vain, since homœopathy has now, for half a century at least, shown the uselessness of all regular methods of purgation, and the superiority of the means with which this new system accomplishes most effectually all that those pernicious methods promised to do. It should be considered a duty by every physician, to be acquainted with the new means of cure. The continued use of purgativesshould be considered a crime against health. They will soon cease to exist as regular means of treatment, and their pernicious consequences will no longer have to be relieved by remedial means. But until their use is abolished, we shall have to counteract them by adequate means of cure, more particularly the abnormal irritation and the paralytic debility, which are the most common consequences of the abuse of cathartics.
It is a most fortunate thing that we have in Apis one of the most reliable means of removing the evil effects of cathartic medicines. A single globule of Apis 30 is sufficient to this end. It is best to use it as follows: dissolve the globule in five tablespoonfuls of water by shaking the mixture well in a well closed vial, and let the patient take a tablespoonful of this solution. If this dose acts well, no repetition is necessary for the present. If this dose should not be sufficient, we prepare a new potence by throwing away three tablespoonfuls of the former solution and substituting four tablespoonfuls of fresh water, shaking the mixture well. We give a spoonful of this second solution, twenty-four hours after the first had been given, and, if necessary, a third spoonful prepared in the same way, and even a fourth and fifth, after which we await the result, without thinking either of improvement or exacerbation.
Generally, a feeling of ease is experienced shortly after taking Apis. The painful sensitiveness of the pit of the stomach and of the abdomen, together with the troublesome, disagreeable and oppressivedistention and weight, soon disappear; the tongue gradually loses its swollen and cracked appearance, its dirty redness, its slimy coating, its sore spots, tardy indentations along its edges, the burnt feeling at its tip, which is dotted with very fine vesicles, that cause a good deal of soreness; the pappy, sour, bitter, metallic, foul taste disappears; the appetite is again normal; both the previous aversion to food and the excessive craving disappear; the absence of thirst, which is so common in this condition, again gives place to a natural desire for drink, the bluish-red color and swelling of the palate and throat, and the incessant urging to hawk, decrease visibly: the distress after eating; the sour stomach with or without nausea or heartburn; the excessive rising of air; the regurgitation of the ingesta; the eructations which taste of the food that had been eaten long before; the yawning; the irresistible drowsiness when sitting; the general loss of strength; the vacuity of mind, the aversion to talking and to company, decrease more and more every day; the whole abdomen feels easier and softer: the excessive and irresistible urging to urinate, especially after rising from a chair or from bed, and accompanied by a distressing nervousness, abates; the diarrhœic and abnormally colored evacuations, together with the frequent and irresistible urging, increased after eating, early in the morning and after sour and flatulent food, and accompanied by various sore pains in the rectum, diminish more and more, and give place to normal evacuations, first for days, next for weeks, althoughthey continue to alternate more or less with constipation, or painful, insufficient, hard stool, until they terminate sooner or later, according as the disease is more or less deep-seated, and had lasted more or less long, in permanent restoration of the normal secretions and excretions of the digestive organs. At the same time the many distresses which the abnormal condition of the bowels and stomach had occasioned in the head and heart, disappear; the poor patient who had been a prey to so many sufferings, feels like one born again.
This is the general result, unless psoric, sycosic, syphilitic or vaccinine complications should be present. Unfortunately the abuse of cathartics excites these miasms if they exist in the organism, and at the same time prostrates the reactive powers of the organism, and enables its enemies to rise against it. The distress becomes more and more complicated; disorganizations, alterations of the fluids, disturbances of the assimilative sphere, nervous derangements from simple illusions of the sentient sphere, and occasional trembling and twitching, to spasmodic and convulsive movements, and final extinction of nervous power, marasmus of the spinal marrow or a ramollissement of the brain; these are the consequences of such miasmatic complications.
In such a case Apis alone is not sufficient. We have to employ such antidotes asSulphur, our most powerful anti-psoric which, unless it had been abused previously, never leaves us in the lurch in the presence of psora;iodinewhich, under similar circumstances, becomes indispensable wherever psora andsycosis are combined;bichromate of potashorfluoric acid, if psora, syphilis and mercurial poisoning are united; and lastly,tartar emetic, or againfluoric acid, if the vaccine poison alone, or in combination with the other poisons, occupies the foreground.
This is not the place to treat of these special forms of human distress, and to individualize their treatment; I shall endeavor to do this on a more suitable occasion. I shall have to limit myself here to a superficial sketch of the treatment, adding merely that a single dose of the specific antidote will act best if given highly potentized, and that the improvement should afterwards be allowed to progress as long as a trace of it remains visible. But as soon as the improvement stops and an exacerbation sets in, which is not speedily followed by another improvement, or which seems to require our aid, we use Apis 3, one drop every day, until the improvement is again perceived, after which we wait until another exacerbation demands our interference. One dose of Apis is often insufficient; if not, from three to five doses will be found sufficient to mitigate the pains, and to advance the cure which Apis will complete in conjunction with the high potency that should not be repeated, and which is not interfered with by the Apis. What more precious boon for the physician and patient in these serious moments? It is only a physician who has instituted provings upon himself, that is capable of comprehending this harmonious blending of the two therapeutic agents. He sees the well known effects of a well known cause go and come at alternate periods.What man of common sense would be willing to repudiate such evidence?
But even in a case where Sulphur and Iodine had been given to excess, and a sort of Sulphur and Iodine diathesis had been established in consequence, Apis is still the best remedy to meet this complicated derangement.
Although we may believe that the time is at hand when this kind of ignorance shall no longer be tolerated, it unfortunately is still a prevailing sin of the profession. Even if we should be unable to effect a perfect cure, yet we may afford essential relief to such patients; we may often arrest their sufferings for a longer or shorter period, and shorten the paroxysms until they become almost imperceptible. Apis is particularly instrumental in effecting this end. Diseases of the
are likewise successfully combated by Apis. The American Provings contain the following symptomatic indications:
1. No.'s 731, 733, 736, 742, 743, 749, 760: "Hoarseness and difficulty of breathing, roughness and sensitiveness in the larynx, each time after he smells of the poison; talking is painful, sensation as if the larynx were tired by talking; drawing pains in the larynx; cough when starting during sleep; rough cough during evening; heat; difficult breathing, every drop of liquid almost suffocates him; labored inspirations as during croup."
2. 737-740: "Violent paroxysms of cough, occasioned by a titillating irritation in the lower part of the larynx near the throat-pit, with increase of headache when coughing, on the left side, superiorly; in half an hour, some phlegm is detached, after which the coughing ceases; on the first day, when waked from his sleep before midnight, he had a violent cough, especially after lying down and sleeping, with titillation at a very small spot, deep down on the posterior wall of the thorax, which wakes him; he feels better as soon as the least little portion of mucous is detached; cough particularly during warmth, during rest, and rousing him from his first slumber for several evenings."
3. 1081, 746, 790: "Chilly every afternoon at three or four o'clock; she shudders, especially during warmth; chill across the back, the hands feel as if dead; in about an hour she felt hot and feverish, with rough cough, hot cheeks and hands, without thirst; this passes off gradually, she feels heavy and prostrate; cough and labored breathing as during croup, after violent feverish heat, with dry skin and full pulse; disturbed sleep, with muttering, timid and incoherent talk, whitish-yellow coating of the tongue, and painless, yellow-greenish, slimy diarrhœa, in four days the breathing become labored, a violent abdominal respiration, red face, increasingly livid, pulse hard, cough, with barking resonance—pains in the chest, with labored breathing."
4. 754, 770, 772, 803: "Hurried, labored breathing, with heat and headache; chest oppressed; difficult labored breathing; sense of suffocation evenwhen leaning against a thing; general debility; worse during cold weather, accompanied by asthmatic pains; cough; sense of suffocation; pains in the chest; coldness and deadness of the extremities, which looked bluish; sense of soreness; lameness; sense of bruising in the chest, as after recent contusions by a blow; jamming, etc."
These observations do not indeed show with characteristic certainty the diseases to which Apis might correspond. But if they are contrasted with the total character of Apis; if we consider that Apis develops a catarrhal irritation throughout the whole intestinal mucous membrane, affecting most deeply the nervous system and the normal constitution of the fluids, we have sufficient ground to experiment with Apis in those respiratory diseases which seem to be inherent in the prevailing genius of disease, and which are characterized by the very conditions which I have described. Who is not struck by the fact, that the same individual morbid process is reflected by different forms of disease,croup,whooping-cough,influenza,acute and chronic bronchial catarrh? The more essential the resemblance between these forms of disease and the medicinal power, the more certainly may we expect a cure. The medicinal power which seems to be most adequate to this end, is undoubtedly Apis. My observations in this respect are not sufficiently numerous to enable me to offer positive directions concerning the best mode of using the medicine in these diseases, or concerning the extent of the curative process or the complications that mayexist. All I can do is to recommend Apis for further experiments in this range, and to remind my brethren of the insufficiency of other drugs, which has been a source of trouble to us in the past ten years. Every body who has watched the course of these diseases during this period, must have seen the difference existing between the present and the past character of the symptoms. It must, therefore, be a source of satisfaction to all of us, to have found in Apis an agent that is capable of filling up the gap.
My observations regarding the curative virtues of Apis in urinary, uterine and ovarian difficulties, and in rheumatism and gout, are not very extended. In the American Provings, symptoms 634 to 669, seem to point to urinary difficulties, and 685 to 695, to ovarian troubles; symptoms 697 to 727 to uterine derangements; and 837, 842, 867, 873, 874, 918, 919, 940, 942, 964, 969, to rheumatism and gout.
What little experience I have had in the employment of Apis in these diseases, is, however, sufficient to induce me to recommend the use of it for further and more enlarged knowledge.
I have had abundant opportunities of verifying the warning expressed in No. 721, "pregnant women should use the drug very cautiously." I am not acquainted with any drug which seems possessed of such reliable virtues regarding the prevention of miscarriage, more particularly during the first half of pregnancy, as Apis. I have often become an involuntary spectator of the power of Apis to effect miscarriage; for I had given it to honest womenwho did not know that they were pregnant, and where the fact of pregnancy was revealed to them by the subsequent miscarriage, which took place after one or two doses of Apis had been taken. Ever since I have made it a rule not to give Apis to females in whom the existence of pregnancy can be suspected in the remotest degree until the matter is reduced to a certainty, and the conduct of the physician can be determined upon in accordance with existing facts.
I am unable to say how far this power inherent in Apis, of producing miscarriage, may be serviceable to females who are prone to miscarriage.
I beg the privilege of adding a more general warning to this particular one. The more generally useful a thing is, the more liable is it to abuse. The most important and useful discoveries of homœopathy are abused in this manner by our age given to all sorts of excesses.
Not only are the records of homœopathy ransacked by speculative minds, who use her advantages for personal gain without giving due credit to the source whence the good things are obtained. This species of egotism may perhaps be excused in consideration of the use which this kind of plagiarism affords, even if whole volumes should be filled with it. But if the stolen property is paraded before the world as something belonging to one's self by right divine; if official influence is abused for the purpose of dressing up that which rightfully belongs to our science, as some original discovery, thus caricaturing and disfiguring the beauty of the genuine blessing;then good is changed to evil, and the evil is the greater, the more comprehensive the truth that is so shamefully abused. It is absurd and may entail sad consequences upon the world, if the rational use of Apis is to be converted to the irrational proceedings of the so-called specific method, which is often practised by men who, knowing better, purposely conceal the truth from the world. For years past, I have been called upon again and again, by patients who had been in the hands of these men, and who had been drenched with medicine, and had had all sorts of disastrous complications engendered in their poor bodies, to afford them some relief from these tortures inflicted by physicians who do not hesitate to assail the health of their patients by massive doses of drugs, of which they often know nothing but the name.
With these facts before me, nobody can find it strange that I should feel some misgivings in laying before the world a drug endowed with such extensive virtues. Apis is one of those drugs, the abuse of which may prove as destructive as the use of it is a source of saving good. It is no anti-psoric, nor is it capable of antidoting the three miasms, or of inflicting medicinal diseases for life. Nevertheless, it is a deeply and speedily-acting drug, for it affects the whole internal mucous membrane, the nervous system, and the process of sanguification, thus disturbing the health for a long time. Its primary aggravating action, its deeply penetrating interference with the existing morbid process, which may lead to errors in diagnosis, and its power toexhaust the reactive energies of the organism prematurely, render it a very dangerous agent. These circumstances go to show that such an agent, in the hands of the partizans of the Specific School, may be as dangerously and injuriously abused as other important drugs have been. I cannot sufficiently warn my readers against such distressing abuses. Only he is protected from the danger of imitating such shameful absurdities, who listens to the words of our master: