The keynote or
characteristic indications of the materia medica.
By Henry Newell Guernsey, M. D.
Presented by Sylvain Cazalet
Dr H. N. Guernsey
I have been urged
frequently, and by quite a number of my professional brethren, by
letter, and otherwise, to publish what I consider to be characteristic
symptoms or keynotes of our remedies. Judging, therefore, that it might
be of some benefit to the profession, I partially yield to the
flattering request, and propose to publish, from month to month, in the
columns of the Hahnemannian Monthly, the more striking points or
features of pathogeneses, which govern me-to a great extent-in the
selection of the properly homœopathic remedy.These I shall jot down
from memory, as I sit, in moments of leisure, at my desk. I cannot hope
to make a complete work, as there are, doubtless, many points that would
come to me at the bed-side and in special cases, which memory will not
bring to me as I may wish to write, and hence. I shall fail to
transcribe them. I shall, at the same time, refrain, as far as possible,
from repeating what has been already given as characteristics or
key-notes of remedies, in my recent work on obstetrics.When a characteristic
symptom or key-note presents itself in a given case, it means that the
whole case is to be studied with reference to the remedy which
correspondingly has that symptom or condition. Not that the totality of
the case is to be disregarded, but that the characteristic presented is
a key or key-note to the remedy that is almost certain to exhibit, in
its pathogenesis, the tout-ensemble of the given case.Still, there are cases
of so much urgency, that if the key-note presents itself fully, we may
venture to prescribe with a very great degree of certainty, upon that
indication alone ; e. g. in a
case of uterine hæmorrhage, if we observe that the patient is in a
condition of great fearfulness-becomes desperate through fear-we might
say Aconite is indicated, and prescribing it, we would find that the
hæmorrhage ceases, the mental anguish is relieved, and all the
disordered condition will be removed, inversely as it has appeared. I
have made it a rule, upon observing a marked improvement in the key-note
symptom or condition, or that it entirely passes away, to not repeat the
remedy or make a new selection, but to quietly await for a greater or
lesser period, the result.I shall take up the
remedies in alphabetical order, commencing with Aconite,
and shall continue, if I receive any encouragement to do so until my
small store is exhausted.
ACONITE.
This is, probably, by
far the most frequently indicated of all the remedies of the Materia
Medica, for suddenly appearing and violent inflammations, particularly
if occurring in cold weather.It will also be found
curative in all chronic affections, as catarrhs, coughs, dyspnœa,
spitting of blood, pains in the chest, etc., if these can be distinctly
traced as resulting from a chill in dry, cold air, as from being in a
dry, cold room for some time, or from a long drive on a clear, cold day.An important
characteristic indication for this remedy is that the patient is
manifestly and continuously in the influence of fear. He is afraid to go
out, to go where there is any excitement or many people, or to cross a
street. His life, in fact, rendered miserable by this all pervading
fearfulness. The countenance exhibits strong and unmistakable expression
of fear.
Vertigo
on
assuming an erect position. (Also Opium
and Glonoine). If the patient sits
up in bed, he immediately falls over in consequence of vertigo, arid he
is afraid to rise again lest the same trouble should recur.Cramp, or sensation of
pressure, at the root of the nose (glabellum) ; a source of much
distress.Sensation as if the
hairs of the head were standing on end ; the scalp is sensitive to
the touch.Eyes are in a condition
of irritation ; much inflamed and painful ; resulting from
foreign bodies having got into them or from reflected light, as when
walking in day-time over the snow.Red face, with feeling
as if it had grown larger.Everything-except
water-has a bitter taste. Water tastes naturally. Burning sensation
extending from the mouth, throughout the entire extent of the
œsophagus, to the stomach (also Mer. corr. sub.).Cutting, lancinating,
burning and tearing pains in the abdomen, with anguish and fear.Incarcerated hernia
with bitter taste, or bilicum vomiting.Bilious diarrhœa of
infants, with colic, which no position or circumstance relieves. The
colic is removed, and the diarrhœa is speedily checked, even after a
single dose.Retention of urine,
from cold, particularly in children, with much crying and restlessness.
After a single dose, the distress is soon relieved, and the urine
subsequently flows freely and naturally.
Aconite
often restores the menses of plethoric women, after their suppression
from any cause.Constant, short and dry
cough, with sensation as if suffocation would occur ; every
inspiration seems to increase the difficulty.Stitches in the chest,
hindering respiration. He cannot breathe freely in consequence of a
sensation as if the lungs would not expand. He frequently takes a deep
respiration, inconsequence of this, which, however, is rather
unsatisfactory.The patient fears
death, and predicts the day of its occurrence. An erect posture causes
deathly paleness of the face.
Aconite
is
indispensable in cases of scarlet fever, where there is dry skin and
very great restlessness and distress ; the patient is frequently
obliged to sit erect in bed, in consequence of dyspnœa. Here it is
sometimes necessary to repeat the remedy, in water, every two or three
hours.
Source :
Hahnemannian Monthly, 1868.
Copyright © Sylvain
Cazalet 2001
