cholera infantum as a disease in Europe, but says, "the hydrocephaloid affection is prone to supervene upon infantile diarrhea, pneumonia and cerebral congestion." And then this view finds confirmation in the result of some of our most appropriate remedies for symptoms common to this stage of this disease, such as acon., apis., arsen., and helle.; and secondly, bell., bryo. and hyos. Remedies that seem most appropriate to derangements in sympathy and function between the cerebro-spinal centers and the genito-urinary apparatus. These remedies may not have cured a well-developed case of hydrocephalus, but they have been of inestimable service in the spurious form of that disease. And this result has been attained, not by virtue of any mere diuretic property, but through a specific curative relation to the tissues and functions which have been implicated. The keynote for canth. or apis. has been recognized in a troublesome stranguary or marked suppression of urinary flow. These remedies have been given and good results have followed. Other organs, as the brain, spinal cord and tissues of serous and mucous membranes, which have been involved in the diseased action, are relieved of embarrassment and the symptoms of evil omen are made to vanish. I will close this paper with the following quotation. Dr. Thomas Moore, in an article on the dietetics of infants, says: "The state of the system previous to the indications of disease had a decided influence upon the course, severity and danger of every case of sickness. And it is the great object of hygienic science to teach how to preserve a healthy integrity of life force, in order that the vital energy may thus be able to resist the influence of disease producing causes. The principal means of effecting this object is proper nutrition of the body." IPECACUANHA: PERTUSSIS-Dr. C. A. Williams: Ipecac 3x. Cough is accompanied with great anguish, with danger of suffocation and bluish face; nausea; rattling of mucus in bronchia. Conducted by W. A. Burr, M. D. Schirrus Cured. As published in the July number of the "Pacific Coast Journal of Homeopathy," Dr. George H. Martin, of San Francisco, makes record of a genuine cure of Schirrus of the right breast. The case had been examined by three physicians, who agreed as to the diagnosis. The treatment consisted of applications of solutions of common salt, of the administration of silica, conium, hydrastis, nitric acid, mercurius and kali phosphoricum as homeopathically indicated, and the use of central galvanization. This last was done by applying the positive pole over the epigastrium, and the negative up and down the spine, using the current as strong as the patient could comfortably bear for fifteen minutes three times a week. The doctor is positive the cure was really due to the homeopathic remedies, and could not have been effected by any other means. Auto-Intoxication Produces Mental Disturbances. Dr. S. Fuller writes on Auto-Intoxication as an Etiological Factor in the Production of Mental Disturbances. An article on this subject was read before the Boston Homeopathic Medical Society, and published in the June number of "The New England Medical Gazette." Dr. Fuller summarizes as follows: "First, Continued disturbances of digestion are responsible for some cases of some forms of insanity, by the entrance into the circulatory system of poisons formed as a result of indigestion. "Second, That while emotional disturbances may precede digestive disturbances in some cases, many cases of melancholia and mania, especially those of adolescence, are ushered in by digestive disturbances, and the resulting vitiation of the nuturitive fluids. For it is a fact that treatment directed to these conditions quite often prevents an attack. "Third, That certain substances which to a normal cerebrospinal system would be innocuous, to one more or less damaged by disease, acquired or inherited, may and often do prove most virulent toxic agents. "Fourth, That toxins introduced into the economy from without,—as, for instance, alcohol, opium, and the toxins of bacteria,— while they may produce vast organic changes, which may not result in mental breakdown, when combined with the chemical toxins produced in the body prove disastrous to mental equilibrium.” Opposed to the Germ Theory. Dr. J. M. Selfridge, of Oakland, is a strong disbeliever in the Germ Theory of Disease as generally accepted. He writes a strong article, confirmatory of his views on the subject which appears in the July number of the Pacific Coast Journal of Homeopathy. He concludes with the following resumé: 2. 3. 4. Germs are so numerous as to be wellnigh omnipresent. In the progress of decomposition, protplasm is changed into germs by the vital energy. 5. Bacteria do not occur in healthy blood or healthy tissue. 6. When germs are injected into the circulation, they quickly disappear. 8. The presence of germs in deep abscesses demonstrates that they are the result of local decomposition, 9. Environment changes the forms and species of bacteria. Germs are pathogenic only when they absorb pto IO. maines. II. In animals inoculated with ptomaines free from germs, micro-organisms will be found after their death. 12. The bacillus tuberculosis is not always present in patients who have died of consumption. 13. Diseases are frequently the result of auto-infection. 14. The demonstration that cleanliness is a necessity has been a boon to surgery. 15. Koch's theory, so far as he claims that the bacillus is the invariable and only etiological factor, is a failure." A Prime Characteristic Symptom. A married woman, aged 29, had given birth to her second child. The labor was normal, and she passed through the puerpural period without trouble of any kind. When the child was ten weeks old a headach gradually set in. There was pressure and heat on the vertex, and she was imbued with the idea that she was going crazy. This idea grew upon her, and although she felt well in other respects, and notwithstanding the protestations of her husband, the physicians and friends, she seemed to be constantly haunted with the hallucination that nothing would save her from becoming hopelessly insane. She took cimicifuga Ix for a few days, but with no perceptible relief. A careful examination showed a slight congestion and redness of the cervix uteri. In other respects the female organs were in a healthy condition. Calc. carb. 3x and gels. Ix. were prescribed, and in two days there was improvement; but as soon as the medicine was out she began to grow worse again. Evidently the calc. carb. was the remedy, and this was prescribed alone. She slowly but steadily improved as long as she took the remedy. Now, at the end of eight weeks, she is very nearly well. The actual amount of the carbonate of lime she took was very small; so small as to be almost insignificant in the eyes of physicians used to heroic doses. But it was prepared and administered according to homeopathic principles, and although the actual amount of the drug was small, it did the work well, and was in every way most satisfactory. Very probably a higher potency would have been followed by still better results. W. A. B. Cancer from Vaccination. A woman, to all appearance in perfect health, was vaccinated when she was 37 years old. The arm became very sore, lame, and almost paralyzed. Also some of the glands of the axilla became swollen and finally suppurated. She eventually recovered and was apparently well. Three years later, without any apparent cause, glandular swellings appeared in the axilla just where they had been after vaccination. These increased in size, had the characteristic cancer pains, and in a few months came to involve the whole breast. In three years she died, but there was no suppuration, neither was the integument over the cancer seriously involved. She had been repeatedly urged to have it removed surgically, but to this she would never consent. This would seem to be a plain case of cancer due to vaccination. Her immediate ancestors and relatives were all well, and not known to have ever had cancer or any similar disease. W. A. B. "It is not conceivable how the slightest dubiety could exist as to whether it was more consistent with nature and more rational to prescribe a single, well-known medicine at one time in a disease, or a mixture of several differently acting drugs."-Hahne mann. |