The Hahnemann Materia Medica, Vol. 1: Containing Introduction by J. J. Drysdale, M.D., Kali Bichromicum by J. J. Drysdale, M.D.,

Excerpt From The Hahnemann Materia Medica, Vol. 1: Containing Introduction By J. J. Drysdale, M.D., Kali Bichromicum By J. J. Drysdale, M.D., Aconitum Napellus By R. E. Dudgeon, M. D., Arsenicum By Francis Black, M.D As Before Said The Fundamental Objects In A Materia Medica Are Two, Viz. To Give A Faithful Narrative And Description Of The Effects Of Each Medicine, And Arrange That In Such A Form That Each Symptom May Be Found At Once. These Two Objects Tend To Counteract Each Other, And Therefore A Special Machinery Must Be Devised If We Are To Secure Them Both. Now, In Considering Natural Diseases Or Natural Groups Of The Effects Of Medicines, We Observe That Certain Symptoms Belong Evidently To The Organ Primarily Affected, Viz., Idiopathic Symptoms Others Again Depend Merely On The Sympathetic Derange Ment Of Some Other Organs Or Part, Viz., The Symptomatic Symptoms. Both These Classes Of Symptoms Belong Evi Dently To The Same Group, And Cannot Be Separated Without Destroying The Unity And Fidelity Of The Picture; But, In That Case, How Fares It With The Second Object Of The Schema, Viz., The Index Function? It Is Evidently Lost, And We Have No Guide To The Symptoms. Hitherto In HandBooks The First Object Has Been Sacrificed To The Second, And The Symptoms Have All Been Cut Up And Arranged Under The Organs Where They Occur, And No Intimation Given Whether They Originated There Or Not. To Obviate This Evil, I Propose, A Very Simple Remedy, Viz. To Separate The Index Function From The Descriptive, And Then In Each Division We Shall Have Two Classes Of Symptoms: One Those Belonging To The Organs Under Con Sideration, And The Other Merely References To Other Parts Where Similar Symptoms Also Occur. By Adopting This Plan We At Once Get Over All Difficulty Which The Size Of Natural Groups Would Throw In Our Way. To Give An Example, Let Us Take AwellKnown Disease Or Natural Group Of Symptoms, Viz. Jaundice, Composed Of Yellow Skin And Conjunctiva, Pale Stools. Da