The Science of Therapeutics - Classical Homeopathy Online

Full text of "The Science of Therapeutics: According to the Principles of Homeopath...Page 245 of 653effect a cure. Without doubt it often helps to kindle a reactionwhich is a necessary preliminary to the curative action of otherdrugs. Whether intermittent pneumonia can be reached by China,is not yet settled ; this recommendation is very much like the OlSchool recommendation of China for all typical or intermittentparoxysms. In pulmonary abscess it can only be depended uponfor its general, not for its local symptoms.Carbo vegetabilis. Few remedies in our Materia Medica exertsuch a marked and energetic action upon the lungs as Carbo ; andwill still prove efficient even in the most desperate cases. We cnot here transcribe the number of symptoms referring to the respiatory act, but we would urge upon every physician the proprietyof making himself thoroughly acquainted with them in the MateriaMedica. The general tendency of Carbo is to extinguish the reactive energies of the organism and to develop, at the same time, atendency to decomp)Osition and decay. From this stand-point therelation of Carbo to pneumonia can most easily be explained andaccounted for. It is the third or suppurative stage that presentssymptomatic picture for the employment of Charcoal. The patientsseem listless, covered with a profuse and cool perspiration, theis very rapid and small, without resistance ; the tongue is dry,the patients do not seem very thirsty; they pass foul, decayingdiarrhoeic stools ; their breath has a foul odor, decubitus threato break out ; the respiration is superficial, a loud rattling isin the chest, yet, in spite of the distressing cough, the patientnot raise the least particle of any thing. All the symptoms pointincipient paralysis. A bloated countenance, with injection of thefacial veins, is a striking indication for Carbo. Such conditionsapt to set in among older people, to whom Carbo is an importantremedy generally. If pneumonia assumes a chronic form ; if abscesand gangrene set in ; if the sputa become fetid and badly coloredno remedy is likely to afford the least help, if Carbo fails us.286 Diseases of the Lungs.course, an imniediate improvement must not be expected ; the character of the disease renders such a thing impossible. Among thecomplications, Carbo is indicated by every process that interferewith the pulmonary circulation. Hence, we find it such an excellent remedy in the pneumonia of emphysematous individuals, whereit is undoubtedly preferable to Arsenic; likewise in pneumoniacomplicated with defects of the right heart ; and finally in pneumonia where the inflamed lung is suffering from chronic catarrh.In such cases the chances of a favorable termination are sometimeexclusively confined to the employment of Charcoal. It is likewisexcellent in cases of pneumonia complicated with acute bronchitisIn such cases it is principally the dry and spasmodic cough, attewith mucous rales in the chest and occurring chiefly at night, wisoreness and a burning pain, that points to Carbo, and makes it avaluable remedy in the malignant forms of influenza, especially oolder people. The resemblance of Carbo to China is very great,extending even to. the presence of bilious symptoms ; neverthelesin a given case, the selection is not so very difiicult, providedabove-described general range of action is kept in view. FromTartar emetic to which Carbo bears likewise a great deal of resemblance, this drug is best distinguished by the circumstance thatwith Tartar emetic the expectoration is possible and afibrds relihttp://www.archive.org/stream/sciencetherapeu00kafkgoog/sciencetherapeu00kafkgoog_djvu.txt