The Science of Therapeutics - Classical Homeopathy Online

Full text of "The Science of Therapeutics: According to the Principles of Homeopath...Page 271 of 653scarcely ever borne by asthmatic individuals. Substances that areused for smoking, constitute another series of remedies. In thiscase, however, we deal with thoroughly homoeopathic remedies,such as Tobacco, Iodine, Stramonium, Ilyoscyamus. Tobacco can,of course, be useful only to persons who do not smoke, ladies, foinstance, to whom we recommend for such purposes the smallpaper-cigarettes used by Russian and Spanish ladies. Smokers, onthe contrary, mix the cut leaves of Stramonium or Hyoscyamuswith their tobacco, sometimes with surprising effect ; or they smIodine-cigarettes. The use of these remedies is justifiable, becathey afford relief to the patient, nor should they be discarded uwe have better remedies to recommend in their stead. Very oftenwe accomplish our purpose with the inhalation of simple vapors ofwater. The method of introducing appropriate remedies directlyinto the respiratory organs by means of an inhaler, has not yet bsatisfactorily verified as a superior proceeding.The main-point in the treatment of asthma is to meet the diseasein its totality. As a matter of course, the selection of the remeis not only governed by the symptoms between the paroxysms, butlikewise by the paroxysm itself and by the constitution of thepatient, and it is this indispensable consideration of so many ansuch varied conditions that renders the selection of the properremedy exceedingly difficult. In the subsequent paragraphs weAsthma. 817only furnish short indications for the selection of the most impotant remedies, since it is impossible to present these indicationwith anything like a satisfactory completeness.Araenicum album is undoubtedly the safest remedy for asthma ; itnot only corresponds to the simple spasmodic, uncomplicated asthma, but likewise to the secondary forms of asthma which owe theirexistence to the most diversified aiFections of a more primarycharacter. Arsenic is even used a great deal in domestic practiceand is highly commended by Old School practitioners. This remedylikewise shows very strikingly how the constant physiologicaleffects of a drug can be employed with mathematical certainty asremedial agents when employed according to the law of similarity.In slow arsenical poisonings, asthma always occura without an exception. "We dispense with the enumeration of individual symptoms, since every somewhat violent attack of asthma correspondsto Arsenic. Nor can we particularize the cases where asthmaoccurs as a mere symptom, since in such cases the selection of thremedy is chiefly determined by the character of the primary affetion. "We will state, however, that, in the asthmatic paroxysms otuberculous patients. Arsenic has always left us in the lurch. Itprincipally indicated by the following symptoms: The paroxysmalways sets in towards midnight or shortly after; it seems to begoverned by a tolerably fixed type, although asthmatic paroxysmsoccurring without any typical regularity do not exclude Arsenic;it reaches its acme with unusual rapidity. The more th^ patientsseem on the point of suffocating ; the more painful and distressitheir restlessness ; the more wheezing and louder their respiratithe more Arsenicum will be found appropriate. Accessory circumstances are: sudden access of a high grade of collapse with lividof the countenance, cold perspiration and a very frequent and smahttp://www.archive.org/stream/sciencetherapeu00kafkgoog/sciencetherapeu00kafkgoog_djvu.txt