The Science of Therapeutics - Classical Homeopathy Online

Full text of "The Science of Therapeutics: According to the Principles of Homeopath...Page 543 of 653speedily to death, or else it makes pauses, a portion of the seruthat had been poured out into the cellular tissue or the cavitiesbeing reabsorbed. This may result from a transitory cessation ordiminution of the obstruction in the circulation, or from copiousexcretions of urine, watery discharges from the bowels, oozingthrough cracks in the skin, or from a general invigoration of thewhole organism. Death generally takes place by cedema of theHydropsia. 647lungs or brain. Recovery is attended with copious discharges ofurine, very rarely with diarrhoea alone.The Prognosis depends upon the chances of removing or neutralizing the primary obstruction or derangement.The treatment has to be chiefly directed against removing thecause ; if this is not possible, it has to be almost purely symptor palliative. The causal indication is met by the remedies thathave been indicated when the affections of the various organs wertreated of; we need not repeat them in this place. Symptomatica!we shall have to select remedies capable of stimulating the diminished action of the kidneys, or of the circulatory organs, and, bthis means, of promoting indirectly the absorption of the fluid.We possess a tolerable number of such remedies which sometimeshelp to diminish dropsy depending upon some incurable disease,and by which means Homceopathy enjoys a striking advantage overany other method of treatment. In mentioning these remedies, wewill accompany them with short statements, for there are so manypossible groups of symptoms, that it is impossible to furnish speindications upon an extensive scale. Moreover, the chronic natureof the disease enables us to compare the remedies in our MateriaMedica with all proper attention.Arsenicum album is our most important diuretic. It is suitablein all forms of dropsy, more particularly in dropsy def)ending upheart-disease, and oedema of the lungs. After giving Arsenicum^ acopious diuresis will sometimes set in with astonishing rapidity,after which the dropsical swelling speedily disappears. The resulis most doubtful, if we have only ascites to contend against. Inasmuch as the medicine shows its good effect in a few days alreadafter a few doses had been taken, it is useless to continue it folonger period, in the vain hope of eliciting good effects from itpersisting in its use.Digitalis purpurea is much less reliable than Arsenicum, althoughit is much easier to determine the indications for its use. It isparticularly useful in dropsy depending upon, or accompanied by ahigh degree of general debility ; the dropsy is caused by pulmonaor cardiac disease. Digitalis is never indicated for ascites alonbut so much more specifically for oedema of the lungs. The natureof the exciting causes is such that Digitalis can only act as a ptive ; if small doses remain ineffectual, larger doses should besorted to before the medicine is discontinued.China is particularly useful in dropsy setting in after debilitathttp://www.archive.org/stream/sciencetherapeu00kafkgoog/sciencetherapeu00kafkgoog_djvu.txt