Kent's - Classical Homeopathy Online

from heat and ameliorated from cold. That is the grand distinguishing feature in the dropsies andrheumatisms and many internal complaints. "Dropsy of serous membranes". Dropsy of the brain,pericardium, pleura, peritoneum; all of these arc distended with serum. And there is great suffering,great uneasiness. The inflammatory rheumatism is again like Apis, in that it takes on dropsy with it.Inflammation of the joints, of the ankle-joints, of the toes, of the fingers, inflammation of the joints allover the body. The swelling about the joint pits upon pressure like Apis. But with the scanty urine,want of sweat, with the febrile condition, he is all the time chilly, and wants the parts well wrappedwhere Apis wants them uncovered. One might say, "Why, that is only one symptom".All who do not perceive the difference between symptoms predicated of the patient andsymptoms predicated of the parts will see that as only one symptom with the rest of them. When hetakes up a case and works it out in the Repertory he will use it as one symptom. Yet that feature willsometimes rule out all the rest, because it is predicated of the patient and not predicated alone of hisparts. We have many remedies where the patient himself is ameliorated from heat. He wants to be inthe heat, he wants to be warm, and yet he wants cold applied to the part. But that which is the general isthe ruling feature, and if we do not know and distinguish the things that are general from the things thatare particular, we get our Materia Medica mixed up. We must distinguish the things that belong to thepatient himself from the things that belong to his parts. "Dropsy, with great thirst".This is a great medicine for the low forms of disease, such as typhoid and scarlet fever, and isuseful after lingering sicknesses. Patients become greatly prostrated, very chilly, very anemic, havegreat thirst, the urine becomes scanty, the skin becomes dry. It is a bad convalescence; he has notrecovered.Dropsy sets in; dropsy after scarlet fever, dropsy after typhoid fever. A low form of disease, liketyphoid fever, has kept him in bed for four or five weeks, and he is emaciated and prostrated, and nowhe does not again gain flesh, he has no appetite, but he drinks copiously; he seems to want nothing butwater. His skin commences to distend, fills up, and becomes dropsical. That is like Apis, and Apiswould be indicated provide he was always hot, and wanted to be uncovered, and wanted cold things.The mental symptoms of this remedy have not been brought out.We only know a few clinical symptoms, and they are of little importance. It has cured thatpeculiar kind of stupor belonging to hydrocephalus, but we do not know what kind of a primary case ofbrain disease this remedy would fit, because of lack of provings. We only know the condition after ithas existed for a long time, that is, for weeks; rolling the head and tossing about, and he is greatlyemaciated. The little one has chills and fever along with it, and his skull is beginning to distend, thefrontanelles are growing wider; then we begin to think of some of those remedies capable of curingdropsy in the shut sacs, and this is one of them. But we do not know the beginning. We do know thebeginning of Apis, but not of this remedy. Hahnemann's provings are full of particulars. He crossexaminedhis provers as to their modalities, the time their symptoms began, and where they ended.Many of the symptoms he felt upon himself, because he proved many remedies. Hahnemann had asensitive constitution and deep perception, and his provings gave him an insight into medicines that hecould not have obtained in any other way. Those who prove medicines properly, conscientiously,prudently, learn more about Materia Medica than anyone else. They become inured to hardship, andlive longer there from. They are hardened to their environments, to their atmosphere, to theirassociates, and their surroundings. They are made better, and they may be able to perceive somethingof what Hahnemann perceived. But now-a-days provings are made and nothing recorded but commonsymptoms, that is, stomachache, nausea, headache, pain in the back, cold feet.Many of our remedies are not proved much further than that. What, when and how much, areleft out. The modalities are left out. The finer sensations are not described, because they are consideredemotional. "low spirited and bewildered. Feels as if she could do nothing but cry". We do not know theaffections of either the male or the female. We know the desires or aversions, mental or physical; andhence it may be said that this is only a partial proving and suitable only for those complaints that showthemselves upon the surface."Hydrocephalus, with great stupor". That is the last stage of it where there is great prostration,loss of flesh, stiffness of all the limbs, with dropsical swellings. Many times in hydrocephalus painsshoot along the nerves and attack the joints.Then it is that such remedies as Apis and Calc. carb. and this one take hold with wonderfuldepth. The first permanent and substantial indication that the remedy is working in a hydrocephaloidcase is that it increases the flow of urine, which has been scanty all the time. For hydrocephalus studyTuberculinum.The expression of the face is that of anguish. "Face bloated, puffed, swollen. Bloating under theeyes. Pitting upon pressure.