Boenninghausen's characteristics and repertory / translated, compiled, and augmented by C. M. Boger ; with a historical sketch of Boenninghausen's life by T. L. Bradford.

  • Bönninghausen, Clemens Maria Franz von, 1785-1864.
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Boenninghausen's characteristics and repertory / translated, compiled, and augmented by C. M. Boger ; with a historical sketch of Boenninghausen's life by T. L. Bradford. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    Whether or not we believe the psoric theory, the fact remains that the best selected remedy is often ineffectual unless preceded by the proper antipsoric, antisycotic or anti- syphilitic, as the case may be, but because of their almost identical symptom lists it is gen- erally chosen with difficulty by differentiating and searching out the few true characteristics. Drug diseases and poisonings do not differ in their health destroying power. The drug given should be ascertained and properly antidoted. Simple poisons are easily de- tected by their effects, but a drug disease is generally a compound result which fails to show a clear and accurate picture, hence a knowledge of the contents of former prescriptions taken is a necessity and lightens the labor. Practice has extracted and rendered ihe anamnesic symptoms easy of access, thus greatly restricting the list from which the selection is to be made, so that attention to but a few characteristics quickly determines an accurate choice. This is especially true of sprains, bruises, burns, etc. Colds are more complicated, because of the diverse manner in which they are contracted and the different parts which they affect point to different rem- edies; for instance, it makes a great difference whether they are contracted while sweating, by exposure of a part, being drenched all over or partly, etc. Various remedies must be considered according to whether the symptoms localize themselves internally (stomach, chest, abdomen, etc.), or externally (head, feet, back, etc.). Such remedies are not to be too readily thrown aside unless certainly found dissimilar in other respects.—So much depends upon aknowlege of the cause (Anamnesis) of disease, that without it the choice of a homoeopathic remedy cannot be made with safety: Aphorisms of Hippocrates, VII., 12. Homoeopathic prophylactics are tested and sure. The very remedies which cure the fully developed diseases will protect exposed persons. This is very important for the reason that incipient diseases are generally very lacking in the characteristics which deter- mine the choice. 6. The Modalities are the proper and most decisive modifiers of the characteristics, not one of which is utterly worthless, not eyen the negative ones. They have developed in importance with the growth of Homoeopathy. A superficial examination of any completely proven drug will reveal the common symptoms of all diseases, such as headache, bellyache, diarrhoea, eruptions, etc., etc. A little closer inspection of their sensations and relations to the different parts of the body establishes undoubted differences in the manner of their appearance, the modality. All ex- perienced homoeopatlis pay great attention to this point. It is self evident that the mo- dality must be specialized; it is not sufficient, for instance, to note the general effect of mo- tion in a given case, but the various kinds of motion, and whether they arise during con- tinued or at the start of movement must be known. Likewise, the general effect of posi- tion, such as lying on the side, back, crosswise, horizontally, etc., as well as the special dis- comfort or ease caused from lying on the painful or painless side, must be elicited in order to apply the most suitable remedy. The cravings and aversions to various foods furnish some of the most important points in deciding upon the remedy. When the symptoms seem to point out a particular remedy with which the modalities, however, do not agree, it is only negatively indicated and the physician has the most urgent reasons to doubt its fitness; he should, therefore, seek for another having the same symptoms. 7. The time is hardly less important than the aggravation and amelioration itself and could be of great use were the different stages of disease left undisfigured by drug influences,