
Organon 1879 vol. 02. OPHTHALMIC STUDIES. No. 4. p. 66, By E. W. BERRIDGE, M. D.
Case 6.- Syphilinum. -Mrs. —, suffering from diabetes mellitus, and subject to rheumatism in rainy weather, consulted me February 5th, 1878. For ten days she had had neuralgia every night, beginning between eight and nine p.m., gradually increasing in severity till it reached its height about three or four a.m., and after continuing thus for at least two or three hours, gradually decreasing, and finally ceasing about ten a.m. These attacks have been getting worse from the first, and the last attack was the longest. The symptoms of the paroxysms are as follows: —First she feels cold all over, almost a shiver; then there is a soreness, as if beaten in right half of head, extending a little beyond middle line on vertex; in about thirty minutes more there is scalding lachrymation from right eye, with shooting-backwards increasing to a boring backwards therein; the eye is very red, and closes, with photophobia. The pains extend down right side of face and the whole of the nose, and in these regions are of a gnawing character. The head is worst when the eye is bad. During the paroxysm, the right eye feels as if the lids were open widely and cold air blowing on the exposed eye. She perceives the appearance of a horizontal band across pupil of right eye, hindering the sight thereof; this came on soon after the paroxysms commenced. The eye feels easier by placing a handkerchief on head and letting it hang down over the eye; it is also relieved by gentle pressure, though she cannot bear much pressure. It is more painful when lying on the right (the affected) side, when also the right side of head feels sore. The attack seems to have originated from sitting at a window where there was a cold draught, the right eye being next the window. Today (8 p.m.) the right eye is still red, and red vessels run all over it, converging towards iris; right pupil is horizontally oval; right iris looks dull, and there is & slight brown hue round pupil. Left eye is perfectly normal. Had been taking Calc-phosph. 12 for some time for the diabetes, but nothing for the eye.
Diagnosis of Remedy. -Taking the eye symptoms as the most important, this being the organ which was chiefly affected, my Eye Repertory gave the following symptoms under Right Eye :Page 76. Coldness. Asar., Croc., Lith-c., Paris, Plat., Stram., Sulph.
Page 76. Hot lachrymation. Bell., Kali-nitr., Natr.-s, Spig.
Page 84. Backwards-shooting. Bell., Graph., Hyper., Lac-fel.
Page 76. Redness. Alum., Apis., Bell., Calc., Camph.,
Carb.-an., Cinnab., Coccus., Con., Cotyl., Eugen., Hura., Iрес., Lac-fel., Merc.-bin., Nitr.-ac., Phos., Sep., Stram., Verat., Zinc.
Page 80. Closing. Caust., Dig., Gins., Hyper., Lyc., Magn.-m., Zinc.
Page 85. Pains from Eye to Nose. Allium-cepa.
Page 85. Pains from Eye to Face. Eluor.-ac., Jacarand. Page 176. Worse by light. Apis., Bell., Ignat., Lac-fel.
Page 291. Relief by covering. Thuya.
Page 296. Relief by pressure. Petiv.
The other symptoms were not to be found under Right Eye.
Bell., therefore, stood in the first place, having four of the above symptoms, in addition to which it has chill before head symptoms, and shooting-backwards in right eye worse at night. Nevertheless there was a strong contraindication to its administration. The pains increased and decreased gradually. Now, though Bell. has produced a dental and an abdominal pain in which this peculiarity is noticed, it is not characteristic of this drug; on the contrary, it is a characteristic of Bell. that the pains come and go suddenly. It is to the rule, not to the exception, that we must look when we call in the aid of analogy; therefore, inasmuch as there were many symptoms of the case to which Bell. did not correspond, I studied it further. The nocturnal aggravation was very marked, and as far as could be ascertained it began to decrease about daybreak, the sun rising on Feb. 5th, 1878, at 7.34 a.m. This, conjoined with the fact that the syphilitic virus produces a severe form of iritis, decided me in selecting Syphilinum as the most similar remedy, and I gave the patient one dose of C M (Swan) at 3 p.m.
6th. 2-30 p.m. The paroxysm commenced last night about the same time as before, but was slighter; it did not reach its height till about 5 a.m., lasting thus for about two hours, though not nearly so bad as in former attacks, and ceasing by 7 or 8 a.m. The lachrymation and photophobia were less, and the feeling of & cold wind was much less. Eye appears to-day (2-30 p.m.) less red than it did yesterday.
7th. Yesterday, at 11 p.m., eye began to water, and there were a few shoots in it; this lasted for thirty minutes, when it all ceased. There was no paroxysm; no chilliness or feeling of a cold wind. A little pain in nose during night, none in face; some pain in head. To-day there is a pain in right inner canthus as if the blood went there and could not go further, and a similar pain in right temple. [Query, effect of Syphilinum ; compare Baryt-carb., Chel., Helleb., Spig., Sulph.] Much less redness and photophobia; iris looks clearer, but pupil still oval. Appetite better.
' 8th. Yesterday, at 11 p.m., lachrymation of eye, and one or two shoots in it, for fifteen minutes; a little of the cold wind sensation; some pain in right side of head and face, but no paroxysm. Today, at 1 p.m., scalding lachrymation from eye, with shooting therein, followed by shooting from around eye to eye, with redness of eye; this lasted about an hour, then decreased, and ceased about 8 p.m. Now (7 p.m.) feels pretty well; very little redness; pupil still oval. Has rheumatic pains about her, the weather being foggy.
9th. No attack at all last night, and slept better. Is sitting up today and feels stronger. Today, at 1 p.m., there was scalding lachrymation and shooting in eye, followed by shooting from around eye to eye; she could not open the eye, which looked red; it remained bad about an hour; now (2-40 p.m.) it is passing off; this attack of today is not so bad as that of yesterday. No more cold air feeling. Head a little painful.
11th. No more attacks. Has had a little pain in head and eye; a good deal of lachrymation, but not scalding. Stronger; sleep fair, and appetite good. Pupil rounder. Can bear light fairly. Scarcely any redness. No pain in nose; only a little in face below eye.
18th. No more attacks till today, when at 1 p.m. there was hot lachrymation of eye, pain over eye, eye closed, tender, and a little red; this lasted about an hour, then decreased; now (3-15 p.m.) nearly gone; this attack was much less severe than before. Brown appearance of iris gone; pupil rounder. Appearance of the band much less. A little pain in right side of head yesterday; to-day in shoulders and arms. (Rainy last night and this morning.)
15th. Eye very comfortable yesterday; today a little smarting. No more paroxysms of any kind. The band was very slight yesterday; gone to-day. Pupil nearly round. Head tolerably well. For two days, if she turns eye to the left, feels coldness in inner half of right eye for a moment. [Query, effect of Syphilinum.] Rheumatic pains in limbs. (Weather rainy.) 18th. No more attacks. Eye waters a little at night. On waking, gum in canthi of right eye. Occasional shooting in eye. The coldness mentioned in last report nearly gone. Pupil rounder. Rheumatic pains in feet and left arm.
21st. Scarcely any lachrymation; no cold feeling, or gum, or appearance of a band. Very little pain in or round eye. Gets better every day. Pupil nearly round and more dilated than the left one. Rheumatic pains in limbs still. On walking across room, right eye is sensitive to the air, and still aches a little if she uses it.
26th. Lachrymation almost gone. A little pain on 24th (foggy weather). Pupil nearly natural. Much less sensitive to air, and can use eye better. Less rheumatism in limbs, the weather being fine.
April 6th. No return of the paroxysms. Pupils natural. Only occasional lachrymation of eye after using it or from cold wind ; a little pain and a little cold feeling in it at times. Eye otherwise well. Still has rheumatic pains in limbs.
1879, Feb. 28th. Patient informed me that the eye has been quite free from the paroxysms, though still painful from cold wind and fogs, which also give her neuralgia in head; eye waters a little ; no cold feeling in it.
Comments (1.) The question naturally arises, Are the cases which Syphilinum cures invariably of a syphilitic origin? It is a difficult matter to decide, since, though we may in many cases positively state the presence of this virus, in others our knowledge is merely negative, it being beyond our ken to trace the morbid history of three or four preceding generations. But inasmuch as Hydrophobinum will cure symptoms not resulting from hydrophobia, Glanderinum symptoms not consequent on glanders, Variolinum symptoms with which variola has no connection, we may safely conclude that the curative range of these nosodes is not limited to the diseases from which they are taken. Were it so, we should expect to find by analogy that Aconitum in potency would only cure symptoms produced by the crude drug; and we should require, in order to cure disease, to resort solely to the use of dynamized morbific agents.
(2.) The power of highly dynamized drugs or nosodes to cure the symptoms arising from the crude drug or virus is proved. Some of our opponents, however, finding that facts are too strong for them, have resorted to another argument, and insisted that in this matter we are departing from the principles laid down by Hahnemann, whom we profess to follow, and that in fact we are practicing Isopathy and not Homoeopathy. But those who thus argue evince an ignorance of the true meaning of the terms which they employ. The difference between the simile and the idem is great. The former admits of an indefinite number of degrees; the latter of none. To attempt to cure the evil effects of vaccination by revaccinating the child with the same virus, would be an instance of Isopathy; the horrible Allopathic practice of syphilization for the cure of syphilis is akin to it. But seeing that the high potencies possess properties not manifested by the lower, or the crude drug or virus, they must be considered as different; hence are a simillimum, but not an idem. This argument is also fortified, and the principle here contended for thoroughly established by our Master, who says (Chronic Diseases, vol. i.) :— "In the subsequent list of anti psoric remedies, no isopathic remedies are mentioned, for the reason that their effects on the healthy organism have not been sufficiently ascertained. Even the itch miasm (Psorinum), in its various degrees of potency, comes under this objection. I call Psorinum a homoeopathic anti psoric, because if the preparation of Psorinum did not alter its nature to that of a homoeopathic remedy, it never could have any effect upon an organism tainted with that same identical virus. The psoric virus, by undergoing the processes of trituration and shaking, becomes just as much altered in its nature as gold does, the homoeopathic preparations of which are not inert substances in the animal economy, but powerfully acting agents. Psorinum is a simillimum of the itch virus. There is no intermediate degree between idem and simillimum; in other words, the thinking man sees that simillimum is the medium between simile and idem. The only definite meaning which the terms isopathic and equale can convey, is that of simillimum; they are not idem." This declaration clearly proves two things; first, that HAHNEMANN approved of the use of dynamized nosodes, provided they had first been proved on the healthy; and, secondly, that he regarded their use for the cure of their corresponding diseases as homoeopathic. Let those who deny that dynamization thus alters and develops the power of a drug, —so that in fact every potency differs a little from another, the higher including the lower,— try to cure a case of poisoning by simply repeating the dose! To those who reject the use of dynamized nosodes as "nasty," and yet uphold, and even compulsorily insist on, the beastly practice of poisoning healthy children with crude vaccine, contaminated, for what they can tell, with any amount of horrible human disease, I have nothing to say-they are beyond the reach of logical argument.
(3.) Having shown that a dynamized nosode may be successfully used, when homoeopathically indicated, even in cases which have no evident origin in the corresponding disease; and that its use in the corresponding disease itself is truly homoeopathic, we are led to the investigation of a third problem, viz., whether it will cure every case of the corresponding disease. Dr. Swan says "Morbific matter will cure the disease which produced it, if given in the highest attenuation, and to any other than the person from whom it was obtained." In Dudgeon's Lectures, however, we find & quotation from Archwes xili., 3, where C. Hering is reported to have said that anti-psorinum, or Psorinum, prepared from the patient's own body, acts better than a preparation from any other source;—a statement at variance with the latter clause of Swan's generalization. The former clause is supported not only by clinical experience, but also by the analogous instances of the cure of cases of poisoning by higher potencies of the same drug; but here we meet with a practical difficulty. It has been argued that Syphilinum is really "proved" in every case of syphilis; Diphtherinum in every case of diphtheria, etc., etc., so that when our diagnosis is clear, the treatment is obvious. But here is just the insurmountable barrier. We may indeed diagnose a case as syphilitic, but who can tell infallibly whether all the symptoms of the patient are due to the syphilitic virus alone, or whether some are not due to psora, or to sycosis, or to alcoholism, or to allopathic medication, or, in short, to any other cause? Even admitting (which some doubt) the unity of the syphilitic virus, it must not be forgotten that its effects must always be modified by the constitution of the individual who is inoculated thereby. Two cases may be cured with Nitric-acid and Coral.-rubrum respectively; these cases cannot be the same, else the same remedy would have cured both; how, then, could a nosode prepared from one be identical with a nosode prepared from the other? Individualization is the very soul of Homoeopathy. Not having any provings of the nosodes, I have up to the present time given them according to Swan's generalization, only in cases where the symptoms did not clearly point to any one remedy, in which cases they were as much a simile as anything else. My experience thus far has been that I have never succeeded in curing, but only in ameliorating the symptoms by this method, which coincides to a great degree with a statement attributed by Dudgeon to C. Hering (Archives xiv., 3, 146). I have also noticed that the earlier the nosode is given in the course of the disease, the greater has been its curative power; this, doubtless, arises from the fact that the " disease" then exists in its most uncomplicated form, the other latent dyscrasias in the system not having yet been roused to activity by it, and hence the " similar" nosode more nearly then approaches a simillimum. In my opinion a nosode must of necessity be always a simile to its corresponding disease, but only a simillimum to individual cases thereof; so that, in order to use them with the greatest scientific accuracy, we should first procure the nosode from a case as uncomplicated as possible (and, when practicable, always use that stock for the preparation of our potencies), and secondly, prove these potencies on the healthy, adding cautiously those symptoms of the " disease" which multiplied experiments have proved to belong to that virus alone.* (4.) This case, like Case I., illustrates the rule that, in periodical diseases, it is best to give a single dose during the intermission, and as soon after the paroxysm as possible.
(5.) The paroxysm immediately following the dose, though it commenced at the usual time, obtained its height later, and was less severe. The next paroxysm commenced later, and was very slight. This case, like Case I., confirms Ballard's statement quoted in "THE ORGANON," ii., 65. The same phenomenon was observed in my case of pneumonia, reported in the July number thereof; and I have just cured another case of paroxysmal cough, etc., coming on at 5 a.m., where the same peculiarity was noticed after the medicine was given. Is this an universal law of the curative action of remedies in periodical diseases?
(6.) Although the pupil was rendered irregular, no application of Atropine to the eye for the purpose of dilating the iris was necessary; the homoeopathic remedy alone was sufficient.
(7.) The pains in this case were characterized by their gradually increasing and gradually decreasing. This peculiarity I have noticed in another, a rheumatic, case, now under treatment, and greatly relieved by Syphilinum. The pain in eye was also worse when lying on the affected side ; this symptom is not to be found at present in our Materia Medica. The opposite symptom of relief to eye symptom from lying on the painful side is also absent, but I have cured it with Zincum in two remarkable cases hereafter to be published in this series of "Ophthalmic Studies." Verifications of these conditions are solicited.
(8.) The peculiar nocturnal aggravation, so prominent a feature of the above case, is a key-note of Syphilinum. It is not a casual condition belonging to only a few symptoms thereof, but, like the 4 p.m. aggravation of Lyc., the 3 a.m. aggravation of Kali, and the 10 a.m. aggravation of Natr-mur., runs through a large portion of its semiology; hence is characteristic.
(9.) A facetious colleague, to whom I communicated the above cure, replied, "Poor Homoeopathy! Is it to be elbowed out of existence by your new-fangled Syphilinopathy? If Syphilinum will cure rheumatic ophthalmia, why should it not also cure typhoid fever and Bright's disease?" No reason why indeed-if the symptoms of the patient correspond. In the above case I did not treat "rheumatic ophthalmia;" I treated the individual patient; and finding in her symptoms certain characteristics, which I never found before in this "disease," and may never observe again, I gave the simillimum, and the result was— a CURE! If in a case of typhoid or Bright's disease symptoms are found indicating Syphilinum, then, but only then, let it be given, and relief will surely ensue. This is not Syphilinopathy any more than giving Aconitum in rheumatic ophthalmia, when indicated, is Aconitopathy; it is the purest Homœopathy, and on the Homoeopathic law alone do we all give the nosodes.
Add comment
Comments