A boy, aged twelve, of the illustrious Gupta family of Benares City, had a fall and denuded his left kneecap of its skin. The abrasion healed nicely within four or five days; but a few days after it had healed a large bulla appeared just over the patella, and after a week another one appeared about eight inches higher up on the thigh, an inch to the left of the perpendicular line from the patella. In the Simla Hills the surgeons first tried to heal them with ointment, but in vain, and they declared them to be Oriental ulcers, which cannot be cured without operation.
They curetted, cauterized and dressed without the aid of chloroform; but just a month later the ulcers again appeared, one after another and again the best surgeons of Benares, being of the same opinion as their Simla brethren, scraped, cauterized and dressed, and once more they were healed within a fortnight. But in another month the first bulla made its appearance once more. The boys guardians called me on December 5,1922, to try homoeopathic medicines in this supposedly surgical case. I gave one dose of Staphysagria 1m; three days later Kali iod. 200 was given, and still three days later I found that the ulcer was softer than before and gave a dose of Kali iod. 10m.
After twenty-four hours it burst, but the second bulla on the thigh made its appearance and also opened spontaneously within three or four days. On December 26th I found both the ulcers healed, but surrounded by a deep purple color around the scar tissue. I now gave a dose of Lachesis 200. The boy having a family history of phthisis and being delicate and of pigeon- chested frame, with black eyes and long eye lashes, very intelligent playful, I now gave Lecithin, three doses only within a week.
But a week later the first bulla reappeared. I waited to see whether it would open of its own accord, but in vain. On the fifth of February I repeated the Kali iod. 10m., and the bulla opened after twenty-four hours and the second bulla did not appear at all, as it had before. Until now no other medicine has been required and no recurrence of the ulcer has taken place nor have any of his former ailments appeared. For this prescription of Kali Iodatum I am indebted to Dr.Farrington.
