I was led to write on the subject of this paper by a casual remark made by one of the ardent members of our Society. He stated that he “had never witnessed any of these miraculous one minute cures reported by homoeopaths”. That was a very frank statement. It certainly was an admission that he had never made such cures.
Without going into the psychology of such individuals, who are ardent homoeopaths and who have fought the legal battles of homoeopathy for years, but who, nevertheless, rage at miracles and high potencies, I will present a few cases fro my own practice-personal testimony that would be accepted in any court, and I am sure no member will challenge my veracity when I attest to these facts that I am about to set forth.
But first let me remind you that our literature is filled with records of miraculous cures, some of them rivaling the masters cures. I will not burden you with a bibliography, for such a record would require more than a days time to read. I will take time for only one quotation and that from my former teacher, the late James Tyler Kent, in his lecture on Ipecac, recorded in the second edition of his Materia Medica, page 576, as follows: “A single dose of any of these medicines (Acon., Bell., Ipecac., Phos., Scale, etc.) when indicated and placed on the tongue will check a haemorrhage…The haemorrhage will be checked so speedily that in your earlier experience you will be surprised. You will wonder if it is not possible that it stopped itself.” That is pretty strong language.
I can testify from my own experience to that statement. A patient with uterine haemorrhage who has a sickening faintness with every gush of blood with perhaps a severe backache, will respond almost instantly to a high potency of Ipecac 30th, 200th, 500, 5M, 10M. The 3 will act but not as quickly, because it is on the low, food plane.
I will digress for a moment to explain the fact. Man is a trinity; a physical, mental and spiritual concatenation. He is fed and nourished on the physical plane by all articles of diet, which are digested, prepared for entrance into the blood stream, and then distributed by the system of arteries, capillaries and veins. So too the nervous system is one of circulation but not of liquid, but a form of energy. That is why we require the potentization of medicines. They do not act so readily through the blood stream but, like electrical energy, through the nervous system. Even crude medicines have some of this dynamis.
No other explanation could account for the instantaneous action of hydrocyanic acid and the venom of the coral snake. A fraction of a drop of hydrocyanic acid placed on the tongue is fatal almost instantly. Perhaps that is why vitamins and hormones are so essential-they are necessary to feed the vital dynamis required of the nerve circulation. So too the spirit man needs food and is nourished not by blood nor by dynamic forces, but by the Word.
Getting back to miracle with homoeopathic medicine. I was called one evening to a patient in the country, with a ten-mile horseback ride before me through muddy black jumbo roads. Therefore it was late when I arrived, 11 p.m. The priest had already been there and departed, having given the unconscious man the last sacrament. A dead child lay on a pallet on the floor. Another child about twelve was still breathing-diphtheria. The mother sat on a chair in the corner dazed and helpless. It was the saddest picture in my experience-all living in a two-room prairie shack, a remnant of early days.
They were Bohemians and I could not understand the language. I had no one to interpret for me. The man who came to my office asking me to go on this visit said, “In two days they all get sick and die”. Symptoms were scarce. Sudden rapid prostration-I made a guess of Arsenicum, giving both patients the 500 (B. & T.) in water, and by pointing to the clock made the mother understand to give a teaspoonful every fifteen minutes, leaving just enough for eight doses each.
The next morning I returned to find quite a commotion. The neighbors were there from miles around, for the priest had been there again, and one of my patients, the husband, greeted him at the door. The good Father “threw up his hands”, so I was told, and exploded, “A miracle, a has been performed!” when they told him what had happened, that the “sugar doctor” was there the night before. Of course the neighbors all wanted to see the miracle.
The dead child had given antitoxin. If you know your materia medica you will despise antitoxin. If you dont know your materia medica you may save your patient with antitoxin-that is, be may get well. It is also a fact that you may kill you patient with the so-called antitoxin; (it is not anti but toxin.).
But let me assure you that when I am hunting big game I want a high power rifle and not a shotgun. And I also want to warn the hunter of dangerous game that if he is not a crack shot he had better stay out of the bush, at least until he has mastered the use of his weapon.
An emergency prescriber must be a “crack shot”. He has no time to change weapons. Dont “shoot” until you are sure of your remedy when treating diphtheria. Better wait twenty-four or thirty-six hours until the symptoms are clear rather than spoil your case and lose your patient. If there is not vitality enough for the symptoms to be manifested there is not vitality enough to cure anyway and you have the consolation at least that you have not destroyed the last chance of curing by spoiling the case. The late George Thacher was up against that problem with his own and only child. But he waited and waited, until some of his people were “up in arms” to “do something” (even if it kills, but do something, is the cry).
He answered them, “It is my boy and I alone bear the responsibility”. It was thirty-six hours or longer before he finally saw the remedy unfold, and then it was only a matter of minutes until his boy showed rapid improvement and got well. The doctor told me he was sure the boy would have died had he not remained firm. We lost one of our best prescribers, friend and credit to our profession, when George Thacher was called.
I once asked Dr. Kent what results he had treating diphtheria, and he replied with a smile on his face, and how his countenance lighted up when anyone hungry was seeking information, “Why, Schwartz, I have not even seen a case in person for possibly twenty-five years. I have prescribed for most of them over the telephone, and I have not lost one although I have treated many” Is that not miraculous?.
But to perform miracles with homoeopathic medicine one must know disease! Which means ITS NATURE; its onset, pace, velocity, periodicity and the trend in ultimates-its pathology. Then one must know his medicines; their nature; their pace, velocity, violence periodicity and physiological correspondence to the patient and the patient and the organs involved. Is the disease rapid or slow; violent or indolent; remittent, intermittent or continued; is it septic; what is its periodicity or cycle; what is the thermal state (is the patient chilly from uncovering, worse from hot or cold); what are the physical desires and aversions or aggravations as well as mental likes and dislikes; is he restless or quiet and why; do the pains ache, burn, sting, throb, stick, etc.; what is the color and odor of the discharge? If the symptoms are mental are they of the intellect or will?
If you know the organs affected it may help you to find your remedy among the corresponding organ rubrics in the repertory. Symptoms are an orderly cross-indexed puzzle from which the remedy may be worked out from many angles of attack, and sometimes by short-cut keynotes, but the technique of Kent, working from generals down through the particulars with their modalities is the sure method of procedure.
No one is fit to doctor unless he understands, these basic principles of homoeopathy and is well grounded in them. That can scarcely be achieved without expert training. If he does not doctor that way it is little wonder that he has never seen miracles nor one minute cures. No wonder he must vaccinate and ease his conscience with antitoxin.
Who has not seen instantaneous cures?.
The other evening while sitting at dinner we were alarmed by the terrible and repeated outcry of one who proved to be a Mexican laborer living in one of the outhouses to the rear of my residence. Someone was in pain. I was about to investigate when the wife of the patient came begging me to come at once as her husband was in great distress. I found him throwing himself all over the bed, in too great distress even to answer my questions. He was in a copious cold perspiration crying out with every contortion of his body.
Having had a similar case the preceding day due to drinking copious draughts of ice water, and knowing the laborers were served with ice cold water, as the weather was extremely hot, I gave the man a dose of Arsenicum 10M (Kent), Instantly the man was relieved and did not utter another cry. He needed no second dose and received no more. Morphine could not have been prepared as quickly, nor would it have relieved so quickly as did the Arsenicum.
