There has always been much speculation regarding the proper method of using the Boenninghausen “concordances.” While Boenninghausen gave suggestions in the preface of the Therapeutic Pocket – Book for the use of the concordances, yet he did not give full directions. Consequently, as these suggestions are meagre, they have been overlooked and so the use of the concordance has languished.
Nevertheless, while some Homoeopaths have made use of the concordances they have usually, at the same time, felt that there was something, in or about them, that they did not understand, which, if explained, would be of inestimable help.
Let us see what Boenninghausen says in regard to the concordances and possibly, from that, we, may be able not only to understand the scope of this part of the Therapeutic Pocket – Book, but also, by its help, be able to make use of the concordances in therapeutic case study.
In speaking of his concordances Boenninghausen says: “In studying the materia medica, which I consider the fountain – head of Homoeopathy, these concordance have been of the most decided importance to me, as they have not only led me to understand the genius of the medicines, but also to select with more certainty the proper remedies, and to determine the order of their successive exhibition, particularly in chronic diseases.”
Here, then, are three applications of the concordances. First, the grasp of the genius of the medicines; second, greater certainty in selection, and, third, sequence. These three uses can best be comprehended if one first recalls how Boenninghausens repertory is constructed. Therefore, I will briefly outline its arrangement.
In the Therapeutic Pocket – Book there are seven separate and, at the same time, related sections. They are:
First. Mind and Soul, whose rubrics, though few, cover all moral and intellectual variations.
Second. Parts of the Body and Organs or “Location.”
Third. Sensation and Complaints, comprising those in
a-External and Internal parts of the body in general.
b-In Glands.
c-In Bones, and
d-Of the skin and external parts, which are thus grouped under one general heading and not divided into four separate parts as in Dr. T.F. Allens Boenninghausen.
Fourth. Sleep and Dreams.
Fifth. Fever, including
a-Circulation of the blood.
b-Cold stage (chilliness).
c-Coldness.
d-Heat.
e-Shuddering.
f-Perspiration.
g-Compound fevers. Sixth. Alterations of the State of Health, that is
a-Aggravation according to time.
b-Aggravation according to Situation and Circumstance, and
c-Amelioration by Position and Circumstances, and, lastly,
Seventh. The Concordance of the Medicaments, to use the old phraseology.
These sections are not all as clear – cut as the names seem to indicate, but, for the sake of completeness, encroach on each other. Thus the second – “Parts of the Body” – contains details in the way of “Sensation,” which properly belong in that, the third, section, but could not be given as well there.
In each “concordance” these seven sections are represented and the harmonious relation of the remedy to others is given under each section.
Now the three applications of the concordances, of which Boenninghausen tells us, and a few words more, further along in the same preface, is all we have in the way of instruction concerning the use of the concordances. What help can be derived from these brief directions?
First. “The grasp of the genius of the medicines.” Boenninghausen puts it that in studying the materia medica the concordances were of decided importance to him, as they, among other things, led him to understand the genius of the medicines. This we also can do. The basis of such study is the help afforded by the concordance in comparing the remedies. Certainly one way, and, perhaps, the most satisfactory way, to study materia medica is by comparison.
This brings us to the second use, “to select with more certainty the proper remedies,” which would be a logical result of the comparative study of the materia medica.
So far we can, in both ways, follow Boenninghausens suggestions and thus gain all the benefit from remedial comparison and increased certainty of selection that the concordances offer. There is nothing obscure nor difficult to follow here.
The third application of the concordances may be summed up in the one word, “sequence,” that is, the sequence of the remedies. Boenninghausen says “particularly in chronic diseases,” yet we find the concordances useful also in pointing out the next remedy in acute affections.
This, the sequence of the remedies, is the most important of the three uses of the concordances, and possibly the one which has seemed obscure, but as to there being anything hidden, I feel that is a mistake. The concordances are to be used in this regard, that is, to find the “next remedy,” in the ways I shall soon point out. The almost always satisfactory result obtained from using one of them in indicating the remedy to follow is due to the wonderfully accurate and comprehensive manner in which they are compiled and not to there being anything concealed or esoteric. The hidden thing is the knowledge of the simplicity of the method of using them.
How many physicians are non – plussed when it comes to the selection of the following, that is, the “next” remedy!
Having selected the first medicine for a case with accuracy and worked out its action in various potencies, or if the symptoms change substantially, new ones developing, – either case demanding a change of remedy,- it is here that the difficulty comes.
To meet these new and trying conditions there are the instructions in the Organon, or Herings advice in regard to the importance of the new symptoms that have appeared; and, besides, the suggestions at the end of each remedy in some of the materia medicas, notably in the Guiding Symptoms, as to following remedies, and elsewhere, all of which is very helpful.
Yes, it is all helpful, but it is not as specific as are the concordances in this respect and besides it takes much less time to use the concordances, as I hope to show, an time often is of importance in a case.
Truly we cannot have too much help in this matter, and as it was with special references to the sequential relation of remedies that the concordances were constructed we frequently find in them the assistance we need and which we have sought for, unavailingly, elsewhere.
To my mind this is the great use to which the concordances may be put; in fact, as I have said, for which they were made, and this help may be obtained by using them, without undue waste of time or effort.
Take, for example, the arrangement of the concordances of two remedies, Aconite and Belladonna. Here almost, at a glance, one can see the careful way in which the relation of these remedies, to each other, was noted.
These medicines, Aconite and Belladonna, have many points of contact, but it will be seen, on examining their concordances, that while under Aconite the sequential relation of Belladonna is shown, yet in the concordance of that drug there is little if any indication of such relationship – sequential – of Aconite to belladonna, which we know seldom if ever occurs.
The concordances of both Aconite and Belladonna show distinctly that relation to the remedies which bear to them respectively a chronic relationship, that is, to Sulphur and Calcarea. And so it is throughout this part of the Therapeutic Pocket – Book, in regard to remedial relationship.
Incidentally there are two things in the concordances to which I wish to call attention. The first is in the way of correction. In the Allen edition of Boenninghausen the sixth section of each concordance has been changed. Originally this sixth section or rubric was in two parts.
This is the rubric corresponding to the sixth part of the main body of the Therapeutic Pocket – Book covering the “State of the Patient According to Time and Circumstance.” In the original the first part of this rubric related to “Aggravation According to Time,” and the second to “Aggravation According to Circumstances and the Ameliorations.” Dr.T.F. Allen put these two parts together. Certainly they are more useful in the original form, that is, separated.
The second matter is that in each concordance in section seven, which Allen has called “Other Remedies,” we have in reality a concordance of that particular concordance as section seven, in the divisions of the whole work, is the section of the “Concordances of the Medicaments.” Thus in each concordance of the concordance there is a resume of what has gone before in that particular concordance. This rubric is often of great help and may be the only one to be used.
How are the concordances to be made use of in relation to the sequence of remedies?
That depends upon the case and so, unfortunately, no hard and fast rules can be given. Something may be said, however. For example, the concordances may be used either with or without assistance from the first part of the Therapeutic Pocket – Book, as the case requires.
Generally a concordance is to be used alone, taking, as the first rubric, the one which covers the “part affected.” Thus if it be a mental case “Mind” is used first, or if the part be elsewhere in the body then the rubric of “Localities” is first taken, and so on. I use the rubric headings, in reference, as given in the Allen Boenninghausen.
