RELATIVITY OF VERDICTS


RELATIVITY OF VERDICTS. Einstein, by expounding his theory of relativity, invalidated all previous conceptions of gravitation, the ether, geometry and other matters. Some cynic may give him a buffet in the retort that his theory of relativity itself is only relatively true. Whatever it may be, we may vouch for it that it works in the province of medical verdicts.


Einstein, by expounding his theory of relativity, invalidated all previous conceptions of gravitation, the ether, geometry and other matters. Some cynic may give him a buffet in the retort that his theory of relativity itself is only relatively true. Whatever it may be, we may vouch for it that it works in the province of medical verdicts. When some authority, some specialist, or a first grade surgeon pronounces a case to be singularly hopeless, bafflingly incurable or typically surgical, we cannot but smile over it, as we know that the verdicts of those honourable persons are significant for their magnificent errors of commission and omission, which, when counted, seem to range from fifty to ninety per cent. A few cases will illustrate our proposition.

CASES

THE HOPELESS.

1. Hepatic Abscess.

A medium-statured, dark, thin, emaciated, prostrated school teacher consulted me three years back for his suppurating liver. His liver abscess had started ten months previous to my visit and, during the intervening period, he had all along been treated by orthodox methods in one of the best hospital in India, with all the antibiotic and other therapy available and under the care of one of the best surgeons in India, who aspirated the liver ten times and subsequently operated upon it thrice, but ultimately was to give the prognosis:

The liver would discharge daily and for eight months about a pint of thin, bloody, offensive pus, through the openings made by the surgeon, which showed no tendency to close. The patient was extremely anaemic, prostrated, hot thirstless, and night sweats, could not cover head and face during sleep, was constipated and had no appetite. There was a periodic hepatic pain ameliorated by copious purulent discharge, a very great tenderness to jar and pressure in the hepatic region to which only a moderate degree of applied heat was grateful. Lachesis 1 M, applied in two dose morning and evening and repeated in a single dose after an interval of one month, cured the patient completely in two months, converting the verdict of “hopeless” into a hopeful one.

2. Cholera Infantum.

I had to visit a two-year-old, flabby boy, who had been suffering from purging and vomiting for more than a week. The usual treatment was with intra-muscular Glucose, Coramine, rectal saline, and sulpha drugs. At about 8 P.M., on the eighth day of his suffering, the patient collapsed, his extremities, nose, forehead and breath were ice-cold, his pulse, could not be felt, eyes were upturned and the whole body was in clinic spasm, while the death rattle could be heard from a distance. The relatives were weeping by his side. A cameraman being unavailable, the mother was trying to have finger-and foot-prints of her dear child on a piece of polished paper, to be preserved as a valued momento.

The attending physician, a man of repute in the locality, who met me to give a short history of the case, pronounced the verdict: hopeless. But Homoeopathy does not believe in such a verdict, as it considers the patient as a whole and not in fragments, as it counts upon the vital reactive power of the organism to remedies and disease and not on the state of its component parts. It is, therefore, not in favour of offering one thing for the heart, another for the bowels, some, other thing for the bacterium, so as to drive all the process to failure. Just as it conceives of man as a whole, so it considers his diseased manifestations as a whole.

Here, the whole picture pointed to one and the same central disturbance, e.g., that produced by suppressed measles, which manifested itself in so varied and tremendous symptoms, indicating favourably for the patient one and the same remedy, e.g., Antimonium tart., and it thus became prognostic of a probable cure in sight. Antimonium tart., administered in four doses of the 200th, every three hours, brought about the desired effect in five hours, when the convulsions ceased, the extremities became warm, the pulse could be felt and the patient gained consciousness. The next morning, to the surprise of us all, the baby looked a different picture, heartily smiling in his mothers arms. Three days later, as the diarrhoea abated, measles reappeared, which, of course, subsided of itself, needing no other medicine.

THE INCURABLE.

1. Epilepsy.

A fourteen-year-old boy had been suffering from idiopathic epilepsy for ten years, and the diagnosis was encephalographically confirmed in Calcutta. The prognosis given was: incurable. A slender, tall, dark, chilly, arrogant boy, thirstless, constipated with clammy, sweaty palms unhealthy skin, and helminthiatic manifestations, had from fifteen to thirty typical epileptic fits daily (during waking hours or in sleep). which were aggravated definitely during new and full moon. The fits were preceded by an aura of indescribable sensations proceeding from the left great toe to ascend the whole left side, when the patient became unconscious. To us a clear picture was visible, and so foretold a hopeful culmination. Silicea 1M, 10M and 50M, applied in gradually ascending potencies, cured the patient, who has had not a single fit during the last three years. The incurable, now, came to be curable.

2. Cretinism.

A nine-year-old, fair, thin, small-headed, stooping girl, whose father had periodic fits of insanity, was a perfect picture of idiocy. She could not walk steadily, could not utter anything else than day, could not masticate properly, did not know when, how and what to eat and drink, started during sleep, and had fear of strangers and animals, especially of dogs. She had the misfortune not only of having the prognosis of incurability declared, but of a very short span of life prophesied at the high alter of specialists.

Yet, what has come to pass is that after three years of homoeopathic treatment, with Baryta carb. 1M, 10M, 50M, Syphilinum 1 M, 10 M and Tuberculinum bovinum 1 M, 10 M, the patient talks and walks freely, has become more rational than could be imagined, shows bright physical developments, and the parents, now, expect her to be established in life ultimately. The augury of the specialists about the incurability of the case and the short span of life of the patient shows no sign of fulfilment until now.

DEFINITELY SURGICAL.

1. Caesareanize.

A twenty-four-year-old, dark lady, medium-statured, Para 11, having conceived during her three-month-old suffering from malaria, showed extreme toxaemia of pregnancy, became highly anaemic and ultimately developed lower abdominal pains, for which she was hospitalized in the eighth month of her pregnancy. Under usual treatment with Camo-Quinine, Vitamin, Iron, etc., her general condition improved to some extent, but the abdominal pain showed no sign of lessening. Her uterus was X-rayed and a most unfavourable position of the foetus, even after the thirty-seventh week, was observed. The gynaecologist, who thoroughly examined her, gave the verdict of immediate caesarean section.

The husband of the patient, dismayed by the adverse prospect of a major operation, consulted me. I advised him to keep the patient in the hospital, but at the same time to request the gynecologist of defer the operation till the actual onset of labour. Meanwhile, Homoeopathy was started informally. As I, an outsider, could not visit the patient in the hospital, the husband gave me the constitutional and local symptoms. The patient was dark, docile, hot, sensitive and of an emotional nature. She enjoyed a daily cold bath, wanted to be in open air, was rather diarrhoeic and thirstless, liked pungent food and warm food and drink most, was anaemic and highly drugged with iron, had an evening aggravation on pains and was running a low evening temperature.

As is evident, the picture pointed to Pulsatilla which, administered in two does of the 1 M potency, morning and evening, brought about a hopeful change in a fortnight, in the position of the foetus, as was observed from the second X-ray reading. A single dose of the same remedy in the same potency was administered at this stage and it effected such a radical change in the position that, after the third X-ray finding the gynaecologist was amazed and obliged to take back his verdict and let it alone.

So, at term, after a short labour of five hours only, the gentle lady delivered a healthy body under three doses of Caulophyllum 200., applied every two hours. The change of the position of the foetus was hailed as a mercy of God, but when it was disclosed, after all, that is was the God of Homoeopathy that effected the magic, many faces in the hospital area glowed with tributes and magic, many faces in the hospital area glowed with tributes and admiration, while those of the few placed high on the staff showed gloom.

2. Calcaneal Spur.

A fifty-year-old fat gentleman had extremely difficult walking for three months, due to an awfully tender spot under his right heel. The affected area was tender o pressure and jar, and even coughing and sneezing would hurt the part. There was an occasional burning and throbbing pain in the whole of the right foot. X-ray investigation showed a calcaneal spur, a bone excrescence, on the lower surface of the os calcis, for which an immediate surgical intervention was advised.

S M Bhattacherjee
S.M. BHATTACHERJEE, M.A., P.R.S.M.. BERHAMPORE.