A LONDON Sunday newspaper has recently published the reminiscences of a famous and popular actress– Miss Marie Tempest. This take my memory back for fifty years when the lady commenced her stage career. At this period there practised in South London an homoeopathic doctor, Black-Noble, who had a large number of patients among the members of the theatrical profession who lived in South London in those days — being within easy reach of the West End theatres. His fame spread among the profession. O
ne of his clients was the manager of the Lyric Theatre at that time, and a great believer in the homoeopathic treatment of disease. The young actress mentioned above became a convert to Homoeopathy, and I had the pleasure of fitting up a large chest of medicines for her use. She is still going strong on the stage after fifty years — homoeopaths as a rule live long.
Many of my older readers will perhaps remember the famous singers of forty to fifty years ago. One of these was a charming lady, Madame Albani; she had a wonderful voice which often filled the Royal Albert Hall with sweet notes, and aroused the enthusiasm of vast audiences who heard her. How did she keep her voice so musical? Not by sucking voice lozenges, but by taking the right homoeopathic remedy to correct any symptom of throat trouble.
I often had the pleasure of meeting Madame Albani in business and prescribing for her. She always kept about twelve homoeopathic tinctures — Arnica and Phosphorus being her principal throat medicines. She always took a few doses of Phosphorus before singing at a concert, as she found this remedy gave great tone to the voice and helped her to reach the high notes without effort. After singing, Arnica was taken as she found this a great restorative for body and voice.
A contemporary of Madame Albani was Signor Foli — their names were often on the same programme. He was an Irishman with a wonderful bass voice, whose favourite remedy was Nux vomica. He would come in and say, “Give me a bottle of my usual (Nux. vom.); this keeps me fit.” While waiting he could try a few notes — running up and down the scale; his voice was like an organ.
I might mention many men and women connected with the stage who found Homoeopathy all-sufficient for their needs from a medical standpoint, but many of these have passed over and are unknown to the present generation, except when they belonged to some particular company whose name and fame have been handed down.
Who has not heard of the Moore and Burgess Minstrels ? The centre-man–called by the troupe “Mr. Interlocutor”– was often troubled with loss of voice; he got quick relief by mixing a few drops of Phosphorus 3x in a wineglass of water to which he added a teaspoonful of Glycerine, of which he took a sip every hour.
It is known fact that experienced actors and actresses get a little nervous at times, but to one taking a part for the first time the ordeal is great, and stage-fright sets in. A case of the kind came to my notice some years ago. A young doctor, getting his first chance, was advised to try Homoeopathy– he felt sure he would collapse and forget his lines. I assured him there was no need for that, as Homoeopathy could prevent as well as cure.
I gave him some Ignatia 1x pilules. “Now take three of these every two hours on the morning of the performance, and place a dose in the mouth just before you go on the stage.” I saw him next day. “Well, how did you get on ?” “Your medicine worked like a miracle — I took my part with the greatest confidence — you have save me !”.
“Caged mice fed with distilled water and processed corn meal, such as is purchasable in every grocery store in the United States, develop nerves just as men and women robbed of their calcium also develop nerves. As the calcium-free diet is continued the mice are stricken with convulsions, passing in the meantime through all the symptoms of pellagra, beri-beri, acidosis, and general prostration.
What are the effects of the removal of the calcium from the food consumed by the large army of adults afflicted at the age of forty and beyond with hardening of the arteries, heart disease, Brights disease, diabetes, cancer, etc.?”– ALFRED McCANN, The Science of Eating.
