The symptoms of cocain poisoning usually appear quite promptly. They are ushered in by a period of nervousness and excitation, sometimes almost of hysteria. Respiration is rapid and deeper than normal, and the pulse is markedly accelerated. The throat is dry, and the patient may complain of a choking sensation. The pupils are dilated, owing possibly to direct action on the muscular fibers of the iris.
Pain seems to have no connection with the menstrual period, but she had no headaches during pregnancy. Phosphorus and sulphur covered the symptoms best, especially that of the headache recurring every week. I gave first phosphorus, and two or three weeks later sulphur, but neither remedy produced any marked improvement, so that the patient became discouraged, and ceased coming to the office.
The aid of the nosodes is at times sorely needed, especially in case of failure of the well-selected remedies; of course, the indications must be certain and the nosodes must not be used empirically. The nosodes when constitutionally indicated prepare the way for recovery or cure, so that other indicated remedies may come into play, although these had been unable to turn the tide toward a favourable issue in the first instance.
The plain statement impels me to submit this problem to a homoeopathic test. When the blood does not originally contain the antibodies empowered to resist the attacking disease, does this not mean clearly that the entire constitution of the child or of the adult lacks something in its elements? Why not then supply this want by devoting all our attention to the correction of this lack in the constitution?.
Professor Gates might well have devoted some time to a careful study of Hahnemanns “Organon,” with special attention to the method and principles of drug-proving. If he had put it to practical use Hahnemanns debt to him for elucidating the vital force would have been more than paid, for Professor Gates, it seems, thought he was on the eve of discovery of the fundamental law of cure, although he has not yet announced it.
One such came to my mind instantly, not only on account of its successful issue, but also because it occurred so early in my practice, that it made a deeper impression on my mind then have cures of more recent date. I do not remember to have ever reported the case and so will try to outline it now, though it was so long ago and was before my time of symptom recording, that I have only the vivid impression of it left.
The fact is that one may be entirely successful in eliciting the remotest symptom and discovering the minutest pathological change in the tissues and yet learn little or nothing that is fundamental about the patient himself. The facts underlying his predispositions and susceptibilities-the root causes of his diseases-and the cause of his special functions and reactions lie in an entirely different realm.
Diagnosis, at the best, is simply a guess aided and abetted by intuition and keen observation, the latter a trait to be cultivated by us all. The absence of diagnosis is not fatal if the remedy is indicated, otherwise how could the above-related cases have been cured? And how does it correspond to the following true occurrences. From one of our factories a man was sent home, sick.
A very important indication for Crataegus in old people is this: When you read the pulse, if you feel a trembling or quivering sensation to the pulse, it tells you as plain as words could tell you that the heart is getting tired out, and unless the right remedy is given the heart will gradually grow weaker, until it ceases to beat. This is where Tr. Crataegus proves a God send to these old folks.