-TESTE A, GROUP REMEDIES,  GROUP I,ARNICA MONTANA
 – By the natural history of the drugs I do not here mean the designation of the kingdom whence they are drawn, nor of the family, genus, etc., to which they belong in the systems of naturalists. although I have deemed it necessary to mention these indications in front of the history of every drug, yet I think that they are only of secondary importance to the physician.
 – What is, in my opinion, of far greater importance to a practitioner is, that he should be acquainted with the regions of the globe whence the drugs are obtained, and with the special nature of the localities which produce them spontaneously.
 – I say spontaneously, for every body knows that plants can be, and are transplanted every day, and that those which grow spontaneously in the South, can be made to grow in the North ; that plants which naturally prefer a damp and marshy soil, can be made to grow in a dry soil ; that those which are met on slopes and mountain-plains, can be made to grow in valleys and low regions, and vice versa.
 – But independently of the well known fact that drugs which have been thus transplanted, lose either totally or partially the medicinal properties of which we know they are possessed, it is really only by studying their geographical and topographical conditions that we can hope, as we shall soon see, to discover certain special peculiarities of their destination.
 – I am unable to say how far the outlines which I am going to offer, are founded and new as scientific fats, but they undoubtedly deserve to be taken into consideration.
 – The more we investigate the general relations of our reputed drugs with the diseases to which man is subject, the more we are struck by the curious circumstance that it is precisely in the districts where certain pathological affections prevail, we meet, by some admirable arrangement of the Creator, an abundance of the substances which are most capable of curing them.
 – This coincidence may only be the necessary result of climacteric, hygrometric or telluric influences which, acting simultaneously upon the plants, animals and men of one and the same region, create in them certain elements of similitude, of which the similia similibus explains to us the consequences in the pathological order.
 – Let this coincidence be accounted for in any manner you please, what seems to me irrefutable is, that it exists.
 – To cite a few examples, the bitter-sweet, which is so often successfully given for the effects of a temporary or prolonged stay in a cold and damp atmosphere, prefers damp and cool localities.
 – The wolf’s-bane, on the contrary, which grows on mountain-tops, corresponds, as is well known, to inflammatory fevers and acute phlegmasias, to which the inhabitants of mountainous regions are particularly exposed in consequence of the habitual vigor of their constitution and their sanguine temperament.
 – Whilst the nux vomica which is so often given with success for dysentery and bilious affections, grows in the East-Indies, the classic home of these kinds of affections, we drive from the north-east of Europe where the scrofula is indigenous, the wild pansy whose efficacy in this disease has been so often verified. Copaiva is perhaps the only remedy with which the plica polonica has ever been cured, and this drug is nowhere more abundant than in Poland.
 – The cedron, which is an admirable antidote against the poison of the crotalus and the coral snake, grows almost exclusively in regions inhabited by these dangerous reptiles, etc.
 – But should we conclude from these facts which it would be easy for me to multiply to an infinite extent, that each of our drugs is exclusively adapted to the endemic maladies-of the countries whence it is obtained, or at most to individuals whose constitution is identical with that which is generally possessed by the inhabitants of these countries ? & This question, however strange it may seem at first, is nevertheless of a high interest. Without undertaking to answer it for the present, I propose it as a subject of study for homoeopathic physicians, who will undoubtedly agree with me, even without much thought or experience concerning this subject, that the natural history of drugs, if studied from the standing-point which I have selected, will most probably furnish us useful and precious inductions.*
 – 2. Known observations and effects of drugs on animals of different species.-In relating the observations of toxicologists, or the accidental cases of poisoning, I take care, as is seen, to add the words “of different species,” for it is upon this distinction that the practical value of this question depends.
 – It is strange that, in experimenting with poisons on animals, physiologists, albeit they must have observed a difference in the effects of the poisons according as they were administered to cats, seahogs, goats, rabbits, birds of prey, fowl, etc., should never have taken the trouble to investigate the causes of their difference.
 – To say, in general terms, that animals, to whatever species they may belong, whatever climate they may inhabit, on whatever food they may live, resist the deleterious action of any poison the better the more vigorously they are organized, would be to assert a thing which is contradicted by experience.
 – Indeed, I intend to show hereafter, and more particularly in speaking of pink-root, arsenic, the nux vomica, etc., that certain species of animals resist certain poisons the less the more vigorous these animals are.
 – Now, inasmuch as, on the one hand, these poisons constitute those of our drugs which we employ most frequently, and inasmuch as, on the other hand, I am compelled to recognize the existence of evident physiological analogies between the idiosyncratic varieties of the human species and the principal types of the animal series, from the carnivorous inhabitant of the desert to the peaceful ruminator of our stables ; it is easily seen how the proving of the same poison on different species of animals may have suggested to me every now and then a variety of useful hints.
 – 3. Empirical application of drugs
 – In every age physicians have constituted two classes of minds, speculative and practical.
 – The former, who are disposed to indulge in abstract generalizations, have almost been mediocre practitioners.
 – The letter, on the contrary, who do not attach much importance to systems, and never submit to them blindly, do not recognize any other truths but those of an immediate and evident use, without even always caring to know upon what grounds their usefulness is founded.
 – All great practitioners have been, and probably always will be more or less given to empiricism.
 – Some among them (and I might mention one or two instances) seem to be endowed with a sort of intuition, that is to say with a faculty which is neither the judgment nor the memory, and which suggests to them, in all difficult cases, the best method of treatment without they themselves ever being able to account for the reasons of their proceeding. Be this as it may, all the true observations of the Old School emanate from this latter class.
 – Among these observations, there are many which it would seem could not have been arrived at, except by pure experimentation, and which, obtained as they were by intuition, or an a priori mode of reasoning, must appear strange and even incomprehensible to homoeopathic practitioners.
 – We may remark in passing, that alloeopathic physicians even are not aware of the mine of this kind of wealth, which is buried in the annals of their own doctrine. They are lost truths of most of them, and this need not astonish us, since these truths are not furnished with a suitable criterium in their estimation. But it is easily perceived why such documents should have been invested with the highest interest to me, and why I should, therefore, have considered it my duty to collect as many of them as possible.
 – In the first place, I was sure that I should find in them a new and striking confirmation of the homoeopathic principle ; for an appreciative comparison, such as I have instituted at the head of every drug, of the successful cures which have been effected by empiricists and homoeopathists in the same cases, shows that they must result from the same law, the law of similitude.
 – I may safely defy any serious and sincere physician who has read my book, to doubt the reality and immutability of this law.
 – But independently of this proof which must seem superfluous to any one who has practised homoeopathy for some weeks only, the empirical traditions of the old school offered to me indications of a different king, and which were more directly connected with the special object of my work. Is it not, indeed, evident, that the cure of certain pathological conditions, or, if you please, of certain symptoms, by means of a given drug, authorized me to attribute to this drug physiological effects, which, if not similar, were at least analogous in such a manner that, if pure experimentation had henceforth become the beacon light of therapeutics, clinical experience might, in its turn, be appealed to, in order to confirm the results obtained by our physiological provings ?
 – And besides, in verifying, according to the reports of faithful observers, the authentic cures, by means of a certain number of drugs, of various pathological conditions, but which are sufficiently similar to justify a belief in their identity, how could the idea have escaped me that these drugs are possessed of analogous properties ?
 – In this way I found even in alloeopathic traditions, that is to say, in the records of clinical experience, and independently of all pathogenetic investigations, the first data for a logical systemization of our Materia Medica.*
 – Why should I hesitate to admit it ? The work which I here offer to the public, rests in a great measure upon such data carefully weighed, compared with each other, and verified in the crucible of pure experimentation.
 – Thus, having devoted several years to the task of collecting as complete and accurate facts as possible concerning each of our drugs, I then proceeded to collate, and, finally, to class them.
 – After this, the determination of a certain number of types, around which analogous drugs could be grouped, became the object of may endeavors.
 – This method which has been invariably followed by the naturalists ever since its first adoption by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, was the only one that corresponded to my views.
 – If various considerations did not impose upon me the necessity of suppressing the purely analytical labors of my work, in order to leave only its conslusions, as it were, it would be seen after how many long and painful groupings, I was finally induced to adopt the following twenty types.*
 – 1. Arnica montana,
 – 2. Mercurius solubilis,
 – 3. Sulphur,
 – 4. Arsenicum album,
 – 5. Pulsatilla,
 – 6. Sepia,
 – 7. Causticum,
 – 8. Ipecacuanha,
 – 9. Bryonia alba,
 – 10. Dulcamara,
 – 11. Chelidonium majus,
 – 12. Acidum muriaticum,
 – 13. Lycopodium clavatum,
 – 14. Zincum,
 – 15. Aconitum napellus,
 – 16. Conium maculatum,
 – 17. Thuya occidentalis,
 – 18. Chamomilla vulgaris,
 – 19. Atropa Belladonna,
 – 20. Ferrum metallicum.
 – These twenty drugs are so arranged, agreeably to the order indicated by the general relations which the various groups that are governed by these remedies, respectively occupy towards each other.
 – These groups are as follows :-
 – GROUP I.
 – Type ;  Arnica montana.
 – Analogies Ledum palustre. Croton tiglium. Ferrum Magneticum. Rhus toxicodendron. Spigelia anthelmia.
 – GROUP II.
 – Type. Mercurius solubilis.
 – Analogies. Argentum foliatum. Arsenicum album. Sulphuris acidum. Mercurius corrosivus. Mercurius corrosivus. Crocus sativus. Creosota. Plumbum. Stannum. Nitri acidum.
 – GROUP III.
 – Type. Sulphur.
 – Analogies. Croton tiglium. Mercurius corrosivus. Bovist. Aethusa. Creasota. Loblia inflata. Mercurius solubilis. Asterias. Cicuta virosa. Ratanhia.
 – GROUP IV.
 – Type. Arsenicum album.
 – Analogies. 1st series (1). argentum. Mercurius. Nux vomica. Sepia. Alumina. Indigo. Sulpur. Veratrum album. Zincum. Lycopodium. Cologynthis. Copaivae balsamum. Plumbum. Bryonia alba. Cina. Lachesis. Ferrum metallicum. Petroleum.
 – 2d series. Belladonna. Carbo vegetabilis. Capsicum. Cedron.
 – 3d series. Argentum. Zincum. Plumbum. Capsicum. Capsicum. 4th series. Lobelia. Alumina. Sulphur. Mercurius solubilis. Carbo vegetabilis. Bismuthum. Nux moschata. Bryonia. Opium. Aconitum. thuya. & Ferrum metallicum. Opium. Arnica. Sepia. Ferrum. Argentum. Merc. corrosivus.
 – GROUP V.
 – Type. Pulsatilla.
 – Analogies. Silicea. Calcarea carbonica Hepar sulphuris. Graphites. Phosphorus.
 – GROUP VI.
 – Type. Sepia.
 – Analogies. Capaivae balsamum. Alumina.
 – GROUP VII.
 – Type. Causticum.
 – Analogies. Cocculus. Coffea cruda. Corallia rubra. Nux vomica. Staphisagria. Arsenicum.
 – GROUP VIII.
 – Type.  Ipecacuanha.
 – Analogies. Pulsatilla. Nux vomica. Arsenicum. Chelidonium majus. Iodium. Chamomilla. Phosphorus. Felix mas. Tartarus emeticus. Silicea. Dulcamara. Bryonia. Spongia tosta. Zincum. Ignatia. belladonna. Antimonium [crudum.
 – GROUP IX.
 – Type.  Bryonia alba.
 – Analogies. Allium sativum. Colocynthis. Digitalis. Lycopodium. Nux vomica. Ignatia.
 – GROUP X.
 – Type. Duleamara.
 – Analogia. Sulphur. Corallia. Bryonis. Chelidonium. Pulsatilla.  Calcarea carbonica
 – GROUP XI.
 – Type. Chelidonium majus.
 – Analogies. Capsicum. Hepar sulphuris. Allium sativum. Dulcamara. Digitalis. Pulsatilla. Viola odorata. Corallia rubra. Cannabis indica. Cina. Bryonia alba. Silicea.
 – GROUP XII.
 – Type. Acidum muriaticum
 – Analogies. Agnus castus. Hyoscyamus niger.
 – GROUP XIII.
 – Type.  Lycopodium clavatum.
 – Analogies. Natrum muriaticum. Viola tricolor. Hyoscyamus niger. Antimonium [crudum.
 – GROUP XIV.
 – Type.  Zincum.
 – Analogies. Plumbum. Sambucus. Argentum. Nitri acidum. Nitri acidum. Mercurius. corrosivus. Colchicum. Arsenicum. Drosera. Ferrum metallicum. Platina.
 – GROUP XV.
 – Type. aconitum napellus.
 – Analogies. Cocculus. Chamomilla. Ducamara. Cannabis. conium.
 – GROUP XVI.
 – Type. Conium maculatum.
 – Analogies. Jatropha curcas. Phosphoris acidum. Solanum nigrum. chamomilla. Senega. Cantharis.
 – GROUP XVII.
 – Type. Thuya occidentalis.
 – Analogies. Platina. Castoreum. Bismuthum.
 – GROUP XVIII.
 – Type. Chamomilla vulgaris.
 – Analogies. Gratiola officinalis. Viola tricolor. Helleborus nigra.
 – GROUP XIX.
 – Type. Belladonna.
 – Analogies. Agaricus. Cedron. Opium. Arnica. Ruta graveolens. Aurum. Cannabis. & Bryonia alba. Lachesis. Stramonium. Opium. Clematis erecta. Tabacum. Camphora. Hyoscyamus.
 – GROUP XX.
 – Type. Ferrum metallicum.
 – Analogies. Plumbum. Phosphorus. Carbo animalis. Pulsatilla. Zincum. Secale cornutum. Magnesia muriatica Ratania. Bovista. China. Baryta carbonica. Cuprum.
 – Each of these twenty groups represents a series of drugs, or rather of drug diseases, which resemble each other more or less, by their course and symptoms, if they develope themselves in physiological conditions that are similar ; or, which offer, in certain cases, the appearances of an almost complete similarity, if they develope themselves in physiological  conditions that are different.* Hence, we may infer, that diseases occasioned by the drugs of one and the same group, may, to a certain extent, be abstractly considered as the various shades of one and the same malady, the most acute form of which, (almost in every group,) would be represented by the type. I have described at the head of each group, under the title of “common characteristics,” the principal symptoms, but not the course (this I found impossible,) of this artificial malady which any other member of the group is likewise capable of producing with more or less completeness.
 – In perusing the preceding list of my groups, the same drug will be found mentioned in several groups.
 – A moment’s reflection will suffice to show that this could not be otherwise. Who does not know that every malady, whether medicinal or otherwise, nay not, according to the light in which it is viewed, be compared, and, in certain respects, be considered similar to other maladies which are notoriously dissimilar among each other ?*
 – The order according to which the drugs in each group are arranged, expresses their degree of affiliation with the typical drug.
 – With every drug, I have combined its natural and therapeutic history, and its recent applications as derived from the pathogenetic provings. As regards the pathogeneses themselves, I shall only relate my own, or such as exist only in works of small circulation, and shall, for all other provings, refer the reader to the special works, where they may be found, and which works are in the hands of all Homoeopathic physicians.
 – I need scarcely observe, that I have not been able to class all the drugs now known ; this was impossible, for the simple reason, that I did not possess sufficient data for the accomplishment of such a task.
 – This is the reason why such substances as manganese, mezereum, and several others, have been omitted in my work for the present ; they are in pretty general use, it is true, but my information concerning their therapeutic value was not sufficiently positive to permit me to receive such drugs among my categories.
 – Lastly, among the general observations belonging to each group, I have indicated the diseases corresponding to the drugs of which each group is composed.
 – But to be of any real value, this co-relation should be preceded by an almost total revision and remodelling of our pathological sciences ; I therefore attach no very great importance to this part of my work for the present.
 – Nevertheless, the practitioner will often find useful indications in the relations which I have established. this, at least, is my firm belief.
 – All things considered, my work, whatever time and labor I may have bestowed upon it, is only an incomplete sketch of such an one as the vastness of the end which I have proposed to attain, would render necessary.
 – If it should fulfil no other use, may it, at least, have this good, to inspire some day, a man of genius, with the thought of more worthily accomplishing my task !
 – February, 1853.
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