The Boericke repertory

-WRITE HUBBARD.E,
The Kent Repertory in its present form is unwieldy for the physician to carry with him to the bedside. Neither the Boenninghausen nor Kent repertories have any materia medica. Two books which combine materia medica and repertory are handy in the pocket or medical bag. One of these is Boger’s Synoptic Key, of which his General Analysis is an abridged form, and the other is Boericke’s Materia Medica with Repertory. The Boericke Repertory resembles the Kent rather than the Boenninghausen but Boericke has reclassified some of the anatomical sections. For instance, vertigo appears under HEAD; sinuses are grouped together under NOSE; lips are under MOUTH instead of FACE : tongue has a section to itself as have gums; oesophagus is under THROAT instead of STOMACH; foods that disagree are in STOMACH with the cravings and aversions, rectum and tool are under ABDOMEN. All the URINARY SYSTEM is together under that heading; breasts are rightly classed under the FEMALE SEXUAL SYSTEM; there is an admirable section on PREGNANCY, LABOR and LACTATION; after GENITALIA comes the section on the CIRCULATOY SYSTEM including pulse; hen comes the LOCOMOTOR SYSTEM including extremities, gait, neck, inflammatory rheumatism and arthritis, back, and axillae; then comes RESPIRATORY SYSTEM, including lungs, cough, expectoration, larynx, voice and respiration; following the is the SKIN. The FEVER section includes chill and sweat, the exanthems and various fevers such as influenza, typhoid, malaria, etc. The NERVOUS SYSTEM follows and includes epilepsy, paralysis, sleep, dreams, weakness, convulsions, goitre, sea-sickness, neuralgia, sciatica, spine, meningitis, etc. The GENERALITIES section is much reduced and contains mainly diseases, tissues, poisonings, suppressions(under Checked discharges), glandular affections including mumps, goitre, a very interesting section on Complaints from winds, damp places, sudden, gradual, injuries, prophylactics, and tumors. This section has been relieved of much misplaced matter and has added to it a great deal of interesting and valuable material. The last section is MODALITIES, first aggravations and then ameliorations, and time under these appears in alphabetical order under morning, night, periodicity, etc., instead of altogether at the beginning of the section as in Kent.
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Under all extensive headings, such a HEADACHE, appear definite captions in the following order : Cause, Type, Location, Character of Pain, Concomitants, Modalities, i.e. Aggravations and Ameliorations.
This book is a clinical rather than a symptomatological index and has many technical terms as main headings. A tremendous number of remedies are given in the materia medica section, and well given, with plentiful mentals. Owing to its small size a great many symptoms have had to be omitted from the repertory. Its pretensions are not great but its usefulness within its sphere is tremendous.
This gives the beginner a bird’s eye view of three of the most usable general repertories. It is strongly advised that every student master the Kent method, as it will reward familiarity ore than any other. To the advanced student it should be added that many strange and peculiar symptoms cannot be found in these three repertories and must be searched for in Gentry’s Concordance, Knerr’s Repertory, Lippe, Jahr, or some of the special repertories.
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Card repertories have not been mentioned. There is one by Field, based largely on the Kent, but inaccurate. It is useful for hurried, acute prescribing in the office. A new card repertory, exactly following Kent, is now under construction by the Doctors Pulford of Toledo, Ohio. Boger’s cards closely follow his Synoptic Key.
These different methods of repertorizing will appeal to different types of minds and will also be suitable for different types of cases, the Boger method suiting those with much pathology and few other symptoms; the Kent method suiting those with marked mentals and an intricate anamnesis; the Boenninghausen suiting conditions with acute pains and clear cut modalities, cases without subtleties. In closing this brief, suggestive method of repertory study we would reiterate, STUDY THE KENT METHOD FIRST, LAST AND ALL THE TIME.