-WRITE HUBBARD.E,
This Repertory is built to work the the cases from general symptoms to particular symptoms. WE have already spoken in our lecture on the evaluation of symptoms of Kent’s method of grading, MENTALS being the most important, and GENERALS next. Most chronic cases and many acute ones can be worked out by the Repertory on the MENTALS and GENERALS alone to within three to five remedies. The beginner should take at least eight of these symptoms, although experts often solve the case on three to five. The beginner must be very sure that these MENTALS and GENERALS are really true of the patient, and that he has not warped the symptom in translating the patient’s colloquial expressions into the language of the rubrics. Moreover a symptom must have the same mass or importance in the patient’s case as is assigned to it in the symptom hierarchy. If an important symptom cannot be found in the Repertory it can often be found under a synonymous rubric. It is to be understood that the headings under GENERALITIES which are not pathological and not marked “ameliorated by”, or otherwise explained, and which are not sensations or conditions mean “aggravation from”, for example, Eating, before, means worse before eating, Coition, after, means aggravated after coition, etc. Many of the ameliorations are omitted and you must look for them under aggravation under their opposites, for instance, there is no better in summer. This is considered equivalent to worse in winter. Sometimes two or more rubrics must be combined in order to be equivalent to a given symptom. If the rubrics are very small it may be wise to ad all the remedies. If at least one of the rubrics is large and the others fair size, only such remedies as run through all the component rubrics of this symptom should be taken. Certain symptoms have so large a group of remedies that they are almost useless except as eliminating symptoms. Such a one is cold bloodedness of the patient, which appears under GENERALTIES, Heat, lack of vital, and would serve to eliminate any markedly hot blooded remedies which had otherwise come through the generals high in a given case.
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The student will recall from our previous lecture that the common symptoms, or the unqualified big, main rubrics, such as Sadness, Vomiting, etc., are of little or no use in repertorizing, and that among both GENERALS and PARTICULARS, a strange, rare and peculiar symptom ranks high. A strange, rare and peculiar general would be “during cold stage craves cold”, or “during hot stage craves heat”, as in Camphor; a strange, rare and peculiar particular would be “thirst for ice water only during chill” (Eup. per.).
We have said that the beginner should located in the Repertory his eight or more main GEENRALS and chart the remedies appearing under each of these, putting 3 for the bold face (heavy black type), 2 for italics and 1 for roman (plain type), this being done for all the symptoms chosen, the remedies appearing in more than half the rubrics are listed with their fractions, the numerator of the fraction being the numerical totality of the remedy grades, and the denominator being the number of symptoms in which the remedy appears. Now the PARTICULARS come into play, beginning with the most peculiar ones, an care should be taken not to use too small rubrics. In fact it is safer to use a more general, medium sized rubric than the more exact particular rubric. The occurrence of these particulars in the few remedies which have stood highest in the GENREALS, and in these only, being taken, you can now see which few remedies are fairly similar to the GENERALS of your case, and which few of those most resemble the PARTICULARS of the case. Add the particular to the general fraction and reduce your list to the three to five remedies which stand highest in their grand total. If one remedy totals 16/7 and another 15/8, the former is to be preferred. As you have taken your symptoms in the strict order of their importance according to the Kentian schema your first two or three symptoms should appear in the remedies that come high, and where they do not the remedy should be looked on with suspicion. It is to be remembered that certain remedies, like Sulph., Calc., Nux., Puls., etc. almost always come out high numerically because they have been so thoroughly proved and unless the beginner discounts this and bases his final judgement on materia medica he will prescribe these well proved polychrests too often. Conversely, it must not be forgotten that some remedies, like Tub., have but a fragmentary part of their proving in the Repertory, and that only a little more than 500 remedies are mentioned in the Repertory, and very few of the nosodes and double salts are adequately stressed. When the remedies have been reduced numerically to from three to five, these must be read in the materia medicas, especially their MENTALS, and the original case as taken reviewed and compared to each of the remedies. The miasmatic relationships of the patient and of the remedies that come out high must be considered. For future reference in treating the case, in acute as well as chronic prescribing, a list should be made on the chart of the constitutional remedies which come high, of the nosodes which most nearly apply, and of the acute remedies ranking highest. These, or complements of these, will often be found to fit any illness of that patient in the future, unless an epidemic remedy be called for.
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Ideally, on the repertorizing record each symptom should be stated in the words of the patient in the symptom column, restated in the exactly corresponding rubric in the rubric column, and the page where this is found after it. There are repertorizing sheets on graph paper with the main remedies printed in, numbered places for writing in symptoms, etc., which are a great convenience and a time saver.
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The boenninghausen’s therapeutic pocket book, one of the earliest repertories, is based largely on hahnemann’s materia medica pura and the idea of it was approved by hahnemann himself. the book falls into seven distinct parts. although each of these is complete in itself, “yet each one gives but one portion of a symptom, which can be completed only in one or several other parts”. for example, the seat of pain is found in the second section, the kind of pain in the third, the aggravation or amelioration according to time or circumstances in the sixth, and the necessary concomitants in the various sections. the seven sections are : 1. the mind and disposition; 2. parts of the body and organs : 3. sensations and complaints in alphabetical order, in general and then specially, of the glands, of the bones, and of the skin and exterior parts; 4. sleep and dreams; 5. fevers with chill, circulation and sweat (the 2nd, 4th and (th sections have concomitants); 6. Aggravations and Ameliorations from time and circumstances; 7. Relationship of Remedies. In section seven under each drug the previous section headings, 1 through 6, are given and under each the remedies applying in that section which are related to the drug in question. At the end of each drug is given a list of other related remedies and the antidotes.
The Boenninghausen repertory : its use
This Repertory is based on GENERALS even much more than the Kent. The rubrics in the different sections dealing with the different aspects of one symptom are used to eliminate all remedies but such as run through them all. This is a swifter, easier method than the Kent, but too general, and a great many symptoms cannot be found in it at all. Also there are very few rubrics under MIND, only seven pages out of 482. Boger’s General Analysis is based on this repertory and his unique method of working cases by it is also deserving of study.