twenty years ago: the british homœopathic journal, october 1967

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British Hom~eopathic Journal January 1988. gol. 77. pp. 51-52 Twenty years ago The British Hornoeopathic Journal, October 1967 NOEL J. PRATT, MRCS, LRCP, FFHOM The Editorial was a tribute to the work of Dr Margery Blackie; largely due to her enthusiasm and persuasion, more than thirty doctors attended the intensive course at the Hospital during 1967. And a major fund-raising event was a concert at Guildhall honoured by the presence of HRH the Duchess of Gloucester. There is another tribute in this issue=-to the late Drs John and Elizabeth Paterson, who developed the knowledge and use of the bowel nosodes. It is a seventeen page account of their lives and their work, written by Mr Geoffrey Brown, MPS, with many references to other homoeopathic remedies as well as the bowel nosodes. It is interesting to see a reference to Dr Charles Kennedy, who worked with them. And it is good to know that he continues to promote interest in the prescribing of the bowel nosodes. When Dr Tom Paterson was elected to honor- ary membership of the Faculty (he was not related to Dr John), his colleagues arranged a presentation to him, and Dr Fergus Stewart wrote an account of the occasion, giving an admirable account of his personality and his skill as a teacher, and recording some of his memories. 'Clinical allergies' is a sixteen page paper read by Dr Ernest Godfrey to the Scottish Branch Of the Faculty in 1966. (Incidentally, are there any allergies which are not clinical?) He described the immediate allergic reactions due to the liber- ation of histamine, and the delayed reactions in which histamine is not involved, so that the reac- tions are due to some other substance. He listed twelve types, beginning with anaphylaxis, and ending with 'allergies due to homoeopathic remedies'. He used the word allergy in a very broad sense. (There is much public concern and even alarm about allergies, especially about food allergies. I remember One patient who said 'I am allergic even to water'. And recently in one of our national newspapers there was a headline 'Saved from being allergic to life'.) 'Diet and hommopathy' is the title of a talk 51 given by Dr Mary Stevenson to the Scottish Branch in 1967. She mentioned several doctors and organizations who have strong opinions on healthy diets. She talked about the four humors--sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, and melancholic--and the herbs which would help them, but not the homceopathic remedies which might be indicated. She said 'One dare not be dogmatic about diet'--but only a minute before, she had said 'sterilized milk and drinking choco- late are the two most insidious poisons obtaina- ble today without prescription'--an astonishing statement. More easily acceptable is her final sentence, 'In health 50% of our food should be raw, and in illness 100% should be raw.., and then the homoeopathic remedies work all the better'. 'Dietetic restrictions in homoeopathic prac- tice' is the misleading title of an articl~ by Dr P. Sankaran, selected from a booklet written by him and published in Bombay. He is mainly concerned to show that severe changes and restrictions of diet are not necessary. The order to drink no coffee is probably unnecessary; he quotes a patient who suffered from deep painful bleeding fissures of the soles and palms, on and off fox twenty-two years, who responded well to Psorinum in two months in spite of drinking coffee regularly. And when he himself was taking Sepia as part of a proving trial, he devel- oped abdominal symptoms on the seventh day, and decided to take coffee to antidote the Sepia, but did not recover his normal health till three weeks had passed. He mentioned twelve authors and appended a bibliography. He quoted instances of patients responding to homceo- pathic remedies in spite of smoking tobacco, drinking alcohol, and using strong perfumes. A better title for the paper might have been 'Homoeopathic remedies can work in spite of obstacles'. 'Aids to remedy selection' is the title of the Richard Hughes Memorial Lecture for 1967 delivered by Dr D. M. Gibson. He stressed the

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British Hom~eopathic Journal January 1988. gol. 77. pp. 51-52

Twenty years ago The British Hornoeopathic Journal, October 1967

NOEL J. PRATT, MRCS, LRCP, FFHOM

The Editorial was a tribute to the work of Dr Margery Blackie; largely due to her enthusiasm and persuasion, more than thirty doctors attended the intensive course at the Hospital during 1967. And a major fund-raising event was a concert at Guildhall honoured by the presence of HRH the Duchess of Gloucester.

There is another tribute in this issue=-to the late Drs John and Elizabeth Paterson, who developed the knowledge and use of the bowel nosodes. It is a seventeen page account of their lives and their work, written by Mr Geoffrey Brown, MPS, with many references to other homoeopathic remedies as well as the bowel nosodes. It is interesting to see a reference to Dr Charles Kennedy, who worked with them. And it is good to know that he continues to promote interest in the prescribing of the bowel nosodes.

When Dr Tom Paterson was elected to honor- ary membership of the Faculty (he was not related to Dr John), his colleagues arranged a presentation to him, and Dr Fergus Stewart wrote an account of the occasion, giving an admirable account of his personality and his skill as a teacher, and recording some of his memories.

'Clinical allergies' is a sixteen page paper read by Dr Ernest Godfrey to the Scottish Branch Of the Faculty in 1966. (Incidentally, are there any allergies which are not clinical?) He described the immediate allergic reactions due to the liber- ation of histamine, and the delayed reactions in which histamine is not involved, so that the reac- tions are due to some other substance. He listed twelve types, beginning with anaphylaxis, and ending with 'allergies due to homoeopathic remedies'. He used the word allergy in a very broad sense. (There is much public concern and even alarm about allergies, especially about food allergies. I remember One patient who said 'I am allergic even to water'. And recently in one of our national newspapers there was a headline 'Saved from being allergic to life'.)

'Diet and hommopathy' is the title of a talk

51

given by Dr Mary Stevenson to the Scottish Branch in 1967. She mentioned several doctors and organizations who have strong opinions on healthy diets. She talked about the four humors--sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, and melancholic--and the herbs which would help them, but not the homceopathic remedies which might be indicated. She said 'One dare not be dogmatic about diet ' - -but only a minute before, she had said 'sterilized milk and drinking choco- late are the two most insidious poisons obtaina- ble today without prescription'--an astonishing statement. More easily acceptable is her final sentence, 'In health 50% of our food should be raw, and in illness 100% should be r a w . . , and then the homoeopathic remedies work all the better'.

'Dietetic restrictions in homoeopathic prac- tice' is the misleading title of an articl~ by Dr P. Sankaran, selected from a booklet written by him and published in Bombay. He is mainly concerned to show that severe changes and restrictions of diet are not necessary. The order to drink no coffee is probably unnecessary; he quotes a patient who suffered from deep painful bleeding fissures of the soles and palms, on and off fox twenty-two years, who responded well to Psorinum in two months in spite of drinking coffee regularly. And when he himself was taking Sepia as part of a proving trial, he devel- oped abdominal symptoms on the seventh day, and decided to take coffee to antidote the Sepia, but did not recover his normal health till three weeks had passed. He mentioned twelve authors and appended a bibliography. He quoted instances of patients responding to homceo- pathic remedies in spite of smoking tobacco, drinking alcohol, and using strong perfumes. A better title for the paper might have been 'Homoeopathic remedies can work in spite of obstacles'.

'Aids to remedy selection' is the title of the Richard Hughes Memorial Lecture for 1967 delivered by Dr D. M. Gibson. He stressed the

52

importance of making pathological, aetiologi- cal, and typological diagnoses in each case. He quoted several cases from his experience and work in China--kala azar, relapsing fever, anthrax, dysentery, and malaria. He also men- tioned diseases more commonly seen in Europe, and added a list of symptoms and signs which indicate certain remedies almost specifically.

Cinchona and Phosphoric acid are the two remedies described in the customary mono-

British Homceopathic Journal

graphs by Dr D. M. Gibson. It is remarkable that as many as thirty-eight alkaloids have been identified in the various species of Cinchona. t tahnemann prepared his Phosphoric acid by using two kilos of calcined bones and two kilos of strong sulphuric acid and four kilos of brandy. (Nowadays, I understand, commercially pure phosphoric acid is used to prepare potencies.) It is good news that Dr Gibson's monographs have now been edited by Dr Harling and Dr Kaplan, and published in one volume.

Address for correspondence Dr N. J. Pratt

8 Bluebell Crescent

Norwich NR4 7LE

T H E F A C U L T Y O F H O M ( E O P A T H Y

Tunbridge Wells BranchmAnnual Symposium

A one-day symposium on homoeopathic medi- cine will be held at the Kent and Sussex Hos- pital, Tunbridge Wells, on Tuesday 2 February 1988. There will be a buffet supper by courtesy of the BHA. Chairman: Dr Anne Clover. Speakers: Dr Barry Rose and Mr'Chris Day.

Please apply to: Dr Anne Clover Tunbridge Wells Hom0eopathic Hospital Church Road, Tunbridge Wells Kent TN1 1JU Tel: Tunbridge Wells (0892) 42977