A Text-Book of Materia Medica.

In presenting to medical students and to the profession another Text Book of Materia Medica a few words of explanation may not be inappropriate.
Homoeopathic literature already abounds with valuable compilations of Materia Medica obtained from the most authentic sources, and it is not the ambition of the author that the present volume shall, in any sense, supersede these or render their use unnecessary, but rather does he desire that it may, by presenting in a clear and concise manner the prominent feature of our most important remedies, furnish the beginner with a systematic basis of knowledge, that may facilitate his study of the complete Materia Medica, and enable him the more readily to comprehend the wider application of drug action as there afforded.
How well this task has been performed the reception of this book alone will tell.
Certainly no one is more conscious of its defects than is the author himself, who can only bespeak the charity of such as may not realize the difficulties to overcome in condensing the symptoms of the Homoeopathic Materia Medica, retaining only those which are essentially characteristic, and sifting out only those which are of less importance.
Up to the present time even the most condensed works on Materia Medica present to the mind of the student only a vast array of unmeaning symptoms, with nothing to point out their comparative value, or to assist in their practical application, so that, as a result, he stands discouraged at the outset, with little prospect but that the subject which should be to him the most entertaining, and of necessity the most important, will ever remain a confused mass of symptoms, which he surveys with mysterious awe, but which, in fact, he scarcely attempts to unravel or to comprehend.
In view of this fact it has been the aim of the author to present in this volume only the characteristic points of the Homoeopathic Materia Medica, and to include these as full and complete as possible.
In so doing he has first given in brief the action of each drug from a physiological standpoint, hoping thus, by presenting the general action of the drug, to better prepare the student for a detailed study of its special action as afforded by as pathogenesis.
For practical study the symptoms of the Materia Medica may be readily divided into four groups.
First:
Those which occur very often in provings, and which have been repeatedly verified in practice; these we may designate as "grand characteristics."
Second:
Those which occur less often in provings, but which have been frequently verified in practice; these we may designate as "characteristics."
Third:
Those which come next in order, being important, yet falling short of characteristic expression; and,
Fourth:
Those which occur seldom in provings and which lack clinical verification.
All these groups of symptoms find their place in an " Encyclopaedia," while it is usually intended to incorporate the first three groups in manuals and text books.
The present volume, however, only includes the first two, and of these the first group or " grand characteristics " are printed in italics, while the second group are given in ordinary text.
While most of the symptoms given are pathogenetic - that is, are the result of provings on the healthy - yet it has not been deemed advisable to throw out altogether those distinctively curative symptoms which have been so repeatedly verified as to render them unquestionably characteristic, and such only of curative symptoms are given.
To facilitate the use of this volume, the names of remedies possessing similar symptoms have been recorded in the text for comparison.
In presenting the therapeutic range of each drug only those diseases or morbid conditions have been named in which the symptoms of the drug are most apt to occur, and in which clinical experience has most often verified its use, yet it must ever be remembered that diseases are not treated by name, and that it is only when the totality of the symptoms presented by the patient correspond to those of the drug that its use becomes Homoeopathic.
In the preparation of the material for this volume, reference has been freely made to every available work on Materia Medica published, and to some which have long been out of print; yet the author desires to especially acknowledge his indebtedness to:
Hahnemann's Materia Medica Pura,
Hahnemann's Chronic Diseases,
Allen's Encyclopaedia of Pure Materia Medica,
Hering's Condensed Materia Medica,
Lippe's Text Book of Materia Medica,
Jahr's New Manual, by Hull,
Hale's New Remedies,
Hughes' Pharmaco-Dynamics, and
Dunham's Lectures.
With the hope that the work may assist in accomplishing the purpose where unto it was conceived, it is now submitted to the profession.