Materia Medica
study.
By William A. Yingling, M. D.
Presented by Sylvain Cazalet
Dr William A.
Yingling
Whilst man is the
highest type of the animal creation, yet he is a creature of
circumstances requiring development to bring forth that which
distinguishes him from the inferior animals. Man alone must be qualified
to occupy the position for which he was made. By nature he is adaptable,
but never adapted for his sphere in life without training and
considerate guidance. Abraham Lincoln stands as the model of adapted
humanity ; the street urchin as the adaptable. The new-born baby is
but a germ in all its faculties and intellectual powers. Vast
possibilities are before it, but the goal of true manhood is never
reached without the requisite developmental adaptability. It must be
made a man. It will grow physically, and the senses will be more or less
developed, but to reach the height of intellectual manhood the germ, the
embryonic mind, must be trained and carefully nurtured.The five senses of
human nature are the media of this adaptability ; they are but
embryonic and require development, but through them the germ-mind is
brought into full existence and led to the power of abstraction and
scientific and philosophic knowledge. Without these five senses the
child would be absolutely isolated from the rest of the universe ;
without any one of these senses there would be absolute ignorance of all
knowledge derived by that sense. The congenitally blind can have no true
conception of color because the have no knowledge of color derived by
the faculty of perception through the sense of sight. Their
understanding gives no response to the words used to express the idea of
color. They may use the words, and even speak of the blending of colors
intelligently, but their mind forms no mental picture corresponding to
the true conception of color as with those who have perceived colors by
the sense of sight.The mind is always led
from the known to the unknown ; from the tangible to the
intangible ; from the concrete to the abstract. To conceive
properly we must first perceive. Perception is the result of one of the
disturbed senses on the mind ; conception is an act of the mind
itself.In further aid of this
development of the man as he should be, we have a faculty whereby, or by
the power of which, the impressions and ideas brought into the mind by
perception and conception are stored away for future use and brought up
again whenever occasion demands. This faculty is called memory, and is
that faculty least understood without proper consideration, and the one
most essential to the successful Homœopathicians. It is the one faculty
that makes the ready use of the vast materia medica possible to the busy
physician at the beside. Judgement and discernment are sine qua nons,
essentials, but the ready memory is that faculty so much needed at times
when we cannot sit down in our otium cum dignitate and leisurely discern
and judge of the required remedy. The three essentials of an expert
physician, outside of moral character and common sense, are judgement,
and a reliable and ready memory.Memory gives us a
notion of time and duration ; without it there would be no
yesterday and no thought of the past. It is also the basis of
experience, and consequently of all progress. Take from the physician
memory and he could not build upon his past failures and success. Each
case would be the same-a new one for present consideration. By the aid
of memory the physician builds upon experience and advances the medical
science to the ideal of comparative perfection. Hence, it is a duty of
the doctor to improve his memory, and thus give his patients the benefit
of the experience of himself and others.We have two kinds of
memory, the Spontaneous and the Intentional. The intentional memory is a
re-collection of the impressions of the mind and may be difficult
because the concepts have not been definite nor vivid. The Spontaneous
memory is the kind to be acquired by the physician. The spontaneity of
the act of remembering will be proportionate to the vividness of the
mental picture formed by the concept, hence a way must be sought out by
which a mental picture may be formed so vividly as to recall the
information needed promptly and certainly.To trust the memory is
to strengthen it, because this trust exercises it, and thus develops it.
The blacksmith’s arm becomes strong because he uses it, and he uses it
because he trusts it. If he had no faith in his muscles he would not
exercise them. By his faith he puts forth the effort, and in time,
according to law, he possesses a strong and skilful arm.Mnemonic, or Memorial
Technical, is the artificial method and rests exclusively on the
association of ideas. This aid to the memory has been traced back to
Simonides, in the sixth century B. G. Cicero, Quintilian, and Pliny, the
use of some form of Mnemonics. Among the moderns, who practiced and
taught this art, may be mentioned Gray, Feinagle, Loisette, an many
others. The last, perhaps, being the best, but all are too cumbersome
for the busy practitioner. There is a more direct way-that is, to adopt
the plan of mental picture-making in accordance with the well-known law
of association, which will produce spontaneity in recalling the facts to
mind as they are needed.Locke says, “Ideas
that in themselves are not all of kin come to be so united in some men’s
minds that it is very hard to separate them ; they always keep
company, and the one on sooner at any time comes into the understanding
but its associate appears with it.”
Dr J. T. KentKent says, “The
law of association is this -That empirical ideas which often follow each
other, create a habit in the mind, whenever the one is produced, for the
other always to follow.”I need not go into
further detail to show what I wish to bring before the mind of the
readers. It is simply to make use of the law of association in the study
of our mammoth materia medica. To impress the utility of this plan on
the reader’s mind we hint at several facts, and then give our plan. Our
space is too circumscribed to go into detail.Whenever a disease is
cured by a given remedy the remedy is fixed in the mind and thereafter
the same disease, like circumstances, will recall the same remedy. The
picture of the diseased condition and the remedy are associated
together ; the picture must present the remedy to be complete. This
is called experience. It is the recognition of this fact that causes so
many to prefer the physician of experience to the young men without
experience. It is the recognition of this fact that causes so many to
prefer the physician of experience to the young men without experience.
In the old school this is a requisite, but in Homœopathy, whilst a
decided advantage, yet having a true and fixed law of cure, the young
man with a discerning and comprehending understanding may be the better
prescriber.A remedy curing a
disease fixes its remedial action in the mind. When the remedy comes
before the mind the diseased condition also presents itself. This aids
in the abstract study of the materia medica ; the former statement
aids in the therapeutical study of the remedies. Both are essential, and
in accordance with the law of the mind known as association.I mention the name of
U. S. Grant. Those who have seen him at once have a mental picture of
him, as they saw him, or as they saw him under the most impressive
circumstances ; those who have never seen him at once recall some
circumstance of him that was most impressive to them. No doubt Lee had a
mental picture of Appomattox whenever he heard the name of Grant,
because the most impressive to the old veteran. Thus vividness and
impressiveness are two of the characteristics of this law of
association. Thus, by this law, the impression of childhood, the old
home and fields and woods, the faces of dear ones and companions, are
brought suddenly to mind when some on mentions a circumstance or a
familiar name associated with early childhood.How readily the name
calls to mind the forms, characteristics, or peculiarities of the person
bearing the name, and every time the most peculiar characteristics come
first, because most vividly impressed. Mr. A—. had a cancer that
entirely destroyed his eyes and nose ; you had often seen him and
was impressed deeply ; mention Mr. A—.’s name and how readily
that picture presents itself. Or mention the name of the disease, and
the appearance, etc., of Mr. A—. are introduced. We are all more or
less governed by mental pictured imprinted upon the mind unwittingly.Our plan in the study
of the materia medica is to form a vivid mental picture of the symptoms
of the given remedy. To so closely connect the remedy with certain
conditions that when you see the condition the remedy inevitably
presents itself to the mind-the more vivid the picture the more
distinctly the remedy comes to mind. Then have the picture so accurately
drawn by close study and distinction between remedies that you may be
positive that the association will reproduce the remedy. Trust your
memory by carefully giving it the qualifications of credibility. This
may be done of the care taken in the artistic mental picture. If one is
unable to form a vivid picture by the disturbance of other thoughts, or
by the diversion of his mind by mental wandering, he must blame his
weakness and not censure his every trusty memory, or else seek the
simillimum to restore his mind to a healthy state. When the mind is
sound, the picture and vivid, the result will be in accordance with this
mental law. Read the two quotations above, from Locke and Kent.To be more
particular : You are studying the action of Lach. In ulcer. Form a
mental picture of an ulcer, just the one calling for Lachesis, and
associate the remedy with that particular kind-see the hard
circumference, the patient cringing from sensitiveness of the sore, the
black bottom, easily bleeding, but very little pus. This is to be done
with all the remedies in our study. It is easier than to endeavor to
recollect, because the association gives spontaneity to the action of
the memory. It requires but little time, and with the habit formed the
process will become almost instantaneous. Then, this habit must be
carried to the sick room. You see the patient suffering from terrible
pain ; a certain remedy magically relieves.Carry that exact
picture and the remedy in the same recess of the mind. Some may object
that too many pictures must be formed, and that confusion would be the
result. Confusion will be the results of incomplete mental concepts
only. Complete pictures increase the mental power as each stroke of the
hammer strengthens the arm of the smith. Use strengthens the
memory ; there is no gorging of this faculty when the law of
association is observed, and when vividness and completeness are the
artists. The memory is capable of wonders, seemingly miraculous feats,
and there seems to be no limit to its healthy exercise. Call to mind all
the articles, persons, subjects, etc., an ordinary person knows and can
name at sight. To what greater extent does the mind of the professional
man go ? There really seems to be no limit to the powers of the
memory.Others may object that
this plan requires too much time. Time only is required in forming the
habit, then it is almost instantaneous. Note the feat of memory of
various persons who can name distinctly and readily a large number of
articles promiscuously arranged in a show-window by a mere glance as the
rapidly walk by. This is mere habit of the memory secured by a practiced
perception-a trained eye and an instantaneous mental picture.By proper training and
direction the sensitive brain of the physician can record the pictures
of the remedies so as to be spontaneously reproduced when needed. Poor
memories are usually the result of a vivid and clear picture rapidly, or
instantaneously, imprinted on the brain. It is to be secured by practice
and consequent habit. As soon as the habit is formed, experience in
picture forming will give rapidity in both the recording and the
reproducing of the data desired. Why is it that man who has the
so-called poor memory for faces can, with a single glance, vividly
recall the face of the villain who assaults him, and that face is before
him at every alarm ? Here fear, riveted attention, and
hyperæsthesia of the mind produced by alarm, indelibly imprint the
likeness on the brain. Interest in the theme, a sense of duty to the
sick, and the habit of close attention should produce the same vivid
picture on the brain of the homœopathician.
Source :
Homœopathic Physician,
October 1891.Copyright © Sylvain
Cazalet 2001
