Benoît Mure

“ Headache at two o’clock, as from a nail in the vertex, with violent toothache, swelling of the gums, after a walk. Beatings in the left side of the face, extending up to the eye. The feet, and mostly the whole body are constantly damp and cold, with weakness. Uneasiness at the stomach. His breakfast does not seem to sit well on his stomach; he eats with a good appetite, however (from the twenty-fourth day) . ”

“ Though the precious metals hidden in the Brazilian soil, may be never so abundant; though the splendor of its precious stones, may be never so brilliant; though the crops which the soil yields to the farmer, may be never so rich: yet there are, in the Brazilian empire, treasures of a far, greater importance, and infinitely more necessary to human happiness. They are the powerful means which this vast country furnishes for the cure of disease.
Previous to Hahnemann’s discovery, we were ignorant of a positive method of determining the use of drugs. ”

“ But this mode of investigation would have been too long and uncertain, whereas the proving on the human body is simple and direct, and is, we think, the true mode which Providence has designed we should pursue even in regard to the potato-rot.
It is true, man cannot be assimilated to the myriads of organized beings that surround us; man constitutes the highest link in the chain of beings; he is the complex of the animal life on our globe, and the most perfect type to which all inferior existences can be referred ”

“ Mottled face, in the beginning of the proving it became red, now it is sometimes pale. She cannot walk, without fearing to fall. No solicitude for the future, generally speaking; tears with ennui; she thinks of death without fearing it. The pain at the sacrum is worse when sitting, and obliges her to lie down.
Thirty-second day.—455. Sleep during the night, but [82] the pain in the renal region returns as soon as she rises from bed. The pain is seated in the sacro-lumbar articulation; it extends to the glutei muscles with sensation as though she were gnawed by dogs. ”

“ The toothache is worse in the evening and afternoon. Chewing is painful, but the contact of liquids is not painful. 35. Swelling of the tonsils. Deglutition is difficult, one is not able to swallow saliva. Protrusion of umbilical hernia. Chilliness and pains at the epigastrium. Tearing pain at the navel, all day. 40. Suppuration of inguinal hernia. The hernia is painful, and air is felt in it. Lancination in the navel as from a stiletto. Constipation. The miliary acne [157] rosacea spreads over the chest, neck and back, with itching which is worse in the morning and decreases in the evening. ”

“ Reveries in the day-time, one imagines one is receiving blows. One imagines one hears some one speak. One hears talking without comprehending. Absence of mind. 5. Nightmare and congestion about the head. Anxious dreams. Weight in the right parietal region and pain which penetrates to the nape of the neck. Beating at regular intervals in the nape of the neck, like the ticking of a clock. Weight in the forehead and above the orbits. 10. Boring pain from the vertex to the right eyebrow. Pain on the right side, which seems to be seated in the cerebellum. Sweat on the forehead and nape of the neck. ”

“ Sensation as if the heart beat in the pit of the stomach. Painful stitch at the heart, shifting to the right side. Stitch at the heart, which seems to beat slowly. The beats of the heart are not felt in the [208] morning, in bed. Drawing pain from the front part of the neck to the ear. Pulling from the lower jaw to the middle of the neck. Boring pain at the right external carotid. The neck is so painful that the turning the head is difficult and painful. Weakness of the lumbar region.
Extremities: Rheumatic pain in left shoulder-blade. Pain in the back and chest. ”

“ Pain and heat in the forehead, with pressure on the eyes, second day, three in the afternoon. Dull pain at the root of the nose, evening. 130. Numbness and compressive sensation as if a warm bandage were wrapped round the head. General prostration as from sleepiness. The voice seems to come from afar. The body seems insensible when she is lying down, and she feels as if in a swoon. When walking she feels as if she did not touch the soil, and as though she would fall. 135. Painfulness of the eyes, as if the eyeballs were driven out of the orbits by some foreign body. ”

“ Depression of spirits; desire to be in a deep cavern, where nobody can be seen. Absence of thought. Complete loss of one’s self, so that the time passes away without one being conscious of it in the least. ”

“ The differences, however, are sufficiently numerous to refute the doctrine that all serpent-poisons act almost alike and that the cobral, for instance, may be resorted to as a perfect succedaneum of the lachesis. I am convinced of the contrary to such an extent that it is my belief that the poison of serpents alone would, if sufficiently proved, furnish the safest and most rapid means of combating all human infirmities. Every epoch in the history of the world is undoubtedly possessed of therapeutic means which are more particularly homœopathic to the general character of the ruling maladies. ”

“ Crampy constriction in the phalanxes of the fingers and under the nails. Lancinations and prickling in the back of the hand. The blood remains congested in the hand, which is of a violet color and as if paralysed; it has to be kept erect in order to prevent the congestion. 65. A black blood spirts out of the finger when pricking it ever so little. Vesicular eruption on the feet. Pains in the knees. Pains in the knees as if bruised and contused, especially in the left knee, which does not bear contact, and where the pain is as keen as if the part had been sprained. ”

“ Providence at last permitted Hahnemann and his disciples to discover the method of applying remedies to diseases in a positive and efficacious manner. The dominion of mere palliatives is at an end.—Homœopathy, by attacking the cause of disease, destroys the chronic miasms, which are transmitted from generation to generation; dries up the fountain-heads of epidemic and contagious diseases; enables the infant-body, by a positive hygiene, to resist the deleterious influences to which it might be exposed in the course of its existence ”

“ Human pathology is not the only field of the homœopathist. He should take an interest in every species of suffering, and endeavor to restore the harmony of the organic kingdom wherever it has been disturbed by some accidental cause. Homœopathy is a vast, unitary science. The healing art is one; there is no such thing as one healing art for man and another for the animal, though it is on man that we should prove our drugs because he is the complex of the various kingdoms of nature. ”

“ Man alone is able to produce a true pathogenesis by revealing the most evanescent as well as the most characteristic and most permanent symptoms, or lesions of sensation. On plants and animals we can only perceive disordered functions, disorganizations of tissues, or acute pains as manifested by gestures or cries; but the truly dynamic action can only be properly perceived and described by man.
The veterinary homœopathist does very well in selecting his remedy by the human pathogenesis. ”

“ We have invited our fellow-beings to try it; we have not only invited them to teach, and to cure, and to make themselves sick, in order to discover the true means of healing; but we have encouraged them to suffer themselves to be persecuted, and even imprisoned, as a reward for their labors of love, we have [120] said to them; whilst the world is hesitating whether it should accept or reject the blessing offered by Hahnemann, let us lose no time; there are other regions where the evil is still triumphant, and where truth is not even known by name ”

“ During the nervous attacks, he thinks of his salvation. The sense of smell is very acute, he even smells persons at a distance.
Seventeenth day.—130. The pain at the sacrum seems to decrease, but he is not yet able to rise from bed, nor stir about in it, he has to remain lying on the back. He has an appetite, but eats little. A sort of painful glandular swelling behind the masseter muscle, below the right ear. Dulness of the head, in front. Sense of oppression at the forehead. ”

“ This little animal is common in Brazil where it lives on trees and secures itself by means of its hind-feet, it uses its tail, which is pretty long, as a means of descending. Its length, from [189] the muzzle to the tip of the tail, is about a foot; the tail is almost as long as the trunk. The upper parts of the body are covered with sharp prickles about an inch and a half long, and attached to the skin by means of a very thin pedicle. The head-prickles are white at the base, black in the middle and of a yellowish-brown at the top, the dorsal prickles are of a sulphur-yellow at their base. ”

“ Intermitting pain in the right groin after walking. Taste of doughy bread in the mouth. The sight is very sensitive to light, he cannot open his eyes in a spot which is illumined by the sun. At eight o’clock in the evening, pain in the right groin as if pricked with a pin, in the direction of the joint, for a quarter of an hour. The same pain is felt in the navel in a recumbent posture. ”

“ Like unto the vile poisoner who, when his poisons fail him, resorts to the stiletto, as a means of gratifying his cupidity or his ambition, allopathy sacrifices human life, and, like him, will have an ignominious end. ”

“ If it was permitted as recently as four years ago, [9] when the name of Hahnemann was scarcely known in this country, to kill a man for the purpose of trying a drug, we venture to say that, at this period, nobody would either dare to propose or accept such a murderous practice.
It will be seen, in studying the symptoms which we have obtained from the poison of the crotalus, that there are very few among them which resemble the tuberculous lepra, and that this terrible malady will, therefore, have to be cured by some other means. ”

“ Hence it is probable that when the human species shall have been freed from the miasms which now undermine its vitality, the simple flowers on the fields will be sufficient to control the remaining indispositions. Whereas we, unfortunate heirs of the chronic miasms of all ages, lepra, scrofula, syphilis and a host of other subtle plagues, are compelled to employ the most frightful agents in order to meet the intensity of our diseases. ”

“ Frontal headache all day. Smarting and painful sensation at the fifth dorsal vertebra, when the clothes rub against the part. Little appetite. 230. Stiffness of the posterior cervical muscles. Dark redness and warmth of the cheeks. Heat all over in cold and damp weather. The menstrual flow is interrupted. Repeated sneezing, followed by a slight cough, every evening at 5, from the tenth day. 235. Smell of blood, as if nosebleed would take place, at 7 in the morning.
Fifteenth day.—Restless sleep. Last evening’s dinner does not sit well on her stomach, with acidity at night. ”