J.T. Kent Unpublished Materia Medica – Edited by Dr. Ahmed N. Currim
Second Edition 2010 (The first edition was published in 2007)
Reviewed by Dr. Firuzi Mehta 
Published by B. Jain Archibel s.p.r.l.
Printed in India
ISBN: 978-2-87491-006-7
Hardbound
No. of pages: 1702
€ 45.00 | US$ 60.00 | INR 2,600.00
When I received this book to review, I was excited since I had loved reading Dr. Ahmed Currim’s ‘Collected Works of Arthur Hill Grimmer’ and I knew what an excellent compilation it was. I have great respect for Dr. Currim’s work which obviously stems from his love of homeopathy.
‘J.T.Kent Unpublished Materia Medica’ begins with the interesting story of how the editor, Dr. Ahmed Currim, managed, in 1980, to retrieve 2 volumes of almost unknown notes of Materia Medica that Dr. Kent had given in 1895 to his students in Chicago at the Hering Medical College. Later, in 1985, Dr. Currim came across another, similar, 3 volume set of lecture notes that Dr. Kent had given to his students in 1893-94. Some years later, Dr. Currim acquired an old volume of notes on Materia Medica that Dr. Kent presented at the Dunham Medical College in 1901-02.
Having acquired these priceless notes which showed the progression of Kent’s thinking in Materia Medica from 1893-1902, Dr. Currim decided to edit, correct, classify and present these invaluable hidden treasures to the profession. This book is the result. It contains notes on several remedies not found in any of Kent’s already existing works like Materia Medica, Lesser Writings and Gypser’s Minor Writings. It also contains new pictures not known before of many of the regular well-known remedies, thereby widening our understanding of these remedies.
One hundred fifty five remedies have been discussed in this huge tome of 1,702 pages. They have been nicely set for ease of reading with important features set in bold type. Each remedy description begins with a section discussing general action of the remedy, followed by the Generals; then the order of sections follows the usual trend of chapters seen in Kent’s repertory: Mind, Vertigo, Head and so on.
What makes this book so special is the intermingling of tips on dealing with conditions, remedy comparisons with finer points for differentiating remedies, general hints on case management, explanation of symptoms and brief miasmatic explanations with suggestions on miasmatic prescribing. Small cases have been described off and on throughout the book which helps in deepening our understanding of the remedies and imprinting the remedy pictures on our minds. The potencies used have been mentioned, which again helps to highlight Kent’s thinking process. At some places, details about translation errors from the actual provings are included, which helps in clarification and correction of actual symptoms. Dr. Currim’s viewpoints and notes from his own valuable experience have been added as Editor’s Notes throughout the book.
Despite being a record of symptoms, the book makes for interesting reading throughout, since it is scattered with numerous little golden nuggets of valuable information which add an extra dimension to our mental images of remedies.
The quality of printing, binding and paper do not disappoint. The paper is smooth though thin, which it had to be, otherwise it would have consumed two or more volumes! A few insignificant typos have crept in, which considering the vastness of the work, can be easily overlooked.
The contents of the book display Kent’s vast knowledge and experience, hence this book serves as a valuable addition to our homeopathic literature, and will be useful to all homeopaths who strive to constantly better themselves.
Thank you, Dr. Mehta, for this excellent and interesting review.
I believe Dr. Currim lives here somewhere in Sarasota, Florida;
I exchanged emails with him quite some time ago but have since lost contact.
His book, Collected Works of Grimmer” was superb with excellent scholarship so it is expected that this book on Kent would be be at the same high level and your review has confirmed this expectation!
Kent is of interest to me because many Homeopaths were influenced or trained by him including one of my favorite authors and Homeopath, Dr. Dorothy Shepherd, whose books documents her amazing experiences and successes from the World War 1 era right through the blitz and up till the early 1950s when she passed away. Starting out as a conventionally trained GP, she gradually made the transition to all Homeopathy, conquering her own doubts, and proving to herself the utility of each remedy that she used. If only those old timers were here today, the things they could tell us! But we have their books which record their observations and experiences, transmitting the knowledge across the decades right into the present.
Many thanks!
Hi Dr. Pannozzi,
Yes, I absolutely agree that our old timers could have told us lots of interesting things; they are the ones who practiced homeopathy out of love for it and hence their writings were usually free from any hidden motives. I do think most old-time authors’ works are usually very valuable.
Dr. Currim has beautifully compiled this book, just like his Collected Works of Grimmer. I thoroughly enjoyed this new book, as I am sure you will too! Would love to have your views on it after you’ve read it!
Best wishes!
Firuzi
Some readers wanted some examples from the book – here they are!
In chronic disease you should stop the chronic craving. It has something in it that is detrimental to the patient. The very reverse is true in acute craving; these (acids, lager beer etc.) should be supplied in typhoid, in gestation (if not craved before) as these cravings are on a nutritive plane and medicine does not supply it rapidly enough. Only momentary cravings must be supplied. In the pregnancy mother must not be indulged if she had the craving all along before pregnancy; but if not and it is a craving incident in the state of pregnancy, let her have it.
Aconite is a major remedy in acute angina or acute MI; rushes to the ER of the hospital with great anguish predicting that he will die. Aconite 10M will greatly mitigate the pain and limit the extent of myocardial damage.
In all sorts of stings, give the lowest Carbolic Acid one can get. Do not give highly potentized medicines for crude poisions. If poisons are administered in crude form, you must give medicine in the crude form, or very close to it. If poisons are administered in the high form, you must antidote them on an equal plane. The next best thing is common salt. Plentifully. For bee stings, Ledum low will do it; but Apis for Apis, never.
Aloe has all the colic found in Colchicum with all the distension which is not common to Colchicum. The Colchicum colic is likely to be a local one and the distension is quite circumscribed in a small portion, but with Aloe, it is over the whole abdomen.
————————
i want to get the book, i m from pakistan, tell me the address to contact
Dear Dr. Khan,
You can contact B. Jain publishers at [email protected] for ordering the book. Enjoy the book!
only 7 new drugs which were not in James Tyler Kent’s Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica (1890-99) are covered by this book. All (7) of them they were lectured during the same period in which Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica (217 remedies ) were given. Those new druds are-
1. ANTHRACINUM (1894, 1895)
2. CARBOLIC ACID (1895)
3. CINNABAR (1899)
4. ELAPS CORALLINUS (1895)
5. ROBINIA (1895)
6. SAMBUCUSNIGRA (1895)
7. TEREBINTHINA (1895)
– Thanx, Naga
I tried a lot to get this book and finally was successful in getting it. Today, I read the remedy Thuja and the information is very interesting. It is a wonderful book that every Homoeopath should have one copy and read it repeatedly.