I am going to frankly and freely confess that I use anodynes, mostly the different preparations of opium, in connection with the homoeopathic remedy. I believed the practice to be not only humane, but reasonable and sensible, and that it has saved many lives. Under what conditions do I use palliation? I will illustrate by citing three cases.
Case I. A young man who was working in a factory. He was caught by a belt which went over a shaft which was about eighteen inches from the ceiling and was carried over that shaft. The result was ruptured abdominal wall with intestines protruding and thirteen fractures. The necessary surgical services was rendered. When he came out from under the anaesthetic I injected into his arm 1/4 gr. of Morphia sulph. and 1/500 gr. Atropine. He was kept under the influence of this anodyne for nearly a week. He lived, and I am sure that the opiate should be given credit for saving his life.
Case II. A little girl two and a half years old was helping her mother in the kitchen. There was on the edge of the table a pail of hot lard. The girl reached up and pulled the pail of lard over the lower part of her face, neck and chest. The first thing I did was to inject 1/8 gr. Morphia sulph. Then I dressed the burned surface with Cantharis and gave Cantharis internally.
Case III. Mrs. H. M. C., age 32; mother of two children; extremely neurotic; subject to spells of insomnia; was standing on the porch of her home talking with a neighbor who was just leaving after a call. While they were talking her two children, one aged two and the other five, were playing on the sidewalk. The two-year- old started to run across the street in front of a street car and second child made a dive for the first to pull him back. Both were instantly killed. The mother fell unconscious. On returning consciousness two hours afterward she began to scream, “I’ve killed my babies, I’ve killed my babies. I was talking to my neighbor.”
Everything was done that could be done to quite her by assuring her she was not to blame etc., but to no avail. I was then called and gave her one-fourth grain of Morphia sulph. hypodermically. When the effect of that was gone and she began to scream again, I gave the second dose. She was kept unconscious for forty-eight hours. After that she was given Ignatia 30th, five drops every three hours. The Morphia was only repeated once, viz., on the night after the burial of the children, and then only one dose was needed.
The three cases illustrate my practice for forty-six years and I am ready to defend it before anybody of reasonable, sensible men or women.
And now, in conclusion, let me than you again for an opportunity of making another payment on the debt I owe to Homoeopathy- Homoeopathy, the greatest therapeutic system of medicine – Homoeopathy, the only system of Therapeutics based upon an immutable law- Homoeopathy, which saved my life and give me fifty years of opportunities.
