*THE CHRONIC REMEDY.

By John Hutchinson, M. D., New York City.

As a rule the remedy that acts over a long period is also deeply-acting. This remedy will usually do all the work. One dose of Calcarea ostrearum in the proper potency, when administered to the adult patient whose condition indicates it, will cure the complaints and augment health for the remainder of life. A repetition of the dose may be demanded after a month or two, but rarely then, and certainly not as long as improvement is going on. This fact has been verified many times, and brilliantly so when the history of the case has shown that Calcera was indicated in childhood but not given.

Calcera is not only reconstructive then, but its effect persists over a very long period when not interfered with.

But profound activity and long continued action are not synonymous. It is not always true that the long-acting remedy acts most deeply. The character of the case under conisderation alone will determine. Morbid influences arrive in the individual by devious paths, and each suppliant at the shrine of Homeopathy must present himself in utter loneliness. He has nothing to do with other complainants, for he resembles them only as Aconite resembles Lycopodium of Thujt or Zinc.

We can no more separate classes of remedies into arbitrary groups relating purely to acuteness or chronicity, than we can establish the gravity of a complaint by its diagnostic name.

A dose of Belladonna will dispel the Belladonna cough that it fail to recur, if at all, until weeks have pessed, but in one sense we consider Belladonna a superficial remedy. Its chronic analogue, Calcera, comes to mind instead for profound action. Yet the dose of Belladonna frequently acts for long, and, conversely, Calcera is often immediately effective in acute conditions, relieving pain in attacks of hepatic colic, for instance, with perfect promptness.

Let the symptom totality guide to any remedy, and that remedy will cure.

I am not a believer in the probability of banishing any case of illness with one dose of medicine, or with one kind of medicine.

*Original publication in The Critique.

I do not believe in the single remedy, in the single dose, and in non-repetition of medicine while the action of that already taken is still going on. There are doubtless numerous cases for which one remedy in the proper form is just what is needed, and all that is needed for cure. These cases, however, do not come in great numbers to one and the same physician. Why should they?

In the first place, the morbid states of humankind in this twentieth century have the factor of heredity in more pronounced form than at any other period of the world. In America the blood of our people is a mixture of nationalities, resulting in neurotic manifestations of complex variety. And even if this were not so, the difficulty in making a faithful homeopathic prescription is always positive. That prescription has involved not mere study, but trained perception, and an intuition of the order possessed by one Samuel Hahnemann.

It is not enough to know the symptomatology of remedies and of diseases. If we cannot take the case properly in all its essential spirit, in all its bearings from ancestral history down to the abnormal sensations of to-day, we cannot select the chronic remedy that will do the work successfully.

When, however, the right selection has been made, the physician's work is only well begun. He must then observe the effects of the medicine, discern how health is being restored, and make sure that in the habits of the patient nothing exists to thwart progress toward complete recovery, and the right remedy should not be interfered with.

As to the selection of a remedy that shall cover the case completely, psora, syphilis, and sycosis, as Hahnemann defined them, and as we understand them to-day, are most certainly to be borne in mind. The most acute, even incipient conditions, will perchance elude the obvious remedy until the deeper antipsoric has been exhibited.

If we study carefully any individual patient we must surely gain an impression leading to the chronic aspect of certain morbid sensations, the time of their occurrence, the condition of their aggravation or amelioration. These characteristics may have existed so long that although certainly morbid, they are looked upon as the owner's unavoidable inheritance. It takes the logical and painstaking physician to convince the patient that abnormal

physical and temperamental circumstance do not stand still. They fail to depart spontaneously, but they not only persist, they increase in force.

There is an expressive phrase that I have frequently heard from members of a large class of appreciateive patients during treatment. While improvement is steadily progressing, though that phase of trouble which to the patient's mind is the important focus is apparently little modified, he will declare with sunny cheerfulness: "But I feel well in myself!"

There is a world of meaning in this. Such is the work being accomplished. The vital force asserts itself and declares for its native energy.

Only the chronic remedy can meet such an exigency, the remedy that reaches down to the great root of the disorder. That chronic remedy may be either Ipecac or Lachesis or Tuberculinum-some deep constitutional remedy or one that is employed most often for brief though sharply acentuated ailments. There is but one restriction to any selection-the remedy must fit perfectly the important element of the case.

Again, the symptom totality is to be regarded with more than numerical judgment. The physician places a valuation upon each and every symptom in the totality. Those of highest value express the essence or spirit of some proved drug, and that is the remedy for the chronic disease. That remedy, chosen by this old, but sometimes forgotten method, that remedy demanded by the peculiarily deranged human system, will do its work, and will restore health.

OVERHEARD ON THE STREET CAR.

Party who had been induced to come to Denver owing to the cheap rates extended by the railroads, telling a friend of a "good one" he had heard at the expense of Denver.

Scene: One of the prominent "Homes" of Denver; patient about to pass to that hence from which no record is made of any one ever having returned; solicitous attendant:

S. A.-Is there anything I can do for you? Do you wish to send any message to your friends? Is there anything you desire?

Patient-No, there is nothing you can do for me; I have no message for friends or others. There is one thing which I desire very much, however, and that is to die as Christ did*. Please send for Rev. O. and Dr. B.

Inasmuch as New Mexico, and other contiguous territory, is making strong bids for the invalid tourist business which has favored Denver with its patronage for many years past, steps should be taken to prevent the recurrence of incidents of this kind, even though they be but "street car conversations."

*If you have forgotten the company in which Christ died, look the matter up.

PROSTATIC CANCER-DIAGNOSIS.

The frequency of this condition is insisted on by Legueu (Journal de Médecine et de Chirurgie Pratiques, March 10, 1905), who gives the points of difference from hypertrophy as follows: The pain is more severe and constant, and there is less mechanical interference with urination than in hypertrophy. Hemorrhage occurs intermittently in all cases, but in very variable amount. The pain is apt to radiate into the sciatic nerve, but is constant in the perineum. Interference with defecation is generally more marked than with urination. On examination the wood-like hardness of the gland is pathognomonic. The tumor is very malignant and emaciation rapid. Operation is never complete, and is therefore inadvisable.-Therapeutic Gazette.

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JAMES WILLIAM MASTIN., M. D., MANAGING EDITOR.

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EDITORIAL COMMENT.

"IF"-If such a thing might be made possible that the entire medical profession of the city and county of Denver could be placed beyond reaching distance either by telephone, trolley, steam cars or other means of communication and transportation what a mirth provoking sight it would be to witness the wild race Revs. Craig, Tyler and Houghton would make for the paragoric bottle provided a peculiar pain was to simultaneosuly overtake this think triumvirate in the immediate region of the watch pocket, and some were to whisper appendicitis! And each one pocket, and someone were to whi sper "appendicitis!" And each one with a pocket full of prayers, too!

1906-It hardly seems possible that 1906 is here and already engaged in making things lively in all departments of business and others affairs of life; but such is the fact and The Critique, inasmuch as it is the usual custom and it has every reason to feel that way, desires to extend the compliments of this delightful season to every one connected with the medical profession; paraphrazing Dr. Le Roy C. Hedges' remarks at the conclusion of his