Therapeutics of Intermittent Fever by H C Allen

Book review by Dr P K Satheesh Kumar BHMS,MD(Hom)
Medical Officer,Dept. of  Homoeopathy, Govt. of Kerala

Name of book: Therapeutics of intermittent fever
Author : H.C. Allen, MD. Author of Keynotes and characteristic of materia medica, materia medica of nosodes, and therapeutics of fever.
Classification: Coming under the category – clinical repertory on the clinical condition intermittent fever.
Publishers : B. Jain Publishers Pvt .Ltd, New Delhi( India )
Edition & year: First edition 1879 of publication Second edition 1884
Reprint edition 1998
Total number on pages: 342 pages (including Materia medica part)
82 pages repertory alone.
Grading : Bold, italics, and ordinary letters

Mode of construction of book:
The book can be divided into five parts

Preface
There are two prefaces given in this book one for the first edition and the other for the second edition.

Introduction –
Begins with a coating from Hahnemann’s “medicine of experience”. “ After he has found all the existing and appreciable symptoms of the disease, the physician has found the disease itself. He has a complete idea of it and knows all he need know to cure it”.
Introduction consists of few important essays.

These essays include  “ The cause”, “Malarial theory”, “ Psoric diathesis”, “ Examination of the patient”, “ Genus epidemicus” etc.
Materia medica part — given as two sections.
First section begins with Aconite and ends with Veratrum album. This part consists of 116 medicines.
Second part given under the heading “ minor remedies”. This part consists of 31 medicines. Begins with Aethusa and ends with Valariana

Total number of medicines in materia medica part is 147.
Repertory—

Begins with – Chill– Type and ends with the chapter Apyrexia
Abbreviation and remedies

Materia medica:
General representation of a medicine is as follows-
Name of medicine
General characteristics of medicine (both mental and physical)
Relation – Complimentary, acute, chronic, inimical etc
Aggravation
Modality
Amelioration
Followed by nature of fever described under the heading
1. Type (of fever)—Quotidian, tertian, yellow fever, typhoid etc.
2. Time –12 – 2 am, 2 – 4 am etc.
3. Prodrome
4. Chill
5. Heat
6. Sweat
7. Tongue
8. Pulse
9. Apyrexia

Comparison –under certain drug like Ars alb, Capsicum etc. a comparative study of most similar drug is given.
E.g.:- in drug Capsicum; Eup. purp. compared with capsicum. in drug Ars alb; Cinchona compared with Ars alb.
Analysis – under analysis he mentioned most important characteristic symptoms of the drug in fever.
[Causation / important features of chill, heat and sweat etc]
Clinical — a separate clinical section is given at the end of each drug where examples of cases treated either by him or by others with that drug are mentioned.

Plan of construction of repertory
The mode of construction and the arrangement is the same as that in the “ Therapeutics of fever” by the same author. One new feature is added to this work in the sub rubric level. Instead of repeating each word of main rubrics, the sub rubric begins with small lines (—-), which indicate the words in the preceding line.
It contains 147 medicines and has 31 chapter starts with “ chill-type” and ends with the chapter apyrexia symptoms during.

The repertory part can be divided in to 5 sections
1. Chill
2. Heat
3. Sweat
4. Appetite, taste, tongue etc. Symptoms of: and
5. Apyrexia.
A) Chill consists of 10 chapters.  They are as follows
1. Type
2. Time
3. Cause (attack brought on by)
4. Prodrome (conditions occurring during)
5. Commencement of chill (chill beginning in)
6. Chill location of (chill part affected or location of)
7. Chill aggravated
8. Chill ameliorated
9. Symptoms during the chill
10. Chill followed by

B) Heat consists of 7 chapters.
Heat aggravated by
Heat ameliorated by
Heat absent
Heat in general
Heat symptoms during
Heat followed by
Heat character of
C) Sweat –11 chapters.
Sweat aggravated
Sweat ameliorated
Sweat followed by
Sweat absent
Sweat in general
Sweat predominate
Sweat produced by
Sweat character of
Sweat time of
10. Sweat location of
11. Sweat symptoms during
D) Appetite, taste, tongue etc. Symptoms of:
E) Apyrexia symptoms during

Misplaced rubrics: 
Chill:
Type –
1. Day
Ø Every at precisely same hour
Ø At different times of
Ø Every other
Ø Every other in evening
Ø Every seven (weekly)
Ø Every fourteen
Ø Every twenty one
(Time regular intervals/ time paroxysm returning at)
2. Menses after the (Nux vom, Sep)
3. Monthly
4. Summer
Ø Excessive heat of
5. Winter
6. Yearly
Time –
10. Bed in
Cause –
11. Hours, irregular late –Nux vom
Chill location of –
12. Ascends
13. Descends
Symptoms   during the chill
14 . Chill absent
15. Chill in general
Heat:
Heat characteristics of
17. Afternoon without chill – Anac.
18. Back over the
19. Body left side of
Ø Right side of
Ø Upper part of
Ø Whole of
Ø Left side of coldness of right
20. Chest in or on
21. Day, during the periodically
22. Evening
23. Face on
24. Forenoon
25. Head mostly on the
26. Hip burning in the
27. Night
28. Morning
Ø  Morning towards.
29. Mid night at
Ø   Midnight before
Ø    Mid night after
Ø   Midnight and noon
30. Noon
31. Parts affected of
32. Spine along the
Sweat:
Sweat, time of
33. Long lasting

Merits: 
No repetition of same rubrics as in the case of therapeutics of fever.
It contains many additional rubrics when compared to other repertories.
Eg: – Chill location of
Ø Abdomen
Ø Arms
Ø Arm left
Ø Back, in, or on the etc
Cause
Ø  Mechanical injuries from
Ø  Organic lesion
Whole febrile condition is divided in to four stages i.e. chill, heat, sweat and apyrexia. Each of this stage further subdivided into type, time, location of, cause etc. There by the selection of the rubrics become more accurate and easier.

Demerits:

  • Misplaced rubrics are many.
  • No definite pattern or order for the arrangement different chapters.
  • Number of medicines is less when compared to Murphy or other modern repertory.
  • Even though grading is given as bold, Italics and ordinary letters, there is no information about it s mark.
  • Rubrics are given in alphabetical order but in some places order is not followed.
  • Eg: – under the chapter “Chill- type” the rubric- Fever, without chill, returning at is given in wrong alphabetical order.
  • Under the section chill, there were two chapters with the same heading with entirely different rubrics. i.e. “symptoms during the chill” and “chill, symptoms during”
  • No index for this work
  • No introduction for repertory part.
  • Name of the chapter is given only at the beginning of each chapter, not given in subsequent page top. It makes some difficulties in search of rubrics

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