BOENNINGHAUSEN’S CHARACTERISTICS AND REPERTORY
by C. M. Boger
Published by Boerick
& Tafel (1st Edition – 1905)
Roy & Co, India (2nd Edition –1937)
Evolution of Boger's Repertory
During the later
part of 19th century, with the emergence of Kent’s repertory the
applications of Boenninghausen’s Therapeutic Pocket Book was relegated to the
back stage. Boger was an ardent follower of Boenninghausen's school of
philosophy which in his view was much closer to Hahnemannian concept of disease
understanding. Boger was a prolific writer on the use of repertories who was at
ease with both Kent’s and Boenninghausen's school of philosophy. The
construction and information based in Kent's repertory also impressed him. So
he embarked on the mission of achieving and integration of the information
present in these two repertories.
While Boger was practicing in US he understood the difficulties faced by the
practitioners of his days in finding out a similimum from the Materia Medica in
the shortest possible time. Finding that the practitioners had to depend on the
existing faulty translations of the Repertory of Antipsorics he took up the
task of translating it in 1899. While doing this translation he was further
convinced that the basic principles, plan and construction were sound and the
book was comprehensible and practicable. He was also aware of the difficulties
faced by practitioners while using Therapeutic Pocket Book as well as the
criticisms leveled against its principles and methodology.
So he undertook the rewriting of Boenninghausen's Repertory
by adding new chapters, new rubrics and new medicines. Thus he modified chapters
of TPB by adding modalities and concomitant at the end of each chapter. The
outcome was a more useful work and was published by Boericke and Tafel in 1905.
Even after the publication of the 1st edition Boger continued to
work on the Repertory. But he could not survive to see the publication of the 2nd
edition of his Repertory. Later the manuscripts were published posthumously
with the assistance of his wife by Roy & company in 1937. This can be
considered as the 1st Indian edition of Boger’s Repertory.
2nd Indian edition was also brought forth by Roy
& Company in 1952.
3rd Indian edition was published by B. Jain after
20 years in 1972. The entire present editions are reprints of the 2nd edition
published in 1937.
Foreword
This is written by H. A. Roberts. He says that it was
Boenninghausen who first evaluated the remedies in relation to the individual
symptoms and it was he who introduced various relationship of any given remedy
to the individual case. The repertory is based on the original repertory of the
Antipsoric remedies of Boenninghausen.
Preface
Boger mentions that Masterpieces of Boenninghauasen -
1.
Therapeutic Pocket Book
2.
Psoric repertory
3.
Antipsoric repertory
4.
Sides of the body
5.
Intermittent fever
6.
Whooping cough
7.
Aphorisms of Hippocrates
These were
included in the repertory part.
PHILOSOPHICAL BACKGROUND
This repertory is based on the following principles
·
Doctrine of complete symptom and
concomitant
·
Doctrine of pathological generals
·
Doctrine of causation and time
·
Clinical rubrics
·
Evaluation of remedies
·
Fever totality
·
Concordances
Doctrine of complete symptom and concomitants
A symptom is said to be complete when the following elements
are present - location; sensation; modality and concomitant.
Concomitants are the symptoms accompanying the main complaint without any
pathological relation to the main complaint. He tried to make every symptom as
far as complete and he included concomitants at the end of each chapter.
Doctrine of
pathological Generals
These are the general changes in the tissues and parts of the body.
They reveal the state of the whole body and its changes in the changes in
relation to the constitution. The chapter “sensations and complaint in general”
is full of examples of pathological generals, which include discharges,
structural alterations, constitutions, diathesis, etc.
Doctrine of
causation and time
Boger has given adequate importance to causative modality and time
modality. Each chapter in this book is followed by a separate sub chapter of
time aggravation.
Clinical
rubrics
In the absence of characteristic symptoms, clinical conditions are
very useful in grouping medicines, which can be further narrowed down with the
help of modalities and concomitants and finally selecting one among them. They
help the physician in case of advanced pathology.
Evaluation
of Remedies
Boger used the same five grading of medicines as Boenninghausen
followed in his Therapeutic Pocket Book. The grading is based on the frequency
of appearance of symptoms in the provers. He used five different typography to
represent these grades:
CAPITAL (5)
Bold (4)
Italic (3)
Roman (2)
(Roman) in parenthesis (1)
Fever totality
This is the unique contribution of Boger. The three stages
of fever are followed by time, aggravation, amelioration and concomitants. They
help to repertorise any simple as well as complicated cases of fevers.
Concordances
Concordances or relationship of remedies helps in the second
prescription.
PLAN AND CONSTRUCTION
Boger followed basic plan and construction of Boenninghausen’s Repertory of
Antipsoric Medicines. He made several sections for different parts of the body
and he added many rubrics and sub-rubrics. The chapter on fever has been
completely changed in its arrangement and its contents.
The different
chapters and sub-chapters of the repertory are as follows:
·
Mind
·
Sensorium
·
Vertigo
·
Head
·
Eyes
·
Ears
·
Nose
·
Face
·
Teeth
·
Mouth
·
Appetite
·
Thirst
·
Taste
·
Eructation
·
Waterbrash and Heartburn
·
Nausea and vomiting
·
Stomach
·
Hypochondria
·
Abdomen
·
Inguinal and pubic region
·
Flatulence
·
Stool
·
Anus and rectum
·
Perineum
·
Prostate gland
·
Urine
·
Urinary organs
·
Genitalia
·
Sexual impulse
·
Menstruation
·
Respiration
·
Cough
·
Larynx and trachea
·
Voice and speech
·
Neck and external throat
·
Chest
·
Back and scapular region
·
Upper extremities
·
Lower extremities
·
Sensations and complaints in
general
·
Glands
·
Bones
·
Skin and exterior body
·
Sleep
·
Fever
·
Conditions in General
·
Conditions of Aggravation and
Amelioration in General
·
Concordances
SCOPE / ADAPTABILITY
·
The
accessing of complete symptom as regards location, sensation, modality and
concomitants is made to a large extent within each of the chapters. This is
made by the inclusion of these elements from the other sections of the
Repertory for reference as well as repertorisation of a case where particulars
are dominating the picture; here the repertory can be utilized with advantage.
Thus it is more useful in acute and short cases.
·
The number
of mental symptoms was increased due to additions of rubrics from other sources
which Boger evaluated for inclusion in to this Repertory by adjusting to the
scale of gradation. This repertory starts with a large mind section which is
quiet elaborate. There are many rubrics in this Repertory that are not
mentioned in Kent. Eg: crankiness, duality sense of, etc
·
There
are a number of diagnostic and pathologically relevant rubrics that can serve
to indicate the remedy in the absence of characteristic individualizing
symptoms. There are many diagnostic clinical rubrics mentioned in each chapter
with a group of medicines. These medicines have been used in the conditions
mentioned and found to be useful in majority of cases. Thus they have been
proved and verified. There are many controversies regarding the use of
diagnostic rubrics but these cannot be neglected as they have a group of common
symptoms that medicines also have produced in proving. But since there is
similarity only at the level of common symptoms results can be of a lesser
quality.
·
FEVER
CHAPTER - Fever chapter is very purposefully arranged, making this repertory
indicated prominently in cases of fever. In fact this chapter is a hall mark of
this Repertory. From practical point of view this chapter is of immense use. It
has got many subdivisions also. Concomitants in relation to chill, heat and
sweat under different headings are really valuable for bedside practice.
·
There
is a prominent mention of constitutional types under the chapter sensation and
complaints. This reduces the practitioners work and helps him to find the
similimum.
·
The
original sections like parts of body and organs sensations and complaints etc
are retained in their original format for a wider selection of rubrics.
·
The
facility of cross reference is given at the end of each chapter which is of
help in selecting similar rubrics or precise rubrics.
·
There
are many pathological generals that are valuable for repertorisation and
selecting the similimum. Eg uric acid diathesis, hemorrhage tendency to, inflammation,
suppuration, etc.
·
Complaints
of infants are compiled under a single large rubric – Infant, affections of - this
is unique and very useful in pediatric practice.
·
Concomitant
chapter follows modalities in most of the locations. In TPB, concomitants are not
given separately except in a few chapters. Boger made it more useful for
practice by attaching concomitants to the parts.
CRITICISM
·
Chapter of Concordances contains only 125 remedies.
·
There are 49 chapters, but a definite order is not
followed
·
Similar rubrics are present in different sections that
create confusion. For example, Confusion is present in Sensorium and Confuse in
Mind.
·
Several rubrics are not given at proper places,
creating difficulty in finding them
·
There are limited numbers of medicines. Nosodes are
not represented well.
DR. SUMIT GOEL M.D. (Hom)