THE CONCORDANCE REPERTORY OF THE MATERIA MEDICA
BY WILLIAM D GENTRY
Concordance repertory belongs to the Puritan group of
repertories where the symptoms are given in their original form without
much change.
Consists of 6 volumes
It was first published by Gentry in 1890
Reprint Edition: 1995
About 420 medicines are covered in
this repertory.
Volume 1: [835 pages]
Mind and
disposition
Head and scalp
Eyes, Ear, Nose, Face
Volume 2: [889 pages]
Mouth
Throat
Stomach, Hypochondria
Volume 3: [930 pages]
Abdomen
Anus, Rectum, Stool
Urine, Urinary organs
Male sexual organs
Volume 4:
[976 pages]
Uterus and
appendages
Menstruation and discharges
Pregnancy and parturition
Lactation and mammary glands
Volume 5: [956 pages]
Voice, larynx, trachea
Chest, lungs, bronchia and cough
Heart and circulation
Chill and fever
Skin
Sleep and dream
Volume 6: [908 pages]
Neck and back
Upper extremities
Lower extremities
Bones and limbs in general
Nerves
Generalities and Keynotes
PLAN OF CONSTRUCTION OF THE REPERTORY:
The concordance
repertory is designed to enable the physician to find quickly and certainly any
desired symptom in the Materia Medica together with the indicated remedy.
The rules adopted for the preparation of the work
·
Select
and give all the more characteristic pathogenetic symptoms.
·
Include
only such clinical symptoms as have been repeatedly verified.
·
When
two or more remedies have the power of producing a similar condition, include
them as merely suggestive, under the name of the condition produced.
·
Give
the noun, verb, and essential adjective in the sentence.
·
The
idea which finally gave origin to the work presented itself in the autumn of
1876.
Author wanted to find a remedy for a symptom - the symptom
which caused the search is "constant dull frontal headache, worse in the
temples, with aching in the umbilicus" - that peculiarity made it
difficult to find.
After a weary search and final success in finding the remedy, the Author
exclaimed - if only we had a repertory arranged on the plan of Cruden's
Concordance of the Bible, it would have been necessary only to refer to the
letter 'U' and under 'umbilicus' find at once the desired symptom.
It was decided then that the attempt should be made to materialize the thought
into activity, and with a determined will the work was begun.
In searching for any desired symptom, the physician should
first express it mentally, or better in writing, employing words commonly used,
and then select the word in the sentence expressing the central thought, idea,
fact, condition or object of the sentence or the noun, verb, essential
adjective, and referring in the concordance to the word selected.
For eg:
Imagination of having two heads - is a mental symptom, should be found in the
section devoted to the Mind and Disposition - 'imagination' being a noun, the
first word and word expressing the central thought, we select that, and turning
to the letter 'I' in the proper section, find the word in the bold face letters
and follow it with the desired symptom, together with all other symptoms in the
Materia Medica in which the word “imagination” appears, grouped together,
convenient for consideration and comparison.
Frequent difficulty may be met in finding a symptom on
account of difference in phraseology of the Materia Medica writers or upon the
part of the person desiring to find the symptom. Therefore, when there is a
failure to find a symptom under one word, the synonym should be thought
of.
For eg :
Wants to do something and yet feels no ambition --
While the symptom can be found referring to "do", “something” and
“ambition” .
Yet the word 'wants' cannot be found, because the writer of the symptom did not
use that word. The word used in Materia Medica is "Desires" and symptom
can be found by referring to that word in the concordance.
MERITS:
1.
Useful as a book of reference, to find the desired
symptom together with the indicated remedy.
2.
The
symptoms are given in their original form without much change.
3.
In the
repertory the author has used the phraseology of Materia Medica without much
change. For eg – under catamenia, there are a few drugs where as under menses
many.
4.
Symptoms
arranged in alphabetical order under each chapter.
5.
Symptoms
can be found easily, which saves a lot of time.
6.
One
symptom can be referred to at many places.
7.
About
420 medicines are dealt within the repertory.
DEMERITS:
1.
This
repertory is not useful for systematic repertorisation of a case.
2.
One
who uses the book should have a thorough knowledge of synonyms for the desired
symptom.
3.
All
medicines are given the same grading.
4.
The
abbreviations given for the medicines are different from other books.
DR. SUMIT GOEL M.D. (Hom)