REPERTORY OF HERING’S GUIDING SYMPTOMS OF OUR MATERIA MEDICA
by Calvin B Knerr

This repertory was published in 1896.

Main source of repertory is Hering’s Guiding Symptoms of our Materia Medica.

This repertory is classified under Puritan type of repertories. Here, the symptom of the patient is recorded without much modification or change.  

This repertory also belongs to the group of Concordance repertories. 

The word “concordance” means a state of being of the same heart and mind, a harmony, a harmonious arrangement of the symptoms.  

This word was first used in Homeopathy by Boenninghausen in Therapeutic pocket book. The word concordance was replaced by “Relation ship of remedies” in later edition of Allen. 

Total number of remedies – 408

Total number of pages – 1232

Chapters:

Plan of repertory is the one inaugurated by Hahnemann, developed by Hering – 48 chapters

Organ-wise arrangement of chapters follows the following order –

Above downward

Within outwards

Functional symptoms followed by organic conditions

First the parts and then the whole body

1. Mind and disposition

2. Sensorium

3. Inner head

4. Outer head

5. Eyes

6. Ears

7. Nose

8. Upper face

9. Lower face

10. Teeth and gums

11. Taste and tongue

12. Inner mouth

13. Throat

14. Desires, aversions, appetite, thirst

15. Eating and drinking

16. Hiccough, belching, nausea and vomiting

17. Scrobiculum and stomach

18. Hypochondria

19. Abdomen

20. Stool and rectum

21. Urinary organs

22. Male sexual organs

23. Female sexual organs

24. Pregnancy, parturition, lactation

25. Voice, larynx, trachea, bronchia

26. Respiration

27. Cough and expectoration

28. Inner chest and lungs

29. Heart, pulse and circulation

30. Outer chest

31. Neck and back

32. Upper limbs

33. Lower limbs

34. Limbs in general

35. Rest, position, motion

36. Nerves

37. Sleep

38. Time

39. Temperature and weather

40. Fever

41. Attacks, periodicity

42. Locality and direction

43. Sensations in general

44. Tissues

45. Touch, passive motion, injuries

46. Skin

47. Stages of life and constitution

48. Drug relation ship

Index

· The order of arrangement, followed in the compilation of this repertory is the one inaugurated by Hahnemann, developed, perfected and used by Hering through out his entire materia medica work viz.: the anatomical or regional division into 48 chapters. 
Each chapter is alphabetically divided into sections and rubrics sufficient to allow full scope for analysis of the matter contained there in without destroying consistency as a whole. 

· The division of the page into double columns is deemed most convenient for the eye and is most advantageous to economy of space. 

· The section word is repeated down the column in preference to the customary ----, which like all marks of abbreviation, ciphers, signs etc are apt to become confusing and are not as space saving as might be supposed. 
For eg : Chapter Nose – Coryza
Coryza Acrid
Coryza albuminous etc.

· The words right and left, better and worse etc, to avoid possible error, is printed out in full. 

· The ‘ rubric word ’ or heading to each paragraph, ( eg – Coryza Acrid : ) printed in somewhat bolder and blacker type and followed by a : ( colon )  applies to each symptom in the paragraph, that is the black letter word is to be mentally repeated for every sentence rounded with a semicolon. It will be observed that the symptoms under each rubric follow in alphabetic order.

Typography

There are four marks of distinction

II - double thick black vertical line - symptom repeatedly verified

I - single thick black vertical line - symptom verified by cures

II - double ordinary vertical line - a symptom more frequently confirmed, or if or but once confirmed strictly in character with the genius of the remedy

I - single ordinary vertical line - an occasionally confirmed symptom

(…..) - horizontal dotted line - observation

T - toxicological extracts

F - Sign of hand – cross reference

· The Greek “theta” standing between the cured symptom and the pathological condition, or the physiological general state, throughout the guiding symptom, is dispensed with there, mainly for the purpose of economizing space, by enclosing the pathological or physiological term in parenthesis; it is to be remembered that the presence of the term by no means shuts out the usefulness of the symptom in other forms of disease.

· : -- the perpendicular dotted line , marks observation taken from the old school such as harmonize with our law of cure.
¶ --- symptom observed on the sick only. 

The repertory is supplemented by a complete index of localities and terms.

As in the guiding symptoms, so in the repertory; original readings, the words of the prover and the clinician are preserved to the letter, it being thought preferable to retain the most delicate shades of meaning, occasionally even different wordings of the same symptoms, by taking refuge in an extra rubric or cross reference, fuse or commingle in a vague generalization at the sacrifice of individuality.

This repertory is a faithful reproduction of the guiding symptoms, its contents classified and indexed.

Author mentions his gratefulness to those who has helped him to bring the work to completion. Especially to Dr. Guernsey for valuable assistance with proofs, to Dr. W. H. Phillip, Messrs, Douty, Ziegler and Field, his son Bayard and others of his family for clerical assistance; and lastly to his brother in law – Walter E Hering, under whose experienced and skillful management, aided by his old and reliable foreman Wm. Baetzel, the unusually difficult composition and press work have taken place.  

MERITS: 

· Useful as a book of reference, to find the desired symptom together with the indicated remedy.

· The symptoms are given in their original form without much change.

· Symptoms arranged in alphabetical order under each chapter.  

· There are four grading of symptoms, which helps us to understand the relative importance of drugs in the concerned symptom.

· Since the cross-reference is given, one symptom can be referred to at more than one place. 

· Additional chapters are given in this book, which are not found in any other book.  
For eg: Chapters – Pregnancy, parturition, lactation
Heart, pulse and circulation
Limbs in general
Rest, position, motion
Nerves
Time
Temperature and weather
         Attacks, periodicity
Locality and direction
Tissues
Touch, passive motion , injuries
Stages of life and constitution

DEMERITS:  

· This repertory is not useful for systematic repertorisation of a case.

· The abbreviations given for the medicines are different from other books. 

DR. SUMIT GOEL M.D. (Hom)

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