ANALYTICAL REPERTORY OF
THE SYMPTOMS OF THE MIND
By Constantine Hering
ANALYTICAL
REPERTORY is one of the best works
of Dr. Hering.
In 1875, Hering wrote ANALYTICAL THERAPEUTICS, VOL 1, published by Boericke and Tafel with 352
pages, which is mostly the first edition of the book.
2nd edition was
published in 1881 in
The main
purpose of the repertory was
-
To collect all
important symptoms that were scattered in various books and journals, appeared
through provings and through cured cases in to one book
-
To enable the
practitioner to find the curative remedy with rapidity, even in apparently
difficult cases.
The attempt was to collect
under a drug all that is known about its effect and was arranged in a
comparable form; to enable the reader to easily compare:
-
Manner in
which the drug acts
-
Organ or part
of body it influences
-
The kind,
nature and degree of action
-
Kind of
sensation it produces
-
Modalities
-
Concomitants
Hering says that although
it bears some similarity to Materia Medica, the mental process is different in
character: Materia Medica requires a constant synthesis in the numerous single
observations as recorded in the symptoms; the therapeutic work requires a constant
analysis. The earlier works were Materia Medica, but this is Therapeutics.
RESULTS OF PROVING +
RESULTS OF PRACTICE = ANALYTICAL REPERTORY
Information is assimilated
from proving symptoms and also those symptoms that
have been clinically verified in cured cases.
HERING’S
PHILOSOPHY
Proper case taking as per
Hahnemann’s Organon was the most important pre-requisite.
The symptoms thus gathered
should be arranged next, according to importance. Altered functions are
important. Symptoms having highest importance in diagnosis are least important
in drug selection. Symptoms of which the pathology cannot be related, are to be
given more importance. Aetiological peculiarities
always have a very high rank. In chronic cases, symptoms appearing last are
most important. Only patients who have been rid of their symptoms in the
reverse order of their development are really cured.
GRADATION
| Observed
on healthy
|| Observed
often and repeatedly
| Applied successfully with the sick
|| Applied very often and repeatedly
Usually, the symbol ‘|’ is
omitted and appears only when it seems necessary to make a distinction from
others of less value.
PLAN AND
CONSTRUCTION
ARRANGEMENT
OF CHAPTERS
The repertory has 48
chapters.
The anatomical parts of
the body are arranged from above downwards, starting from the head and ending
with the lower limbs. The nutritive organs are first, then the organs keeping
up the species – the sexual organs, followed by respiration, circulation and
motion. Two specific chapters that are added – stages of life (age, sex,
constitution, temperament) and relationship of drugs.
-
Inner symptoms
and functions first, outer and organic changes afterwards
-
First
increased functional activity, then altered, and then decreased
-
First the
parts, then the whole body
-
First the
upper limbs then the lower
-
All modalities
placed to the related function
Each
part has at the beginning a key to the special order if necessary and an index
at the end if it is considered an advantage to the reader.
HERING, ON
ARRANGEMENT
Hering says that “This
arrangement is entirely new one and affords great relief to the eyes, as the
motion from above downwards is accomplished with less fatigue and with more
certainty, than the necessary repetition of the linear motion, required in the
common arrangement.” – Inside each chapter, drugs are arranged vertically with
their gradation (given on the left side of the drug) along the left margin of
the page.
On the right
side of drug list is the text showing the difference between the drugs on basis
of connections. As the drugs given in the left margin are differentiated on the
basis of mental or physical concomitant, this repertory is called ANALYTICAL
REPERTORY.
A fixed pattern of showing
the connection in the text side is followed:
- Organ / part of body
- General symptoms
- Altered functions
- Sensations
- Leading modalities
- Diseases / Group of
symptoms
Hering has tried to
abolish the alphabetical arrangement. In fact, nothing in the whole book has
been arranged alphabetically, except the names of drugs. Hering says that the
different words were used by the provers to indicate
what was frequently the same or at least a very similar symptom and these
similar symptoms have been placed separately and away from each other in most
of the books so as to maintain alphabetical arrangement. As a result, when we
are using these books, we are confused as to which symptom to consider. This is
the reason he says that similar symptoms be placed near together – this would
make the search of appropriate symptom much easier. CIPHER REPERTORY uses this
arrangement to a certain extent.
Explanation
of the arrangement of chapter 43 (sensations classified) into 7 classes:
-
Morbid
increase or exaggeration of functional activity forms the first class
-
Fixed as
regard to place, without motion
-
Apparently
moving, steady motion
-
Apparently
moving, steady motion in relation to space
-
Apparently
moving, having relation to time
-
Destructive
action
-
Decreased
activity
This schema is followed by
the symptoms that are included in each class.
Then an index to chapter
43 is given, in which we can find an index each rubric classified in the above
said schema.
Here two letters are used
[a numeral – 1 to 7 and an alphabet – a, b, c]. 1 to 7 represents the class as
shown in the schema; ‘a’ means above, ‘b’ means below and ‘c’ means centre of
respective page. There are 255 such symptoms represented in this index.
FEATURES
-
Nosodes are
represented.
-
Model cures
are given in each section.
-
Drugs that
possess neither provings nor sufficient clinical observations have been
omitted.
-
An index to
the symptoms is also given.
-
Abbreviations
are used for authors like Hahnemann, Boenninghausen.
-
Arrangement is
unique, but difficult to understand.
-
Classical
repertorisation is not possible.
DR. SUMIT GOEL M.D. (Hom)
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