James Tyler Kent (1849–1916) was an American physician best remembered as a forefather of modern homeopathy. He is said to have contributed as much as Hahnemann to homeopathy. In 1897 Kent published a massive guidebook on human physical and mental disease symptoms and their associated scientific homeopathic preparations entitled Repertory of the Homeopathic Materia Medica, which has been translated into a number of languages. It has been the blueprint to many modern repertories used throughout the world and even remains in use by some homeopathic practitioners today.
Dr. Kent was born in Woodhul, New York. He graduated from the
Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati, and started practice in St. Louis as
an Eclectic. He became interested in homoeopathy in 1878, when his wife's
illness failed to respond either to eclectic or allopathic treatment and was
cured by a homoeopath. Kent began practice with low potencies, but he was not
satisfied. Later he resolved to test the 30th potency to see if there was any
medicine present. He prepared with his own hands the 30th potency of Podophyllum according to Centesimal scale after
the method of Hahnemann.
One day a child was brought in to his clinic in emergency and it
appeared that the child would not live long. While it lay in the arms of its
mother, a thin yellow fecal stool ran all over his carpet. The odor was like
that of the Podophyllum stool. It was
horribly offensive, and the stool was so copious that the mother made the
remark that she did not know where it all came from. Dr. Kent thought to
test Podophyllum 30 prepared by him for that case. Next
morning he was surprised to learn from the grandmother of the child that he was
doing well. One dose of Podophyllum cured
a dangerously ill patient. He then realized the power of the potentized
remedies, and he thought of using increasingly potentized remedies in his
practice.
He became famous as a high potency homoeopath, as most of the
homoeopaths before him were using low potency remedies. He advocated the use of
the 30th, 200th, 1M, 50M, CM, DM and MM potencies made on the Centesimal scale.
Dr. Kent introduced the doctrine of 'Series in Degrees' in the treatment of
chronic diseases. He found that one potency was not sufficient for chronic
cases, though it would generally do for acute illnesses. Many chronic illnesses
were cured by keeping the patient under the influence of the one indicated
remedy for two or more years. But this cannot be done with continuous curative
action, unless the doctrine of 'Series in Degrees' is fully understood and
used.
Dr. Kent discovered that "just as there are octaves of
musical tones, so there are octaves in the simple substance, through which
severally it is possible to correspond with the various planes of the interior organism
of the animal cells." These planes correspond to the similar remedy in
30th, 200th, 1M 10M 50M, CM, DM, and MM potencies. He found that when the
action of the 30th is completed the patient needs the 200th potency, but when
the action of 200th potency is exhausted, the patient requires the 1M potency;
and so on till the same remedy in higher and highest potencies cures
permanently.
Dr. Kent also discovered the 'Law of Vital Action and Reaction'
as pointed out by Dr. Hahnemann. "A medicine is not too high to cure so
long as it is capable of aggravating the symptoms belonging to the sickness; in
the first hours in acute, and in the first few days of a chronic
sickness." He also thought that a homoeopathic aggravation was essential
from the application of the Simillimum in chronic cases. Dr. Kent felt that if
there was relief without homoeopathic aggravation, the chronic sickness was
only superficially affected and would require a deeper acting remedy to remove
the vital disorder.
Dr. Kent laid greatest importance to the will, understanding and
memory of the patient. They form the innermost of the man, and are extended
outward through the general physical organism. Cure takes place from center to
periphery, but if the symptoms retreat from periphery to center the
prescription is wrong and must be antidoted. Hence in order to treat
successfully, the homoeopath should know the correspondence of organs and
direction of cure.
Dr. Kent proved many new medicines, which he described in his
book: 'New Remedies, Clinical Cases, Lesser Writings, Aphorisms and Precepts'.
Dr. Kent was famous for teaching Materia Medica. He taught
Materia Medica at the Homoeopathic Medical College of St. Louis, from 1881-88,
at the School of Homoeopathy, Philadelphia from 1890-99, at Hahnemann Medical
College and Hospital, Chicago from 1903-9, and Hering Medical College Hospital.
REPERTORY
OF THE
Kent Homoeopathic Materia Medica in Urdu
JAMES TYLER KENT – LECTURES ON HOMEOPATHIC
MATERIA MEDICA
Preface to first edition
This course of lectures
on the Homoeopathic Materia Medica was delivered at the Post-Graduate School of
Homoeopathics. Some of them have appeared in the Journal of Homoeopathics,
but for this work they have been extensively revised. Owing to the
strong appeals of students, though against the author's inclination, the
colloquial style has been permitted to stand. The lectures are presented
in the simple form to explain the author's plan of studying each remedy.
The speech of laymen presents all sickness to the physician's mind, hence
the Materia Medica must be reduced from technicalities to simple speech. No
two remedies are studied exactly alike. Each has its own requirement in
order to bring before the mind what is characteristic. Not all of the
Materia Medica has been brought out, but the leading and fully proved
remedies such as have strong characteristics have been presented for the
purpose of showing how the Materia Medica must be evolved and used. There are
other methods of studying a remedy, but this seems to the author the most
natural way of giving to the student a lasting idea of the nature of each
remedy. It may be that it seems so because it is the only way the author
could ever do it. The numerous repetitions of characteristic symptoms may
subject the work to criticism, but experience has shown that it is the only way
of giving the beginner a lasting grasp of the remedy.
Hahnemann's Materia
Medica Pura, Hering's Guiding Symptoms, and the Encyclopaedia of Pure
Materia Medica have been the works that have given the most help in these
studies. They are not offered as being complete digests of the various
remedies but simply as the examinations of some of the most salient
points. A complete digest would be endless. If some of the younger practitioners
and students of the Materia Medica schall meet the assistance in this work
they have been looking for, it is all that can be expected. There is no royal
road to a perfect understanding of the Materia Medica. It is tedious and
drudgery at best, but no more so than any great science. Because of its
greatness, many will fail to undertake, it even when it is for the saving
of life and lessening of suffering, yet many will not decline to offer
their services to the people knowing full well and confessing ignorance
openly that the methods they offer are inadequate, useless, and often
destructive. Some profess not to believe in this careful way of analysing
the symptomatology, but if some easy method is offered for a pretended
mastery of it wildly embrace it only to return to their primitive repulsive
mental aversion crying out "sour grapes".
The Materia Medica can
be learned by careful study and by using it. It can be understood but not
memorized. All who would memorize the Materia Medica must ignominiously fail.
To be constantly at hand, it must be constantly and correctly used. The
continuous study of the Materia Medica by the aid of a full repertory for
comparison is the only means of continuing in a good working knowledge. To
learn the Materia Medica, one must master Hahnemann's Organon, after which
the symptomatology and the Organon go "hand in hand". The
Organon, the symptomatology, and a full repertory must be the attained and
maintained.
All who wish to make a
more expensive examination of the reason for the methods used in the work
are referred to the chapter ON VALUE OF SYMPTOMS in the Lectures
on HOMOEOPATHIC PHILOSOPHY.
October 29, 1904.
108 N. State St.,
Chicago.
REPERTORY
OF THE
Homoeopathic Materia Medica.
PREFACE.
This work is offered
to the profession as a general Repertory of the Homoeopathic Materia
Medica. It is not
calculated to take the place of the repertories on special subjects, such as Boenninghausen's
" Therapeutic Pocket Book," Guernsey on " Haemorrhoids," Allen's
"Intermittent Fever," Lee and Clark's "Cough Repertory," and
Bell on " Diarrhoea," but rather to be a connecting link between these
special works, answering the requirements of the physician in a general practice
of acute and chronic diseases.
The Repertory has been
built from all sources, and is a compilation of all the useful symptoms recorded
in the fundamental works of our Materia Medica, both ancient and modern, as well
as taken from the notes of our ablest practitioners. Many unverified symptoms have
been omitted, but only when there was a decided doubt about their consistency, and
on the other hand clinical matter has been given a place when it was observed to
be consistent with the nature of the remedy.
The plan of the Repertory
is uniform throughout, and it is one which admits of the indefinite expansion of
each division, so that remedies can be added from time to time as they come into
use or have been confirmed and verified. It has been attempted to proceed in every
case from generals to particulars, and in carrying this out the aim has been to
give first of all a general rubric containing all the remedies which have
produced the symptom, followed by the particulars, viz., the time of occurrence,
the circumstances, and lastly the extensions. Here it may be remarked, in regard
to extensions, that the point from which a certain symptom extends is the one
under which that symptom will be found, never under the point to which it extends.
As is well known to older
practitioners, the method of working out a case from generals to particulars is
the most satisfactory. If a case is worked out merely from particulars it is more
than probable that the remedy will not be seen, and frequent failure will be the
result. This is due to the fact that the particular directions in which the remedies
in the general rubric tend have not yet been observed, and thus to depend upon a
small group of remedies relating to some particular symptom is to shut out
other remedies which may have that symptom, although not yet observed. By working
in the other direction, however, i.e., from generals to particulars, the
general rubric will include all the remedies that are related to the symptom, and,
if after having done this the particulars are then gone into and the remedy
which runs through the general rubrics is found to have the particular symptoms,
this will aid in its choice as the one to be prescribed. Take, for example, the
particular symptom, "blueness of fingers during chill." If this symptom
alone were consulted in a special work, we would be limited to Natrm. Nux-v and
Pctr. But if the general rubric "blueness of fingers," regardless of the
name of the disease, be consulted, it will be seen that twelve remedies are to be
noted. Even this is a narrow way of looking at the symptom; to be certain of finding
the remedy we may have to consult the rubric " blueness of the hands,"
giving about forty remedies, among which the one sought may be found, whereas it
was probably not included in the groups of twelve and three. One object, then,
of this Repertory has been to assist in obtaining good general groups of remedies.
When pathological names are used, only the leading remedies in the condition referred
to will be found in the rubric. To those who have used Boenninghausen's " Therapeutic
Pocket Book " the working out of cases from generals is a familiar method.
But for the benefit of the younger men the following suggestions are offered which
may prove helpful: After taking the case according to the lines laid down in the
" Organon - {U 83-104), write out all the mental symptoms and all and conditions
predicated of the patient himself and search the Repertory for symptoms that correspond
to these. Then individualize till further, using the symptoms predicated of the
organs, functions and sensations, always giving an important place to the time of
occurrence of every .symptom until every detail has been examined. Then examine
the symptom picture collectively, comparatively and individually, and lastly study
the Materia Medica of such remedy or remedies as run through the symptoms of the
case until there is no doubt about which is the most similar of all remedies.
Cross references have
been inserted wherever it was thought they would be needed but doubtless more could
profitably be added. Many busy men will find groups of remedies under headings different
from the one they would naturally look for. If a cross reference be made at the
time it will always help to find that rubric in the future, and if all such cross
references be sent to the author they will assist in making later editions more
complete Physicians are requested to send in verified and clinical symptoms,
and to call attention to any errors which they may discover in the text. Only in
this way can we expect to have a complete and correct repertory. It is suggested
that those who use this Repertory should first of all read the headings of the general
rubrics from the beginning to the end and thus become acquainted with the plan upon
which it is formed. Only by constant use can any repertory become a companion and
a helper.
J. T. KENT.
2009 Walnut street, Philadelphia, Pa.
KENT'S
NEW
REMEDIES
JAMES TYLER KENT, M.D.
INTRODUCTION
Kent’s
New Remedies are not known for a long time. They had been corrected by Kent’s pupils
in the Homeopathic Materia Medica of Hahnemannian College of Philadelphia.
The
28 new remedies of Kent came out the result of transcript developed by his students
in Hahnemannian College of Philadelphia after his death.
The
name “New Remedies” was given because at that time, they were little known and the
most were the result of provings of Kent, Hahnemann and his disciples. After
having scanned and corrected, these remedies of Kent have divided into small paragraphs
to increase readability.
Some
remedies have been valued by students, i.e. when Kent said that the symptom was
very important, they emphasized twice, when the symptom was moderately important,
they emphasized once.
The
moderately important symptoms are in italics and the very important
symptoms are in EGYPTIAN high degree.
By
the way, while surfing the internet I found the website "Homeopathe
International" where I got the detail on the subject and presenting to the
profession.
April 10, 2014
K. C.
Biswal, M.D.
LECTURES ON
HOMOEOPATHIC
PREFACE
"These lectures were delivered in the Post-Graduate School of
Homoeopathics and published in the Journal of Homoeopathics, and, new in somewhat revised form are given to the profession with
the hope that they will prove useful to some in giving a clearer apprehension
of the doctrines of Homeopathy.
They are not intended, in any sense, to take the place of the Organon, but should be read with that work, in the form
of a commentary, the object in each lecture being to dwell upon the particular
doctrine sufficiently to perceive and emphasize the master's thought.
Not all of the paragraphs in the Organon, have been
considered, as many of them are sufficiently dear to the reader and their teaching
is quite obvious.
Homoeopathy is now extensively disseminated over the world, but,
strange to say, by none are its doctrines so distorted as by many of its
pretended devotees.
Homoeopathics treats of both the science and the art of healing by the law of similars, and if the art is to remain and progress among men the science must be better
understood than at present.
To apply the art without the science is merely a pretension, and
such practice should be relegated to the domain of empiricism.
To safely practice the art of curing sick people, the homoeopathic
physician must know the science.
It is not expected that this course of lectures covers the whole
field of homoeopathic philosophy, but it is intended to serve as an
introduction to further study, and as a text-book for students, that they may
have a sound starting and become interested in the objects of this work."
James Tyler Kent
Evanston, Illinois, July 1, 1900
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