| Author/Contributor(s): | Boericke, William |
| Publisher: | B Jain Publishers Pvt Ltd |
| Date: | 07/01/2008 |
| Binding: | Hardcover |
| Condition: | USED – Very good. An unmarked copy with tight binding and some moderate shelf wear. |
From the Preface to the Ninth Edition:
In preparing the ninth edition of this work, I have followed the lines laid out for all the previous editions, namely, to present in a condensed form the homoeopathic Materia Medica for practical use.
The book contains the well known verified characteristic symptoms of all our medicines besides other less important symptoms aiding the selection of the curative remedy. All the new medicines and essentials of the published clinical experience of the school have been added. In its present compact form it contains the maximum number of reliable Materia Medica facts in the minimum space.
I have tried to give a succinct resume of the symptomatology of every medicine used in Homoeopathy, including also clinical suggestions of many drugs so far not yet based on provings, thus offering the opportunity of experiment with these and by future provings discover their distinctive use and so enlarging our armamentarium.
I am aware that there is a difference of opinion about the advisability of further introduction of remedies, especially of such as seem obsolete or to some minds illusory. But it is not for the compiler to leave out information about any substance that has received the clinical endorsement from a reliable source.
Our Materia Medica must include all substances which have been proved and which have been used with apparent efficacy. It rests with the individual student to judge for himself the accuracy and reliability of such observation. In this connection, I cannot forego to avail myself of the high authority of that master of Homoeopathy, Dr. Constantine Hering, favoring the introduction of all remedies capable of producing reactions in the body that may guide to their medicinal employment. ‘Homoeopathy is essentially not only many-sided but all-sided. She investigates the action of all substances, whether articles of diet, beverages, condiments, drugs or poisons. She investigates their action on the healthy, the sick, animals and plants. She gives a new interpretation to that ancient, oft quoted saying of Paul, Prove all things—a new meaning, a new application that acts universally. Elimination of the useless may gradually take place with the growth of accurate physiological and pathological knowledge.’
The book is in no sense a treatise, and must not be considered or judged as such. It is as accurate and reliable a compilation and the fullest collection of verified Materia Medica facts and clinical suggestions as it is possible to obtain within the compass of the volume. It supplements every other work on Materia Medica, and if used as a ready reminder of the essential facts of our vast symptomatology and as an introduction to the larger books of reference and record of provings, it will fulfill its purpose and prove a useful aid to the student and general practitioner. As such it is again offered with much appreciation of past endorsement to his professional brethren.
I have been aided in seeing this edition through the press by the efficient help of Mr. F.O. Ernesty, who has lightened the labor of making the manuscript more acceptable to the printers, and I desire to express my hearty appreciation of this kind and helpful service.
- William Boericke, M.D.
San Francisco, June, 1927