An elementary text-book of materia medica : characteristic, analytical, and comparative / by A.C. Cowperthwaite.

  • Cowperthwaite, A. C. (Allen Corson), 1848-1926.
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An elementary text-book of materia medica : characteristic, analytical, and comparative / by A.C. Cowperthwaite. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

    14/422
    Materia Medica present to the mind of the student only a vast array of unmeaning symptoms, with nothing to point out their comparative value, or to assist in their practical application, so that, as a result, he stands discouraged at the outset, with little prospect but that the subject which should be to him the most entertaining, and, of necessity, the most important, will ever remain a confused mass of symptoms, which he surveys with mysterious awe, but which, in fact, he scarcely attempts to unravel or to comprehend. In view of this fact it has been the aim of the author to present in this volume only the characteristic points of the Homoe- opathic Materia Medica , and to include these as full and com- plete as possible. In so doing he has first given in brief the action of each drug from a physiological standpoint, hoping thus by presenting the general action of the drug to better prepare the student for a detailed study of its special action as afforded by its pathogenesis. For practical study the symptoms of the Materia Medica may be readily divided into four groups. First : Those which occur very often in provings, and which have been repeatedly verified in practice; these we may designate as grand characteristics.' Second: Those which occur less often in provings, but which have been frequently verified in practice; these we may designate as characteristics. Third: Those which come next in order, being important, yet falling short of characteristic expression, and Fourth: Those which occur seldom in provings, and which lack clinical verification. All these groups of symptoms find their place in an Encyclopedia, while it is usually inten- ded to incorporate the first three groups in manuals and text-books. The present volume, however, only includes