Book Review
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1997 Nov / Dec VOL 5 NO 6.
Reviewed by
Dr Jawahar Shah
Dr Praful Vijaykar
Dr Praful Vijaykar also wrote a review of the same book from which I am adding some information
I. Sources Of Complete Repertory
Source information used to create this repertory is the 1st, 3rd and 6th American editions of Kent's repertory. This information was combined with many correction and additions from.
a) Homoeopathic journals
b) Schmidt's and Chand's, Final, General Repertory.
c) Kunzli's 'Repertorium General'.
d) Sivaramans 'Additions and Corrections to Kent's Repertory'.
e) Boger's Additions to Kent's Repertory and
f) CCRH's corrections to Boenninghausen's Repertory.
II. Some Important Changes
One example of a rubric in Mind Section:
EMOTIONS predominated by intellect (as it appears in Synthetic) has been changed to, after confirmation from text to.
EMOTIONS Controlled by intellect, need to be.
This phrasing of the rubric gives it exactly the opposite meaning. Whereas the first one indicates that Emotions are so strong that it overwhelms and controls the emotions, the actual meaning indicates the Emotions are so strong that they have to be controlled by intellect. The latter makes sense because the drugs enlisted against the rubric (Valer and Viol-o) both are known to be highly emotional and hysterical drugs and not intellectual ones as depicted earlier.
The latest edition of 'Complete Repertory' also adds another rubric.
Emotions, too strong- which also incidentally has the same drugs. This again confirms the corrections.
| Some of the new rubrics are : | |
| Ability increased | Constructive |
| Achieve things desire to | Daydreaming |
| Animal consciousness | Delicacy feeling of |
| Borrows trouble | Dignity |
| Blaming | Housekeeping inept for |
| Charitable | Independent |
| Enthusiasm | Telepathy |
| Teasing | Intellectual |
Adding Of Sub-Rubrics
Number of sub-rubrics has been added to former major rubrics.
| Precocity | - Religious - Sexual - School, but does not perform to capacity |
| Embraces | - trees wants to embrace : ozone |
| Extravagance | - economy for want of - sometimes , sometimes miserly - work with hard |
| Consolation | - refuses for one's own : Nit-ac |
| Contemputous | - Opponents for - Relations for - Society |
| (Editor's Note : These rubrics I compared with Robbins, given on next page ) | |
Author Identification Number
This is a novel idea. Every drug added can be traced to its source and author.
Disadvantages
1. Lot of unreliable additions has been made both in terms of drugs and rubrics; eg Androctonus and Chocolate are two drugs which are put in almost all rubrics. They should be taken with a pinch of salt.
2. Lot of cross-references, which turn out to be futile, could have been avoided.
3. Temperaments: - bilious, leuco-phlegmatic, sanguine etc; which were put in the 'mind' have in the latest editions removed and added to generals for good.
4. Many small rubrics with single drugs may lead young homoeopaths to go astray esp when they give too much importance to it.
5. The latest edition of the repertory weighs almost 10 kg relegating the big Kent's repertory to the standard of a pocket book.
This inevitably pushes us towards computerization. So much data (which is surely is to increase with time) shall be most conveniently handled on computers alone.
Availability
1. It is at present available on the Mac repertory
2. CARA of Jeremy Sherr
3. It will be shortly available on Dr Jawahar Shah's HOMPATH.
