Prefatory Note To The Repertory

William Boericke 1922

Ears, etc. Secondly, for the purpose of convenience, solely, headings and sub-headings and specific conditions or symptoms comprised under the latter are arranged in alphabetical order, and this is more C)r less consistently adhered to throughout the entire w'ork. For example, under Mind the headings read. Awkward, brain-fag, catalepsy, etc. ; likewise the heading Delirium embraces its various phases in alphabetical order. Thirdly, all headings when c.vtensn’c in scope, e. g„ Headache, are presented under definite captions in the following order: Cause, Type, Location, Character of pain, Concomitants. Modalities, i. c.. Aggravations and Ameliorations. It is to be observed that some headings include only a few, whereas others include all of these divisions. This method has* been resorted to simply to facilitate the task of the use of the repertory. Fourth, to preserve uniformity, the technical names of diseases are biacketed, thereby assuming a subsidiary place, which is in strict accord with the homceo- VI 11 PR1,FAT0RY NOTE pathic requirement, to prc.scribe for the synqjloms of each specitic case, and not for a mere name of a disease. Of course, bein^ a clinical and not a truly symptomatological index (for which the practitioner and student are referred to the monumental works of Kent, Knerr and Clark) technical terms are often selected as main headings, and when feasible, the more or less complete symptoms constitute the sub-headings. Fifthly, the remedies are arranged in alphabetical order, and the iialks indicate the more frequently verified clinical remedy. The abbreviations of the remedies are purely arbitrary and self-explanatory. Justly, it is only by the persistent use of one repertory, that its peculiar and intricate arrangement gradu.ally crystallizes itself in definite outline, in the mind of the student of the same, and thus he attains the ready ease and practical insight of the collator, thereby rendering such a clinical bee line well-nigh indispensable in our day of labor-saving devices, OsevR E. Roericke, M. D. Philadelphia, Pa., January, 1922.

William Boericke 1922

With the advent of the incomparable Eighth Edition of the progressive pocket Materia Medica, its modest companion, the Repertory, has been completely remodelled and brought up to date, by embodying much of the newly incorporated material. Many of the Sections have been carefully rewritten, and, with appropriate expansion, offer a more trustworthy guide tor the selection of the homoeopathic remedy. A few prefatory remarks, pertaining to the practical and expeditious use of the repcrtorial contents, may assist in clarifying a certain inevitable obscurity of plan. Firstly, in conformity wdth established repcrtorial methods, the diTHsion of the sections in somewhat the old Hahnemannian order is adhered to. and may be stated as follows: