Comparative Materia Medica for Students

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Dr. Samir Chaukkar has been teaching and practicing Homeopathy since the last 13 years. He has graduated from the prestigious C.M.P. Homeopathic Medical College, Mumbai in 1991 following which he has done his post gradution from the British Institute of Homeopathy, UK. His keen interest in addictions medicine made him pursue the Post- graduate Diploma in Addictions Treatment from Canada. He has also done his M.D. in Homeopathic Materia Medica from the Y.M.T. Homeopathic Medical College, Navi Mumbai. He is also attached to the same college as Professor in Dept. of Materia Medica since last 12 years. He also has his private Practice in Homeopathy.

Dr. Varsha Sharma has been teaching and practicing Homeopathy since 6 years. She has graduated from the Nagpur Homeopathic Medical College and has done her M.D. in Or- ganon and Philosophy from the prestigious A.M. Shaikh Ho- meopathic Medical College, Belgaum. She is attached to Y. M. T. Homoeopathic Medical College, Navi Mumbai as a lecturer in Organon and Philosophy since last 6 years.

We have been teaching Materia Medica and Organon since the last 12 years and have come across many students who either just cram Materia Medica for appearing in the viva voce as well as theory. When they appear for the next year they forget the same drugs, which they had so called, remembered the previous year. Another problem is lack of seriousness towards Homeopathic subjects and more inclination to allied subjects which makes the approach of students towards materia less systematic. This frustrates them and their interest in Materia diminishes making them vulnerable to use cheap guides, which undermines the under- standing of Materia Medica.

By the time they finish their final year they are confused and are not able to apply whatever they have learnt in these years. This makes them stray away from the path of Homeopathy and then fall prey to allopathy or homeoallopathy which is practicing Homeopathy like an allopath.

An understanding of Materia Medica and developing interest in Homeopathy is possible only by reading works by authors like Kent, Choudhary, Tyler, Boericke, Phatak , Nash, etc. The art of comparative Materia Medica can be achieved by regularly reading Materia and comparing one remedy with another. The books available on comparative Materia Medica are very few, to name some Gross and Farrington.

The aim of this book is to discipline the student in the study of Materia Medica in a systematic way by giving him the knowledge of the source, prover, ailments from, diathesis, temperament, constitution etc. so that at one glance he is able to view and grasp the various aspects of the remedies in front of him and also reproduce them in front of the examiner as well as in theory exams. We have selected the remedies, which are commonly asked in the exams and also those who are quite similar to each other and are difficult to differentiate in clinical practice.

It should not be mistaken as a book of therapeutics but students can avail the facility and services of this humble effort for therapeutics too keeping in mind that there are no specifics in Homeopathy (aph no. 147) and hence every comparison is not only limited to its sphere but goes much beyond it, informing the Homeopathic student about the constitutional aspects of the remedy. The salient features of the book are as follows:

1. Drugs frequently asked in the B.H.M.S. and M.D: examinations are included in this work

2. Drugs are compared keeping in view a fixed systematic format like common name, family, prover, constitution, diathesis, temperament, disposition, mi- asm, thermals, ailments from, location, sensation or character of condition, modalities, accompanying symptoms and clinical conditions where the drugs are useful.

3. The references from the various books are written in front of the symptoms within brackets for the student to have a glance at the sources from which the symptom comes. 4. Important symptoms are highlighted in bold letters.

5. Common symptoms of both the drugs are merged and placed at the beginning of each section.

6. An attempt has been made to place the nature or character of contrastin symptoms exactly opposite each other and should be maintained to preserve the individuality of this book over others in the market.

7. In order to maintain the holistic view of te drug we have included the general modalities along with the particular modalities.

We hope that this book finds way in the hearts and brains of all the students both undergraduates as well as post graduates and helps them in their path to practice Hahnemannian Homeopathy successfully.

We wish to thank our students Poonam, Hetal, Preety, Prajakta & Samreen for their sincere efforts in the making of this book.

Any feedback or suggestions are welcome. We have always strived hard for excellence and anyone can mail us or contact us on the following address.