Comparative Materia Medica – A Book Review by Dr. M. K. Sahani

Vastness of symptoms available in each homoeopathic medicine finds many similarities with each other. Students as well as practitioners used to get confused while studying medicines. Individual feature required for identification of medicines needs to be made very minutely with comparing similar medicines. It becomes more relevant where relationship of medicines has collateral features which require minute observation. Understanding the distinct nature of each remedy is also a step towards reducing the probability of error in our prescriptions. Hahnemann who had perceived that the whole edifice of the Materia Medica must be rebuilt from the very foundation, as that Materia Medica furnishes nothing positive regarding the pathogenetic actions of drugs, but also includes almost entirely of suppositious accounts of the virtues of drugs, principally derived from the empirical employment of these drugs in disease.

Comparative Materia Medica by Dr. E A Farrington is a compilation of the various lectures delivered by him which emphasizes drug study according to their familial classification. The remedies of the same family are described in a way that it also serves as a comparative materia medica. It is a highly acclaimed work on the symptomatology of the Homoeopathic remedies.

This work by Dr. E A Farrington is one of the classical works on comparison of drugs for their action on various organs and conditions. The book has comparisons at various levels beginning from differential of remedies for various conditions, comparisons of remedies which usually come up together for various conditions, comparisons of remedies of same stock where different remedies of same group have been discussed, comparisons of allied remedies and a last chapter on therapeutic hints for bed-side reference. This is one of the finer ways of understanding the distinct nature of each remedy and is also a step towards reducing the probability of error in our prescriptions. This work is one of the classical works on comparison of drugs for their action on various organs and conditions. It’s a worth read and it helps to reach for a sure-shot prescription.