electrons and protons and even they could be divided into charms and quarks. It cannot b e too strongly stressed that potentized medicine is not an essential

par t o f homeeopathic philosophy, it is purely the result of pract ical experience in prescribing. We homoeopaths are difficult chaps for the o r thodox to understand. Many years ago, I used to do some work for a Life Insurance Company . All they seemed really interested in, when granting a policy, was the blood pressure. Early in world war I had a patient doing very well out o f munitions, he was 52 and he wanted to insure himself for s He was perfectly healthy, but his blood pressure, when he came to see me at 2 p.m., was 168/84. He was excited, for he had jus t landed a fine cont rac t from the Ministry of Munitions. I sent him away and told him to relax and come back at 6 p.m. When he did so his blood pressure was 178/86. I asked him how he had spent his afternoon. " D o e " , said he, " I went up to the Automobi le Club and had four double whiskies to quieten my nerves." He was turned down by this par t icular company, but he lived to be 79 and I gave up my insurance work when I could not get the Cha i rman o f that c ompa ny to agree that the family history of the patient was far more impor tant than an incidental blood pressure. In the case of that par t icular patient, both his parents were alive, well over their three score years and ten.

I was always sorry at that t ime I did not know of the remark of Dr Gus tave Monod of Vichy, who recorded that once, when Sir Wil l iam Osier came into his office and saw his manometer , he remarked: "This is the latest and greatest neurasthenia-producing machine that physicians ever invented. When a patient asks: ' W h a t is my blood pressure? ' , I answer 'Exact ly what it should b e ! ' " (Homveopathy 1933, 11: 343). I was comforted by this pearl o f wisdom when I did my own mother ' s blood pressure in 1945. I t was 208/104 and yet she lived to be 84 years of age.

Wasps, bee stings and insect bites A. C. GORDON ROSS, MB, CHB, MFHOM

After this arctic winter, some forecasters predict a hot summer, which, if it comes, will bring our old familiars, the wasps and bees and insect stings from midges.

I was thinking of this the other day when reading the British Medical Journal of 17 March 1979. In its entirety I reproduce the query, and official answer of an item that I think merits some considerat ion by hom0eopaths, for I think we have something better to offer than adrenaline.

Is there a suitable form of treatment that patients who suffer from acute anaphylactic reaction to wasp stings can carry round with them--perhaps some form of injectable adrenaline?

The Bee Association used to have an appropriate syringe for self-administered adrenaline, but this is now no longer available for patients who are anaphylactically sensitive to bee or wasp stings. Those patients who are at risk from severe sting reactions should have available a disposable syringe and needles and a 1 ml ampoule of adrenaline 1/1000. Half of this ampoule should be given as a deep subcutaneous injection near to the sting site if this is possible. Patients should be fully instructed in self-administration. Tourniquets are usually not practical and are not advised. Since 80% of deaths are due to high airways obstruction, patients should carry with them a salbutamol bronchodilator

140 The British Homoeopathic Journal

spray such as asthmatic patients use. The lives of only a small percentage of those who become anaphylactically sensitive to wasp

stings are at r i sk-- there have been 50 deaths from bee and wasp stings in 10 years in England and Wales. Commercially available whole-body wasp extracts for immuno-therapy have low potency and are almost ineffective for treating severe allergic reactions from stinging insects. Recent experi- mental work suggests that in future venom must be used diagnostically and therapeutically in venom-allergic patients.

�9 An "acute anaphylactic reaction", in plain terms, is an unusual, or exaggerated reaction of the organism to foreign protein or other substances. It can occur from drugs also; some people are sensitive to pencillin and a few to adrenaline, but such hazards can be avoided, and stings dealt with a lot more comfortably by giving a powder, pellet or two of homoeopathic medicine or a drop or two of tincture put on the part affected.

On page 1331 of Kent's Repertory--under "Skin--Stings of Insects"-- there are listed 27 remedies. Two are in heavy type, Ledum and Urtica urens. The second-raters include Arnica, Apis, Lachesis, and Natrum tour. ; the others need not concern us here.

Ledum is marsh tea, familiar to some as a rheumatic medicine, with pains travelling upwards, but it has a grand characteristic in that the pains requiring Ledum are better for cold application s.

Urtica urens is stinging nettle, often required in urticarias, with burning heat in the skin and itchy blotches; and it should be remembered for patients who get an anaphylactic reaction from eating shell-fish.

Apis mellifica is made from macerating the honey-bee, and its characteristic effect on the skin after a bee or wasp sting is puffing-up of the part, with intoler- ance of heat or touch.

Arnica, or leopards bane, is our standard shock medicine, for bruises, shocks both physical or mental. It prevents a bruise from turning black and blue, though traumatic injuries to the eye do better with Symphytum (comfrey).

In my medicine cabinet nowadays, I keep few tinctures, but these do include Arnica, which goes down sooner than the others, Apis, used chiefly for bee stings; Urtiea I use mostly for first degree burns, and my tincture of Ledum I use for penetrating wounds of all kinds, from rusty nails on my garden fences, to jabs from needles and pins.

Old Dr Nash wrote that Ledum is a good remedy for mosquito bites, and being an American, from a mosquito country, he wrote from experience.

Laehesis, a snake remedy, and Natrum mur. (sodium chloride) are primarily not remedies usually thought of for bites and stings, but are given as follow-up con- stitutional remedies. Laehesis for the chatty female who goes into her traumatic experience in minute detail--the exact time of day she got bitten and so forth, while the Natrum tour. type is the doleful one who says misfortune always happens to her.

Armed with Ledum, Urtica, Apis, and Arnica, in potency 30 granules or pellets, and small bottles of tincture to apply to the part affected, any intelligent house- wife should be able to do without syringes and ampoules of adrenaline. I suppose it is only blind prejudice that keeps the orthodox from trying these tried and trusted friends of the homoeopath, all quite harmless and comparatively cheap.

Volume 71, Number 3, July 1982 141