Re: Favorite materia medica and repertory?
Well, maybe that depends upon what type of information you're looking for? The two are *very* different. It seems to me that Boericke might be better for acute prescribing, since it goes more into extremes of the symptomatology, but Morrison is IMO far more useful for its descriptions of the mental states (and range of mental states), and also incorporates contemporary information that can be useful.
E.g. for Sulphur in Boericke, the entire thing is one paragraph:
"Very forgetful. Difficult thinking. Delusions; thinks rags beautiful things -- that he is immensely wealthy. Busy all the time. Childish peevishness in grown people. Irritable. Affections vitiated;VERY SELFISH, no regard for others. Religious melancholy. Averse to busienss; loafs--too lazy to arouse himself. Imagining giving wrong things to people, causing their death. Sulphur subjects are nearly always irritable, depressed, thin and weak, even with good appetite."
If this is your defining vision of Sulphur mentals, you WILL miss a number of sulphur prescriptions!
By contrast Morrison has a good page or more on Sulphur mentals, e.g.:
"It is almost impossible to make brief the essential points about Sulphur, for the scope of the remedy is so vast that almost any characteristic which can be mentioned, may seem to be contradicted by equally characteristic but opposite symptoms. Sulphur is certainly our most frequently prescribed remedy, and as Kent once said, one cannot tell the difference between an experienced prescriber and a novice on the basis of how often he uses Sulphur--only on how successfully he uses it.
... There are two main types of personalities for this remedy:
1) The philosophical type... (details)
2) The "practical idealist", whose main focus is on service and social interaction [contrast this with Boericke's description!!!]. This type ... tends to be extroverted, frie3ndly, charming, and to some extent innocent. ..."
And more, but I'm not able to copy now...
I would NOT want to be limited to Boericke for constitutional prescribing!!! Tho it's an excellent start (IMO) for learning remedies, and for acute prescribing. Personally, I would not want to be without *either* of the two!
Shannon
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