By Mercy B. Jackson, M. D., Boston, Mass.

Homoeopathy has limited the domain of surgery almost wholly to mechanical injuries and, in its onward progress, will still more confine it to those cases. It will be readily granted that mechanical means should not be used in the treatment of uterine diseases if medicine alone is sufficient for its speedy and permanent cure.

From our earliest knowledge of mechanical appliances in the cure of prolapsus and other misplacements of the uterus, we were shocked at the idea of introducing a foreign substance to be worn by those suffering from such diseases who are rendered extremely nervous and sensitive by the disease itself, and consequently less able to endure the added irritation of a foreign substance in parts so sensitive and so poorly defended by the delicate membrane that covers them, from the irritation necessarily produced by its presence.

While suffering from prolapsus some fifteen years ago, the distress being very severe, on account of having walked some distance after it occurred, I put five pellets Sepia³⁰ into half a tumbler full of soft water, and took one teaspoonful. Lying on the back, with knees elevated, and the soles of the feet resting on the bed, in less than ten minutes felt the uterus returning to its place, precisely as if a hand had been placed under it and gradually raised it to its normal place, except that the hand was not felt.

So remarkable was the sensation, that I at once believed that mechanical means were unnecessary to restore the uterus to its place. The repetition of Sepia as above, every two hours, enabled me to rise the next day without pain, and, remaining most of the time in a sitting or recumbent posture during twenty-four hours, I was able to resume my usual avocations. Afterwards, when suffering from partial prolapsus, the administration of Sepia in the same way and potency, removed all suffering, and in a few months entirely restored my health which had suffered for nearly two years from this cause, and no return of the kind has since afflicted me.

Being satisfied from the sensations experienced, that the Modus operandi of the Sepia was by causing contractions in the abdominal muscles and the ligaments that support the uterus, to bring not only the uterus but surrounding parts into their normal position and sustain them there, the effect must be more permanent than any mechanical support, and the probability much greater, of a permanent cure.

This result following in my own case, confirmed my faith in the power of Sepia to absolutely cure prolapsus, where the symptoms correspond to its pathogenesis.

In reflecting upon the wonderful effect of Sepia on this affection, I reasoned, that if Sepia could reduce prolapsus, it might also remove other misplacements, such as anteversion and even retroversion. I therefore resolved to try its effect in the first case that came under my care, and for the next ten years used it successfully in many cases of prolapsus and slight misplacements of the uterus, and do not remember to have failed in curing any case, although some other remedies were used in some of these cares.

In 1858, I was called to see an unmarried woman of thirty years, who had been ill for three years, and had never got much relief from any medical advice she had received. Found her general health much impaired, her nerves weakened, with constant pain in the back and pelvic region, with extremely painful menstruation, her spirits depressed, and herself convinced that no one had understood her case, and fearing that there could be no cure for her. In my examination of the case, I learned from her, that three years previous, while assisting her father to lift some heavy article, she had felt something give way, and, had become sick immediately, had kept her bed for some time after but got little help from any medicine, and had slowly recovered so as to partially resume her labors, but had never been well since, nor ceased to suffer in the back and lower part of the abdomen.

On making the necessary examination, found the uterus retroverted, the os uteri pressed high up against the os pubis, the fundus low down in the hollow of the sacrum. The slightest attempt to replace the organ, gave such severe pain as to make me desist immediately, and after two futile attempts, I decided to try Sepia“G, and see her again in a few days. Then found her feeling better, but she said that each repetition of the medicine gave pain from the inguinal region to the pubis, ” a kind of drawing pain.“ I ordered a continuance of the Sepia, and saw her again about a week after my first examination. To my great joy, found the cervix uteri had descended an inch or more and the fundus correspondingly ascended. I can hardly express the delight felt at this discovery, believing from that moment that the idea so long cherished would be fully realized, and that my patient would be really cured, when the uterus had regained its normal position, and 1 did not doubt that the means, that had so well begun the work, would complete it.

I need only add that the first menstruation after the treatment commenced, was accomplished with comparatively little suffering, and that as the cure progressed, the suffering ceased. The cure went steadily on, and at the third examination, the position was normal, and although the patient was obliged to rise several times each night to wait on an aged grandmother, and did not relax from her usual duties about the house, she had no relapse. Some two years after, I rode five miles to ascertain if she still remained well, and found that she had steadily gained in health and had no return of the disease.

It is proper to state that during the treatment of the case I gave three doses of Calc. carb.³⁰ about one week apart, but as I did not record the reasons for giving the Calc. carb. I have now forgotten them. What influence the Calc. carb. had in the cure of this case cannot now be known, but my own impression was, at the time, that it was quite secondary to Sepia. But whether the Calcarea or the Sepia cured it the argument is equally strong for the use of medicines alone in the treatment of misplacements of the uterus.