The Concordance Repertory of the Materia Medica by Gentry

Book review by Dr Kavitha.P.C  BHMS,MD(Hom)
Medical Officer, Dept.of  Homoeopathy, Govt. of Kerala

Concordance repertory belong to the Puritan group of repertories where the  symptoms are given in their original form without much   change.
Consists of 6 volumes
Published By : B Jain Publishers . Pvt . Ltd. New Delhi .
Reprint Edition : 1995

Volume 1 : Includes [ 835 pages ]
Mind and disposition
Head and scalp
Eyes
Ear
Nose
Face

Volume 2 : [ has 889 pages ]
Mouth
Throat
Stomach
Hypochondria

Volume 3 :  [ 930 pages ]
Abdomen
Anus, Rectum, Stool
Urine , Urinary organs
Male sexual organs
Volume 4 : [ 976 pages ]
Uterus and appendages
Menstruation and discharges
Pregnancy and parturition
Lactation and mammary glands

Volume 5 : [ 956 pages ]
Voice, larynx , trachea
Chest, lungs, bronchia and cough
Heart and circulation
Chill and fever
The skin
Sleep and dreams

Volume 6 : [ 908 pages ]
Neck and back
Upper extremities
Lower extremities
Bones and limbs in general
The nerves
Generalities and KN

Plan and Construction of The Repertory :
Preface
List of abbreviations
Explanation
Chapters

Preface :
The concordance repertory is designed to enable the physician to find quickly and certainly any desired symptom in the materia medica together with the indicated remedy .

The rules adopted for the preparation of the work — are
1) Select and give all the more characteristic pathogenetic symptoms.
2) Include only such clinical symptoms as have been repeatedly verified.
3) When two or more remedies have the power of producing a similar condition, include them as merely suggestive, under the name of the condition produced.
4) Give the noun, verb, and essential adjective in the sentence.
The idea which finally gave origin to the work presented itself in the autumn of 1876.

Author wanted to find a remedy for a symptom — the symptom which caused the search is ” constant dull frontal headache , worse in the temples, with aching in the umbilicus ” — that peculiarity made it difficult to find .
After a weary search and final success in finding the remedy, the
Author exclaimed — if only we had a repertory arranged on the plan of Cruden’s Concordance of the Bible, it would have been necessary only to refer to the letter ‘ U ‘ and under ‘ umbilicus ‘ find at once the desired symptom.
It was decided then that the attempt should be made to materialize the thought into activity , and with a determined will the work was begun.

The work comprised of six large volumes.
In searching for any desired symptom, the physician should first express it mentally , or better in writing, employing words commonly used, and then select the word in the sentence expressing the central thought, idea, fact, condition or object of the sentence or the noun, verb, essential adjective, and referring in the concordance to the word selected . [ the synonyms should also be thought of ]

For eg :
Imagination of having two heads — is a mental symptom, should be found in the section devoted to the Mind and Disposition.’ imagination’
being a noun, the first word and word expressing the central thought, we select that, and turning to the letter ‘ I’ in the proper section, find the word in the bold face letters and follow it with the desired symptom, together with all other symptoms in the materia medica in which the word “ imagination ” appears., grouped together , convenient for consideration and comparison.

Another eg :
“ Fancies seeing cats and dogs ” – this may be found in C following “ cats ” , in D following “ Dogs ” and in F following “ Fancies ” .
And in the like manner any symptom in the concordance may be found .
Frequent difficulty may be met in finding a symptom on account of difference in phraseology of the materia medica writers or upon the part of the person desiring to find the symptom. Therefore, when there is a failure to find a symptom under one word, the synonym should be thought of.

For eg :
Wants to do something and yet feels no ambition —
While the symptom can be found referring to ” do “, “ something ” and “ambition” .
Yet the word ‘ wants ‘ cannot be found , because the writer of the symptom
did not use that word .the word used in the materia medica is ” Desires” and
symptom can be found by referring to that word in the concordance.

For eg :
” Desires to kiss everybody ” — we get that symptom as —
” wants to kiss everybody ” . Think of the synonym ” wants ” or some other word  in the sentence, such as ” kiss ” or everybody ” .

List of Abbreviations of Medicines :
From Abies Canadensis to Zizia aurea. Total of 420 drugs are dealt within this repertory. .
Explanation :
Regarding – how to use the book is given in this section .
Followed by the corresponding chapter.
[ eg – in volume I : Mind and Disposition . Abbreviation of the symptom or rubric is mentioned first –
i.e for “ Abdomen ” — ABD
“ Aberration ” — ABE
“ Abroad, and abruptly — ABR etc .   [ this abbreviation of the symptom is given only in volume 1 ]
The main rubric, which is followed by more number of subrubrics , the starting alphabet of the symptom is used first. Eg : The main rubric is “ Absence ”
The subrubric begins with A of mind ……

Merits of The Book :

• Useful as a book of reference , to find the desired symptom together with the indicated remedy.
• The symptoms are given in their original form without much change .
• In the repertory the author has used the phraseology of Materia medica without much change. for eg – under catamenia , there are a few drugs where as under menses many .
• Symptoms arranged in alphabetical order under each chapter..
• Symptoms can be found easily , which saves a lot of time.
• One symptom can be referred to at many places. Eg : confusion in head , which makes thinking difficult . This can be referred to under ‘ Head and Scalp ’ and also under ‘ Mind.’
• About 420 medicnes are dealt within the repertory.

Demerits:

1. This repertory is not useful for systematic repertorisation of a case.
2. One who uses the book should have a thorough knowledge of synonyms for the desired symptom.
3. All medicines are given the same grading .
4. The abbreviations given for the medicines are different from other books