Koppikar’s Clinical Experience of 70 Years in Homeopathy – A Short Review

INTRODUCTION 

❖ This is a masterpiece literary work that has a collection of experiences and thoughts in which he not only guides young   homeopath having practical questions like “What would  happen if patient took tea, coffee ,1 dose of aspirin’ but also  to experienced homeopaths where he makes the reader  

understanding the latest discoveries in medicine only confirms the wisdom of Hahnemann.

❖ The foreword of this book is given by another pioneer of homeopathy Dr. Jugal Kishor. 

❖ The entire book contains all aspects of prescribing a homeopathic medicine and is divided in  

eight sections after Introduction in Memories, History, Materia Medica, Repertory, Practice, Therapeutics, Research and Miscellaneous. 

❖ In the initial few pages, he writes “Advice to Young Homeopath” as whenever we open a new  clinic where few essential and practical aspects are highlighted by Dr Koppikar which are as  follows – 

i. A young Homeopath must have love for his work and liking for children as they are first to  enter and should not be disturbed by their crying, noises and breaking things. ii. Also, he advises to be friends with other homeopaths to cultivate their friendship and never  consider them as your competitors. 

iii. He must have faith in fine and powerful medicines at his command of prescription “They  work and do their duty well, always” 

iv. Interesting Stories in a chapter Perceiving the Similia he shares the story of Eknath and  establishes if one has an eye, the law of similia can be applied everywhere . 

To anyone who is starting a fresh practice it is a gem ,a guide and no matter how we as a student  we dislike reading extra books it is a true guide , a must read . 

A. Section – Memories  

∙ Author mentions an absorbing account of various renowned homeopaths who were his guiding  light like Dr N.M. Choudhuri , Dr S, Sengupta ,Dr Hazra ,Dr R.N.Ghosh and many others. He not only tells about his teachers but also specifically mentions for the readers what he  learnt from each of them like how he learns from Dr N.M Chaudhuri differentiation between  Croton Tig and Aloes and other diarrhea remedies.

∙ He answered a very commonly asked question and was one of the questions that every student  of homeopathy has in mind “how to study keynotes”- if you imagine yourself as a patient  suffering from those symptoms complex and how to dramatize mentally and also gave various  examples where and how he learned with Veratrum Album in vomiting with icy cold sweat, Secale Cor and podophyllum where loquacity during chills was marked in a malaria case. 

B. Section – Materia Medica 

His section of material medica answers every question that a young homeopath has in its mind. The following is a table of very interesting sub chapters and a gest about what he reveals in them.

Name of Chapter	Summarization
I. How shall we study  Materia Medica	It’s a talk of his journey as a student where he was spellbound by the  library of Allen homeopathic College and he felt like Arjuna ( The  Mahabharata Hero ) standing on the battlefield and letting Shri  Krishna that he would not fight which not only reflect how much he  relates with the experience of a student but also write about what one  should do i.e. how a young homeopath should be choosy in selecting  is books and their important chapters .
II. The study of  Materia Medica	He suggested various books of Materia Medica like Dunham’s  Materia Medica , Drug Picture by Margret Tyler ,Boger Synoptic  Key and also guides his way of first reading Nash Lectures in  Homeopathic Therapeutics both key notes and explanation and then  how one should follow it by Allen Keynotes .
III. Application of  Materia Medica	Young and experienced homeopaths collect knowledge from the  same source but the fundamental difference in application entirely  depends upon which school of thought they follow which are namely  the Pathological School , The Keynote System school and the  Constitutional School. In this chapter Dr Koppikar clears the doubt  which prevails in the mind of every homeopath of which one to be  followed for better application of this science .
IV. Developing  individual Materia  Medica	Though not using less known remedies does not prevent curing  cases, it then takes a zigzag course which can be only improved  by frequent reading, reflection and use of rare remedies and slowly  they will become familiar and will help to travel the shortest distance  towards cure .
V. Adventures of  Materia Medica	He guides a young homeopath not to be a “Armchair Adventurer”  who only is satisfied with the “Gist and Digest” materia medica and  to put a constant effort towards exploration, experimentation and not  let the spirit of adventure to find new and interesting homeopathy  medicines die .
VI. Knowing the  Remedies	Giving an example from daily life he elaborate once we meet a  neighbor we my conveniently forget his name but if we meet him  casually he might become our friend slowly we start knowing about  his family relations and similar is case of our remedies, the more  frequently read , encountered and prescribe them the better  knowledge we will have about them .
VII. Usefulness of  Remedies	Here Dr. Koppikar talks about three things that decide the  usefulness of a remedy. First the familiarity with the drug, second  type of a practice and lastly the seasonal and epidemic use and also  presented a case of a boil to explain the details .
VIII. Unusual Remedies  and their Hidden  Values	He mentioned unusual uses of 6 well known remedies in his six  different cases like Digitalis prescribed for jaundice ,Digitalis  prescribed in prostate enlargement , Petroleum in Meniere’s disease

Petroleum in gastric ulcer ,use of Ammonium Mur and Sepia was  prescribed when foetal movements were slowed down and became  almost imperceptible.

IX. Relationship of  Remedies

He gave three elaborative sub chapters on the relationship of remedies  which are explained from the definition to explanation of each  relationship with various examples. He couldn’t have made it simpler. Third chapter also answers the question which comes to mind of every student while studying relationships- what makes two  remedies become inimical to each other and how to avoid  incompatible remedies .

C. Section – Repertory 

Question of every young homeopath is how to use the repertory is explained in an exceptional way.  Dr Koppikar explains his journey along with masters like Dr J.N Hazra who was the foremost Indian  student of Dr.H.A.Robert where he learnt card repertory and also advises Bidwell’s famous booklet- “How to use the Repertory” from which he took an exemplary case and not only told rubrics but also  has justified how he arranged them, why he took those rubrics only and how he concluded to the  remedy .It is a must read section as it will be a remarkable guide towards repertorisation in clinical  practice. 

D. Section – Miscellaneous 

i. A part from very practical sections like Practice ,Therapeutics, Research which are a treasure  of clinical skills in Homeopathy, section called Miscellaneous is likely to be missed .But it is  a Box of Gems .Few of keys I found intriguing are as follows 

ii. What if our patient takes a dose of aspirin or has tea, coffee ,spices ,onion or garlic will our  remedies be of any benefit ? This is also answered in the chapter Ritualism in Homeopathy. iii. Today is the world of specialization and Dr Koppikar has given another chapter on  specialization by homeopaths where he talks about how we should not suffer in silence but should  officially accept specialization in some particular diseases or departments as the future of  homeopathy. 

iv. As we do not treat individual symptoms and we do not treat the diagnosis every homeopath  should know what we are treating in a particular case is given in a chapter called “ Doctor,  What are you going to treat” . 

v. One while opening a clinic wonders what should be the professional fees and he has written it  very elaborately as how you should decide what has to be your consultations charges in a  chapter called Professional Fees . 

Conclusion 

In an article titled “ Of Studies” by Francis Bacon it is said some books are to be tasted, others to be  swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested. In my opinion this book stands in the latter category. 

The experience of reading this masterpiece is like an uncle we all find who is an experienced homeopath and wants us to guide from little basics to advance queries in our field .This book teaches  young homeopaths the pen holding of homeopathy and while reading these you will feel Dr  S.P.Koppikar is holding your hand and teaching you how to write each alphabet of homeopathy in  early days of clinical practice .

Not to forget it is not only written interestingly with numerous examples but also a very easily  understandable language as if an old experienced homeopath well learnt by various masters is sitting  right beside you to teach you Homeopathic practice in today’s world. 

References 

P, K. Koppikar’s Clinical Experiences of 70 Years in Homoeopathy. B. Jain Publishers (P) Limited;  2019.