Inefficacy of antipathy in chronic diseases.
Having said about antipathic mode of treatment its limitations are mentioned here. Dr. Hahnemann says that paying attention to only a part of troublesome symptom, leaving the whole group of symptoms for which the patient has come, physician although gives relief instantly in his most troublesome symptom; but, daily experience proves that in antipathic mode of treatment, the chronic, persistent affection after transient amelioration only returns back in aggravated form. When this happens physician does not consider it to be progression of disease due to fault of his treatment, rather ascribes symptom to some new disease.
►In footnote Dr. Hahnemann says that physicians were not in habit of observing accurately as aggravations taking place are so evident that it could not pass unnoticed. He mentions examples from various places, citing example by John Hunter in his book 'On the Venereal Disease, p.13' he says that wine and cordials when given to weak, increases action without giving real strength, and powers of the body are afterwards sunk proportionally as they have been raised, by which nothing can be gained, but a great deal may be lost.
Recovery may occur in any method of treatment. In antipathy, medicine is employed by taking single troublesome symptom into account having antipathic relation with the symptom. The symptom is overcomed, but symptoms having allopathic relation to medicine are suspended for the time being till the action of medicine is stronger. But, later it appears in aggravated or in some other form. Thereby, leaving the disease uncured rather only recovering the patient. In acute diseases, short time duration of disease runs off over the time when action of medicine is going on; it seems that the symptoms have disappeared or cured but in reality disease has run its course - this is not possible in case of chronic diseases whose course is life long, rendering antipathy ineffective in such cases.
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