It is an incident I encountered at All India Homoeopathic Seminar held first time at Kanpur (1981). During the break I was sitting at the stall of Wheezal Lab. Pvt. Ltd. whence I saw a lady, who was very dirty, she appeared as if she had been bathing in oil and had not been washing, her clothes were also in the same shape.
Nearly 1600 delegates attended the seminar; most of them were strolling at the numerous stalls at that time. The aforesaid lady was begging the attention of the delegates (Homoeopathic physicians) requesting to look at her ailment and help her. But no one was paying any heed to her request.
I asked the lady what was the matter with her. She told me that she is suffering from itching along with a unique symptom that wherever she feels itching a live insect comes out of the skin on squeezing the spot, there was no any kind of the eruption on her skin. On showing my sympathy and curiosity she scratched on her left arm and squeezed the spot and to my surprised a live lice of white color came out of the skin, which was very unusual. I had not seen such an unusual thing neither before nor after till today in my life a span of 68 years.
At that time just as a consolation I gave her few doses of Sulphur 30 from my traveling homoeopathic kit, lest she may not think that in a large gathering of homoeopathic doctors there was not a single sympathizer. And I suggested her to consult some other doctor of Kanpur. I don’t know what happened to her later.
Now I think that Coca could have been her remedy.
‘Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica’ by Dr. J. H. Clarke describes Coca as follows:
“A characteristic symptom of Cocaine poisoning is a sensation as if small foreign bodies were under the skin, generally like grains of sand; or else as of a worm under the skin. This is undoubtedly the keynote symptom of Coca.
– Dr. J. W. Springthorpe described (H. W., February, 1896) a variety of this symptom experienced by himself, and recorded in a paper entitled “The Confessions of a Cocainist.” He called it “Hunting the Cocaine bug.” “You imagine,” he says, “that in your skin are worms, or similar things, moving along. If you touch them with wool, and especially with absorbent wool, they run away and disappear, only to peep cautiously out of some corner to see if there is any danger. These worms are projected only on the Cocainist’s own person or clothing. He sees them on his linen, in his skin, creeping along his penholder, but not on other people or things, and not on clothes brought clean from the laundry.”
Comments of the wise readers shall be welcomed.
“Doon Ratna” Dr. S. K. Mamgain
MAMGAIN HOMOEO CLINIC
218, D. L. Road, DEHRA DUN-248 001
E-mail: drmamgain@vsnl.net