Robert Medhurst: “The Concordant Clinical Homeopathic Repertory”

Here is the problem: our data on remedies derives from a huge variety of provings from different source materials, potencies, methodologies, centuries, humans, animals, or even no provings at all but just toxicology or an indigenous tradition. How can we accurately choose a remedy for a clinical entity as well as for an individual patient? Robert Medhurst has chosen 28 authors from Britain, France, India and the USA. He has extracted their most prevalent choice of remedy for a huge range of clinical entities to make a concordant chart for each rubric. Information is also included from modern research from published homeopathic clinical trials. The author is also aware of the need to individualise, and explains how we can use his repertory in conjunction with other information. The main body of the book contains the charts, preceded by an introduction on how to use the book and a description of the sources and of course, at the end there is an index of rubrics.

Some sources – for example, Joseph Laurie – had only 68 remedies to choose from; others – such as Roger Morrison – wrote in the modern era with MacRepertory™ at his fingertips. The sources are widely representative of our literature from Britain, France, India and the USA. Many are probably already on your bookshelf and the rest are easily obtainable as they are recent editions or Indian classic reprints.

For each clinical entity there is a main rubric chart of up to 28 lines and a further series of grid charts for locations or modalities. Down the left of each grid is the author number; at the top is the remedy abbreviation. The remedy with the most Xs – which are graded – is at the left. By no means are all the remedies polychrests. It would have helped if the 28 authors were in a one-page list, although they are fully described in the introductory pages.

Robert Medhurst has presented the impossible dilemmas that we all face in our consulting rooms and created a solution. It has taken me a few weeks to use the book and discover its great value before I could write this review. Only its physical manifestation as 922 A4 pages in hard cover is a problem, one cannot read it in bed or even in a comfortable armchair, this is a book for the desk. This excellent book weighs more than my laptop. I hope that speedily and in our days the contents of the book will be available in my laptop to which the contents are admirably suited, indeed there may be some synergy here: Robertʼs ideas coincide with the way I use MacRepertory™.