REPERTORY OF THE

HOMOEOPATHIC MATERIA
MEDICA

JAMES TYLER KENT

Dr. S. P. Suja M.D.(Hom)

Asst. Professor, Dept. Of Repertory
Sarada Krishna Homoeopathic
Medical College, Kulasekharam

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
 About the Author
• Full name: Dr. James Tyler Kent
• Father: Stephen Kent
• Mother: Caroline
• Born on: 31/03/1849
• Birth Place: Woodhull, New York

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
 Education of the Author
• Primary schooling: Franklin school in
Prattsburg
• Secondary Education: Woodhull
Academy, New York
• Graduation: Madison University at
Hamilton, New York State with Ph. D
degree in 1868 and A. M. in 1870

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Education in Medicine: Graduated from
Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati, Ohio
in 1878.

• Started practicing in St. Louis (State of

Missouri) as an Eclectic Physician and was
also a Professor of Anatomy at the American
college of Saint Louis.

• Married at the age of 26 with an American

Girl.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
 Interest in Homoeopathy
• He became interested in Homoeopathy in
1878 when his wife had suffered from
debility, languor, anaemia and persistent
insomnia.

• Neither his own eclectic practitioners nor

those of the allopathic school could bring
about an improvement in his wife’s
condition.
SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• When it became visibly worse, Mrs. Kent
begged him, as a last resort, to call a
homoeopathic doctor.

• The Homoeopath, Dr. Phelan after

examining Mrs. Kent, asked Dr. Kent to
bring a glass of water and dropped a few
minute globules into it and told Dr. Kent to
give his wife a spoonful of the mixture.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Mrs. Kent was then asked to take a small
spoonful every two hours until she went
to sleep.

• After second dose of the medicine, the

patient went to deep and sound sleep.

• With the help of Dr. Phelan, she had

recovered her health completely.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• This incidence encouraged Dr. Kent to practice
Homoeopathy.

• Under the guidance of Dr. Phelan, he studied

Hahnemann’s Organon and worked night and
day to gain the knowledge.

• He was so overwhelmed by what he discovered

after studying homoeopathy, he decided to
resign his Chair of Anatomy and to give up his
membership of the Eclectic National Medical
Association.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
 Professional Career
• 1882: Kent was appointed to the Chair of
Surgery at the Missouri Homoeopathic
Medical College, St. Louis, until the
retirement in 1883 of Dr. Uhlemeyer, the
professor of HMM.

• At that time, Dr. Uhlemeyer had urged that

Kent take charge of his department since
his special suitability for it was generally
recognized.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Kent accepted the post, which he held until
1888, he felt it to conduct the work of the
Philadelphia Postgraduate School of
Homoeopathics to which he devoted himself
until the year 1899.

• This college had the reputation of being the

best homoeopathic school in the world.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• In addition to being the Dean of that
Institution he also taught Homoeopathic
philosophy, repertorization, and HMM
and he conducted an out-patient clinic.

• As an illustration of the activity of this

clinic it may be mentioned that during the
years 1896 and 1897 a total of over 34,800
consultations took place here.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• While dean of the Philadelphia PG school of
Homoeopathics, Kent lost his wife.

• In 1896, after the death of his wife, Kent was

called upon to attend a patient, Clara Louise
Tobey whom he was to treat a long time and
finally marry.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• In 1900, on his appointment as the Dean
of Dunham Homoeopathic Medical College
in Chicago, he became at the same time
Professor of Homoeopathy Philosophy,
Repertory and HMM.

• In 1905, he was appointed as Dean of the

Hahnemann Homoeopathic Medical
College, Chicago.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• At that time, there was a bitter competition at
Chicago between the Hering and Dunham
Medical College.

• Negotiations were initiated between those two

rival schools in 1903 and ended in a favourable
agreement which permitted the incorporation of
the Dunham HMC with Hering HMC was then
called the Hering HMM, of which Kent had the
honour of becoming the president.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Physician who studied at this college were Sir
john Weir (London) and Dr. B. K. Bose
(Calcutta, India).

• After becoming a renowned homoeopath,

side by side Dr. Kent had authored several
books which were very helpful to the
students, they are:-

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• 1897: Kent’s Repertory of HMM
• 1900: Lectures on Homoeopathic
philosophy.
• 1905: Lectures on HMM
• Use of the Repertory.
• How to study the Repertory
• How to use the Repertory.
• What the Doctor needs to Know in Order to
Make a Successful Prescription.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• After leaving his practice and his teaching he
went, now without difficulty, to his home in the
country at Sunnyside Orchard in Stevensville in
the state of Montana.

• After arriving there, his Bronchial catarrh from

which he had been suffering for some months
was complicated by Bright’s disease and he died
due to this on 06/06/1916.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
“Some Important Discovery of Kent other than
the Repertory in Homoeopathy
• First he began to practice with low potency but
was not satisfied, later he resolved to test the
30th potency to see if there is any medicine in it.
He prepared with his own hand the 30th potency
of Podophyllum with water after the method of
Hahnemann having been told that water is as
good as alcohol. He was amazed and realized the
power of potentised medicines when the
medicine cured a case and he thought of using
more and more highly potentised remedies in his
practice.
SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• He introduced series of degrees in the treatment
of chronic diseases.

• He discovered that ,” as there are octaves of the

musical tones, so there are octaves in the single
substance through which severely it is possible
to correspond with various places of the interior
organism of the animal cells.” This places
correspond to the similar remedy in 30th, 200th,
1Mth, 10Mth, 50Mth, CMth, DMth, and MMth
potencies.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• He discovered law of vital action and
Reaction as pointed out by Dr. Hahnemann in
a more definite manner.

• He also found out that Homoeopathic

aggravation is essential from the application
of Similimum in chronic cases.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• He evaluated the symptoms in nice manner
imposing greatest values to the mental
symptoms with their further classifications.

• He did not attach much importance to the

constitution as an aid to the prescribing. He
says “Every individual is a constitution.”

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
 Kent’s Concept of Totality
• Kent emphasized a detailed study of the
expressions of the whole person who is
sick.

• His holistic approach to the study of the

phenomena of disease as well as the
proving of drugs has provided sure and
definite guidelines to practitioners.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• His explanations of the principles of
homoeopathy has clearly defined the
guidelines in forming the totality of
disease.

• He gave importance to the study of all the

symptoms in order to understand the
disorders which takes place from centre to
periphery, from within outwards.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• The pathological changes are the products
of disease, and the diseases expresses
itself through certain organs or systems,
which cannot be taken, as the sole
expression of the phenomena.

• These pathological changes and local

expressions are the ultimate result of
some cause and nothing can exist without
any cause.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• A man consists of his body, mind and spirit and
he is known by his total behaviour.

• There is a ‘common’ existing in all, but there also

exists something ‘ uncommon’, which makes an
individual different from every other.

• This individual expression remains with him in

health and in disease.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• It should be the duty of the physician to
know the person in health and to notice
the deviations in the diseased condition.

• In order to understand the nature of

disease and to form an image of the
whole, the whole should be given primary
importance and the organ or tissues
secondary.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• The whole of a person is unique and hence
it requires individualized attention of the
physician with clear objectives.

• The image of the person should be formed

in totality.

• Thus the person should be individualized

because his symptoms are unique

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• This is possible when one gives more
importance to symptoms, which are unique
to the person, and gives less importance to
common symptoms of disease.

• No doubt, the common symptoms help us

to understand the disease, but prescribing
totality alone helps in the selection of
medicine.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Kent has classified symptoms into General,
particular and common to understand the
person, part and disease respectively.

• It is obvious that Kent lays more emphasis

on the generals and uncommon
particulars, which characterize a person
and his disease.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Both, our master and his followers are
unanimous that the symptoms of the mind
are the most important symptoms in the
remedy and in the sick.
• Dr. Kent in his lectures on Homoeopathic
philosophy and in Materia Medica has
emphasized the importance of knowing
the man’s love and hates.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• He points out, “The loves and hates or
desires and aversions are the deepest
mental symptoms.” What make the
totality of a case are mental, physical
general and characteristic particulars.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
 Totality

General Particular Common

Mental Physical

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Mental Generals:
1. Will: Anger, irritability, love, hates, fear, grief,
anxiety, sadness, indifference, loquacity, etc.
2. Perversion of understanding: Hallucinations,
illusion, absorbed, clairvoyance, confusion,
dullness, comprehension, imbecility, mental
activity, ailments from mental exertion, etc.
3. Perversion of memory: Absent minded, forgetful,
mistakes in writing, speech, disorders of speech
etc.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Physical Generals:
(a) Perversion of sexual sphere including
menstrual symptoms, general agg. Before,
during, after menses; effects of coition.
(b) Symptoms pertaining to appetite food
desires and aversions and thirst
(c) Things affecting the entire body: weather
and temperature, food, positions, and
motions etc.
(d) Symptoms of special senses.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Particulars:
Symptoms related to the parts
(characteristics)
1. Symptoms that cannot be explained
2. Symptoms with clear modalities.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Common symptoms
Common symptoms have been given the
least importance in selection of a drug, but
if they are qualified or absent they
become important. The intensity and
association also helps in finding out the
remedy in a few cases, in the absence of
generals.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
ORIGIN & DEVELOPMENT/HISTORY
• Dr. Boenninghausen was the pioneer in the field
of Homoeopathy to introduce the mathematical
process of finding out the similar medicine well
suited to a particular case.
• In fact he brought about a revolution in the field
of homoeopathy not only by publishing
repertories but also by introducing the
adaptability and processes of repertorization
with evaluation of symptoms and gradation of
medicines.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• With the progress of time the volume of Materia Medica
was increasing day by day with the addition of newly
proved medicines.

• The philosophy and the conception of the man who is

diseased changed and hence demand of Repertory in a
new style with the new medicines were inevitable.

• Hence a new method of repertory was necessary to

publish though Boenninghausen’s works were best in the
18th century.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• When Dr. Kent came into the homoeopathic
world, he consulted the following
Repertories:
1. Boenninghausen’s Repertory
2. Biegler’s Diary
3. Minton’s diseases of Women
4. Jahr’s Repertory
5. Lippe’s Repertory

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
 Gradually the book of Boenninghausen
commenced to be proved faulty one because
of
1. Limited number of medicines
2. Limited number of rubrics
3. Error in the gradation of medicines
4. Error in cross references
5. Non availability of exact references
6. Changing philosophy
7. Laborious and time consuming

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• He observed that the number of drugs and
symptoms were so limited in Allen’s
encyclopedia that it lacks half of symptoms.

• Jahr’s repertory was next important, but it was

the Repertory of old medicines only and in the
mean time the pathogenesis of the disease being
changed the book become useless.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• So he cope with the changing circumstances and
also to overcome the above disadvantages, the
development of a new repertory in a new style
was the need of the time.

• In fact, this need ultimately led to the

development of Kent’s Repertory – a completely
different repertory with different philosophical
background and plan of construction for
repertorizing in a new style.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Constantine Lippe, son of Adolf Lippe
published “Repertory of More
characteristics symptoms of Materia
Medica” in the year 1879.

• It was based on Jahr’s manual that was

issued by Hering at Allentown Academy
(the first homoeopathic school in
Pennsylvania run by Hering)

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Dr. Kent used Lippe’s repertory for a number of
years, until it was not only interleaved once but
thrice.
• He noted his own observations and experiences
not only on the margins but also in between the
lines.
• After he took up teaching HMM in 1883, he
became more and more aware of the vastness of
the subject, and keenly felt the need for a better
index (repertory).

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• He talked to Lee of Philadelphia as Lippe’s
abridged form of a new repertory was with Lee.
• Lippe had desired that Dr. Kent should work
jointly with Lee in producing a comprehensive
repertory.
• At that time, Dr. Kent had completed a
repertory of the urinary organs, chill, fever and
sweat, with other sections partly done.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Taking help from Dr. Kent, Lee started
working and compiled the Mind and Head
sections.

• But the compilation was not proper as it

was based on Boenninghausen’s idea of
generals and the modalities were given at
the end of the book.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Lee’s work was not upto the expectations
of Dr. Kent.

• Later, when Lee became blind, Dr.Kent

took it up, revised and arranged it
according to his own plan.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• The plan that Dr. Kent followed was chiefly
that of Lippe, which was outlined in “Lippe
Handbook of Characteristics”.

• Dr. Kent also added his clinical notes,

especially those, which did not contradict
proving.

• After completion of the work, Dr. Kent

started using it for his own purpose.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Dr. Beigler of Rochester visited Dr. Kent’s
office and being charmed by his
compilation and sincere works with the
modern thoughts insisted him to publish
the book earlier.
•
• Dr. Kent expressed the difficulty of
publishing it on account of exorbitant cost.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• At last, Dr. Kimball, Thurston and Beigler
helped him to get enough subscribers to
justify the publication.

• Dr. Boericke, president of Boericke and Tafel

refused to publish it because to publish it, it
requires too much cost.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Dr. Kent was also desired to publish it but it
required a large amount of money, which
accounted about 900 lbs.

• So he adopted a business plan and announced

for advanced bookings of his repertory in cheap
rate 30 lbs per copy.

• Money came from different interested physicians

and thus he published his first edition in 1897.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
 Kent’s repertory has six editions of the
original book. There have also been some
variations of Kent’s Repertory:
• Repertorium Generale by Jost Kunzli
• Final General Repertory by Pierre Schmidt
• Kent’s Repertory (corrected version) by
R.P. Patel

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
 Certain other repertories are developed on
the basis of the principles of Kent’s
Repertory e.g.:
• Synthetic Repertory by Barthel and
Klunker
• Synthesis by Fredrick Schroyens
• Kent’s comparative Repertory by Dockx
and Kokelenberg

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
 Different Editions
EDITION YEAR PUBLISHED BY
First 1897 Kent
(Philadelphia)

Second (Lancaster) 1908 Kent

Third(Chicago) 1924 Dr. Ethrhart, Dr. F.E.
Gladwin and Dr. J.S.
Pugh

Fourth 1935 Dr. Gladwin, Dr. Mrs

(Chicago) Kent, Dr. Pierre
Schmidt
Fifth (Chicago) 1945 _____,,_____
Sixth (Chicago) American 1957 ?
Indian 1961
SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• A revised version of Kent was published in
May 1974 under certain unusual
circumstances.

• Dr. Pierre Schmidt took the pain of going

through it, word by word and detected
many mistakes in the form of omissions
grading of medicines and arrangement of
rubrics in both Indian and American
editions.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• He corrected it with the help of the original work of
Kent.

• Unfortunately when the book was ready for

publication, it was stolen.

• Dr. Diwan Harishchand, an eminent homoeopath of

India, succeeded in Salvaging the manuscripts,
which was in a mutilated form.

• This is supposed to be the seventh edition but it is

generally called the revised first editions of Final
general repertory of Kent.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
DETAIL STUDY OF THE REPERTORY
• Kent’s repertory is a complete work and is
the only repertory which has been written
according to the schema of Hahnemann.
His repertory can be divided into three
parts:
1. PREFIX PART
2. REPERTORY PROPER
3. SUFFIX PART

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
 PREFIX PART
1. Use of the repertory – J. T. Kent
2. How to study the repertory – J.T. Kent
3. How to use the repertory – J. T. Kent
4. Repertorization – Dr. Margaret Tyler and Dr.
john Weir
5. Hot and cold remedies – Dr. Gibson
6. Cases demonstration – Dr. M. L . Tyler and Dr.
John Weir

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
 REPERTORY PROPER
1. Preface by Dr. Kent
2. Contents of various sections
3. List of remedies with abbreviations
4. REPERTORY
5. Word Index

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
 SUFFIX PART
1. The sides of the body and drug affinity from
Boenninghausen’s lesser writings.
2. Relationship of remedies with duration of
action by Gibson Miller.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
 USE OF THE REPERTORY
• As homoeopathy includes both science
and art, repertory study must consist of
science and art.

• The scientific method is the mechanical

method; taking all the symptoms and
writing out all the associated remedies
with gradings, making a summary with
grades marked, at the end.
SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• There is an artistic method that omits the
mechanical, and is better, but all are not
prepared to use it.

• The artistic method demands that

judgment be passed on all the symptoms,
after the case is most carefully taken.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Symptoms most peculiar to the patient
must be taken first, then those less and
less peculiar until the symptoms that are
common and not peculiar are reached , in
order, from first to last.

• These must be valued in proportion as

they relate to the patient rather than to
his parts.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Symptoms to be taken:
• First – are those relating to the loves and
hates or desires and aversions.

• Next – are those belonging to the rational

mind, so called intellectual mind.

• Thirdly – those belonging to the memory

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• These, the mental symptoms, must first be
worked out by the usual form until the
remedies best suited to his mental
condition are determined, omitting all
symptoms that relate to a pathological
cause and all that are common to disease
and to people.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• When the sum of these has been settled, a
group of five or ten remedies, or as many as
appear, we are then prepared to compare
them and the remedies found related to the
remaining symptoms of the case.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• The symptoms that are next most
important are those related to the entire
man and his entire body, or his blood and
fluids: as sensitiveness to heat, to cold, to
storm, to rest, to night, to day, to time.
They include both symptoms and
modalities.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• We must next look over all the record to
ascertain which of that group are most similar to
the particulars of the regions of the body; of the
organs of the body; of the parts; and of the
extremities.

• Preference must be accorded to discharges from

ulcers, from uterus during menstruation, from
ears, and from other parts, as those are very
closely related to the vital operation of the
economy.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Next must be used the modalities of the parts
affected, and frequently these will be found to
be the very opposite of the modalities of the
patient himself.

• A patient who craves heat for himself, generally,

and for his body, may require cold to his head, to
his stomach, or to the inflamed parts, hence the
same rubric will not fit him and his parts.

• Hence to generalize by modalities of isolated

particulars leads to the incorrect remedy or
confounds values placed upon certain remedies.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• There are strange and rare symptoms, even in
parts of the body, which the experienced
physician learns are so guiding that they must be
ranked in the higher and first classes.

• These include some keynotes which may guide

safely to a remedy or to the shaping of results,
provided that the mental and the physical
generals do not stand contrary, as to their
modalities, and therefore oppose the keynote
symptoms.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Any remedy correctly worked out, when looked
up in the Materia Medica, should be perceived
to agree with, and to fit, the patient; his
symptoms; his parts; and his modalities.

• It is quite possible for a remedy not having the

highest marking in the anamnesis to be the most
similar in image, as seen in the Materia Medica.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• The artistic prescriber sees much in the
proving that cannot be retained in the
repertory, where everything must be
sacrificed for the alphabetical system.

• The artistic prescriber must study HMM long

and earnestly to enable him to fix in his mind
sick images, which , when needed, will infill
the sick personalities of human beings.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• These are too numerous and too various
to be named or classified.

• I have often known the intuitive prescriber

to attempt to explain a so-called
marvellous cure by saying: “ I cannot quite
say how I came to give that remedy but it
resembled him.”

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• We have heard this, and felt, and seen it, but
who can attempt to explain it?

• It is something that belongs not to the neophyte,

but comes gradually to the experienced artistic
prescriber.

• It is only the growth of art in the artistic mind:

what is noticed in all artists.

• It belongs to all healing artists, but if carried too

far it becomes a fatal mistake, and must
therefore be corrected by Repertory work done
in even the most mechanical manner.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• The more each one restrains the tendency
to carelessness in prescribing and in
method, the wiser he becomes in artistic
effects and HMM work.

• The two features of prescribing must go

hand in hand, and must be kept in a high
degree of balance, or loose methods and
habits will come upon any good worker.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
 How to Study The Repertory
• After all the symptoms of a patient have been
written out the Repertory should be taken up.

• The beginner should not attempt to abbreviate

the anamnesis, but should write out the full
general rubric for exercise, if nothing more.

• If melancholy be the word, the remedies set to

the word should be written down with all the
graduations.
SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• If the melancholy appear only before the
menses let a sub-rubric be placed in a
manner to show at a glance the number of
remedies of the general class having the
special period of aggravation.

• Many of the most brilliant cures are made

from the general rubric when the special
does not help.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Again we have to work by analogy.

• In this method Boenninghausen’s Pocket

Repertory is of the greatest service.

• Take Minton’s most excellent work, and we find

menstrual agonies are ameliorated by heat,
peculiar to Arsenic and Nux Vomica and by
moist heat to Nux Mos.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• But the symptoms of one case are not like either
of these remedies, and we must go further into
the HMM.

• We can there form the anemnesis by analogy

and make use of the general rubric, taking all the
remedies known to be generally ameliorated by
heat and warmth applied.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• The patient does not always express the
symptom in the language that would best
indicate the real nature of the symptom.

• Then it is that judgment is required, that

the physician may gain a correct
interpretation of the symptoms.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• So often is this true that the young man and often
the old are led from the true expressions of nature,
and he will make an inappropriate prescription.

• The task of taking symptoms is often a most

difficult one.

• It is sometimes possible to abbreviate the

anamnesis by selecting one symptom that is very
peculiar containing the key to the case.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• A young man cannot often detect this
peculiarity and he should seldom attempt
it.

• It is often convenient to abbreviate by

taking a group of 3 or 4 essentials in a
given case, making a summary of these,
and eliminating all remedies not found in
all the essential symptoms.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• A man with considerable experience may cut short the
work in this way.

• I have frequently known young men to mistake a

modality for a symptom.

• This is fatal to a correct result.

• The symptom is the sensation or condition, and the

modality is only a modification. The symptom often
becomes peculiar or characteristic through its
modality.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• When a sensation is looking up in the
Repertory, all the remedies belonging to it
should be written out, and
individualization began by modalities.

• A high temperature, a fever without thirst,

is in a measure peculiar.

• A hard chill with thirst for cold water is

peculiar.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Thirst with a fever, with the heat, is not
peculiar, because you can safely say it is
common to find heat with thirst, and
uncommon to find heat without thirst.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• I am asked what I mean when I say to beginners, treat
the patient and not the disease.

• My answer always is about as follows: The symptom

that is seldom found in a given disease is one not
peculiar to the disease, but peculiar to the patient,
therefore the peculiarities of the patient have made the
disease differ from all the members of its class and
from all others in the class, and make this disease, as
affecting this patient, an individuality by itself, and can
only be treated as an individual.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• This individuality in the patient manifests itself
by peculiar symptoms nearly always prominent,
and always looked for by the true healer.

• The man who gives Aconite for fever knows

nothing of the spirit of the law of the duties of
the physician.

• The same is true of Colocynth for colic, Arsenic

for chill etc.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• “What shall we do when we find several
peculiarities in the same patient and one remedy
does not cover them all?”

• Here is where the astute physician will pick up

his repertory and commence the search for a
remedy most similar to all, and if he has been a
student for a few years he need not go about
asking foolish questions.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• The lazy man has spent his days in the
folly of pleasures, and the man of limited
belief has shot out so many valuable
things that he is constantly up in public
asking foolish questions and reporting
cases with symptoms so badly taken that
he reveals the whereabouts of his past
life.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• He has not made use of the Repertory,
and shows a complete ignorance of the
rubrics and the usual formality of taking
symptoms as taught by Hahnemann.
• It is a blessed thing that they are not
responsible for all their ignorance.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
 How to use the Repertory
• Ever since the appearance of my repertory in
print many of my friends who use it have urged
me to write out my own method of using a
repertory.

• I realize that it is a most difficult undertaking,

but shall attempt to explain my method.

• I doubt not but most careful prescribers will find

that they are working in a similar manner.
SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• The use of the repertory in homoeopathic
practice is a necessity if one is to do
careful work.

• Our Materia Medica is so cumbersome

without a repertory that the best
prescriber must meet with only indifferent
results.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• After the case has been properly taken
according to Hahnemann’s rules it is ready
for study.

• I do not intend to offer in this manner the

ordinarily rubrics, because all know them
so well.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• A case that is well taken and ordinarily full
will show morbid manifestations in
sensitiveness to many surroundings, such
as weather, heat and cold, also in the
desires and aversions, mental symptoms
and the various regions of the body.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• When I take up a full case for study, I
single out all the expressions that describe
the general state, such as the aggravations
and ameliorations of the general state of
the patient or of many of his symptoms.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• I next consider carefully all his longings,
mental and physical, all the desires and
aversions, antipathies, fears, dreads, etc.

• Next I look for all the intellectual

perversions, methods of reasoning,
memory, causes of mental disturbances,
etc.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• All these I arrange in form together, in
order to set opposite each one all
remedies in corresponding rubrics as
found in the repertory.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• By the cancellation process it will
soon be seen that only a few
remedies run through all these
symptoms, and therefore only a few
are to be carefully compared in order
to ascertain which one of all these is
most like the particular symptoms.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Hahnemann teaches in the 153rd
paragraph that we are to give particular
attention to such symptoms as are peculiar
and characteristic.

• He teaches also that the physician must

pay his earnest attention to the patient.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Now if these two things are duly
considered, it will be seen that
Hahnemann’ idea was that a
characteristic symptom is one that is
not common to disease but one that
characterizes the patient.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• All the first lot of symptoms singled out for
a more comprehensive view are such as
characterize the patient and are
predicated of the patient himself.

• By treating a portion of the symptoms in

this way we have reduced the list of
possible remedies to a few or perhaps only
one.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• As it is necessary to consider the TOS
for a basis of the homoeopathic
prescription, it is now necessary to
examine all the rest of the symptoms
in order to ascertain how these few
remedies correspond with all the
particulars.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• To work out a well rounded case is
the simplest part of repertory work,
but when one-sided cases appear and
when the patient states his symptoms
in language that cannot be found in
provings the case is far different.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• The record of the patient should stand as nearly
as possible in his own language.

• From an extensive correspondence and many

years of teaching graduates, I have come to the
conclusion that it is difficult matter for many to
know when the record of symptoms contains the
possibilities of a curative prescription.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Many cases are presented with no
generals and no mental symptoms-
absolutely no characterizing symptoms-
only the symptoms common to sickness.

• When a successful prescription is made on

such symptoms it is scarcely more than a
“lucky hit.”

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• It cannot be classed as scientific
prescribing.

• Many records are presented with pages of

vague description and one keynote that
has served as a disgraceful “stool pigeon”
to call forth a failure from many doctors.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Unless the symptoms that characterize the
patient are brought out in the record the
physician should not be surprised at a failure.

• The remedy must be similar to the symptoms

of the patient as well as the pathognomonic
symptoms of his disease in order to cure.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• To show something about the
requirements of Repertory work, I will
try to bring out hypothetical groups of
symptoms such as come to every man.

• In a well-rounded case, or as an isolated

group, we frequently meet with what is
called “writer’s cramp.”

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• This must be divided into many elements
before it can be properly put on paper as a
work-out case or fragment of a case.

• If we should take “writer’s cramp” and say

no more about it, we would have only a
limited number of remedies to look to for
cure.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• But our resources are unlimited, as will be seen.

• “Writer’s cramp” , when examined into, will be

found to mean cramp in fingers, hand or arms, or
all three.

• Sometimes numbness and tingling of one or all

three; sometimes sensation of paralysis in one or
all three; sometimes tingling of fingers and hand,
and all of these conditions from writing or worse
while writing.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Cramp in fingers while writing: Brach.,
cocc., cycl., trill., mag-ph., stann.
• Cramp in hand while writing: Anac.,
euph., mag-p., nat-p., sil.
• Numbness in fingers while writing: Carl
• Numbness in hand while writing: Agar.,
zinc.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Paralytic feeling in hand while writing: Acon.,
agar., chel., cocc.

• Cramp in wrist while writing: Amyl-n., brach.

• The above brings out all that can be found in

the MM on this subject, and failure often
follows owing to the scanty clinical and
pathogenetic records to which we have access;
but we have just begun to consider that
vexatious (distressing) group of symptoms.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• It is true that sometimes the above scanty
showing presents just the remedy required.

• But often it does not, and then we may

proceed as follows:

• Cramp in the fingers, hand and wrist or such

parts as are affected: use the general groups
on pages 971, 972 & 973 of my repertory

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Numbness of fingers and hand: pages
1038 and 1039, using also the general
group.

• Sensation of paralysis of hand and

fingers: use the general groups, pages
1176 and 1179.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• After these have been carefully written out,
turn to general rubric in generalities, on
page 1358, ”Exertion,” and write out such of
these remedies as are found in the complex
symptoms from exertion.

• Writing is nothing but prolonged exertion.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• When this simple lesson is learned the
physician will see at once that the same process
will show the remedy in those who have lost
the power of the hand and fingers, or have
cramps, etc., from playing stringed instruments
or playing the piano or the prolonged use of
any tool or instrument.

• It is using in proper manner a general rubric.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Furthermore, after cures have been made with
remedies selected in this way, such remedies
may be added to the scanty list of particulars
first referred to, and in this manner will our
Repertory grow into usefulness.

• This is the legitimate (lawfully) use of clinical

symptoms.

• It is the proper application of the general rubric

to the end that our scanty particulars may be
built up.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• The new repertory is the only one ever
found that provides a vacant space for
annotating (note) just such information.

• If the large number of correct prescribers

in the world would join in this extension,
we could soon have a repertory of
comparatively extensive particulars.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Our generals were well worked out by
Boenninghausen and much overdone, as
he generalized many rubrics that were
purely particulars, the use of which as
generals is misleading and ends in failure.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• The success coming from BTPB is due to the
arrangement whereby generals can be
quickly made use of to furnish modalities for
individual symptoms, whether general or
particular.

• This feature is preserved in my Repertory, as

all know who use it.

• But it is the generals that can be used this

way.
SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• A large rubric made up of promiscuous (mingled)
particulars, none of which are predicated of the
patient is a “hit or miss” when applied in general
and usually a miss.

• For example, “aggravation from writing” is a

rubric of particulars.

• In no instance is there one wherein the patient

himself is worse from writing, but the eyes, the
head, the hands, the back (from stooping) etc.,
make up this rubric.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• It is useless to resort to aggravation from
writing when a headache is the symptom and
find the remedy refers to a complaint in some
other part wholly unlike headache.

• To make use of this modality for mental

symptoms when it is applied to complaints of
the hand is perverting (to turn from right
course) the uses of circumstances.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Aggravation from writing should be limited to
the symptoms that are worse from writing and
kept with them, as it is not a general.

• It is so done in my Repertory, this is wholly

different in the great rubric “motion.”

• If we study Bryonia from that rubric, and from

the HMM, we will see that such a large
number of particular symptoms is aggravated
by that remedy that it appears that the very
patient himself is worse from motion.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Hence, it will be seen that motion is a rubric
that must show the extent of aggravation in
relation to the general bodily state by
general and particular, and it must be
retained in the generals.

• Any rubric that modifies so many particulars

that the very patient himself seems to be so
modified must be classed as general.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Many wonderful cures have been made
from the use of Boenninghausen and
many wonderful failures have followed,
and it is from the above cause.

• The new repertory is produced to show

forth all the particulars, each symptom
with the circumstance connected with it.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• It is in infancy and may remain so very long,
unless all who use it unit to preserve their
experience in well-kept records and furnish the
author with such.

• The author is devoting his life to the growth

and infilling and perfecting of this work, and
begs all true workers will co-operate by noting
errors and omissions, and, above all, noting
such modalities of particulars as have come
from generals and been observed in cures.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
 REPERTORISING BY
MARGARET TYLER AND JOHN WEIR

• Every art and every science has its own

jargon, and the art of repertorising is no
exception. Let us get straight to terms.

• Success in repertorising depends on

ability to deal with symptoms; and this
has to be taught; it is not innate.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• People all the world over are wasting
their lives, working out cases at enormous
expenditure of time and minutest care,
for comparatively poor results: and all for
want of a little initial help.

• They key to the enigma, which they lack is

the GRADING OF SYMPTOMS.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• The grading of symptoms in such wise as to economise
labour without compromising results: and, in the cases
where all the more-or-less indicated remedies lack
some symptoms or other of the totality, to know which
symptoms are of vital importance to the correct
prescription; and which are of less importance, and
may therefore probably be neglected; and also which
may be safely used as eliminating symptoms, to throw
out remedies by the dozen from the very start; and
which cannot be safely used to throw out any remedies
at all, on pain of perhaps losing the very drug one is in
search of – the curati9ve Similimum.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• To begin with, symptoms are of two orders:

(a) those generals to the patient as whole

(Kent’s GENERALS), and

(b) those particulars, not to the patient as

whole, but to some part of him (Kent’s
PARTICULARS).

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
 THE GRADING OF SYMPTOMS
• Among the Generals, the symptoms of the first
grade are if well marked, the MENTAL
SYMPTOMS. These take the highest rank; and a
strongly marked mental symptom will always
rule out any number of poorly-marked
symptoms of lesser grade. The Mental
symptoms, always provide that they are very
definite and well marked, are the most
important symptoms of the case.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Second in grade, after the mental symptoms,
and his reactions to mental environment, come,
if well marked, such general symptoms of the
patient as his reactions, as a whole, to bodily
environment: - to time and seasons, to heat and
cold, to damp and dry, to storm and tempest ,
to position, pressure, motion, jar, touch, etc.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• But they have got to be in capitals or in
italics in the patient as well as in the
repertory, to take this rank; or to be safely
used, some of them, as eliminating
symptoms. (“Some of then,” because
there are perhaps only half-a-dozen
symptoms which it is at all safe to use in
this way; and then only, of course, if
strongly marked)

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• The third grade general symptoms are the
CRAVINGS AND AVERSIONS. But to be
elevated to such rank, they must not be
mere likes and dislikes, but longing and
loathings: in big types in the Repertory,
and in the patient – in corresponding
types, anyhow!

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Then next in importance comes, in
women, the MENSTRUAL STATE, i.e.
general aggravation of symptoms before,
during and after the menses. Of lower
rank comes the question of menses early,
late and excessive – and this last of course
only where there is nothing such a polypus
fibroid, menopause to account for it.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• And now, at last, you come to the PARTICULARS – the
symptoms that bulk so largely for the patient, and for
which he is as a matter of fact, actually consulting you.
You will have taken them first, with the utmost care and
detail, listening to his story, and interrupting as little as
possible; but you will consider them last: for these
symptoms are really of minor importance from your
point of view because they are general to the patient as
living whole, but only particulars to some part of him.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Among the PARTICULARS, your first-grade
symptoms will always be anything peculiar, or
unusual, or unexpected, or Unaccountable. You
now want to know not only how your patient, as
a whole, reacts to environment, but how his
head, his stomach, his lungs, his muscles and
joint stand heat and cold, damp weather and
dry, react to stuffy atmosphere or draughts,
desire or resent movement and jar.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Now, to get the terms clearly …. A
GENERAL SYMPTOM, OR A GENERAL, IS
ONE THAT REFERS TO THE PATIENT
HIMSELF, AS A WHOLE, AND OF WHICH HE
CAN SAY “I” instead of “My”.

• But where your patient says “My” instead

of “I” , there you have a particular.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Then, besides Kent’s Generals and particulars,
you have COMMON SYMPTOMS. A symptom
may be common to all cases of a certain disease,
and therefore of no great use in picking out the
individual remedy for a particular case of that
disease; or it may be common to a very great
number of drugs, and therefore indicate once of
a large group of remedies only; and so of very
little use in repertorising.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
 “ELIMINATING” SYMPTOMS
• This is a new word, but expresses what we
all desire in repertorising, and what we
have got to be very chary of using too
rigidly, lest we lose the remedy we are
looking for.

• Instances best reveal meanings. Say your

patient complains of dyspepsia, with
burning pain in the stomach, and the
frequent vomiting of sour fluid.
SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• He pours you out particulars, which he has
at his finger-tips; since they are just the
symptoms that impress a man’s memory,
by intruding themselves on his
consciousness in a very realistic way.

• You jot them down till your have got the

case as fully as most people go, with all it
modalities.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• You have assured yourself, by careful
examination, as to whether the trouble is likely
to be organic or functional; or whether some of
the symptoms have got to be discounted, as
secondary to some gross lesion. And now it is
your turn.

• you have to elicit the general symptoms of your

patient; you have got to switch him off the siding
“my,” and on to the main line “I.”

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• And you now find that he cannot stand heat – whatever
his stomach may do

• that he is ill if long out in the sun

• that he wants a cool room

• prefers cold weather and a cold climate:

• that he never goes near the fire

• you noticed when he came in that, though the weather

was cold, he was not buttoned up, or thickly clothed.
SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• It is not closeness or stuffiness so much that
affects him but heat. He is one of the hot-remedy
people. There is an eliminating symptom for you.
You know at one, whatever his stomach
conditions may be (Ars, Phos, Nux, Lyc, Nat Mur)
but with that temperament, that warm
personality, it would be useless for deep and
curative work to think of giving him Ars, Phos,
Nux, or Sep. He is a hot patient, and these are
cold remedies.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• You can strike them out at once.

• For even if one of them, aptly fitting the exact

stomach symptoms only, gave temporary relief
to the immediate condition, the patient would
relapse again and again. It could not hold.

• It would act as a palliative, not a curative drug.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• It might provide a temporary organ-stimulus: it could
never be the stimulus of the organism.

• And here you see well the difference between deep and
superficial work - between curative and palliative.

• The people who get their honest triumphs in similars, and

see at least brilliant temporary results in superficial and
acute conditions, and believe honestly that these are the
very best attainable by medicine, scout the idea of the
lasting triumphs of the Similimum.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• They know well, from years of experience, their
own limitations; and it seems to them
outrageous that other people should make larger
claims.

• As a matter of fact, when you get the real

Similimum, the odds are that, instead of
palliating the stomach condition, you will
aggravate it, once and for all, to cure.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• And if you do now know you work, you
will think that you have got the wrong
medicine and antidote or change it: and
your patient will be, so far as you are
concerned, incurable.

• But it may be you ignorance only that

makes him so!

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• So now, down all the rubrics, mental ,
general, and particular, you will carry that
great eliminating symptom, WORSE FROM
HEAT, and ruthlessly cut out all the
remedies that are chilly, and therefore,
deeply help chilly people.

• None of these you need write down at all.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Using Dr. G . Miller’s list, you can go on to
any other general and especially to any
marked mental symptom, and often get a
pretty correct idea of the exact remedy
before you ever start to tackle the
particular and immediate suffering for
which the patient comes to you.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Now supposing you discover that he is
liable to fits of depression, and yet cannot
endure any attempt at consolation; that he
becomes a very friend if anyone attempts
to cheer him up – even to enquire what is
amiss: the people have learnt to let him
severely alone, when his moods are upon
him;

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Why, with these two important symptoms alone,
worse from heat, and worse from consolation,
which have got to be in equal type, remember, in
the patient and in the drug, you have reduced
your area of search to Lit tig, Nat mur and Plat.
(for Lyco and Merc come through the
“<consolation test” in the lowest type only,
which is hardly good enough for such a marked
loathing of consolation as this!)

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Or, if your patient had been as predominantly
chilly and worse for cold as this one was for
heat, and the aggravation from consolation
test came out as strongly, you would have
found yourself at the start of your work with
Ars, Bell, Calc-Ph, Ign, Nit-ac, Sep, and Sil.,
with two or three others to play with in
brackets – lowest type.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• If you can get such marked eliminating
symptoms to begin with, see what a
comparatively small number of drugs you
have to carry down through all the rubrics,
and how much easier and quicker it is to
get your remedy, and how much greater
confidence you have in the result of you
search.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• You will generally find, as you work down,
that one drug stands out more and more pre-
eminently:- it may not be in all the rubrics,
but it has got to be in all the important ones,
i.e. those best marked in the patient, and of
highest grade.

• And presently you throw down you pen: you

are convinced; and it is a mere waste of time
to go further.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Now take the same case and start, instead, on
the marked symptoms complained of by the
patient – the particulars, and just see what work
you have cut out for you!

• Begin with the rubric Vomiting and write it out

for the last time, and see what it entails.

• And write all the drugs, in all the types, lest you
should miss any.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Take his particular symptoms, one by one, and
write and write and write

• Vomiting, 162 drugs

• Vomiting water, 108 drugs

• Vomiting sour, 89 drugs

• Burning pain in the stomach, 186 drugs

• Pain in the stomach p.c. 110 drugs

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• It may be easily such a list, of which, this is but
the merest beginning:- no wonder that people
get “Repertory funk !” – for remember that
people are actually doing this, at this moment, in
all quarters of the world: for they are sending us
their beautifully-neat, conscientious and
exhaustive work to show, as they ask for a better
way: and it is their cry for help that has caused
this article to be compiled.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Sheets and sheets of paper you will cover.

• One that lies before us now has all the drugs

in forty-nine different rubrics, some of
immense length, as stools offensive, Burning
urine, stools pasty, yellow stools.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Why, before you ever come down to such
symptoms, you should have three or four
drugs only in hand: - and they are
symptoms of the lowest grade, and
common symptoms; hardly worth glancing
through for confirmation of the drug.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Moreover, there is the possibility that you may
accidentally omit the very drug you want from
some of the long lists you are so slavishly copying:
and the odds are, that when they are all
complete, without the aid of eliminating
symptoms some half-a-dozen drugs will come out
pretty near one another when you count up at
the end, and that will leave you unconvinced and
still in doubt.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
 PLAN AND CONSTRUCTION
In Kent’s repertory the plan followed throughout is
from generals to particulars. It starts with Mind
chapter, which has been given prime importance.
The last chapter is Generalities, which contains
physical modalities. The rest of the chapters are
based on anatomical divisions followed by
function or discharges. There are altogether
thirty three chapters, out of which one is on
urinary organs. This particular chapter has five
divisions.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
 ANATOMICAL PARTS:
• Head : It contains rubrics on all the parts of
forehead,Occiput, temples, vertex, brain
and meninges.

• Throat : It contains oesophagus, pharynx, tonsils

and uvula.

• External throat : It contains rubrics pertaining to

anterior neck,such as Goiter, glands, torticollis.

• Chest : It contains rubrics on lungs, heart, aorta,

sternum,Mammae, axilla, diaphragm and clavicle.

• Back : It contains rubrics on cervical, dorsal

(posterior chest, Lumbar, sacral, coccyx, spine.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Abdomen : It contains rubrics on hypochondria,
hypogastrium,Illiac, ilium, inguinal region,
liver, spleen, umbilicus
• Rectum : It contains rubrics on anus and
perineum.

Other chapters like Ear, Eyes, Face, Nose,

Stomach, Extremities, Skin Larynx and Trachea,
Mouth, Teeth, Genitalia and Urinary organs,
contain rubrics relating to these parts.
Discharges such as Stool, Perspiration, Urine,
Expectoration, are given as separate chapters.
Generals are found under Mind, Sleep and
Generalities. Some conditions like-Vertigo, Cough,
Chill, Fever, Vision and Hearing are given as
separate chapters. In the repertory, systems are
not given separately, but symptoms related to
them are given under the parts. Rubrics have
been arranged alphabetically in all chapters.
SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
The chapters in Kent’s repertory are given in the
following order.

1. Mind
2. Vertigo
3. Head
4. Eye
5. Vision
6. Ear
7. Hearing
8. Nose
9. Face
10.Mouth
11.Teeth
12.Throat
13.External throat
14.Stomach
SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
15. Rectum
16. Stool
17. Abdomen
18. Urinary organs
a.Bladder
b.Kidney
c. Prostate gland
d Urethra
e. Urine
19. Genitalia-Male
20. Genitalia-Female
21. Larynx and trachea
22. Respiration
23. Cough
24. Expectoration

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
25. Chest
26. Back
27. Extremities
28. Sleep
29. Chill
30. Fever
31. Perspiration
32. Skin
33. Generalities
Note: Some count the sub-chapters of
urinary organs as separate chapters.
Hence the total number might come to 37.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
 ARRANGEMENT OF RUBRICS

To find out a rubric at its appropriate place, it is

imperative to know the arrangement followed in
the repertory. All rubrics are arranged
alphabetically in all the chapters. Rubrics are
arranged from generals to particulars.

A rubric starts with a general symptom or a state

with a list of a large group of medicines. This is
followed by side, time, modalities and extension.
This arrangement has not been strictly followed
in all the chapters. A general rubric is followed
again by sub-rubrics.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Wherever rubrics can be divided into sides, the
general rubric is followed immediately by side,
firstly right side, then left. In rubrics under Head-
pain, sides are not given immediately after the
general rubric. It is a separate sub-rubric that
comes after the parts like occiput, forehead and
temples.
• Some rubrics where side cannot be given or is
not given, time immediately follows the general
rubric.
• Time: Here also Kent follows the logic of general
to particulars.
• Day-time (fraction of day)
• Morning (fraction)
• Forenoon (fraction)
• Noon (fraction)
• Afternoon (fraction)
SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Evening (fraction)
• Twilight (fraction)
• Night (fraction)
• Midnight (fraction)
• After midnight (fraction)
• If one division of time (as listed above) is
not given, the next division follows. For
example, the rubric ‘Anxiety’ is followed
by sub-rubric, ‘Day time’ whereas ‘Anger’
is followed by ‘Morning’ because ‘Day time
‘ as a sub-rubric is not given under ‘Anger’
(‘Morning follows ‘Day time’)

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Modalities :These include different
factors, which influence the
symptoms. They are arranged as
follows:
• Aliments from
• Alternating with
• Modifying factors, agg. and amel.
(including concomitants, before,
during, after).

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Extension: This is the last sub-rubric and
found mainly under ‘Pain’ rubric.

• The above order-side, time, modalities and

extension – is generally followed in each
rubric and sub-rubrics. Since generalities
chapter deals mostly with agg. amel., and
certain states of the person, this order is
not possible in this chapter. This order
has been slightly modified according to
the rubrics here and there. Skin, fever,
Perspiration, Sleep, do not follow this
arrangement from generals to minute
particulars.
SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• For the rubric ‘Pain’ the following
arrangement is given under different
chapters except in generalities:
PAIN-General rubric: S(side)
T (time)
M(modalities)
E (extension)
Parts, different sub-divisions: S
T
M
E

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
Type of pain: T
M
E

Under each type, parts: S

T
M
E

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
 SOME PRACTICAL GUIDELINES
• In the earlier section, we have discussed
the logic and methodology of the
arrangement of rubric and sub-rubrics in
Kent’s Repertory with a view to facilitate
quick location of symptoms. We give here
below some more practical guidelines to
further help a learner to put the repertory
to maximum use.
1. Desires and aversions to food should be
referred to in chapter ‘Stomach’.
2. ‘Food disagrees’ should be referred to
under ‘Generalities’ and also under
Stomach ‘disordered.’

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
3. All conditions of general modalities, effect
of discharges, weather etc., should be
referred to under ‘Generalities.’
4. The symptoms of neck should be referred
to in chapters ‘External throat’ and ‘Back-
cervical region.’
5. Diagnostic rubrics should be referred to in
the part concerned and in ‘Generalities.’
6. Concomitant symptoms are found
scattered in the repertory. It should he
referred to under the symptom in
concerned chapters.
SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
9. Many symptoms are found scattered
in different sections and some times
one rubric does not represent the
whole group of medicines. Therefore,
it is necessary to refer to all the related
rubrics to know the number of drugs,
e.g., for anticipatory anxiety, no single
rubric represents the whole group of
medicines. Therefore, if the following
rubrics are referred together , they give
a bigger group of medicines.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
• Anticipation, complaints from (page no.4)
• Anxiety, anticipating an engagement (page
no.5)
• Anxiety, when anything is expected of him
(page no.6)
• Timidity, appearing in public (page no.89)
• Diarrhoea, after anticipation (page no. 611)
• Diarrhoea, from excitement (page no. 612)
• Now if all medicines were grouped
together, it would be as mentioned below:
• Arg –n., Ars., Carb-v., Gels., Lyc., Med.,
Plb., ph-ac., Sil., Thuja.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
10. Any desire or a aversion at mental level
should be referred to as-Things desire,
aversion to, e.g.
• Work- aversion to mental, desire for
mental
• Company – aversion for, desire for
• Children- aversion to
11. Any sensation at general level does not
start with the word ‘sensation’ but starts
with the specific sensation.
For example,
• Coat of skin drawn over inner parts,
sensation of Plug, sensation of
• Water dashing against inner parts,
sensation of wave-like sensation
SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
12. Sensation related to parts can be referred to
in a similar way under the parts concerned,
e.g.,
• Stomach - Ball, sensation of
• Eyes - Enlargement, sensation of, etc.,

13. Addition to Kent’s repertory by Boger and

another book with the same title by
Vithoulkas should be used as companions to
Kent’s repertory.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
Examples:
1.During fever, hunger increased
Appetite, increased fever during
2.Headache, before menses
Head, pain, menses before
7.In ‘Generalities’, pain rubric deals with
blood vessels, bones, glands, muscles,
small spots, parts paralyzed, periosteum,
etc.
8.Sweat on any special part is found under
the anatomical section in which the part is
located (such as Face, perspiration on).
Perspiration rubric is used for sweat.
SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
 CROSS-REFERENCES
Kent has used cross-references in his repertory to convert
symptoms into appropriate rubrics, which have proved
helpful to practitioners. Such cross-references are found
mainly in Mind chapter. There are two kind of cross-
references used in repertory:

• The main rubric contains a synonym in the bracket without

giving any medicine against it. This type of cross-reference
helps us to locate the appropriate rubric.

• The main rubrics contain some terms, which are similar in

meaning. Such rubrics also contain a group of medicines.
They draw our attention towards similar rubrics, so that one
can always check the exactness of the rubrics. These help us
to compare drugs mentioned at both places.
SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
 Method of working a Case
Mental symptoms, which are specified by certain factors
like agg., amel., eral symptoms for Repertorisation.
Margaret Tyler has designated these specified Mentals
as high grade or qualified Mentals .The same
qualification of symptoms holds good in respect of
physical and particulars. The qualified symptoms not
only help to individualize the person, but also narrow
down the field of choice.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
According to Kent, totality should be arranged as
follows :
Mental – Emotion ………….. Will
Intellect ……… … Understanding
Memory
Ailments from
Agg. And amel.
Any other qualified symptoms.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
Physical - Generals
Ailments from, agg. And amel
Symptoms related to sex, appetite, desire
and Aversion to food, weather, positions
etc.
Special senses.
Particulars – Peculiar and characteristics, or
qualified.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
 CASE
A male, 30 years old, who has been suffering from
chronic recurrent Pharyngitis since 12 years
presented with the following features :
Locations Sensations Modalities
R.S Irritation < Tension2

Throat,
12 years Scratching3 < Anxiety3
Feels like putting
Hand and scrapping it.
SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
Frequent attacks < Before and
Of cold and cough after performance
Leads to vomiting. On stage.

< Dust3
< Physical
exersion2.
<Ice3, cold3

7 years
Pharyngitis Rx – Antibiotics.
Loss of voice.
frequency
Pain < on cooling
increased once down3 under
in 15 days.
SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
History of Present Complaints:
He used to get frequent attacks of cold since 12
years. He had suffered from tonsillitis in childhood,
which was operated. His complaints increased after
tonsillectomy. He gets an attack of pharyngitis once
in 15 days, which lasts for 7 days
Physical Generals:
Lean . Appetite – Good
Very chilly.
Sweats – Easily and excessively on the head3.
SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
Thirst – Increased3 (8 – 10 glasses of water, boiled
and cooled, daily).
Likes sweets, salt, chicken but not markedly.
Avoids – Highly seasoned food, which may agg the
complaints. Stool once, every day. No complaints.
Mental Generals:
Irritable3, short-tempered. Contradiction agg. 3
Anxiety – anticipatory, before appearing3 on stage, for
performing music.
Anxious – If things go wrong.
Sleep – Good, dreams of ghost2, future, daily business

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
Patient hails from a middle class family. Father was an
alcoholic, so he had to take responsibilities at an early
age. Father died two month after patient got a job. He
is the only son of his parents. He is married and has
two sons.Apart from his job, he is also associated with
a musical club. Whenever there is a program he gets
throat complaints. He is very strict about his decisions.
He is ready to fight if not convinced with anybody’s
ideas. Wants things to be done with perfectness

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
Discussion:
From the study of this case we can understand the
problem. The person has got high anxiety, which affects
him adversely. Case has got qualified mental generals
and physicals with characteristic particulars.
Selection of Repertory:
Since the case has got generals and characteristic
particulars – Kent's repertory would be the best
selection

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
Evaluation of Symptoms Reason
Anxiety, fear before appearing Qualified mental
On the stage

Cannot tolerate contradiction Qualified mental

Dreams – ghost, business of the day Qualified

mental

Chilly patient Physical general

Sweats easily, mainly on head Physical general

Throat pain – on cooling down Characteristic

Under the fan. particulars

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
Converting into Rubrics: Page No.

Timidity – appearing in public - 89

Contradiction – intolerant of - 16

Dream-ghost - 1240
Business of the day - 1236

Sweats – head - 221

Throat pain – on becoming cold - 458

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
Following rubrics are taken for repertorization :

1. Timidity appearing in public – mind

2. Contradiction, intolerance of
3. Dream – ghost
4. Dream – business of the day
5. Sweats – head
6. Throat pain on becoming cold

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
Reportorial Result :
Lyc. 8/4, Sil. 11/4, Sep. 9/4
Analysis of Reportorial Result and Prescription:
From the study of the patient and reference to
Materia Medica, we notice Sil. Covers the following
features of the person – chilly, timidity before
appearing in public.
Thus Sil gets highest marks in the above feature
(potential differential field).
Sil. Was prescribed.
SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE REPERTORY
1. Kent’s repertory is based on the philosophy of general
to particulars and it follows this principle in
arrangement too, thus making it easier to search the
rubrics.
2. It contains 648 medicines in the Index (some study
opines that only 591 medicines are used) which is
more than the other two repertories in use, i.e.
Therapeutic Pocket Book and Boger’s Repertory. As
per Dr. R.P. Patel the No. of medicines come to 657

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
3. It has three gradations of medicines – 3,2,1 which is
more practical unlike five gradations of
Boenninghausen and Boger.
4. Mind section contains many rubrics and sub-rubrics.
It also contains qualified symptoms, which are very
helpful in repertorization.
5. Generalities section is large and elaborate and it
contains many rubrics on general modalities and
some rubrics on clinical conditions. Many rubrics
which appear as particular under proper anatomical
sections or more headings may also appear in this
section, if they refer to the general conditions, e.g.,
modalities related to perspiration, menses, food, etc.
SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
6. It contains most of the symptoms related to parts as well as
generals, thus one who uses this repertory rarely needs to
refer to other repertories.
7. Sub-rubrics are placed alphabetically according to the
arrangement. Sub-rubrics are also given relating to children,
which is helpful in narrowing the field of choice.
For example:
Irritability - Children in
Restlessness - Children in
Sadness - Children in
Respiration, asthmatic - Children in
Convulsion - Children in

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
8. Cross-references have been inserted wherever Kent
thought they would be needed especially in Mind
section. He writes, “Many busy men will find groups
of remedies under headings different from the one
they would naturally look for. If a cross-reference be
made at the time, it would always help to find that
rubric in the future”.

SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
CRITICISM:
After the publication of Kent’s exhaustion
and elaborate repertory, other existing
repertories were used less and less. Kent’s
repertory was greeted with applause from all
corners because of its completeness. All his
energies and clinical experiences have enriched it
with many specialities. However, it would not
give an answer to all the difficulties faced in
repertorization. It is an elaborate work and
naturally some mistakes are bound to occur.
SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY
THANK YOU
SKHMC DEPT.of.REPERTORY