Dear Theresa,
Phatak's repertory is mostly based on C.M.Boger's A synoptic key to materia medica (repertory part of it) plus some additions by Phatak.
As a repertory for non professionals (and professionals !) I should rather recommend the latest repertory of Boger General Analysis. It is even smaller and more synthetic. Worthwile trying it. I bought a very playfull card repertory of it in german/english which I use sometimes for fun and in cases of extreme scarcity of symptoms.
Follow:
http://www.liethpub.de/ and click on Lochkartei, a bit expansive 195 euros but great in a fine wooden box. The website is in german but you can contact Bernd von der Lieth by mail in english at
mail@liethpub.de . You ask for the cards being sorted alphabetically in english.
Imagine you have an otitis media with red external ear (or red cheek or red face), tearing pain and nothing else..., which remedy will you give if you have only a couple of minutes to find a remedy and your computer is off ? You just pick the 3 cards EARS, REDNESS and TEARING PAINS, put them one upon another. Here the TPB would give too many remedies and is in fact not really appropriate.
card 1: EARS 18 holes
card 2: REDNESS 19 holes
cardd 3: TEARING PAINS 18 holes
Cards 1, 2 and 3 lying one upon another give 4 common holes through which light passes, so 4 remedies: BELL, CHAM, MERC, SULPH. We find here already Bell and Merc which are very usual in this condition. If one compare to Kent's repertory (Repertorium Generale version by J.Künzli) one find them also in the rubric
Ear - inflammation -media: bell, cham, merc, sulph among 35 remedies !
Boger was a real master and its lastest legacy must no be overlooked.
Michel Ramillon (France)
----- Message d'origine ----
De : tg.partington
À :
minutus@yahoogroups.com
Envoyé le : Vendredi, 3 Octobre 2008, 9h38mn 54s
Objet : [Minutus] ref books/Phatak
Does anyone have any views on the Phatak repertory? It was the first I
ever had and I know some people use it extensively. Never really got the
hang of it myself but would like to. I suppose it lends itself to a
CLAMS approach.... ? I got it before I started training and have
wondered if, properly taught, it could be a useful ref for non-
professionals too.
Theresa