For many years the author has felt the need of a pocket edition of our Materia Medica, containing the characteristic and cardinal symptoms of all our known remedies, arranged according to the Hahnemann Schema for ready reference. I herewith offer the profession an attempt to supply this need, of a handy multum in parvo edition, to be used at the bedside or consulted when making the daily rounds.
    This work contains the well-known verified characteristics of almost every drug, besides less important symptoms essential for the selection of the curative remedy, and thus it supplements every other work on Materia Medica. In its present compact form it contains the maximum number of reliable Materia Medica facts in the minimum space. It is, therefore, an epitome of the whole Homeopathic Materia Medica, brought up to date by including the scattered verifications found in our journalistic literature.
    My part of the work has been mainly selective and detective, in the endeavor to compile as accurate and as practical a book as possible, guided, however, by the experience of over twenty years as a general practitioner and teacher of Materia Medica.
    The dosage needs some apology. It is, of course, suggestive only; more often to be wholly discarded. I have followed the lines of the earlier homeopathists in this regard, and given what was then to be considered the usual range of potency, to which I have added my own experience and that of many observing practitioners. As a teacher of Materia Medica I am constantly importuned by students to suggest potency—something to start with at least.
        The female symptoms throughout the book have been critically examined and enriched by Professor Jas. W. Ward, the eminent gynecologist and practitioner of wide experience. This adds much to the practical value of the book, and I hereby desire to acknowledge my indebtedness to Dr. Ward for this important aid and other invaluable hints and suggestions.