Plain Talks on
Materia Medica
by Willard Ide Pierce

Published by Boericke and Tafel, this 792 page book of comparative materia medica was based on lectures presented by the author at the New York Homeopathic Medical College between 1898 and 1908.

One reviewer of the time said, "It is the best thing since Farrington's Clinical Materia Medica appeared."

The real value of the book is in its comparison of characteristic symptoms of one remedy to other remedies that share that symptom. Even though few homeopaths are familiar with this title, this is one of the best comparative materia medica's in our literature.

The remedy section provides valuable information about the sources of the remedy, a description of its preparation and detailed information about how it was proved.

Julian Winston in his The Heritage of Homeopathic Literature writes, "This is certainly one of the buried treasures. I am sure that many have picked it up and not understood, from a quick glance, the value of the work. It deserves to be better utilized."