Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica & Repertory
by William Boericke • 1849–1929
The most-used clinical desk reference in homeopathy — concise keynotes for 1,400+ remedies.
About William Boericke
William Boericke, MD (1849–1929) was an Austrian-born American homeopath, editor of the California Homoeopath and professor at the Hahnemann Medical College of the Pacific in San Francisco. With his brother Oscar he produced some of the most widely used practical homeopathic references of the 20th century.
Boericke's strength was distillation. Where Hering's Guiding Symptoms runs to ten volumes, Boericke condensed the essentials of each remedy into a few paragraphs a practitioner could scan during a consultation — without losing clinical sharpness.
About Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica & Repertory
Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica & Repertory is, in any honest survey, the single most-used materia medica in day-to-day homeopathic practice. First published in 1901 and expanded across nine editions up to 1927, it covers well over a thousand remedies in brief, reliable entries.
Each entry follows a fixed pattern: mind, head, eyes, ears, nose, face, mouth, throat, stomach, abdomen, stool, urine, respiratory, heart, extremities, skin, sleep, fever, modalities, relationships, dose. The format is what makes it fast. If you know where to look, you can find the keynote in seconds.
A compact repertory is bound at the back, which is why the book has stayed on desks for over a century — one volume covers both materia medica lookup and rubric-based differentiation.
Best for
- Fast clinical lookup during consultation
- Confirming a remedy's keynotes and modalities
- Comparing small or lesser-known remedies where longer works are silent
- Students needing a single reliable reference
Frequently asked questions
What is Boericke's Materia Medica?
Boericke's Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica & Repertory is a concise clinical reference to over 1,400 homeopathic remedies, first published in 1901 and refined through nine editions. It is widely considered the most-used homeopathic materia medica in daily practice.
Why is Boericke so popular?
It is short, fast, and reliable. Each remedy is covered in a fixed anatomical order, so clinicians can scan a page and find the key symptom in seconds. A repertory bound at the back makes it a one-volume working reference.
Is Boericke's Materia Medica suitable for beginners?
Yes — it is often the first materia medica a student buys. The format is straightforward and the remedy coverage is broad enough to handle most clinical situations.
How does Boericke compare with Kent?
Boericke is a rapid clinical fact sheet. Kent is a long psychological portrait. The two complement rather than compete — most homeopaths keep both.
Does Boericke cover small remedies?
Yes. One of the reasons the book has lasted is the breadth — it covers many small and lesser-known remedies that do not appear in longer works.
All remedies in this book
688 remedies — jump to a letter or scroll the list.