CENTRE FOR EXCELLENCE IN HOMEOPATHY

CONTINUING HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL EDUCATION

SERVICES

QUARTERLY HOMEOPATHIC DIGEST

VOL. XXVI, 3 & 4, 2009

Lead me from Untruth to Truth

Lead me from Darkness to Light

Lead me from Death to Immortality

Adyaya I Brahmana 3 Mantra 28

(This service is only for private circulation. Part I of the journal lists the Current literature in

Homeopathy drawn from the well-known homeopathic journals published world-over -

India, England, Germany, France, Belgium, Brazil, USA, etc., discipline-wise, with brief

abstracts/extracts. Readers may refer to the original articles for detailed study. The full

names and addresses of the journals covered by this compilation are given at the end.

Compilation, translation, publication by Dr.K.S.Srinivasan, 1253, 66th Street, Korattur, Chennai - 600 080,

India.)

CONTINUING HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL EDUCATION SERVICES

QUARTERLY HOMEOPATHIC DIGEST

VOL. XXVI, 3 & 4, 2009

Part I Current Literature Listing

___________________________________________________________________________

Part I of the journal lists the current literature in Homeopathy drawn from the well-known

homeopathic journals published world-over - India, England, Germany, France, Brazil, USA,

etc., - discipline-wise, with brief abstracts/extracts. Readers may refer to the original articles

for detailed study. The full names and addresses of the journals covered by this compilation

are given at the end of Part I. Part II contains selected essays/articles/extracts, while Part III

carries original articles for this journal, Book Reviews, etc.

___________________________________________________________________________

I. PHILOSOPHY

1. Magic & Miracles

PANDEY Alok (NAMAH. 14, 4/2007)

Man needs miracles. It is the occurrence of a

phenomenon which defies the normal process through

which nature seemingly operates. It really brings out

into the normal world another play of forces and field

one who does not know to handle them it appears

miraculous and supernatural. Man hardly recognizes

miracles of the unknown and unborn he passes by

without even noticing them. Miracles require certain

inner conditions as scientist requires certain outer

ones. Greater miracles happen silently; miracles may

take several directions.

If we look behind the magic and try to understand

and play of forces, then we discover that even this is

effective only to the extent that the body

consciousness secretly supports the will to cure and

the mind gives assent through the faith in the process.

In reality, the body is cured only when it has decided

to be cured and the means it uses is the one in which it

has faith. Most men relish emotions on display and to

that extent this catharsis itself partially helps. This is

not caused by any great or astounding power on the

part of the medium, but rather due to the very nature

of group psychology. If we resist or loose faith and so

instead of assisting the highest alchemy of grace, we

only shut the doors to it and thereby complicate and

prolong our own misery.

Just as children stop regarding commonplace

events as magical or miraculous when they grow up

and learn the process of things, so too we must grow

out of our infancy and play with energies and learn

about other forces in Godřs world of infinite wonders.

Then the scientist and occultist shall speak with one

voice. Then the miracle shall cease to be so or

perhaps the whole of life and its most seemingly

insignificant events will appear as a wonder and

miracle.

2. Der Chinarindenversuch Ŕ Schlüsselexperiment

für die Homöopathie?

(The China bark experiment Ŕ Key experiment

for Homeopathy?)

LOCHBRUNNER Birgit (ZKH. 52, 1/2008)

It is well-known that to HAHNEMANN the idea

Řdawnedř that substances which produce symptoms

in certain well person will cure similar symptoms in

an ill person, with his China bark experiment. There

was no doubt in his mind since he repeated the

experiment and every time experienced in himself the

symptoms certainly produced by the China bark

infusion. The above essay examines the relevance of

this experiment.

The experiments as carried out by

HAHNEMANN were repeated by some but they did

not experience the symptoms which HAHNEMANN

had with reference to Intermittent Fever, although

certain other symptoms did agree. How much

relevant therefore is HAHNEMANNřs China bark

experiment both within and without Homeopathy, is

the question raised. Perhaps further experiments

may be carried on. [It may be pointed out that

HAHNEMANN had suffered from Malarial fever

while he was in Siebenbürgen, and the symptoms

which were peculiar to him when he suffered from

Malaria came up when he took the Chinabark

infusion. Most probably a substance will arouse only

those symptoms which the Řproverř is susceptible to.

It would be revealing if someone who had suffered

from Malaria and had it Řcuredř by Quinine, takes up

similar experiment and see whether those symptoms

he had got cured, come up. In my humble opinion

such experiment may be more relevant to

Homeopathy = KSS]

3. The Harmful Cure observed by HERING and

KENT in contrast to HAHNEMANNřs Concept

of Gentle Restoration of Health

ADLER, U.C., CESAR, A.T., PADULA,

A.E., ADLER, M.S., GRAZZO, E.N.,

GALHARSDI, W.M.P., ALVES, A.,

SOUZA, I.C., Brazil (HL. 20, 1/2007)

The ŖLaws of Cureŗ for chronic diseases have

been HERINGřs most significant work for

generations of homeopaths. KENT endorsed

HERINGřs laws and their ultimate progression up to

skin lesions, and included Ŗsevere aggravations,

revival of past symptoms and eliminationsŗ among

the expected results during homeopathic treatment of

chronic diseases. Despite the claims of HERING

and KENT to be Hahnemannřs followers, the cure

standards established by them seem to be quite

harmful and contrary to Hahnemannřs gentle

restoration of health ideal.

The objective of this study is to find out whether

HERING and KENT based their arguments and

procedures on Hahnemannřs principles when

inferring and observing those harmful cure standards.

Heringřs propositions regarding the Laws of Cure

and Kentřs remarks about severe homeopathic

aggravations were analysed in the light of

HAHNEMANNřs writings.

The Řconclusionsř of this study:

1. HERINGřs Laws of Cure cannot be justified

upon Hahnemannřs premises, since according to

HAHNEMANN internal and external symptoms

should improve together, without a specific order of

direction. The only point of convergence between

Hahnemann and Heringřs laws is the observation that

the latest symptoms that have been added to a chronic

disease are always the first to yield in an antipsoric

treatment.

2. Misapplying Hahnemannřs recommendations,

KENT was careless with dosage; admitted as

pathway to cure severe and long homeopathic

aggravations, return of all past symptoms,

exteriorisation against doses and eliminations, which

were considered by HAHNEMANN as organismřs

defences against dose excess or incorrect

prescriptions.

3. HERING and KENT did not follow

Hahnemannřs principles and the harmful cure they

observed was probably a result of their own

procedures in Homeopathy, deviating from the

objective e of gentle restoration of health.

[This article appears to dub completely the so-

called ŘHeringřs Lawř; it is not a question whether it

is a Řlawř or a Řruleř, but the question is whether there

is a Řdirection of cureř which would indicate that the

remedy is acting as it should; and if the Řdirectionř of

HERING is wrong then what is the right Řdirectionř?

Further, is it accepted that the disease is from without

to within; if so is it not then right that the cure should

be from within without? We have had cases, a small

number of course, where the patients who knew

nothing of Homeopathic Principles, said of their

own, ŘI felt that my pain went from above

downwardsř, ŘI feel that many of my old, years old,

symptoms are returning and going awayř. Personally

I feel that if I was not having more cases of this type

it only meant that my Homeopathy is still to be

improved, that the Řlawř of or Řdirection of cureř is

there; we have also seen external eruptions in the

process of cure. We have also seen that persons do

develop eruptions after a surgery like ŘCataractř

surgery; what else is it except the Vital Forceřs

reaction? By the way what is our Řcureř rate with

regard to several chronic diseases where none of the

Řdirectionsř are observed and with what follow-up

study? The ŘHeringřs Lawř is the yardstick by which

we measure the extent to which the cure has come

about and what still remains. By what other

observations can one declare that one has been

cured? May be there are opinions that are not

acceptable in the light of our own experience; but to

say that HERING and KENT did more harm in the

process of cure, is too general a condemnation. It

would be helpful if the learned authors give cases

from their own practice Řlasting curesř without any

Řdirectionř of the cure process. = KSS]

4. The Sub-conscious and the Source Ŕ Systematic

Homeopathy: an Unexpected

Approximation to the Mystery of the Soul

SCHLINGENSIEPEN-BRYSCH Irene

(HL. 20, 1 - 3/2007)

The author has given a series of three articles on

Ŗdeeper understandingŗ of homeopathic remedies.

The first part starting from its beginnings, inspired by

Hahnemannřs critical mind and thorough

observations, up to the fascinating developments of

systematisation in the last three decades. The second

article introduces the levels of Systematic Case

Taking: ten levels of expressing our experience in

disease and healing, as shown in a shortened case of

Sealřs milk, Lac phoca. This process opens new

horizons not only for seeking the exact simillimum in

Homeopathy for every patient, but for a deeper

understanding of ourselves and the context in which

we live. The third article documents an illustrative

case: Ŗin the centre of a Supernova, - a black aperture

and a blinding lightŗ, and a Proving of human blood,

Sanguis humanum. It examines the significance of a

clear informational pattern in disease and health,

engraved within us, which is linked to the source of

our remedy.

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II. MATERIA MEDICA

1. The Bowel Nosodes in Homeopathic Practice

Dr. MALCOLM Russell (AJHM. 101, 1/2008)

Serious homeopathic practitioners have all had

to face the fact that sometimes their most carefully

chosen prescriptions mysteriously fail to improve

their patient. When this happens, it is all too easy for

practitioners to assume that they are simply failing to

identify the best remedy for the case. Often this is not

the case, however, and for the sake of patient and

practitioner alike, it is vital that homeopaths have a

detailed knowledge concerning acquired intrinsic

blocks to cure. One major intrinsic source of illness

(and prescribing failure) is bowel dysbiosis. Patients

who have acquired a deranged bacterial flora (either

in their bowel or their airways) will often fail to

respond fully to standard homeopathic prescribing.

This paper is largely concerned with the often

insidious and diffuse clinical presentation of bowel

dysbiosis. It is hoped that this account will raise

awareness of the problem and help practitioners

identify which patients require to be Řunblockedř with

a bowel Nosode at an early stage in their treatment

process.

2. Strophanthes Hispidus

PARSONS Phill (AJHM. 101, 1/2008)

Employing numerous references from the

homeopathic literature, the author details the Materia

Medica of Strophanthus hispidus. A few central

characteristics include: Heart failure, with Weak,

Irregular pulse; Edema, Dyspnoea, Palpitations, rapid

alternation of Contraction and Dilatation of pupils,

Loquacity, Nausea and Vomiting; Headache with

surgings to the head; Hypertension (often with flushed

face). The author includes a description of the benefit

he personally received from Strophanthus in the

wake of his myocardial infarction; interestingly, the

remedy, in addition, to alleviating his heart condition,

greatly improved his type 2 Diabetes mellitus and

essentially alleviated his long-standing Myopia.

3. Bohemian Villages and Cowřs Paws: My Search

for Bomhenia

MUELLER Manfred (AJHM. 101, 1/2008)

The author details his literature search for

information about Bomhenia, a Cancer remedy

referred to by A.H. GRIMMER. Unable to find any

information about the remedy under that name, a

creative rephrasing of the name finally led him to

discover Bauhinia forficate, Brazilian Orchid tree,

which must have been the remedy GRIMMER was

referring to. Information about the medical utility of

botanical Bauhinia forticate in Cancers, Diabetes, and

other ailments follows, with a final appraisal that this

remedy would be well worth proving.

4. Erfahrungen mit der homöopathischen Arznei

Staphysagria Ŕ Teil 3

(Experiences with the homeopathixc remedy

Staphisagria – Part 3)

THOMAS Christoph (ZKH. 52, 1/2008)

The author has been particularly researching the

homeopathic Medicine Staphisagria since 7 Ŕ 8

years; he has published several articles in the ZKH

itself. He is of course continuing the work. This

article is a recapitulation of the experience so far. It

has been observed by the author that the remedy

diagnosis of Staphisagria as taught by his teacher, the

late Dr. Jost KÜNZLI von Fimmelsberg, does not

work in several cases and he therefore felt that

KÜNZLIřs method may be complemented with a

specific diagnostic methodology. The author says,

Ŗsurprisingly, Staphisagria has proven to be the

suitable remedy for the majority of the many

unsolved cases of authorřs practice. Consequently,

the majority of chronic cases of the author can be

treated successfully with very few remedies. The

question arises as to what extent the clinical

confirmations of Constantin HERINGřs The Guiding

Symptoms of our Materia Medica correspond to

genuine healings.ŗ [What does Christoph THOMAS

mean by Řgenuine healingsř? Does he mean the cure

according to the Law of Cure? And over these more

than 100 years of the publication of the Guiding

Symptoms, have we not had several cases analysed

with the help of the GS and ŘKnerr Repertory to the

GSř? Are they not Řgenuine healingsř? = KSS]

The author also gives the physical signs for

choice of Staphisagria; also the complications when

the right remedy Ŕ Staphisagria Ŕ is not given.

5. Kalium silicicum

SPRINGER Wolfgang und WITWER Heinz

(AHZ. 253, 4/2008)

[This remedy does not seem to have been

Ŗprovedŗ. Only William BOERICKEřs Materia

Medica, among the early authors, has it. Evidently

the Materia Medica on this remedy is a synthetic one

plus clinical observations. = KSS]

The remedy picture is given in the Řschemař form,

illustrated by the case of a woman with Chronic

Fatigue Syndrome. It shows the aspects of both

elements: the strong reference of family of the

Kalium salts and the precision, care and high

achievement-orientation of Silicea. [It is thus evident

that it is a synthesised drug picture = KSS ].

6. Homöopathische Differenzierung der

Wirtsbäume der Mistel

(Homeopathic differentiation of Viscum album

the Mistletoe)

WILKENS Johannes (AHZ. 253, 4/2008)

Viscum album, Mistletoe, is a remedy which

shows a broad spectrum of effects. The remedy

picture of the Mistletoe is not necessarily dependent

on its host tree. The same applies to Viscum album

in Cancer therapy. Experiences in the recent past

show that depending on the host tree, there are

particular drug pictures being of special importance

for Cancer therapy and prophylaxis. For

Homeopathy a new field is open: the Mistletoe tree

medicine: visco-dendrology.

Dr. WILKENS gives the indications in respect

of Viscum album from 12 different trees. Probably

these indications are on the basis of the practical

experience and not on extensive Provings and

Symptoms so obtained.

7. The Allium Twins

COOK Trevor (HH. 30, 11/2008)

This is a brief but very interesting study on Allium

cepa and Allium sativum. The Key Notes and

comparisons are discussed. At the end of this small

essay Dr. COOK says ŖOur deeper understanding of

the awesome natural features of Allium cepa and

Allium sativum and the role of their Sulphur contents

suggest that further study of their constitutional

features may also be helpful.ŗ

8. Natrum sulphuricum

SHAIKH Tarannum (HH. 30, 12/2008)

Dr. SHAIKH says that the Bio-chemic remedy

Natrum sulphuricum is of great value in his personal

experience. [Unfortunately he has not given any case

which would help us to appreciate his article. = KSS]

9. Phenomenological Study of Thyroidinum

BASU Biswajit (HH. 30, 12/2008)

Thyroidinum is deep-acting anti-miasmatic

remedy. The author has endeavoured to present the

phenomenological study of this remedy, from Řcauseř

and Řeffectř point of view.

10. Retrograde Study of Nitric acid

POTDAR Swapna (CCR. 15, 2/2008)

In this interesting article the author studies Nitric

acid from repertory rubrics, reverse study i.e. instead

of studying the repertory through the Materia Medica,

you study the Materia Medica through the Repertory.

Single remedy Ŕ in this case Nitric acid Ŕ rubrics are

taken up for study. It is interesting, no doubt. [Why

the title Řretrogradeř? ŘRetrogressionř means

Řdegenerationř; it is a backward, a retreat and is not a

Řpositiveř word. Source Websterřs Unabridged

Dictionary. = KSS]. The Materia Medica (Chr.Dis.)

of Nitric acid says ŖAnxiety as if he is engaged in a

disquieting lawsuit or contestŗ. This has been shown

in the Repertory under ŘDelusionř instead of under

ŘAnxietyř, also the Proving says Ŗas if he is engagedŗ,

which has been wrongly given in the Repertory as

Ŗengrossedŗ

11. A Case of Warts

PATIL Snehal (CCR. 15, 2/2008)

35 year-old male, a Marketing Officer, had

several warts on the external throat, and hands. These

had been cauterized earlier, but later came up again.

Antimonium crudum and Thuja made the warts go

away within a short period of two months. [Why has

the doctor given t.d.s. for 7 days? There is no

emergency or Řlife savingř situation to warrant such

repetition. It is seen that the author is young and just

entered into the profession. He/she must resist the

doubt that one (or sometimes two) dose will not work

or giving several doses would render faster cure;

HAHNEMANN has called this, playing lotto i.e.

lottery where you bet on all the numbers in the hope

that you will win from some one of the numbers.

When we are sure of the selection of the remedy, then

we must have the confidence to apply it according to

the law laid down by the Master and not what is

taught by several modern impostors. This is

important right from the first day of embarking on

actual practice. No intention to criticize the doctor but

just speaking on over 5 decades of experience. =

KSS]

12. Recurrent Abortion and Hyperemesis

Gravidarum

LOBO Anita (CCR. 15, 2/2008)

23 year-old female married three years;

complained of not conceiving although her menses

were regular. History of two abortions at third month

and one at fourth month. On the basis of the totality

of her individual symptoms, was given Natrum

muriaticum 200 and she conceived. For her

complaints of Hyperaemesis gravidarum Nux vomica

200. Pregnancy proceded well. [The doctor should

have waited for the birth of the child and report the

case and not hurry = KSS]

13. A Case of Ankylosing Spondilitis

MISTRY D.E. (CCR. 15, 2/2008)

A doctor beyond middle age, with diagnosis of

Ankylosing Spondylosis. The rheumatologist opined

that the disease had gone far and he must have

immunosuppressive treatment which involved much

expense and adverse side effects. After thorough

case analysis, he was given Rhus toxicodendron M.

The patient went on improving; he was given SOS

one powder of Rhus toxicodendron M. After eight

months the remedy was repeated once, and again after

another six months. This was followed with

Medorrhinum 30 one dose and three months later for

certain symptoms was given Pulsatilla M. He

reported well both mentally and physically.

14. Identifying with Society Ŕ A case of Kali

bichromicum

MANGIALAVORI Massimo

(HL. 20, 1/2007)

The identification with Society is the main theme

of the Kali family. For each Kali this theme comes

forward in a specific area of life and in a specific

way. In a series of thirteen articles, planned for

publication in thirteen issues of Homeopathic

Links, thirteen members of the Kali family will be

discussed.

Case: 37 year-old Cosmetics Salesman: looked

strikingly elegant; holds one of the main managerial

jobs in this well-known Italian Cosmetics company.

Inwardly he is simple and empty but outwardly he

spends lot of his energy in keeping up appearing in a

certain way. He suffered from chronic colds, almost

for twenty years. Sneezing or blowing the nose,

constantly every couple of minutes, watery flow.

ENT diagnosed Sinusitis; also sore throat, tonsils are

big; much catarrh. Throat hurts, the pain sometimes

goes to the stomach. Sometimes burning in abdomen.

Morning on rising donřt fell refreshed. A very

anxious person and always in a hurry. The symptoms

clearly pointed to Kali bichromicum as it came out;

one may read it in full in the journal. [To me it

caused much more confusion; I am comfortable

without the Řthemesř; more sure with facts than with

surmises; I feel that the řthemeř is a construct of the

author = KSS]

15. Dama dama Ŕ fallow deer - Case and Proving of

a New Remedy

SHERR Jeremy and BARKER Anne

(HL. 20, 1/2007)

This case of Multiple Sclerosis demonstrates

some of the strong themes of Dama dama which

revolve around caring, nurture, family and the home,

as well as conflict between home and career. The full

Proving of Dama dama including many more mental

and physical themes will be published in the future at

www.provings.com

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III. THERAPEUTICS

1. Terrible Tics and a Terrific Temper?

DOOLEY Timothy R. (HT. 29, 1/2009)

9 year-old Georgia with neurological tics, warm

blooded and slept only with a sheet even in winter.

Disliked all vegetables. Loved candy, cheese. Afraid

of dogs. Sulphur 200. Six weeks later, no change.

The jerky movement of the shoulder all time during

waking hours whether playing, eating, studying or

relaxing,

Now, a violent arching of the back (bending

backwards). She behaved haughtily with her mother,

speaking down to her as if her mother were an

underling someone deserving of her contempt. Cicuta

virusa 30. One month later, no arching back, better.

Cicuta virusa 200. Two months later, amazing

change. Happier, calmer and less angry. No tics.

Even her coughing and eye rolling (neither were

reported) of a 2 years duration were also gone.

2. Forgiving and Moving Forward

Homeopathy can free us from past emotional

hurts

SILVESTRI, Kenneth (HT. 29, 1/2009)

Sally, 48, having fatigue with trembling sensation

and the constant need to lie down. Recurrent hard

styes since 10 years. Problems started after her

husband left her after years of verbal abuse. She felt

humiliated. Couldnřt stop brooding about her

marriage. She is maintaining the anger towards her

ex-husband.

Staphysagria LM1 once every other day. After a

month, striking difference in her attitude. Her anger

was dissipating, had new energy. The accompanying

physical symptoms such as fatigue and muscle tension

continued to abate as Sally made emotional progress.

Dosage once a week.

LM 2 once a week for several months. Then

slight return of original complaints. Remedy was

stopped. She is doing well for more than 2 years.

This case demonstrates how deeply a

homeopathic remedy works. It was only with

Staphysagria that the benefit of counseling could

reach. [An Řindividualř remedy performs miracles

indeed! = KSS].

3. Concerned about risky cough medicines for kids?

How to calm a cough Ŕ safely

A clear, easy-to-follow method for everyone!

GOODMAN-HERRICK, Pearlyn

(HT. 29, 1/2009)

18 year-old Doreen with distressing cough.

Sudden attacks which compel her to sit. Cough

seemed to begin with an itching. Sepia 1M. Within

the first hour significantly better and till 24 hours.

Another dose and fully recovered. Few months later

she consulted for PMS. Irritable and cranky for 5

days before her periods and much better when she

exercised vigorously. Another dose of Sepia cleared

her PMS.

10 year-old Nelson with troubles of focusing and

many fears of being alone; of dark. Phosphorus 1M

improved him greatly. Six months later, cough and

return of his fears and focusing problem. Another

dose. Mental state improved, cough subsided for few

days and then increased and ending in whoop.

Pertussis. Cough coming from abdomen. Must sit up,

better when her Ŗburps of fartsŗ. Lips turning blue

during cough. Sanguinaria 1M. Better 18 hrs and

relapsed. Another dose. Three doses in two days

cured him.

9 year-old James, screamed from a nightmare

with eyes wide open in sleep and cough started

shortly after his waking. Since then intense fear of

dark. Nightmares continued. Started after frightened

from watching a movie. Stramonium 200. Slept well

and cough better. No nightmares or fears.

4. Homeopathic Cough Medicines

GUESS George (HT. 29, 1/2009)

Indications of Bryonia, Nux vomica, Hepar sulph,

Phosphorus, Causticum, Rumex, Kali carbonicum,

Pulsatilla and Sulphur are given.

5. Outreach in Ghana: The Senya/Tamale

Homeopathy Project

STACK Adjoa Margaret (HT. 29, 1/2009)

This project is in Ghana since 2006, fueled by the

enthusiasm and generosity of many Ghanaians.

A non-healing gun shot wounds of 20 years,

closed with a series of doses of Hypericum which

relieved shooting nerve pains. Then Arnica 50M

addressed the lingering tissue damage, and he was

walking without the limp.

35 year-old Abana with severe malarial attack

with vomiting, Stomach pain better by bending with

hands on abdomen and Diarrhea. Pains made her

weep. No thirst with heat and better in open air.

Pulsatilla 1M. Within 10 minutes stood up, stretched

and wanted to go home. No more attacks.

8 year-old Mookaramah with recurrent Malaria.

Heat worse before noon and Headache. Weakness.

Natrum muriaticum 1M. Next day high fever which

broke with a profuse sweat and then slept soundly.

Since then only one mild bout of Malaria.

6. Longing for a baby …..

What price Fertility

ASPINWALL, Mary (HT. 29, 2/2009)

The author discusses about the conventional

treatment of infertility and its associated

consequences and describes a case treated

successfully with Homeopathy.

Ann and Daniel underwent treatment for

unexplained infertility for over 3 years. Her periods

were quite short and irregular. She felt tired. Bloated

easily after dairy. Since childhood, eruptions on her

elbows that extended to hands, itchy blisters. Since

childhood she had to rock herself to sleep. Often

dreamt of death of relatives. Hatred of injustice.

Causticum 30. Two weeks later, feeling better

overall. No bloating, itching disappeared. Developed

an excruciating pain in abdomen due to a large

ovarian cyst as a result of IVF attempts, over the next

few months, stopped IVF attempts, adopted lifestyle

changes and another dose of Causticum 30.cyst

shrunk to 3 cm. Causticum 200 as rocking had

recently returned. Few months later Ann was

pregnant and gave birth to a healthy boy.

7. The Perfect-Mother: She home-schools, cooks

organic and runs a tight ship

ROTHERBERG Amy (HT. 29, 2/2009)

Kitty, mother of 4 and 8 year-old daughters was

committed to do everything in her power to feed, care

for and educate her children. These lofty ideals left

her exhausted. Obsessive compulsive towards

cleaning routine and checking things. Since

adolescence severe cystic acne. Shy and insecure

temperament, tendency of constipation. Silica 200.

Six weeks later clear skin of face. Feeling more

energized and motivated. Comfortable in social

settings. Over the next 4 years Silica 1M, when she

feels bit low and the obsession vanished.

8. Trailer Trashed

Stomped by an unruly horse, saved by

Homeopathy

COHEN Karen (HT. 29, 2/2009)

In 2001, after a trail ride, one of the horses when

being released cow-kicked the author with his hind

leg. Six concussive strikes on head and she felt

disoriented, bleeding from head and index finger.

Drenched with sweat, saw green and yellow dots/stars

and could not speak. Took Arnica 1M. Instantly

sweat dried, stars vanished, head cleared. Later at

hospital surgery done on head and 60 stitches on

scalp. Left leg was unstable. MRI revealed a thigh

bone completely filled with blood and a probable torn

knee ligament, yet no outward signs. As it was

improving Ortho surgeon recommend 3 months of

bracing. Numbness of left arm. X-ray revealed stable

# of cervical vertebra. Hypericum 200 relieved it.

One dose of high potency Arnica prevented

shock, bruising, swelling and other possible

ramifications of this serious accident.

9. Women choose Homeopathy over painful,

invasive treatments for interstitial cystitis

SALTZMAN, Susanne (HT. 29, 2/2009)

1. Cindy, 31 with interstitial cystitis for about a

year. Pain after urination. Frequency

increased after sexual intercourse. Low

energy, stress in her relationship with

boyfriend Ŕ anger turning to rage.

Promiscuous, sexual obsession.

Clautrophobia. Tingling in her lips. Platina.

A month later sheřd broken up with her

boyfriend. More energetic. No change in

urinary problems. Medorrhinum 200. Next

week the problems worsened and then

gradually improved and gone within a

month. Two years later Medorrhinum M.

She was in a steady relationship.

2. Maria: 34 year-old Maria with interstial

cystitis since 8 months. Chronic bladder

irritation, feeling of never completely

emptying when she urinated. History of

recurrent bladder infections in childhood.

Her bladder symptoms made sex painful and

this lowered her libido. Strong fear of being

raped. Stramonium 30. Symptoms worse for

few days after and complete exhaustion for a

week and very violent dreams. After that she

improved steadily. 8 months later, a dose of

200, due to mild relapse. A year later

another dose due to relapse during her

second pregnancy.

3. Stacy, 43 with interstitial cystitis along with

vulvo dynia. Since delivery 3 years ago.

Torn between her promiscuity and religious

upbringing. Fears of death and Cancer.

Many remedies gave her relief. In 10

th

visit

she complained of a spasm and a feeling of

need for protection. Felt jealous when her

husband showed any attention towards other

women. Pulsatilla 12c daily for few weeks.

3 months later, better on every level. No

cystitis and vulvodynia. Having sex more

often and no pain.

10. Acute urinary tract infections yield to fast-acting

Homeopathy

ULLMAN Judyth Reichenberg, ULLMAN

Robert (HT. 29, 2/2009)

The indications for Sarsaparilla, Staphysagria

and Cantharis are given.

11. Dry nights, Good Mornings!

How we beat the bedwetting blues

LINDGREN Debbie (HT. 29, 2/2009)

Jack 8 year-old with bedwetting and recent

growth spurt was helped to some extent by Argentum

nitricum. Then he revealed that he bedwets during

dreams of urination. Also he had headaches from 5

p.m. till bedtime.

Equisetum hyemale 30 one daily for 3 days. Four

weeks later, no change. One dose of 200. Bedwetting

only twice a month. One dose every month for 6

months. No bedwetting.

Indications for Belladonna, Causticum,

Equisetum, Kreosote, Lycopodium, Pulsatilla and

Sepia are given.

12. HAHNEMANN and Homeopathy: Pioneering

Work in Psychiatry

MERIZALDE Bernardo, A.

(AJHM. 101, 1/2008)

The article begins with a literature review of

clinical studies and case reports documenting the

efficacy of Homeopathy in the treatment of various

psychiatric disorders. The homeopathic method of

treatment is described. There is a remarkable

convergence of the proving symptoms of many

homeopathic remedies and the symptomatic

characteristics of many modern psychiatric clinical

syndromes (examples are provided).

13. Homeopathic practice in Intensive Care Units:

Objective semiology, symptom selection and a

series of sepsis cases

TEIXEIRA, MZ., LEAL, SM., CESCHIN,

VMFA

(HOM. 97, 4/2008)

Homeopathy has been used for more than two

hundred years to treat chronic disease using various

approaches in a wide range of diseases. However, for

acute disease and critical illness, application has been

limited by inadequate training of homeopathic

physicians and the small number of pertinent clinical

studies. In view of the difficulty of practicing

Homeopathy in Intensive Care Units (ICU), a

protocol was developed to facilitate description of

objective homeopathic symptoms with a ranking of

symptoms appropriate for these situations (Protocol

for Objective Homeopathic Semiology). Examples of

favorable results with individualized homeopathic

treatments for a series of cases of Systemic

Inflammatory Response Syndrome (sepsis) are

described.

14. Fokale Anfälle und sekundär-generalisierte

Anfälle bei Hemiparese und Zerebre-fixiertem

Parenchymdefekt (Focal attacks and secondary-

generalized attacks in Hemi-paresis and cerebral-

fixed parenchymal defect)

RICHTER Olaf and HADULLA M.M.

(ZKH. 52, 1/2008)

Focal attacks and secondary generalized seizures

occur in an 8 year-old girl with Hemiparesis on the

right side and a parenchymal defect on the left side.

After a very difficult course of therapy finally the

drug combination of Phosphorus with intermediate

doses of Tuberculinum proves curative of the attacks.

Finally, general considerations are made on

homeopathic treatment of Epilepsy. The authors

opine that in the interest of the patient in difficult

cases to let our patient take anti-convulsive therapy

with the homeopathic medicine accompanying it.

15. Cocculus und die Spurensuche in der

Homöopathie

(Cocculus and the following of the source in

Homeopathy)

SCHEIMAN-BURKHARDT Klaus

(ZKH. 52, 1/2008)

Two cases of Cocculus which were published in

the ZKH. 3/2007 are examined as to how far lesser

known characteristics can be decisive for the

selection of a remedy. In this context, an intensive

and comprehensive study of remedies is pointed out

in relation to the ability of hitting the mark in

prescriptions. The importance of precedent cases is

emphasized and a critical sideview is directed at the

definition of symptom grades in HERINGřs Guiding

Symptoms.

16. Was ist das denn, die ŖSehgal-Methodeŗ?

(What is the ŖSehgal-Methodŗ?)

LANG Gerhardus (ZKH. 52, 2/2008)

Following theory and some cases the Sehgalřs

Method of Case taking is shown as well as

prescribing the simile by using the predominant,

present and persistent mental state.

17. Dr. S.R. Phatakřs Methodik Ŕ Ein Einblick

(Dr.S R Phatakřs Method Ŕ A glance)

THAKAR Munjal

(ZKH. 52, 2/2008)

While the ŖMateria Medica of Homeopathic

Medicineŗ by the Indian homeopath S.R. PHATAK

has a large circulation, and the ŖConcise Repertoryŗ

has recently been issued in German translation, there

is only scarce knowledge about PHATAKřs practice,

as he did not leave behind a written method. To close

the gap, the author studied the writings and the

structure of the works by PHATAK and thus

developed a methodical system, which is compared to

the method of BOGER.

18. Ausgewählte Fälle aus 50 Jahren

homöopathischer Praxis in Südindien

(Selected cases out of 50 yearsř homeopathic

Practice in South India)

SRINIVASAN, K.S. (ZKH. 52, 2/2008)

The author presented 11 cases covering his over

50 yearsř homeopathic Practice in accordance with

classical methodology. There was no thorough

repertorisation, yet singular and peculiar rubrics lead

to the selection of the remedy.

19. Die homöopathische Behandlung von Psoriasis

als Chance für eine neue Lebens-Qualität

(Homeopathic treatment of Psoriasis for a new

life of quality)

WILLIG Gabriele (AHZ. 253, 3/2008)

Homeopathic treatment of Type I Psoriasis

mostly takes a long time and needs a lot of patience

of the patient and prescriber. The holistic approach in

the treatment of systemic skin disease is shown by the

treatment with the constitutional remedy Lycopodium

over a period of five years. Acute prescriptions

according to the symptoms as they came were given

and the complaints completely relieved.

Photographs of the progress of treatment is given.

20. Neurodermitis in Kindersalter: Zwei Kasuistiken

(Neurodermatitis in Children)

HADULLA Michael M., & PFEIL Timo A.

(AHZ. 253, 3/2008)

Neurodermatitis particularly in children comes

within the domain of Homeopathy. Two cases are

given.

The first is of a child 6 month-old with

Neurodermatitis in Face, Trunk, Legs; the child was

scratching badly. The delivery was prolonged and

the birth opening was insufficient a section was done.

The extremities were having cold sweat, the child

scratched the face more than other parts; otherwise

she was cheerful. Sour smell of the sweat on head

Calcarea carbonica; subsequently according to

symptoms, Tuberculinum D 200; and then Sulphur

LM 3.

Three month-old male baby with

Neurodermatitis of integument; the child appeared as

if burnt. The total skin appeared red, the child

scratched continuously. Sleepless. The child is

curious, always moving about, good stature, the

hands and feet very cold. The child has been well

nourished. Paediatricians were of no help.

Arsenicum album LM 3 and then LM 6. There was

good improvement. As the eruptions were `crusty,

and began on the head, the extremities cold, Silica

LM 6, one dose. The child became normal. After

about two years the child was again before me for

whistling respiration. The Pulmonologist had

diagnosed it spastic-obstructive bronchitis. The

mother did not give ay Cortisone or Bronchodilator

but came here. The child drank much, happy when

naked and walked barefoot and became explosive

easily. One dose of Sulphur LM 6 and 12 days later

the mother rang up to say that Ŗall wellŗ. Was the

prescription of Arsenicum album and Silica to set

right the external manifestations wrong because the

disease went in and developed into a Bronchitis and

wrong direction was set right by Sulphur which was

the suitable remedy.

21. Homöopathie in der Allgemeinarztpraxizs Ŕ Eine

Neurodermatitisbehandlung with Höhen und

Tiefen (Homeopathy in General Practice Ŕ A

Neurodermatitis treated with high and low)

TROST Thomas (AHZ. 253, 3/2008)

This article also discusses treatment of a child

with Neurodermatitis. The author says that

notwithstanding the criticisms of the main school (the

Hegemony Medicine), we, homeopaths must have

the courage to treat such cases as Neurodermatitis

which are considered incurable. [In so far as India is

considered, perhaps it is the only country which has

separate colleges exclusively for Homeopathy Ŕ and

Ayurveda, Unani and Sidda and therefore the

allopathic medical limits of curability and incurability

of certain diseases do not bother Practitioners of these

- so-called Ŕ Řalternative medicinesř. To the Řwestern

medicineř cure of these are Ŗimpossibleŗ while there

stand the cures for all to see! We, homeopaths do

not need new drugs and new equipments and we do

not loudly trumpet cure of these cases, since these

are not Řexceptionsř in the course of our Practice =

KSS]

2-year-3-month-old boy with generalised Atopic

Eczema (Neurodermatitis); typical Eczema in the

bends, much moist, confluent, also on the hair on

head, soles, hands, and in the genital region; itching

all over. Taking into consideration the past history,

the vaccinations and reaction to them, etc., he was

given Sulphur 30, later for Chicken Pox he was given

Rhus toxicodendron 30 and the change was from

Ectoderm to Endoderm and it was a clear suppressive

action. In January 2003 he had for the first time

ŖAsthmatic bronchitisŗ and also in consequence he

had Eczema in both arms, and was given Placebo. He

was given later Pulsatilla, Calcium carbonicum,

Carcinosinum. Lastly he was given Calcium

phosphoricum. Remained well.

[

22. Homöopathische Krebsnachsorge am Beispiel

eines Schilddrüsenkarzinoms

(Homeopathic Cancer-after-care in the light of a

Thyroid Carcinoma)

BÜNDNER Martin (AHZ. 253, 4/2008)

Therapeutic possibilities of homeopathic-after-

care and its practical procedure are presented in the

light of an example; the possible problems are

discussed.

The article deals with homeopathic after-care of

a Medullary Carcinoma of the Thyroid gland with

metastases of the Lymph nodes which had been

eliminated by operation (representative of the

orthodox therapy).

The aim of therapy is to return the sick person to

his inner balance and restore his health. [The author

has used the well-known polychrests and in Q

potencies Ŕ all certainly classical. The results are

quite good. A very interesting article. KSS].

23. Entstehung von Krebs bei homöopathisch

behandelten Patienten (Cancer developing in

patients treated homeopathically)

KÖDEL Robert (AHZ. 253, 4/2008)

This is a very interesting article. It presents three

cases of Cancer; the patients were on homeopathic

treatment for certain complaints Ŕ two of them on

long self-treatment Ŕ over a long period, and

ultimately they suffered Cancer.

Case 1: 49-year-old female came with metastasised

left Mamma Carcinoma. She is a homeopathic

doctor. 20 years ago had been treated with Carbo

animalis by a homeopath for Bechterewřs disease

and some psychic problems like anxiety. She left this

treatment because it was not helpful and treated

herself. In the course of the self-treatment she had

used the whole spectrum of remedies in the Materia

Medica; she reacted very sharply to every

homeopathic remedy given her and began to prove

even with a single dose; she would then take another

medicine, and so on. She had documented the entire

treatment and produced a 100 page file. In spite of

very careful prescribing, - it was difficult to separate

the symptoms because of several medicines she had

taken, - Q potency, etc. the disease progressed, she

became bed-ridden, and even Chemotherapy failed.

The patient did not contact after this stage.

Case 2: This is also similar. This 39-year-old lady

had access to homeopathic and Schüsslerřs salts and

for every trifle she took low potency of one or other

medicine on her own. Her ovarian Carcinoma

proceeded and she ultimately passed,

Case 3: This patient, 63-year-old-female, was under

my treatment for several years. I could help her in

several complaints. But ultimately she developed a

Mamma Carcinoma.

The author raises following relevant questions:

1. Could a homeopathic remedy suppress so that a

Tumour would develop?

2. Do the patients become untreatable because they

have low potencies continuously for long?

3. Could a Tumor develop as a result of continuous

taking of homeopathic mixed preparations?

4. How soon must one look for a new homeopathic

medicine if one were to avoid the Ŗside effectsŗ of a

prescribed homeopathic remedy?

5. Can we prevent Tumor development in a person

who has been thoroughly treated by Classical

Homeopathy?

6. Or with questions now raised, only a causative

need has been fulfilled?

24. An Overview of Cough Therapeutics

SATHIYA, KK. (HH. 33, 9&10/2008)

In this article we can get a diagnostic as well as

therapeutic idea of Cough. The article is fully

tabulated, indicating the type of cough, the

characteristic cough of each remedy, its modalities,

etc. Since Řcoughř is so frequent a complaint, it

would be very useful for the busy to be well

acquainted with the individual remedy and it is

suggested that one makes a ready reckoner of this

table.

25. Homeopathic approach to Irritable Bowel

Syndrome

MASTER Farokh HJ. (HH. 30, 10/2008)

This subject has been the main one in several

Seminars over the past several years and still we seem

to be fumbling!

The author gives interesting hints oif remedies

like Viburnum opulus, Gratiola, Elaterium. Raphanus

among other well-known Polychrests.

26. Glimpse on Allenřs Key-notes

BASU Biswajeet (HH. 3, 10/2008)

This is an interesting article. In the early part of

the 20

th

Century there were stalwarts who knew the

Allen Key Notes upside down, left to right, and their

prescriptions were sharp, they could make very quick

comparisons; some of them, like late Dr.

KOPPIKAR, had inter-leaved their copies and filled

them with their own valuable additions. Of course

there are errors, even in the GS. The learned author

has pointed out eight such errors after carefully

verifying with such books as CLARKEřs and

HAHNEMANNřs; these are practically valuable.

Homeopaths may make the corrections in their

copies of Allen.

27. Diet and Homeopathic Management of IBS

SHARMA Varsha V. (HH. 30, 10/2008)

In this article again we have details of the

pathology of IBS, dietary hints and related Materia

Medica. No personal experience or cured case.

28. Septicaemia in Newborns and Homeopathic

Approach

MASTER Faokh J. (HH. 30, 11/2008)

With his vast experience with newborns Dr.

MASTER discusses the diagnosis and homeopathic

treatment of Septicaemia in new-borns. The subtle

symptoms that should lead one to suspect

Septicaemia are mentioned. He gives some cases

from his personal experience. He mentions some

lesser-known remedies, like Lobelia purpurascens,

Oxyuranus scutallatus and their indications. It is

difficult to come to diagnose these remedies; which

repertory or Materia Medica is to be consulted? In

any case, the article is quite interesting, and enthuses

one to keep updated with Materia Medica of rare

remedies.

29. Homeopathy, Children and Family dynamics

PACHOVA Dora (HH. 30, 11/2008)

[

What is Řfamily dynamicsř, and how is it relevant

in homeopathic therapeutics, are explained. Three

cases from the authorřs own experience are detailed.

[We agree with the author; it is in our experience too

that we should take in mind the influences of the

other members of the family do affect the patient to

the extent that it maintains the disease or it promotes

it, sometimes helps in cure. That is the reason for our

Master HAHNEMANN insisting that we listen to not

the patient alone, but to those who are close to him;

thus the family dynamics is perceived. = KSS]

30. Vaccine Reaction

SINGH Ajit (HH. 30, 11/2008)

This is a brief essay on Vaccine injury and its

homeopathic treatment.

31. Pædiatric Prescribing

BANERJEA Subrata K. (HH. 30, 11/2008)

Dr. BANERJEA has given hexagonal summaries

of Pædiatric case taking and analysis; He has

explained these through charts. These may be quite

useful in day-to-day Practice.

32. A Prospective Study of Allergic Rhinits in

Children and its Homeopathic management

MULLA Nahida M. (HH. 30, 11/2008)

This is a Řclinical studyř of a common complaint

we all meet with in our daily Practice; at the same

time it is a nagging complaint. Experiences of

individual authors are most welcome. The statistical

data given by the author shows very encouraging

results.

33. Homeopathy and the Child

CHAUKKAR Samir (HH. 30, 11/2008)

The author says that Homeopathy is regularly

used to treat children throughout in many parts of the

developed world. Discusses briefly remedies

connected to childhood disorders and the commonly

used remedies for children. The author should have

given some cases from his experience.

34. On Constitution, Inheritance and Relationship of

Remedies

KULKARNI, Ajit (HH. 30, 11/2008)

In Homeopathy it is possible to apply different

methods of diagnosis of the remedy. For sharp

prescribing required data must be available. If there

is paucity, particularly in Pædiatrics we may use the

relationship of remedies through the inherited

characters and by studying the remedies as living

human beings with their stages and transitions, a

practical tool can be developed to help our otherwise

difficult and unresolved cases.

35. Scope of Homeopathy in ŘAutismř

BASU Biswajit (HH. 30, 11/2008)

The article briefly describes what ŘAutismř is, the

methodology for diagnosis, management and

therapeutic approach and then speaks of

Homeopathy. The author says that he had 14 Autism

cases (8 Ŕ males and 6 Ŕ females) and among them 10

have been improving, and the medicines were

Carcinosin (2 cases), Merc-s. (2 cases), Clc-c. (1

case), Tub. (1 case), Thyroidinum (1 case), Sulph. (1

case), Med. (1 case), and Nat-m. (1 case). [It is my

personal experience that we can do very well in

Autism and restore the children over a period of time;

patience is required on both sides Ŕ patient and family

as well as on the part of the homeopath. = KSS]

36. Homeopathic Management of Thyroiditis

MASTER Farokh J. (HH. 30, 12/20089)

Dr. MASTER discusses in brief the different

Řtypesř of Thyroiditis. He then presents briefly three

cases:

Case 1: 35 year-old female with Hyperthyroidism.

On the basis of her symptoms Calcrea iodata 30

thrice a day for 15 days was given. In these 15 days,

her TSH came down from 15 to 12. Calc-i. 30 was

continued twice a day for one month and the TSH

level came to normal, but the Thyroid swelling

persisted. The potency of the same remedy was

increased up to 1M repeating it thrice a week for one

month but the swelling did no reduce. But she got

running nose which was a chronic complaint in the

past, and which was better in the open air, sinusitis;

the cold was so bad that it became wheezing. She

also complained that she was getting weaker and this

weakness also became better in open air. Hedera

helix 6 twice a day for 45 days and slowly all her

symptoms improved; in 5 months she was cured. Mr.

MASTER says that he finds Hedera helix of great use

in persons with a strong tubercular Miasm; also

cough worse in the morning and when on entering a

warm room; also in cases of obstinate Thyroid

disease which refuses to respond to constitutional

medicine it is the best medicine.

Case 2: 26 year-old Muslim girl with a large swelling

of the neck, a large Goitre; firm and hard; she had

confirmed antibodies to Thyroid; diagnosed as

Hashimotořs Thyroiditis. Has hatred for her father

who was a dictator; she was mild, timid, weeps

easily; as a child she had recurrent Epistaxis;

perspires on the occiput; irregular and painful

Menses; allergic Asthma in childhood; dreams of

falling; eats chalk. Ferrum metallicum 30 thrice a

day (for several days?) and after two and half months

the Thyroid levels were better. The same remedy was

continued for two more months twice a day but the

size of the Thyroid Gland was not appreciably less.

The case was reviewed. Learnt that she sighed

frequently; becomes dull during menses; eructations

very loud and sour. Cold air causes cough. Hands

and feet are cold. Now she was given Lycopus

virginicus 6 t.d.s. and after two months the Thyroid

became much smaller and it remained at half

centimetre and did not become smaller. She was

feeling quite well in every way.

Case 3: This is the case of a DeQuervainřs

Thyroiditis in a boy; constitutionally Aurum

metallicum which was continued for a long time and

potency increased, but no reduction of the Thyroid.

Case was studied again: more perspiration on the

forehead; vision became difficult and dull and it

affected his reading; sore feeling in the Thyroid

gland; very thirsty and developed palpitation; felt

weak when he wakes up in the morning. Jaborandi 6

t.d.s. and after two months observed that all his

symptoms were becoming better and better. [The

cases are interesting of course. We note that the

medicine has been repeated in the same potency 6c

mostly and 30c and even the M! Over few months.

HAHNEMANN has clearly warned that repetition of

the most suitable homeopathic medicine and that

frequently, is not adviseable and it harms Ŕ see § 246

Organon VI. How then do we justify such repetitions

and that for days and months? Readers are requested

to comment. Also in these cases where a řcureř has

taken place, was there an Řorderř of cure? Was there

Řexteriorizationř of the disease? These questions are

raised not to criticize the Řcuresř; the cures are there,

of course, but then these admonitions in the Organon,

what about that? Moreover there are several cases of

Řcuresř with one or two doses only of one medicine

repeated at long interval. If that were so, why should

we repeat frequently over long period? Once again I

am raising these only to clear doubts and no

aspersions whatsoever are meant about the work of

colleagues. = KSS]

37. A Case of Hyperthyroidism cured by

Homeopathy

BANERJEA Subrata K. (HH. 30, 12/2008)

20 year-old female with complaints of premature

graying of hair, tingling sensation in hands,

sleeplessness, always feeling tired, general

exhaustion, black patches on face, constipation with

piles, swelling of Thyroid gland, dry, teasing cough

constant. Chilly patient +++, very susceptible to

cold, but likes open air. Miasmatic analysis of the

symptoms; Tubercular Miasm predominant.

Tuberculinum 30 repeated once after 5 months, and

Tuberculinum 200 one dose 9 nonths later - with Sac

Lac in the intervening period Ŕ ended the case. TSH

came to normal.

38. Crohnřs Disease

SINGH Ajit (HH. 30, 12/2008)

Crohnřs disease, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, is

explained, as also its diagnosis, management and

homeopathic treatment. Brief Materia Medica of the

remedies that come up in this disorder is given.

39. Sepia: A strong female Medicine

KELLERSTEINE Joe (HH. 30, 12/2008)

35 year-old lady, mother of 3 children, an unwell

husband and a full-time job; she never quits, and is

always smiling. She came in 2000 first complaining

of pain of Endometriosis, which is severe for 4 years

now. Two surgeries so far have been of minor help.

The pain was pulling and tearing in the abdomen, also

a pain in the groin extending to the thigh, which

seems to get into the bone of the hip. Menses 24-28

days and the first two days the pains are severe. Will

lie on bed with legs drawn up. She is a chilly person.

She loves vigorous physical activity. Eczema of the

hands is bothersome due to the itch.

Sepia 200 two pellets as a single dose. First

follow-up: it is difficult to stand for any duration; she

must sit due to the downward pressure in the pelvic

area. Emotionally she described herself as feeling

taxed. The symptoms still there point to Sepia and it

was given in 10M.

Second follow up and two months: Improving well

with each menses. Did not return after this. [A nice

case, clearly classical = KSS]

40. Diagnosis: A Boon or Bane?

MEHER Subhash (CCR. 15, 2/2008)

27 month-old boy; appeared very sick with high

grade fever, cough, breathlessness, vomiting with

history of recurrent Pneumonia and weight loss;

appeared very distressed. The present complaints are

three months old; not responding to conventional

treatment. He had been ill since birth and needed

frequent hospital admissions with poor response to

the treatment by paediatrician. Investigations were

already done: raised ESR, negative TT. But p24

antigen test was positive (a screening test for HIV

infection). Parents tested for similar antigen Ŕ

negative.

The clinical picture, the history of TB in the

family, etc. and during a course of about eight months

he recovered very well. A repeat p24 antigen test was

done in the same laboratory and the results were

negative.

Details of the treatment are given. The most

important part of the story is that the parents of the

child were terribly upset when the diagnosis was

made and they underwent much anguish; just before

the child was brought to Homeopathy, the allopathic

doctor had told the parent that the child had only a

short period left. The parents had spent a large

amount of money. When the child became normal

under Homeopathy, the parents sought a letter from

Dr. MEHER that the diagnosis of HIV was wrong so

that they can sue the doctor for compensation but Dr.

MEHER refused; it is our case that the child did

suffer from the diagnosed disease and homeopathic

treatment cured it. The parents sent a Lawyerřs

Notice to the Pathologist who had done the first test

which gave p24 antigen positive and the

Paediatrician.

The point that should be noted is that it is

possible to reverse the HIV infection through

appropriate homeopathic treatment in a short time.

41. A Case of Insomnia

BACHLOO Vikas (CCR. 15, 2/2008)

Case of a man (age not given), unmarried, with

Insomnia. His story reveals that much of his

complaints were around sex and meditation.

Selenium M was prescribed. [The doctor seems to

have followed SANKARANřs method of shooting

questions, picking up a word from the answer of the

patient and asking him to say something on that, and

so on and on. In fact, I do not understand why the

questioning stopped where it did, and why it did not

continue on and on until the inquirer or the patient,

one of them get tired and fag out! = KSS]

42. Controlling Silent Fears Ŕ Treated on the basis of

Miasms and Sensation

GANDHI Mahesh (HL. 20, 1/2007)

42 year-old female with complaints of Ŗeczema

and allergyŗ on thumbs and toes Ŗcracks on feetŗ and

Ŗsome conflicts in mind, basically about God and his

existence. What is the relation between God and

humans? How free is man to do whatever he

wants?ŗ. Tabacum was arrived at on the basis of

Miasm and Sensation and not on reportorial rubrics.

This remedy gave the expected result. [I do not find

in the Materia Medica of Tabacum any of the

important symptoms the patient complained about =

KSS]

43. The Mother-Child relation analysis as a Key to

understanding Cases

HUTSOL Larissa, and HUTSOL Nicolai

(HL. 20, 1/2007)

The authors describe two cases of homeopathic

treatment of children with Bronchial Asthma. They

consider that an analysis of the mother-child

relationship from the beginning of the pregnancy can

determine strategy relationship in rapid success in

difficult paediatric cases. The efficacy of the

homeopathic management of the consequences of

deprivation is also shown.

44. Einfluss der Neuroleptica auf den psychiatrischen

Pflege alltag

(The influence of Neuroleptics on Daily Practice

of Psychiatric Nursing)

BRAUNSCHWEIG Sabine (Med GG. 26/2007)

In the history of modern Psychiatry the year 1952

marks a turning point when the first Neuroleptic Ŕ in

Switzerland branded as Largactil Ŕ was introduced in

psychiatric treatment. In overviews on History of

Psychiatry the introduction of psychotropic drugs is an

important issue, but little attention is paid to the

impact of the psychopharmacology on mental health

care and nursing in daily life of a ward. As example

the Psychiatric Hospital of Basel is analysed from a

Nursing perspective as to how the introduction is

reflected in different historical sources such as annual

reports, patient records and interviews with former

nurses. The public Psychiatry University Hospital

related to the University of Basel was interested to

apply new treatment quite quickly Ŕ also for the

purposes of medical research. The first conclusion in

the hospital annual report of 1953 was emphasising

enthusiastically the positive effect. Yet in the annual

report of 1958 the Director admitted that all these new

drugs were not able to heal the patients, only to

improve their well-being. The analysis of patient

records shows that Largactil was prescribed to patients

with quite different heterogenous diagnoses. Yet most

of them had a diagnosis of the Group of

Schizophrenia. The great variety of diagnosis shows

the big hope psychiatrists put into this new drug.

[Where is Řscientifictyř in Řhopeř? The Hegemony

Medicine accuses Homeopathy as unscientific; where

is Science in this case of large use of Largctil?

Without a definite scientific evidence of Largactil in a

given diagnosis, is not its application merely a

speculation? Is it not playing with life of a patient?

The benefits accrue to the Pharmaceutical

manufacturers of this and similar drugs, and that is all

= KSS].

1. An oral History Project with retired nurses who

were interviewed in the 1990s showed their

different opinions about the new drug. On one

hand, they called Largactil unanimously the

Řwonder drugř that had changed their working life

radically. They were relieved that the former

shock therapies, which were related to the

application of physical violence, lost their

significance and that the patients were less pained

by strange voices, fears of self-destructive

activities. On the other hand, nurses criticised the

side-effects of Largactil such as skin allergies and

weight gain. But more important they regretted

that patientsř loss or change of personalitry.

[Remember the famous Movie ŘOne who flew

over the Cuckoořs Nestř? =KSS]. They were

concerned about the new possibility to break the

will of persons Ŕ just with a small chemical pill.

The observed with scepticism how not only the

present mood of the patients altered but their

whole structure of personality.

2. The high expectations in this Řwonder drugř were

put in its perspective by the Psychiatrists and the

nurses. This cycle of an enthusiasm and

therapeutic optimism, followed by a negative

Appraisal, and at last a limited use of the drug,

can be called Řcycle of disappointmentř or ŘSeige

cycleř and is typical for psychotropic or

pharmaceutical drugs in Medicine and Psychiatry.

As early as 1912 the German Psychiatrist MAX

SEIGE formulated the idea that the career of a

drug is dynamic and has different phases or goes

in a cycle.

The analysis of the different historical sources of

the psychiatric hospital in Basel confirms the model of

the Seige cycle. [This is not the case with

Homeopathy. The ŘSeige Cycleř does not happen in

Homeopathy, even over two centuries. We must be

really proud of Homeopathy, of not being

Řfashionableř. = KSS]

-----------------------------------------------------------------

IV. REPERTORY

1. Das Pocket Repertory von P. Sankaran

(The Pocket Repertory of P.Sankaran)

TEUT Michael (ZKH. 52, 2/2008)

The Pocket Repertory is a Card Repertory. It

was designed by the Indian homeopath Pichiah

SANKARAN. The Repertoryřs structure is closely

related to Bogerřs General Analysis. The rubrics are

arranged in alphabetical order. The remedy selection

is based on the remedies in BOGERřs Synoptic Key.

SANKARAN added several remedies. The

Repertory contains several characteristic symptoms

and follows a generalising strategy. For

repertorisation rubrics are taken in sequence of

decreasing importance. The final remedies are

compared with the Materia Medica. The Pocket

Repertory is available in English language only.

2. Usual Repertorization vs Petrucci Children

Concepts Repertorization

PETRUCCI Roberto (HH. 30, 10/2008)

Dr. Roberto PETRUCCI has authored a new

Repertory ŖChildren Ŕ Homeopathic Materia Medica

with repertorial Symptomsŗ. In this article he has

demonstrated the advantages of analysing childrenřs

case with this new Repertory.

V. PHARMACOLOGY

1. A Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

comparison of 3C trituration derived and 4C

trituration derived remedies

BOTHA Izel & ROSS HA Ashley

(HOM. 97, 4/2008)

Background: Trituration of base substances,

commonly to the 3cH level, is the cornerstone of the

homeopathic pharmaceutical process or insoluble

solutions. BECKER and EHRLER claim that

trituration to 4cH gives a new, spiritual dimension to

the homeopathic medicine picture.

Aim and method: This study sought to establish

whether the claim that C4-derived potencies possess

different physicochemical qualities to the

homeopathic medicines derived from a 3cH

trituration is valid. All potencies were produced by

hand according to the German Homeopathic

Pharmacopoeia (GHP). Five different samples were

analysed using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)

Spectroscopy.

Results: The results indicated a significant difference

between the 12cH samples of potassium dichromate

(Kalium bichromicum) produced from 3cH and 4cH

triturations. This was especially prominent in the

chemical shift values of all four peaks and the relative

integration levels of the H

2

O, OH and CH

3

peaks

when comparing two sample groups.

Conclusion: Trituration plays a part in the

development of physicochemical properties specific

to homeopathic medicines. The higher the level of

trituration, the more pronounced is the alteration of

the physical structure of the active ingredient. The

study concludes that 4cH potencies are

physicochemically distinct from 3cH-derived

potencies (as currently employed).

2. Die Firma Heel Belgium (The Firm Heel)

DeCOEN Veronique (ZKH. 52, 1/2008)

This article provides a brief outline of the

History, profile, and product palette of Heel Belgium,

with emphasis on the single remedies of classical

Homeopathy. The Company specializes in high

potencies manufactured using the Korsakoff method.

Production of Korsakoff potencies and design

features of Korsakoff potentization machinery are

described in detail.

3. What is the impact of GMP on the fast growing

system of Medicine Ŕ Homeopathy?

VARMA P.N., VALAVAN R.

(HH. 30, 11/2008)

A 12.5 billion-rupee Indian homeopathic market

is growing around 25-30%. It is faster than the

mainstream Medicine (around 13-15%) and the GDP

growth of India (around 9%). As per reports about 50

million people opted for Homeopathy in 2006-07

and the number would exceed to 100 million by 2010.

From the Delhi Governmentřs 28 homeopathic

dispensaries itself over 1.36 million patients have

been benefited in 2006. This trend of fast growth of

Homeopathy in India attracts global multinationals.

In this scenario Government enforces Good

Manufacturing Practice (GMP) for homeopathic

drug manufacturing. This article discusses about

advantages and disadvantages, its impact on

Homeopathy in general, consumers and Physicians.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

VI. VETERINARY

1. Healthy as a Horse!

Magnificient horses make great strides in

behavior and wellness with homeopathic care

COHEN, Karen (HT. 29, 2/2009)

Rodanthe, 9 year-old Gelding, advanced level

training with erratic and unpredictable behavior since

18 months, who had Uveitis with prominent dark

blood vessels. Recovered with conventional

treatment and began to spook at patches of light and

shy at reflected light. Stiffening, whinnying, bolting

and defiantly ignoring riderřs cues. Difficult to

control when frightened. Stramonium 1M.

improvement began almost immediately. Accepts

stimuli and could be ridden with less tension. Twice

repeated in 6 months; cured totally.

2. Jade, an Arabian gelding became barn-sour

(agoraphobic). Timid, dependent on horses stabled

near him. Agitated, whinnied when taken out of stall.

Dry and lusterless coat. Thick crusty dandruff and

loved to scratch vigorously on wooden boards,

Psorinum 200. Within a month, coat became lustrous,

more relaxed and trustworthy. In the next 3 years,

two more doses during relapses.

3. Genevieve: A reluctant mother.Genevieve is a

paint (a specially colred brown and white quarter

horse mare), intolerant of other horses. Kicks and

fights to the end with other horses. Delivered a very

large foal which caused tearing and bruising of her

birth canal. She did not let him suckle and attempted

to strike. She allowed her to be milked but would not

let the foal approach. Platina 1M. within 5 mins.,

began to emit low tentative knickers in her foalřs

direction and allowed her foal to approach and nuzzle

her teats subsequently nurshed her foal.

2. A Fair-Haired Beauty

ŖWhole Horseŗ Homeopathy works inside and

out

MILLET, Polly (HT. 29, 2/2009)

Iris, 7 year-old horse with a Tumor (epithelioma)

on right lower eyelid. One on right upper eyelid was

excised a year ago. She was bossy, starting from

noise, sensitive to sun.

Few patches of unpigmented skin. Lycopodium

30 in the water bucket. Next day Tumor became

redder and larger and eye began to weep and lasted 2

weeks. Remarkably Iris eyelashes started to grow

back in the excised area. Another dose after 3 weeks

time. The Tumor started to decrease in size and

flatten. 3 weeks later a dose of 200 and skin was

becoming normal and she became more friendlier.

Seven months later, no growth at all.

4. Homeopathy 9-1-1 for Horses

A holistic Veterinarianřs guide to Equine

Emergencies

DUPREE Glen (HT. 29, 2/2009)

Colic: Indications for Aconite, Arsenicum,

Belladonna, Carbo vegetabilis, Chamomilla,

Colocynthis, Magnesia phosphoric, Nux vomica

& Silicea are given.

Hoof abscess: Arnica for bruised hoof; Hepar

sulphur, Mercurius & Silicea for abscesses.

Hoof puncture: Apis, Hypericum, Ledum. Laminitis

is a painful inflammation of internal soft tissues

of the hoof. Founder is tissue damage that results

from laminitis which sometimes causes the bone

to separate from the hoof. Ŕ Aconite &

Belladonna.

5. A randomized controlled trial of homeopathic

treatment of weaned piglets in a commercial

swine herd

SOTO, FRM., VUADEN ER., COELHO, CdP.,

BENITES, NR., BONAMIN LV., & DE

AZEVEDO SS (HOM. 97, 4/2008)

Aim: To evaluate the zootechnic performance and

occurrence of Diarrhoea in piglets in the week post-

weaning comparing supplementation with sucrose

saline which contained or did not contain added

homeopathic medicine.

Method: Animals were randomly divided into three

groups of 24 piglets each. The control group did not

receive any treatment. Another group received

sucrose saline and the third group received sucrose

saline with homeopathic medicine added, in the

period of zero to seven days post-weaning. The

homeopathic treatment consisted of Echinacea

angustifolia, Avena sativa, Ignatia amara, Calcarea

carbonica, all 6cH. Piglets were weighed daily for

weight gain or loss, and observed for diarrhea and

feed intake.

Results: Animals receiving sucrose saline alone and

sucrose saline with Homeopathy had less weight loss

than control (p = 0.017, p = 0.0001 respectively).

There was no statistical difference in relation to

overall incidence of diarrhea or food consumption.

These data suggest that the supplementation with

sucrose saline with added homeopathic medicine in

the first seven days post-weaning may be an useful

option to reduce weight loss in weaned piglets.

6. Homeopathic Treatment of Domestic Animals in

Slovenia

ŽIDOV Nena (Med GG. 26/2007)

The first sources on the homeopathic treatment

of domestic animals in Slovenia date from the 1830s.

Several lay homeopaths have been identified who

treated people as well as domestic animals. The data

shows that the following individuals treated animals

in Dolenjska in the early 20

th

Century: Jakob KOŠAK

(1829-1918), a Land owner, miller and saw miller;

Baltazar BARTOL (1829-1911), a priest; and

Baroness Maria WAMBOLT. Baroness Maria

WAMBOLT (1848-1915), who with her husband

FRANZ, had moved in 1876 from Germany to

Hmeljniko Castle in Dolenjska. Her notebook on her

patients from the beginning of the 20

th

Century

provides evidence that she treated people and pigs as

a lay homeopath. Hundreds of people, mainly

peasants from Dolenjska, turned to her for help for

themselves or for their pigs. Baroness WAMBOLT

treated her patients free of charge and this was

certainly one of the reasons why the local peasants

turned to her instead of the official veterinary service.

Generally the peasants who sought her help for their

complaints asked for medicine for their pigs too. The

reason why she treated pigs was probably because of

the substantial economic importance of pig breeding

to the small peasants of Dolenjska before the I World

War. She treated infectious pigs as well as other pig

diseases. Peasants looked to WAMBOLT when they

noticed feeding disorders such as not eating, too little,

eating only some fodder or not gaining weight when

eating normally. They asked for medicaments when

their pigs had digestive disorders (constipation or

diarrhoea, stomach cramps), when they were indolent,

were lying down most of the time or could not get up,

coughed, had a swollen neck, breathing difficulties,

changes to body temperature or temperature of some

body parts, changes to their skin (rashes, patches),

when the pigs did not have their periods, difficulties

in giving birth, injuries and bleeding. Baroness

WAMBOLT used thirteen different homeopathic

drugs, most frequently Arsenicum album. Barones

WAMBOLT seems to have used Arthur LUTZEřs

Text Book of Homeopathy, which was of great help

for all Lay Practitioners; the book went into 15

editions if not more!

VII. RESEARCH

1. The 2005 meta-analysis of Homeopathy: the

importance of post-publication data

RUTTEN, ALB & STOPLER, CF

(HOM. 97, 4/2008)

There is a discrepancy between the outcome of a

meta-analysis published in 1997 of 89 trials of

Homeopathy by Linde et al and an analysis of 110

trials by Shang et al published in 2005, these reached

opposite conclusions. Important data were not

mentioned in Shang et alřs paper, but only provided

subsequently.

Questions: What was the outcome of Shang et alřs

predefined hypotheses? Were the homeopathic and

conventional trials comparable? Was subgroup

selection justified? The possible role of ineffective

treatments. Was the conclusion about effect justified?

Were essential data missing in the original article?

Methods: Analysis of post-publication data. Re-

extraction and analysis of 21 higher quality trials

selected by Shang et al with sensitivity analysis for

the influence of single indications. Analysis of

comparability. Sensitivity analysis of influence of

subjective choices, like quality of single indications

and of cut-off values for Řlarger samplesř.

Results: The quality of trials of Homeopathy was

better than of conventional trials. Regarding smaller

trials, Homeopathy accounted for 14 out of 83 and

conventional medicine 2 out of 78 good quality trials

with n< 100. There was selective inclusion of

unpublished trials only for Homeopathy. Quality was

assessed differently from previous analyses.

Selecting subgroups on sample size and quality

caused incomplete matching of Homeopathy and

conventional trials. Cut-off values for larger trials

differed between Homeopathy and conventional

medicine without plausible reason. Sensitivity

analyses for the influence of heterogeneity and the

cut-off value for Řlarger higher quality studiesř were

missing. Homeopathy is not effective for muscle

soreness after long distance running, OR = 1.30 (95%

Cl 0.96-1.76). The subset of Homeopathy trials on

which the conclusion was based was hesterogenous,

comprising 8 trials on 8 different indications, and was

not matched on indication with those of conventional

medicine. Essential data were missing in the original

paper.

Conclusion: Re-analysis of Shangřs post-publication

data did not support the conclusion that Homeopathy

is a placebo effect. The conclusion that Homeopathy

is and that conventional is not a placebo effect was

not based on comparative analysis and not justified

because of heterogeneity and lack of sensitivity

analysis. If we confine our selves to the predefined

hypotheses ant the part of the analysis that is indeed

comparative, the conclusion should be that quality of

homeopathic trials is better than of conventional

trials, for all trials (p = 0.03) as well as for smaller

trials (p=0.003).

2. Lipid peroxidation, Erythrocyte antioxidants and

Plasma antioxidants in Osteoarthritis before and

after homeopathic treatment

PINTO, S., RAO, AV., & RAO, A.

(HOM. 97, 4/2008)

Objective: This study attempts to evaluate the status

of oxidative stress in osteoarthritis (OA), by

measuring some parameters of oxidant stress and

antioxidant defenses in blood, before and after

Homeopathy treatment, and to asses the role, if any,

of homeopathic treatment in modulating free radical

toxicity in OA.

Methods: Erythrocyte lipid peroxidation(LP),

erythrocyte antioxidants viz., glutathione (GSH),

glutathione reductase (GR), superoxide dismutase

(SOD), catalase (CT) and plasma antioxidants viz.,

ceruloplasmin, glutathione-S-transferase (GST),

vitamin C, total antioxidant activity (AOA) were

determined in eighty one patients with OA and fifty

three normals. Forty seven patients, who were treated

with homeopathic remedies were considered for the

follow-up studies.

Location: Father Muller Homeopathic Hospital,

Mangalore, South Karnataka, India.

Results: Erythrocyte LP (0 hour, p < 0.001; 2 hours,

p < 0.01; and susceptibility to LP, p.< 0.05) and SOD

(P < 0.05) were significantly higher, whereas plasma

vitamin C (p < 0.01) and AOA (p < 0.001) were

significantly lower in OA patients when compared to

controls. In follow-up patients the erythrocyte LP (0

hour, p < 0.01; 2 hours, p < 0.01; and susceptibility to

LP, p < 0.01) and SOD (p < 0.01) were significantly

lower when compared to their pretreatment values.

Plasma vitamin C attained a normal range. The AOA

activity after treatment was not significantly different

from that observed before treatment.

Conclusion: Oxidative stress increased in OA as

indicated by increased LP, SOD, decreased vitamin C

and AOA. On homeopathic treatment the LP has

decreased in the erythrocytes which shows and

reduced oxidative stress. This is further evidenced by

returning of plasma vitamin C and erythrocyte SOD

to the normal levels, but oxidant stress has not been

completely overcome as plasma AOA remained low

after treatment.

3. Effects of a homeopathic complex in Nile tilapia

(Oreochromis nilotiicus L.) on performance,

sexual proportion and histolojy

VALENTIM-ZABOTT, M., VARGAS, L.,

RIBEIRO, RPR., PIAU, R., Jr., TORRES, MBA.,

RÖNNAU, M., & SOUZA, JC.

(HOM. 97, 4/2008)

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of the

homeopathic complex Homeopatila RS (REAL

Homeopathy, Brazil), in the performance, sexual

proportion and gills and liver histology of the Nile

tilapia fish (Oreochromis niloticus L.). 4,800 post-

larvae were treated for 45 days, in 12 tanks (500 L), in

a closed environment, with density of 400 larvae per

tank. Three treatments were given: alcohol 30%,

negative control ©; hormonal, positive control, 17 α-

methyltestosterone (H); homeopathic, Homeopatila

RS, in ethanol (HH), with four replications. Mean

values for length, weight, liver somatic index,

condition factor, survival rate, average values of

histological alterations and sexual proportion were

determined. Analysis revealed significant differences

(p < 0.05) in growth, survival rate, liver somatic index

and average values of hepatic histological alterations

between treatments. It was concluded that the

addition of Homeopatila RS to the diet of Nile

tilapias, during the phase of gonadal differentiation,

did not induce any alteration in the sexual proportion.

Homeopathically treated fish were significantly

smaller, but had significantly greater survival than the

other two groups, there was no significant difference

in final total biomass. The homeopathically treated

fish [where is ŘHomeopathy in this? = KSS] had a

lower liver/somatic index with less hepatic lipid

inclusions than the other groups.

4. How can we change beliefs? A Bayesian

perspective

RUTTEN, ALB (HOM. 97, 4/2008)

How can Randomised Controlled trials (RCTs)

change our belief? The fact that they do update prior

beliefs to different posterior beliefs is explained by

Bayesian philosophy.

Crucial points in Bayesian analysis include

setting the first prior expectation right and sequential

updating of the prior in the light of new evidence.

Bayesian analysis depends highly on the evidence

included.

RCT evidence can only falsify the placebo

hypothesis, it cannot indicate which mechanism of

action could be responsible for an intrinsic effect and

therefore cannot overturn existing beliefs. Bayesian

reasoning could structure further discussion, but

subjectivity is an inherent element of this process. In

the case of Homeopathy the first prior is not a

common prior shared by all parties to the debate, but a

paradigm, this prevents common updating of beliefs.

Only by keeping an open mind towards other

paradigms and all possible hypotheses can a low

Bayesian prior be elevated to the point of accepting a

new paradigm, this is more relevant than Bayesian

calculations.

5. Datensammlung in der homöopathischen Praxis

Eine systematische prospektive

Falldokumentation (Data collection in

Homeopathic Practice - A systematic

prospective case documentation)

HUBER Heinz (AHZ. 253, 3/2008)

A multi-centre, prospective, practice-based, long-

time observational study was conducted in 16

specialised homeopathic primary care centres in

Germany and Austria. 1322 patients were enrolled,

of which 16.9% suffered from acute and 80.7% from

chronic diseases. Patientsř and treatment data were

documented by using a simple questionnaire and

entered via the Internet into a database. In the

majority of patients the homeopathic treatment

resulted in a significant improvement of their health

status. The practical experiences from this project

regarding time and cost of systematic case

documentations are discussed.

6. Retrospective Likelihood Ratio Study in First

Line Medicine

Van WASSENHAVEN Michael

(HH. 33, 10/2008)

This is a very interesting research article. 25

years of Kentian Practice have been encoded in

Computer. Kentist approach consists of searching the

modalities of each symptom defined by or observed

by the patient. Priority is given to symptoms

Ŗailments from . . . .ŗ, the mental symptoms

including the dreams and the Řgeneralř symptoms.

The Repertory is then consulted. The four grades in

the Repertory are borne in mind. Before prescribing

the Materia Medica of the probable remedies are

consulted for confirmation.

Results evaluation Method are as follows:

5 = very spectacular changes in the total picture,

symptoms are disappearing and the general state

of health has completely improved.

4 = spectacular disappearance of symptoms with

improved general state of health.

3 = disappearance of symptoms, start of a general

improvement.

2 = good effect during the treatment but we are not

convinced that it will improve the patient

completely, other therapies are needed.

1 = some effect during the treatment but it could be

due to other factors (like placebo)

0 = no effect

-1 = deterioration or aggravation during and/or after

the treatment.

There is enough patient data to verify the

symptoms of hundred remedies. Complete results are

published by B. Jain Publishers in a book entitled

Clinical verification first line Medicine Ŕ

Verification of Homeopathic symptoms.

The article explains the data analysis. Example of

Likelihood ratio (LR) of the remedy Staphysagria is

given. An explanatory table is provided.

This work is proof that verifications of

homeopathic symptoms are possible and it is

important.

VIII. HISTORY

1. THE HAHNEMANN STAMP

[T.C. CHERIAN, The Homeopathic Digest

*

]

CAMPBELL, Anthony C.H.

(BHJ. LXVIII, 3/1979)

We are proud and happy to announce that the

Hahnemann stamp appearing on the cover of the

issue, was reproduced from an original portrait sketch

done by our own Margaret Geiger, Associate Editor

on the editorial staff of the Homeopathic Digest.

*

Reprinted from The Homeopathic DigestŕSpring

1979

It was through a unique chain of events that we

were led to discover that Margaret Geiger was indeed

the artist who designed the portrait from which the

Indian stamp was reproduced.

In October, 1978, the Indian Government

released a stamp bearing the Ŗheadŗ of Dr.

HAHNEMANN, the revered founder of

Homeopathy, in conjunction with the International

Homeopathic Congress, which was being held in

India at that time. [The International Homeopathic

Congress was held in October 1977, not 1978. I have

with me this stamp and the special cover with the

cancellation dated 6.10.1977]. During the meetings no

mention was made of the artist who did the original

drawing, except that Dr. Diwan Harish CHAND,

Chairman of the Congress, noted that Dr. William

GUTMAN, a homeopathic physician in the United

States, had presented the drawing to the committee of

the Congress, authorizing that committee to submit it

to the Indian Government for reproduction as a stamp.

Dr. T.C. CHERIAN, publisher and editor of the

Digest, who attended the Congress, witnessed the

ceremony. On his return to the United States, at a

homeopathic meeting, he displayed the stamp to its

members. Margaret GEIGER was astonished to find

the likeness on the stamp was an identical copy of the

sketch she had designed twenty years ago. Dr.

CHERIAN was in turn surprised and embarrassed at

this revelation, feeling that Miss GEIGER might have

assumed that Dr. CHERIAN, himself, submitted the

HAHNEMANN portrait to the Indian Government,

without first consulting her. Miss GEIGER wrote a

personal letter to Dr. CHERIAN, giving the history

and occasion of her original design, as follows:

Dear Dr. CHERIAN:

Enclosed find some of the cards designed over 20

years ago when we lived in West Islip. In 1953 I

painted a profile head of Hahnemann in full color in

oils. Dr. GUTMAN has a duplicate portrait also in

oils, given him many years ago. From this same

profile study, a composite of the paintings, etchings,

etc. I drew a pen and ink scratchboard portrait for

these cards, using chiefly the gentle face of

Woltrecksřs Sculpture. We hoped to spread the

knowledge of Homeopathy through these cards as we

did with the herbal paintings we worked on as a

family project for so many decades. The clay coated

art-board, called scratchboard, is a specialized technic

not every artist knows, which gives a clean, sharp,

engraved effect, not unlike woodcut. At the time we

sent many of these cards to all friends, including Drs.

GUTMAN, HUBBARD and WHITMONT, all of

whom had treated us, as well as Dr. GRIMMER and

Dr. UNDERHILL, and others with whom we were in

correspondence. Probably this was during 1957 and

1958 as we moved here in 1959. You see the

signature I used at the time (also a proof of age later I

signed separately), MARUTH, which combines our

first names. This signature on Hahnemannřs shoulder

is carefully blotted out on the stamp. But the

chinchona plant is in, showing that the original card

was used, not the reprint on the cover of ŖThe

Layman Speaksŗ from which it was removed.

Many years ago I wrote an article on

HAHNEMANN at the time of painting the original

portraits, entitled ŖAn Artistřs Notes While painting

Hahnemannŗ, about 1953. I resubmitted it 2 years ago

and Mr. Dykeman printed it, somewhat abbreviated,

in the April 1976 issue, with the same black and white

scratchboard head of Hahnemann on the cover, also

reproduced in small at the head of my article. In the

same issue is a photograph of the Hahnemann

sculpture which was unveiled in Washington D.C.

in1900. Mr. DYKEMAN however removed the

chinchona blossom from behind the face. The

signature is scarcely legible, being very heavily inked

by the printer. I am proud of the drawing as I consider

it my best work, and also pleased with the article. We

chose what we felt to be the most attractive pose of

this great innovator and humanitarian. While I am

honored that the government of India has used my

work to celebrate so noble a man, I would like to

receive credit and remuneration for this public use of

my picture. I am a topical stamp collector and love

beautiful stamps; I have always longed to design a

stamp, and have now done so without my knowledge

or approval! I will appreciate anything you can do to

rectify this situation, of which I am sure the

government of India is unaware. I hope you can

accomplish this without legal proceedings as I have

respect and affection for India and its people.

(signed)

Margaret GEIGER

On behalf of Homeopathy, we appeal to all local

and international homeopathic journals, societies and

organizations to make a special announcement

revealing Margaret GEIGER as the original artist of

the Hahnemann portrait from which the stamp was

reproduced by the Indian government.

Dr. Diwan Harish CHAND, who had been

unaware of the situation now promises to use every

sincere effort and co-operation to reveal the truth and

clear up the confusion surrounding the matter.

2. Homöopathie in Indien: Ein Absteiger im

indischen Gesundheitssystem?

(Homeopathy in India: a last one in the Indian

Health system?)

DINGES Martin (ZKH. 52, 2/2008)

Homeopaths all over the world love India, since

Homeopathy is loved in India. India is also

considered as a dreamland for European

homeopaths. In fact while Homeopathy saw a

downward trend in countries like Germany, USA and

even in U.K., in India it has improved and its

representation has increased, particularly in

institutionally trained medical graduates. [This is

unique for India, in so far as Homeopathy is

concerned. = KSS]. Dr. DINGES briefly discusses

the studies made by German homeopaths of

Homeopathy in India for purposes of dissertations

and then goes on to study the Indian scenario since

the last 30 years. Homeopathy is covered by a Law

made by the Government of India, there is a Central

Council of Homeopathy, there is a Council for

Research in Homeopathy, there are more than 180

Homeopathic Medical Colleges, [the seats are now

going abegging, since last few years, may be because

there are too many colleges, particularly in the private

medical education Industry? = KSS]. Homeopathy

is also popular with the people, more in some States

and less in some. In spite of this Homeopathy is

relegated to the last place as between Ayurveda,

Siddha, Unani and the Government funding, job

opportunities, etc., also are least. [In reality

Homeopthy is ignored when it comes to Government

allocation of money for Medicines other than the

Hegemony Medicine, Allopathy= KSS]. An

interesting study. Those at the helm including the

senior homeopaths must read it so that they can help

remedy the position.

3. The Ŗglobalisationŗ of the hospital ward: a case

study of the London Homeopathic Hospital

1849 Ŕ 1867.

Von REISWITZ Stefan (Med GG. 26/2007)

The history of Homeopathy in Great Britain is

connectedly undoubtedly with that of the history of

the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital, (LHH),

and its Founder, Dr. Fresderic Hervey Foster QUIN.

Without QUIN Homeopathy would not have been

introduced into Great Britain and achieve the success

especially during the period 1834 Ŕ 1870, it did.

QUINřs connections with the Ŗhigh societyŗ helped

this much and Homeopathy had a firm footing.

From the beginning QUIN took the pains to organise

a union of English homeopathic doctors; he thought

that an Association like that of the orthodox

Physicians had, would be the one thing that would

help Homeopathy. QUIN played an important role

with regard to the Hospital, and symbolically he was

the medical authority. QUIN had a thorough

knowledge of the state of Medicine in Europe. The

rules were strict: only medical (allopathic) graduates

and members of the British Homeopathic Society

and have undergone both prescribed courses in

Medicine and Surgery were to be taken in the LHH.

A study of the details of the number of patients

treated and the types of diseases treated indicate that

the Hospital under QUINřs directions became from a

small specialised Polyclinic to a large homeopathic

hospital in which during the first two decades more

than 66,000 cases of all complaints that could be

imagined, were treated. Thus QUINřs LHH was, as

intended a Ŗgeneralŗ hospital providing its medical

Officers with a vast range of cases to be treated

homeopathically.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

IX. EDUCATION

1. Hahnemannian Mentoring Ŕ Reflections on Case

Supervision

CLASON Jackie (HL. 20, 1/2007)

The subject is self-explanatory from the title.

This is interesting and very relevant especially when

new homeopathic graduates come out of the Colleges

and are in great need of directions and examples; they

need guidance and proper mentoring; this is

something which the senior homeopaths should

concern themselves with.

2. Education in Homeopathy Ŕ Part 2

A Prescription based on the level of Delusions

VERVARCKE Anne (HL. 20, 1/2007)

This article is the second of a two-part article on

Education in Homeopathy, where levels of education

as well as levels of case taking have been discussed.

The first part was published in the Links, 2/2006.

This second part deals with case where the remedy is

prescribed on an understanding of the case on the

level of Delusion.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

X. GENERAL

1. Characteristics of visitors to homeopaths in a

total adult population study in Norway (Hunt 2)

STEINSBEKK, A., NILSEN, TVL., & RISE,

MB. (HOM. 97, 4/2008)

Objectives: To study the characteristics of people

visiting homeopaths in a total adult population in

Norway.

Methods: Data from a total population cross

sectional health survey conducted in 1995-1997 in

Central Norway (HUNT 2) with 65,495 participants.

Variables included in the analysis were age, marital

status, education, being a social welfare recipient,

lifestyle (daily smoker), Hospital Anxiety and

Depression Scale (HADS-T), global health

perception, self-reported health complaints and a

variety of diseases. Significance level p<0.01.

Results: 40,027 persons over 20 years answered the

question on visits to a homeopath. 4.3% had

consulted a homeopath during the last 12 months.

The likelihood of a person consulting a homeopath

was most strongly associated with being female

(adjusted odds ratio 2.3, 95% confidence interval

2.1.2.6) and having a lower perceived global health

(increasing from 1.5, 1.2-1.8 for good global health to

2.9, 1.9-4.3 for poor global health). There was a

weaker but significant association between increased

likelihood of visiting a homeopath and being 30-39

years (1.3, 1.1-1.4), having a HADS-T score between

10-14 (1.3, 1.1-1.6) and 15-19 (1.6, 1.3-2.0), having a

health complaint the last year (1.5, 1.2-1.7), hay fever

(1.7, 1.5-2.0), consulted for a psychiatric complaint

91.5, 1.6). Being a smoker was significantly

associated with decreased likelihood of consulting a

homeopath (0.7, 0.6-0.7). there was also a trend for

increased likelihood of visits to homeopaths (p,0.1)

for those 60 years and over, social welfare recipients,

having a chronic complaint and HADS-T score of 20

or higher, and decreased likelihood for wido(er)s.

Conclusions and proposals: Being female and

having a lower perceived global health were the

variables most strongly associated with visits to a

homeopath. More studies on visits to homeopaths

from other populations (countries, children and

adolescent) are needed.

2. Mapping Homeopathic Space: A Review of the

Resources Ŕ Part I & II

MARRS Iain (HL. 20, 1 & 2/2007)

In the first part of this article seven types of

themes used by contemporary homeopaths are

summarised (Organs and Systems; Abstract terms;

Every day Phrases or Terms; Diseases and Miasms;

Families; Polychrest-like or Substance-like;

Topology). In the Second part there is a review of

ways to map homeopathic remedy-space. A

distinction between the use of profiling approach and

a Venn diagram approach is suggested. [What are

these? = KSS]. With such tools it is possible to

understand how the Periodic table [13] or the Mappa

Mundi [2] can each act as paradigms in the

contemporary homeopathic use of themes. Central

approaches mentioned include the System of Boxes

developed by Vega ROZENBERG, and the themes

and groupings developed by Louis KLEIN and by

Massimo MANGIALAVORI. The importance of

understanding the thinking implicit in different

models is supported by extracts from writers in

Philosophy, Science and Literary criticism. The

Řnetworkř is suggested as a way to reconcile the

thematic mappings offered by ROZENBERG,

MANGIALAVORI and KLEIN. [I did not know

whether I should put this article under ŘPhilosophyř or

ŘEducationř; it is so confusing to me, and as a regular

Practitioner I have not found any help from any of the

three authors of the Ŗthematic mappingsŗ (!); so

decided to put it under ŘGeneralř = KSS]

3. Triturated Remedies and Female Development:

Sepia and the C4 trituration

TIMMERMAN Alize (HL. 20, 1/2007)

Triturated remedies offer a different way of

working with Homeopathy, using the resonance of

the remedy and the initiated empathy of the therapist

to approach the healing process of a patient at a

deeper level. As in the trituration process a remedy

reveals itself layer after layer, one can use the

properties of these specific layers to address the needs

of a patient in the successive periods of his or her

lifetime. The levels of the remedy correspond with

the development of the human person. Focussing on

the female part of humanity, triturated homeopathic

remedies follow, in the way they interact with female

patients, a pattern similar to the development of

women from girl to mature woman. So the story of a

remedy (e.g. Sepia, Lac humanum feminine, Lac

human masculine, Lac lupinum, Lac felinum) and the

way it heals follows the line of development observed

in a specific person. In a female lifetime we see first

the awareness of propagation, the responsibilities of

being partner and mother. In a general sense, women

experience an inequality in social position as

compared with man, but, in the third part of oneřs life,

they can achieve the realisation of the archetypal

feminine force and orientation on the female

strengths. Thus the young girl, mostly oriented on

male virtues, constitutes one pole in the spectrum.

This orientation is and represented by the C1 to C3

triturations (the physical level) of a remedy. A

woman in her forties and older represents the other

pole: with orientation on the male strengths and the

spiritual level (C4 and C5 trituration). This

development is illustrated in this article with an

exemplary remedy, Sepia, offering at different phases

in a female life, different effects in the healing

process. [I am unable to make head and tail of this. I

hope other readers would feel enlightened = KSS]

4. The Homeopathic Hospital that never was:

attempts in the Swedish Riksdag (1853 Ŕ 1863)

to establish a Homeopathic hospital and the

issue of Theory Versus Empiricism in Medicine

EKLÖF Motzi (Med GG. 26/2007)

Between 1853 and 1863 attempts were made four

times to introduce Řmotionř in the Swedish Parliament

to obtain financial sanction for the establishment of a

homeopathic hospital or a small ambulant facility in

Stockholm. The initiator was Graf Adolf Eugene von

ROSEN (1797 Ŕ 1886), well-known driving force

behind the construction of the rail-road work in the

Country. The motion got the support of Nobility and

Clergy; Members of the Parliament reported of their

personal positive experiences with homeopathic

treatment, and Priests who treated the folks

homeopathically. The recommendations were

ignored, just as several such suggestions from the

medical personnel.

The arguments for the necessity of a hospital

included the necessity of free treatment as well as the

possibility of empirical experiments, for the studies of

practical value in Homeopathy. The reduced State

contribution because of the less number of remedies

could be also be a reason. However, Homeopathy

could prove its efficacy without State support; there

were only small number of doctors who were

supporters of Homeopathy. The State did not

support any homeopathic hospital in Sweden?

Because Homeopathy was contrary to the central

ideologies and principles of the leading medical

school. [Yes; HAHNEMANN himself has said that

in fact Homeopathy is exactly the opposite of

Allopathy, just as Night is to Day. = KSS]. The issue

of Homeopathy was not only a concern of practical

health care but was also a political issue of

considerably wider range.

One hudred years later the opponents of

Homeopathy succeeded in associating this treatment

form with faith-based suggestive treatment. Medicine

manufacturers were charged with selling mere sugar

pills and called fraudsters. The thought of a

homeopathic hospital had become totally alien in

Swedish social life although homeopathic treatment

survived among the general population. [This is the

position for the past two centuries; none of the

vociferous persons who cried Řfoulř have so far

ventured to personally try Homeopathy in the manner

peculiar to it. And no one who has personally so

experimented and experienced did ever after cry Řfoulř

but became a true follower of Homeopathy. The

opponents are actually afraid of experimenting. =

KSS]

-----------------------------------------------------------------

XI. BOOKS

1. BENDAU, C. Hautkrankheiten

homöopathisch behandelt (Skin diseases

homeopathically treated), Kirchzarten: Sunrise:

2007, 137 S., geb. (German): review Thomas

GENNEPER (ZKH. 52,1/2008): Ŗwe recall two

committed homeopaths with regard to this book:

Gabriele BENDAU from whose manuscript the book

is born, and an active Andreas MUTSCHLER, who is

also at the same a book trader who rediscovered the

manuscript and published; it is unfortunate both these

personalities are no more. . . . . The bookřs value is

more since it has been gone through by Dr. Gerhard

KÖHLER who had extensive experience in treating

skin diseases. Dr. KÖHLER knew the typical skin

symptoms very well. For BENDAU the main

symptoms were not the small local symptoms but

rather something important which indicated, which

according to KÖHLER is Ŗthe perceptible external

reflection of the internal alterationsŗ. . . . . . The

verification or falsification of a remedy selected

according to the generals which according to

BENDAU and KÖHLER has greater weightage over

selection on the basis of the skin symptoms, is not

easy always. The pictures given in the book would

help in this to a good extent . . . . . . . The book is

positively recommended. . .ŗ

2. LANG, G., Homöopathie, Heilung über die

Seele (Homeopathy, Healing of the Soul):

Worpswede: Eva Lang; 2006; kart. 720 S. € 56,

(German): Review Thomas GENNEPER (ZKH. 52,

1/2008): ŖGerhardus LANG a grand thinker who has

long years of practice has published a very interesting

book, which is a collection of his seminars and

several articles over the years. LANG was a student

of late Dr. Otto EICHELBERGER and is well versed

with his thinking and Anthroposophy. LANG

discusses at length on themes of health, illness, and

healing, on the relationship to our patients, the nature

of the organism, also several remedies and finally the

Sehgal Method which LANG has been applying since

years. This is followed by case reports wherein the

Sehgal Method is followed through. That the

remedy works not through the physical body but

through the soul is the central idea of LANG and is

the book titled. For LANG the Dynamis of

HAHNEMANN is nothing other than the Soul. . . . . .

A readable book from the pen of an enthusiastic

homeopath, . . .ŗ

3. JÜTTE R: Die Fünfzigtausender-Potenzen in

der Homöopathie; von den Anfängen bis zur

Gegenwart, (The Fifty-thousand Potencies in

Homeopathy; from the beginning to date), Gütersloh;

Arcana; 2007. 96 Seiten, geb.; €29,90

(zzgl.Versandkosten; direct bei Arcana zu beziehen).

(German). Review by Klaus HOLZAPFEL (ZKH. 52,

2/2008): ŖThis booklet is by way of celebrating the

50 year jubilee of the Firm Arcana, medicine

manufacturer Dr. Sewerin in Güterslo. This book

fills a long-felt gap on the subject. It deals with the

history and application of the 50 thousand Potency,

thoroughly. . . . . . . For the Practitioner experienced

with the Millesimal Potency, it gives useful

information . . . as also for the historicer.Ŗ

4. PERKO S: Die homöopathische Behandlung

der Grippe. (The homeopathic treatment of Grippe);

Kandern; Narayana; 2007. € 45. (German) review by

Karin JUCHEMS-HOCHBAN (ZKH, 52, 2/2008): Ŗ.

. . . . Sandra PERKO has dealt with thoroughly with

the theme Grippe. The book is divided in three parts.

The first part is the Řlegacy of Grippeř, the role of the

infection in history, its epidemic, causes, diagnosis,

cure (-search for), the nature of the virus and their

peculiarities. The effects of Homöopathy in the

1918/19 epidemic have been recorded in several

journals. In the second part a Repertory of Grippe

and its accompanying are given. . . . . . . as also the

important remedies in those conditions. 60 remedies

are given alphabetically in about 200 pages. They

are given with their key symptoms, peculiarities and

modalities and comments from leading homeopaths

like BOERICKE, CLARKE, LILIENTHAL, and

many more. . . . . . . . A book well worth

recommendation.ŗ

4. RATHMER D: Fallanalyse in der Homöopathie

nach Sehgal (Case analysis in Homeopathy

according to Sehgal), Worpswede: Eva Lang. 318 S.,

brosch. (German) review by Gerhardus LANG (ZKH.

52, 2/2008): ŘAn auto-didactic study and work book

has now come which contains 36 Cases from Practice

which leads to the remedy according to the Sehgal-

method; the individual case analysis is also explained.

The boo is mainly targeted at the beginner who wants

to learn the method. Thos who are already

experienced in this method will find much that would

take them deeper. . . . . . The book can be

recommended to every one who wants to learn the

Sehgal-method. . . .ŗ

XII. OBITUARY

1. Michael QUINN, founder, president and Chief

Pharmacist of Hahnemann Laboratories, Inc of San

Ra fael, CA, on Jan. 28, 2009, as a result of a stroke.

2. Dr. Luc CHALT IN, founder, of Newton

Laboratories, conyers, Georgia passed away on 28

Dec. 2008.

3. Madeline BASTIDE (18.3.1935 Ŕ 10.6.2007)

YASGUR Jay (AJHM. 101, 1/2008)

Madeline BASTIDE, the doyen of research into

the infinitesimal passed away at the age of 72.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

XIII. NEWS & NOTES

I. Many Paths Support the Whole. An inclusive

Legislative model for Homeopathy. ALLEN,

Karan … & Co. (HT. 29, 1/2009)

The current laws in most states in the USA are

not supportive of Homeopathy practitioners.

Although exceptions exist, the vast majority of states

tend to be restrictive or ambiguous about the practice

of Homeopathy. This is keeping the homeopathic

profession from flourishing and is reducing consumer

access to quality professional homeopathic care.

The group proposes a comprehensive model of 5

different but compatible paths towards the legal

practice of Homeopathy in the USA.

1. Health care Freedom legislation

2. Homeopathic Medical Assistant

Registration/Licensure

3. Homeopathic practitioner Licensure

4. Doctor of Homeopathy Licensure

5. Sub-specilization Homeopathy Licensure

In Arizona for an example of this type of Co-

existence. It currently has three different forms of

Homeopathy friendly legislation in peace (paths 1, 2

and 5 in the chart above) and homeopaths are

working to establish two more forms (paths 3 & 4).

II. Researchers at Cuba’s Finlay Institute, a

center that develops, investigates and produces

vaccines in partnership with the ministry of health,

recently reported their successful use of a

homeopathic remedy Leptospirosis 200, made from

four circulating strains of the bacteria to prevent

Leptospirosis outbreaks. The mass administration

of a homeopathic Nosode to 2.4 million people

who got 4.8 million doses is the largest known trial

of Homeopathy for disease prevention. The

epidemiology surveillance after the interventions

showed a dramatic decrease of morbidity two weeks

after and a reduction to zero of mortality of

hospitalized patients. The number of confirmed

leptospirosis cases remains at low levels and below

the expected levels according with the trends and rain

regimens.ŗ The researchers noted that their

experiences could be extended to other diseases and

other countries adding, ŖThe Finlay Institute is

offering our facilities and specialists to spread this

alternative to all regions needing emergent

alternatives for epidemic control and prevention.ŗ

(Reported at ŖNosodes 2008: International Meeting on

Homeoprophylaxis, Homeopathic Immunization, and

Nosodes Against Epidemics,ŗ December 10-12, 2008,

Havana, Cuba. (HT. 29, 1/2009).

III. As part of its 188

th

Anniversary Founders Day

Celebration on February 19, the University of the

Sciences in Philadelphia will bestow an honorary

doctorate of science degree on John A (Jack)

BORNEMANN, 111, Rph, a 1952 alumnus, for his

Ŗentrepreneurial spirit and leadership in the

homeopathic medicine industry and continued

dedication to innovation and excellence.ŗ (HT. 29,

1/2009).

IV. A handful of determined Homeopaths from

the U.S. and Europe are helping people in Africa

who are in need. (HT. 29, 1/2009)

KENYA: Abha Light Foundation, founded by Didi

Ananda Ruchira, assisted by volunteer Shawn vale

and others.

GHANA: Senya/Tamale Homeopathy project,

founded by Adjoa Margaret stack

TANZANIA: Homeopathy AIDS Project, founded

by Jeremy SHERR.

BOTSWANA: Maun Homeopathy Project, founded

by Hilary FAIRCLOUGH.

V. Homeopathy cares: Shawn VALE (HT. 29,

1/2009).

Shawn VALE narrates her experiences in treating

Kenyařs poorest in mobile clinics.

Seizures of over 30 years which crippled a

woman, cured with a dose of Stramonium 200, a

severe Malaria case recovering with few doses of

Belladonna 1M, a case of right sided Arthritis with

inflammation of Liver subsiding with Chelidonium

30. [Bravo! ONLY HOMOEOPATHY CAN TREAT

THE POOR, THE REALLY NEEDY SO

INEXPENSIVELY= KSS]

VI. A journal from Africa. News from the

Homeopathy AIDS Project in Tanzania. SHERR

Jeremy. (HT. 29, 1/2009).

Jeremy SHERR in partnership with an

established Homeopathy clinic in Tanzania is setting

up an AIDS Project. He is interested in identifying

the Ŗgenus epidemicusŗ for aids. They are in early

stages of creating a protocol. They are helping to

open The Tanzanian School of Homeopathy.

VII. In March 2009, New Mexico passed HB 664,

ŖThe unlicensed Health Care Practice Act,ŗ which

protects the rights of unlicensed complementary,

alternative and traditional practitioners. This state

joins the ranks of Minnesota, California, Rhode

Island, Louisiana, Oklahama and Idaho in having

enacted similar Laws. (HT. 29, 2/2009).

VIII. Nancy GAHLES, president of NCH

attended and spoke at the summit on Integrative

Medicine and the Health of the Public sponsored by

the Institute of Medicine in Washington D.C. As a

result she has been invited to meet with principals on

Capital Hill to discuss the implementation of

Homeopathy into the health care reform bill. (HT.

29, 2/2009).

IX. Bringing Arnica into the Mainstream. (HT. 29,

2/2009).

About 10 years ago, Michael QUINN quietly

moved forward with a brilliant plan to bring Arnica to

the masses. His target: plastic surgeons.

Why? Bruising and swelling after plastic surgery

is extensive and highly visible, but plastic surgeons

have no conventional medicines to offer patients for

reducing these tramatic after-effects. To Michael, this

lack of competition from conventional medicine was

the perfect opportunity for showcasing the benefits of

Homeopathy. If he could convince plastic surgeons

to prescribe Arnica and if they and their patients saw

impressive results, they would spread the word to

other types of surgeons, doctors, and patients

throughout the world.

So MICHAEL created SinEcch

™

to look just like

a conventional medication-yet he made sure the words

Ŗhomeopathic medicineŗ appeared in 15 locations on

the package. The product consists of a set of twelve

capsules, containing either 1M or 12c homeopathic

Arnica, in a programmed dosage regimen taken before

and after surgery.

MICHAEL formed a subsidiary, Alpine

Pharmaceuticals, to represent SinEcch

™

, and he began

attending professional reconstructive surgery

conferences to reach out to plastic surgeons

(www.alpinepharm.com). His company also helped

design and fund two high-quality research studies on

liposuction and facelift surgery. The latter appeared

in Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, an AMA

publication (vol. 8, Jan./Feb. 2006). Both studies

were statistically significant and showed dramatic

reductions in bruising/swelling. In the facelift study,

those who did not use SinEcch

™

had a 50% longer

recovery time, 41% more bruising 7 days after

surgery, and an average of 9 square inches more

bruising.

According to MICHAEL: ŖOur advertisements in

the premier plastic surgery medical journal, Plastic

and Reconstructive Surgery, resulted in the

American Society of Plastic surgeons putting the

question of Arnica on the agenda for their expert

panel, the ŘDevice and Technology Assessment

Committee.ř After investigating the subject, the

committee proclaimed that Arnica is completely

safe.ŗ It also evaluated ten different Arnica research

studies published worldwide and found that only two

studies-those using SinEcch

™

- showed a statistically

significant reduction in bruising and swelling.

MICHAEL estimated that more than 1000 plastic

surgeons now routinely prescribe SinEcch

™

and that

itřs been safely used to help hundreds of thousands of

plastic surgery patients. ŖIf it were up to nurses, weřd

have it in about 90% of surgeonsř offices,ŗ

MICHAEL noted.

Now that other homeopathic companies are also

marketing Arnica to plastic surgeons, Michael

guessed that perhaps 10-20% of U.S. plastic surgeons

prescribe Arnica in some formulation for their

patients. As the demand for plastic surgery grows, the

percentage of patients receiving Arnica will surely

increase as well.

Michaelřs daughter Allison is the companyřs

national sales director for SinEcch

™

. ŖIt has been a

difficult time,ŗ she remarked recently, Ŗbut we have

all been strengthened by continuing Hahnemann Labs

and working hard to carry on my fatherřs vision and

legacy.ŗ

[It is unfortunate that Michael J.QUINN (1952-2009)

The Pharmacist who has done this unique work,

passed away due to a massive stroke on 28 Jan. 2009.

Glowing tributes have been paid by several persons

who had occasion to know him. We too feel very sad.

HAHNEMANN up there would have surely

welcomed him with open arms = KSS].

X. B.C. GUHA: THE DOYEN OF INDIAN

BIOCHEMISTS AND PIONEER OF VITAMIN C

RESEARCH I.B. CHATTERJEE.

(S & C. 75, 1-2/2009)

B.C. GUHA is considered to be the father of

modern biochemistry in India. It will, however, be

wrong to judge the personality of this unusual

biochemist through biochemistry alone. Till the last

day of his life Guha fought for the development of

teachings and research in science and technology

throughout the country. It is unfortunate that fifty

years have passed by since Guha suggested there

medial measures, but apparently very little has been

done. A shabby condition still persists in most

teaching institutions in our country. The universities,

colleges and particularly the schools are still, by and

large, ill-equipped and ill-staffed for science teaching.

In the name of progress, we have increased the

number of schools and colleges and university

departments with increased intake of number of

students. The progress is mostly quantitative and not

qualitative. We recruit young faculties and overload

them with classes, without giving them adequate seed

money and time to start research. Teaching and

research enrich each other. In early twentieth century,

a galaxy of illustrious Indian Scientists evolved from

Calcutta University and it was one of the top ten

universities in the world. Slowly and gradually it has

fallen to a very low position. The point of flow of

excellence, unfortunately, appears to have been dried

up. Quality has been the worst victim. It is high time

that a holistic approach should be made by the

university authorities and find ways and means for

revival of the past glory.

XI. Transforming the AIH. Workshop on cultural

Transformation Tools. MERIZALDE Bernardo

(AJHM. 101, 1/2008)

AIH Board of Directorsř meeting held on

October 6, 7, 2007, Penn Valley, Pennysylvania

considered the obvious decrease in passion in the

Organisation, explored various methodologies to

remedy it and arrived at the Cultural Transformation

Tools (CTT), as developed by Richard BARRETT

which shows that organizations and companies that

survive and thrive are those that take care of their

internal culture and express and practice core values

that support such culture, especially as it interacts

with community and society at large.

The core business is advancing healthcare

through homeotherapeutics.

The values of excellence, commitment, shared

vision, mission focus, making a difference were

identified. The values caution, cost reduction,

cynicism, image and short term focus were found to

be limiting the growth of improvement of the

organization.

Members are requested to review the new AIH

website and to suggest how it can be improved upon.

XII. Potentized Cina reduces Root-knot Nematode

infestation and alters Leaf Protein Profile of

Cowpea:

Cina 30 c, prepared the Extract of Artemisia

nilagrica, was diluted with distilled water 1:500 and

applied once only by light brushing on a part of a leaf

of Cowpea. The treatment reduced root-knot disease

of the plants and enhanced their growth. Leaf

proteins of the plants, separated by FPLC, varied in

number and amount in the uninoculated, inoculated

untreated and inoculated Cina-treated groups of

plants. Cina 30 c is thought to induce expression and

repression of necessary proteins involved in reducing

Nematode infestation. (Nirmal SUKUL, Raj

K.SINGH, Soma SUKUL (Chunari), and Anirban

SUKUL of the Dept. of Zoology and Dept. of Botany,

Visva Bharati University, Santiniketanŕ731235,

West Bengal, India. (In Science & Culture, Vol.75,

7-8/2009) [SUKUL et al. have already published

articles in different journals, of their observations

Cina 30, Cina 200 and Cina 1000 reduced root-knot

disease in plants. Botanists and Agriculture

scientists should take note of these very useful

observations and apply it in the field. It will save lot

of money now spent on insecticides. = KSS]

XIII. Report to the USA on the 62nd Congress of

the LMHI, Puebla, Mexico, 7 Ŕ 11 August 2007:

(AJHM, Vol. 101, No. 1, 2008) Report by Richard

HILTNER, MD, USA: Some Extracts: Miriam E.

GARCIA de VALLEROTO (Argentina) related that

in spite of the tremendous success and influence of

Homeopathy in Argentina, there still is a lack of

official recognition of Homeopathy by the Health

Ministry of Argentina. [This is not unusual in many

parts of the World. It is unfortunate that the

Homeopathy community is still under the delusion

that it can obtain its acceptance by the hegemony

Medicine; it would do well for Homeopathy to let it

be so, and proceed to keep on progressing in its

service to the needy people and rest at that = KSS].

With regard to Austria the University of Vienna

teaches a course on Homeopathy and has an

organization named Students Initiative for

Homeopathy which offers a remarkable 465 hour

training programme for students. The University of

Graz and Innsbruck also have voluntary lectures.

Veterinary Homeopathy is an official specialty and

has its own association, OGVH. Fourteen hospitals

have homeopathic out-patient departments and

consultants. The Austrian Minister of Health Dr.

Marian KALLAT, invited a number of medical

professionals, including homeopathic physicians, for

a ŘHealth Dialogueř in November 2006. This was an

initial attempt to place Homeopathy on an equal

level with conventional medicine and help meet the

costs of homeopathic treatment and medicines.

Carlos RIVEROS-GOMEZ (Columbia): there

are about 3,000 physicians in Columbia who have at

least two years training in a LIGA-accredited

homeopathic school. The Health Ministry has

officially recognized homeopathic medicine.

Xavier GODOY (Ecuador): The Ecuadorian

Homeopathic Medical Society (SOMHE) wqas

acknowledged by the Health Ministry in 1983 and

Homeopathy was officially recognized as a specialty

by the Eucadorian Medical Federation in 1998.

Ecuador is one of the few countries where the

Government has actually given money to provide a

house as the Headquarters for the SOMHE. The last

Ecuadorian Constitutional Assembly accepted

Homeopathy.

Saima TISLER (Estonia): The Social Ministry

has given permission for licensure to the

homeopathic physicians.

Karin BANDELIN (Germany): The Government

is permitting reimbursement for homeopathic

treatment. . . . . . In general however, Homeopathy

continues to be well-respected and accepted by most

people, professionals and the Government.

Renzo GALASSI (Italy): The Health Ministry

still does not officially recognize Homeopathy in

spite of the fact that in all these countries there is

much general respect for and use of Homeopathy by

a number of physicians. Some Italian universities are

offering preliminary courses in Homeopathy.

Marina AFANASIEVA (Latvia): the number of

patients seeking homeopathic treatment is increasing

, being about double of what it was last year. The

Latvian Homeopathic Association (LHA) is

particularly busy obtaining partners and sponsors for

the 2011 LIGA Congress in Riga.

Antonio P.SANCHEZ CABALLERO (Mexico):

optimistic report on Homeopathy in Mexico. The

Homeopatia de Mexico College is working with the

Dederal Government to certify all homeopaths in

Mexico.

Xavier Cabre PLAYA (Spain): There seems to

be some conflicts going on between the medical

doctors and alternative medical practitioners.

Clemens DIETRICH (Switzerland): The Swiss

Association of Homeopathic Physicains remains

strong at 363 members. There are many other

homeopathic organizations working in general for

Homeopathy.

Ivaniv OLEKSANDER (Ukraine): Official

recognition of Homeopathy by the Ukrainian

Government has not been realized in spite of the fact

that there are 16 homeopathic medical associations

and 70% of the urban population uses homeopathic

medicine in the country.

Richard HILTNER (USA): The 65

th

Congress of

the LIGA will be in Redondo Beach on May 18-22,

2010, celebrating the 200

th

anniversary of the

Organon.

Dr. Jacques IMBERECHTS (Belgium)

emphasized the importance of saving and

disseminating the results of the existing Provings. He

asked all to recall the five steps recommended by

Constantine HERING whether Provings could be

translated into actual fact. They are: (1) Possibility,

(2) Probability, (3) Confirmation, (4) Corroboration,

and (5) Clinical verification.

Gloria FEIGHELSTEI (Brazil): She epitomized

what one person can accomplish with talent,

enthusiasm and tremendous energy. Perhaps no other

country has developed Dentistry as well as Brazil,

primarily becase of her efforts.

There was a Pre-Congress Programme on 5

th

August entitled ŖA Course on an Integrated

Hshnermannian Clinicŗ which dealt with some of the

basic thoughts on what human being is and the causes

of Illness. The concept of Miasms was elaborated

upon by Ulrich FISCHER (German). The awareness

of a human being in a larger sense, - the physical,

psychological, mental and spiritual levels Ŕ was

presented by Edgar GODOY (Ecuador). The

importance of observation and perception, both

logically and intuitively, was discussed by Antonio S.

CABALLERO (Mexico). Expanding on these ideas

Edwiges S. CABALLERO (Mexico) spoke on

ŖDeontological Aspectsŗ or Ŗthe idea of duty or moral

obligation or Ethics.ŗ HANEMANN felt very

strongly that a human being is a spiritual entity and

therefore connected to the Universe (either seen or

unseen) and obligated to live by natural, universal

laws. The notion of a moral, ethical sense is

imperative to understanding disease, Miasms and

Homeopathy in its depth.

The theme of this Congress was ŖReturning to

Hahnemannŗ. Jose MANTUK (Mexico) spoke on the

need of looking back to the original wisdom of

HAHNEMANN and trying not to lose the essence of

his knowledge.

Alfonzo Carvajal LOZANO (Mexico)

expounded on a Psychiatrist named Victor Emil

FRANKL (born in Austria, 1905) who developed a

psychological therapy called ŖLogotherapyŗ or

ŖWord therapyŗ. ŖWordŗ in this context comes from

the Greek ŖLogosŗ which has a spiritual or

metaphysical aspect as the cause and cure of the

patient; in other words dealing with ethics or morals.

Armida REBUFFI (Italy) explained the

homeopathic approach to three severely ill patients

with chronic renal disease and one with Portal

Hypertension secondary to a Portal vein Cavernoma

and, lastly, one with chronic Eczema. These cases

were either cured or palliated.

Renzo GALASSI (Italy) gave a colourful slide

presentation on a 60 year-old-man who ran all the

way from Italy to China, using only homeopathic

medicines as needed. This person was analysed

miasmatically. His general Miasm was Sycosis,

which could well acount for his ambition and

stamina. He was given individual medicines at

various times, including Phosphorus, Lycopodium,

Lachesis, and Pulsatilla.

Gloria Andre FEIGHELSTEIN (Brazil) and

Norma Villazon de MATUK (Mexico) reviewing

some of the basic constitutional and miasmatic

aspects as applicable to homeopathic Dentistry. The

Ŗconstitutional typeŗ is a word especially associated

with NEBEL, VANNIER, and EIZAYAGA

(Genotypical Type). The constitution is the least

changeable part of the human and is strongly related

to the heredity and miasmatic background. The

classical pictures of the main Calcareas Ŕ Calcarea

carbonica, Calcaea phosphoric and Calcarea

fluorica were detailed. Geraldo RIBEIRO/Lucia

WIERZCHON (Brazil) presented an extremely

detailed study of the controversial subject of Fluorine

or Fluoride salts used in water, etc. to prevent dental

caries. They studied patients with Ŗfluorosisŗ

(characterized by white lines running vertical on the

enamel). Ana Maria Pascual RAMIREZ Mexico)

listed the most common medicines used in

homeopathic Dentistry: Arnica, Belladonna,

Calendula, Chamomilla. Cheiranthus, Hepar

sulphuris calcareum, Hypericum, Mercurius

solubilise, Millefolium, Phosphorus, Plantago,

Silicea, and Symphytum.

Maria Jose Carvas PEDRO, Brazil conducted a

double-blind research study with patients having

Temporo-mandibular Joint Syndrome (TMJ) and

general orofacial pain. The results were as expected

positive.

Lucia WIERZCHON, Brazil, delivered a

circumspect lecture about dealing with cancerous

lesions in the mouth. She said that Homeopathy can

be used with other therapies, including Surgery,

radiation, chemotherapy to lessen oedema, pain and

strengthen the immune system. The main

homeopathic medicines used were Conium, Bryonia,

Staphysagria, Thuja, Aveloz and Lycopodium.

Maria Jose Carvas PEDRO presented another

very fascinating paper on ŖEagleřs Syndromeŗ. This

is defined as the prolongation or calcification of the

stylohyoid process often associated (and

misdiagnosed as TMJ Syndrome) with

temporomandibular joint pain. The symptoms

include: throat pain worse from deglutition and often

radiating to the ear on the side of the dysfunction;

decreased salivation; nausea; feeling of a foreign

body in throat; and occasional vertigo. She has

treated 56 patients with good results. The main

homeopathic remedy was Hekla lava. According to

Maria PEDRO ŖEagleřs Syndromeŗ occurs in adult

women with pain being the most prominent symptom.

The diagnosis is primarily made by radiography and

clinically. The results of conventional medical

treatment are not that good and frequently wrought

with complications.

Andre de LEON, Mexico, spoke about the

importance of developing a specific repertory to

facilitate the finding of miasmatic pictures.

Bernardo Jose Neira HERNANDEZ, Mexico,

gave fascinating and stimulating talk on ŖPulse and

its Miasmatic Seriatimŗ. He emphasized that

HAHNEMANN wished all homeopaths to have keen

senses and observe without prejudice all of the

patient. The pulse has been mentioned frequently in

Provings and out Materia Medica and should be

examined closely.

Renzo GALASSI, Italy, presented his new book

ŖSintomi Mentali Del Repertorio Omeopaticoŗ

(Mental Symptoms of the Homeopathic Repertory).

This work was mainly influenced by Dr. GALASSIřs

main teacher, Processo ORTEGA, and his famous

book ŖThe Translation and Definition of the Mental

Symptoms of the Synthetic Repertory of

BARTHELŗ). However, Dr.GALASSI added a

number of cases associated with each of the mental

symptoms besides the relationship between these

symptoms and the Miasms.

Anahit HAROUTYUNYAN, Rumania,

presented a paper dealing with twenty patients with

skin diseases, especially those causing Alopecia.

These patients did well with one dose of a

homeopathic medicine. The remedies most often

prescribed were Lycopodium, Graphites, Ignatia and

Sepia.

XIV. Report on the Celebrating Links Ŕ The

Homeopathic Conference, Heidelberg, 19-21

October 2007. Report by Christian Lucae. (ZKH. 52,

1/2008): In celebration of the 20 years of its

existence, the Homeopathic Links, held a Congress

(in English). It was for three days. There were more

than 1000 participants influenced by the new

Řcurrentř. Every day a main theme and main speaker

was chosen: Friday was Mineral kingdom (Jan

SCHOLTEN), Saturday, Plant kingdom (Rajan

SANKARAN) and on Sunday it was Animal

kingdom (Massimo MANGIALAVORI). Jan

SCHOLTEN spoke on the ŖConcept of 18 Stadiumsŗ;

he presented cases from the group Lanthanides,

Holmium muriaticum, Praseodymium bromatum and

Samarium sulfuricum. Important Lanthanide-theme:

Autonomy (by that includes a strong reference to

auto-immune-diseases), refusal of help (the patient

wants to do everything by him/herself and have

control) and freedom (Ŗfreeŗ as important key-word

in the Anamnesis). The remedy selection in the

above cases were difficultto be foretold, the clinical

diagnosis were formulated loosely and the course too

short. So it was with the remedy Holmium

muriaticum in a small child with nephrotic syndrome

in which the Cortisone doses could be reduced. This

and many other cases had short follow-ups. The

French Paediatrician Patricia LeROUX presented

more cases on the Ŗacidsŗ. A 4-month-old infant with

flatulence and sleep disturbances treated successfully

with Butyric acid,a 3-year-old girl with Hepatitis B

since her birth. Was treated with Muriatic acid; other

remedies were Gallic acid for a sleep disturbance and

Chromic acid in acute Tonsillitis. All prescriptions

were by KeyNotes and on singular rubrics. Other

speakers on Friday were Alize TIMMERMAN

(Improvement of the body consciousness as the

action of the coal group), Jayesh SHAH (The term

Řvital sensation), Andreas Bjørndal (Finding the the

Simillimum over the Quantum Physics of the

Periodic System) and George LOUKAS (Spiral

classification of the Periodic System: a new model for

the understanding of the Essence of Elements).

Jewremy SHERR demonstrated in his 90 minutes

lecture ŖCodes and Puzzlesŗ from selected snippets of

symptoms of Krypton Ŕ mainly with dream symptoms

Ŕ his thorough knowledge of analogies, mysticism,

and number plays which were quite wonderful and

triggered interest which did not appear to help us to

conclude the prescription of Krypton in our practice.

The main lecture on Saturday was of Rajan

SANKARAN. The first 30 minutes were a

demonstration of his outstanding show talents: his

system of different levels (Level 5 is ŖVital

Sensationŗ); a case of a typical Indian and interesting

story explained graphically in which the different

human reactions were there. The remaining time

filled by several video cases, all the cases were

prescribed on the basis of Ŗvital sensationsŗ which

were there. Unlike SCHOLTEN, SANKARAN

quickly received greater and loud applause.

Frans VERMEULEN explains his lattest work

on ŖKingdom of Bacteria and Fungiŗ: In his dry

speech style he gave enormous details.

In the afternoon lectures were

SCHLINGENSIEPEN-BRYSCH Nandita SHAH,

Uta SANTOS KÖNIG and Resie MOONEN, Will

TAYLOR.

At the end of talks, one went out in no way wiser

but still in the same darkness.

XV. Nachruf für Horst Barthel (Tribute for Horst

Barthel): Horst BARTHEL, born 13 April 1922,

passed gently on the 13 April 2008 a week before his

87th birthday. Dr. BARTHEL was vigorously

engaged in practising, teaching classical

Homeopathy, throughout his life. In 1948 he saw a

person suffer a bad traffic road accident. His wife, in

despair, contacted Dr. MÜSSLER, a homeopath and

she gave her badly injured husband Arnica and like a

wonder the man got up and recovered rapidly. From

then on BARTHEL studied Homeopathy untiringly

and practised it. He studied the sources and the old

literature and kept off from the so-called Řscientificř

school. He went on for years collecting material from

the old literature. He worked in association with Jost

KÜNZLI and Pierre SCHMIDT who gave his Kent

hand-corrected copy of Repertory and in 1973,

BARTHEL brought the Synthetic Repertory, so that

all homeopaths get the benefit of KENTřs additions,

corrections and Pierre SCHMIDTřs works. For more

than 20 years he sacrificed himself so that a work that

will stand in good for the 3

rd

millennium was got

ready. While BARTHEL did the Vol. I (Mind) and

Vol. II (Generals), Dr. Will KLUNKER took up the

work with Vol. III covering the Sleep, Dreams and

Sexual, thus completing the work. This three volume

work was a tri-lingual edition Ŕ English, French,

German and thus is a great use in understanding the

source expressions. However later editions have not

been tri-lingual. For the first time BARTHELřs

Repertory gave the source for every remedy and one

can thus verify those sources so as to understand

rightly.

All over the world Classical Honeopathy

practice increased with the arrival of BARTHELřs

Repertory. Dr. BARTHEL is one of the great

homeopaths of the 20

th

Century. (Tribute by Dr.

Erika ANZENBACHER, in the ZKH. 52, 2/2008).

XVI. Werner BUCHMANN (1913 Ŕ 2007) Ŕ

Nachgedanken (Memorium Ŕ Werner

Buchmann): Dr. Werner BUCHMANN left this

earth on 18 September 2007; as adeep spiritual

person, he wrote in his Biography ŖLife becomes so

easyŗ. He was born on 3 June 1913. Served in the

Military and imprisonment after which he began in

1945 his medical practice, with Neurology and

Psychiatry as speciality. He came into contact with

Homeopathy in 1953 and was Ŗmixerŗ; in 1969 he

attended a Course wherein he learnt to look at a

person as a total, and not just a diagnosis. He then

studied with Mathias DORCSI, Artur BRAUN,

Martin STÜBLER, etc. His homeopathic philosophy

was influenced by the teachings of Sanchez

ORTEGA, and Willibald GAWLIK. He supported

the reforms in young homeopaths. (Dr. Jutta

HÜBNER in AHZ. 253, 4/2008).

-----------------------------------------------------------

LIST OF JOURNALS

Full addresses of the Journals covered by this Quarterly Homeopathic

Digest are given below:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. AHZ: Allgemeine Homöopathische Zeitung, Karl F. Haug Verlag,

Hüthig GmbH, im Weiher 10, 69121, HEIDELBERG, GERMANY.

2. AJHM: American Journal of Homeopathic Medicine, formerly

Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy (JAIH). 801 N.

Fairfax Street, Suite 306 Alexandria, VA 22314.

3. CCR: Homeopathic Clinical Case Recorder, Dr. Subhash Meher,

Near Hotel Chanakya, Anandrishiji Marg, Burudgaon Road,

AHMEDNAGAR - 414001.

4. THE HINDU: Newspaper, Chennai Ŕ 600 002.

5. HH: Homeopathic Heritage, B. Jain Publishers Overseas, 1920,

Street No.10, Chuna Mandi, Paharganj, Post Box 5775, New Delhi -

110 055.

6. HL: Homeopathic Links, Homeopathic Research & Charities,

F/s, Saraswati Colony, Linking Road, Santacruz (W), Mumbai

400054.

7. HOM: Formerly British Homeopathic Journal (BHJ), Homeopathy,

Faculty of Homeopathy, 29 Park Street West, Luton, Bedfordshire,

LU13BE, UK.

8. HT: Homeopathy Today, National Center for Homeopathy, 801,

North Fairfax Street, Suite 306, ALEXANDRIA, VA. 22314, USA.

9. NAMAH: New Approches to Medicine and Health, Sri Aurobindo

Society, PONDICHERRY Ŕ 605 001.

10. S & C: Science and Culture, Indian Science News Association, 92,

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road, KOLKATA Ŕ 700 009.

11. IJHDR: International Journal of High Dilution Resarch, Sibiu,

Romania. Via Internet.

12. ZKH: Zeitschrift für Klassische Homöopathie, Karl F. Haug Verlag,

Hüthig GmbH, Im Weiher 10, D-69121 HEIDELBERG, GERMANY.

13. MedGG: Medizin, Gesellschaft und Geschichte, Institut für

Geschichte der Medizin Robert Bosch Stiftung, Straussweg 17, 70184

STUTTGART, GERMANY.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PART II

(This Section contains abstracts/extracts from selected articles; even the entire article in some case)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------

1. The Signature of The Christmas Rose

(Helleborus niger)

KÖNIG Karl (HG. XXXI, 7/1964)

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

For many decades now, and perhaps even longer,

Helleborus niger, the Christmas rose, has been a plant

almost forgotten by medicine. It is mentioned only

rarely, and the following statement by Hugo

SCHULZ, made almost 40 years ago, is still valid:

ŖThe use of hellebore preparations in therapy is today

of no significance. Attempts to use helleborin instead

of digitalis were soon given up again. The same

applies to the use of tincture of hellebore as an

aperient, an emmenagogue, and also to relieve the

symptoms accompanying hydrops. The homeopathic

school uses a tincture of the black hellebore in cases

of hydrops due to kidney disorders, in Meningitis,

Meningitis cerebrospinalis, and compensatory

disorders. One gets the impression, however, that

even in this school Helleborus is not used very

extensively.ŗ

A cursory look at the literature produces only

meagre results. We find indications that the root of

the Christmas rose contains a glycoside which shows

effects similar to those of Digitalis. In a survey of

ŖThe Ranunculaceæ in Homeopathyŗ, DEWENTER

mentions Helleborus, and describes its relation to

renal pathology. Most of his work is based on

statements by Voisin. In Stiegeleřs Homöopathische

Arzneimittelehre, the Christmas rose is not even

mentioned. It looks as though it really is almost

forgotten.

This is all the more remarkable as it was

extraordinarily lauded and appreciated by

PARACELSUS and HAHNEMANN, too, has often

concerned himself with this plant. PARACELSUS

says: ŖIts root can drive away four diseases: Epilepsy,

Podagra, Stroke, and Dropsy. In the case of a Stroke,

it discharges the Materia peccans and brings back life

into the paralysed limb. In Epilepsy, young persons

should take a quarter ounce boiled in milk, older

people the same in wine. They should drink of this

three times daily. With Podagra, the patient should be

purged every day for three days before the attack; the

same as with Stroke. After that, the root seeks out the

cause of the disease…. The hellebore clears away the

water…. The balsam of the hellebore is not only a

laxativum, but also a conservativum.ŗ Of the leaves

of the hellebore he says: ŖThis remedy helped to

prolong life and radiant health, and was taken

regularly after the 60th year. The humores-doctors

have caused the herb to be disdained, for they do not

need the natural mysteries … ŖParacelsus continues

for many pages to talk of the Ŗstrength and actionŗ of

the Christmas rose. Matthiolus, too, and other herbals

of the late Middle Ages discuss this plant in detail.

Hahnemannřs habilitation paper: ŖDe

Helleborismo Veterumŗ which was published in 1812,

only deals with the Christmas rose indirectly.

Helleborus niger, though several times proved

homeopathically, is used only rarely. Emil

SCHLEGEL tries to regain a new understanding for

the black hellebore, and sums up his thoughts as

follows: ŖHow then can we get a picture of the

protective strength of Helleborus as a remedy? No

doubt it has a kind of diminished toxic effect. The

remedy directs its attacks or stimuli at all regions of

the body, and thus evokes the response of the

organism. It organizes, so to speak, in later age the

home guards of self-defence, and its energies

correspond more to the faint disorders of the ageing

organism than to the stormy attacks of the affections

and inflammations typical of the time of youth. A

slowing down, a wearing out of the functions is

characteristic of Helleborus …ŗ

Such observations, however, remain far too

general, and do not come closer to the essential being

of the plant; they hardly reach the sphere from where

it can again become an active remedy. Here lies the

reason why we have almost forgotten the Christmas

rose as a medicinal plant. We no longer know when

and how to use it, for we have lost its signature. We

have lost the key, and cannot open the door which

leads to the Ŗstrength and actionŗ of the hellebore.

We should therefore again set out and search for this

key.

THE SPECIAL FEATURES OF HELLEBORUS

NIGER

The special characteristic of the Christmas rose is

seen in its peculiar mode of life. It is not a herb which

takes part in the annual rhythm of dying and

becoming; on the contrary, it tries to create a rhythm

of its own which is expressed by the fact that it

blooms in winter. From Christmas to Easter is the

time when it unfolds its flowers.

That, however, is not the only sign of its peculiar

existence. In other ways, too, it does not submit to the

rhythm of the year as fully as most other plants do. It

usually takes from five to seven years before it

flowers at all; then, however, it shows its hidden

strength and opens and the beautiful white flower

bells, delicately painted with a variety of subtle

colours. Like sleigh-bells, they herald the winter and

try, despite frost and snow, to outlast it. After

fertilization, which usually occurs by self-pollination,

the flowers do not wither away, but turn green and

thus reveal their true nature; they were not really

petals, but sepals that which corresponds to the petals

are the nectarines at the bottom of the corolla.

The flower develops from short, thick, fleshy

stems which bear the high leaves, and arise out of a

circle of green ground-leaves. The latter stem from a

vigorous black (niger!) rhizome which in fact is a

subterranean stem and anchors itself to the soil with

many root fibres.

The development and completion of the leaves in

a single plant takes many years; they gradually

increase in size and at the same time divide more and

more into separate fingers. Only when this process of

development is completed do the flowers open.

Inside each flower are not only the nectarines full of

honey, but also a profusion of almost a hundred

stamens which are arranged around a central group of

7 to 10 pistils. A delicate scent rises from this floral

being.

Anyone able to watch a large number of

Christmas roses through the years cannot fail to

observe the strange individuality of each plant. One

of the great authorities on the Christmas rose, Mr.

HUBLOW, of Constance, has shown me the

photographs of many of his Christmas roses, to

demonstrate their peculiar difference in colour, form,

and growth. It is almost as if every one of the 70

varieties grown by him clearly emphasized its

Ŗpersonalityŗ. This goes as far as the place of the

flower, the serration of the leaf, the colour of the

stem. In this way the Christmas rose not only shows a

kind of individualistic tendency towards the rhythm of

the year, but also tries to be a Ŗselfŗ among the

members of its own species.

Its colour, too, is rather individual, compared

with other plants. The whiteness of the flower is like

a wax tablet on which appear the delicate shades of

the bright red of dawn which may change into a deep

rose colour. These hues look as if they were painted

on from outside, and not created out of the plant. The

stems of the leaves and flowers, too, may show shades

of red and thus contrast with dark green of the old

leaves.

Is not it as though this flower has disengaged

itself from all the rhythms of the earth and the order

of living of the plant world? Has not it to some extent

withdrawn from the sphere of life, and thus acquired

the same colour which is due only to man? The

tendency to give away that which is a general habit

and to be instead something individual and special is

at work in this plant.

Perhaps this is why the ancients regarded it as a

remedy which prolongs life, and the philosophers

drank an infusion of Helleborus before they

commenced the work of intensive meditation; they

tried to withdraw their head from the general ocean of

thought, so that they could develop their individual

faculties of thinking.

This habitat to Helleborus is as individual as its

properties; it is Ŗa typical indicator for limestone in

South and West Europeŗ, says Madaus. Its

distribution, however, may be called almost bizarre.

For not everywhere where there is limestone can it be

found. It grows mainly on stony slopes and in

mountain forests. ŖIts general distribution extends

over the northern and southern chalk ranges of the

eastern Alps (eastwards to Lower Austria and Croatia,

westwards to the Tessin, and north-eastwards to the

Tyrol), over the Apennine, Serbia, and the Carpathian

mountains.ŗ On the map published by Madaus, which

also shows the French Alps, the capricious character

of this lebensraum is clearly indicated.

The Christmas rose, therefore, is a plant which in

many of its properties reveals a definite tendency to

be individualistic, and thus emphatically points to its

special character. This becomes even more striking if

we enquire into its place in the order of plants, and

consider its closer relatives.

THE FAMILY OF RANUNCULACEÆ

The Christmas rose belongs to the Ranunculaceæ.

It is therefore a member of a clearly defined plant

family which FRANCÉ characterizes in such a way

that he exclaims: ŖRanunculi, what a familiar image!

Who does not know them, the anemonies, buttercups,

larkspurs, the handsome monkshood species,

Christmas roses, the luxuriant peony! They all belong

here and exhibit the extraordinary variety of forms

existing in this group.ŗ And Pelikan gives in his book

a particularly vivid description of the type, He says:

Ŗ…. The Ranunculaceæ are thus above all plants of

spring, of the temeperate region, of bright, damp,

open landscapes, of meadows, commons, the edge of

the forest, and alpine pastures. Some venture into the

water, others climb high up into the world of light in

the mountains, as long as there is no lack of moisture;

they take up their abode on brooks, around springs, on

pastures watered by melting glaciers. They avoid the

greater heat of a region, or the hot time of the year,

and withdraw into the woods, the forest glades,

perhaps even climb upwards there like lianas; they do

not grow into trees.ŗ

This gives us a first but comprehensive picture of

the Ranunculaceæ. Indeed, they do not grow into

trees! Because they try to evade any hardening and

induration. For that reason the transition from leaf to

flower is a gradual one; leaf can be flower, and flower

leaf; just as in the Christmas rose the petals are

nectarines and the sepals are flowers and turn green

later on. ŖThere can be no better characteristic than to

describe the Ranunculaceæ as a leafy type,ŗ says

GROHMANN. ŖThe Ranunculaceæ are the artists of

leaf-metamorphosis; the leaf permeates the flower…ŗ

The Ranunculaceæ thus become the true

preachers of Goetheřs concept of metamorphosis,

providing they are observed properly. And it is not

only that they do not grow into trees; the formation of

their fruit and roots, too, is never as outspoken and

apparent as in other plant families. They exhaust their

vitality so fully in the region of leaves and flowers

that there is not enough strength left for the uppermost

and the lowest regions: that of the fruit, and that of the

root. ŖRanunculaceæ are outstanding in their beauty

in the sphere of their flowers. Among them we find

many ornamental plants, like for instance the peony,

Christmas rose, columbine, larkspur, monkshood,

anemones, Adonis, and others. The fruits, on the

other hand, play no role whatsoever … By far the

most Ranunculaceæ exhaust themselves, so to speak,

in their beautiful flowers, so that there is nothing left

for the formation of fruits.ŗ

That middle region of the plant, therefore, which

is engaged mainly in the development of leaf and

flower, is particularly emphasized in the

Ranunculaceæ; it is a family characteristic belonging

to the whole group.

In addition there is another, very special

characteristic which the careful observer cannot miss

and which PELIKAN also pays special attention to.

He tries to show Ŗhow, according to the forces of the

seasons of the year, the type develops into the various

Ranunculaceæ species, and thus reveals itself in many

different plants. The dance begins with Eranthis

hiemalis, the winter aconite, the crocus among the

Ranunculacæe. ..ŗ Then follow the marsh marigold

(Caltha palustris), and the globe flower (Trollius

europaeus) which together with a great number of

anemones come with the arrival of spring. Among

them is also the wind flower (Pulsatilla), with all its

varieties.

A little later come the ranunculi, scattered in many

different places and regions. On rocks and mountain

pastures, at mountain brooks and on highlying

meadows; they can be found right down into Asia.

In the late spring and early summer the

columbines (Aquilegia) appear, accompanied or

followed by the peony (Paeonia officinals), and when

summer comes, the meadow rue (Thalictrum) appears,

and the tall larkspur (Delphinium) in many forms and

colours. At the time when the unfolding powers of

summer reach their height, the monkshood (Aconitum

napellus) arrives in its blue strength and dignity.

As summer draws to a close, the flowers of the

clematis appear. This is a family spread very widely

over the earth, the only one among the Ranunculaceæ

which allows its branches to grow slightly lignified:

this is where autumn comes.

This short and somewhat cursory summary gives

a picture of the distribution of the Ranunculaceæ

through the seasons. And now at last the Christmas

rose, too, finds its place. It is the first one, which has

rushed ahead of its brothers and sisters of the family

of Ranunculaceæ in the course of the cycle of the

year. Its later varieties, which flower in February and

March, already link up with the winter Aconite and

pheasantřs eye (Adonis vernalis); and the liverwort

(Anemone hepatica), too, appears, and many other

spring anemones.

Everywhere where the snow melts and spring sets

in the Ranunculaceæ begin to flower: Here is the

place of the Christmas rose within this plant family. It

has ventured one step too far and run ahead even of

early spring, and therefore fallen into the arms of

winter. It has remained faithful to the snow. It became

the leader of its plant family in the course of the

seasonal cycle of the year.

HELLEBORUS NIGER AND ACONITUM

NAPELLUS

If one tries to survey the whole variety of forms

of the Ranunculaceæ through the course of the year, it

is a trend of growth and development like a great

panorama which unfolds more and more distinctly.

This path begins with the Christmas rose and reaches

its highest point with the monkshood.

Even the forms of these two plants reveal their

polarity. The comparatively small, compact, leathery

hard leaves and wax-like flowers of the pale

Christmas rose stand opposite to the tall, upright

monkshood, glorying in the abundance of its blue

flowers. It can grow to a height of 4 ft. to 5 ft. Its root

is a dark, big tuber and from it rises a strong, upright

stem which at the top unfolds in a thick cluster of

flowers. Tall, upright and strong, this

appears at the peak of the summer, in the high

of Europe.

The flowers of the monkshood are no longer

radially symmetrical like those of the spring

Ranunculaceæ (anemones, Aquilegia, Paeonia, etc.),

but the isobilateral. They have given up radiant form

of the flower and submitted to a higher form of

organization. This form of symmetry already reminds

one of the forms of the animals. The higher

invertebrates as well as all vertebrates have the

bilateral symmetry as their fundamental

morphological concept.

Figuratively speaking, the flowers of the

monkshood reach, as it were, into the sphere of

animal life and the very strong toxicity of the plant

probably is connected with this fact. From the root

right up into the flowers it contains the aconitine

alkaloids. High up in the mountains, in the fullest

glory of summer, lives the monkshood, emphasizing

its own strength almost too forcefully.

Compared with this majestic plant, the Christmas

rose looks poor and pale. Yet in its wintery hide-out it

becomes the image of cosmic forces; the beautiful hue

of its colours reveals it.

Thus Helleborus and Aconitum stand opposite

each other. The one has advanced too far into the time

of winter and has therefore remained small and

earthbound. The other has ventured too high up, has

boldly reached the summery heights, and could only

maintain its individuality by being permeated with

toxic substances. Both plants are pioneers of the

family of the Ranunculaceæ.

The polarity shown here is particularly evident in

the homeopathic modalities. The same contrasts

appear which on the one hand can be seen and

deciphered in the outer form of the two plants, and on

the other hand experienced and established in the drug

provings.

Kent describes the two remedies in his usual

dramatic way. Of Helleborus he says: ŖIn all the

complaints of Helleborus stupefaction occurs in

greater or less degree. Sometimes it is a complete

stupor, sometimes a partial stupor, but it is always

stupefaction and sluggishness . . . There is a peculiar

kind of imbecility or stupefaction of the body and

mind. The extreme state is unconsciousness.

Complete unconsciousness in connection with

cerebral congestion, or meningitis, or inflammation of

the brain, with stupefaction. Even early in the disease

Hellebore lacks the wildness and acute delirium found

in Stramonium and Belladonna. It is passive - . . The

Hellebore case will linger for weeks and sometimes

months in this state of stupefaction, gradually

emaciating. He lies upon the back with the limbs

drawn up; he looks pale and sickly. When questioned

he answers slowly … The muscles will not act; they

will not obey the will. It is a sort of paralytic state …

The patient appears semi-idiotic.ŗ

How different sounds the same authorřs

description of Aconitum! ŖAconite is a short-acting

remedy. It is a violent poison. Like a great storm, it

comes and sweeps over and passes away…Strong,

robust people, rugged children, hearty infants become

sick . . . caught out with thin clothing, or remaining

out in the cold, dry air of mid-winter, they come down

even before night with violent symptoms . . . The

patient seems to be threatened with a sudden and

violent death, but recovery is quick . . . It has the lung

and brain complaints of mid-winter, and the bowel

inflammations and stomach disorders of mid-summer

. . . The patient feels the violence of his sickness, for

he is under a great state of nervous irritation, nervous

excitement. Fear is depicted upon his countenance,

and the heartřs action is so overwhelming the first

thing he thinks of is that he must die . . . When we see

this intense fear, this awful anxiety, great restlessness,

the violence and the suddenness of these attacks, we

have a case, perhaps, that is dying from the poison of

Aconite, or one who needs Aconite.ŗ

Here we have indeed two polar processes

opposed to each other: the stupefaction, sluggishness,

and slowness of the Helleborus-patient, and the

suddenness, restlessness, and fear, even agony of

death of the Aconitum-patient. Mirrored in these two

modalities one can see the earth-bound, slowly

developing, pale Christmas rose, and the upright

monkshood as it appears when the force of summer is

at its highest. Observation of the gestalt, and the way

in which the plant appears in its environment is

almost enough to decipher and explain the symptoms.

These are not such simple associations as Ŗcold

airŗ and Ŗhot summerŗ (Aconitum), but the inner

individuality of the plant which reveals itself in its

form, but also in its provings. The signature cannot be

deciphered by playful comparisons, but by

experiencing the inner gestalt and outer gestures of a

plant.

THE DRUG PICTURE

Now that we have come to see the contrast

between Aconitum and Helleborus, let us try to study

the Homeopathic Materia Medica to discover the

general and the special directions in the action of the

Christmas rose. That, however, is not an easy

undertaking, for there are many weeds which try to

overgrow the real properties of the remedy.

ALLEN, after listing a number of rather

confusing single symptoms, concludes as follows: ŖA

low type of fever, with great apathy, offensive breath,

feeble pulse, opium-like stupor, coldness and cold

sweat.ŗ This again shows clearly the picture already

described by Kent.

NASH is very outspoken in his description. He

says of Helleborus: ŖWe know its usefulness in the

advanced stage of severe diseases of the brain, such as

meningitis, or any other where exudation is imminent

or already present.ŗ He then gives a more detailed

account of the clinical picture which is similar to the

one given by ALLEN, and points to a most important

Symptom: the severe decrease of the diuresis. ŖUrine

scanty or retained altogether, sometimes coffee-

ground-like sediment.ŗ And he adds: ŖThese

symptoms indicate a hopeless state and the patient

will soon die in a coma or with convulsions unless the

right remedy is found.ŗ Finally, the author also

indicates that Helleborus is Ŗan excellent remedy for

dropsy after Scarlet feverŗ.

These two descriptions give us a first picture of

the line of action. Too much liquor is produced in the

central nervous system, whilst the kidney almost

completely ceases to yield urine. The fluid organism

floods the head, and withdraws from the kidneys.

In CLARKEřS Dictionary, Helleborus is

discussed fully, and there, too, we find the lines of

action just mentioned. He also quotes HAHNEMANN

who said: ŖI conclude from various observations that

one of the first effects of Black Hellebore is a kind of

stupor, a dullness of the sensorium commune, a

condition where, with sight unimpaired, nothing is

seen very fully, and the patient does not pay any

attention to anything.ŗ CLARKE indicates meningitic

conditions; he, too, mentions hydrocephalus and the

scanty flow of urine.

Finally STAUFFER begins his description with

the following words: ŖBrain and kidney remedy:

impending collapse of the brain or heart. Vitality

ebbing away fast, with cold sweat on the forehead.

Muscular cramps, followed by weakness and general

paralysis.ŗ

Here we meet already mixed together the

symptoms of acute as well as chronic poisoning. As

in most drug pictures, they are disturbingly thrown

together and this obscures the actual picture of the

drug action.

Muscular cramps and general paralysis, like

many other symptoms, occur with the acute poisoning

with helleborin or helleborein.

The chronic poisoning obtained with the drug

proving, however, clearly indicates the dislocation of

the fluid organism from the lower to the upper parts of

the body, as we described it above. If this occurs too

strongly, exudative rneningo-encephalitic conditions

arise which blur the sensorium induce stupor, and

inhibit the initiative. In this state the symptoms occur

which Stauffer describes:

ŖOccipital headache, with sensation of numbness,

heavy as wood.

Head is burrowed into the pillow and thrown to

and fro.

Eyes turned upwards, pupils wide, without

reaction.

Chewing with wrinkled forehead, cold sweat on

forehead.

Automatic movements of limbs, continuous

movement of one arm or leg, whilst the other

limbs lie as if paralysed.ŗ

There is, however, another aspect in the

displacement of the fluid organism, for there may also

arise a hydrops with Pleural exudation, Ascites, and

Anasarca. STAUFFER mentions in connection with

this an Acute Nephritis, accompanied by Uræmia, and

he also points to Eclampsia.

This description opens up a first insight into the

Ŗstrength and actionŗ of the Christmas rose. Will it be

possible to understand anew the signature which has

revealed itself to us?

THE SIGNATURE

The active substances contained in Helleborus

niger are above all two glycosides: Helleborus and

Helleborein. Simonis reports: ŖThe poisoning in man

appears in a variety of symptoms: Salivation, Nausea,

repeated Vomiting, difficulties in Swallowing, Gastric

and Abdominal pains, Diarrhea, also with blood, Pain

in the calves, Pallor of the skin, Vertigo, Tinnitus.

Photophobia, Darkness before the eyes, Blindness.

Later delirium, Sobbing, cramps, Weak and

infrequent pulse. Dyspncea, Somnolence, and Death

with convulsions.ŗ

Here we have the combined picture of symptoms

due to partly acute and partly subacute poisoning.

Outstanding is again the clouding of the sensorium.

From the data available it appears that helleborin is

less toxic than helleborein. .... The former acts more

strongly on the sensorium, the latter on the gastro-

intestinal tract. But, however, attack the whole of the

muscular system, including the heart. These are not

confirmed findings, but the probable lines of action.

It does show that the acute poisoning, too, acts on

the fluid organism and profoundly disturbs its

balance. The results are the signs and symptoms of

vomiting and diarrhea, the weakness of the muscular

system, and finally the complete collapse of the

circulation.

In the case of chronic poisoning it is a more

specific disturbance which affects those parts of the

fluid organism which are connected with the

production of the liquor and urine. PARACELSUS, in

the essay of Helleborus, says the following : ŖIt is

well-known that a fountain springs in man from which

water flows to such measure that those who have

never seen it will not be able to believe it.ŗ Is it

possible still to get the meaning of such a statement?

We remember that PARACELSUS connected the

curative strength of the Christmas rose with four types

- of diseases: Epilepsy, Podagra, Stroke, and Dropsy.

And speaking of Dropsy, he writes the sentence we

have just quoted. He even adds a peculiar annotation:

ŖIt is as if Moses had struck the liver with a rod and

nothing but water would run from it all the time

(perhaps it cannot be in any other way than that God,

like Moses, strikes with a rod).řŗ

No water flows from the liver: but where in the

organism does a liquid as clear as water flow all the

time? Could it not be that PARACELSUS meant the

everlasting fountain of liquor production? That

continuous process of production everywhere where

the choroid plexus projects into the ventricles of the

brain? Isnřt this the place where the remedial power

of the Christmas rose acts? The site at which in a

never-ending stream the thousands of droplets, that

Ŗwaterŗ, flow which revive the decaying forces of the

central nervous system?

The Christmas rose has its abode in deep winterřs

time. When the world of nature has died down and the

forces of life have withdrawn into the depth of the

earth; when the globe has inhaled deeply and almost

turned into a crystal, then the time of the Christmas

rose has come. Like with a magic wand it strikes at

the wintry rock of the earth and draws from it that

trace of vital water on which it can maintain itself.

The verdant forces of life are at work only in its

leaves; these grow throughout the year, and take part

in the whole life of the earth. But in winter the miracle

happens that suddenly flowers appear, through snow

and cold, contrary to the rhythms of life. Here the

process reveals itself which otherwise occurs only

inside the ventricles of the brain: that out of the

flowing blood, quietly, working drop by drop, a liquid

arises which is as clear as water. The liquor is like the

flower of the blood. The same process which inside

the head gives rise to the production of liquor also

creates outside the flower of the Christmas rose

during winter time. The stream of vitality which runs

through all the Ranunculaceæ here is transformed into

the purest flower; in a similar way the blood stream

turns into the liquor cerebrospinalis. In both places a

similimum arises, in two different forms which

harmoniously ring together.

Like the Christmas rose, the liquor may

sometimes be delicately tinged with red; if a

hæmorrhage occurs in the central nervous system its

clearness is clouded.

At this point, we should remember the important

investigations made by v. MONAKOW which were

all too soon forgotten. He was able to prove that in

severe mental disorders, especially in Schizophrenia,

pathological, mostly sclerotic changes are found in the

plexus chorioideus. This indication might provide an

explanation for the repeated mention in the literature

of cases of mental disorder cured by Helleborus niger.

Thus the indications for the use of Helleborus

mentioned by Paracelsus begin to regain some

meaning. For Epilepsy, Stroke, and Dropsy are

closely connected with the ormation of liquor. Gout,

however isstill a complete riddle to our understanding

and therefore Paracelsusřstatement remains - obscure.

With these results we achieved to sketch a

preliminary picture of the life and action of the

Christmas rose. We recognized it as the pioneer

among the Ranunculaceæ who penetrated into the

region of the deepset winter. This makes it a polar

opposite to its relative, the monkshood, which has

chosen summer as its lebensraum.

All the Ranunculaceæ which are medicinal plants

act on the water metabolism. They permeate the fluid

organism because they in themselves have a strong

relation to the fluid element. Where the snow melts,

the brooks flow, and on the damp edges of woods, by

and near to the swamps is their habitat.

But just as the liquor separates from the whole

water metabolism of the body, and achieves a special

place, so does the Christmas rose separate itself from

its brothers and sisters and become a hermit of the

winter time. Both, liquor and Helleborus, produce the

same living gesture; they separate from the rest and

stand apart.

Perhaps it will be possible, from the renewed

understanding of this strange flower, that it will be

thought of more often in medicine and again used

more frequently.

ŕThe British Homeopathic Journal, Oct., ř59

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2. Sulphur, A BLESSING TO EAST AFRICA

E. DAVIS, M.D.

(The Homeopathic Recorder, September, 15,

1929)

ŖI have found the homeopathic remedy for the

Agikuyuŗ, I joyfully announced to one of our lady

missionaries who had done considerable medical

work. ŖWhat is it, Sulphur?ŗ she promptly responded,

showing that she too had sensed the value of this

Polychrest, for the Africans.

A few months ago my wife, who is a trained

nurse, and I were called to a maternity case at the

railway station, three miles from our mission station.

During the usual period of waiting I read the article on

Sulphur in Dr. KENTřs LECTURES ON

HOMEOPATHIC MATERIA MEDICA and it

greatly impressed me as being one of the chief

remedies for the black people among whom we are

working. Our hospital is located among the Agikuyu,

a large Bantu tribe, but the Akamba, the Masai, the

Ja-Luo, and other tribes also come to us.

Since reading Dr. KENTřs article, the value of

Sulphur has become more and more apparent to me in

my medical work in this land. When one considers its

origin, is it any wonder that it is so useful in many of

the human ills! As Sulphur, in its natural source,

comes from the inside outward, from below upward,

is associated with heat and fire and burning, and

comes out of a mixture or association of many

geological formations, so this Polychrest has proved

useful in many internal disorders and their external

manifestations, so familiar to all of us.

It seems almost superfluous to speak of a remedy

so well known to this distinguished audience of such

wide experience, yet it is one of our best and dearest

friends that we like to speak the most, and this

medicine has been a friend indeed in our work here in

Africa. White, brown, black, all, have felt its

beneficial effects. Considering the typical Sulphur

case, it is not easy to comprehend its prevalent use

among the members of such a clean, educated, refined

people as the Europeans. Whether altitude, decreased

oxygen pressure with a decreased elimination of

waste matter, climatic conditions, or other influences

are at work to produce this state, I cannot say.

If there ever was a need for a specific, granting that

there is such a thing, it is right here among these black

people who are not accustomed to detailing their

symptoms as we homeopaths desire. We know how

we have to dig and delve at times to extract from a

white patient symptoms sufficient for a good drug

picture. Imagine, if you can, how trying it must be to

secure sufficient leading symptoms from an African.

He knows relatively little about his body, its

physiology and pathology, he does not understand for

what we are seeking, and much of the time he is not

able to make perfectly clear to us just what sensations

or feelings he experiences in his body or mind. There

are very few Europeans who can fully comprehend

the true and finer meanings in the native languages.

To a native with a headache, it is his head alone that

concerns him. Often he would look at us

contemptuously or refuse to answer our questions

concerning other parts of the body, and as to

Ŗgeneralsŗ for which we seek; it is his head only that

bothers him and for that alone does he seek relief. If

not watchful, we will have the patient answering as he

thinks we want him to and not giving true answers

concerning his symptoms or absence of them.

In hospital patients, if not too acutely ill, I have

tried giving Placebo for three days, for a native when

sick does not like to be without his medicine for even

twenty-four hours. Then his symptoms are taken each

day in order to secure some that are reliable. One day

a pain is in one place, the next he has another

complaint, or he remembers a symptom he has not

told me before. On one visit his pain is sticking, on

the next it may be described as burning or cutting.

After several questionings, if the patient will tell

practically the same story or his symptoms are about

the same on two or three occasions, then we feel that

we have a surer basis for the study of his remedy.

As would naturally be expected with such a

Polychrest, Sulphur is useful in a large variety of

ailments of the African people. Practically every

native, especia1ly of the tribes that eat meat to excess,

and many a European, has one or more intestinal

parasites and many of the symptoms produced by

them are those of Sulphur. Tapeworm, roundworm,

hookworm, amebae of different varieties, and others

are more or less common, varying in different parts of

the country. So far, I have found more confidence in

the use of Sulphur than in the use of the other

remedies I have tried.

Practically every Pneumonia case that comes

under my care will have Sulphur at some time during

the course of treatment, usually at the last stage. On

account of the increasing prevalence of Tuberculosis

among these people, I am inclined to think that much

of the Pneumonia is tubercular in origin or

association. We all know the usefulness of Sulphur in

Tuberculosis and I find it to be the chief remedy, for

the glandular as well as the pulmonary form, in

tubercular peritonitis and in the bone lesions,

Phosphorus having disappointed me many times.

Diarrhoea and dysentery are common complaints in

this land; in the high altitudes it may be due to or

aggravated by the chilling of the insufficiently

protected abdomen when the cold air of the evening

comes on after the heat of the day. We personally are

living at an altitude of 7,500 feet and the nights are

always cool, if not cold, even though there may be

tropical heat at midday. For these troubles Mercurius

vivus and more lately Sulphur have been found to be

the most useful. When Mercurius seems indicated and

does not give relief, then my inclination is to think of

Sulphur.

In tapeworm, scabies, and eczema, in the usual

absence of guiding symptoms for another remedy,

Sulphur is practically always given, often in the 12x at

first, changing to the higher potencies later. So many

of our patients are not seen again or at least for so

long a time that it is not easy to write at length on

wonderful recoveries produced by the aid of this

remedy, but we have seen sufficient to encourage us

and to give us great faith in its usefulness.

I have been impressed by the action of Sulphur in

cases of Epilepsy. A native boy was brought in badly

burned, so severely that his hands and feet were

deformed. This was the result of falling into a fire in

his hut during one of his epileptic spells. His burns

healed and he left, only to be brought back again with

more burns. After these healed he worked at the

hospital carrying wood for the patients, and he began

to have seizures again. I secured what few symptoms

there were and after careful study gave Sulphur 30x.

As a result of treating him with this remedy for some

time, all attacks stopped and I have heard of no more

trouble in the past five years during which he has been

working steadily for another missionary.

Recently we had another burn case in the

hospital, the result of falling into the fire during an

epileptic attack. Different remedies were used for

various symptoms that arose and late in his stay I was

led to give Sulphur for the fist time. On the tenth day

after beginning Sulphur 30x, though Placebo was

given for the last two days, he had an attack, the first

known during his four and a half months in the

hospital. It came on at 11.30 a.m. and the only

symptoms I could secure were these: he cried out, fell

backward, much saliva flowed from his mouth, and he

was weak afterward. I promptly gave Sulphur 500, a

powder at night for three nights, as an antidote.

A month later I gave Sulphur 200 and on the

second day after he had another attack. This one came

on at 2 p.m. and gave these symptoms: he felt heat all

over and perspired before the attack. Again he cried

out when falling. He urinated during this spell.

Afterward he had trembling of the limbs and felt

warm.

These experiences gave me some idea of the

value of Sulphur in that dread disease, Epilepsy. My

experiences in gynaecological work, and we have a

great deal of that to do, have led me to consider

Sulphur and Sepia the former leading, the chief

remedies in the common complaints that line. It is

uncommon to find many leading, distinctive

symptoms in this or any other class of cases, and our

experience combined with a few symptoms that we

have found common among these people in the

remedies generally used had to be our main help in

selecting the homoeopathy remedy.

Sulphur has been my main remedy in removing

warts. Miss. C., one of our young lady missionaries,

had small, rounded warts on her left palm and right

ring finger, sore to the touch. She was planning to be

married, so would be pleased to be rid of these

blemishes. I searched for all of her symptoms and

studied up the remedy on the basis of such: tendency

to take cold, aversion to company, aggravation from

consolation, irritability, weeping tendency, sensitive,

obstinate, fond of travel, desire for open air, craving

sweets, meat, and cold drinks, aversion to fats, worse

before menses, urticaria from sweets.

Out of my study came Sulphur and later out came

the warts, Ŗrolled outŗ, as she described it. In three

weeks they stopped growing, in two months they were

smaller, and later they separated entirely, much to the

surprise of the interested young man who had

ridiculed the use of anything but external applications.

Likewise others have seen their warts disappear

when Sulphur was used on the totality of symptoms,

and I hope to remove others, for this has proved to be

the best remedy in my hands.

Sulphur has proven of such signal benefit in

asthmatic conditions that I practically always think of

it when such a patient comes. Similarly would I speak

of Urethritis, though Mercurius vivus vies with ulphur

here, also some eye troubles such as temporary

dimness of vision that is rather a common complaint

among the natives, and chronic liver disorders.

The potencies that seem to give the best results of

those in my possession are the 30x and 200, though I

have used a number ofř different potencies. To the

black people I give the remedy in frequently repeated

doses for a short period, as they, in my experience,

seldom react quickly, then I gradually reduce it to

thrice, twice, and once a day, having them take it with

hot water, to favor quick absorption, and also to get

more water into the system, for a sick native drinks no

water, or at the most only hot and little of that.

Experience has taught me not to expect very

quick results among these black people and to some

extent in all people in this land. If there is scarcely

any change even in a weekřs time and the symptoms

still seem to indicate SULPHUR, I will continue to

give it, remembering how prevalent are infestation

with intestinal parasites, tuberculosis, and other

dyscrasiae.

The symptoms that most commonly cause me to

think of Sulphur are the following: abdominal pain,

burning or sticking, especially in the epigastrium and

above the navel, usually worse after eating; easy

satiety; poor appetite; nausea after eating; abdominal

distention after eating; rumbling in the abdomen;

aggravation from farinaceous food; constipation;

morning diarrhoea, often with tenesmus; increased

frequency of urination; perspiring more easily or at

night in bed, and especially in the palms of hands;

increase of saliva; thirst for cold water; cough worse

at night, in bed, on turning, after eating; hot feet;

burning pains anywhere; pulsations and flushes of

heat; pain in the back, usually burning and common in

the interscapular region; aggravation from heat, or no

reaction to either heat or cold, or only a slight

aggravation from cold, the first being most common;

restless at night; sleepless after midnight; aggravation

after midnight, or morning and evening; aggravation

from lying on the back or from standing; complaints

worse on the left side quite noticeably; itching, worse

at night and from heat, or the result of insect bites;

tongue white, yellow at the base, possibly slight

imprint of the teeth, particularly with clean, red

margin all around.

On account of the difficulty in securing adequate

symptoms and getting a good drug picture, my aim

has been to find a remedy that can generally be used

in the complaints that come to our attention and with a

reasonable expectation of its helping. How thankful

we are that in our great remedies, Sulphur, Arsenicum,

Mercurius, Natrum, Pulsatilla, Silicea, and others we

have, not true specifics, but medicines that will relieve

many of the ailments of the Africans.

Kijabe, Kenya Colony, British East Africa.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

3. Ye Good Old Sulphur

D. C. McLAREN, M.D.

[The Homeopathic Recorder, September, 1929]

Shortly after graduation, now well nigh fifty

years ago, one of my first cases was an infant

apparently dying of acute congestion of the lungs

caused by the suppression of an eruption. A speedy

and satisfactory cure was wrought by the use of

Sulphur, and from this case two important lessons

were learned; first, the fundamental nature of the truth

taught by HAHNEMANN regarding suppression, and,

second, the wonderful power of potentized Sulphur to

restore health under such conditions. This of course

applies more particularly to psoric cases. Where there

has been a gonorrheal suppression, the remedy which

in my experience most certainly brings back the

original discharge is Rhus tox., an occasional case

requiring the help of Sulphur. The final clean up of

such cases most frequently calls for Medorrhinum and

Sepia. For syphilitic suppression Hepar sulph., Nitric

acid and Lachesis are prominent remedies.

LIPPE used to say that many old syphilitics have

been so completely drenched with mercurials and

iodides that nothing short of a few months at Hot

Springs, Ark., would sufficiently clear the field for

our remedies to have a chance to work.

Unfortunately, this is seldom possible.

While on the subject of suppression, let me call

attention to one of its commonest and most frequent

forms, having to do with the feet, such as the painting

of bunions with Iodine, the removal of corns with

plasters and salves and the suppression of foetid foot

sweat. The classic remedy for all such cases is

Silicea, though at times Sulphur is required too.

It was stated that last year at Pittsburgh that,

owing to habits of increasing cleanliness on the part

of most of the population, there would likely be less

and less call for Sulphur as an everyday remedy; but

forty yearsř experience in my own section of country

makes me doubt any such probability. Not so very

long ago the lumber camps were notorious breeding

places of Scabies, with the usual handy means of

suppression, and more recently large numbers of

young men were infected during the Great War in

France. Therefore it is necessary to be constantly on

the look-out for past suppressions as the leading cause

of many present day complaints.

Probably no patient is so easily identified by his

appearance and objective symptoms as the Sulphur

man. He is likely to be dirty and smelly; not the

decent occupational smell of the woodworker, iron

worker or leather worker, but the disgusting smell of

dirty clothing too long unwashed. Significantly, the

Sulphur patient is not only dirty as to person and

clothing, but he is perfectly content to remain so. He

is too lazy and too indifferent to bathe, and will wear

the same dirty old clothes as long as they hold

together; to make matters worse, if remonstrated with,

he will justify his course by sustained and clever

arguments, hence he used to be called the Ŗragged

philosopherŗ by the old authors. Imagine, if you can,

a neat, tidy, fashionable dressed Arsenicum lady

married to one of these dirty, untidy Sulphur

fellowsŕthey will have an increasingly unhappy time

for a few years until forced to separate.

The Sulphur patient can be further identified as

follows: red-edged eyelids, bright red lips, and dark

rings under the eyes. In parenthesis let me add that

red lips of the Meatus Urinarius in cases of

suspected gonorrheal infection strongly indicate

Sulphur. Round-shoulderedness is a marked

indication: a slouchiness of carriage either too weak

or too lazy to hold himself erect; when seated in your

office he sits leaning forward with elbows on knees.

An elderly woman with a chronic stoop remaining

always in that posture was cured in a few months by a

single administration of Sulphur. Sulphur patients are

usually hungry; also hungry between meals, with that

empty feeling at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.; must have a

snack or go on getting weaker until meal time; hence

we have as a marked symptom of the remedy,

aggravation when hungry, or when the stomach is

empty, with corresponding increase of snap and

energy after eating.

The distress from ulceration is apt to be felt

mostly when the stomach is empty and VICE

VERSA; Without doubt Sulphur is our best remedy

for ulceration of the stomach. Psorinum also has

aggravation when hungry, but with this marked

difference, instead of getting faint and weak, the man

gets cross and ugly, scolds because dinner isnřt ready.

Some people regularly get that exhausted feeling in

the spring, and a dose of Sulphur pulls them together

and prevents breakdown.

An unusual form of weakness calls for Sulphur;

he or she cannot stand, will walk a block rather than

stand a minute waiting for a car; the lady canřt stand

long enough for the dressmakerřs fitting, and of

course, canřt stand in church. Such people may have

average health otherwise, but a little careful

questioning will reveal other symptoms calling for

Sulphur.

Even when tired and exhausted he is refreshed

and feels better in the open airŕair hunger is just as

important an indication as ordinary food hunger. The

patient often manifests this by ineffectual efforts to

breathe deeply, also by long sighing inspirations.

Truly he needs oxygen badly, but he needs Sulphur

worse, for that along will enable the system to

appropriate the oxygen from the air which he is trying

so earnestly to breathe. Recurrence of symptoms and

conditions at more or less regular intervals is very

significant of Sulphur, sometimes once a week, or

fortnightly or monthly, or Spring and Fall. This, of

course, spells chronicity, but along the line of acute

disorders the same thing is observable and becomes a

Ŗtendency to relapseŗ, and gives rise to many

troublesome experiences. Sulphur helps such cases

when given, not on that modality alone, but along

with other indications. As well as fresh air he needs

cool conditions; he canřt stand heat; a little extra heat

weakens the patient, he gets exhausted and sometimes

faints. He is much stronger and better in the cool

Autumn weather. In general, Sulphur is worse Spring

and Summer and better in Fall and Winter. While the

first warm days of spring frequently call for Bryonia,

look out for Sulphur too. Especially in eruptive

disorders: the rash breaks out every Spring and gets

worse during the Summer. Psorinum has the opposite

condition of eruptions reappearing in Winter; it is

often required for eruptions where Sulphur fails, or

aggravates. Old recurrent cases of ivy poisoning

require both Sulphur and Psorinum to make a

permanent cure.

The Sulphur patient is generally hungry; eats

heartily and is hungry again; often eats between

meals. Subject to cravings; often too fond of meat, of

sweets, tea, tobacco or whiskey. Great desire for

meat; eats it two or three times a day; also many who

are light meat eaters, but who must have that small

portion of meat once a day, or else they get faint and

weak, lose snap and energy. The Sulphur patient feels

the benefit of the meat he eats. Many of them eat far

too much, especially pork, and bring on boils,

sometimes even carbuncles, and even various skin

eruptions. The craving for sweets is equally marked;

besides gratifying the palate, these people get a

certain amount of energy and stimulation from the

sugar they consume. These unfortunates who

seemingly have to get drunk once in a while manifest

strongly two marked indications for Sulphur, the

periodicity and the craving. Such cases are difficult to

cure for psychological reasons, but they always

require Sulphur. Consider what it is that causes these

cravings: it is nothing else but the presence of Psora in

the system, repeatedly burnt in by crude Sulphur

generations, and now intensified and made more

virulent by six or seven generations of vaccinations.

Probably the free use of the crude substance both

externally and internally for hundreds of years may

have caused one of its most marked characteristics,

viz., burning. Hot vertex, hot feet, hot flushes,

burning anywhere and everywhere, external and

internal; when external, often associated with itching;

which when relieved by scratching turns to burning.

Burning skin eruptions often call for very close

differentiation between this remedy and its analogue.

Arsenicum, which is equally strong on the burning.

The hot feet of Sulphur require notice, often

affording valuable confirmation when choosing a

remedy. The feet are apt to be cold all day, and get

too warm in bed and he wakens with his feet out, or

they simply get warm enough to make him move his

feet to a cool place in the sheets. While many

remedies have hot feet, one in particular views with

Sulphur, viz., Medorrhinum. This patient not only

gets the feet out but puts them against the wall to cool

them. There are easy differential features between the

two remedies. The Medorrhinum case needs

treatment all Winter and is better in Summer; Sulphur

the reverse. The Medorrhinum has strong tendency to

lie flat on his face; if he does not actually sleep that

way, he often lies first in that position for a rest before

going to sleep. In parenthesis, it is very useful for

those abdominal pains which are relieved by lying on

the face. The Sulphur patient lies on his back, or goes

to sleep on his side and wakens on his back, often

with nightmare; Sulphur is one of our best remedies

for nightmare. For Rheumatism of the feet,

Medorrhinum has pain mostly in the ball of the foot,

but Sulphur mostly in the heels. Medorrhinum has a

cough on falling asleep, but Sulphur jerks a limb or

whole body on falling asleep. The Sulphur patient

generally sleeps well and has pleasant dreams but at

the same time it is one of best remedies for insomnia,

or disturbed sleep of any kind, often turning the trick

when everything else fails. When asleep the side lain

on goes to sleep or gets numb, or he may be troubled

with cramps in the legs.

GUERNSEY, in his monumental work on

Obstetrics, says the new-born baby should be given a

dose of Sulphur as soon as possible to combat the

Psora and give the infant a good start in life. This

may not always be possible, but soon enough the

youngster will show its need of Sulphur; in spite of

the utmost cleanliness the anus and surrounding parts

are apt to become chafed, red, raw and sore; the urine

and faeces are acrid and excoriating; Sulphur cures

promptly. The baby is never so happy as when his

feet and bare; he keeps kicking until he gets the socks

off; quite frequently dislikes being bathed, and

dislikes water to drink unless it is sweetened; gets

vigorously and noisily hungry half an hour before

nursing time. An undernourished infant who cries all

the time from hunger, chews his little fists, kicks the

clothes off and objects to being washed, certainly

needs Sulphur badly.

Warts are frequently cured by Sulphur when

other symptoms call for the remedy. I remember a

case where both forearms and hands were thickly

covered with warts; they all disappeared in a few

weeks after giving Sulphur. Local congestions such

as recurrent attacks of conjunctivitis usually yield

promptly to Sulphur. Boils which come singly or in

groups, but which keep on coming, need this remedy;

it hastens suppuration and puts an end to the

recurrence.

Almost the first thing the student learns about

Sulphur is the early morning Diarrhoea; this occurs

any time between midnight and morning and often

two or three times. Painful urging drives him out of

bed, with relief after stool; after going a few times, the

anus gets sore, even raw and excoriated, with more or

less exhaustion.

There is a class of cases which must never have

Sulphur, and the more definitely indicated, the more

certain it is to do harm. Consumption cases may be

easily hurried to a fatal termination by Sulphur,

though I remember one case of recent severe

haemoptysis in a hitherto strong and healthy man, to

whom I ventured to give Sulphur with the very

happiest results. It is never safe to give Sulphur to

Cancer cases. They may be going along quietly, the

Cancer almost inactive but a dose of Sulphur will

cause it to flare up violently and fatally. Patients in a

weakened state after cerebral apoplexy are also better

without this remedy; it sometimes precipitates another

stroke, this time fatal.

It remains to notice some of the relationships.

Aconite is definitely related, meeting many acute

conditions to which Sulphur corresponds on the

chronic side. Nux vomica is closely allied to Sulphur

and is nearly always followed well by it; the

exception being those cases that call for Lycopodium,

and even these may be better by a dose of Sulphur, if

not to complete the cure, at least to confirm it.

Sulphur is followed well by Calcarea, or it might be

better to put it thus: Calcarea acts best when the way

has been prepared for it by Sulphur. This relationship

to Calcarea also brings it into close touch with

Belladonna; they act quite favorably one after the

other.

OTTAWA, CANADA.

DISCUSSION

CHAIRMAN STEVENS: These two papers are now

open for discussion, and I wish to say that we will be

very glad to have any of our visiting friend take part

in the discussion. Dr. ELWOOD DAVIS of Kihabe,

Kenya Colony, British East Africa, took great

pleasure in writing his article on Sulph, and I think it

gives some ideas on the use of this remedy.

PRESIDENT WILSON: Dr. ELWOOD DAVIS was a

graduate of Hahnemann Medical College of

Philadelphia. I knew him as a boy. I knew his father

as a minister of the presbysteriam church in

Boundbrook, which is just on the river from my home

town. So it is a pleasure to read Dr. DAVISř paper.

SECRETARY ROBERTS: Dr. DAVIS is also a

graduate of our Foundation School.

DR. HUTCHINSON: This magnificent paper of Dr.

McLARENřs refreshes us so that we forget the

discomforts of the heat. I think a study of Sulphur by

such a homeopath as Dr. McLAREN is always

helpful and full of suggestions. Just one item I will

speak of and that is the inadvisability of giving

Sulphur in Cancer cases. I have been treating for six

years a very interesting Cancer case that has not been

at all inconvenienced by the Cancer so far as a general

health goes, although operation has been repeatedly

advised by local physicians. The patient lives 2,000

miles away; I had photographs which were very

reassuring as to a cancerous, healthy patient, a lady of

84 years. She has done wonderfully well on Quinine,

very infrequently prescribed.

As to the Sulphur, at one time I thought she

needed it. That was a year or two ago. I canřt recall

just the circumstances which led me to prescribe it. I

did give it, however, I sent a medium potency of 1M,

probably, and it was immediately followed by

discomforts. I remember some weakness and

prostration. A relative who was looking after the

patient and reporting to me said that she had put her

grandmother to bed several days on account of the

heat, and prostration probably caused by it, but it was

obviously a bad effect of the Sulphur, from which in a

few weeks she recovered.

That point brought out by Dr. McLAREN was

very interesting to me because I knew very little of its

relation to Cancer, and at once this incident came to

my mind.

Dr. WOODBURY: Madam Chairman, I have felt for

a long time that there was one approach to the subject

of Cancer that was very important and I donřt know of

any better place to mention it than here in connection

with this suggestion about Sulphur. I have a feeling

that if we would tabulate very carefully the

symptomatology of all the cases which have

developed Cancer under our treatment, in time we

would be able to get some idea as to the pre-cancer

diathesis. That, of course, has been gone into to quite

an extent by men like BURNETT, CLARKE and

COOPER in England, and we have heard a good deal

about it in connection with the various efforts that

have been made toward Cancer cures, Cancer tonics,

anti-toxins, but the fact remains that patients who are

full of Psora and various complex miasms do develop

Cancer under our homeopathic remedies. By

checking up the symptoms noted in our Cancer

patients, unsuccessfully treated by our homeopathic

remedies, it would help us to quite an extent to get the

picture in our minds. Then we would be better able to

find out the pre-cancerous symptoms and we might

possibly prevent the development of the growth if

prescribing can do it. We would observe, too, the

remedies and classes of remedies which have

benefited Cancer.

About four years ago I spent a year studying the

problem of Cancer and I made some observations then

that I still maintain are true; that Cancer is a

constitutional disease and that no homeopathic

remedy has ever cured or can cure it, but I do believe

that the remedy has cured and does modify the

manifestations of Cancer appearing in individuals

who have or do develop Cancer. I do not mean by

that that we can cure Cancer, because it is very

unwise to make any such statements, but I think that

some study of the kind can be undertaken by this

Association. It may be very valuable.

I have tabulated in my one yearřs study all the

case records I could find in our homeopathic

literature. There is need of going into this matter still

more deeply. If we could do it, we would know better

the relation of Sulphur and all the other suggested

remedies to Cancer.

Dr. BOGER: Madam Chairman, I wish to add that

when Sulph, seems to have exhausted itself, which

happens once in a while, Sulph.iod. follows

wonderfully well.

Dr. UNDERHILL: I think these two papers on

Sulphur are exceptionally fine. I want to verify the

statement Dr. McLAREN made in regard to Sulphur

in Cancer cases. I have seen on two occasions rather

sluggish, dormant Breast Cancers where Sulphur was

clearly indicated, and I have given it to my sorrow.

They flared up and became rapidly fatal. I also gave

Calcarea fluorica to my sad regret in a scirrhous type

of Breast Cancer, where there were definitely

Calcarea fluorica symptoms. But in a case of spindle

cell Sarcoma of the breast, where Carbo veg. was

very strongly indicated, enucleation of the mass

followed the giving of the remedy and at the time of

operation the entire tumor was removed, with perhaps

only a small area about an inch long holding fast.

There was no axillary involvement, and the patient

made a perfect recovery (Applause)

Dr.GREEN: Madam Chairman, I would like to say

one word about Dr. ELWOOD DAVIS, who came to

our Foundation School for one of its sessions. Dr.

DAVIS is a very earnest homeopath, but much

handicapped in two ways. First, in the matter of

adequate supplies at his African station, and,

secondly, in having to treat, as he has told you, so

many peculiar and baffling conditions. I wonder if

the I.H.A. members would like to send a letter to Dr.

DAVIS thanking him for his paper, and giving him

the good wishes of the Association, with the hope that

the next time he gets a furlough he will come back

and study with us some more. (Applause)

SECRETARY ROBERTS: I was very much

interested in Dr. DAVISř article, as well as in Dr.

McLARENřs. There was one thing I noted, the use of

Sulphur so constantly among the negroes of Africa. I

think it is a fact that probably 95% of the cases of the

negro race come under three remedies Ŕ Bryonia,

Sulphur, and Sepia. Those are the three great

remedies that are usually indicated in negro people in

this country, and I am glad to get his notation that is

so over there in Africa.

I was impressed with the difference between Dr.

McLAREN and Dr. DAVIS on the indication for

Sulphur in tubercular patients, or rather the danger of

it and I think that Dr. DAVIS probably will learn that

Sulphur will not fit in tubercular cases any more than

in cancerous cases.

Dr. ALLEN: Sulphur made for me one of my worst

enemies and best friends. When I first located, 30

years ago, in northwestern Ohio, there was an old

school man with a statewide reputation as a surgeon.

There was little opportunity to do Homeopathy. His

set statement was that a homeopath would drop a

drop of medicine in Lake Superior and go down to

Niagara Falls and fill his bottle. I made up my mind

that I would go to see him. He very graciously

received me and introduced me to his library. He

said, ŖI have more homeopathic books than you

have,ŗ and he had. He said, ŖYou are foolish to carry

32 remedies around with you when you only need

one, and that is Sulphur. It records every symptom

known in the ailment of human natureŗ. I said, ŖWhat

do you use Sulphur forŗ? ŖAutoinfectionŗ. I have

been studying it ever since. It is very interesting.

Dr. UNDERHILL: If I may speak once more, I think

the more unevolved a race is, probably the fewer

remedies are indicated. Our civilization is so

complex, that really it is very difficult to work out all

the remedies that would be indicated. I have often

noticed that on the average the more ignorant classes

are easier to prescribe for than the more intelligent

ones. In the first place, the educated man or woman

will come in and give you an interpretation of his or

her symptoms rather than the clear, pure symptom

itself. HAHNEMANN says, I think in his Chronic

Diseases, ŖWoe unto the young physician whose

practice is almost wholly among the well-to-do. Such

a man is almost fore-doomed to failure.ŗ

Dr. FARRINGTON: We have had some very

interesting and scholarly papers. I know we all

appreciate the fact that we can never learn all there is

to be learned about polychrests and even old Sulphur

that we use almost every day. I was very much

interested in Dr.DAVISř paper. It was well written.

When I saw the title in the program, I rather expected

that he would give us just a few indications that we

already knew, but it appears that he is building up for

himself a new chapter in clinical medicine. Some of

the things that he relates in his paper we do not know

and probably would not have an opportunity to find

out. He is in a different climate; he has a different

people to deal with.

I think it is true, as Dr. UNDERHILL says, that

the simpler, uncomplicated races have simpler and

less complicated diseases. I can confirm that. I spent

two years as intern in Kentřs dispensary in

Philadelphia a number of years ago. We had a great

many of the negro race in our clinics and out-patient

work. The other two interns happened to be from the

south and the negroes, so I was the one who had the

most to do with them. I had unusual and remarkable

experiences. In the case of a young girl of sixteen

who had a terrible cough and expectorated huge

quantities of yellow pus, I gave Sulphur 50M, and it

nearly killed her. Her temperature went up to 103. It

seemed that she was going to cough her lungs out.

The sputum became bloody and I was exceedingly

alarmed, but waiting overnight was just the thing that

was needed, because the symptoms subsided and that

one dose of Sulphur cured her. She evidently had

Tuberculosis.

Dr. DAVIS: there may be a tendency to draw the

conclusion from this paper that I am giving Sulphur

for nearly every ailment, on the basis of when in

doubt or in the absence of symptoms, Ŗgive Sulphurŗ.

I graduated in 1906 and arrived in Africa on the

11

th

of January, 1911. I have realized the possibility

of getting into such a rut. During dispensary hours I

have my Repertory on my desk by my hand all the

time and use it for reference in a large majority of

cases, in addition to other medical books. Hospital

cases are studied far more carefully. European cases

are usually carefully repertorized, particularly the first

time.

So, if I seem to give Sulphur too generally, it is

the result of considerable experience. Of course I

make mistakes. I fully realize that I have too little

time to give to studying which is of first importance in

homeopathic Materia Medica.

I will here try to answer some of the questions

that may arise in the minds of some. In giving a

medicine frequently, I give a bottle of the medicine,

corresponding to a glass of water with 10-20 drops of

the remedy. The instructions are to take a teaspoonful

every hour during the day, with some hot water. Or

take a tablet every hour similarly. Knowing that it is

seldom taken regularly every hour, I give these

instructions in order to get some medicine into the

patient quickly, never giving much at a time, and then

noticing the effect the next time I see the patient.

Do I ever get aggravations from the frequent use

of Sulphur? Possibly I do, itching of the skin with

some papular eruption, but this is so prevalent among

the natives, and they have so many fleas and lice and

bedbugs in their houses and on their clothing that one

is in doubt of the aggravation.

As yet I have not seen the long lasting effects of a

high potency in this country. One capable observer, a

missionary, said she noticed the beneficial effects of

Sulphur for nine or ten days, then it ceased.

I feel the need of emphasizing the difficulty of

securing reliable symptoms on which to base a

prescription. The changing of the description of the

symptoms and character of the pain MAY be due to

changeableness in the disease, but much experience

causes me to doubt it. The difficulty of the Africans

in describing their symptoms minutely and their

inability to understand the reasons for such details are

big obstacles.

I now feel that the best thing I can do is to know

Sulphur well and also all of its complementary

remedies, as they will often be needed. I have found

Arsenicum album needed much in our work,

frequently followed by Sulphur.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

4. Distinctive phases of Kali carb.

J.W. WAFFENSMITH, M.D.

[The Homeopathic Recorder, November 1929]

It is not my intention to enter upon a general

study of that valuable remedy, which has been done

by others. I shall present certain mental phases in

detail.

One of the persistent characteristics is confusion,

found in the tuberculo-sycotic miasmatic state. It may

be of use in the advanced cases which present no

marked pathology, but a decided functional

derangement of cerebral and spinal centers.

The patient stands panicky in the midst of

ordinary duty, sees work piled up, yet cannot

accomplish.

Misplaces articles; when looking for and unable

to find them becomes confused and exasperated with

fear of losing mind.

Industry under these circumstances in increased

with inability to do.

Forgetful; forgets in an instant; makes errors in

spelling and figures; has four or five things under way

at the same time, leaving each partly done.

Hurry; in talking, eating, and occupation.

Jealousy and hatred; malicious; aversion to

husband and child, yet clings tenaciously to them.

Has all the symptoms of hyperactivity and

anaemia of cerebral cells in alternation. Attacks of

excitement are of short duration and prostration

prolonged.

In these cases we find the sycotic taint

predominating, and a favorable indication is the

appearance of finger warts. In one case there were

recurrent crops on neck and chest.

Clings to life; to money; to clothes; in fact

everything; there is fear of poverty, of the future, of

death. The hoarding instinct in general is strong and

exemplifies the psoric element.

Under Kali carb there is a difficulty to explain to

make oneself clear, with a bluntness of speech. Is

misleading in statements, ambiguous, with intense

desire to be understood.

Timidity; cannot defend his rights; remains silent

if wrongly accused.

Cold; aversion to bathing; careless about

everything.

Face has a ghastly appearance; pale, yellow, and

sickly.

Brain fag; cannot concentrate, with dull headache

deep in the brain.

Awkwardness drops things; falls over furniture.

Dreams of departed loved ones, each time before

a relative or friend took sick or had a misfortune.

This symptom was always a warning and happened

repeatedly under Kali carb. It corresponds to a phase

of Medorrhinum, and is complementary in the

tuberculo-sycotic state. The symptoms referred to is

found under Medorrhinum in H.C. ALLENřs Materia

Medica of the Nosodes, Ŗis always anticipating, feels

most matters sensitively before they occur and

generally correctlyŗ. The typical sycotic is not

troubled with dreams. It finds its expression in the

tubercular type.

Here is a clear cut illustration of a general

symptom of a Miasm, the tubercular, acting as a

vehicle for expression of an accretion, the sycotic. It

further indicated that when the diseased grouping

shapes itself in an orderly relationship of expression,

and we do not by injudicious handling of the case add

drug or other wrong impressions, we can with

Homeopathy unravel the problem. In our study, we

find the enlarging capacity of remedies in a

developmental sense to include progression in natural

disease, namely evolvement of the Miasms. This

destroys the fictitious concept that our Materia

Medica is limited in its scope to function in a definite

period to be superseded by other means in the

evolvement of diseased states due to the complication

arising out of our civilization.

NEW HAVEN, CONN.

DISCUSSION

Dr. GRIMMER: Mr. Chairman, I donřt think a paper

like this should go by without some commendation.

There is not much to discuss. We homeopaths

recognize the things the doctor has so clearly stated.

He brought out an unusually fine picture of Kali carb.

In fact, many of our standard books do not show the

nice mental states of Kali carb. that he has brought

out. It is beautiful and it is true that if we study more

these mental and psychic phases we will meet the new

conditions that are coming upon society and

civilization much better than we have in the past.

(Applause)

Dr. HUTCHINSON: Madam Chairman, this paper of

Dr. WAFFENSMITH is so very interesting that it

leads us to a personal study of his statements which

awaken the query, how are they all evolved? He has

given several references that we can look up and

study from the books, but I take it that a great deal of

this paper comes from personal experience. I would

like to know, as a matter of great interest, when the

remedy has been essentially selected, if he has found

many of these symptoms of finer grade entering into

the picture. If he had not selected the remedy would

these have been discovered? He has added greatly to

our knowledge of the remedy. I would like to know

in a few words just how this symptomatology has

been evolved.

Dr. BOGER: Mr. Chairman, I was very much

interested in the thought that Homeopathy continues

to fit the different phases of disease. There is no

greater evidence of the correctness of Homeopathy

than the fact that, approached from different angles,

from each mental angle we always get the same result.

This is one of the fundamental truths of Homeopathy

and one which the allopaths have not been able to

overcome. Their ideas in treatment change in a few

days, few hours, few months, few years.

Homeopathy has appealed so universally that every

type of mind can reason toward the focus from its

own angle. That is the thought the doctorřs paper

brought out in my mind. I think this is a very

conclusive argument and one which is very hard to

combat. (Applause)

CHAIRMAN STEVENS: Any further discussion?

Dr. WAFFENSMITH, will you close the discussion?

Dr. WAFFENSMITH: In answer to the question of

Dr. HUTCHINSON, I would say that primarily I

received the basis for this paper from the 100 years or

more of experience of homeopathic masters, the

study of their work, and the benefit that I have

received from their training by attending institutions

in which they have taught, and so forth.

Secondarily, it has been by carefully observing,

personally, the effect of the use of Kali carb. in a

large number of cases during my past experience, and

particularly noticing the finer phases of the mental

symptoms, because that was really the intent of this

paper.

I think the remedy has been thoroughly covered

for many years by the masters, by many men who are

more competent than I am to speak upon it, and this is

nothing but a feeble addition to the literature that we

have on the mental phases particularly. (Applause).

---------------------------------------------------------------

5. Presidential Address

N.M. JAISOORYA

The All C.P. & Berar Homeopathic Medical

Board (Regd.) at Sharda Talkies Hall, Raipur,

C.P. on the 4th April, 1947.

[THE HOMEOPATHIC HERALD,

N. C. BOSE, July 1947. Vol. VIII. No. 4]

Sisters and brothers of the profession, Ladies and

Gentleman,

I am deeply conscious of the honour you have

done me in asking me to preside at a Homeopathic

Conference of such high standing as this. The

honour lies in the fact that a man like myself

happens to be, by training, profession and by right,

a fully qualified member of the Allopathic School of

Medicine.

And yet, if I have been granted the honour to be

present among a body of homeopathic practitioners,

it surely must have a meaning. And it is this: In

the eyes of many of my allopathic brethren, those

who go over to, or advocate any system of

medicine other than allopathy, are considered

renegades and traitors to scientific medicine. They

assume that there is only one medical science and that

is allopathic medicine. They forget that there are

many aspects to scientific medicine and that their

view alone need not be the sole and only correct

aspect. To become narrow and dogmatic in one's

scientific approach to phenomena leads to

dogmatism, and that leads to prejudice and ignorance

and intolerance. it ceases to be scientific. If to

refuse to be dogmatic and doctrinaire is equivalent to

becoming renegades, then very likely we are

renegades. But, in reality, a renegade is a man who

sells his convictions and his principles for some

material reward or gain. He does not do so out of a

sincere belief that what he is going over to is

something better. His sole motive is financial and

other material gain and not the grandeur of a principle

that has won him over to its side. But take the

example of many of us allopaths, and their numbers

are increasing day by day. We have openly embraced

Homeopathy with a full consciousness of the

consequences of our action. Many of us have thrown

up our allopathic profession at the height of our

careers. Our incomes were good; we were

considered quite efficient in our own line, and we

had still further prospects of advancement in wealth

and position if only we stuck on to our ropes. Many

of our professional brethren thought we were mad to

throw up our profession and to take to something

which was "Quackery"; especially when you

consider that many of us, like the great Mahendra

Lal SIRCAR and HAHNEMANN himself had to face

financial collapse, starvation, humiliation,

misunderstanding, derision, even the loss of former

friends, leave alone income. And if we have

patiently borne all these disasters and proclaimed at

considerable risks our burning faith, then I want to

know how any honest, reasonable man can call such

of us as renegades. It should occur to them that

when men are willing to undergo sacrifices and

loss, something very strong, something very

worthwhile sacrificing for, must have inspired many

of us to take the steps we have taken, as many had

taken before.

As a former allopath, I can openly declare that a

homeopath, if he is a sincere worker, a true devotee

of the ethics laid down by HAHNEMANN, can never

hope to earn those large sums that even the average

allopath earns with ease. Homeopathy, if it is to be

properly practised, must be genuinely and sincerely

practised. It needs a great deal of industry, devotion,

much searching of the heart, much devotion to an

ideal, and a great sense of responsibility for

human life. In terms of payment, the work of a

genuine Homeopath can never be adequately

compensated. Those who wish to come into the fold

of Homeopathy must be prepared for service, self-

sacrifice, privation; and they must turn their back on

the quest for wealth, ease, comfort and the

acquisition of name and fame by the easy road.

Homeopathy has no changing fashions and fads to

offer. There is no room for the expensive specialist

and the high class society doctor that ponders to

whims and moods of his wealthy patients. At any

rate not in Homeopathy. In Homeopathy there is

room only for the devoted and sincere worker who

at the same time understands the philosophy of

life. Yet, if knowing all these things some of us

allopaths have chosen to take the hard and thorny

road of Homeopathy, then logically, must there not

be something of undeniably convincing and majestic

a quality in Homeopathy that has drawn us allopaths

to it?.

It is quite possible that we have mistaken in our

choice. It very often happens that our emotions lead

us astray, that we get lost in the maze of intellectual

illusions which is Maya. But ten and twenty years

should constitute enough time for scientists to realise

their mistakes. Allopathy claims to teach us, who have

studied it, the scientific attitude towards all scientific

problems. We shall not be real scientists if we do not

openly admit our mistakes. So would Homeopathy be

unscientific if it did not study and realise its own

limitations and deficiencies. Had we allopaths, who

have accepted Homeopathy, any clear and scientific

reason to conclude that we had made a mistake in

coming to Homeopathy, we would have returned to

our original calling, allopathy, long ago; for, the way

back is always open to us. As a scientist, to the best

of my conscience, I am here to declare, that after ten

years of sincere and critical study of Homeopathy, I

have no reason, whatsoever, to abandon it today or in

the future. And the fact that we have not done so, and

very likely shall not do in the future, must indicate

that Homeopathy must have some value superior to

the one we gave up. No allopath who comes to

investigate Homeopathy with an open mind ever goes

back to Allopathy. So tremendous is its hold on us.

Constantine HERING, the ablest assistant to the

great German allopath HUFELAND, was sent by

HUFELAND to investigate into the claims of

Homeopathy; and he never came back. Neither did

the prize scholar, JOUSSET, sent by the great French

clinician CHARCOT. Neither did I, nor will anyone. I

came because I was charged by my father to study

ways and means to evolve the simplest scheme for

medical aid to the villages. I found that Allopathy

could never solve the problems I was facing. And the

more I thought over it the more hopeless I became

and the more I came to the inescapable conclusion

that for the poverty-stricken villages of our country

we shall have to employ any other system of

medicine, it may be Homeopathy, it may be

Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, anything but Allopathy;

and I shall have to investigate into their strengths

and defects. As far as Homeopathy is concerned, I

can only say what Sir John WEIR, physician to the

King of England, said: "We have all been sceptics,

but facts have been too strong for us. Over and

over again doctors have been commissioned to

look into it, in order to expose it, only to become its

most enthusiastic exponents and adherents".

But I believe that I shall be wasting your time if I

talked to you about the strong points of Homeopathy.

On the contrary as a scientist I believe it is my duty

to point out to you its limitations and its

weaknesses which it is our duty to study and rectify;

because our art, our profession must have one and

only one purpose behind it and that is service of the

country and its people. If we fail in that, if our art is

unsuitable for that single purpose, if our science is too

costly, if we ourselves are inefficient and incapable,

then Homeopathy is of no use to our country, no

matter how useful it may be to the individual. I have

therefore not come to you, today, as a new convert,

filled with the passionate reverence, awe and

unbounded enthusiasm of a newly found faith, but as

a scientist to discuss with you something of the

stupendous problems that our country is facing, not

only in matters of National Health but in every

aspect of its national welfare. For twelve years I

have been trying to study the almost hopeless and

terrifying problems of the health of our unfortunate

country which has been brought to the verge of ruin,

altered into a barren desert and a festering cess-pool

of a humanity uprooted by one hundred and fifty

years of British rule over us. Today a New India is

rising out of the desolate ruins of the India that once

was, India which was humiliated, enslaved, robbed of

all its finer values. Let us be clear about one thing. I

am by profession a physician. But more than that, I

happen to be also a competent economist; and I tell

you that a new India is in the throes of a new birth, in

pain, blood and tears in the suicidal fraticidal wars of

its misguided children. It is our own stupidity that we

are waging wars against each other and drenching our

precious land with our blood. It may be that we shall

return to sanity after a senseless orgy of mutual

carnage, destruction and desolation of all finer

values that was the tradition and common heritage of

the children of this soil. But the destiny of our country

does not depend upon our individual whims and

fancies but on deep factors shaping world history. We

can at most retard by our stupid actions its

achievement. And this New India rising before our

eyes is burdened with hundreds of problems old and

new; and it will need great courage, faith and a new

clear vision to face and solve those problems. The

human mind occupies itself with problems in various

ways, but the quientessence of wisdom lies in

simplifying our philosophies and in solving intricate

problems in the simplest ways. It needs the greatest

wisdom to be simple and to take a commonsense view

of great problems. That is what we shall have to think

of. For us as physicians, charged with the

maintenance of National Health of an impoverished

country like ours, the task becomes almost hopeless if

we fail to take a broad view of the various factors that

affect life and the living. Life does not function in a

vacuum. It is related to and is affected by its

environment. Its reaction to and relation to its

environment becomes the reality. The reality in our

country is the terrifying problem of its stark and

naked poverty. It, therefore, becomes all the more

essential to assess with great exactitude the material

possibilities that exist, so that we can reasonably hope

for in the visible future in our country. That means a

comprehensive knowledge of economics and

economic possibilities. We must know as to what is

possible and what is not, what is feasible and what is

not, what is essential today and what is not, for a

limited sum of money that our country can bring

together. Factors governing economic changes in a

country are not so easy to influence or alter as factors

governing political changes. It is also advisable to

remember that political changes come far in

advance of economic changes and that while

political revolutions can be easily brought about, an

economic revolution takes it own time and obeys

quite a different set of laws from political upheavals.

Failure to recognise this fundamental point has been

responsible for the wasting of much time, energy

and national finances in the shape of "Post-War

Plans" in India and elsewhere, and elsewhere, except

in Russia. All Russian Plans, the great 1st, 2nd and

3rd "Five Years Plans" have been based on

fundamentally very sound principles. They never

looked centuries ahead or made schemes for forty

years to come. No economist in his senses can

foretell what the shape of things would come to be ten

years hence. In this uneasy, unhappy world of today,

full of strife and unrest, it becomes almost

impossible. And yet The Bhore Committee Report has

put up a plan which would take forty years to

complete. The fundamental principles upon which the

Russians have based all their plans, as realists, are on

a realistic and thorough analysis of things as they

really exist which is taken as the starting point. We

can and must make plans on the basis of facts as they

exist and of things already achieved. Only then do we

make few mistakes.

BASIS OF A PLAN

It is therefore essential to differentiate between

what constitutes a plan and what a programme. A plan

is built on what is available, ready at hand, capable of

being exploited, consolidated and enlarged. A

programme is a promise of the future and a hope

capable of being fulfilled only when certain

preconditions are granted or facilitated. It remains

only a promise until it is fulfiled. Having worked as a

member of the National Planning Committee of our

country I had good deal of trouble in making my

colleagues there appreciate the fundamental point,

and therefore I must stress that point again. If our

plans are to be built on the realities of today and of the

facilities available, then the greatest single reality in

India is its financial stringency. As a competent

economist I fear no challenge of this statement from

any Finance Minister. The second greatest reality is

the discrepancy between the health needs of the

people and the inadequate medical services they

receive, which, as the Health Commissioner with the

Govt of India plainly admits "so far has not touched

even the fringe of the problem".

The third greatest reality is the paucity of

allopathically trained men as mentioned in the

Bhore Committee Report. Therefore, I must tell you

something about the Bhore Committee

Recommendations. What is the Bhore Committee

Report? Is it a plan or a programme? Can it be a plan

at all? The answer is No! Why? Because it is not

based on the realities of today nor does it seek to

make use of the facilities at our disposal now and

here, nor based on the possibilities that can be guaged

with reasonable exactitude and which can be

developed if we had the will and had known how to,

as I shall prove to you very soon. What it is

therefore? A programme, a promise of the future that

can only be fulfilled if premises be granted that do not

exist today. I have not met a single allopath, be

the Health Minister in the Provincial Govts or the

learned Surgeon General, who could stand upto my

economic arguments. What is the greatest weakness,

apart from several other glaring weaknesses in the

Bhore Committee Recommendations? It lies in the

fact that these excellent plans can only then go into

operation when a very large sum of money is placed

at its disposal. It is not less than 1000 Crores as initial

capital and recurring expenditure. And that money, I

as an economist can tell you without fear of

challenge from any quarter, and judging from the

trend of events as our country is suffering and must

necessarily pass through, will not be available for

a long time to come. The Bhore Plan is like a

beautiful motor car, a beautiful piece of machinery,

but which cannot move because of the dearth of

petrol. And that means that, however fine and

impressive the Bhore Recommendations may be,

however desirable and as a piece of scientific thinking

certainly an achievement, they will not and cannot

work because of one single and at present

insuperable hindrance, which is a terrible and

tangible reality, namely, the lack of the necessary

finances. It may be argued that money should be made

available and you will tell me that Pandit Jawahar Lal

Nehru has said at the The Health Minister's

Conference at Delhi on Oct. 10, 1946 that "If funds

could be available for big wars, there was no reason

why they should not be provided for to fight against

ill-health and which was like the enemy from within

and weakened the nation. No doubt it was a gigantic

task but it was one of those urgent questions which

had got to be attended to if we were to avoid

situations like the after math of the Bengal famine." I

say with all due deference to Pandit Jawahar Lal

Nehru that, while I agree with him in his desire, I

cannot agree with his optimism that the finances

can be so readily found. We have neither the trained

army nor the munition nor the money, but we have,

what the Bhore Committee could not appreciate, and

which the allopath would hate to admit, a band of

guerilla fighters who have often snatched a victory

when the regular armies were routed. In order to know

how to use them one must see how others have done

it. It was the Boer, ill-armed, that inflicted defeat

upon defeat on a highly military British army. It was

the Russian Guerilla and Partisan armies, ill-trained,

that helped the regular Russian armies to defeat the

world's most fearful military machine, the German

Army. And while British arms were suffering one

defeat after the other in this last world war, it was the

common man of Britain who held on undaunted and

never admitted defeat. If we should accede to the

Bhore Plan it assumes that no battle should be

fought against an enemy already in our midst unless

we have a large and well-trained army of death and

bacilli fighters which will take forty years to prepare,

provided we can find the money. This is typical of the

antiquated British way of thinking, and it is a fact that

till recently the British never knew the technique of

guerilla or of mobilising a people, until it was taught

to them by a British Communist. That is the

difference between the narrow British way of thinking

and the broad realistic way of mobilising a people at

which Soviet Russia is an expert. If we should apply

this analogy to the Bhore Committee Report, we see

immediately its glaring weakness, it narrow thinking,

its attempt to preserve the rights and privileges of

a small body of allopaths who are so small in

numbers, but whose privileges are so great that it is

almost like the struggle between the Zamindar trying

to keep his rights and the peasant demanding his

own rights. The proportion of the Zamindar, who has

too much, to the peasant, who has too little, is beyond

all decency. Let us be clear about one thing beyond all

shadow of doubt. The Bhore Plan is unworkable

under existing circumstances. These circumstances

will not change for a long time to come. On the

contrary, there is every possibility and probability of

their becoming worse. I am speaking of the financial

aspect. Let us be clear about this one cardinal fact.

Still more, let the Health Ministers and Surgeon

Generals be clear about this fact. We stand today just

where we were yesterday, before all these

impressive but inapplicable "Post War Plans" began.

What then? It means that we still need a plan that can

work under existing circumstances. With regard to

Public Health we are as static as we were before. I

say it is a great pity, because the Bhore Plan is a

very thorough and painstaking analysis of present

health conditions in our country, a very thoughtful

and exhaustive study of things as they are and as they

ought to be. But what a pity that these men who made

the report did not know what is possible and what is

not possible economically in our country. I do not

know how many of you here have made a study of the

Bhore Committee Report. I know that hardly a

handful of allopaths and even smaller number of

officials of the Medical Departments have waded

through it. And the reason is that it is very

voluminous and comprehensive, going into 4 large

volumes, and it is not everybody's business to afford

so much time to see its strength and weaknesses.

SALIENT POINTS FROM THE BHORE

COMMITTEE REPORT

In a very short analysis let me tell you the facts

that the Report has determined. It wants 1000 Crores

for it to be put into action. It cannot get it. It wants 40

years to complete its work. No social economist or

political economist is prepared to tell you what the

shape of things will be in the next forty years. A forty

years plan can be proffered only by men totally

ignorant of historical phenomena. They have shown

by their investigations that India has today

47,500 allopathic or so-called "Scientifically

trained" doctors and India needs or will require

2,36,650 such scientifically trained men; that India

has at present 7000 nurses and will need 7,40,000,

that is, more than 100 times the number of today;

that we have 5000 midwives today and need,

112,500, that is, more than 600 times the present

figure; that we have 750 dentists and need 92,500

dentists; and that we have only 65 qualified

pharmacists while we need 84,000. I quite agree with

all these figures. But tell me how are a people whose

per capita income is Rs. 62-3-3 per annum as

compared with Rs. 1049-6-5 of Great Britain and Rs.

1371-7-3 of the United States, to meet the

expenditure the Bhore Committee wants? On the

average the Provincial Govts spend on medical aid

and health one and a half anna in Bihar to 5 annas

nine pies per head per annum in Bombay, and if we

were to keep on the same level as Great Britain

and U.S.A. we should have to spend at least Rs. 3-

3-0 per head per annum and that is absolutely

impossible. There is a lot of wishful thinking even

among our capitalistic economists. For instance, the

Tata-Birla Plan, known as THE BOMBAY PLAN,

has built up its arguments on fundamentally wrong

assumptions. According to the agrarian economists,

Ramaswamy and Wadia, our agricultural production

cannot be raised more than 50 p.c. and the Tata-Birla

Plan puts it at 130 p.c.

What the Bhore Committee forgets is that

equally important, if not more important, nation

building programmes, many in number, will demand

equally large sums, if not larger sums, and where is

the money to come from if not from the people

themselves? In short, the Bhore Committee has

proposed what actually amounts, in structure, to the

Socialised Medical System of Soviet Russia with one

great difference, that socialised medicine was

possible in Russia because every thing else was

socialised from top to bottom in very aspect of life.

NEWSHOLME and KINGSBURY in their

classical report have recommended the Medical

System of Soviet Russia as the model to copy, and

in a recent lecture the famous Bombay surgeon, R.N.

COOPER has warmly praised it. But one cannot have

only one department of life and state activity

socialised, as medicine, in a country where laws are

made by landlord and the capitalist and the

blackmarketeer, the war profiteer, the zamindar;

and the upper classes control the political and

economic power.

FUNDAMENTAL WEAKNESSES IN THE

BHORE COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS

I beg leave of you to further analyse the Bhore

Plan because it is the plan that the Govt has accepted

in good faith, though none too wisely. But as long as

we ourselves cannot produce and offer a better plan

we have no right to blame the Government. And we

cannot offer a better plan unless we can assess the

strength and weaknesses of other plans and also have

the courage to see the weaknesses in any plans we

offer, not only their strength. One way or another we

have to face the problem when the Bhore plan has left

us in the lurch. And the fundamental weaknesses in

the plan are these: namely, that it has totally ignored,

what even our National Planning Committee

recognised long ago and which it very rightly

summarised in the following words; "Our resources

are extremely meagre. This fact imposes the necessity

of building up an organisation in the cheapest manner

possible. Yet the organisation must be all-embracing

and one must make at least a beginning in taking care

of the health of the country." It further observes, "The

appalling ignorance of the masses and their religious

and social prejudices make the introduction of

scientific medicine peculiarly difficult. This

circumstance makes it imperative that any

organisation built up to be effective must call for the

maximum cooperation of the people themselves, and

must be made to appear as a result of their own

effort, rather than have an appearance of an

imposition from above.

The Bhore Committee has further ignored or is

not aware of the findings of the League of Nations

Medical Committee as has been emphasised by

DOROLLE (C.H. 1253, No: 1,1937), namely, the

guiding principle should be in the first place to treat

only those cases with the western system of medicine

that need it. The larger percentage of those others do

not need the complicated and specialised modern

system; and since their condition is not serious,

they should be allowed to have recourse to the

traditional pharmacopoeias and systems of treatments

where they are available. Further, the Bhopal

statistics of COL. ABDUR REHMAN show that only

23 p.c. of those needing treatment really require

allopathic medical aid, and only 10 p.c. of these 23

p.c. require hospitalization, i.e. 3 p.c. of the total.

Thus 97 p.c. of those needing treatment can be treated

ambulantly or at least in simplified institutions. DR.

JIVRAJ MEHTA, in his presidential address at the

First Conference of the Physicians of India

Association, December 1944, has made a very

significant observation, namely, that 87 p.c. of all

medical activity is general medicine and the

remaining 13 p.c. belong to the specialised subjects

such as surgery, etc., and only 13 p.c. need specialised

care. If this is conceded, then I beg leave to state that,

as things stand today in India, and taking the

present standard of medical practice in allopathy, the

87 p.c. of general medical activity that Dr. Jivraj

MEHTA spoke of can be managed any day just as

efficiently, if not more efficiently, by properly trained

homeopaths and ayurvedis. I am an allopath and

in therapy as good and uptodate as any allopath is in

India, and yet I am here to declare that

homeopathic therapeutics, certain ayurvedic

methods and approach to the problems of chronic

diseases, are far superior to anything in allopathy as at

present practised in India. And I am prepared to

make this statement openly anywhere and before any

body of allopaths. It only proves one thing, which

Bhore Committee deliberately ignored, not out of

forgetfulness but out of purposed policy. And that is,

that a great deal of general medical activity in

the field of therapeutics can be safely taken away

from allopathy which is badly organised and ill-

equipped and a total failure in the villages, and

new forces can be harnessed which have been

deliberately ignored and suppressed. Even the

President of the All-India Medical Conference,

CAPT. P.B.MUKHERJEE, in his splendid

Presidential Address, Dec. 1946, had to express

surprise at the lame excuse that the Bhore Committee

offered. We should remember that out of the 47500

allopathic doctors available in India, as many as

35000 practice in the large and smaller towns so that

not more than 12500 of these scientific gentlemen

are available to the 6.75,000 villages of India. If we

study the Bhore Committee report we will notice

the number of contradictions this august committee

lands itself in when dealing with the question of the

indigenous system of medicine in India. On the one

hand they confess that they did not have the time to

go into the matter and to assess it properly. In the

same breath they claim that the allopathic system is

the only one through which the health of the country

can be maintained. In one breath they say that the

indigenous systems are "unscientific" and at the

same time confess that these systems have a very

large hold on the overwhelming masses of the

people, not only over the illiterate but also over the

intelligentia. They also admit that the treatment is

cheap and that the empirical knowledge that has been

accumulated over the centuries, has resulted in a fund

of experience of the properties and medicinal use of

minerals, herbs and plants which is of value." In

other words the Bhore Committee, which claims

to be "scientific" has taken a very unscientific

attitude when the class and economic interests of the

allopaths come into danger under competition from

other bodies. Especially if we will remember, and the

Bhore Committee surely could not have been

ignorant of it, that whether we like it or not,

whether our Health Ministers like it or not, and

whether the members of the Bhore Committee like it

or not, not more that 23 p.c. of India's sick

population will go to allopaths for treatment; and the

remaining 77 p.c. will fall back on the indigenous

and other treatments such as Homeopathy. The

Bhore Committee has absolutely no excuse for having

neglected this aspect. The terms of reference were

extremely wide, namely, "to make a broad survey

of the present position in regard to conditions and

health organisations in British India and to make

recommendations for future development." They

could have had every help in making their

investigations into the role of the indigenous and other

systems in India if they wanted to. They went so far

as to invite experts from foreign countries (U.S.A.,

Great Britain, Soviet Russia and Australia) to come to

India and tell them how things are done at their

places. But they found no time to invite experts in

Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Unani, Siddha and other

systems to come and give them an insight into the

extent to which these systems have a hold over the

people of this country. That the Bhore Committee

has built a plan on the ridiculous assumption that

there are only 47500 physicians in India, is both

unscientific and untrue. It is estimated that in the

Madras Presidency alone there are over 40,000

physicians practising the indigenous systems.

Calculated on the average we might easily find that in

India we may have over 2 to two and a half lakhs,

practicing systems of medicines other than allopathy,

and these the Bhore Committee has conveniently

ignored. It may be true that these practitioners are

inefficient, unscientific; and that the systems they

practice are not modern. But the fact remains that

as long as the allopaths themselves cannot offer

something superior and cheaper than what we have

now, and at a cost that the country can afford, there

is no hope of Allopathy ever totally displacing these

systems, no matter however much the legislation may

be forged in favour of Allopathy. Even SIGERIST in

his History of Medicine in India has admitted that it

will take a long time for the better trained men to

replace the untrained indigenous physician. But till

then "it would be worthwhile to study whether these

practitioners could not be used during the period of

transition as auxillary parsonelle." There is at least

some commonsense in this view. The health problem

of India is the problem of the health of the village and

the villager. Any system that can tackle that cheaply,

efficiently and with minimum trained personelle is the

one that we shall choose. If homeopathy can do it I

shall recommend it. If Ayurveda can do it, I shall

prefer that, so also Unani. The sole criterion is and

must be that we should get, under existing

circumstances, for a given sum, the maximum

results with the minimum of expenditure and

organisation.

WHAT INDIA NEEDS TODAY?

In considering all these problems I would beg

you not to consider yourselves as homeopaths,

Allopaths, Ayurvedis and Hakims, but solely and in

the first instance as physicians all facing the almost

hopeless and stupendous problems of India's health.

In what way can each system be employed, in what

way can each system help, in what way can all the

systems be coordinated and harnessed immediately

and now, under existing circumstances, with the

facilities available, that is the question; that is

certainly the factual basis for a plan and not the

dreamy picture of the Bhore Recommendations, And

no plan, at any rate no health plan, has any hope of

success in India if it does not base itself on four

fundamental principles so admirably formulated by

DR. J. B. GRANT in his Health of India, namely, we

shall have to make any step taken in India yield, for a

given sum spent here, seven times that results which

is expected of that sum elsewhere in richer countries.

That is, we must make one Rupee spent here, yield

in return what rich countries would expect for the

expenditure of seven rupees. Can this be done? The

answer is YES!, IF, and it is a very big ŘIf.ř:-.

1. If we can know what can be done in that way.

2. If we know the best method to do it that way.

3. If we can find or produce people who know how

to do it that way.

4. And, finally, if we could know what sort of design

and structure of service the people want, would

appreciate and derive benefit from to the maximum

extent.

In short the entire design and structure of

whatever steps we may take shall have to be

scrutinized and tested solely by a ruthless analysis

of the economic situation in our country and the

possibilities of its future development. But still

more important is the fact that all measures must be

judged by their failure or success as applied to mass,

and this also applies to Homeopathy; and all future

plans of national welfare and reconstruction must

be planned with one side view, the paying capacity

of the villager and its suitability to his needs.

GRANT has put it very admirably as follows:

"Adequate plans for public health services can be

undertaken only with a knowledge of the realities of

the economic situation. The results of any social

service administration depends upon the money

available and the way it is spent. Much ineffective

administration results from violating these principles.

The solution lies in the development of a plan

whereby the facilities purchased elsewhere in other

countries at a cost of seven shillings per capita can be

obtained with local economic resources. It can be

done, and has been done elsewhere in other countries

of relatively low economic standards. Limited sums

do not make adequate and good service impossible,

provided the people want the services and are

prepared to contribute work in lieu of money and

provided there are people with the knowledge to plan

such a service.".

THE PRESENT SITUATION.

At present there is only one thing open to us. Let

us remember that we have only an Interim

Government. Everything in India is in a period of

rapid transition. There is no crime in having also an

interim Health Plan devised to meet the exigencies of

the situation. The Bhore plan and all such beautiful

plans I should postpone till such time as adequate

finances are available. In the meanwhile the people's

health or ill health cannot be adjourned at will as

cases in the law courts. They must be given the

simplest and readiest form of medical service suited to

their needs, and this I have explained in great detail in

my memorandum to the National Planning

Committee. It has been my father's contention that

it is better for our people to die of semi-medical aid

than of no medical aid at all. What we envisage is a

simple rural medical service scheme and in it there is

room for all systems of medicine that have anything

tangible to offer. I told you about the guerilla

battalions that played havoc with the enemy when the

trained regular armies had failed. I consider any man,

no matter who, be he a Vaid, Hakim, Homeopath or

of any other system, if he can be useful in our

present time of emergency, should be taken up and

utilised to his utmost capacity We have not got

superfluous men today who cannot be used. I know it

because I spend 8 months touring in the villages each

year and I am authorised to speak about the

difficulties and the needs of rural medical aid better

than all surgeon generals and medical officials who

sit most of the time at their desks, And from

experience I can tell you that the average allopath, as

compared to the Homeopath and the Ayurvedi, is a

failure under the simpler environments and

conditions of the village. He is lost out there, and is

reduced to the level of a mere symptomatologist.

In this capacity he is far more at a disadvantage than

the homeopath or the vaid. I saw it in Bihar and many

other provinces. We should know how to exploit and

gauge the capacity of each man and put him in the

proper place. The intelligencies of a Government lies

in being able to use each man to his fullest capacity,

in giving each man the type of work he can carry out.

Can this be done? Yes, provided we have a simple

elastic plan built on the realities of today and provided

we have the men who know how to select the men we

have at our disposal. It may be asked, will not the

state of health deteriorate. My answer is NO! Things

cannot become any worse than they are today. On the

contrary there is every prospect of an improvement

because you give a purposefulness to men who are

stagnating, because they are not saddled with

responsibility and have been denied human dignity. I

told you that our plans must be interim. When the

time and circumstances come for better plans, by all

means scrap the out-dated ones. That is but logical

and fair. So also the so-called "unscientific"

Homeopaths, Ayurvedis and Unanis will die out

when you can prove to the people the superiority

of scientific medicine, in general therapy of which I as

a competent allopath am less and less convinced the

more I study Homeopathy and Ayurveda.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH HOMEOPATHY

AND AYURVEDA IN INDIA?

It is but right that you should expect me to tell

you something about the shortcomings of our

profession here in Homeopathy and Ayurveda and

Unani. The defect is due to the fact that there is no

Government aid or control. Should the Government

demand a high standard and facilitate it with adequate

financial help we shall get a better and higher quality

of practitioners than we have at present. Today, to

pursue the study of and system of medicine other than

allopathy is more a liability than an asset, difficult to

capitalise. The allopath in India started as a

compounder. It is Govt. encouragement that made

them what they are now. If good men are encouraged

to take to the study of these sciences there is no

reason why we should not produce men as efficient as

any in allopathy. As an allopath I can say, give me a

ward in a hospital with the same facilities that you

give your allopathic physicians and I shall show you

far better results in the healing of the sick with

Homeopathy than any allopathic physician can with

allopathy. As homeopaths we have to serve with

missionary zeal. We can never know too much of our

science and nothing can be too good where human life

is concerned. Actually I have no right to speak to

you about the defects and shortcomings of

Homeopathy since I am an allopath. The trouble in

India is that we are likely to become enthusiastic

sectarians and dogmatists. That man is a scientist who

recognises the limitation of his science. Let us be

scientists and not only blind followers of

Hahnemannian teachings. The greatness of

Homeopathy lies in its simple law of cure, Similia

Similibus Curantur. And yet in this great

simplicity lies the greatest danger because it is not

always applicable though apparently indicated. The

more I study it the more I am convinced that

Homeopathy and Ayurveda have very much in

common. They are the only two sciences that have

studied constitutions and the nature of chronic

diseases. I would urge you to cooperate with the

Ayurveda because someday India may find that a

synthesis of Ayurveda and Homeopathy would be the

only means to meet the problems of mass medical aid

in India. It does not mean that allopathy is to be

discarded. On the contrary I consider the allopath as a

specialist whose aid will be needed in specific cases

such as surgery, preventive medicine, gynaecology,

radiology etc. But that is about 13 p.c. of all medical

activity. There is much I would like to tell you, but

that which I would like to discuss is, or should

be, more the concern of Governments, i.e. if they

wish to listen to it and learn something new.

FINALLY: Before I close, let me thank you all for

having listened so patiently to what I have had the

honour to place before you, and for the honour you

have done an allopath like myself in allowing him

to address you. And I feel that I cannot do better than

close with the words of the great economist WADIA

who said:.

"No policy of unthinking imitation nor any

tinkering with details will avail. The lines along

which a solution of our problems lies may not lead us

straight to our goal. The process of human evolution

is a process of trial and experiment through which we

grope our way over the stepping stones of our failure

and errors. But it is better to venture stones of our

failures and errors. But it is better to venture forth on

the strength of a larger faith than grovel in the dust

along trodden paths wind and wind in a planless

world." And this applies so much to the India of

today seeking a new way out of our of her ancient

miseries.

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6. A Complete Proving of Butyric Acid with

Confirmation

William B. GRIGGS, M.D.

[HEAL THYSELF (The Homeopathic World),

February, 1952, Vol. LXXXVII, No. 1, 034, pp.

34 Ŕ 38.]

(Reprinted from the Homeopathic Recorder)

In presenting a proving of a drug done according

to the method of HAHNEMANN, I feel rather

apologetic because of the fact that when I scan the

recent homeopathic literature I realize that I am alone

in this particular type of work, but this has been my

real hobby for over forty years, and the only excuse I

have for doing it is the fact that I have gathered

valuable information not in the orthodox Materia

Medica. My proven remedies are the tools I use to

help restore the sick to health.

Furthermore, when brought face to face with the

fact that in our Materia Medica I can find no positive

curative remedies in the treatment of Cancer,

Tuberculosis, Diabetic coma, acute Leukaemia, etc., I

feel as though I must start to seek for new remedies

which may help in these types of cases, for I believe

there is an antidote for every morbific poison, and the

wise architect of the universe. I believe, has so

ordained it.

Therefore, in my meager and humble way I have

worked, mostly alone, but in a logical manner to find

the curative effects of some basic substance not in the

orthodox Materia Medica. I may say also that I have

met with many adverse criticisms where they were

least to be expected, but the law of similia similibus

curantur is a fact, and I know Hahnemannřs theory

rests immovably on the eternal laws of nature. I am a

disciple who follows him.

There are three acids of fermentation in the

universe: acetic, lactic, and butyric. Acetic and Lactic

acid have been partially proven in the old Materia

Medica, but Butyric acid was not proven until I

introduced it in the Hering Laboratory of Medical

Research, located in the Hahnemann Medical College

of Philadelphia in 1915, when I was director of the

said laboratory. My assistant at that time took care of

the male students, but did not come in contact at all

with the female provers whom I had taken care of.

Later on I took two male provers and three

female provers, who were nurses at St. Lukeřs and

Childrenřs Medical Centre, Philadelphia. They were

given a very thorough physical examination,

including the heart, lungs, blood, urine, weight, etc.,

and all were found to be in excellent health. The

provers kept their daybooks very accurately. Sac. lac.

was given to all the provers for six days to observe

any peculiar reactions. There were thrills and

anxieties in this new field of endeavour. The remedy

was given in the 2x every two hours during the

waking hours and was continued for three weeks; then

the 30x was given every two hours for four weeks.

Symptoms began to develop about the tenth day and,

strange to say, the characteristic symptoms which I

will offer were developed in at least four of the five

powers. Butyric acid affects principally the gastro-

enteric tract. Few mental symptoms developed and

few tissue changes were observed. The gastric

symptoms began in the mouth with a profuse

salivation. There was loss of appetite, or the appetite

was not as large as usual. Two provers had an

aversion to food and said, ŖI do not care to eat.ŗ They

complained of severe cramps in the pit of the

stomach. These were dullŕthey came and wentŕand

there was a feeling as though the stomach was

overloaded. Crampy pains in the stomach were

followed by palpitation of the heartŕthis was worse

after eating. There was a sense of soreness and

fullness over the region of the liver; a general sense of

fullness in the upper part of abdomen with severe

palpitation and painful breathing. There were a great

many eructations with bitter taste; at times they had a

sour or rancid taste, and at times were tasteless. Many

pains were developed in the abdomen below the

umbilicus, apparently in the transverse colon. These

pains came suddenly, lasted for a while (5 to 10

minutes) and often left just as suddenly. A

tremendous amount of gas developed in the abdomen

and large quantities of gas were passed through the

rectum which gave temporary relief. Often the stools

were preceded by much gas, and frequently the prover

thought he was going to have a stool and only great

volumes of gas were passed, Cramps in the abdomen

awakened them at night. These cramps would cause

the prover to draw his limbs up and were immediately

relieved by passing gas. There were frequent and

tense crampy pains in the bowels with desire for stool,

but only gas passed. This was observed in all five

provers. One prover developed sharp cutting pains

through the abdomen-they were intermittent and

would come and go during the day. Pains below the

umbilicus, colicky in nature, were constant in three

provers.

By way of differentiation I might digress to say,

in comparing Acetic, Lactic, and Butyric acid, that

Butyric acid is the most gaseous of the three acids of

fermentation. It lacks the burning, gnawing, and

ulcerative pains in the stomach of Acetic acid. It lacks

the constant nausea and the hot, acrid fluid eructations

from the stomach to the throat of Lactic acid.

The provers developed soreness and colicky

pains over the region of the ileocaecal valve. This was

accompanied by tenderness on pressure. This proved

to be a valuable symptom as will be detailed later on.

Stools varied in colour from very dark brown, formed,

and offensive, to light yellow. The dark stools were

expelled with an enormous amount of gas, sometimes

offensive. There was always a great deal of straining

and urging to stool.

The daily examination of the urine did not show

any pathology except a great quantity of amorphous

urates, and deveIoped somewhat of an odour as if the

provers had eaten asparagus. The female provers

developed a sudden urging to void and it had to be

attended to immediately. No male sex symptoms were

developed.

The female provers were in normal health at the

time of the proving and developed a scanty, watery

and mucous Leucorrhoea which, when wiped from the

labia, seemed to contain many small bubbles, and it

has the odour of stale brewerřs yeast. This cleared up

after the drug was stopped. At the time of

menstruation the provers developed a sore mouth with

an offensive, thick but scanty, fluid discharge from

the gums. Their feet began to swell.

All five provers developed foot sweat which was

so copious that they had to change their stockings

daily. Two provers developed a very offensive sweat

of their feet. The feet felt cold. These symptoms also

stopped when the remedy was discontinued. The

provers developed a severe backache at the

lumbosacral junction. This was described as a

constant, dull pain which went down into the hips and

was worse while standing.

In the fourth week dull aching pains developed in

the arms. At the end of the fourth week they all

developed very wet and perspiring hands, and after

one week of the profuse sweating hands they could

not manicure their nails as they would break and split.

The provers developed a very tired aching in the

lower extremities, particularly down the calves of

their legs. The consensus of opinion was that this

feeling was as though they had been sick for a long

time and the limbs were weak and tired. This

symptom has been found highly curative.

The sleep symptoms were paradoxical. For the

first week the provers slept better than usual. Then

they developed restless sleep and I believe the restless

sleep, after close questioning, was due to crampy gas

pains in the abdomen which were always relieved by

the expulsion of gas.

Very few mental symptoms developed in my

provers, but I observed they had a tendency to worry

and to become apprehensive. The dreams were

irrelevant, but in the female provers they seemed to be

very real and made a deep impression on them. They

developed also a sense of worry about trifles and

became somewhat impulsive.

Palpitation of the heart was observed in every

prover. It came on particularly after eating a full meal

and was a by a sense of heaviness and fullness in the

liver region.

Along about the fifth week two of the provers

who had developed profuse salivation discontinued

the remedy and the salivation suddenly stopped. Then

the gums became sore and the breath became

somewhat foetid. A little thick, black blood oozed

from the gums and would lie on the teeth. The mouth

had to be rinsed frequently. This has been a most

valuable symptom and had been confirmed in a very

serious disease.

I will now give you some confirmed clinical

experience with Butyric acid by myself and

associates.

It has truly helped those infants who had an

inability to digest the fat of normal quantities in their

formula and developed the symptoms of fat

dyspepsia. I have cured fat dyspepsia in young infants

who had some allergy to fat and regurgitated sour,

rancid milk curds, and had a great deal of gas in the

bowels.

I also cured a case of brittle, dirty-looking finger

nails with Butyric acid after the failure of Antimony

crud., Graphites and Thuya.

Butyric acid cured, permanently, a case of foul

foot sweat which was very profuse. It was prescribed

after the failure of Silica, Graphites, Psorinum and

Thuya. I prescribed the Butyric acid when I

discovered the patient had profuse sweating hands and

the foot sweat was cold.

I had cured cases of flatulent dyspepsia with

excessive accumulation of gas in both the stomach

and intestines after the failure of Arg. nit., Asafoet.,

Carbo veg., Lycopodium, Magnesium mur.,

Momordica.

This simple basic acid has a very broad field of

action in the gastro-intestinal tract which I have

verified over and over again.

Another case of segmented enteritis, or ileitis,

with a ruptured ulcer that was operated on in the

Womenřs Homeopathic Hospital of Philadelphia, and

had all the modern post-operative treatments and

some Homeopathy was finally completely benefited

while under the care of Dr. Robert H. Farley by

Butyric acid which I suggested he might try in this

case as it was a very serious one and at the time hope

was well-nigh abandoned.

The only dramatic cure that I have been able to

observe with Butyric acid, and I believe I am the first

to use it in this dreadfuI disease, was in typhoid fever.

To me this has been a real find. It was a case of

advanced abdominal type of typhoid fever where

Rhus tox. and Baptisia had been prescribed. The

patient had been ill for approximately three weeks and

the case was going bad. The mouth and intestinal

symptoms appeared to me to look like Butyric acid,

which I prescribed with the result that in 48 hours the

mouth symptoms had almost disappeared. The

patientřs temperature was absolutely normal in nine

days, and the patient made a perfect and uninterrupted

recovery. The second case was a very serious one

with marked sordes on the teeth, the mouth was foul,

abdomen distended with much gas, extreme

tenderness over the ileocaecal region, and the

attending physician feared haemorrhage might be

coming on. Butyric acid here, within 72 hours,

relieved the abdominal tenderness, relieved the gas

symptoms, and in less than a week cleared up the

symptoms pertaining to the buccal cavity. The

patientřs temperature came to normal, and recovery

was uneventful.

These are facts and show the possibilities of this

neglected basic fatty acid. I have prescribed this

remedy in the 30x and l,000th potency almost

exclusively. When indicated it has been a prompt

acting remedy.

The provers have been thanked years ago for

their grace of perseverance and personal sacrifice.

Only those of us who have conducted a systematic

proving can appreciate the amount of labour

demanded in such work. I hope it will prove to be of

some particular value to the profession and new

symptoms added through experience.

Please accept my humble effort in developing

another working tool in the Materia Medica. The

profession is asked to put it to the test in suitable

cases and report the results. Only in this way can we

make our Materia Medica a practical and useful

working instrument.

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7. Homeopathy: The Law Of Similars

1

By Dr.

Alberto LODISPOTO, D.F.Hom. (London)

A radio broadcast from Rome, Dec. 3, 1954,

translated by the author.

[THE LAYMAN SPEAKS, A Homeopathic

Digest, Vol. VIII, 4/1955]

Yesterday I visited a patient who has been

suffering from Insomnia for several years and as she

was taking so much time in describing irrelevant

points concerning her illness I interrupted her and said

ŖI think some doses of Coffea will make you sleep.ŗ

ŖCoffea doctor, what is that?ŗ

ŖIt is from the coffee plant.ŗ

ŖBut doctor. I am suffering from Insomnia and

coffee is a stimulant.ŗ

It took me a long time to convince her that Coffea

would do her good but I was just applying what

HIPPOCRATES and HAHNEMANN had established

many, many years ago; similia, similibus curentur ŕ

let likes be treated by likes ŕ the law that established

that a substance which produces a complex of morbid

symptoms in the healthy man is also able to cure

them.

This law does not seem so mysterious as

paradoxical. Some humorists could say:

A dog has bitten you, well, never mind; another

bite or some of that dogřs hair on the wound: like

cures like. Of course, this could hardly be called

humour, but to people who are not familiar with

Homeopathy it sounds just as ridiculous to hear that

1

From Homeopathy, The Rational Art of Medicine,

London, Vol. 5, No.2, February, 1955.

Coffea cures insomnia, that Opium is a stimulant,

Ipecacuanha stops uncontrollable vomiting, and

Mercurius cures gingivitis.

It is like inversed medicine, it can be so

confusing that it can give one a headache. If you are

suffering from insomnia you might sayŕI will just

run to a chemist shop and buy some homeopathic

coffeeŕbut I am afraid it is not just as easy as that.

Guiding Symptoms

Let us now go back to our patient and her

insomnia; a most useful illustration for understanding

the mysterious law, which expects to cure an illness

with a substance which is able to produce the same

symptoms.

What the patient said, had induced me to

prescribe Coffea. She had said:ŕ

ŖIn the evening I am very tired, I cannot sleep. I

wish I could sleep in order to rest, but I cannot stop

the flow of ideas and countless thoughts coming into

my mind and I cannot stop making plans and projects.

I am physically so very tired, but mentally excited.

The main point is that I cannot stop this flow of

ideasŗ.

Well, do you suffer from this kind of Insomnia?

Has your Insomnia got these characteristics, this

mental state? Only in this case will Coffea give you

immediate benefit.

But why, you will ask, only in this case is Coffea

the magic cure. The answer is in the cup of coffee.

Have you ever too much coffee? And, did you

remember that night? You were dead tired but you

could not sleep; hundreds of thoughts and ideas you

could not control; it was like a nightmare. That night

you had a coffee intoxication, you have experienced it

yourself.

A remedy is prescribed whose symptoms, which

have been noted from an experimental intoxication on

a healthy man, are similar to those observed in a

patient.

You could askŕdoes not the patient get worse

through taking a drug which is able to produce its own

symptoms?

No, because in Homeopathy medicines are used

in infinitesimal and imponderable doses.

Substances are diluted, by a suitable method and

apparatus, a fantastic number of times. Often our

patients read on the label of their medicine bottle:

30th centesimal ŕ this means that the medicine has

been diluted in hundredths, 30 successive times. Its

value can be expressed by a fraction having one as

numerator and one followed by 60 noughts as

denominator.

A substance diluted at the 200th centesimal can

be compared to a gramme molecule in a volume equal

to a milliard times the volume of the sun. The

10,000th dilution is equal to a fraction having as

denominator, one followed by 20,000 noughtsŕ

dilutions do not stop here, they go further still, to the

50,000thŕ 100,000th. They are frightening, fantastic

numbers but they do cure.

Reaction Follows Remedy

How many times after prescribing one of these

very dilute homeopathic remedies I get telephone

calls like this one:

ŖDoctor, I have got a temperature, what shall I

do?ŗ How difficult it is to explain to the patient that

he should not do anything, that its occurrence is an

understood, wanted, beneficial reaction, and that only

through this apparent setback in his case will he reach

a complete recovery.

Here is an illustration which everybody will

understand:

I once visited a frail little girl; she was very pale,

had swollen glands, and loss of appetite. After a

month of treatment there was no improvement. I saw

her again; another month of treatment with no result.

There must have been something which

prevented the action of the remedies I was

prescribing.

Reconsidering the case from the very beginning I

could find nothing new; but the mother, recollecting

the history of the childřs illness, remembered what

she called a slight attack of measles.

ŖWhy do you call it slight?ŗ I asked.

ŖYou see,ŗ she said, it lasted such a short time.

High temperature, cough, rash. I gave her febrifuges

(fever depressants) antibiotics and in a few hours

everything had magically disappeared.ŗ

ŖHow long ago did it happen?ŗ

ŖAlmost two years ago.ŗ

ŖAnd how long has the child been run down?ŗ

ŖSince the attack of measles she has never

completely recovered.ŗ

I then prescribed a dose of Morbillinum, in other

words a preparation obtained from the desquamation

of a patient suffering from measles.

A few hours after the child had taken the

medicine, the mother rang me up panic-stricken.

ŖDoctor, my little girl has got a terribly high

temperature. What shall I do?ŗ

ŖNothing,ŗ I said, Ŗlet her keep it.ŗ

As a reaction from the medicine I had prescribed,

the child again went through a real attack of Measles.

Of course, I did not dream to interfere and thus

interrupt the development of this artificial attack, with

other drugs.

Since then two years have gone by, and after that

beneficial high temperature the child has completely

recovered and flourished without the aid of tonics,

injections, vitamins etc.

Nosodes

In Homeopathy there are countless substances

that, like the Morbillinum I just mentioned, are used

to reactivate a suppressed illness; to stimulate the

organism during the period of an illness. They are

called Nosodes, and have been used for more than a

hundred years, they were the forerunners of the

modern vaccines and serums; some of them are:

Tuberculinum, Cancerinum, Scarlatinum,

Typhoidinum.

What a great many things I have to explain

during my daily practice!

Some time ago I examined a patient suffering

from a form of Eczema. I wrote a prescription, and

this was his reaction:

ŖI say, doctor, are you going to treat this damn

Eczema with only powder to take by mouth? Are you

not even going to give me some cream to apply

locally?ŗ

From his point of view he was right.

ŖYour Eczema,ŗ I explained, Ŗis not something

coming from outside but that which you have built up

internally. It is not a disease that struck you but a

complaint that your organism has, through the years,

prepared and provoked. Now what can you fight

against, if it is something that your organism is daily

building up?

ŖYour Eczema is nothing but a signal, a symptom

that everything is not well. You are in-toxicated, self-

poisoned. The Eczema is a way by which your body is

being de-toxicated, a safety valve that providentially

has been opened.

ŖJust think what a calamity it would be if we

were to close it. All toxins that you are now getting

rid of would remain circulating, so we do not suppress

but help to expel them. Every disease has got its own

natural cycle; so not violent suppression, but a

complete exhaustion of this cycle is the most rapid

and harmless way.ŗ

Prescribing for the Individual

How do we prescribe homeopathically?

I had a call during an epidemic of Influenza.

There were four patients, each of them in bed,

with high temperatures. (All struck down on the same

day.)

To the first one I prescribed Belladonna; to the

second one Sulphur; to the third Gelsemium, and to

the fourth Lycopodium. ŖThe four of us have the same

complaint,ŗ one of them remarked. ŖWhy then give a

different remedy to each of us?ŗ

ŖBecause,ŗ I explained, Ŗyou all have similar but

not identical symptoms.ŗ

ŖAll four of you have temperatures. But they are

not the same sort of temperatures. The four of you

have got Influenza, but you are four different

patients.ŗ

The homeopathic medicine is not based on the

diagnosis of an illness but on the individual

symptomatology of a patient. Every patientŕso to

speakŕhas got a personal disease.

There is no Rheumatism but rheumatics. Some

find relief in walking, others in keeping still. One

from cold applications, another from hot ones. Some

feel better at the seaside, others in the mountains.

Types, and characteristics cross each other;

hundreds of pictures present themselves. For every

one of us there is a specific individual remedy. It has

got to be carefully chosen by a long, thorough

examination.

Through these few examples I hope I have

introduced you to the apparent paradox of the

similimum and to the magic nature of the infinitesimal

dose. If Homeopathy may seem magic and

paradoxical at first, approached simply and with

familiarity, it is very logical and simple. For these

very reasons it is recognized and appreciated.

[

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8. A Chronic Case Cured

1

Thomas SKINNER, M.D.

[THE LAYMAN SPEAKS, A Homeopathic

Digest, Vol. XVI, 1/1963]

The following case was so puzzling, yet so

simple, I have thought it would be interesting to my

professional brethren if I narrated it from my journal

of the case, with all its faults, difficulties, failures and

successes.

Miss C.A., aged 24, with golden auburn hair,

dark hazel eyes, and a lovely fair complexion, five

feet in height, and very handsome, consulted me along

with her mother on the 28th March, 1887. The family

had just returned from Germany, whither they had

gone in order to finish her education. Education or no

education, the climate and cuisine of Germany nearly

finished both the mother and daughter. I shall keep to

the state of the daughter at present, who was residing

at the seashore on our south coast. While all the

family were tanned by the sun and sea breeze, my

patient remained pale and haggard ŕ complaining of

nothing, only feeling terribly weak. She had lost much

flesh and fat, and was low-spirited, but in no way

fearful about herself; on the contrary, she pooh-

poohed her state, and she would have it that there was

nothing but weakness the matter with her.

The following is her Ŗphotoŗ: Puffy swelling of

her face from below the eyes, always worse on first

getting out of bed in the morning, disappearing as the

day advances, but never wholly away; face pale, wan,

sallow and sickly. Both extremities from the hips

downwards are painfully distended, and the patient

thinks that the swelling begins at the hips. Fidgets in

legs and arms; from the knees down and the whole of

both arms. They commence about 9 p.m. as the sitting

room gets heated, only relieved by moving about or

getting into a cooler atmosphere or apartment. She is

free from fidgets in bed. Her feet and ankles are very

oedematous, pitting deeply on pressure with finger.

M.P. every three weeks, and scanty, as a rule,

otherwise normal, the last M.P. just over. Sleeps

1

From The Homeopathic World, Rustington, Sussex,

England, VoL 100, No. 1154, October, 1962.

unexceptionably. Sinking at the epigastrium from 11

a.m. till 6 p.m. when in Germany, more rarely since

her return home. Her hands are cold and dry;

chilblains on hands; feet normal. Severe anaemia.

March 28th, 1887. Taking the dropsy ŕ the

restlessness evenings, relief in bed, the general

debility and the chilblains ŕ it seemed to me that

Arsenicum was better indicated than any other

remedy. Doubtless the sinking at the epigastrium from

11 a.m. until 6 p.m. with anaemia was strongly

indicative of Sulphur but I had greater faith in

Arsenicum in all forms of dropsy than in Sulphur. I

gave my patient on this date Ars. 200 (F.C.) 18 doses,

one to be taken night and morning.

July 7. The cough is entirely gone and the

heaviness of her limbs Ŗas if weighted.ŗ Since the hot

weather set in she has had terrible oppression and

weakness at the heart with back-ache, worse at bed-

time and in bed. It keeps her awake until 3 or 4 a.m.

and she is unable to lie down. Must leave the window

of her bedroom open at night and herself lightly

covered. Great debility. In consequence of the intense

heat of the weather, which was of stifling character

even to those in health, I felt certain that medicine

could not play the part of cool, fresh air.

Consequently I advised her removal as soon as

convenient to a cooler atmosphere. Moffat in

Dumfrieshire, was selected. No medicine was to be

taken, and I was to be written to if in any way worse.

August 22nd. She wrote in great spirits to tell me that

the cooler air of Moffat had made her Ŗquite wellŗ and

she continued to until the fall of the year.

October 21st. Restlessness all over the body,

generally worse about 8 p.m. Weakness and at times

pain at her heart. Late going to sleep. Merc. sol. 1m.

A dose every night at 7 p.m. while the restlessness

continues.

November 3rd. Restlessness gone.

November 15th. Her sleep is still very

unsatisfactory; late in getting to sleep. Her brothers

and sisters are Lycopodium subjects. Lycopodium 1m.

a dose each night at bed time until a decided

improvement sets in as regards Ŗlate in going sleep.ŗ

November 23rd. Sleep returning with general

improvement all round. No medicine.

December 15th. Continued improvement in sleep,

but in spite of that there is an increase in lassitude or

weakness, in the evenings of every third day. Heart

jumps upwards now and again, worse evenings.

(Query: Was this a new symptom or an aggravation

from the previous Lycopodium? as it clearly indicates

Lyc.) I gave her Lycopodium 10m. (F.C.)

From this date I seemed to be at sea without a

rudder with my patient. Nothing would go right. The

dropsy got worse than ever and most alarming and

disfiguring. Kind friends and relatives called on her

mother and tried to dissuade her and the patient

against those trifling globules. ŖThe girl is dying by

inches and yet you trust to weak sugar and water. You

surprise me, and a Christian mother!ŗ

As the late Dr. H. N. GUERNSEY once told me,

ŖDoctor, it is not the ill ones that are difficult to

manage, it is the well ones!”

In a sort of desperation I gave Arsenicum 20m.

and 50m. (F.C.) but they only made matters worse.

On January 16th, 1888, I made the following photo, of

the dear girl at her motherřs house in bed. No change,

or if anything worse. The swelling is extending to her

body and is accompanied by burning, stinging pains

all over her feet, worse in the evenings when her feet

become warm. She feels as if her skin were scratched

across the front or bend of her ankles, and she dislikes

the fire. One more ray of hope Ŗa sail in sight

appears.ŗ Apis 1m. (F.C.) in water every four hours

till again seen, or worse.

January 19th, 1888. The burning, stinging pains

in feet are gone, and the swelling is less in her lower

limbs, but there is more swelling in face and body,

which latter she knows by her dresses not meeting.

There is still a general restlessness of body.

Nota Bene: I may as well here state that her

bowels have all along been perfectly natural and her

urine is normal in quantity and colour. Specific

gravity from 1,015 to 1,020 and although it has

frequently been tested for albumen, not a trace of it

has ever been found by heat and Nitric acid. The

heart, though now and again functionally deranged,

has never been found to manifest any organic change.

And so far as I know the liver has never been in fault.

So that, here we have a case of acute or sub-acute

dropsy, in no way directly connected with any fixed

lesion of the kidneys, the heart, or the liver, and

purely depending upon anaemia of a strictly psoric

character in a hydrogenoid habit, as we shall see more

particularly in what follows.

January 23rd, 1888. I received a visit from a

married sister at my consulting rooms in town. She

wished to have a talk to me about her sisterřs case, as

she felt certain that she did not tell me all. She

informed me that she was Ŗa regular hydropathic

water spaniel, and whenever you call upon her, or

whenever she knows you are going to call, she always

has an extra tubbing. She seems to think that

cleanliness is next to godliness.ŗ So said her sister.

Here is the key to the whole case ŕ Anaemia,

aggravated from meddling with water.

In my ŖNotice to Patientsŗ a printed copy of

which I give to every patient, it is clearly stated as a

condition of patientship that ŖBaths of all kinds,

Turkish and Russian, medicated or not, must be

entirely under Dr. Skinnerřs control ŕ even as

regards sitz and ordinary sponge baths used for the

purpose of cleanliness ŕ as also all practices learned

at Hydropathic Establishments: because water, cold

and damp, as a rule, are inimical to the most and the

worst forms of Chronic Disease.ŗ

At the close of said ŖNotice to Patientsŗ the

following speaks for itself: ŖIf patients cannot or will

not adopt the above simple but necessary rules whilst

under treatment, they had better not begin, because

Dr. S. does not pretend to work miracles, or do that

which is impossible.ŗ

Hydropathy is a vast improvement on Allopathy,

but has much to answer for.

April 12th. Reports general improvement; M.P.

expected in three days; paroxysmal cough mornings.

Ars. 200 every second night at bed time.

May 12th. M.P. scanty, every three weeks, the

last every two weeks. Fainty spells commencing in

chest. Dry, tickling cough only by day. Sulphur cm.

(F.C.) one dose at once dry on the tongue.

May 20th. The Sulphur cm. has agreed and she

feels better in every respect. Last Saturday night, but

not since, she felt a heaviness as of lead in her heart.

(As she has never had such a sensation before or

since, I have no doubt that this symptom will be found

more or less characteristic of Sulphur, as it was

induced by the cm. and gave her great alarm.) I have

italicized Ŗin her heartŗ because she persisted that the

feeling was so. Her cough is better, but it comes back

at irregular intervals. The dropsy is gone and she feels

less fainty. The usual placebo.

June 3rd. The weakness remains the same. Hot,

warm or close weather induces pain as of pricking,

and heaviness, with a feeling as if the dropsical

swelling would return. Cough worse by laughing or

entering a warm room from the open air. Bryonia cm.

(F.C.) a dose each night until the cough is entirely

gone.

After this providential visit from my patientřs

married sister, I called at my patientřs house and saw

her in bed (after Ŗa tubbingŗ I presume). I made

enquiry, and found that all through her illness she had

Ŗa tubbingŗ once or twice a day, except at her

monthly periods, which she, poor innocent, thought it

was the proper thing to do, and the more so, as all her

young female acquaintances did the same. I told her it

was all very well for those in sound health, but it was

not for those who required the aid of the physician

unless he ordered it. It goes without saying that I

stopped all meddling with water, except on uncovered

parts until further orders, much to the chagrin and

disappointment of my patient, and I made the last, the

following photo:

The Apis 1m. removed the burning, stinging

pains, but it did not seem to influence the ascites, and

general anasarca of face and body. Leucophlegmatic

subject, irritable and headstrong, always worse after

a bath, particularly a warm one, which is her delight.

Cold feet, worse evenings. Fidgets of arms and legs

on and off. Anaemia. Hydrogenoid. On the head of

this Ŗphotoŗ even granting that we have not much to

recommend the selection so far as ascites and

anasarca are concerned, except our Ŗguiding

symptomsŗ on

January 23rd, 1888, I put her on Calcarea 200

(F.C.) thrice daily and on the 2nd February she

reported the swelling and dropsy nearly gone. General

restlessness about 8 p.m. beginning at the feet and

ascending, continues until bedtime, relieved by

uncovering, accompanied by a grasping sensation at

the heart. Calcarea cm. (F.C.) one dose at once and

one at bedtime. No placebo. To let it work.

February 20th, 1889. Has never once Ŗlooked

over her shoulder.ŗ My patient is now the healthiest of

the healthy, and the gayest of the gay. She has gone to

balls, concerts and theatres for the seasons of 1888

and 1889, to the agreeable surprise of those friends

who pooh-poohed Homceopathy.

Comment. In all disease adhere to the totality of

the symptoms, prescribe for the patient and never for

the disease, and never forget that hydropathy may be a

curse as well as a blessing.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

9. The Withdrawn Child

NEUSTAEDTER, Lac Randall

(RESONANCE 16, 4/1994)

The homeopathic literature often focuses on the

difficult and contrary child. These are the children

who are labeled with allopathic terms such as conduct

disorders, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, and

borderline personality. These children draw attention

to themselves in the family and at school,

monopolizing the time and concern of all the adults

around them. They receive more homeopathic rem-

edies (Hyos., Stram., Anac, Tub., Med., Verat., etc.)

and have more office visits than their quieter peers

and siblings. The children who internalize their

emotional reactions often go unnoticed. Their

depression, grief, and fear are lost in the shuffle and

noise of the busy family and classroom. They are

often brought in by the attentive mother who notices

that something is not right.

Children require recognition and acceptance. A

child is born with a particular temperament and

personality. Parents need to recognize the nature of

each individual child, adjust their own expectations,

and provide opportunities for learning that consider

the child's unique qualities, talents, and emotional

makeup. The homeopath is in an excellent position to

help parents understand the child's individuality and

encourage them to create an environment that will

foster growth and strength of personality. When this

does not occur, when children are injured, abused,

ignored, or misunderstood, they may choose

withdrawal as a mode of defense. This recognition of

the child includes respect for the child's true nature

and purpose. Whether or not parents are aware of

these, they can respect the wisdom and integrity of the

child's system. Attacks on the system's integrity will

result in injury and withdrawal. It is then that

remedies such as Silica, Baryta carbonica, Arsenicum

album, Staphysagria, Natrum muriaticum, Ignatia,

and Thuja may be needed. These remedies can be

differentiated by their behavioral manifestations in

children and by the events that have initiated the

symptoms.

The concept of internalizing and externalizing

behavior syndromes arises from the pediatric

psychological assessment literature. Through cluster

analysis of questionnaire data and clinical

descriptions, specific syndromes within these two

categories have been depicted. These behavior

syndromes are useful when analyzing a case from a

homeopathic perspective. They enable an ordered

case taking and case analysis process, especially if we

correlate these behavior patterns with homeopathic

remedies. Tables 1 and 2 list the syndromes within the

Child Behavior Profile (see Achenbach, TM

Assessment and Taxonomy of Child and Adolescent

Psychopathology, Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1985).

Table 3 places some typical homeopathic remedies

within this syndrome perspective.

Silica is naturally shy, slow to warm up to new

situations, and a natural observer. The Silica child is

usually intelligent with advanced development and a

quick mind. The child can sum up a situation quickly

and give perceptive comments about people. But,

there is a stubborn tendency to hang back, watch, and

delay their own participation in a new environment.

This can give people the impression that the child is

slow, but the Silica child is actually quite sharp and

sensitive to the surroundings. Because of this

tendency to be inconspicuous, the child can be

misunderstood by parents. Their perceptivity and

natural intellect may even go unnoticed by parents

who are less bright than the child or distracted by their

own lives.

These children are usually capable and talented,

though their withdrawing tendencies slow them down

both socially and within the family. It takes a sensitive

parent to understand the Silica child, bring out the

child's strengths, and to give her/him the room needed

to express clearly.

Injuries may cause symptom expression in these

Silica children. Emotional trauma may cause them to

become more withdrawn. The Silica child may even

have difficulty talking to adults or other children.

They retreat to their creative activities, and though

everyone agrees that they are sweet and cooperative,

they develop an aloofness that can be impenetrable to

all but the most inquisitive; patient adults around

them.

Baryta carbonica, by contrast, is much more

afraid. The world is more threatening to these children

and they are in hiding. The Baryta carbonica child will

hide behind the mother's skirt in a new environment or

even when making transitions to familiar places.

When family friends arrive at the house, the child will

hide behind the couch. At school the child may sit on

the edge of the playground throughout the entire

recess or a preschooler may sit curled up in a cubby

space and require the teacher's entreaties and coaxing

to enlist participation in the class. These children do

not feel safe in the world. They are sometimes just not

bright enough to figure it out. It all seems new and

unfamiliar to them and they seem unsophisticated,

awkward, unprepared, afraid, and bewildered. This is

in sharp contrast with the sophistication of Silica,

Natrum muriaticum, and even Phosphorus.

Arsenicum has fears of a different kind. These

seem fabricated and unwarranted. They are more

obsessive fears. The Arsenicum child must have

parents present for reassurance. He/she cannot fall

asleep at night without the parents lying in the bed or

sitting in the room. This child worries and calculates;

is exacting and eccentric. Like the adult Arsenicum

who is mortally afraid, Arsenicum children have a fear

of annihilation and disappearance. This creates the

insatiable need for reassurance. They are afraid of

death, afraid of dangers in the world, afraid that their

protection will disappear. It is as if their shields of

confidence and security in the world have never been

adequately formed.

Staphysagria children, on the other hand, have

been injured in this world. They are withdrawn

because they have been violated and repressed. They

harbour resentment because they have not been heard.

When adults force these children into a mold, the

result is withdrawal and confused, repressed anger.

On the surface the child attempts to be coopera-tive,

but at a deeper level resentments about the injury are

harbored. The child is stifled, but acquiesces.

Natrum muriaticum children have closed in on

themselves. They are observers, but these children

calculate to determine their responses. The desire for

order does not arise out of fear, as with Arsenicum,

but reflects the need for control. They feel

emotionally injured and they seek to protect

themselves by closing down. This is expressed in the

need for order, the interest in clothing styles, social

cliques, and the perfectionist tendencies in school. On

the other hand, they cannot control their emotional

responses, and fits of temper in the form of door

slamming and brooding sessions punctuate the quiet,

seething, cooperative but tight disposition. One has

the sense that the child keeps a lid on things and gets

rattled only when the pot begins to boil. To the casual

observer and for teachers, these children are perfect

models of behavior. Parents, however, are continually

challenged by the rebelliousness and the distrust of

adults' motives. Children who need Ignatia are more

active. They display the active emotional response to

the injury. They are visibly upset much of the time.

This may occur because of feeling so acutely the

effects of emotional trauma. Small children may

exhibit screaming, and older children seem constantly

upset. A strategy for coping has not been developed

and the result is emotional disorder and reactivity.

This may occur in children who are abused or

traumatized an event such as a death in the family or

a move. The emotional injury that stimulates an

Ignatia reaction may take many forms.

An unusual case was an 18-month-old who

shrieked from frustration whenever he played with

toys. He seemed totally disoriented in the world I

played quizzically with his toys as if he did not

understand the very fact of objects existing in space.

He would repeatedly run his fingers along ledges,

feeling the edge and staring with fascination. He

would knock over a toy, carefully set it upright, then

tip it over again, repeating the procedure to

understand the process. His level of frustration was

especially worrisome to his mother because he did not

seem able to accomplish any small task he set for

himself without an emotional outburst. It seemed that

he did not understand how to function in this

dimension and did not become familiar with the world

as other children did. He seemed traumatized by the

fact of being here. After receiving Ignatia he became

settled, calm, and less frustrated. Repeated doses were

prescribed when the behavior arose again at various

developmental stages with equally good success.

Interestingly, his baby brother began to show some of

the same symptoms and he benefited from Ignatia as

well. Both boys had a similar demeanor; As if they

came from the same realm. The dynamic in children

needing Thuja has recently been described in a

fascinating article by Catherine Coulter ("The psychic

dimension of Thuja," Journal of the American

Institute of Homeopathy, 1993; 86; 197). The

article represents a significant event in the classical

homeopathic literature because it is unusual in

several respects. It raises very important issues about

children relevant to their homeopathic treatment,

but, it also initiates a realm of thinking about remedies

and cases that is new and timely. Readers who do not

subscribe to the JAIH will find this article in Ms.

Coulter's forthcoming book, Portrait of a

Homeopath. [A copy of that issue of the JAIH may

be purchased from the AIH, telephone: 303-370-

9164.—ed.] This portrait of Thuja supplements those

presented by others (see Bill Gray's article, "Thujaŕ

The great masquer-ader," Journal of the American

Institute of Homeopathy, 1991; 84; 11) and adds

new information. In it Coulter describes the typical

psychological portrait of the Thuja essence including

its guilt, alienation, rigidity, and inadequacy. She does

this in her usual lucid and entertaining literary style

with many interspersed and illustrative cases. The

important point, however, that she makes throughout

the article characterizing Thuja, is the disorientation

that may occur when individuals have become open to

psychic information or other dimensions of reality.

She summarizes this point with the following

introduction:

"Either because he has been so profoundly

injured in this lifetime or, as sometimes happens,

from exaggeration of or an imagined victimization,

some part of Thuja's spirit has withdrawn from this

world and, even if unconsciously, sought refuge in

some other sphere of reality where it hopes to feel

more at ease. In other words, even while functioning

adequately or in fact well on this planet both

physically and socially, a certain psychic break, a

certain non-integration between his spirit and mortal

frame, has already taken place. No longer his old self

but not yet understanding his new self ('as if divided

in two parts and cannot tell which he is': Kent), he is

undergoing the growing pains of transition from

existence entirely in this world to an awareness of

other dimensions."

COULTER then goes on to explain the mental

and emotional symptoms of Thuja from this

perspective. The mental confusion and lack of clarity

relate to the distress that the traveler experiences as he

is caught between two worlds in "alien territory."

Thuja suffers from "spiritual bewilderment and

psychic disorientation." She views the subjective

experiences of Thuja, strange as they may seem to an

outsider or the patient him/herself, as valid encounters

with other planes of existence. She suggests that many

experiences listed as Thuja delusions can be

understood more accurately as breakthrough

encounters with other realms:

"In the present day and age our understanding of

Thuja-like 'delusions' is undergoing a significant

metamorphosis, and these sensations are beginning to

be viewed rather as a confused understanding of

paranormal phenomena in subjects ultra receptive to

other orders of reality.... In other words, that which

contributes to Thuja's mental-emotional confusion is

having no conventional paradigm or frame of

reference through which to process and make

meaning of his paranormal experiences. And this lack

of satisfying tools for grappling with the psychic

dimension, consorting with utter psychic vulnerability

and consequent inability to sift and sort out amongst

the entities both malignant and benign that randomly

bombard him... leaves him with no skill to

discriminate in the spirit world."

COULTER goes on to elucidate imaginatively

the mentality of the various epochs of western

civilization since the Middle Ages, characterizing the

last four decades as a Thuja era. Individuals in this era

are beset by a range of stressful events and cultural

transitions which render them especially susceptible

to the disorientation she describes. The modern

evolution of spirituality and the discarding of

restrictive conventions have led to a precarious state

in which individuals are left a little dazed and

confused, especially when these forces impinge on

their own egos and delicately constructed

explanations of reality. This is the point that

COULTER makes so eloquently in her forty-page

treatise on Thuja.

Children face a particularly difficult set of Thuja

circumstances. COULTER raises the issue of

vaccinations and their disorienting effects on the

system. Thuja's reputation for treating the sequelae of

vaccination combined with the neurological

symptoms associated with the pertussis vaccine make

for interesting speculation upon Coulter's main thesis.

She correlates the themes of Thuja in children with

those of Autism and states of disorientation from

physical reality. The themes of Thuja in children are

similar to those in adults, that is, they seem tuned out,

disengaged, oppositional, psychically sensitive, and

learning disabled. She associates the psychic abilities

of autistic children with the disorienting effects of

vaccination. The screaming episodes following the

pertussis vaccine, the withdrawal from the body in

SIDS cases, and the neurological damage, retardation,

and regression of vaccine injury all suggest Thuja

issues. In light of the thesis about Autism's

relationship to the pertussis vaccine, as so eloquently

presented by HARRIS COULTER (Vaccination,

Social Violence, and Criminality, North Atlantic

Books, 1991), the themes of Autism, Withdrawal

behaviors, Psychic disequilibrium, and Thuja are

practical and timely when so many new vaccines are

being injected into children.

Vaccines carry the potential to invoke

tremendous damage in the body. These are not so

much vaccine reactions as vaccine devastation. A

child whose system is attacked by vaccines may be

thrown into a severe state of disorder. Any child

injected with a vaccine recoils in shock, but those

who are particularly sensitive or vulnerable undergo a

more significant state of neurological, systemic, and

psychic catastrophe. The withdrawal that occurs can

be drastic and permanent.

This type of reaction is not even seen by

allopathic physicians. It is as if they were blinded to

the change that occurs in a child after receiving a

vaccine. Parents, however, see only too clearly. The

difference that they observe in the child is horrifying

to them. This is what has caused parents to protest

mandatory vaccines and to fight them in the Courts.

It is tragic that children are subjected to this

assault on their bodies. It is shameful that

homeopaths have not publicly expressed their dismay

and alarm at the damage done to children in the name

of preventive medicine. In fact the homeopathic

community has chosen to back off from the vaccine

issue. The COULTERS' accusations about vaccines

are too speculative, the political implications of

confronting the vaccine campaign industry are too

touchy, the position of Homeopathy in the country's

new health care plan is too precarious. Or perhaps

homeopaths are lulled into complacency by the

denials and reassurances of allopathic vaccine

researchers and view the protests against these drugs

as a little hysterical.

Whatever the reasons, homeopaths have chosen

to withdraw from the vaccine issue. Are we merely to

view vaccines as an unavoidable stress of childhood

and continue to treat the chronic symptoms that result

from their use with constitutional prescriptions for the

recurrent ear infections, Asthma, and neurological

dysfunctions? Or will we come to the defense of our

child patients by informing ourselves and parents

about the issues, just as we would any other form of

injury or abuse?

Sexual abuse of children finally has been

recognized as an emotional stress with debilitating

consequences. The homeopathic community has

brought its own resources to bear on the syndromes

and remedies associated with the types of withdrawal

resulting from sexual abuse. Can we find the courage

to do the same with vaccine injury and its own

syndromes of devastation and disease?

TABLE 1: Internalizing Syndromes

Syndrome

Example Behaviors

Schizoid/Anxious

clingy, nightmares, timid, fears

school, anxieties

Depressed

lonely, feels unloved, guilty,

sulks, feels worthless

Uncommunicative

confused, won't talk, self-

conscious, secretive

Obsessive-compulsive

obsessions, stares blankly,

hoarding, strange ideas

Somatic complaints

headaches, dizziness, stomach

aches, overtired

Social withdrawal

poor peer relations, teased,

unliked, withdrawn

TABLE 2 : Externalizing Syndromes

Syndrome

Example Behaviors

Hyperactive

restless, impulsive, acts too

young, insatiable

Aggressive

cruel, fights, lies, screams,

swears, loud, threatens

Delinquent

destroys things, disobeys,

steals, vandalism, truant

TABLE 3 :

Homeopathic Remedies Correlated with Syndromes

Internalizing

Externalizing

Silica

Calcarea

carbonica

Tuberculinum

Baryta

carbonica

Causticum

Medorrhinum

Arsenicum

Sulphur

Staphysagria

Anacardium

Natrum

muriaticum

Kali carbonicum

Stramonium

Thuja

Calcarea

phosphorica

Hyoscyamus

Easy/Shy

Difficult

10. Constitutional Prescribing for Children

NEUSTAEDTER Randall OMD, LAC

(RESONANCE, SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER,

1994)

In this issue I would like to share some of my

experience working with children and to focus on a

few areas that I have found are central in children's

cases. These all involve constitutional prescribing

and apply to the child who has been brought for

Homeopathy because of symptoms being out of

control.

Most of the symptoms that confront a

homeopath in children's cases center around immune

system function. These present to us as recurrent

respiratory and ear infections or allergic reactions

(chronic congestion, Asthma, and Eczema). Various

combinations of these frequently occur in any

individual child. The specific diagnosis is often

irrelevant to the homeopathic case.

My experience has shown me that it is important

to keep a perspective in the case about the correct

approach to any symptom. The highest point in this

perspective is the constitutional remedy. Other issues

in the case, the acute remedies, the management of

symptoms, and the diagnostic pursuit of specific

allergens or symptom triggers are all secondary.

The child's safety is of primary importance. That

goes without saying. There is no place in Homeopathy

for the purist approach of avoiding allopathic drugs

entirely. A child with Asthma, for example, may be

much too reliant on bronchodilators and steroids.

However, their place in the management of Asthma

cannot be ignored. In any case, my experience has

been that if we give the correct constitutional, then the

need for drugs decreases and parents will withdraw

them with a little encouragement and a sensible

approach.

The constitutional prescription is usually the

homeopath's goal for a child whose parents come to

Homeopathy frustrated with allopathic care. In my

own practice though, a different situation occurs not

infrequently. I will see a child for an acute problem,

then another, and a third. Eventually it becomes clear

that the child needs a constitutional remedy, but it has

not been prescribed. This time spent chasing acute

symptoms could probably be avoided, and the child's

health improved, by giving the constitutional at an

earlier point.

This would be the ideal preventive approach, but

several limiting factors might interfere with this. At

this time of reduced insurance coverage and the

expansion of HMO programs, parents may find it

financially difficult to bring each of their children for

a constitutional evaluation. The other limitation is the

knowledge level of the prescriber. Using acute

remedies for children's illnesses is rewarding and

relatively easy to learn. Many practitioners have

integrated acute prescribing into their treatment of

children. Chiropractors, Acupuncturists, Naturopaths,

and holistically oriented MDs have all found that

homeopathic acute prescribing often eliminates the

need for antibiotics in the children they see. This has

encouraged tremendous growth in Homeopathy.

Acute remedies really work in children's

illnesses, and parents are deeply impressed by this. At

some 1evel they know the negative consequences of

using antibiotics. Many parents are reluctant to resort

to antibiotics, but they feel compelled because the

pediatrician has prescribed them and they feel

powerless to make any other choice. In turn the

pediatrician prescribes them for lack of anything else

to do and because of pressure to do something.

Because of these anxieties about diseases,

repeated antibiotics have become one of the major

causes of disease in our children. Their damaging

effect on the immune system is directly responsible

for the dramatic rise in chronic ear problems and

allergies. This iatrogenic illness in children is a

significant factor for understanding their cases. The

global effects of drugs on a child's system must be

examined.

This is obvious in the case of vaccines. There

should, at this point, be no doubt in our minds that the

vaccines routinely given to children, beginning now

at birth, have contributed directly to a host of

"modern" childhood epidemics, including attention

problems, ear infections, and asthma. All of these

conditions have increased dramatically since the

advent of mass vaccine campaigns.

The denial of the relationship between these

problems and vaccines among allopaths is merely

consistent with their disregard for the underlying

balance of the human organism. Allopathy, after all,

focuses on the short-term and the most limited view

possible in its attempt to isolate occurrences. It is

inevitable that the long-term negative effects of

treatment will be ignored. Parents need education

about these issues. When children receive

homeopathic care, further vaccine usage should be

discontinued, or at least delayed, until the immune

system integrity is restored enough to handle more of

this stress. For those children who do not receive the

supportive care that curative healing systems, such as

Homeopathy, are able to provide, the escalating

overuse of antibiotics and vaccines will continue to

undermine our population's health.

Homeopathy has the ability to correct the

immune system damage wrought by iatrogenic causes

in the form of drugs and vaccines. To accomplish this

in an individual child, limit or stop the drugs,

prescribe the constitutional remedy, and treat acute

episodes cautiously and judiciously. The acute

symptoms can be managed with homeopathic

remedies, herbal medicines, or allopathic drugs if

needed. The goal in these situations is to do as little

as possible to stress the body, and to support the

immune system through foods or herbs while the

constitutional remedy is acting.

The problem has been that learning to prescribe

constitutionally for children may seem

overwhelming. The literature and courses available in

pediatrics are limited. Case taking itself seems com-

plex because of the many factors involved: the parent

interview, developmental issues, the questions about

appropriate behaviors in children, and emotional

reactions to schools, siblings, and traumatic

experiences. The homeopath must work with a

limited amount of information derived indirectly.

Most beginning and intermediate level

practitioners feel more comfortable with acute

prescribing. Unfortunately, the deeper issues in the

case, the underlying susceptibilities, require deeper

acting remedies. Acute prescribing will, therefore,

occupy relatively inordinate amounts of time, and

more acute illnesses will occur if constitutional

prescribing is not utilized more. My advice is that

these practitioners should venture into constitutional

prescribing. This can be done using the available

modern pediatric Materia Medica literature. This

includes the works of HERSCU, VITHOULKAS,

ZAREN, and COULTER.

Tackling the constitutional issues in children's

cases is not as daunting as it seems. These children

and their parents will literally tell you their remedies.

Even though the parents are usually most concerned

about recurrent physical symptoms, the emotional

and behavioral dynamics guide us to the remedy.

Understand the child's emotional issues and the rest

of the case falls into place.

This is best accomplished by first perceiving the

family dynamics. The homeopath must be attuned to

the interactions between parent and child. The child's

response to the parent's telling of the case will reveal

a great deal. This observation of the child's behavior

will often lead to the remedy.

The parents' affect in handling the child is the

first step in this observation. Take the parent's case by

observing his or her actions. Understand what the

parents are conveying to the child through language

and tone. Understand the anxieties and frustrations

about the child's illnesses and the care received

previously. Feel the parents' messages to the child

about behavior. Children learn how to act in the

world from their parents.

It is not uncommon for children to need the same

remedy as one of the parents. Conversely, the child

may need a remedy that responds in specific ways to

certain expectations or parental styles, like the

resentment of authority in Causticum and Carcinosin

children.

Observe the parents. Are they controlling with a

disciplinary or dictatorial style? What are the parents'

expectations for the child's behavior? Are they

realistic or inappropriate? How do they react to a

child's wandering around the room or restlessness? Is

there a sense of rigidity in the parents' messages? Is

there a power struggle? Does the parent attempt to

dominate the conversation and answer for the child?

Or does the parent have fears and insecurities that the

child feels compelled to soothe? If we can discern the

parents' emotional content, then we are in a position

to observe the child's response.

We should assume that any child over two years

old is listening intently to the interview. The child's

actions and reactions will be obvious during the

parent's description of problems. There are two things

to observe about the child. The first is the child's

underlying personality or temperament. Impressions

of issues like shyness, intensity, persistence, or

negativity can be confirmed by questioning the parent

about the child's temperament as an infant and

toddler. This, combined with observation of the

child's manner during the interview and direct

questions about the child's usual tone of behavior in

these realms, will give a sense of the inherent and

inborn nature of the temperament. This tends to

persist over time. The child's fundamental style or

way of being in the world usually remains true to

type even though problematic aspects can change

with various approaches. For example, aggressive

behaviors that generate negative reactions from

others can be modified by teaching the child more

effective social skills.

Of course, impressions about temperament can

be deceiving. A child who appears withdrawn and

quiet sitting in the exam room chair may be a little

hellion at home. The history is important to

distinguish these ongoing personality traits from

reactive symptoms. Even an infant will reveal these

temperament characteristics and these can be elicited

from the parents through a structured interview about

them.

The second realm to observe is the child's

emotional reactions to the parent. These are often

expressed physically in the child's posture or through

glances at the parent. For example, the sharp look of

disgust or chagrin or defiance that a child shoots at

the parent across the room can be translated into

Materia Medica rubrics and can lead to the correct

remedy. A thousand clues lie hidden in the

interaction that occurs in the exam room.

The homeopath would do well to adopt the

child's position, identify with the child's feelings and

reactions, then know from the inside what it feels like

to be that person. Feel the vulnerability, the fear of

discovery, the embarrassment, or the humiliation of

the child. Understand the source of the child's anger

and resentment. Identify with the loathing of

authority or the fear of abandonment that this child's

stance and reactions express. Get yourself inside this

child's skin.

If this is difficult, then feel the shell and the

armor that prevent intrusion. If the child will not

engage, then figure out why. Persist until you are

satisfied that you have the truth. Do not be put off by

the child's reluctance or fear. Watch it and feel it. As

you see it arise, ask about it. Get examples and

specifics.

Integrate this observation and study of the child

with the data collection, so that your hunches,

intuitions, and empathic discoveries are confirmed or

denied. Observe how both the parent and child react

to this process. See if the parent's inclination is to

rescue the child or to accuse him. Then watch the

child's dependence or rejection of the parent emerge.

This turns the interview into a vital process which

constantly provides images of the child's remedy.

Homeopathic prescribing requires constant

integration of the case information. This occurs at

several levels that weave together simultaneously

during the interview. The impressions and sense of

the child's temperament will often point to a group of

remedies, the shy or withdrawing remedies discussed

in a previous column (Silica, Baryta carbonica,

Thuja), the more active energetic remedies (Sulphur,

Phosphorus, Natrum muriaticum), or the difficult

behavior remedies (Tuberculinum, Medorrhinum,

Hyoscyamus, etc.).

These lists could be greatly expanded of course,

and remedy pictures can present in a number of

different ways at different ages. Natrum muriaticum

for example may be talkative or sullen depending on

the child's mood and her assessment of the

homeopath. The point is that the child's temperament

itself will lead in a certain Materia Medica direction.

Then the striking symptoms of the parent-child

interaction will help to reveal the central thread of

emotional themes. The parent's description will

finally provide examples of behavior that can serve as

important rubrics. A symptom like waking with

screams in the night, for example, may indicate a

short list of remedy possibilities.

Once these emotional issues are emerging in the

case, then confirmatory general characteristics such

as unusual food cravings, sleep positions, sweating,

or effects of weather may strongly suggest one

remedy under consideration. The ideal situation

occurs when a cloud of symptoms and

emotional/behavioral themes all suddenly crystallize

around a key characteristic that unlocks the mystery

of the case. The search for confirmatory findings will

then create more certainty in the remedy. Some

physical symptoms may be helpful clues, but often

they are the least useful aspects of the constitutional

case.

In summary, my recommendations are to keep

the constitutional remedy as a constant goal in

children's cases. Avoid chasing acute illnesses and

physical symptoms with specific, limited remedies.

Support the system by avoiding drugs as much as

possible and encouraging dietary changes if needed.

Observe the parent's emotional tone with the child

and the parent-child emotional interaction. Study the

child's temperament and bring the behavioral

symptoms into focus within the context of the

underlying temperament picture. Look for key

emotional and characteristic general symptoms that

point directly to remedies.

Then apply a comparative Materia Medica

approach to the remedy possibilities. Give the

constitutional remedy and then maintain caution

around too much extraneous prescribing. Observe

how well a child under the action of the right

constitutional can resolve acute flare-ups of

symptoms with minimal intervention. Approach

constitutional prescribing for children with a sense of

adventure and watch the amazing responses and

rewards of this fascinating homeopathic realm.

----------------------------------------------------------------

11. Dynamization

AMARILYS DE TOLEDO CÉSAR

(INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HIGH

DILUTION RESEARCH, Sibiu, Romania.

http://www.feg.unesp.br/ijhdr. 2, 5/2003)

Changes in material substances, especially the

medicinal ones, through trituration with a non-

medicinal powder, or when dissolved through

agitation with a non-medicinal fluid, are so incredible

that verge upon the miraculous, and it is most

fortunate that the discovery of such changes belongs

to Homeopathy.

HAHNEMANN, The Chronic Diseases

Introduction

Upon hearing the expression Ŗhomeopathic

remediesŗ, one of the first ideas that come to our

minds is Ŗvery dilutedŗ. If we know a little bit more,

we may also think Ŗthey are dynamizedŗ. But, what

does Ŗdynamizedŗ mean? How is dynamization done?

How are homeopathic remedies made?

ŖDynamizationŗ comprises the process of diluting

and agitating solutions. This constitutes one of

Homeopathyřs foundations and it was taught by

Hahnemann, who developed it by both logical

reflection and intuition, as he sought better ways to

apply the Law of Similars into practice.

Notwithstanding its essential role in the

preparation of homeopathic remedies, many

practitioners still ignore many aspects of it, and this is

immediately perceived through basic mistakes in the

prescriptions they write. A prescription is the written

document that tells the pharmacist what he/she should

do, so it can leave no room for doubts.

The present article may seem very basic, but it

aims precisely at reviewing all pharmaceutical aspects

essential to a right prescription, contributing thus to

better therapeutic results.

In order to accomplish our goal, we will discuss

pertinent literature and add our personal experience.

Terms

Many Brazilian sources employ the terms

Ŗdiluting and dynamizingŗ instead of Ŗdiluting and

agitatingŗ. Itřs true that whenever we agitate a

previously diluted solution we are finishing the

process of dynamization. This explains why the word

Ŗdynamizationŗ - the final result of the procedure - is

used in the place of Ŗagitationŗ. KEYNE states that in

France, Ŗdynamizationŗ is regarded a synonym of

Ŗsuccussionŗ. Although less employed, the fittest term

is Ŗpotentiationŗ, as itřs believed that the procedure

enhances the homeopathic action of the substance

(1).

Rather than terms, itřs more important to

accurately characterize Hahnemannřs new procedure

especially as it represents the first procedure in history

that involves a dramatic reduction of the amount of

medicinal matter in the making of an active solution.

Moreover, many authors affirm that the more diluted

the substance, the more potent it becomes.

Indeed, Ŗdynamizationŗ, from the Greek dynamis

- that Hahnemann himself employed Ŕ means Ŗforce,

potencyŗ (5, 12). Aurélio, the most authoritative

Portuguese language dictionary, defines

Ŗdynamizationŗ as Ŗaccording to Homeopathy,

release of the therapeutic energy of a remedy through

dilution or diminution.ŗ (12)

As the final product of the dynamizing process is

called a Ŗpotencyŗ, we are faced once again with the

idea that the increase in activity directly depends upon

the number of times that the double procedure

dilution-agitation has been performed. An analysis of

actual prescriptions shows that this is precisely the

belief of homeopathic practitioners: they usually

begin treatments by prescribing lower potencies and

go on prescribing ever higher potencies. Basic

research data suggest instead that the pharmacological

activity of drugs is better described by a sinusoid than

by the straight inclined line that translates the notion

that Ŗthe higher the potency, the more active the

solutionŗ. Homeopathic practitioners still refer to

Ŗinefficient potenciesŗ, which may well represent the

empirical proof of the research hypothesis mentioned

above. Thus, it would be very interesting to verify

through careful research protocols, what is the actual

clinical answer in relation to the variation of

dynamizations (2, 3, 4).

Itřs a fact that clinical activity is induced by

dynamized solutions, diluted well above the

Avogadro limit; the first conclusion is that

homeopathic pharmacology plainly contradicts

classical pharmacology (dose-dependent effects), and

this from its beginnings, 200 years ago. After the

initial shock, we are tempted to deepen our

knowledge concerning this phenomenon. In order to

do so, we will review data concerning the different

procedures of dilution and agitation, the variables that

may act on these procedures and the dynamizing

procedures employed since Hahnemannřs time to the

present.

Dilution

When HAHNEMANN first attempted to apply

the Law of Similars to the treatment of actual patients,

he immediately realized that he needed to prescribe

very small amounts of drugs as they produced

symptoms by themselves. Hence, he began to dilute

substances in the ratio of 1 part of active substance to

100 parts of diluents vehicle. With this he had created

the centesimals Ŕ now called CHs, or Hahnemannian

centesimals. The father of Homeopathy mentions

using water and alcohol, probably to preserve

solutions.

Winston explains that the original potencies were

designated by a small-case Ŗcŗ as the upper- case

letter ŖCŗ may easily be mistaken with the Greek digit

C=100. Many of the earliest prescribers named their

200c potencies as Ŗ2Cŗ (10).

By the end of his life, HAHNEMANN used

therapeutic solutions successively diluted 200 times,

always intercalating agitations, that he called

Ŗsuccussionsŗ (11).

Agitation

In The Chronic Diseases - thus, before the

Organonřs 6th edition - it is written:

Ŗ... Then, 1 grain is dissolved in equal parts

of water and alcohol and dynamized through

27 vials, with 2 succussions.ŗ (6)

Clearly, HAHNEMANN initially applied 2

succussions to his dynamizations. Later, he

experimented with 10 succussions and even more

until after harsh criticism, he realized that the increase

in the number and strength of succussions made

unbearable the violence of the final solutionřs effects.

Finally, upon feeling the need of prescribing even less

amounts of drugs, he increased the ratio of dilutions to

more than 1:50,000 at each step of the procedure,

rating it as Ŗmy best method of dynamizationŗ. At the

same time, he increased the number of succussions to

100.

As the procedure of Ŗdynamizingŗ comprises

both diluting and agitating, they are usually discussed

together.Yet we may separate them in order to

understand each of them more deeply.

Dilution may be manual Ŕ the vial is manually

beaten against a semi-rigid surface (it is told that

Hahnemann used a leather-covered book) or

mechanical Ŕ when some appliance is used. There are

those that believe that our Ŗpersonal energyŗ (an

expression very difficult to define) in the process of

manual dilution may interfere in the final result, hence

mechanical procedures should be preferred. To this,

others answer that such Ŗpersonal energyŗ, if it exists,

may both positively or negatively affect the outcome.

Other factor that may affect the outcome of the

agitation process may be classified as mechanical

(number of succussions, amplitude of the succussion

motion, intensity of the impact against the chosen

surface, weight of the vial) or physico-chemical

(density of the liquid, environmental temperature,

atmospheric composition inside the vial).

In the course of time, HAHNEMANN tested

different number of succussions (5, 6). There are no

available descriptions of the amplitude of each

motion. Concerning strength, he would rate them as

Ŗstrongŗ, but it wasnřt objectively measured. Finally,

Hahnemann established that the vial should be filled

to 2/3 of its capacity (5).

When describing the method of preparation of

remedies in the Organonřs 6th edition, Hahnemann

was very careful to precisely determine - through the

number of drops - a very small volume of the fluid to

be agitated (100 drops of strong alcohol, i.e. 2 mL).

As he had already established that the vialřs content

couldnřt be smaller than half of it, he established the

standard use of small vials, which would suffer a very

strong power of agitation, through Ŗ100 strong

succussionsŗ. (5)

The agitated fluid is composed of a solution of

water and ethanol, its density varying from 0.8 to 1

g/l. There are no descriptions of the possible influence

of temperature, but there are mentions to

dynamizations performed in nitrogen atmospheres. (7)

Even when he increased from 2 to 100 agitations,

HAHNEMANN would perform them manually.

Notwithstanding, since his time to the present, there

was always an interest to develop machines. Authors

who lived at the time of the Industrial Revolution

wondered what could be the highest possible potency

that will still keep pharmacological activity. Thus they

experimented ever increasing dynamizations, and

tried to build machines to help them in the process.

A trend was established to use 100 succussions

even in regular centesimals - it became the standard in

Brazil at the present time. This made pharmacists

easily develop repetitive strain injury. On the other

hand, the advancement of technology and the hope to

set a definite standard in the preparation of

homeopathic remedies, set forth a trend to use

Ŗmechanic armsŗ. Brazil has developed its own

models. (8) Yet, it should be taken into account that

many homeopathic practitioners consider that any

deviation from Hahnemannřs original procedures

exclude the remedy thus prepared from the category

of ŖHahnemannianŗ.

In Europe, there were developed machines that

make vials vibrate, very similar to those employed in

odontologic offices to homogenize mixtures, such as

those fabricated by Belgian-based Labotics and sold

in the Northern hemisphere (Europe, United States,

Canada and Japan) (14).

So, when manual and mechanic agitations are

compared, so many variables interact that impede

their standardization.

LM Dynamizations

HAHNEMANN was very careful to set rules in

order that remedies should be reliable. He began by

extracting Ŕ exotic dried and native fresh Ŕ plants

through alcohol (tinctures); whenever succulent or

fresh plants were available, he would use their juice.

Probably, he realized that when he changed the

solvent, he would extract different fractions of the

plant. From Arabic physicians, he learnt how to

triturate all kinds of substances, no matter whether

soluble or not, mineral, vegetable and animal, dried or

fresh, all was to be triturated with lactose in a

porcelain mortar.

Ŗ... 1 drop of the juice and the same amount

of lactose, triturating until the millionth.

Then 1 grain is dissolved in equal parts of

water and alcohol and dynamized through

27 vials, with 2 succussions. Experience

shows me that the juice seems to acquire

more dynamization when triturated.ŗ(6)

In such manner, diluting matter with the help of

a powder that he thought was inert and agitating by

the motion of the pestle, he was able to employ all

kind of substances as remedies. He was free from

solubility limitations and on the other hand, he

obtained very interesting results (ŖExperience shows

me that the juice seems to acquire more dynamization

when trituratedŗ (6)).

ŖIn order to obtain homogeneity in the

preparation of homeopathic remedies,

especially the antipsoric, at least in the form

of a powder, I advise to only reduce to the

millionth potency and prepare from it the

solutions and potencies as needed.ŗ (6)

After 3 triturations in the ratio 1:100 (lactose),

the obtained product was to be diluted in a low

alcoholic solution (0.06 g of powder in 500 drops of a

solution prepared from 4 parts of water and 1 part of

Ŗstrongŗ alcohol). From this solution, a new dilution

(1 drop in 100 drops of Ŗstrong alcoholŗ), followed

by 100 Ŗstrong succussionsŗ, which were

standardized as it was always him who prepared

them).

Non-Hahnemannian dynamizations

Decimal

Itřs attributed to Hering the idea of diluting

substances in the ratio 1:10. Winston says that:

ŖIn 1833, Hering began to test dilutions in

the ratio 1:10. By the end of the decade,

both Samuel Dubs in the United States and

Vehsemayer in Germany, began to prepare

remedies in this scale. American potencies

were designated by an ŖXŗ, the Roman digit

for Ŗ10ŗ, while European potencies were

designated as ŖDŗ, from Ŗdecimalŗ - 3X or

D3.ŗ(10)

In our days, the use of decimal potencies is

widespread, especially in relation to the so-called

Ŗcomplexesŗ, mixtures of dynamizations, usually at

low potencies. As the ratio of dilution is much

smaller, we may understand why someone may

prescribe a D1 - which has no equivalence in the

centesimal scale -, but it is very hard to understand

why someone may prescribe a D60. No available data

show that they are more or less effective than

centesimals. On the other hand, mathematical

equivalence is senseless, as there are no molecules in

so much diluted solutions.

Moreover, the absolute ban of scale equivalences

established by the FHBII reminds us that, precisely,

its first edition allowed such procedure. The first

edition recommended 10 succussions in the case of

decimals and 20 in the case of centesimals. The

underlying idea was to establish an equivalence

between the D4 (diluted to 10 - 4, with 4 X 10

succussions = 40) and the C2 (also diluted to 10 -4,

with 2 X 20 succussions = 40) (12, 13). It seems

proper to state that two solutions, diluted a different

number of times, in different ratios and number of

agitations - no matter that the final number of

agitations might be the same-, may not be considered

as equivalent concerning their therapeutic properties

before further research is thoroughly conducted.

The stock of decimal potencies is much smaller

than centesimalsř in Brazilian pharmacies. Another

problem is the availability of basic pharmaceutical

forms: when there are mother tinctures available, it is

very easy to dynamize them by diluting them to 1% or

10%. But if the procedure needs trituration at its

beginning, there is no way how centesimals may be

changed into decimals, the only possible way is to

obtain the original substance, which usually itřs not

easy. This is the reason why many pharmacies refuse

to fill decimal prescriptions.

The present trend, as suggested by the

pharmacopoea, is to perform the same number of

succussions - 100 - in every dilution, no matter their

scale. It is thus possible that clinical results will

become more markedly different. Further research is

needed to verify this fact.

KORSAKOV

Contemporary of HAHNEMANN, KORSAKOV,

a Russian of noble descent, learned of Homeopathy

after being successfully treated by it. As a result, he

became interested in it and introduced it in his

country. As every pioneer, he needed to prepare his

own remedies and faced with the difficulty of

travelling carrying a large number of vials, he

suggested to Hahnemann the idea of using only one,

that would be filled, agitated, emptied and again

filled. Hahnemann found the idea interesting, but at

the moment he was devoted to different matters.

KORSAKOV tested the remedies prepared according

to his new technique, obtaining good results.

Remedies prepared according to Korsakov´s

method are diluted in the centesimal scale, yet its

precision may be lesser than Hahnemann´s original

methodřs.

Few practitioners prescribe Korsakovian

potencies in Brazil and thus, few pharmacies fill such

prescriptions. Agitation is accomplished by 100

manual or mechanic succussions.

Residue left after every emptying of the vial may

be weighed, this increases the methodřs precision, as

it shows that variations are very limited, perhaps very

similar to those inherent to Hahnemann´s method. The

main difference resides in the fact that that in

Hahnemannřs procedure, a fraction of a dynamized

solution is separated and poured in a new, clean vial,

containing 99 parts of inert hydroalcoholic solution,

while according to the Russianřs method, 99 parts of

the inert hydroalcoholic solution are poured into the

same vial, which contains some residue of the

previous dynamization. This procedure has been

criticized as it involves a mixture of different

dynamizations, from the initial to the final one. Yet, if

we take into account that each addition of fresh

hydroalcoholic solution becomes homogeneized with

the residue, the remaining solution in the vial will

suffer a transformation rather than a mixture.

Probably, the fact that we donřt use new vials at each

step, make the final solutions so different from

Hahnemannřs, that may elicit very different clinical

results.

In the 1960s, France imposed serious restrictions

that banned any potencies higher than CH30 but as an

offshoot of the creation of the European Union, a

Sympose on Korsakovian potencies in Paris permitted

the prescription of these potencies.

Jack Hendrickxs, from Belgian-based Labotics,

built a mechanic dynamizer grounded on Korsakovřs

principle. After the the vial is filled and agitated by

300 fast small motions, air enters the vial, expelling

the fluid; only 1% of the original volume remains.

The process is repeated as required. The last step is a

regular Hahnemannian dynamization in

hydroalcoholic solution (for preservation purposes),

which is named according the number of times that

the vial was successively filled-agitated-emptied. For

instance, if this happened 200 times, the final solution

will be called K200.

Although KORSAKOV established that the full

procedure must start from the original substance - and

this is still the practice in many countries - FHBII

rules that a Korsakovian dynamization must begin

from a CH30. Due to financial reasons, the same

procedure may be accomplished by employing 2000

liters of purified water until reaching solutions that we

called Ŗ100,000Kŗ. It is noteworthy the use of

purified water instead of the traditional

hydroalcoholic solution, as mechanic procedures

consume too much diluent. (12, 14)

New questions arise: besides the option between

manual and mechanic agitations, the use of water as

diluent will also alter the final solution? What is the

difference between a Korsakovian potency developed

from a CH30 and another that followed Korsakovřs

instructions from the beginning? The different

combinations of the solvent (water or hydroalcoholic

solution) and the initial substance (CH30 or raw

matter) will elicit different clinical results?

Dynamization machines and the fluxion

equipment used in Brazil

HAHNEMANN had already wondered ŖWhat is

the highest dilution that still shows activity?ŗ JAHR

thought that ŖThe higher the dynamization, the

stronger the individualizing properties of a drugŗ. It

was natural, then, that several homeopaths would ask

what may be the effect of ever higher dynamizations.

Children of the Industrial Revolution, they sought

mechanic procedures to manufacture such potencies.

Every single inventor would strive to protect his

invention through elaborate explanations. SKINNER,

for instance, wrote:

ŖIt may be said that high potencies arenřt

what they seem to be, because their method

isnřt Hahnemann´s. But this does not apply

to Boerickeřs, Jenichenřs, Dunhamřs,

Lippeřs and my own, which are produced

according to a procedure that if

HAHNEMANN would be able to see, he

would approve, as all essential points are

scrupulously observed and actually

improved and in less time, mistakes are

almost impossible, as so much perfect are

the methods employed.ŗ

DUNHAM was one of the first to mechanize the

procedure of dynamization. He believed that the use

of strong forces would elicit better results. He put 120

vials at the end of a windmillřs wheel wooden blades,

which would generate an oscilating motion that made

vials go up and down 50 cm high. The force applied Ŕ

approximately half a ton - was much more stronger

than the one a human arm may effect. He used 125

beatings at each step. His potencies, 200D (ŖDŗ from

ŖDunhamŗ) took one week to be ready and were

prescribed by many American doctors (15).

JENICHEN held succussion as the most

important stage of the process and he believed that

every 12 succussions increased the potency of the

solution in 1 degree. This was an original notion of

his (15).

German-born BOERICKE migrated to the United

States, where he joined the bookseller Tafel. Hering

suggested both to sell remedies besides books.

Boericke eventually would graduate as a physician

and both established Boericke & Tafel´s laboratory.

He built a machine that made centesimal dilutions,

agitated 5 times, 100 potencies per minute. (15)

Bernhardt FINCKE prepared potencies according

to different procedures. For instance, he would begin

with K30 and succussion them 180 times per minute.

He patented his method as Ŗfluxionŗ. He put a CH30

in a 30 ml vial, and made a continual flux of water

pass through it. He believed that every 30 mL of

water, the potency would increase in 1 degree. When

the desired potency was reached, the vial would be

emptied and filled with alcohol, with 2 succussions.

Besides dynamizing merely by the passage of water

through an initial potency, he used tap water as he

believed that Ŗa 30th has already been so much

dynamized, that it may not be destroyed by any

chemical nor physical agent, as it possesses a different

nature.ŗ (15) WINSTON tells that ROBINSON, in

1941, alluded to some apprehension in those that saw

in Fincke´s proposal Ŗ a radical departure from all that

was held as indispensable in the process of

dynamization. But, itřs a fact that these machines

became real and their clinical application seems

uniformly satisfactory.ŗ (15)

SKINNER stated that once the vial was deeply

penetrated by the remedy, and assuming that the

process of attenuation is infinite, it would be

impossible to Ŗwash outŗ its medicinal properties

through cold water, but that its therapeutic power

would be much increased and that only heat would be

able to break the chain, to which he attributed spiritual

power.

Believing that succussion was not important, he

prepared Sulphur beginning from a drop of tincture

and a 60 mL vial, which he slowly filled with water.

He emptied it without any agitation and filled it again.

After repeating this procedure 1,000 times, he

prescribed it to a ŖSulphurŗ patient. He says that its

effect was so powerful, that it needed to be antidoted.

He also believed that his potencies Ŕ with Kentřs

strong approval Ŕ were truly hahnemannian.

SWAN would make water pass through a

machine full of holes, as a sprinkler, in order to

Ŗelicit a perturbation much more violent than the

succussionŗ.

Allen´s machine is unknown, but it started from a

Kentřs CM. It was used by Ehrhardt & Karl of

Chicago, to prepare potencies from DM to DMM

(500,000 to 500,000,000). It seems that some of them

are still in use. Argentine pharmacist Arturo

MÉNDEZ bought some of these extremely high

potencies and sold them to Brazilian pharmacies.

Hence, we may be even able to find them in Brazil.

We should keep in mind that the scale of

potencies prescribed by KENT (30th, M, 10M, 50M,

100M, 500M and MM) required mechanic

dynamizers. KENT did nřt know the Organonřs 6th

edition and never heard of the LMs.

WINSTON suggests that to better identify

dynamizations, we should call them by the name of

the substance, potency and method of preparation,

besides the name of the manufacturer of the machine,

as it appears in old references (e.g.: 1 paper of

Belladona CM Fincke; Bryonia alba 30 B&T;

Baptisia 8 MM Swan; 1 paper Sanicula 10M Tyrell).

As time went by, Homeopathy declined in the

United States. In Europe, until the 1960s, the French

would use mechanic machines to prepare higher

potencies. One of such machines was bought by the

Laboratório Homeoterápico. Arturo MÉNDEZ first

saw it there and afterwards he built one, which was

bought by Brazilians. This dynamizer, known as

Lockřs model, promotes a continual dilution of the

initial substance, with simultaneous agitation by

blades. Argentinian visiting professors strongly

recommended its use. National models were

developed later on.

MÉNDEZ stated that

ŖThe system is not perfect from a

Hahnemannian point of view and it must not

be compared to it. Yet, its therapeutic worth

has been proved in practice, through its use

by Argentinian and Brazilian homeopathic

physicians. Clinical experience upon human

beings gave its positive verdict. The system

is valid.ŗ

As Continual Flux dynamizers began to be

produced in Brazil, they became available to a

growing number of pharmacies. Research conducted

by the ABFH (Brazilian Association of Homeopathic

Pharmacies) showed that several techniques were

employed to prepare potencies with a same machine:

empty chamber, full chamber and Ŗmicrodropsŗ

1

. The

Manual of Technical Norms of the ABFH and the

second edition of the Brazilian Homeopathic

Pharmacopoea include several articles that try to

standardize techniques. The Pharmacopoea makes

financially impossible to dynamize very high

potencies. Brazilian pharmacies own potencies

prepared very differently - sometimes, the procedure

is even unknown -, bought in the country and abroad.

The third edition of the recently published ABFHřs

Manual includes the proposal voted at the last general

meeting: use of 100 rotations per step and adoption of

two criteria in the calculation and use of the Continual

Flux dynamizer: change of solvent according to the

volume of the chamber up to the FC ..., and the use of

the microdrop technique from this potency on. This

makes the ...potency less diluted than the previous

one. It is the consensus of most members of the

ABFH, and it is still unknown to physicians. (16, 17)

Whatever the technique, equipment or method

employed, we may say that the preparation of very

high potencies may only be accomplished through

mechanic dynamizers. It demands large amounts of

purified water, consequently, of electrical power,

especially when water is purified through distillation.

The fact that the Pharmacopoea rejects the use of the

microdrop technique - which actually diminishes

material and energy consumption - may make high

potencies less available, notwithstanding the fact that

their use has increased in the last decades, especially

by Kentian homeopaths.

Discussion

We have reviewed several methods and scales of

dynamization. As none of them has been completely

abandoned, we may conclude that all of them may

effect clinical results. If it werenřt the case, we would

have already established their therapeutic inertia. Yet,

we still donřt know if any one of them is better than

the others.

1

At the Congress of the International

Homeopathical Medical League, Rio de Janeiro,

1986, Méndez presented a variation known as

Ŗmicrodrop techniqueŗ, where the initial volume of

the potency is reduced, and he would make all

changes according to this new volume, so that,

changes are performed according to the volume of

dynamization initially added to the chamber. This

procedure allows to obtain very high potencies,

especially above MM.

If neither dilution alone nor agitation alone

increase the effect of a substance, the Ŗmagicŗ only

appears when both procedures are performed together.

Letřs imagine a hypothetical situation: a CH30,

prepared according to Hahnemann´s traditional

method. We decide to further dilute it 1%: we expect

that it will lose Ŗstrengthŗ. But if we now agitate it

100 times, it will recover its power. Now it became a

CH31 and, according to homeopathic principles,

Ŗstrongerŗ than before, when it was CH30. We may

wonder, Ŗhow such magic happened?ŗ When did the

Ŗweakerŗ previous solution became Ŗstrongerŗ? After

completing 100 succussions? Canřt be:

HAHNEMANN only used 2 to 10. We neither have

standardized how these agitations must be done. 100

succussions elicit stronger effects? Does Ŗŗstrongerŗ

equates to Ŗbetterŗ clinical results? According to

Hahnemann, it depends on each case. Does the

number Ŗ100ŗ has any special meaning? Or may be it

possible that changes continue to occur indefinitely?

According to the LM method, the remedy is

routinely prescribed in daily doses, always shaking

the vial 8 to 12 times before taking it. Thus, it would

be agitated 10 times X 10 days, 100 times before

changing the potency. This is the reason why we

focus on the number Ŗ100ŗ.

If now we were to try to understand the Ŗmagicŗ

of dynamizations prepared according to the method of

Continual Fluxion - where dilution and dynamization

are performed simultaneously -, such Ŗmagicŗ only

becomes perceptible after switching off the machine.

Dilutions made in different ratios and agitations

varying in time would produce different effects.

How are we to approach potentization

accomplished exclusively through dilution? Vieira

explains that in this case, agitation would be

exclusively represented by the brownian motion of

particles. Once again, the same question: what is more

important, to dilute or to agitate? Or both?

Consecutively or simultaneously? (18)

Madeleine BASTIDE, at a 2002 meeting in São

Paulo, mentioned the experiments conducted by

Oberbaum in Israel. He studied the healing properties

of Silicea in injuries produced by metallic earrings in

mice. Both the 30th and 200th potencies shown

similar results. This may contradict some

assumptions of clinical practitioners that state that

patients react to specific potencies of a remedy and

not to all of them.

Anyway, it is useful to keep always in mind that

besides having to be reproducible, experimental

research must be very carefully appraised when

transferring its results from animals to human beings.

Several researchers are using a pool of

neighboring potencies instead of testing a few chosen

potencies, as they argument that the action of

substances doesnřt follow directly the raise in

potency, but they seem to follow a sort of Ŗsee-sawŗ

curve. By using a mixture of 4 or 5 close potencies

(e.g., a solution of the 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st and 32nd

potencies instead of the 30th alone), it would increase

the probability of working with at least one active

potency.

Both OBERBAUMřS and the poolřs results must

make us ponder on the limits of potencies. Yet, we

have to insist upon the fact that clinical results in

humans are more important than any experimental

research, which merely supply us data that must be

controlled through careful clinical observation.

BASTIDE also made some statements that seem

definite concerning dynamizations:

- they show dilution-dependent effect, which does

not equate to dose-dependent effect;

- their effect goes through glass, so that it may be

transmitted to or suppressed by electromagnetic

fields.

BENVENISTE stated that potencies prepared by

different researchers -even with the help of mechanic

agitators - may elicit different results. In his own

work, he uses both traditional dynamizations and

others prepared by transmission through

electromagnetic fields into a sealed vial containing

water. Besides this, by transforming the action of a

diluted substance into an electromagnetic signal, it

may be feed into computers. He says that Ŗalthough

the voice of a live singer isnřt the same as her

recorded voice, the latter faithfully reproduces her

voiceŗ. As such, it is possible to record and transmit

signals to faraway places. He predicts that in the

future it will be possible to retrieve from files signals

corresponding to the frequencies required for the

treatment of a particular individual. That is to say, we

will be able to expose water to such frequencies and

treat patients from afar.

This kind of thinking is disturbing. While many

homeopathic practitioners still think of doses as

amounts, many other imagine potencies as non

quantitative stimuli. Concerning the statement that

potenciesř effects get through glass, we wonder the

consequences for our stocks of remedies. Moreover,

how we will be able to guarantee the effectiveness of

potencies if they are subjected to the influence of

electromagnetic fields, ever more common in our

environment, arising from the use of computers, cell-

phones and electric and electronic appliances?

Dynamizations pose so many doubts. We havenřt

yet solved many questions of the past that future

possibilities are already in front of our eyes:

traditional dynamizations, electronic dynamizations,

all with their possible ramifications. Dynamized

remedies, used according to the Law of Similars, are

active and may be effective in therapeutics, with

several advantages over the remedies of classical

pharmacology. If Homeopathy is to develop in the

future, we need to find the answers for these questions

now.

Conclusions

Thorough research shows that univocally,

dynamized solutions may be used, according to the

Law of Similar, in the treatment of both individuals

and populations, extending their scope of action from

human beings to animals, and perhaps even to plants.

In the present article, we have reviewed several

aspects concerning the preparation of homeopathic

remedies, in the hope that practitioners will be

enlightened. Many new ideas have been summarized

in order to awaken curiosity and interest, as further

clinical and pharmacological research is needed. We

hope to contribute to a better understanding of the

process as itřs basic for homeopathic professionals in

general.

Jeremy COLLIER, quoted by W W

ROBINSON, stated:

ŖWe shouldnřt reject evident truths just

because we canřt answer all questions about

them... This evidently applies to a small

group of physicians that firmly maintains

that there is tremendous therapeutic power

in the high potencies. Lying in darkness, this

idea is like a slumbering giant, that needs to

be awakened.ŗ

-------------------------------------------------------------

12. An Approach of The Individual In

The Process of Disease

ELIANE CARDOSO DE ARAÜJO

(INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HIGH

DILUTION RESEARCH, Sibiu, Romania.

http://www.feg.unesp.br/ijhdr. 2, 5/2003)

The centrality of disease in contemporary

Western medicine, and the ever-growing mediation of

technology in modern medical practice, had gradually

distanced the physician from the patientřs disease

process,and the patient too has been estranged from

his/her own body, erasing any subjective components

of what ought to be an encounter between two

subjects.

Many problems in contemporary Brazilian

medical care arise from notions and practices that

focus exclusively on the technical aspects of disease,

forsaking the dimension of healing art of medicine,

and with it, any possibility of sharing Ŕ doctors and

patients Ŕ all sensations and perceptions that

constitute the symbolic and psychological contents of

disease.

Precisely, those aspects are one of the reasons

that explain the growing search for other medical

approaches and the latter success, particularly

Homeopathy.

As a point of departure, we selected two public

clinics in the city of São Paulo, where we

interviewed doctors and patients. Data were

qualitatively analyzed. This let us identify privileged

expressions, such as Ŗsubjectŗ, Ŗpersonŗ, Ŗlisteningŗ,

Ŗbookingŗ,Ŗbondŗ,Ŗtimeŗ,Ŗhealingŗ, Ŗremedyŗ.

A discussion of the components of homeopathic

practice that may recover the dimension of caring for

the sick individual, is grounded on the idea that

Homeopathy has its own specific medical rationality

that establishes as a definite field of knowledge. This

corresponds to a more general approach that states

that there isnřt only one legitimate medical approach,

that the theoretical and therapeutic monopoly that

Ŗscientific medicineŗ claims needs to be put into

question.

The ideas concerning the process health-disease

in homeopathic practice are directed by a general

view that necessarily includes the role of the sick

individual, considered from a perspective that values

above all the singularity of human disease,

emphasizing the individual features in it.

Some definite elements of homeopathic theory

and practice characterize it as a medical system that,

by recovering the artistic dimension of medicine,

focuses on the sick individual, with his/her specific

cultural and historical aspects that need to be

addressed in the overall comprehension of the disease.

Homeopathic therapeutics seek to understand the

patient in the context of his/her singular process of

disease, which includes the relationship that he/she

establishes with his/her own disease and the meanings

that he/she attributes to such experience.

To understand a patient as a subject-became-sick

involves approaching him/her in every sense: not

merely biologic and psychological features, but also

as the spokesperson of a full set of social and cultural

representations and as the agent of an interactive

process that may lead him/her to resignify the notions

concerning health, disease and cure.

By focusing on the manifestations that

individualize the patient Ŕ on the basis of

singularization criteria Ŕ Homeopathy expects to find

the expression of such particularities in the symptoms

manifested by patients.

Hence, its approach is directed to listening,

watching, observing and examining that which is

unexpected in each patient, as manifested through

symptoms.

So, symptoms represent partialities that engender

each individualřs dynamics, the expression and the

way of being of the patient, and may be understood as

representations of the sick person, as they carry

definite individual vital contents. Thus, they constitute

the object to be grasped, in order to apprehend the

Ŗdifferenceŗ, the singularity, through the application

of the principle of similars of homeopathic

therapeutics.

In homeopathic practice, the interview is a

therapeutic action by itself; it is specially important as

it sets in motion and materializes the elements that

bring specificity into the treatment, and because it

constitutes the space where intersubjectivity is built

up between doctor and patient.

From this perspective, the patientřs complaints

shouldnřt be merely technically read, but his/her

speech has another level: it is full of meanings that

allow for a deeper understanding of the disease

process.

The singular characteristics of the object to be

grasped in Homeopathy Ŕ the human subject Ŕ define

the particular nature of the components of the

consultation, elements that express subjective

contents, both the doctorřs and the patientřs.

Patients rate a consultation as Ŗgoodŗ when

enough time is available and some elements appear,

which actualize the therapeutic relationship, i.e.

seeing, listening, touching, observing.

These components of a less technological

approach allow the patient to share his/her suffering

with his/her doctor in the framework of an interactive

process, and to relate to the manifestations of the

disease.

By making biopathography the center of

diagnosis, Homeopathy partially eliminates the

mediation of the object, so that the construction of an

interactive space between doctor and patient becomes

one of the fundamental dimensions of its therapeutic

practice.

Intersubjectivity enhances a more active attitude

in the patient, so that he/she becomes a partner in the

conduction of his/her treatment.

By positing Homeopathy as a medical system

centered on the human subject, its way of listening

becomes an intrinsic component of its episteme and

an essential working tool.

This particular wide scope of attention arises

from the fact that what it ought to be grasped are the

manifestations of the individual disease, in the

framework of an approach that privileges

intersubjectivity. These are specific features of

homeopathic diagnosis and therapeutics, as it aims at

a more comprehensive approach of the disease

process.

Listening allows to recognize the different ways

how patients experience the situation of disease,

letting their individuality to surface. Listening also

helps the patient to assume the role of the subject of

the therapeutic action.

Listening, when it relates to a subject, supposes a

basic attitude of interest and concern regarding the

Ŗotherŗ, i.e. an opening to an interactive process, that

reflects itself in the semiologic procedures. As such,

listening and observing are not merely technical tools

but manifestations of the physicianřs disposition to

know and understand the patient and his/her specific

suffering.

ŖSeeingŗ may be understood as both physical and

psychological categories, to look at the patient Ŗface

to faceŗ means to see him/her as a human being, an

active member of the intersubjective encounter.

Of all these considerations, the one that proves

the most consistent regarding the homeopathic notion

of healing, is the awareness of the meaning that

disease holds in each patient, according to his/her life

history, and the paths he/she may follow in the course

of treatment.

By focusing on the individual, Homeopathy

points to a therapeutic perspective that does not hold

immediacy of results as necessary, but that assumes

that the nature and the goals of treatment may change,

as the patient develops his/her own program of health.

Time, thus, is central to homeopathic episteme, and

our research showed that it is a key notion in the

understanding of the elements that characterize

Homeopathy.

The experience of time is deeply human,

precisely because it is related to an intersubjective

encounter that is able to actualize the idea of care.

Other considerations may also show that time is

key component in the process of recovering

subjectivity.

To Homeopathy, time is related to the way how

a subject positions him/herself regarding the

circumstances of his/ particular ill condition. Time is

able to encompass the meanings each patient attribute

to the contents underlying the superficial

manifestations of his/her disease and the meanings

he/she attributes to his/her encounter with the

physician.

From this point of view, the interactive

components of the therapeutic relationship not only

become tools for humanizing care, but are the core

elements of any medical intervention. Such elements

may facilitate the recovery of the subject, not only

because the patient is closer to his doctor, but also

because he/she becomes less estranged from his/her

own disease.

To understand the relational experience as an

intersubjective process means to highlight its

possibility as a space that favors the creation of

identities, allowing the patient to recognize

him/herself as a subject in the course of treatment.

When patients spoke of their reasons for seeking

Homeopathy and the causes of their satisfaction with

its results, they taught us the paths followed by its

legitimization.

What leads patients and physicians to

Homeopathy does not translate into a fast

improvement of complaints but into the expectation of

a wider notion of care and the belief in a

comprehensive personal program of health.

If there is any secret that may explain the reason

why Homeopathy still attracts growing numbers of

patients and physicians, it is its caring nature, that

offers a therapeutic setting completely peculiar, where

subjects and their hopes may be perceived.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

13. Adrenalin, Iron And The Principle Of Least

Action (or The Homeopathic Smallest One)

MARION BELLE ROOD, & LAPEER,

MICHIGAN

(JAIH. 59, 9-10/1966)

This case report concerning Donnie, the surviving

member of a pair of twin boys born in April, 1961,

illustrates the Principle of Least Action. Born at full

term after an uncomfortable pregnancy for the mother,

the boys weighed 41/2 and 51/2 pounds respectively

and the smallest one, Donnie, was rushed to a newest

model incubator in a nearby city hospital where he

remained for six weeks whereas the heavier one went

home from the hospital with his mother. A few weeks

after Donnie was released from hospital care to his

motherřs care, his twin brother suddenly choked and

expired before they could get him into the emergency

entrance of the hospital where he was pronounced

dead on arrival.

Thereafter Donnie began to have spells of

difficult respiration diagnosed as Asthma for which

his parents usually rushed him into the hospital

through the emergency room. After about two years

of this, he was referred to an allergist and pediatrician

for regular weekly visits including desensitizing and

other injections.

He still had asthmatic attacks at four and a half

years so often that his parents were in a state of

financial distress as well as panic. Because by now

both of Donnieřs parents had had relief from personal

ailments through simple homeopathic prescriptionsŕ

the father from periodic sick headaches, the mother

from some gall-bladder attacksŕthey wanted to give

this kind of care to Donnie who also begged for the

same. At first the classical croup remedies, namely

Aconite, Hepar sulph., Carbo veg., and Spongia, were

tried with temporary and partial relief. Later, the more

deep acting Phosphorus, Tuberculinum, Bryonia and

Drosera were indicated and given at long intervals

and in single doses.

Finally, remembering that all chronic diseases

have their roots in suppression of Psora, Psorinum

and Sulphur produced the longest freedom from

Asthma. In March, a single dose of Bryonia, 30X,

kept him well and active out of doors, even playing

with his newborn pony colt for almost five weeks. In

April, as buds were swelling, he arrived in the middle

of the night in distress, gasping for breath, almost in

shock, with very rapid pulse, count near 130-140 per

minute, with pain in his left chest, left arm, and with

weakness, pallor, cold sweat and cold skin. Aconite

was no help here, nor Carbo veg., nor Veratrum.

Single symptom prescribing is allopathy after all. So a

closer look at the child, and a recall of his motherřs

previous casual remarks, added two more symptoms.

He had sudden urgency to evacuate stools so beyond

his control that he was mussing his pants much to his

own chagrin. She also remarked that anatomically he

was precociously developed as to genitalia.

Observations also added thisŕhere sat a five-year-

old, patient, cooperative, using every effort to control

his feelings like a little man. Kentřs repertory includes

Adrenalin under generals, pulse, rapid, in plain type,

but he had had adrenalin injections as often as often as

every fifteen minutes for twenty-four hours in some of

his hospital occupancy.

So one dose of Adrenalin in the 1M potency was

given and in a very few minutes that pulse slowed

down to ninety beats per minute, and he went to sleep

sitting where he was and was carried sleeping to the

car and home, breathing easily, gently, and regularly.

His last visit for difficult respiration was May 22,

1966. Now he had difficult inspiration, rapid

expiration, but was not choking. It was 3:00 A. M. on

a hot Sunday morning. A trial at single symptom

prescribingŕallopathy againŕwas Sambucus, but

with no relief. Adrenalin this timeŕsame bottle as

before, same doseŕbut with no relief. This time his

pulse was not rapid, and he was not in shock. His face

was flushed, he seemed rather warm, wanted his

motherřs cool hand on his forehead, and, though

breathless, he wanted to run around the waiting room

to look out at the sunriseŕactive though ill. Yes, he

had been given iron tonics tooŕso it was Ferrum met.

in the 10M potency that freed me to go back to bed

this time and send him home. Twelve hours later, 8:00

P. M. that Sunday night, he was back again, but this

time he played outside. He had no respiratory distress,

and a little fever seemed all that remained. This time

no medication was given. His parents, both there,

were touchingly grateful to see their financial and

emotional distress reaching a conclusion. The last

visit of Donnie was not for Asthma but for sunburn

from swimming (remedy, a little Calendula).

I refer you to the statements of Max PLANCK, a

more generally recognized authority than myself, in

his A Survey of Physical Theory, one among a series

of scientific monographs of outstanding authors put

out by Dover Publications, Inc., New York, for the

layman or high school student who is interested in the

scientific foundations on which our modern world

rests so uneasily. In his opening statement, Planck

says, ŖAs long as Natural Philosophy exists, its

ultimate highest aim will always be the correlating of

various physical observations into a unified system,

and, where possible, into a single formula.ŗ On page

41 of the same monograph, he says:

ŖThe chief law of physics, the pinnacle of the

whole system is, in my opinion, the principle of

least action, which involves the four universal

co-ordinates in a perfectly symmetrical form.ŗ

Here, his footnote states that the Ŗaction integralŗ

(the function whose variation vanishes) of any

physical phenomenon is an invariant for any Lorentz

transformation. PLANCK goes on to say:

ŖFrom this central principle, four equally

important principles radiate symmetrically in four

directions, corresponding to the four universal

dimensions. Corresponding to the three space

dimensions is the (threefold) principle of

momentum, and to the time dimension the

principle of energy. It was never before possible

to follow these principles back to their common

origin.ŗ

Here we have in a nutshell an answer to the

heated debates over the single, small dose and the

nature and effect of high potencies, but this subject

entails further intricate correlation with the

Hamiltonian functions used to describe molecular

energy patterns on the one hand, and the nature,

meaning, and existence of forbidden lines of the

spectra as they pertain to homeopathic potencies, and

also to the distant stars, on the other. But this is ample

material for another paper, some other day.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

14. Treatment of Chronic Disease

1

H. W. BOYD, FRCP, FFHOM

(BHJ, Vol. 74, 1/ 1985)

A summary of the type of chronic conditions

treated by Homeopathy is given. An outline of

chronic case-taking procedure. Prescribing on a

specific, a local and a constitutional basis. Are

miasms a help? Brief outline of svmptomatology of

Psora. Sycosis, Syphilis and Tuberculinum.

Hierarchy of syrnptomsŕstrange and peculiar, mental

(with grades of these), general, local.

Evaluation of symptoms: directions of cure.

Potency choice.

Homeopathy is of immense value in the field of

primary care, in acute disease and early onset of

illness, and in this sphere it at least holds its own and

in many instances easily surpasses what we can do

with conventional drugs. In a few situations we may

feel the need to use antibiotics; Meningitis,

Septicaemia, Tuberculosis and some forms of

Venereal disease. In deficiency states we will usually

require orthodox replacement therapy; thyroxine,

vitamin B

12

insulin, iron or cortisone, and in

mechanical problems such as stones, obstructions,

malformations, we will require to use surgery.

However, in this present age the incidence of

chronic disease is dominating our work both in

general practice and in hospital. Have we in

Homeopathy anything to offer in these conditions?

Unfortunately, many patients and doctors regard

Homeopathy as a last resort, and we frequently see

patients referred with Advanced Cancer, Multiple

Sclerosis, Motor Neurone Disease, Muscular

Dystrophy and of course severe Psychiatric and

Depressive states, and the inevitable neurotics. In my

experience many of these conditions are extremely

difficult to help with Homeopathy, although I am

sure we can sometimes modify Multiple Sclerosis and

make Cancer cases much more comfortable, with less

analgesia, by using homeopathic remedies. But there

are a large number of other chronic problems which

are difficult to treat with conventional therapy, and

where Homeopathy can prove effective, either on its

own or, on occasions, alongside orthodox treatment.

Let us look at some of these conditions.

1

A paper read to the International Center of

Homeopathy in Washington in 1983, and to the

Faculty of Homeopathy in June 1984.

Chronic conditions: Migraine, Asthma, Allergic

diseases, Rheumatism, Rheumatoid and

Osteoarthritis, Peptic Ulcer, Colitis, Diverticular

disease, Cholecystitis, Piles.

Skin Diseases: Psoriasis, Eczema, Dermatitis, Warts.

Strokes: claudication.

Neurological: Epilepsy, MS, Neuritis, Paralysis.

Depression: Anxiety states.

Psychosomatic conditions.

There are several ways of tackling these problems.

Aetiology or precipitating factors can be very

important. Did this illness commence after an

injuryŕ(Arnica or Natrum sulph. may be required),

after an infection (we may need Influenzinum or

Morbillinum, or Carcinosin or Tuberculinum), after a

fright (Aconite or Opium), following grief or a severe

emotional experience (Ignatia, Natrum mur.), or

where resentment is a dominant feature (Staphisagria)

or anger (Colocynth, Nux vomica, or Chamomila).

Past and Family History. The past or family history

may point strongly to the need for a Nosode (a

remedy prepared from diseased tissue).

Past: Infectious Diseases, TB, Injury, reaction to

Vaccination, Allergy.

Family: TB, Cancer, Arterial disease, Allergy.

Having looked at the causal or precipitating

factors, we can then consider different ways of

approaching the treatment of these patients. Specific,

local or constitutional.

We may take the local presenting symptoms,

perhaps in a case of Arthritis, and study the character

of the pain or swelling, asking about the modalities,

the characteristics which qualify a symptom. What is

the pain like, where is it, does it extend to another

part, is it affected for better or worse by movement,

heat, cold, draught, being at the sea, damp, or frost,

thunderstorm or even at a particular time of the day or

night.

These things may enable us to select a remedy on

local indications, and here we often prescribe in low

potencies (3x, 6x) in tablet form two or three times a

day for quite long periods. In severe pathological

states this may be the best we can do; it will help to

palliate. But can we do more? I believe we can.

We can study the patient as a whole, as a unique

individual with his own characteristic reaction to his

illness and environment. To do this we must not only

take into account the causal factors and the local

symptoms, but also the general reactions and above

all the mental reactions of the patient.

Case taking

Let us refresh our minds about case taking and

consider what we must look for and what we must

ask. How does this arthritic patient respond in general

to heat and cold, frost and damp, thundery weather or

sea air? Has he any strong food likes or dislikes, thirst

or gastric disorder? In particular, have these likes or

dislikes changed with his illness?

Does the menses affect her as a wholeŕare

symptoms worse before, during or after the periodŕ

are they relieved by the flow? Are the rheumatic

symptoms in general affected by the menses? What is

her sleep patternŕdoes position in sleep affect the

symptomsŕon her back, on her face? How does she

react emotionally to her illness?

We talk sometimes of the type of patient, the

extrovert, the introvert, the placid, the irritable, the

fussy fastidious type, the untidy muddled person, the

person who likes sympathy or affection, or

alternatively is reserved and resents fuss. The patient

with fears or imagination or marked anticipatory

symptoms and lack of self confidence. And symptoms

of jealousy, suspicion, anger, resentment, depression

or excitability, indifference or tearfulness.

These symptoms can give us an insight into the

person as she was, but what is more important we

must try to find out the person she has become. We

may need to know from the patient or her family what

her normal was, and how this has changed with the

progression of her illness. We may have worked out

that a patient seems to fit the picture we associate with

Pulsatilla, but we may find from her husband that

since her illness she has changed. She is more

depressed, easily irritable and even bitter or resentful.

Instead of seeking company and affection she now

keeps to herself and resents interference. Perhaps she

may now be needing Staphisagria or Natrum mur.,

Nux vomica or Chamomilla.

Many of us have been taught the ideas of Kent

and Margaret Tyler. The concept of remedy types

with characteristic build, colour and mannerisms may

have been deeply instilled into us, and there is no

doubt that such.types of people do exist, and we can

recognize the typical Calcarea carb., Pulsatilla,

Lycopodium, Sulphur, Sepia. These concepts can be

helpful in selecting a remedy, but let me quote what

Donald FOUBISTER

1

once said. ŖAlthough certain

polycrest remedies do seem to produce good results

when given to related constitutional types, many

patients cannot be so classified. There are only a few

of these remedies, and there is a danger that the

inexperienced may attempt to fit patients into types as

part of their search for a remedy covering the totality

of symptoms. If the totality of symptoms is covered,

the correct prescription can almost always be found. If

it should happen that the patient can be classified as

belonging to a known group or type at the time of the

prescription, this could be an additional indication,

but it is not a necessity.ŗ There is always the risk that

we progressively restrict our prescribing to the well

known polycrests, and fail to use the many other

remedies with clear drug pictures, which are not

associated with types.

In this method of prescribing for chronic disease

by using the totality of symptoms how can we

possibly see what is important in the selection of the

remedy?

Our main reliance must be placed upon the

symptoms that signify the patient. We should pay

particular attention to those symptoms that are

peculiar or characteristic of the patient, and not to

those that are common to the disease. Nevertheless,

pathological symptoms, or those associated with

particular systems or organs are still important, partly

from a diagnostic point of view, to assess prognosis

and what other forms of medical or surgical treatment

may be called for, but also because if the symptoms

are strongly related to certain organs or parts of the

body, the remedy selected should if possible in its

provings have shown affinity for these same organs.

This point is made very forcibly by Jouanny in his

recent books, and I think may easily be forgotten in

our search for totality.

Miasms

Can we obtain any help from the concept of the

miasms as described by HAHNEMANN? This is

always a topic of controversy among homeopaths.

CAMPBELL in a recent article in the British

Homeopathic Journal has made out the case that

Hahnemannřs idea of the miasms was that they

resulted from skin complaints which were really

superficial manifestations of an underlying disorder,

and suppression of these, be they Psoric, Sycotic or

Luetic resulted in more chronic disease, which was

difficult if not impossible to cure and required

painstaking constitutional prescribing or the use of

nosodes to effect improvement. Others have attributed

to HAHNEMANN the concept of hereditary taints or

traits, starting with one of the three skin lesions, but

passed down through following generations and

resulting in many of the chronic diseases. Whichever

of these concepts we believe, can an understanding of

them help in prescribing? I find this quite difficult,

except in so far as one can use a particular nosode

depending on the miasm, Psorinum, Medorrhinum,

Syphilinum or Tuberculinum, to try and Ŗopen upŗ the

case, and thereafter use the related deep acting

remedies to follow. Antipsorics like Sulphur,

Alumina, Petroleum, Lycopodium, antisycotics like

Natrum sulph., Thuja, Nitric acid, or antisyphilitics

like Mercurius and Aurum. There are, of course,

related symptoms for these groups.

Psora: Itch, heat, eruptions, liver complaints,

congestion in skin, headaches, lungs.

Self-centred, moody, lazy, depressed but with fits of

passion and weeping. Can be active and restless and

full of fears. Always complaining. Sensitive to noise

and smells with easy fainting.

Craving for sweet and rich food which upsets.

Burning eruptions and hot feet.

These have alternation of symptoms and a slow

convalescence. (see Sulphur)

Sycosis: Warty growths, mucous discharges, < damp.

Profuse perspiration, chilly, catarrhŕsinuses, bronchi,

bladder, leucorrhoea.

Asthma < damp.

Pains in fibrous tissue, muscles, joints. < damp.

Irritable, excitable, full of fears and anxiety,

confusion, loss of memory.

Can be jealous, suspicious and even suicidal. (more

often Syphilis)

Mental symptoms are < damp, humid, thundery

weather.

Slow insidious progression of disease.

Syphilis: Irritation, ulceration, sclerosis.

Enlarged lymphatic glands, induration.

Bone pains especially at night.

Loss of elastic tissueŕpatients look wrinkled and old.

The eyes are markedly affectedŕiritis, ulceration,

pain.

Dull, sullen, obstinate, depressed and suicidal, anxiety

especially at night. (see Aurum)

Tubercle: (Not one of Hahnemannřs Miasms).

Lax tissues, soft bones, poor nails.

Susceptible to the least cold, but < extreme heat.

Frequent colds and throat infections. Perspiration

marked.

Stubborn, wilful, obstinate children with fears and

nightmares.

The totality of symptoms does not consist of

strings of little symptoms, but of broad outlines of

mental and peculiar symptoms. It is the totality of

characteristic symptoms.

In Ŗkeynote prescribingŗ one or two outstanding

symptoms are used to select the remedy, practically

ignoring all the others. This method may give good

results in certain situations, but an overall standard of

accurate prescribing requires a general

correspondence between the symptoms of the patient

and those of the remedy.

Hierarchy of symptoms

Symptoms are important in selection of the

chronic remedy in the following order.

Those which are peculiar in some way either in

themselves or in their modalities.

Let us look at some of these.

Location: Bilateral eruptions, crack in the middle of

lower lip

Sensation: as if . . . . . .

Modalities: Pain < slight pressure, > hard pressure

Burning pain > from heat

Headache > from eating

Causation: Convulsions from anger, or at the menses

Dyspnoea from anger

Extension: Pain which spreads diagonally

Pain spreads from left to right

Onset: Pain appears suddenly and disappears

gradually

Pain appears suddenly and disappears

suddenly

Circumstances: Thirstless with dry mouth

Sleepless although sleepy

Absence of expected symptoms:

Vomiting without nausea (Apocynum)

Painless ulcers (Opium)

Fever without thirst (Pulsatilla, Gelsemium)

Asthma

> lying (Psorinum)

> knee elbow position (Medorrhinum)

Headache > from eating (Anacardium)

Can swallow solid better than liquid (Lachesis)

Painless diarrhea (Phos. acid)

Hates loved ones (Sepia)

Piles > walking (Ignatia)

Mental symptoms:

These should be marked in the patient and

marked in the rubric.

(a) Will. Loves, hates, suspicions, jealousy, fears.

(b) Understanding. Delusions, delirium, loss of sense

of proportion.

(c) Memory. Changes from the normal.

Get the strong, strange, peculiar symptomsŕsee that

no generals contradict.

General symptoms:

Relating to the patient as a whole. These we have

already mentioned earlier.

Local Symptoms:

With their modalities.

Evaluation of symptoms

Certain basic principles according to Gibson

MILLER apply in evaluating symptoms and selecting

the remedy. Having taken the case try to amplify the

patientřs statements by going back over these and

looking for any strange, rare or peculiar features

either in the symptoms themselves, or in their

modalities. If you can discover several of these

peculiar symptoms then see to it that there are no

generals in the case that oppose or contradict. If the

keynotes indicate Arsenicum, see that the patient is

chilly, fearful, restless, weak and very fastidious and

Arsenicum will cure. If a general physical symptom,

or mental symptom, is particularly marked, try and

use it as a starting point by means of a repertory to

note the important remedies having this feature (ie

black letter or italic type remedies in Kent under that

rubric). Remember that these general or mental

symptoms must be equally marked in the patient and

the remedy. Try to decide what symptoms cannot be

omitted and must appear in the remedy picture. Find

out which of the several remedies having these

symptoms is most like the rest of the patientřs

symptoms.

The last appearing symptoms of a case also rank

closely behind the peculiar and general symptoms, but

they must be outstanding and definite. If these are old

symptoms which have returned, no further

prescription should be given. Absence of particular

symptoms that strongly characterize a remedy cannot

be relied on to exclude that remedy, yet when strong

generals that characterize the remedy are absent we

can, with a fair degree of confidence, exclude that

remedy. A strong general symptom will over-rule

several particulars.

The treatment of chronic disease is not

accomplished by a single prescription, but by an

ongoing assessment of the progression of the illness

and a constant review of the symptom picture. We

must decide whether any improvement is better than

would have been expected in the natural course of the

illness. We must make allowance for the patientřs

personality in assessing what he saysŕa reserved,

moody patient who admits to being slightly better is

often describing a greater improvement than an

extrovert who wants to please and says he is much

better, but on questioning is not really all that

different.

We have to learn what remedies seem to follow

each other well or seem to belong in a group and tend

to complement each other. Miasmatic groups of

remedies may help here.

We must learn with experience whether to leave

the effect of a remedy to continue, because the patient

is still improving, and to give a placebo or nothing

further, or to repeat it in the same or a higher potency,

or to change to a different remedy because of a

change of symptom.

In chronic disease it is often better to give a

single dose or three doses of a remedy and then wait

for two or three weeks before repeating, but

remember that a Rheumatoid Arthritis, while labeled a

chronic disease, may in fact be quite acute, and

require repeated doses of the remedy, even every 4

hours or twice daily for some days.

In conditions like Asthma and Migraine our aim

should be not only to treat attacks with acute

remedies, but to prescribe for the patient as a whole

with a deeper acting remedy between attacks in an

effort to prevent recurrence. For example, Bryonia in

acute migraine followed by Natrum mur. after the

attack, as a general remedy, or Calcarea carb. to

follow acute Belladonna, or Sulphur to follow

Arsenicum in Asthma.

This form of prescribing is most rewarding

because it is much more difficult to do in

conventional medicineŕbecotide or intal may help to

reduce relapses or Asthma, but Natrum sulph. or

Thuja may actually cure it altogether.

Always remember Heringřs four directions of

cure:

From within out.

From above down.

From more important to less important

organs.

In the reverse order of their development.

Try to observe whether any of these is occurring

during treatmentŕthe pains the neck and upper limbs

diminishing and those in the ankles being worse. The

Asthma improving and the Eczema coming out again.

These things tend to indicate a progression in the right

direction, and therefore a beneficial effect from your

remedy.

Above all, does the patient feel mentally better,

himself, even though the local symptoms are still

troublesome? This may still suggest that your remedy

is correct and acting.

Potencies

The choice of potency is often a matter of

individual experience. My own suggestions are to use:

30cŕ10M frequently in acute disease.

30c, 200cŕ3 doses in chronic disease.

If strong mental symptoms use 1M, 10Mŕ3 doses.

If much pathology for palliation use 3x, 6x b.d.

References

CAMPBELL A. The Concept of the Constitution. Br

Hom J 1981; 70:183-188.

CAMPBELL A. Miasms revisited. Br Hom J 1983;

72:15-19.

FOUBISTER DM. Constitutional Type. Br Hom J

1969; 58:77-81; reprinted Br Hom J 1981; 70:197-

202.

JOUANNY J. The Essential of Homeopathic

Therapeutics. Boiron Laboratories. Lyons, 1980.

MILLER RG. On the Comparative Value of

Symptoms in the Selection of the Remedy. Br Hom J

(date uncertain).

TYLER M. Homeopathic Drug Pictures. 1942.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

15. Repertory of Foot-Sweat

1

Olin M. DRAKE, M.D.

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

[JAIH. 59, 11-12, 1966]

I HAVE NO DOUBT that many of my

colleagues, among the true followers of Hahnemann,

have often felt, like myself, the need of a complete

repertory on Foot -sweat. The material for this

repertory was culled from the Materia Medicas of

Hahnemann, Allen, Hering, Lippe, Farrington, Jahr’s

Manual, Jahr’s and Possart’s New Manual; Hull’s

Jahr, Hale, and Mure; and from the periodical

medical literature of our school in the English

language.

I have given the modalities and concomitants

when I have found them in the Materia Medicaŕnot

otherwise, with a very few exceptions.

I hope this short paper will be of use to some of

my busy confrères, assisting them in finding the

simillimum from the true Hahnemannian standpoint.

Sweat of the Feet. Acon., Am-car., Am-m., Anan.,

Angu., Ars., Ars-m., Arun Bar-c., Bell., Benz-ac., Bry.,

Calc-c., (Calc-p.), Cale., Cann-s., Canth., Carb- ac.,

Carb-an., Carb-v., Caus., Cenchris-c., Cham., Chlol.,

Cimic., Coc-c, Cocc., Coff., Coloc., Cup., Cyc., Dro.,

Euphm., Fago., Farfa., Fl-ac., Graph, Haem., Hell.,

Hep., Hur., (Hype.), Ib., Ind., Iod., Ip., Jab., K-bi., K-

ca., K-ph., Kalm., Kre., Lach., Lac-ac., Laur., Led.,

Lil-t., Lyc., Mag-m., Mang., Medor., Merc-sol., Merc-

sulph., Mez., Mur-ac., Na-c., Na-m., Nit-ac., Nx-j.,

Ox-ac., Pb., Ped., Petrol., Phos., Pho-ac., Phyt., Pic-

1

Reprinted from The Homeopathic Physician.

ac., Pod., Pso., Pul., Rhu-t., Sabi., Sal-ac., Sanic.,

Sec-c., Sep., Sil., Squ., Stap., Sul., Tel., Thea., Thu.,

Verat., Verat-v., Wies., Zn.

Sweat of the Feet, Constant. Sil., Thu.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Morning. Euphm., Sul.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ, in bed. Bry., Lach., Merc-so!., Phos.,

Pul., Sabi.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ, after rising. Am-m.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ P.M. Graph., Ple.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Evening. Calc-c., Coc-c., Grap., Pod.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ, in bed. Calc., Cle., Mur-ac.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Night. Coloc., Nit-ac., Sul., Thu.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ, on waking. Mang.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Menses, before, during, and after. Calc-c.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ, during, from severity of pain. Verat.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Sitting, while. Bell.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ in warm room. Mez.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Summer. Cham.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Winter. Medor.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Right Foot, night. Sul.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ, the left remaining quite dry. Ple.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Left Foot. Cham., Nit-ac.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ, with moist, painless vesicles between

toes. Hell.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Burning with, of feet. Calc., Cale., Lyc.,

Mur-ac., Petrol., Sep., Sul., Thu.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Coldness with, of the feet. Acon., Bell.,

Calc-c., Cann-s., Dro., Fago., Ib., Ind., Iod., Ip., Lyc.,

Pic-ac., Sil., Sul., Verat.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Itching with, of the soles. Sil., Sul.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Swelling with, of the feet. Graph., Iod.,

K-ca., Kre., Lye., Pb., Petrol., Pho-ac., Saba.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Walking, when. Carb-v., Graph., Na-c.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Pain, with tearing, in feet and hands.

Graph.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Soreness, with, at end of nails. Merc-

sulph.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Cold. Acon., Ars., Benz-ac., Calc-c.,

Canth., Carb-v., Cimic., Cocc., Dro., Fago., Farfa.,

Hep., Hur., Ip., K-ph., Lil-t., Lyc., Medor., Merc-sol.,

Mez., Mur-ac., Nit-ac., Ox-ac., Pb., Ped., Squ., Stap.,

Sul., Verat-v.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Moisture, rather than sweat. Calc-c.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Diarrhoea, during. Sulph.

ŕ ŕ ŕ Cold, and Hands, in typhoid fever. Carb-v.

Sweat of the Feet, Cold and Clammy. Calc-c., Lau.,

Merc-sol., Pic-ac., Sanic., Sul., Thea.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ evenings. Pic-ac.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ one foot hot, the other cold. Hur., Lyc.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ and clammy, up to knees. Lau.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ damp, followed by very cold feet.

Ped.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ followed by very hot feet. Hur.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ and sticky. Calc-c.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Warm. Ars-m., Led.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Excoriating. Bar-c., Calc-c., Carb-v.,

Coff., Grap., Iod., Lyc., Nit-ac., Sec-c., Sanic., Sep.,

Sil., Zn.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ or corrosive, so much so that the hose

and shoes are quickly destroyed. Sec-c.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ making feet raw or sore. Cham., Calc-

c., Grap., Lyc., Nit-ac., Petrol., Saba., Squ., Zn.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ making soles raw or sore. Bar-c.,

Calc-c., Nit-ac., Petrol., Saba., Sil.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ causing soreness of soles, with sticking

pains, as if walking on pins. Nit-ac.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ making toes raw or sore. Bar-c., Carb-v.,

Coff., Grap., Nit-ac., Sep., Sil., Zn.

ŕ ŕ ŕ Fetid. Am-car., Am-m., Anan., Arun., Bar-c.,

Calc-c., Carb-ac., Chlol., Grap., K-ca., Kalm., Lac-

ac., Lyc., Na-m., Nit-ac., Nx-j., Pb., Petrol., Pho.,

Pso., Rhu-t., Sal-ac., Sanic., Sec-c., Sep., Sil., Sul.,

Thu., Wies., Zn.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ moisture, rather than sweat. Petrol.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Cheese, smelling like old. Pb.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Eggs rotten, smelling like. Staph.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Sole leather, smelling like. Cob.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Sour smelling. Calc-c., Cob., Na-m.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Urine, smelling like. Canth., Coloc.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Menses, after. Sep., Sil.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ in persons of rheumatic tendency, much

exposed to rough weather and hard labor. Rhu-t.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Odorless. Graph., Lac-ac., Merc-sol.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Profuse. Ars-m., Arun., Carb-an., Carb-

v., Cenchris-c., Cham., Coloc., Fl-ac., Grap., Ind., K-

ca., Kre., Lach., Lac-ac., Lyc., Nit-ac., Petrol., Phyt.,

Ple., Pul., Saba., Sal-ac., Sec-c., Sep., Sil., Stap., Sul.,

Thu., Zn.

Sweat of the Feet, Profuse. Can almost wring the

hose. Cenchris-c.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Right foot of, so that the hose was

completely soaked. Ple.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ obliged to change hose, which was

wet through. Sul., Thu.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ the feet being cold in winter and sore

in summer. Sil.

ŕ ŕ ŕ Soles. Acon., Am-rn., Arn., Fago., K-ca.,

Merc-sol., Na-m., Nit-ac., Nx-m,, Oxytropis, Pb.,

Petrol., Saba., Sanic., Sil., Sul., Wies.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ soles always wet, and without feeling.

Nx-m.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Cold, on the left. Sul.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ as though he had stepped into cold water.

Sanic.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Fetid. Pb., Petrol., Sil.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ with tender feet. Petrol.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Sour. Na-m.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Sticky, as though he had stepped into

molasses. Sanic.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ the hose sticking to feet. Sanic.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ with callosities on the soles, which are

painful on walking. Bar-c.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ causing exfoliation of skin of soles. Thu.

ŕ ŕ ŕ Heels, Profuse. Thu.

ŕ ŕ ŕ Toes. Acon., Arm., Lach., Phyt., Pul., Sep.,

Squ., Tel., Thu., Zn.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ mornings in bed. Lach.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ walking when. Grap.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Fetid, with redness and swelling of tips.

Thu.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Under. Phyt., Tarax.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Between. Acon., Am., Cle., Cob., Cyc.,

Ferr., K-ca., Lyc., Sanic,, Sep., Sil., Squ., Tarax., Thu.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Between. Softens the corns, so that they

can be taken out with the finger-nails. Lyc.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ Fetid. Cyc., Pul., Sil,, Thu.

Sweat of the Feet, Suppressed. Apis, Ars., (Awa

Samoa), Bad., Bar-c., Bar-rn., Coch., Colch., Cup.,

Form., Haem., K-ca., Na-m., Nit-ac., Nx-j., Pul., Rhu-

t., Sep., Sil., Thuj., Zn.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ by a cold. Apis.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ bath. Bar-c.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ getting wet. Colch., Sil.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ followed by angina tonsillaris. Bar-c.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ chorea. Form.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ icy cold feet and legs, worse

evenings in bed. Sil.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ eyes, affection of. Sil.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ lameness. Bar-c.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ lost appetite. Sil.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ nervous excitement, Zn.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ palpitation. Ars., Haem.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ paralysis of feet. Zn.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ toothache. Sil.

Feet, Fetid Odor of, Without Sweat. Grap., Sep., Sil.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ carrion like. Sil.

ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ ŕ sour, Sil.

Sensation as though the feet were sweating, and the

hose soaked full. Lac-ac.

ŕ ŕ ŕ a cold sweat were trickling down the feet, at

night on rising. Croc.

ŕ ŕ ŕ had on cold damp stockings. Calc-c.,

Saponinum.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

16. For Debate

A Strict Definition of Homeopathy according

to Hahnemann

U.C. ADLER, MD, E. AMBROSIO, MD, I.M.

ANELLI, E. CAPPELLO, MD, A. DE TOLEDO

CESAR, E.C. GUIMARAES, MD

(BHJ. Vol. 85, 2/1996)

The term ŘHomeopathy' is widely known, yet its

meaning is ambiguous and vague. It is ambiguous

because the term Homeopathy also serves as a

synonym for infinitesimal dynamized doses or

dynamized medicines. It is vague because some

authors were not concerned with the strict definition

of Homeopathy, considering it to be therapy, medical

art or even lifestyle based on the Law of Similars.

15

HAHNEMANN also used the term in a wider

sense, as a healing art

16

or as a doctrine, but he

established the essential attributes of Homeopathy

and from these we can derive a strict definition.

The objectives of this paper are

ŕTo demonstrate that for HAHNEMANN

dynamisation, infinitesimal doses, single medicines

and provings in healthy individuals were not essential

attributes of Homeopathy, despite being fundamental

to the method he developed, and

ŕTo define Homeopathy according to the attributes

HAHNEMANN considered essential for the

homeopathic phenomenon.

Minimum single dose, dynamization and provings

Note that Hahnemann's homeopathic Řlaw of

nature' did not refer to infinitesimal doses,

experimental provings or single medicines:

a weak dynamic affection is permanently

excluded from the living organism by another,

stronger one, if this (different in quality) is very

similar to the first in its manifestations.

17

In the first cases he treated homeopathically

HAHNEMANN used weighed not dynamized doses,

e.g. 6.5mg Arsenic

18

and 260mg Veratrum album.

19

He had to face the problem of the aggravations which

principally followed repetition of a medication that

had homeopathic effects. Progressive reduction of

dose was one way of minimizing aggravations.

Discovery and development of dynamization up to

what is today known as the fiftieth millesimal per-

mitted HAHNEMANN to treat homeopathically in a

mild and effective manner. Although minimal doses

and dynamization are said to play a fundamental role

in Hahnemann's clinical method, it was he who

brought to light the fact that examples of involuntary

homeopathic cure could be found in the medical

practice of the old school.

20

Homeopathy can thus

exist without minimal doses and dynamization.

With reference to the single medicine concept,

HAHNEMANN was against simultaneous exhibition

of two or more medicines as he considered it

impossible to forecast how these substances would

interact within the organism.

21

He did, however,

recognize the existence of effective cures with a

variety of compound preparations, in which the

predominating substance always was homeopathic by

nature.

22, 23

The single medicine is thus another therapeutic

principle in Hahnemann's homeopathic method, but

is not an essential attribute of Homeopathy. He was

the first to test medicines in healthy individuals to

discover their medicinal actions. For him, 'Pure

Materia Medica' was the essence for selecting the

most similar medicine while considering the

symptoms of the particular illness. According to

Hahnemann's teaching, Homeopathy could exist

without experimental provings, for he had observed

that homeopathic cures can occur at random, as a

work of nature.

24

Essential attributes and definition of Homeopathy

HAHNEMANN established two conditions for

occurrence of the homeopathic phenomenon in living

organisms:

ŕaffections should be of different qualities;

ŕaffections should produce very similar effects.

The understanding of HAHNEMANN was that

the homeopathic phenomenon obeyed the following

model: the stronger pathogenic principle extinguishes

the weaker affection, because it affects exactly the

same parts of the organism.

25

He therefore postulated

a kind of competition between two different principles

that had very similar effects on the organism.

We can thus easily understand that if the

affections were of equal quality, there would be no

competition, but their actions would add together, as

in isopathy (aequalia aequalibus). An example is a

patient with Scabies, who was given fresh material

harvested from the vesicles of the lesion = Scabies +

Scabies (but treated with Sulphur which produced a

very similar eruption, though of a different quality,

resulting in Scabies vs Sulphur).

26

If the principles were not very similar in their

effects, the more powerful one would not extinguish

the weaker one.

According to Hahnemannřs model of

Homeopathy, patients would exchange their disease

for another that was similar but stronger. This was

clearly exemplified by naturally occurring

homeopathic cures:

Mighty Nature herself has ... as instruments for

effecting homeopathic cures, little besides the

miasmatic diseases of constant character …

Measles and Smallpox ... as medicines are either

more dangerous to life and more to be dreaded

than the disease they are to cure;…following

attainment of a cure they cured themselves.

27

To the very end of his life, HAHNEMANN was

dedicated to the development of a therapeutic system

capable of producing a rigorously controlled

homeopathic phenomenon that induced an artificial

disease very similar and only slightly stronger than

the patientřs disease. Once this therapeutic objective

was achieved, medication would be discontinued.

The cure is promoted through the reaction of the

Vital Force to the appropriate medicine.

28

Examples of the homeopathic phenomenon:

ŕaffections extinguishing another, very similar and

weaker affection

• a homeopathic aggravation preceding a cure of

acute or chronic diseases;

21

• Smallpox extinguishing vaccinia eruption;

24

• the first hours of the morning, the shining Jupiter

disappears from the observer's vision due to a similar

force, much stronger, acting on the optic nerve: the

light of day is near;

17

ŕaffections attenuating another, very similar and

stronger affection

• the vaccinia, near its maximum development,

diminishes homeopathically the intensity of the

patient's smallpox eruption;

24

• Jenner's vaccination Řcure by anticipationř of

smallpox;

30

• snuff alleviates fetid odours.

17

A strict definition of Homeopathy

On the basis of the above, we define

Homeopathy as the outcome of dynamic interaction

between two vital principles that are qualitatively

different but very similar in their effects on the living

organism. This may be attenuation of the stronger or

extinction of the weaker principle.

Discussion

For the creator of the term, Homeopathy was

much more than a therapy. For Hahnemann, it was

natural phenomenon occurring in accordance with the

Řhomeopathic law of natureř. Unfortunately, this

concept has not been given due attention.

Homeopaths, for example, do not cite cures between

very similar 'Miasms'. Yet modern virologists

describe different viruses in competition for the same

cellular mechanisms. This results in the extinction of

the viral disease which has inferior multiplication.

31

We might imagine that HAHNEMANN would have

called such a viral interaction Homeopathy.

Considering Homeopathy as the outcome of

interaction between pathogens with very similar

actions on the organism helps us to understand why

HAHNEMANN saw Jenner's vaccination as a form of

homeopathy,

20, 24,

30

which facilitates understanding

of the controversial concepts of immunization

32

debated in homeopathic publications.

In medicine, Homeopathy is the systematic

application of the homeopathic law of nature in

clinical medicine. With this objective in mind,

homeopaths may use different methods that have

their basis in the following principles:

1. Strict and unqualified adherence to the similia

principle and, consequently

2. Avoidance of all allopathic methods of treatment,

wherever it is possible to achieve the objective with

homeopathic medicines; and therefore the greatest

possible.

3. Avoidance of all positive medicines and those that

are weakening by their after-effect; hence the

avoidance of all venesection, of all derivation,

upwards or downwards, of all medicines causing pain,

inflammation or blisters, of burning, or punctures etc.

4. Avoidance of all medicines selected and destined

only to stimulate, whose after-effects are weakening

in every case.

Whoever has acknowledged as his own these tenets,

which are the main pillars of Homeopathy, let him

sign his name below.

32

References

1. Brunini C, Sampaio C, Criança Livre. P. 11. São

Paulo: Círculp do Livro 1988.

2. Coulter HL. Homeopathic Science and Modern

Medicine, p. 19. California: North Atlantic Books

1981.

3. Dorfman P, Tetau M. From Diathesis to

Immunomodulation: 200 years of Homeopathy, p.

41. Paris: Editions Similia 1990.

4. Eizayaga FX. Tratado de Medicina Homoeopática.

pp. 7-8. Buenos Aires: Ediciones Marecel 1972.

5. Grupo de Estudos Homeopaticos de Sao Paule

Benoit Mure. Doutrina Medica Homoeopática. p.

70. São Paulo 1986.

6. Jahr GHG. A Prática da Homoeopatia, Princípios e

Regras. p. 37. Rio de Janeiro: Grupo de estudos

homoeopáticos James T. Kent 1987.

7. Kent JT. Lesser Writings,p. 652. New Delhi: B Jain

1988-87.

8. Kossak-Romanach A. Homoeopatia em 100

Conceitos, p. 19. São Paulo: Elcid 1984.

9. Ortega PS. Los Miasmas o Enfermidades cronicas

de Hahnemann, p. 229. Buenos Aires: Editorial

Albatros 1989.

10. Paschero T. Homoeopatia. p. 20. Buenos Aires: El

Ateneo 1988.

11. Poitevin B. Le Devenir de lř Homéopathic p. XIII.

Paris: Doin Éditeurs 1987.

12. Resch G, Gutmann V. Scientific Foundations of

Homeopathy, p. 23. Berg: Barthel & Barthel

1987.

13. Roberts H. The Principles and Art of Cure by

Homeopathy, p. 33. New Delhi: B Jain 1990.

14. Tyler M. Curso de Homoeopatia. p. 10. Brasileira:

Editorial Homoeopática, 1965.

15. Ulman D. Homoeopatia Para o Século XXI p. 21.

São Paulo: Editora Cultrix 1988.

16. Hahnemann CFS. Organon der Heilkunst 6. Aufl.,

Vorrede pp. LXXIII-LXXVII. Heidelberg: Haug

1987.

17. Ibid. §26.

18. Hahnemann CFS. The Lesser Writings of Samuel

Hahnemann, collected and translated by R.E.

Dudgeon. Vol. 1. p. 288. Delhi: B Jain 1984.

19. Ibid. p. 307.

20. Hahnemann CFS. Organon. Einleitung 4. Aufl.

pp. 51-104 (mentioned by Hahnemann in the

Einleitung of the 6. Aufl. p. 52). Dresden: Arnold

1829.

21. Hahnemann CFS. Organon 6. Aufl. § 274.

22. Ibid. Einleitung S. 51-54.

23. Hahnemann CFS. Lesser Writings, p. 460.

24. Hahnemann CFS. Organon 6. Aufl. § 46.

25. Ibid. §45.

26. Hahnemann CSF. Lesser Writings p. 449.

27. Hahnemann CSF. Organon 6. Aufl. § 50.

28. Ibid. § 161.

29. Ibid. §56.

30. Davis BD, et al. Microbiology. pp. 877-9.

Philadelphia: JB Lippincott 1990.

31. Fisher P. Enough nonsense on immunization, Br

Hom J 1990; 79: 198-200.

32. Hahnemann CFS. Agreement of 11 August 1833,

in Haehl R. Samuel Hahnemann, His Life and

Work. p. 200. New Delhi: B Jain 1989.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

17. Birthplace of Homeopathy: Hahnemannřs

house in Torgau, then and now

ALEX Peter

Internationales Homöopathiekolleg Torgau,

Germany (IJHDR, 2009; 8(27): 70-79)

[

The history of the house that Samuel

HAHNEMANN and his family inhabited during the

years from 1804 until 1811 is sketched out.

Interesting details of the Torgau years - one of the

most productive stages in Hahnemannřs life - are

highlighted. A summary of the history of

Homeopathy in Saxony is presented. The

International Homeopathic College, a charity that

works in research, teaching and practice of the

Hahnemannian method in his former house is

introduced.

Hahnemann’s journey to Torgau

If his biographers made the count right, Samuel

HAHNEMANN moved at least 25 times in the course

of his 88 years of life. In the beginning, he roamed

over half of Europe in pursuit of his studies, which

was not exceptional at that time. In Meissen, the city

of his birth, for Leipzig, where he took university

training. After that he went to Vienna then to

Hermannstadt (present day Sibiu, Romania) and

finally to Erlangen, where he was awarded his

doctorate in medicine. In 1780 he spent further time in

Leipzig studying chemistry.

In 1781, HAHNEMANN set himself up as a

pharmacist in Dessau. There he met Henriette, the

daughter of Küchler, his pharmacy teacher. The two

were married in 1782. From this time on the couple

led an itinerant existence, which took them in the

course of 23 years all over Saxony, Thüringia and

Niedersachsen.

For one thing, HAHNEMANN was constantly in

search of a means to treat sickness in good

conscience, without (as in the materialistic medicine

of then and now) inflicting iatrogenic Ŗside-effects.ŗ

But HAHNEMANN was also trying to find a

position to ensure a livelihood for himself and his

rapidly growing family.

Although the young couple must have found

the first years quite challenging, they appear to

have coped with things in loving companionship.

Since Hahnemannřs Autobiography consists of

only four pages, encompassing the entire first two-

thirds of his life, what we know of his daily

routine comes mostly from letters and contemporary

accounts.

Many of these anecdotes can be traced back

to Hahnemannřs grandson, Leopold Süss [1]. As a

child, Süss lived with his mother for some time at his

grandfatherřs house in Köthen. It was from three of

Hahnemannřs daughters who were living there that he

learned so many details about the difficult years.

Süss later practiced as a homeopathic physician

in London, and he may be taken as the source for

Dudgeonsř own anecdotes.

In these years HAHNEMANN alternated

between writing, translating and his medical

duties. He pursued every possible source of income.

Since he moved so often, it was not easy for his

patients to track him down, and they had to be

satisfied with follow-up consultations by mail. But for

all these trials and tribulations, HAHNEMANN never

once lost sight of his goal to set medicine on a

rational footing.

Through his many publications, as much in

the popular press as in the specialist world of

medicine, pharmacy and chemistry, HAHNEMANN

became so well known, that wherever he went a

crowd already awaited him. His income grew

correspondingly.

In a letter to a friend [1], HAHNEMANN records

that in 1801 he had a house built in Eilenburg, and

that he had earlier bought a place in Machern where

he resided. But here again the Hahnemanns were to

occupy this house for only two years, before moving

on. Undoubtedly the Hahnemanns were preoccupied

with concerns other than recording their

experiences while on the move. There remain some

blank spaces even in the biography by Richard

HAEHL [1], which appeared only after many years of

research in the original sources. In these instances we

simply do not know where Hahnemann lived. There is

good reason to assume that the Hahnemanns

(who with nine children did not make a small

household, after all) simply lodged at inns in these

new places, until HAHNEMANN could find and

acquire a suitable dwelling.

From the contract of purchase [2] (figure 1) there

is evidence that HAHNEMANN bought quite a large

farm in Schildau (about 15 km from Torgau) in the

spring of 1804.

Yet the remote place did not yield enough people

to his practice, so Hahnemann traded the farm in for a

decent house in nearby Torgau, which had been the

Saxon royal seat in previous times. And there he

acquired Ŗa house with an entranceway and gardenŗ

[1].

The house at number 3 Parish Street

The name Pfarrstraβe (Parish Street) derives from

the rectory of the cathedral, located at one end of the

street (figures 2 and 3). The earliest known name for

this street was Nun Lane, reflecting the fact that a

cloister stood on this very location back in the 13th

century. Even today, a portion of the lots in the

borough remain church property. In the 15th century

the remaining portion was given as a fief to nobles in

the service of the Saxon Elector. The earliest

documented owner (and probably also the one who

built the house) was Nickel von Holdaw

(according to a record from 1474). In 1488

Michael Reppitzsch, the electorřs chamberlain, is

mentioned. From Nickel HOLDAW he bought a

property as a Ŗfree-houseŗ by decree of the Elector.

This he converted into a hereditary estate. [3]

A Ŗfree-houseŗ was, as the name implies, exempt

from any taxes or duties imposed by the city. If at all,

the only taxes were those paid to the sovereign. This

exemption seems to have applied right down to

Hahnemannřs time.

A tree-ring analysis of the original roof-beams

yields 1485 as the felling year. Presumably the

structure would have been fully framed within a few

years of that date. In 1535 the house was transferred

from the possession of the widow, Barbara

REPPITZSCH, to a family by the name of von

MINCKWITZ. Hans von MINCKWITZ was an

adviser to the Saxon ELECTOR, Friedrich the WISE,

who earned his place in history as a friend and patron

of Martin LUTHER [3].

After the turn of the 18th century, the building

frequently changed hands. From an auctioneerřs

record, dated 1796, we know quite accurately how it

looked around the time when HAHNEMANN

acquired it in 1804:

ŖAt the entrance / a vaulted entrance gate with

double doors, besides which an entryway with door.

Upon entering the house / a vestibule on the right

hand, with a wrought-iron latticed window. / A

parlor with 3 windows, one provided with a wrought-

iron lattice, in which / there is a large black tiled oven

with a metal fire-box in an adjoining alcove / A

chamber with 1 window and 1 door leading into the

vestibule / A floor-covering in front of the stove in the

parlour, having a door with tin fittings / To the left

hand opposite the parlor / a paneled kitchen in which

there is a window with wrought-iron latticework,

before which / a cook-stove with a metal plate, under

which a bath barrel, on the stove / a baking oven.

Off the kitchen / a pantry with a metal door and

a small window, outfitted with an iron grill / A

stone spiral staircase, which leads to the upper story

and attic, but which is in bad shape and almost

unusable.

At the entry to which (the upper story), a

hallway with 2 windows and a big chimney,

somewhat adaptable, beside which on the right

hand, / a chamber with 2 windows and a iron oven

with white tiled surface. Nearby on the right hand / a

chamber with 2 windows and 1 iron oven with a

white earthenware top, and to the right of that / a

small chamber with 1 window / On the left hand a

small room with 1 widow and an old earthenware

tiled-oven.

Beside the first parlor, a chamber with

window and next to that a little room with 1 chimney,

with an iron oven surfaced with blue and white

earthenware; and in the same chamber 3 windows,

2 of them with half-shutters.

Outside the vestibule, a roofed hallway with 2

privies / On this floor, two chambers that have been

boarded up. The floor is half stamped earth floor, half

planked. / Above this floor is yet / another floor, but

without floor boards / The clay-tiled roof is in

disrepair and needs reroofing.

Next to the living quarters / a good double

cellar, which can be entered either through the

living room or from the outside.

Opposite the main house / a shed with servant

quarters inside / A well with iron pump handles.

On outbuilding holding /a cart /shed /fire wood

/enclosure, cow-stall and horse-stall, above which /a

hayloft, the roof being covered with clay tiles. A

pig-barn roofed with clay tiles.

Finally behind the main house, there is a

vegetable garden, 28 yards long and 23 yards wide,

surrounded by lattice fencing, within which stand

several fruit trees, and there are also vines strung out.ŗ

[3]

By the time HAHNEMANN acquired the

property in 1804, the original renaissance interior was

no longer in style. The wide window arches, which

had been embellished with murals, were reduced

down to little recessed niches. In compensation,

they decorated the ceiling with stucco and the doors

bore delicate baroque hardware.

Through the current restoration some very

beautiful details lasting down through several

centuries are being once again brought to light. Even

during Hahnemannřs time the spiral staircase, made

from quarry sandstone, was described as Ŗin bad

shape and almost unusable.ŗ As the tower housing

the staircase had bent over 350 years ago, it needed to

be fixed with concrete injections during the

restoration in 2007.

For over 500 years this house served as a

dwelling place. But finally in the 1970s, under the

German Democratic Republic. it fell into such

disrepair that it became uninhabitable. With the roof

leaking, the city of Torgau considered tearing the

place down. However, in 1992 people were made

aware of the historical uniqueness of the house at

number 3 Parish Street. From all the rain leaking

in, the plaster in places had peeled away from the

wall, revealing the first of a series of late Gothic

murals.

In 1997, through a comparison of property

registers and other records, the Torgau teacher, Karl-

Heinz Lange, established without doubt that the house

at what is now 3 Parish Street was actually the

dwelling where Hahnemann had lived with his

family from around Christmas 1804 to 1811.

HAHNEMANN practiced there as a physician,

and it was there that he wrote several of those

works which had a lasting impact right down to

the present day.

These proved to be the oldest domestic murals

found anywhere in Saxony.

After the special cultural and historical value of

the house became known, in 2002/3 the roof and

exterior facade were restored, while measures were

taken to reinforce the structure overall. The

work was undertaken by the current owner, the city

of Torgau, under the direction of Hainz Inc., an

architectural firm located in Meissen. Noll-Minor, the

Torgau restoration studio, was entrusted with securing

and restoring the valuable wall and ceiling paintings,

as well as with overseeing all renovation measures

Until October 2007, when HAHNEMANN

House was officially handed over to the

International Homeopathic College, there had

been put in more than 2.5 million €, mainly

subsidies from the European Community, the

Federal Government of Germany and the Saxon

State to reconstruct and restore the old part of the

building as well as to attach a modern part

containing a lift and toilets for visitors

Since then the members of the college have

raised more than 50.000 € in donations and sold

souvenirs and books for the maintenance and

equipment of the place. In 2008, the College

published The Homeopathic Tour Guide, a book that

covers all the historically important places in Saxony

and around to be visited by interested people.

Hahnemann’s productive years in Torgau

Although the Hahnemanns had already lived

in Eilenburg, in the neighborhood of Torgau, through

1801 and 1802, their journey next led them to

Wittenberg and Dessau, before they finally arrived at

Torgau in 1804. Here, after 23 years as

itinerants, they would settle down for the

comparatively long stretch of six-and-a-half years.

Hahnemannřs letters plus the Torgau deeds

registry provide us with the some details surrounding

the transaction. The latter source attests:

ŖIntending to pursue homeopathic cures

among the sick and suffering, in 1804 Dr.

Samuel Hahnemann bought the dwelling with its

entranceway on Parish Lane near the deaconry

from Moebius, the tanner. Previously it

belonged to Mehl, the pensioner. Since people

were as yet unfamiliar with this manner of cure, it

caused quite a sensation to hear that these tiny

little globules could help more a whole spoonful

of medicine. Belief had its own role to play:

many were helped, and many were not. He

gained enemies and detractors, and since Torgau

had no place for him, and since his circle of

influence was so small, he left and went to

Leipzigŗ [4].

It was not before 2005 that the local historian, Dr.

Jürgen Herzog dug out the contract of purchase

from an archive that states that Ŗthe house no. 3

Parish Lane was bought by Dr. Samuel C.F.

Hahnemann and his wife, Henriette Hahnemann, nee

Küchlerinŗ.

During the Torgau years, there were some

moving episodes in the life of the HAHNEMANN

family. The oldest daughter, Henriette, married, while

the one remaining son, FRIEDRICH, went to Leipzig

to study. WILHELMINE, their 16-year-old daughter,

died in Torgau. Later, during his years in Köthen,

Hahnemann would recall more than once those

especially wrenching moments, when he was called

upon to bury his own children. However, regarding

these years in Torgau there are relatively few details

known about the Hahnemanns life.

The above record of deed does not provide the

whole picture, which HAHNEMANN himself drew of

his life circumstances during the Torgau years.

Unable to expand his circle of influence, he left

Torgau - but only under the pressure of external

events. After NAPOLEON had forced his ally, the

Saxon King, to erect a fortress on the Elbe, with the

choice falling on Torgau, HAHNEMANN perceived

that he would have to leave the city for security

reasons. As later would be shown, it was wise

foresight that caused him to move elsewhere. In a

letter to a friend, dated January 30, 1811, a few days

after the king officially ordered the city to be fortified,

he wrote:

ŖAnd another few words from me. At almost 56

years of age I live in the circle of a family that is dear

to me - a wife of rare kindness and seven almost

adult, cheerful, educated, well-behaved, innocent

daughters, who look after me hand and foot, and

who (together with music) gladden my life.

Besides, with those patients to whom I am

entrusted, almost without exception, I can cure

quickly, simply and permanently and thus make a lot

of people happy - through Him, who created these

marvelous remedies and placed them in my hand. Am

I not almost to be envied? But, observe, they are

getting ready to make Torgau into a huge royal

fortress, wherein the likes of myself cannot hope to

live in peace. I have to sell my dear, comfortable free-

house and after that go who knows where? Reflect,

my dear friend! For the scale to bear such a heavy

weight, the all-wise Providence thus places trouble in

the other pan.ŗ [1]

From this letter it becomes apparent that

HAHNEMANN had no intention of leaving Torgau

he expected a better reception or indeed fame in

Leipzig. Just a few weeks before his arrival in the

University town, it was not yet clear where his

departure would take him. From Leipzig, on

December 3, 1811, he wrote:

ŖThe Mars constructor [as HAHNEMANN

called NAPOLEON] threatened to bury me

under the monstrous walls of the Torgau

fortification, and so I fled here. Nothing

without Godřs Providence! It grieved me all

the same to leave my pretty house and

garden, where I believed I had nurtured

something for the welfare of humanityŗ [1].

In Torgau HAHNEMANN continued with his

remedy provings, in all likelihood solely on himself

and his family, since his first co-workers, known

from the Materia Medica Pura, joined him only in

1812, in Leipzig. From the breadth of his

publications from 1805 to 1811 it is clear that in

Torgau, Hahnemann had sufficient peace for

concentrated work and that it was a time without

material concerns. (Table 1)

From the last two items, it is obvious that in

Torgau HAHNEMANN crowned his first period of

creativity with two of his most important works,

establishing the basis for homeopathic

treatment. Also in Torgau, HAHNEMANN was for

the last time paid to translate a book, in this case the

pharmaceutical text of Albrecht von Haller, published

in 1806.

Homeopathy in Saxony, from 1811 to the

Second World War

The history of Homeopathy as a topic of public

discussion begins with the publication of the first

edition of the Organon. Here HAHNEMANN

presented the first ripe fruit of his research extending

over 25 years. With this as a stepping-stone, he

could also venture into academia. Being accepted

into the Alma mater at Leipzig was more than a

quaint formality. After his proposal for a

private homeopathic teaching institute had died

away without an echo, he saw no other way to bring

his method into the light of day; and thus establish to

what extent it could be communicated Ŗaccording to

clearly understood principlesŗ [5].

At the outset, Hahnemannřs pupils formed a

small, dedicated circle that maintained close personal

contact with the master. From 1826 on, after

Hahnemann had already left Leipzig for Köthen,

they called themselves the Corresponding Society of

Homeopathic Physicians. The formal incorporation

of the Union for Promotion and Training in

Homeopathic Medicine took place in Köthen on

August 10, 1829, the anniversary of Hahnemannřs

graduation. Any physician who practiced

homeopathic medicine could become a member

of the Union, as well as lay persons who wanted

to cooperate in spreading Homeopathy. In the

same period HAHNEMANN received the sum of

1,250 thalers as a down payment for a

homeopathic hospital. After 1832 the Union called

itself the Homeopathic Central Union.

Interestingly, the articles of incorporation

stipulated that of the 8 elected directors at least 3

had to be residents of Leipzig. In addition to Stapf’s

Archive, the General Homeopathic Gazette was

founded in that same year. It has continued to appear

down to this day, thus being the oldest medical

journal in the world that has appeared without

interruption [6].

Since STAPF was a close friend of

HAHNEMANN and also one of his first students, the

Master viewed the appearance of a second

publication with some mistrust - all the more so

when he was informed (the developments in

Leipzig back then being viewed as if from afar),

that some doctors were interpreting his teaching in a

quite arbitrary way. HAHNEMANN described the

directors of the new organization as Ŗmongrel

homeopathsŗ and from 1833 on the Union

convened no longer in Köthen, but rather in Leipzig

[6].

Here was also founded the worldřs first

homeopathic hospital. In January 1833 Moritz

MÜLLER was appointed director of this institution.

The hospital had 24 beds, 12 each for men and

women. In the first 8 months, 1,118 day patients

received treatment, along with 119 in-patients.

Though MÜLLER was certainly an enthusiastic

supporter of Homeopathy, he had also worked with

naturopathic methods, including outdoor exercise.

He dared to use these various methods within the

confines of a hospital designated as Ŗhomeopathic,ŗ

and for this he was sharply criticized by

HAHNEMANN. On this account, MÜLLER

quitted his position. After admonishing his

followers to practice Homeopathy in strict

accordance with the principles he had laid down,

the master himself assumed control of the

hospital, appointing Dr. LEHMANN as a director in

1834 [6].

In 1835, when HAHNEMANN left Germany for

good, the Central Union again took over the hospital.

This group was not, however, very adept in

appointing a successor. In 1835 it even transferred

leadership to a conventional doctor, who had

gained his reputation by forging Ŗhomeopathicŗ

publications. But in any case, the Central Union was

not especially interested in the homeopathic hospital.

In 1839, the Union chose Leipzig as the site for

its annual general meeting. It was expected that

homeopaths from all parts of Germany would travel

there to see the hospital. But nobody came [6].

From the beginning, there was clearly no

standard for the homeopathic training of doctors,

which again and again led to differences of

opinion as to the correct way to practice. This was

one of the main reasons why there was a lack of

response by sick people (this, in turn created financial

difficulties). In 1842 the place had to be closed once

again.

From 1843 on, a homeopathic polyclinic was

held in Leipzig under the direction of HARTMANN,

a student of Hahnemann, and the above-mentioned

Müller. These homeopaths were successful in gaining

public support for their facility from the

Saxon government, so that they could

administer to provide poor people as well.

In addition, the polyclinic also served as a

teaching establishment, as Leipzig University has

stopped offering a course in Homeopathy since

Hahnemannřs departure. Although health insurance at

that time covered homeopathic administrations, the

number of Saxon physicians who trained in

Homeopathy remained quite modest - for the year

1897, for example, only 10 to 15 physicians are listed

[6].

In the 1890s, three doctors at the Polyclinic

treated between 3,000 and 4,000 patients on a yearly

basis. The Polyclinic existed for 100 years,

frequently moving from one location to another,

until it was totally destroyed by the bombing of

Leipzig in 1943. Destroyed also were the Archive

of the Central Union and certain original editions

and pieces of furniture which Hahnemann had

owned.

Compared with the situation in the United States,

where a number of Hahnemannřs successful

students emigrated, and where homeopathic

colleges turned out hundreds of graduates per year, in

Germany generally (and not only in Saxony) the

development of Homeopathy stagnated as a form of

professional medicine. Since there were no officially

recognized teaching facilities, any doctors who

learned and practiced genuine Homeopathy were

always kept on the margin. And that is how things

remain today.

Beginning at the time of the rift with

HAHNEMANN, the exponents of the so-called

Ŗschool of critical scienceŗ in the homeopathic

Central Union always enjoyed superiority in numbers.

In point of fact, this was not a school based on

the principles HAHNEMANN laid down for

homeopathic medicine, but rather a departure

from these. For example, B. A. VEHSEMEYER

recommended the use of decimal dilutions, because to

scientifically trained doctors it would be easier to

make a case for such lower preparations. With

their striving for recognition from materialistic

science, these doctors abandoned the path drew by

HAHNEMANN - and with it also the road to success

[1].

On the other hand, in Saxony amongst the doctors

of the Central Union, there were enough advocates to

set up a homeopathic hospital for themselves - even

though there was only a single one in Leipzig from

1888 to 1901 before it had to be closed again on

account of financial woes, disorganization and

personal in-fighting [7].

There were two other forces which lent some

impetus to Homeopathy, keeping it alive if only in a

feeble sense. From 1870 on, William SCHWABE, a

very active pharmacist, also carried on a polyclinic in

Leipzig. Since in Saxony and in Germany

generally there were not enough homeopathic

physicians to justify a production centre for genuine

remedies, SCHWABE went in another direction,

which his son of the same name continued into the

first of the 20th century with great success.

SCHWABE founded a homeopathic publishing

house, providing self-help books for the layman,

offering home remedy kits with these, and

through various publications (for example, the

Leipzig Popular Journal of Homeopathy) informing

the public in no uncertain terms about the

advantages of Homeopathy, compared to the

dominant medicine of the old school. This one journal

appeared monthly with a circulation of 55,000. At the

same time, SCHWABE marketed all sorts of

preparations which today we would characterize as

phytotherapeutic. Due to this traditional blending of

Naturopathy and Homeopathy in Saxony, even today

the majority of doctors and lay persons cannot

distinguish between the two therapeutic systems [7].

Prior to SCHWABE, there was a charismatic

follower of Homeopathy who achieved enormous

popularity the lay therapist Arthur Lutze, of Köthen.

He had heard of Hahnemannřs works and

subsequently studied them. He pursued

Homeopathy with such great zeal, that he created

the most modern clinic in Europe, which treated one

million patients over a period of 16 years. Although

his treatments involved a combination of

Homeopathy and Mesmerism (which

HAHNEMANN expressly recommended in the

Organon), Lutze was very controversial for other

reasons, among which his new edition of the

Organon, which he corrected on his own initiative.

Though in actual fact Lutze practiced not in Saxony,

but in the Grand Duchy of Anhalt-Koethen, a few

kilometres from the Saxon border, he nevertheless

exerted an immense impact on a whole generation of

contemporary homeopathic physicians [7].

Since conventional medicine at that time was

known to be profit-oriented, for some time

Homeopathy enjoyed a considerable following

among ordinary people, who could not afford

expensive procedures. In Saxony there were more

than 130 homeopathic lay societies, up until their

dissolution in the Nazi period. This was due less to

the efforts of the Central Union (which,

rechristened as the Central German Union of

Homeopathic Physicians, soon excluded lay

persons, contrary to Hahnemannřs practice) - and

more to the spread of basic homeopathic

philosophy through publications like those of

SCHWABE and LUTZE, as well as through

lectures by lay homeopaths.

In any case, because there was an absence of

expert supervision, the Homeopathy practiced in

Saxony was often a colorful mixture of true

homeopathic treatment, together with traditional

folk-healing, modern naturopathy, and various forms

of spiritual healing.

Homeopathy in Saxony, 1933 to 1989

Due to the lack of physicians in the war-time, the

Nazi government passed an Act Concerning the

Practice of Medicine without a License. This stated

that existing lay practitioners, who had

demonstrated before a board of medical examiners

that they knew enough about the fundamentals of

medicine to present Ŗno danger to the health of the

public,ŗ could practice medicine under certain

stipulations; and that they were to be designated as

Heilpraktiker; that is, healing practitioners [8].

After the fall of the Nazi dictatorship, the German

Democratic Republic (GDR) government struck

down all laws passed during the Nazi period

including the Medical Practitioner Act. Thus, in

Saxony for the next 40 years there were only a

handful of homeopaths: the few homeopathic

doctors who had survived the war and were not yet

retired and those who from 1939 on were called

Ŗhealing practitioners.ŗ The latter had busy practices,

but officially their knowledge could not be passed on.

In the GDR, an ideology of strict materialism

prevailed, by which any non-physical medicinal

actions were precluded by decree.

Typical of the overall inconsistency and

confusion of the socialist era was the fact, however,

that a portion of the ŖLeipzig Drug

Manufactoryŗ (previously ŖWillmar Schwabeřs

Pharmaceutical Worksŗ) produced homeopathic

tablets such as Arnica, Belladona and Aconitum in

dilution 4x, until production was suspended in

1991. Additionally, these remedies were openly

authorized for sale in the pharmacies.

Homeopathy in Saxony following the German

reunification

Stimulated by contacts with doctors and healing

practitioners in West Germany, interest in

Homeopathy soon reawakened in the Eastern area.

The first homeopathic courses began almost

simultaneously around 1991, organized by the

German Central Union for Homeopathic Physicians

and the Leipzig's Faculty for Veterinary Medicine,

supported by the Veronika and Karl Carstens

Foundation. While the very learned Swiss doctor,

Dario SPINEDI, was teaching in Machern, in Leipzig

several West German veterinarians (Achim

SCHUETTE, among others) and healing practitioners

(above all, Klaus Thon from Frankfurt/Main) were

also holding lectures.

Since then, the homeopathic doctors and the

non-medical homeopaths have gone separate ways,

just as the statute of the German Central Union of

Homeopathic Physicians presaged. Thus, in Saxony

the already meager base for Homeopathy remains

divided. Currently, there are roughly 300 doctors in

Saxony who have earned the additional designation of

ŖHomeopathyŗ through attending 300 hours of

instruction. However, the designation ŖHomeopathyŗ

is awarded by administrators at the State Medical

Board of Registrations - people without a clue on

Homeopathy - so there still exists no effective

standard for qualifying homeopathic doctors. As one

of those who actually participated in Machern as an

instructor, Uwe Friedrich, a homeopathic physician,

writes on this very point:

ŖThe current problem for Homeopathy in

Germany is that at the present time the not very

high educational standards for Homeopathy as a

physician‟s designation provided by the Medical

Council have been slashed to an intolerably low

level. In this way the designation becomes more a

stigma of ignorance than a sign of special

qualificationŗ [8].

This situation also explains why, of the hundreds

of Saxon doctors having the designation

ŖHomeopathy,ŗ fewer than a dozen practice as

classical homeopaths. All the rest tend to confuse

their patients and bring Homeopathy into disrepute,

because often ŖHomeopathyŗ may be seen on the

shingle, whereas there is none to be had in the office.

Among those who set themselves up as healing

practitioners, the situation is scarcely better. At their

own schools many take some homeopathic lectures

over a few weekends, and then inscribe

ŖHomeopathyŗ among several other healing

modalities on their office shingle. Until now, no one

has asked whether they were really qualified to do so.

Beginning in 1998, strenuous efforts have been made

in Germany to raise the standard of homeopathic

education to a uniformly higher level, and to do this in

a way that ensures transparency on behalf of the

patient. Representatives from some 70 teaching

institutes from all over Germany deliberated for five

long years, before establishing the diploma of the

Foundation for Homeopathic Certification (SHZ). To

earn this diploma, homeopaths must demonstrate at

least 1,800 hours training, as well as perform clinical

rounds under the supervision of experienced

homeopaths. The diploma is not granted for life, but

must be re-applied for every two years.

Keeping with the spirit of HAHNEMANN, the

International College of Homeopathy at

Hahnemannřs House in Torgau was founded in 2003.

It is concerned with the training and continual

education of homeopaths, strictly according to the

method of HAHNEMANN and his genuine followers.

It is also devoted to restoring and utilizing

Hahnemannřs House as a listed historical building, to

serve once again as a centre for homeopathic therapy,

teaching and research.

After restoration is complete, it is foreseen that

Hahnemannřs House and the operative teaching

facilities it hosts will be incorporated as a foundation,

in order for the public to continue to use the building

and the knowledge developed there in perpetuity. An

artistic representation (wmv format) can be shown at

http://www.feg.unesp.br/~ojs/index.php/ijhdr/article/v

iew/339/388.

The International Homeopathic College keeps

close cooperation with the following institutions:

Professional Association of Classical Homeopaths

(VKHD) and the Foundation for Homeopathic

Certification; other homeopathic teaching- and

research institutes, primarily in Saxony and the

bordering German states (among others, Meissen‟s

Hahnemann Centre, InHom at Koethen, the ProLife

Clinic at Greiz); homeopathic foundations such as the

Veronica and Karl Carstens Foundation and the

Robert Bosch Foundation at Stuttgart; lay

movements, such as Hahnemannia; homeopathic

publishers, book sellers and journals; international

teaching- and research institutes with similar goals;

and the city of Torgau, with regards to public relations

and the vibrant tourist activity in the city, which

comes with international exchanges, at which point

the house at 3 Parish Street becomes integrated with

Torgauřs museum scene.

Acknowledgements

The author expresses his gratitude to Dr. Juergen

HERZOG, Torgau Historical Society, for his research;

to Ms Andrea STAUDE, the mayor of Torgau, for her

enthusiastic support of our project; and to Matthias

SCHULZE, architect and photographer, for his

professional services. Special thanks are owed to Dr.

Egon KRANNICH, my colleague and publisher,

whose experience, practicality and sharp eye have

transformed a mass of material into the present paper.

I last but not least acknowledge Douglas SMITH,

from Minden, Ontario (Canada) for the translation of

the manuscript.

References

[1] Haehl R. Samuel Hahnemann: sein Leben und

Schaffen. Leipzig: Willmar Schwabe, London:

Homeopathic Publishing Co; 1922.

[2] Zentralarchiv Wernigerode; 1804 Contract of

Purchase between Avokat Ziegler and Dr. Samuel

Hahnemann concerning the property Torgau,

Pfarrgasse 3.

[3] Noll-Minor M. Das Freihaus Pfarrstr 3. In:

Torgau: Stadt der Renaissance, editor. Von

Stockhausen T. Dresden: Michel Sandstein

Verlag; 2003.

[4] Lange KH. Dr. Christian Friedrich Samuel

Hahnemann: Begruender der Homoeopathie.

Torgau; 1998.

[5] Hahnemann S. Organon der Heilkunst. 6th ed.

Berg am Starnberger See: O -Verlag; 1985.

[6] Haehl E. Geschichte des Deutschen

Zentralvereins homoeopathischer Aertze.

Leipzig: Verlag Dr. Willmar Schwabe; 1929.

[7] Alex P. Wo das Organon entstand: Hahnemanns

Haus in Torgau, damals und heute. Grimma:

Edition Krannich; 2004.

[8] Friedrich U. Zeitschrift fuer Klassische.

Homeoepathie, 2003.

Table 1: Hahnemannřs publications during the

Torgau years

------------------------------------------------------------------

18. Developing Homeopathic Practice: Towards a

framework of working with multiple

interventions

Alastair Gray S

[The 6th Australian Homeopathic Medicine

Conference, Swiss-Grand Hotel, Bondi Beach,

13

th

&14

th

September 2008]

Establishing the issue:

It is a normal day in the clinic. A mother turned

up with her two children. One is four months old,

being breast-fed, the other is four years old and is a

tornado. Usual story. My room gets destroyed. He hits

me, punches as mother and decides that itřs very

important to start drumming on every conceivable

service. In amongst all of this I was able to discern

that he has daily explosions over trifles, like whether

the aerial is up in the car or not, how his father mows

the lawn, if the baby is fed properly or not. He also

pumps out 40° fevers, has a history of ear infections,

and is badly affected by artificial additives and

colours etc. Prescription: Belladonna 200C. The

mother sends me a text message two hours later:

ŘOkay whatřs in that mixture? The only word he said

between Drummoyne and the M4 was Řoctagonř when

he saw a stop sign. Then he fell asleep. He has

woken now but is very quiet. Have we drugged him?

This could be great! Ha ha ha ha laugh out loud.ř

It was a nice result and all was well in the

kingdom. He has remained well these last 6 weeks.

Almost a good enough result to present at a

conference. All except for this part. She also said,

Řshall I keep going with the antibiotics and the stuff I

got from the health food store?ř

Just when do we say, Řthat patient is better?ř

When do we publish our cases? Just what is cure?

Many homoeopaths donřt use this term at all

anymore. They prefer to use the term Řimprovement.ř

Or something else.

My personal state of professional

schizophrenia grew and was heightened by an

experience last year. At the Links Heidelberg

conference I heard two things which made me stop

and reflect. The first was in Sankaranřs presentation.

He played a case, worked the evaluation with the

audience, come to a conclusion and then finished

with: Řand the patient did beautifully.ř He must have

said that 10 times during his presentation. And I am

sure they did.

Soon afterwards it was the turn of Mangliavori to

present. He says in a recent book (2004) that his

criteria for a published case or a Řcureř is, Řonly one

remedy used over a period of two years which works

in all chronic and acute situations.ř

From conducting a recent and exhaustive audit of

my practice, if I used his criteria I could publish or

speak about 3% of my clients. But if I used Sankaran's

criteria I think I could present 70% of my cases as

cured cases. Having spent the last two years in the

world of research I can no longer agree with either.

One is too loose. One is too tight and does not reflect

reality.

Conducting an audit can be exhaustive, but has

transformed the way I think in practice and what I say

about it and how I teach. I realize that in addition to

not having criteria for what constitutes Řcureř in our

profession we also donřt have an active dialogue

about what we do about those patients who get better

but are also seeking and receiving other medical

interventions. Given the working reality of the coal

face of practice; that few if any, or NO clients are

only ever getting just Homeopathy for their chronic

diseases, do we need to reframe, adjust or discard any

aspects of our homeopathic behaviours and

principles? Said one homoeopath,

ŘIt has been years since I had a client come into

my clinic and say, I am just getting Homeopathy, I

ŖAesculapius in the

scalesŗ (1805)

Fragm enta de viribus

m edicam entorum

positivis sive in sano

corpore observatis (1805)

ŖThe medicine of

experienceŗ (1805)

ŖScarlet fever and French

measles: two completely

differen t Disea sesŗ (1806)

ŖConcerning a substitu te

for cinchonaŗ (1806)

ŖWhat are poisons? What

are medicines?ŗ (1806)

ŖSerious questions

concerning the cinchona

substitute reported in

Issue 12 of the

Reichsanzeiger for 1806,

and about substitutes

gener allyŗ (1806)

ŖBrief in vest igation of

various principles by

which medicines healŗ

(Review of the

dissertation by S.

Breinersdorf). (1806)

ŖHin ts concerning the

homeopath ic use of

medicines in recent

pr acticeŗ (1807)

ŖLibellus de Dysenteriaŗ

(Review of the book by

J .G. Rademacher) (1807)

ŖConcerning t he present

lack of non-European

dr ugsŗ (1808)

ŖConcerning t he

substitution of foreign

remedies and the

superfluous state of

which, as declared most

recently by the medical

Facu lty in Viennaŗ

(1808)

ŖConcerning t he value

of speculative medical

systems…ŗ (1808)

ŖSummary of a letter to

a highly-ranked doctor

concerning the much-

needed rebirth of

medicineŗ (1808)

ŖRem arks concerning

scarlet feverŗ (1808)

Report of the inquiry

(…) into proph ylactic

measures against

scarlet fever (1808)

ŖConcerning t he

venereal diseases and

their cureŗ (1809)

ŖTo a doctoral

candidate in medicineŗ

(1809)

ŖInstruction concerning

the pr evailing feverŗ

(1809)

ŖSigns of the times in

standard

ph armacologyŗ (1809)

Organon of Rational

Medicine (1810)

Materia Medica Pura,

Part I (1810)

am doing no other form of medicine, just

Homeopathy. All of my clients are doing herbs,

Feldenkrais, naturopathy, supplements, epilepsy

drugs, osteopathy or something as well as seeing me,

especially the clients with serious pathologies.ř

Interview H10-17.

In 2007 three practicing homoeopaths and

lecturers in three countries turned their attention to

this important issue. Working as a group with

problem-based learning templates they asked some

fundamental questions. How does the reality that our

clients are getting multiple medical interventions from

various modalities

affect the principles of similars in our clinics?

affect the principles of totality when we are

selecting symptoms, and which totality?

affect the basis of the prescriptions?

affect how we look at Heringřs direction of cure

and gauge how our remedies are truly working?

affect working with obstacles to cure?

affect research, the writing up and reporting of

results?

really matter at all

Moreover, how does this impact on our perceived

efficacy given that practitioners in these other

disciplines usually have no idea about our concepts of

minimum dose, the direction of cure and

homeopathic treatment plans and therefore, it is

argued, intervene inappropriately.

There is very little knowledge base underpinning

these questions. When interviewing practicing

homoeopaths everybody seems to Řdo their bestř.

Muddle on through. ŘOn critical reflection the best I

could say about my method in these cases is, I am

making it up as I go. Is this good enough? For a

profession that has aspirations? Not at all?ř (Interview

H10-17) This seems ludicrous for a profession that is

wanting and demanding the respect of it medical

peers. It seems clear that some literature needs to be

created, and some clinical guidelines, some clinical

principles, some structures and some sort of a

common language that is multi-modality. This is

doubly crucial because in every other branch of the

practice of homeopathic medicine there is clarity.

Got this? Do this. When this happens? Do that. But if

the estimation from one exhaustive clinical audit of

four years of practice is correct and around 90% of the

time patients are seeing other practitioners and getting

other treatments and doing other medicinal things,

perhaps we do need to begin a discussion and

reframe this aspect of homeopathic medical

practice and the teaching of it.

We have all had this experience. Patient shows up

in the clinic. She presents with irritable bowel

syndrome, and after questioning it is clear that

there is a massive component of anxiety that goes

along with it. She is struggling, and soon, after six

months of treatment, so am I. Arsenicum, Nux, Sil,

Cina, all the suggestions from Jon Gambleřs book.

Some improvement but nothing startling. After this

amount of time we have established a good

therapeutic relationship of some depth. She wants to

stay with my treatment and trusts that the small

improvements we have had will continue. Like so

many others sheřs down the health food shop. She

found a homeopathic combination. Amongst the

few ingredients that I actually recognized were

Ferr, Hyper, Berberis, Sepia, Ars, Nicotiana, Merc

viv, Arg nit, Mocsh, E-coli and something called

Ovary co. There were a number of other ingredients

which I didnřt recognize.

This scenario is surely familiar to you. What is your

reaction? Punch, yell, counsel, anger, sack the

patient? What do you do when a patient says I am

getting osteopathy? I am getting herbs. I am getting an

MRI. I am getting fish oils. We work as if our

remedies will act on the parts of the case that are not

being affected by the other treatments. We say to the

remedy, Řhey remedy I just want you to work on the

knees and the throat okay.ř What I previously did in

my practice with the patients who did this was do my

best. Is this good enough?

Research is about determining the action of one

factor: to eliminate everything else to just one thing.

ŘIn this double-blind trial I have shown that

prednisone does this in people with this thing. I can

show how this homeopathic medicine did this in this

person.ř But what I am suggesting is that this is

massively difficult if what is happening in my practice

is being mirrored elsewhere in the profession.

RESEARCH PLAN

Suspecting that this was an area of clinical

significance in practice that needed developing, in

2007 a small research team was established to

investigate this issue.

1

The research plan consisted of:

1. Completing clinical audits to confirm that this

is in fact as big an issue as assumed.

2

2. Researching the traditional homeopathic literature

for guidelines.

3. Researching the modern academic literature for

guidelines.

4. Interviewing and auditing practitioners of other

modalities, researching and delving into their

curricula and directives.

RESEARCH RESULTS: DECONSTRUCTION

In order to determine if this was an area of

genuine concern a Clinical Audit was conducted

from one practitionerřs last 550 cases.

3

1

Alastair Gray, Marianne Roman, Jacqueline Dodding Clinical

Audits 2007.

2

One researcher did a complete clinical audit of all cases over the

last 4 years. Other researchers did an audit of their own practices,

looking at many cases that been unsuccessful, cases where patients

Řbehaving badlyř had influenced what was done and had an impact

on the outcome. Cases were examined where there were many

integrative techniques. Cases were examined where other

practitioners had prescribed or intervened during the patientřs

Homeopathic treatment.

3

What is presented here is 10% of that audit; a micro audit of

Name

/code

Presenting

complaint

Treatments mentioned

by patient used

concurrently with

homeopathic medicine

FP1

Herpes

Chinese medicine,

Orthodox valtrex

LH1

Obesity

Gym weight watchers

EP1

Cysts knees

Osteopath, Chinese herbs

Orth surgeon, Massage

G1

Acne

Skinproducts, Naturopath

LR1

Bodyimage,

Acne, Herpes

Valtrex,Naturopath,

Nutrition, Prof of

Dermatology

BR1

Lymphoma

Chemotherapy,Therapist,

Body work

AC1

Herpes,

Over emotional

Therapist

CB1

Psoriatic arthritis

Therapy

Anti

inflammatory,

Naprasin

D1

Hashimotos,

Hayfever,

Therapy

Divorce

DC1

Depression Acne

Eft,Supplements,

Roacutane

LW1

Cancer

Therapy,Homeopathy,

Nutrition, Energetic

bodywork.Chemotherapy,

Oncologist, Chinese

herbs, Acupuncture

CO1

Infertility

IVF

AQ1

Unidentified

ulcerous skin

No other treatment

1

Condition

AW1

Eczema eyes,

menstrual

Supplements

Problems

AN1

Obesity Acne

Counseling, naturopath

Am 2

Chronic Fatigue

Antibiotics

AW1

Exhaustion

No other treatments

BS1

IBS

Naturopathy

CG1

Arthritis

Osteopath

CG2

Knee injury

OrthopedicSurgeon

Acupuncture

CP1

Migraines

Osteopath, Chiropractor

FB1

Insomnia

Codeine, Naturopath

JC

Rheumatoid

Arthritis

Orthodox medicine, fish

oils, glucosamine

JA

Acne

Roacutane

KB1

Nail biting

No other treatment

KR1

Hepatitis

Naturopathy

clinical practice. Of the random 55 cases produced of the 550 here 4

had no other treatments, representing 7%, in other words 93 % of

patients are receiving multi modalities or multi treatments.

1

Patient previously had Homeopathy in Pakistan

KN1

Hernia

Supplements

KB1

IBS

Orth meds

MG1

PN Depression

Naturopathy

PC2

Back Pain

Visualization

RM 2

Panic Attacks

Depo-Provera

RM3

MS

Oth meds

SM1

Depression

Orth meds, counselor

TT1

Depression

Eczema

No other treatment

TL1

Panic Attacks

Orth meds

TM1

Menstrual

problems

Nutrition

UM1

Autism

Orth meds

AC 1

Panic

Orth meds

AC2

Eczema

Nutrition

AH1

Headaches

No other treatment

AK2

Chronic sinusitis

Orth meds

AN1

Genital

moluscum

Naturopath

AS1

Off methodone

Orth meds

AR1

Sinusitis herpes

Orth meds Naturopathy

AM2

Depression

Orth meds

AP

Eczema

Orth meds

AJ1

Chronic resp.

infections

Supplements

AH2

Depression

Orth meds

AM2

PN depression

Chirop, energetic healing

AS2

Exhaustion

Naturopathy

AT

Over relationship

Bodywork

AL2

Depression

Therapy

AK1

Panic attacks

Orth meds

AS3

Hay fever

Therapy

AJ1

Stunted growth

Orth meds

AH2

Insomnia

Naturopathy, therapy

The message from this piece of research in one

practice is unequivocal: 93% of patients are doing

what they want. Hereřs another surprising statistic:

from the audit, male patients are using other

medicinal interventions far less than female

patients. The conclusion from this particular audit

was overwhelmingly that this is an area of practice in

need of developing.

2

Further evidence gathered

anecdotally confirms the finding.

ŖIn my own experience at the cancer charity, patients

have often chosen to use a number of complementary

therapies alongside their conventional treatment. It is

exceedingly rare for patients to choose only to use

Homeopathy without exploring other therapies, and

of course conventional medical intervention.

However, I feel that in such an acute situation, the

homoeopath cannot expect a patient to choose to use

2

This is obviously just one practitionerřs results from an individual

clinic. The clinic is inner city Sydney. Clientele overwhelmingly

educated, western, aspirational. Anecdotal evidence from

colleagueřs worldwide suggests a similar trend in the western

world. The exception was a conversation with Andreas Bjorndal

who said it is extremely rare to have patients in his practice on other

treatments.

only Homeopathy, in order that we are able to

ascertain the remedyřs effect, and whether the

Law of Cure is progressing in the correct manner.

Patients need to be able to use whatever they feel is

important, in this situation, in maintaining a good

level of health. In my own practice, I always ask

patients whether they are currently taking other

medication, whether complementary or conventional.

This can help me ascertain whether the patientřs Vital

Force is being suppressed by conventional

medication, and therefore often has an effect on the

potency I choose for the patient. It also allows

an indication of the patientřs reaction to

complementary therapies and which ones they choose

to use.ŗ Interview H15-7

TRADITIONAL HOMEOPATHIC GUIDELINES

In researching the traditional homeopathic literature

it is clear that Hahnemann (1842) gave us no

instructions when it comes to how to interact with, or

integrate, ongoing or new treatments from other

modalities into our treatment plans. Of course he does

mention things to avoid in his aphorisms on Obstacles

to Cure in 259 and 260. The advice was in essence, to

take away everything which can have any medical

action.

§ 259 ŖConsidering the minuteness of the doses

necessary and proper in homeopathic treatment, we

can easily understand that during the treatment

everything must be removed from the diet and

regimen which can have any medicinal action, in

order that the small dose may not be overwhelmed

and extinguished or disturbed by any foreign

medicinal irritantŗ

§ 260 ŖHence the careful investigation into such

obstacles to cure is so much the more necessary in the

case of patients affected by chronic diseases, as their

diseases are usually aggravated by such noxious

influences and other disease causing errors in the diet

and regimen, which often pass unnoticed.ŗ And in the

footnote to § 260: Coffee; fine Chinese and other herb

teas; beer prepared with medicinal vegetable

substances unsuitable for the patientřs state; so-called

fine liquors made with medicinal spices; all kinds of

punch; spiced chocolate; odorous waters and

perfumes of many kinds; strong-scented flowers in the

apartment; tooth powders and essences and

perfumed sachets compounded of drugs; highly

spiced dishes and sauces; spiced cakes and ices;

crude medicinal vegetables for soups; dishes of

herbs, roots and stalks of plants possessing medicinal

qualities; asparagus with long green tips, hops, and all

vegetables possessing medicinal properties, celery,

onions; old cheese, and meats that are in a state of

decomposition, or that passes medicinal properties (as

the flesh and fat of pork, ducks and geese, or veal that

is too young and sour viands), ought just as certainly

to be kept from patients as they should avoid all

excesses in food, and in the use of sugar and salt, as

also spirituous drinks, undiluted with water, heated

rooms, woollen clothing next the skin, a sedentary life

in close apartments, or the frequent indulgence in

mere passive exercise (such as riding, driving or

swinging), prolonged suckling, taking a long siesta in

a recumbent posture in bed, sitting up long at night,

uncleanliness, unnatural debauchery, enervation by

reading obscene books, reading while lying down,

Onanism or imperfect or suppressed intercourse in

order to prevent conception, subjects of anger, grief or

vexation, a passion for play, over-exertion of the mind

or body, especially after meals, dwelling in marshy

districts, damp rooms, penurious living, etc. All these

things must be as far as possible avoided or removed,

in order that the cure may not be obstructed or

rendered impossible. Some of my disciples seem

needlessly to increase the difficulties of the patientřs

dietary by forbidding the use of many more, tolerably

indifferent things, which is not to be commended.

Also in some aphorisms at the end of the Organon he

mentions the use of magnets and water.

He does suggest value of the use of magnets,

minerals, massage and basic hygiene, but nowhere is

there an implication of how to use these with

Homeopathy.

§ 286 (Sixth Edition) The dynamic force of minerals

magnets, electricity and galvanism act no less

powerfully upon our life principle and they are not

less homeopathic than the properly so-called

medicines which neutralize disease by taking them

through the mouth, or by rubbing them on the skin or

by olfaction. There may be diseases, especially

diseases of sensibility and irritability, abnormal

sensations, and involuntary muscular movements

which may be cured by those means. But the more

certain way of applying the last two as well as that of

the so-called electromagnetic lies still very much

in the dark to make homeopathic use of them. So

far both electricity and Galvanism have been used

only for palliation to the great damage of the sick. The

positive, pure action of both upon the healthy human

body have until the present time been but little tested.

§ 287 (Sixth Edition) The powers of the magnet for

healing purposes can be employed with more

certainty according to the positive effects detailed in

the Materia Medica Pura under north and south pole

of a powerful magnetic bar. Though both poles are

alike powerful, they nevertheless oppose each other in

the manner of their respective action. The doses may

be modified by the length of time of contact with one

or the other pole, according as the symptoms of either

north or south pole are indicated. As antidote to a too

violent action the application of a plate of polished

zinc will suffice.

Beyond this there are few directives. Close

(1990) says, ŘIt is taken for granted that the physician,

acting in another capacity than that of a

prescriber of homeopathic medicine, will remove

the causes of the disease and the obstacles to cure as

far as possible before he addresses himself to the task

of selecting and administering the remedy which is

homeopathic to the symptoms of the case, by which

the cure is to be performed.ř

Other homoeopaths have stated stronger

opinions. Vithoulkas (1986) says other treatment will

interfere with Homeopathy: dental treatment,

essential oils, acupuncture, herbs etc. ŖThis occurs

by interferences with the action of the defence

mechanism itself.ŗ Johnston (2007) is tougher still

with her opinions.

CONSTITUTIONAL HOMEOPATHIC

TREATMENT ANTIDOTE LIST

Homeopathic remedies are very powerful

medicinal substances. Their action and effectiveness,

however, can be disturbed by some of the chemicals

and medicines commonly used in our lives. The

following is a list of things that should be completely

avoided for maximum benefit from your

homeopathic treatment. If you ever have any

questions about a particular medicine, it is better to

call to inquire than take the chance of disrupting your

treatment program. MOST MEDICATIONS

Antihistamines, antibiotics, or cortisone

ointments, sprays, creams or pills, cold formulas,

antibiotic ointments such as Neosporin, pain

medications. Each medication needs to be evaluated

individually, so please check your current medications

and inquire about any you may take in the future.

All `over the counter', non-prescription medicines

must be avoided. RECREATIONAL DRUGS

Marijuana, hashish, cocaine, LSD, mescaline and all

others. DENTAL WORK, CHIROPRACTIC or

ACUPUNCTURE. Contact the office if dental work

is planned, preferably have it done before

Homeopathic treatment. Routine teeth cleaning is not

a problem. Chiropractic or Acupuncture treatments

should be avoided. ELECTRIC BLANKETS You

may use the electric blanket to warm your bed, but it

is inadvisable sleep with the blanket on.

Bill Gray (2007) presents a long list of interfering

issues including such an array of common aspects of

western lifestyle that it is bewildering to think how

our medicines can possibly act at all.

Australian Tea Tree (Melalucca) Oil. Often used

to heal skin or gums in a variety of ways, skin

exposure can antidote just like camphor. Antibiotics

and steroids. It is a frequent story for someone to be

doing well for a chronic disease, to catch a cold or

sinus infection, go to a doctor for diagnosis, and then

thoughtlessly take antibiotics. Within days, all the

chronic symptoms come back full force. Whenever

prescription drugs are recommended, call the office

first to get our advice. If needed, I will agree and we

will pick up the pieces later. But usually, I will advise

waiting and to allow the remedy to work through the

acute problem on its own. One interesting situation is

the use of antibiotics during gum surgery or dental

cleaning in people with heart valve problems.

Antibiotics do not usually antidote in that setting.

Also, when given for viral complaints, they tend not

to antidote. Therefore, it seems the antidotive action

of antibiotics arises out of interfering with the bodyřs

ability to fight infection rather than the drug itself. If

antibiotics prevent an infection from happening, the

body suffers no interference and is not antidoted.

Antibiotics are the most common drug antidote. Oral

steroids are also risky. Other allopathic drugs vary in

their potency to antidote or interfere, so the best

policy is to call and ask. Over-the-counter medicines

are safe. They do not antidote. People worry about

aspirin or Tylenol interfering, but they do not. Dental

Drilling. Drilling on teeth with medium and low-

speed drills consistently antidotes remedies. High-

speed drilling (with a light touch) may also antidote,

but much less frequently. For this reason, we

recommend avoiding drilling unless the situation

warrants it. If there is pain, or if the cavity is causing

other risks like structural weakening or abscess

formation, then drilling may be necessary. Have it

done, wait 3 weeks, and then we will re-evaluate the

remedy. Routine procedures at the dentist are not a

problem except when they lead to drilling. Teeth

cleaning is fine, X-rays are fine, but cavities that are

found are best left undrilled until they pose more of a

problem. In discussions with dentists, they usually

agree with me that drilling can be delayed when I

point out the likelihood of an overnight flare-up of,

say, multiple sclerosis or ulcerative colitis. Teeth

cleaning is fine, but the ultrasonic cleaner (called a

Cavitron, which is not used so often anymore) will

antidote. Otherwise, using hand tools and a rubber

polisher is fine. Sonicaire toothbrushes do not

antidote remedies. Acupuncture. Acupuncture,

whether with needles or moxa, frequently

antidotes remedies. Because it is a powerfully

curative system in its own right, acupuncture can be

an extremely good choice for chronic disease ŕ but a

choice it must be, because both systems interfere with

each other. Acupressure, however, does not antidote.

Chinese herbs do not antidote in my experience.

Mothballs. Brief inhalation, even for a few hours, may

not be a problem. But sleeping overnight in the midst

of mothball odors often antidotes. Electric blankets.

Sleeping under an electric blanket covering most of

the body seems to inhibit flows of electromagnetic

energy in the body, preventing adjustments crucial to

healing and balance. Using the blanket to warm the

bed beforehand and then turning it off once in bed is

no problem. Heating pads are no problem because the

bodyřs energy flows can adjust around it. TENS units

do not antidote. Geothermal Hot Springs. Water

activated by minerals coming up from deep in the

Earth apparently interfere with remedies. Being

around the baths, sunning by the side, etc., do not

antidote. But full immersion, even in the side-tubs,

will likely antidote. Minerals added to the bath at

home do not antidote. Safe Interactions. Cigarettes

do not antidote. Alcohol Safe, except Kahlua, Irish

coffee, anything with coffee beans. Tea any amount.

Recreational Drugs. This is variable. Some people are

hypersensitive to many chemicals and could be easily

antidoted. General recreational use is not a problem

for most people. Chronic habitual use, however, can

eventually antidote. Allopathic Medications. Do not

stop medications without advice. Most patients begin

Homeopathy on medication, then gradually wean off

as many as possible over time. Medications are not

instant antidotes, except antibiotics and steroids. Most

others eventually shorten the action of remedies

within 2 to 9 months, depending on the situation. The

issue with allopathic drugs is their suppressive nature.

Aimed to relieve symptoms, which are attempts to

heal, they convert acute to chronic and delay cure in

chronic disease. Thus, if nothing else, they act like a

Ŗparking breakŗ on remedies.

The vast majority of our literature and certainly a

number of authorities in our profession have all said,

Řdo not integrate treatmentsř. An Australian

homoeopath in interview said, ŘItřs wrong. The

patients are wrong. Donřt encourage itř.

1

Three

reasons are generally given. We cannot get clear

symptom pictures on which to prescribe, these

factors antidote our remedies, and we are less able to

monitor our patientřs progress well and refine our

second prescriptions when there are multi medicines

and multi modalities.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF THOSE GUIDELINES

When I look around the profession I see profound

consequences from these guidelines. We are pushing

in the opposite direction to patients. What do they

want? What do we want them to do? What are their

values and attitudes towards health? Cure? How long

do they want their treatment to last? Just what is their

attitude towards maintenance of their health? You can

be sure that only 10% of the population has the same

values as you do when it comes to that. And yet so

often when the homoeopath talks and prescribes to

our patients we are assuming that they're just like us.

And when they then don't comply we label them as

Řdifficult patientsř or Řnon-compliant patients.ř

Many homoeopaths are struggling. Many

homoeopaths donřt see enough clients. Of course

there are multiple reasons but one of them is of our

false expectations of what our patients are actually

looking for. They have different values and different

assumptions about themselves and their health. And

we find ourselves in the awkward situation of

prescribing in the 21st century for 21st century

patients, patients that have been bought up on

youtube and facebook and PDAřs and food

colouring and fluorescent lights and the pill, when the

basic paradigms of our profession are rooted firmly in

the 18th and 19th centuries. Old paradigm, new

world. We are even trying to sell the word

ŘHomeopathyř in the 21st-century marketplace. It's a

very big ask.

It is the opinion of this author that the

consequences of such fixed guidelines by CLOSE,

KENT and VITHOULKAS etc, and such rigid ideas

that are so clearly out of step with our patientsř

1

Interview H13-25

realities go a considerable way to reducing clinical

efficacy, and creating a climate of fear, hesitancy and

anxiety amongst homoeopaths, and especially recently

graduated homoeopaths work. There is a very

poor conversion rate to successful practice in the

profession, a lack of confidence in prescribing,

and at times poor satisfaction rates with our clients.

There is also hesitancy to publish clinical results for

fear of being beaten by the homeopathic police. To

enforce the point, in exhaustive searching in the

homeopathic literature, the only reference

found where a contemporary authoritative

homoeopath made reference to integrative treatment

was in Morrison (1998).

Management. Many of our patients are

already seeing a body worker or physician

(chiropractor, osteopath) when they begin

homeopathic treatment. Also, these health

professionals often refer to us in an attempt to keep

their patients away from the risks of allopathic

medications or surgery. Startlingly, some

homoeopaths, out of fear of antidoting, ask such

referred patients to refrain from seeing their referring

practitioner. Needless to say, this practice is divisive

in the alternative community and does more harm

than good. Instead we must work with our alternative

colleagues and discuss our concerns rather than put

our patients in a position of divided loyalty.

RESEARCH THE MODERN ACADEMIC

LITERATURE FOR GUIDELINES

Looking into any academic homeopathic

literature to give direction on this area of clinical

practice proved fruitless. There is very little if any

knowledge base. Moreover it is very difficult to

search the literature. Researching the subject was time

consuming and exhausting.

2

There were certainly

many examples of research into the effectiveness of

Homeopathy in relationship to Integrative Medicine.

3

2

Explored were many databases, the UCLA library, Google,

Google Scholar, EBSCO, INFORMIT, MICROMEDEX,

PROQUEST, Science Direct, then journals such as British Medical

Journal, American Medical Association, Complementary Medical

Research Journal, British Homeopathic Journal, Society of

Homoeopaths Journal, Simillimum, NASH, NESH and much more.

Initially starting with integrative medicine in various relationships

with Homeopathy, then integrative medicine, homeopathřs

attitudes, and other combinations of words, there were many dead

ends. This was doubly the case when combined with searching the

other therapies that can be combined with Homeopathy. Very little

information was discovered which was relevant to the initial

question posed.

3

Example. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary

Medicine. Homeopathy and Conventional Medicine: An Outcomes

Study Comparing Effectiveness in a Primary Care Setting. Apr

2001, Vol. 7, No. 2 : 149 -159. David Riley, MD. University of

New Mexico Medical School, Albuquerque, New Mexico;

Integrative Medicine Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Michael

Fischer, PhD. ClinResearch, Cologne, Germany. Betsy Singh, PhD.

Southern California University of the Health Sciences, Whittier,

California. Max Haidvogl, UD, DrMed Ludwig-Boltzmann

Institute, Graz, Austria. Marianne Heger, MD. Research Center

HomInt, Karlsruhe, Germany. Background: Recent meta-analyses

of randomized controlled trials in Homeopathy have suggested that

There is much research on the integration of some

Homeopathic training into existing orthodox

medical curricula.

1

Furthermore there is

demonstrable research of Homeopathy integrating

into the existing curricular of CAM therapies.

2

But

nothing on how to integrate.

Researching laterally when inputting search terms

proved no more fruitful. One researcher flew to New

Zealand to search in the only partially electronic

Julian Winston archive. Only one article on

Homeopathy was found that mentioned integrative

treatment. Simillimum (2005) contained an article by

Homeopathy is more than a placebo response. Objective:

Comparison of the effectiveness of Homeopathy in primary care

with conventional medicine in primary care for three commonly

encountered clinical conditions. Results: Four hundred and fifty-six

(456) patient visits were compared: 281 received Homeopathy, 175

received conventional medicine. The response to treatment as

measured by the primary outcomes criterion for patients receiving

Homeopathy was 82.6%, for conventional medicine it was 68%.

Improvement in less than 1 day and in 1 to 3 days was noted in

67.3% of the group receiving Homeopathy and in 56.6% of those

receiving conventional medicine. The adverse events for those

treated with conventional medicine was 22.3% versus 7.8% for

those treated with Homeopathy. Seventy-nine percent (79.0%) of

patients treated with Homeopathy were very satisfied and 65.1% of

patients treated with conventional medicine were very satisfied. In

both treatment groups 60% of cases had consultations lasting

between 5 and 15 minutes. Conclusions: Homeopathy appeared to

be at least as effective as conventional medical care in the treatment

of patients with the three conditions studied.

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/10755530175016426

1

Example. Integrative Medical Education: Development and

Implementation of a Comprehensive Curriculum at the University

of Arizona. Victoria Maizes, MD, Craig Schneider, MD, Iris Bell,

MD, PhD, MD(H), and Andrew Weil, MD

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=%27integrative+medic

ine+Homeopathy%27+&spell=1, or, The challenge of

complementary and alternative medicine. American Journal of

Obstetrics & Gynecology. 177(5):1156-1161, November 1997.

Chez, Ronald A. MD; Jonas, Wayne B. MD

http://pt.wkhealth.com/pt/re/ajog/abstract.00000447-

19971100000033.htm;jsessionid=FvTGzv9FQY2q93T7FJfvhHrQg

YMT4lr2ZkGFWQd1Rl2h1TSv2TbF!-1480123504!-

949856144!8091!-1, or Homeopathy incorporated in a Swiss

university - aims and results of 10 years „KIKOMŖ Integration der

Homöopathie an einer Schweizer Universität - Ziele und Resultate

von 10 Jahren „KIKOMŖ K von Ammon1, A Thurneysen1 Institute

of Complementary Medicine KIKOM, University of Berne,

Inselspital, Bern, Switzerland. http://www.thiemeconnect.

com/ejournals/abstract/ahz/doi/10.1055/s-2005-868674.

2

Example. Status of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in

the Osteopathic Medical School Curriculum. Dale W. Saxon, PhD;

Godfrey Tunnicliff, PhD; James J. Brokaw, PhD, MPH; Beat U.

Raess, PhD. The authors found that CAM material was usually

presented in required courses sponsored by clinical departments,

was most likely taught in the first 2 years of medical school, and

involved fewer than 20 contact hours of instruction. The topics

most often taught were acupuncture (68%), herbs and botanicals

(68%),

spirituality (56%), dietary therapy (52%), and Homeopathy (48%).

Most (72%) CAM instructors were also practitioners of CAM

modes of therapy. Few (12%) of the instructors taught CAM from

an evidence-based perspective. The authors conclude that the form

and content of CAM instruction at osteopathic medical schools is

similar to that offered at allopathic medical schools and that both

osteopathic and allopathic medical schools should strive to teach

CAM with less advocacy and more reliance on evidencebased

medicine. http://www.jaoa.org/cgi/content/abstract/104/3/121.

Amy Rothenberg who documented the use of

Arsenicum and other naturopathic interventions.

After conducting an extensive search of relevant

literature this was the only real example of an article

or research which demonstrated homoeopathsř

attitudes to patientřs use of other complementary

and alternative medicine or conventional

medicine alongside homeopathic treatment. What

has been interesting to note is that in most reported

cases in homeopathic journals, the homoeopaths

refer to the remedies and the homeopathic

treatment given to their patients, but very rarely

document any other modes of treatment that patients

may be using concurrently, which may have an effect

on the progression of their health problem.

However what was discovered were studies

on how other health professionals felt about

patients choosing other healthcare regimes. Giveon,

Liberman, Klang and Kahan (2003) surveyed 150

doctorsř perceptions of their patientsř use of

complementary medicine concluded that 91% of the

respondents were Řsatisfiedř or Řnot botheredř about

their patientsř use of complementary medicines.

3

Furthermore, Nanke and Canter (1991) conducted

another survey which examined doctorsř

recommendations of other forms of treatment to their

patients.

4

And confirmation that patients are more

than happy to mix modalities came in Sharples, Van

Haselen and Fisher (2003) survey of United Kingdom

NHS patientsř perspectives on Complementary

Medicine where four hundred and ninety nine

responses were analysed. The patients were all

receiving treatment at the Royal London

Homeopathic Hospital. Their most frequent reasons

for seeking CAM intervention were that other

treatment had not helped, and the concerns that they

had about adverse treatment reactions which may

occur when using conventional medicine. The

most frequently used complementary therapy was

Homeopathy and two-thirds of the patients

surveyed indicated that their main presenting

condition was moderately or much improved.

5

3

Although the survey was directed more to the use of herbal

remedies rather than Homeopathy, this is still a useful indicator of

other health professionalřs responses to clients using other forms of

medicine alongside their own. Of note however is that 58% of the

physicians who responded to the survey routinely asked patients

whether they were using other forms of medicine concurrently with

their own.

4

The results of the survey showed that core treatment methods

such as counselling, diet, exercise and massage, and well

established complementary and orthodox treatments such as

osteopathy, acupuncture, orthodox medication, Homeopathy,

herbal medicine and psychotherapy were the most widely

recommended. In contrast those treatments described as Řfringeř

treatments (e.g. radionics, biofeedback, colour therapy, gem

therapy, Kirlian aura diagnosis) were the least recommended.

5

19.5% reported that it was slightly improved, 13.5% reported no

change, 2% were slightly worse and 3% were moderately or much

worse. The survey also requested information about other

treatments that patients were also receiving as well as the treatment

from the RLHH. Half of the patients were receiving treatment

RESULTS OF SEARCHING IN THE LITERATURE

OF OTHER CAM DISCIPLINES

Searching outside of the world of homeopathic

medicine into other complementary therapies to

determine their attitudes to multiple interventions was

undertaken. Interviews and audits, electronic based

research of practitioners in other CAM therapies,

and exploration of their curricula and directives to

determine their attitudes to patients seeking multiple

modality treatments were conducted.

Over the years I found it incredibly valuable

to work alongside naturopaths and practitioners of

traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic medicine

and all the other Complementary and Alternative

Medicines in the different clinics that I worked

and around Sydney and Auckland. From discussions

about multiple interventions they didnřt seem to care

so much that their patients have their own initiatives

and values about their health and they don't get upset

about it. And actually it doesn't worry them in TCM if

their patient is also seeing a homoeopath. They are

less precious, and they are less concerned.

In formal interviews, what was asked was how

they deal with patients getting multiple modality

treatments, what instruction do they get in their

training, do they get as angry with patients and other

practitioners as homoeopaths do, do they have any

further ideas and research, do they worry as much

revealed a clear pattern? Research focused

especially on TCM practitioners who were

homoeopaths as well who were familiar with it or

used Homeopathy. One said:

ŘThere is not the dogma in TCM around

repetition of the dose so much. It is much more

relaxed. We give herbs to be taken every day. There

are some clear contraindications at times - say a

patient is on blood thinners and other treatments

but over-all we are less precious. Other therapies are

welcomed like sports medicine, bodywork is

welcomed. TCM is often practiced with the

practitioner doing herbs needles and bodywork

anyway.ř

When asked about the Direction of Cure the

response was, ŘAll other therapies are seen as helping

not hurtingř (Interview T12). Nevertheless, as in

Homeopathy, students of TCM colleges in the US

and Australia reported no curriculum time being

devoted to this. They also reported surprise that it

would even be an issue (Interview T11 and T12).

RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT: NEXT

STEPS IN DEVELOPING THIS AREA OF PRACTICE

other than that prescribed at RLHH. Just under a third were taking

conventional prescription medicines, 13% treatment from another

hospital doctor, 12% non-prescription medicines, and 7% were

using complementary therapies from elsewhere. Therefore, once

again, this survey has demonstrated that patients often choose to use

more than one therapy concurrently, whether it is complementary or

conventional. Although two thirds of the patients reported that

their main presenting complaint had improved either moderately or

significantly, it is difficult to establish whether the main therapy has

caused the moderate or significant change in the patientřs health.

There are many proposals in developing this area

and a lot of work to do.

Communication. It is crucial that as a profession we

are have more dialogue. Robust discussion and

debate. And as we do so we also need to realise that

one homoeopath who practices in a specific way

because of their training, because of their perception

of health and disease and their concept of totality

may be legitimately different to the homoeopath

practising in Ipswich, Wagga or Adelaide or where-

ever. Our practices are different and varied and our

working models need to reflect this. There is much

that is different but significantly more that a similar.

Audit tools. Consistent use of an audit tool that is

agreed upon would go a huge way to creating

statistical facts about our clinical effectiveness. For

example, one audit tool which could be employed

more would be to categorise patient response:

No change

Some improvement

Considerable improvement

Major change

Transformation

Percentages can be used or a different and

agreed-upon language, slight, some, significant

improvement etc. Homoeopaths must be encouraged

to engage in this necessary critical reflection.

Audit tools that reflect multiple interventions.

Results can be cross-referenced with the treatments

and modalities being used at the same time as

homeopathic treatment.

Just Homeopathy

Homeopathy and one modality

Homeopathy and multiple modalities

Already the computer software packages contain

the capacity for significant statistical analysis of

practice. Who uses them? We need to. In the absence

of being able to describe how Homeopathy works -

the mechanism of action, we must be in a position to

provide evidence of our clinical efficacy.

Research. Much more research is necessary.

The deconstruction and then reconstruction and

collection of information from clinical practice is

deeply satisfying. But beyond understanding exactly

what goes on within oneřs practice, and having some

prejudices and ideas challenged about different

aspects of that practice at a personal level,

combination with similar audits from multiple

practitioners can provide clear demonstrative

research of the type that is required to demonstrate a

clinical efficacy in the modern marketplace. It is not

difficult. Itřs not hard. You donřt have to have a PhD

in statistics to do it. You just have to do it. From

conducting such audits on a regular basis I know

exactly the demographic of my practice. I know

exactly the percentage of patients I see once, and a

breakdown of male and female that I see once. I know

exactly how many patients I see twice or seven times

or 22 times. I know exactly how many remedies are

prescribed to each patient on average. I know exactly

how many times I use Scholten method successfully,

or Sankaran, or Boenninghausen, or how many times I

use multiple methods in my clinic. Rather than

guesswork I now know about the compliance of my

patients and their improvement after the first

consultation, and at the end of the treatment.

Criteria for cure and publication. It is crucial that

as a profession we have a dialogue and then establish

ourselves some fundamental agreement on what can

be considered a curative or publishable case. To my

mind that definition of Řcureř, or Řimprovementř

needs to include the celebration of patients that are

getting other therapies and doing other things with

their health, or at the very least a criteria for reporting

cases which is more real-life. It is clear from

substantial reading that reported cured cases in

Homeopathy are overwhelmingly where one remedy

was used and where no other treatments were had or

reported. The clear reason for this is to determine that

nothing else medicinal was going on in the health of

the patient or any other treatments that this remedy

created that change, i.e. this created that. But this is

out of step with reality by not acknowledging the

very real improvement in some cases partially

due to the Therapeutic Relationship and other

medical interventions. It is confusing for all that

homoeopaths are encouraged to report Řcured casesř

yet such cases are dismissed when the peers and

readers see that the patient was also getting chinese

medicine or flower essences or steroid creams

(Interview H10-17). There needs to be more freedom

in publishing cures and cases that reflect our

actual clinical experience. Another excellent attempt

by Thompson (2004) has been made at a model for a

ŘFormal Case Studyř in Can the Caged Bird Sing.

Education. Many of our educational assumptions

need to be re-examined in the curricula in colleges.

A re-emphasis to an honest discussion of

Homeopathyřs place in the perception of the patient

and the context of CAM is in order in most

curricula. Substantial anecdotal evidence suggests that

homeopathic students leave colleges world wide high

on skills and low in confidence. While crucial to grasp

the fundamentals of the minimum dose and the

direction of cure, it is doubly important in clinical

training that these concepts need to be grounded in the

real world of patientsř expectations. This aspect of

practice needs to be developed, and integrated in to

the working curriculum of every college, and the daily

practice of every homeopath.

Furthermore, strongly emphasising Hahnemannřs

actual classification of disease is in order. It is often

forgotten that Hahnemann classified Chronic Disease.

Homoeopaths often assume this was his idea of Psora,

Sycosis and Syphilis. In fact he had a broader

classification which included Pseudo Chronic

Disease, Artificial Chronic Disease and True Chronic

Disease. Being reminded of this reality often

creates a context for Homoeopaths to see the

genuine role of naturopathic interventions and

lifestyle advice (for the results of pseudo chronic and

artificial disease).

What is also needed is the development of clear

clinical guidelines and rules and the building up of

literature for complicated cases and complicated

clinical situations. Many lecturers make assertions but

upon a flimsy evidence base.

The development of clear clinical guidelines. To

my mind it is crucial that we establish some firm

literature through argument and disagreement,

through audit and literature reviews in relation to

patients that are living 21st-century lifestyles and

who have in their cases many obstacles to cure

and maintaining causes and who are Řbehaving

badly.ř The development of clear clinical guidelines

and ideas around best practice does not necessarily

have to restrict us in what we do. Clinical guidelines

are not necessarily Řthis remedy for that condition.ř

But models of working and guidelines and directions

that are underpinned by evidence has significantly

helped other similar professions develop and grow.

One only needs to glance at the developments in

Nursing, Physiotherapy, and Psychotherapy in the last

20 years to see how they have outstripped and

outperformed Homeopathy in the area of

research, and ultimately medical respectability.

CONCLUSION

After exhaustive searching and research it is

concluded that there is very little if any literature or

guidance when it comes to this genuine clinical issue

of patients seeking multi modalities or multiple

treatments. There is very little or no knowledge base

underpinning these questions. There is plenty of real

life clinical experience. But while clinical experience

counts for a lot, evidence is often perceived as more

valuable.

Having deconstructed the knowledge base,

critically analysed, reviewed and reflected, on the

traditional homeopathic literature it is clear that much

of it is out of step with patientřs perceptions of CAM.

Furthermore the dearth of any academic literature on

this issue highlights the need to develop this area of

practice.

Are our patients behaving badly? No they are just

doing what they do. Itřs homoeopathsř expectations

which are fixed and need to change or at the very least

some additions need to be made to clinical

frameworks. None of the practitioners interviewed

from other disciplines had the preciousness or the

tightness around their patients having other

modalitiesř treatments that homoeopaths did.

Perhaps concepts of suppression and ideas of

spoiling the case (Close, Kent and others) impede

practice. Therefore it is proposed that the steps

suggested, research, rethinking the publication of

cured cases, a reorientation of the emphasis within

undergraduate curricula and the development of some

literature around clinical skills in multi modality

cases, are implemented to use as a springboard by

which the profession can move forward.

References

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incorporated in a Swiss university−aims and results of

10 years,

http://www.thieme-

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complementary and alternative medicine. Primary

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vol. 177, no. 5, pp. 1156-1161.

http://pt.wkhealth.com/pt/re/ajog/abstract.00000447-

19971100000033.htm;jsessionid=FvTGzv9FQY2q93

T7FJfvhHrQgYMT4lr2ZkGFWQd1Rl2h 1TSv2TbF!-

1480123504!-949856144!8091!-

1.[Accessed:July2008].

Close, S 1921, Genius of Homeopathy Lectures and

Essence of Homeopathic Philosophy. Reprint. India.

Jain.

Gaudet, T 1998, Integrative Medicine, the Evolution

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[Accessed: July 2008].

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Complementary Medicine Complementary Therapies

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eds.

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Hamilton, E 2003, Exploring General Practitionersř

attitudes to Homeopathy in Dumfries and Galloway.

Homeopathy, vol. 92, issue 4, pp. 190-194. Science

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Times. London: Continuum. Harris, P et al. 2003,

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11, pp. 249-253.

Harris, P & Rees, R 2000, The Prevalence of

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Complementary Medicine Consumers in Switzerland,

Complementary Therapies in Medicine, vol. 6, pp.

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Mangliavori, M & Zwemke, H 2004, Bitten in the

Soul Experiences with Spider Remedies and

Homeopathy. Moderna and Berlin.

Morrison, R 1998, Desktop Companion to Physical

Pathology. San Francisco. Hahnemann Clinic

Publishing.

Nanke, L & Canter, D 1991, Treatment

Recommendation in Complementary Medicine: a

selective network Complementary Medical Research,

vol. 5, no. 1, pp.1-7.

Riley D et al 2001, Homeopathy and Conventional

Medicine: An Outcomes Study Comparing

Effectiveness in a Primary Care Setting, The Journal

of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, vol. 7,

no. 2, pp. 149 -159.

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2008]

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Sharples, F & Van Haselen, R & Fisher, P 2003, NHS

Patientsř Perspective on Complementary Medicine: a

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11, pp 243-248.

Thompson, T 2004, Can the Caged Bird Sing

Reflections on the Application of Qualitative

Research Methods to Case Study Design in

Homeopathic Medicine, BMS Medical Research

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homeopathic treatment: A survey of general

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87, issue 1, pp 13-16.

Appendices

Interviews Conducted

H10-17

H15 - 7

T11 - -

T12 - -

H13 - 25

H14 - 25

N16 - 8

N18 - 11

__________________________________________

PART III

(While Part II features articles from other journals, Part III contains the editorřs own contribution and other

original articles.)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOKSHELF:

1. Kathrin Schreiber, Samuel Hahnemann in

Leipzig, Die Entwicklung der Homöopathie

zwischen 1811 und 1821: Förderer, Gegner und

Patienten, Quellen und Stidien zur

Homöopathiegeschichte, Band 8, herausgegeben

vom Insitut für Geschichte der Medizin der

Robert Bosch Stiftung, Stuttgart; Karl F. Haug

Verlag, Stuttgart, 2002. ISBN 3-8304-7163-7.

(German) (Samuel Hahnemann in Leipzig. The

development of Homeopathy between 1811 and

1821, Supporters, Oppositions and Patients.)

This is the 8

th

volume in the Series of ŖSource

studies in the History of Homeopathyŗ.

HAHNEMANN lived and practised in Leipzig

during the period August 1811 to June 1821. This is

an important period in his life and work. This was

the longest period of his stay in any one place until

then. Earlier he had come to Leipzig as a student in

1775. He was again in Leipzig in 1789 as a doctor;

after a brief period in the city he found it too

expensive and so moved over to a suburb of Leipzig,

Stetteritz.

Hahnemannřs writing activities were vigorous

during this period. It was during his earlier period in

Leipzig in 1790 that HAHNEMANN carried out his

famous Cinchona experiment on himself. Leaving

Leipsic in 1792 HAHNEMANN travelled much Ŕ

Gotha, Georgenthal near Gotha, Molschleben,

Göttingen, Pyrmont, Wolfenbüttel, Brunswick,

Königslutter, Hamburg-Altona, Mölln, Machern,

Eilenburg, Dessau Ŕ until the end of 1804 and thence

to Torgau From 1805 to 1811, a fairly long period,

he lived in Torgau from where he published the

Organon which announced to the world loudly the

new Science which was completely the opposite of all

Medicinal theories extant till then. It may be noted

that these, the pre-Organon period, were the most

restless period of his life and when there was no more

doubt that his ideas were not mere imaginations but

facts, the conception took place and began to develop

into the Organon and he remained in one place Ŕ

Torgau. At the same time his work on the Materia

Medica Pura was also progressing. These were the

most turbulent years in his life Ŕ continuous, fierce

attacks by detractors, Provings, Writings, Teaching

and Practice; and a large family!! After the

publication of the Organon and the Materia Medica

Pura, he was no more restless. However, he left

Torgau in 1811 when he foresaw Napoleonřs

onslaught upon Torgau, and came to Leipsic. The

present Volume by Kathrin SCHREIBER studies

these 11- year period. In 1811 HAHNEMANN was

already 57 years. Shortly after his arrival in Leipsic

HAHNEMANN attempted to organise a private

ŘMedical Instituteř.

He felt that it was not sufficient if he wrote

articles as in the Allgemeiner Anzeiger der

Deutschen; more was required for Homeopathy to

progress. He felt that at least a six-month-course as

Introduction to Homeopathy would be sufficient for

Physicians to pursue further in homeopathic Materia

Medica and Therapeutics. Unfortunately this idea did

not materialise. He therefore felt that he must

become a member of the facultry where he may find

some followers. He was convinced that Homeopathy

would win over the old Medicine: ŖOur Art requires

no political lever, no belts of denoting Order, to

grow. It grows up so slowly unnoticed in the

beginning from an acorn to a stem among the several

weeds which grow around it so thick and tall; and in

its time grow up to an Oak of God which spreads its

arms on all zones un moved by any storm in anyway

so that the hitherto plagued humanity get invigorated

under its beneficient shade.ŗ

Hahnemannřs application to the University to

deliver lectures was accepted after he fulfilled the

Universityřs condition to submit a dissertation first.

HAHNEMANNřs Dissertation was on the

ŖDissertatio historico-medica de Helleborismo

veterum”. There was not a word about Homeopathy

in this Dissertation. HAHNEMANN began his

Lectures from the end of September 1812. Although

his lectures were well attended by the Professors and

Students in the beginning it began to thin down when.

Soon Hahneannřs lectures turned to be a castigation

of Allopathy and his impassioned lectures began to be

attended by a small number of loyal listeners. We

have no record, except what Franz HARTMANN has

reported in the AHZ 26/1844 (see HAEHL).

During the Leipsic period HAHNEMANN

published 20 essays, reviews, etc., including the Pure

Materia Medica (1811-1821).

He made many Provings.

There are separate Chapters on Hahnemannřs

supporters, students, provers, university lecturers;

opponents: the opposition from the other physicians,

pharmacists, the administration, etc. These studies

are interesting and informs us of the tremendous

stress under which HAHNEMANN would have

carried his various activities. Truly he had a mind of

Damascus steel!

Hitherto there seems to have no detailed study of

HAHNEMANNřs Leipzig period. The present

volume fills the gap and helps much in appreciating

HAHNEMANN and his Medicine much better.

Certainly a great addition to HAHNEMANN and

Homeopathy literature.

K.S SRINIVASAN

-----------------------------------------------------------------

2. Materia Medica Revisa Homoeopathiae,

Clematis - Sammlung homöopathischer

Arzneimittel in mehreren Bänden, herausgegeben

on Klaus-Henning Gypser (Revision of

homeopathic Materia Medica, Collection of

homeopathic medicines in several volumes.

Published by Klaus-Henning GYPSER), Clematis by

Robert GOLDMANN, Wunnibald Gypser Verlag,

Glees, 2008, ISBN 978-3-9808817-7-7 (German):

This Monograph is in the series of revised

Materia Medica, a stupendous task undertaken by Dr.

K.-H. GYPSER. Clematis erecta has 821 Symptoms

in the Encyclopaedia. In this Monograph there are

1285 symptoms. Apart from the Symptoms from

sources already in the EN, Symptoms from a Proving

by Dr. Randolph NEUSTADTER of the USA

reported in 1984 have also been included. A rapid

verification with the Kent Repertory reveals that

several symptoms given in this Monograph have not

been included. All the symptoms given in this

Monograph have been verified in Practice and it will

not therefore be wrong if we include them in the

Repertory in appropriate place and await further

confirmation by more cures. It has several Řsleepř

symptoms met with in daily Practice. Seemingly a

Řsmallř remedy but with big potential.

This is a most welcome addition to every

conscientious Practitioner.

K.S SRINIVASAN

-----------------------------------------------------------------

3. Materia Medica Revisa Homoeopathiae,

Cyclamen Ŕ Sammlung homöopathischer

Arzneimittel in Mehreren Bänden , herausgegeben

von Klaus-Henning Gypser (Revision of

homeopathic Materia Medica, Collection of

homeopathic medicines in several volumes.

Published by Klaus-Henning GYPSER)

Cyclamen by Eva KOWZAN, Wunnibald Gypser

Verlag, Glees, 2008, ISBN 978-3-9808817-5-3:

(German): Eva KOWZAN says that she chose to work

this Řsmallř remedy for the Materia Medica revision

project for one reason, among others, due to a

personal experience Ŕ with two doses a chronic coryza

which was better in open air was promptly cured by

Cyclamen where Řbigř remedies failed. After

discussions with colleagues the author feels Cyclamen

is not a small remedy. Whereas HAHNEMANN

mentioned 202 symptoms, the present collection has

946 symptoms, more than four times the number in

the Materia Medica Pura. 2 edn. It would be much

fruitful if one sits down with careful examination of

the Repertory with regard to the symptoms given in

this Monograph; for example while

ŖStechende Schmerzen in der Stirnŗ is given in

Řcapitalsř, in the repertory it is given only in 1 mark

grade. There are other symptoms too which require

careful comparison. Strongly recommend for every

conscientious prescriber to procure copies of these

Monographs and work with them and report verify

cation. This is the duty of every homeopath.

K.S SRINIVASAN

----------------------------------------------------------------

4. LESSER WRITINGS, Dr. P.S.

KRISHNAMURTHY, Published by Dr. P. S.

Krishnamurthy, Barkatpura, Hyderabad - 500027,

India. Paperback. Pages 67. Price Rs.100/-.

Foreign US 10/- plus postage.

The author has written in homeopathic journals

both within India and abroad over the past 50 years or

more on various aspects of Homeopathy. It has been

my privilege to read almost all of these and find them

of practical use in day-to-day homeopathic Practice.

It is a good service to the Homeopathy Practitioners

that he thought it good to publish a collection of those

articles.

There are more than 25 papers in this small

collection, few of them measuring up to only a page

or lesser. The first essay is on ŘExteriorizationř. This

brief essay is very interesting and a great help in

therapeutics. Similarly the titles that follow: Potency

selection, Miasmatic drugs assessment in the patient;

One sided diseases; Direction of Cure; How to detect

the involved miasmatic diatheses in the patient;

management of terminally ill patients; Symptom

totality vs Miasmatic Prescription; these are some of

the titles in this book-let. Each essay is brief and easy

to read and comprehend. One should carefully read

what Dr. KRISHNAMURTHY says in the light of his

rich experience. In ŘDirection of Cureř he cautions

that when only some of the symptoms match and

some do not match a particular remedy an Ŗuntoward

direction of cureŗ takes place, we should therefore

watch carefully whether the disease is moving from

the centre to the periphery or vice versa. It is

important that we must hearken the admonition of the

founder of Homeopathy, HAHNEMANN and its

Řnestorř HERING, in this regard. In the present days

where several Řinnovativeř methodologies are

propagated where the fundamentals of Homeopathy

like Provings, study of the Pure Materia Medica and

the direction of cure, etc., are ignored it is good to see

the advice of experienced masters like

KRISHNAMURTHY. The articles in this small

book-let must be read and imbibed in practice as

genuine Homeopath.

There are few printing errors; hopefully these will

be corrected in the next edition. Every homeopath

would undoubtedly benefit from careful study of this

book-let.

K.S SRINIVASAN

-----------------------------------------------------------------

5. The Supreme Value of Single Remedy Rubrics,

by Dr. P. S. KRISHNAMURTHY,

Barkatpura, Hyderabad 500 027, India, 47

pages, paperback. Rs.100/-, Foreign US 10/-,

plus postage.

The title gives out the nature of this book-let.

There are several rubrics in the Kent Repertory with

only one remedy. Dr. KRISHNAMURTHY

explains, with some of his own cases, the successes

with these remedies. The idea is that one should not

neglect these remedies. When one has a case with

just one or two symptoms and where the Řsingle

rubricř is quite striking, one can very well prescribe

on that. Fifty cases are given to justify these rubrics

in practical application. In the ŘAppendixř he has

given a very interesting case of Platina. A brief list of

single remedies rubrics in the Boericke Repertory is

given.

This and the one above, both carry interesting and

appreciative ŘForewordř by Dr. ATENA, National

Vice President of the LIGA for Romania.

Strongly recommended that every homeopath

study this book-let and it will be rewarding.

K.S.SRINIVASAN

6. E/S/C/O/P Monographs Ŕ The Scientific

Foundation for Herbal Medicinal Products

Second Edition, Supplement 2009, Thieme,

2009. Hb 306 pages.

This beautifully illustrated book on Phytotherapy,

contains Monographs on 27 plant remedies. Many of

the remedies are used in Homeopathy Therapeutics

also, e.g. Agrimone, Aloe, Crataegus oxycantha,

Echinaceae, Millefolium, Ratanhia, Symphytum,

Zingiberis, etc. Of course in Homeopathy these

remedies act curatively in a wider spectrum and

deeper.

The Monographs are produced by the expertise of

many authorities from many members of European

Union; the Monographs represent Ŗthe best European

knowledge baseŗ. Herbs like Curcuma, Zingiberis

are well-known remedies in Ayurveda and used for

centuries in India in almost every house-hold and of

course there have been laboratory experiments and

analysis of these remedies. The European Union may

benefit by sourcing these material too. In so far as

Homeopathy is concerned, study of these

Monographs may help us in applying the remedies in

a wider range of complaints, but of course within the

scope of the law of similars. Whereas Ratanhia is a

great remedy in Homeopathy, and used in day-to-day

practice, this Monograph contains practically little!

Well produced, printing etc. excellent, certainly

of use in study of the medicines and application.

K.S SRINIVASAN

THIS COMPOST

1

SOMETHING startles me where I thought I was safest,

I withdraw from the still woods I loved,

I will not go now on the pastures to walk,

I will not strip the clothes from my body to meet my lover the sea,

I will not touch my flesh to the earth as to other flesh to renew me.

O how can it be that the ground itself does not sicken?

How can you be alive you growths of spring?

How can you furnish health you blood of herbs, roots, orchards,

grain?

Are they not continually putting distemper'd corpses within you?

Is not every continent work'd over and over with sour dead?

Where have you disposed of their carcasses ?

Those drunkards and gluttons of so many generations?

Where have you drawn off all the foul liquid and meat?

I do not see any of it upon you to-day, or perhaps I am deceiv'd,

I will run a furrow with my plough, I will press my spade through

the sod and turn it up underneath,

I am sure I shall expose some of the foul meat.

2

Behold this compost! behold it well!

Perhaps every mite has once form'd part of a sick personŕyet

behold!

The grass of spring covers the prairies,

The bean bursts noiselessly through the mould in the garden,

The delicate spear of the onion pierces upward,

The apple-buds cluster together on the apple-branches,

The resurrection of the wheat appears with pale visage out of its

graves,

The tinge awakes over the willow-tree and the mulberry-tree,

The he-birds carol mornings and evenings while the she-birds sit on

their nests,

The young of poultry break through the hatch'd eggs,

The new-born of animals appear, the calf is dropt from the cow, the

colt from the mare,

Out of its little hill faithfully rise the potato's dark green leaves,

Out of its hill rises the yellow maize-stalk, the lilacs bloom in the

door-yards,

The summer growth is innocent and disdainful above all those

strata of sour dead.

What chemistry!

That the winds are really not infectious,

That this is no cheat, this transparent green-wash of the sea

which is so amorous after me,

That it is safe to allow it to lick my naked body all over with its

tongues,

That it will not endanger me with the fevers that have deposited

themselves in it,

That all is clean forever and forever,

That the cool drink from the well tastes so good,

That blackberries are so flavorous and juicy,

That the fruits of the apple-orchard and the orange-orchard, that

melons, grapes, peaches, plums, will none of them poison me,

That when I recline on the grass I do not catch any disease,

Though probably every spear of grass rises out of what was once a

catching disease.

Now I am terrified at the Earth, it is that calm and patient,

It grows such sweet things out of such corruptions,

It turns harmless and stainless on its axis, with such endless

successions of diseas'd corpses,

It distills such exquisite winds out of such infused fetor,

It renews with such unwitting looks its prodigal, annual, sumptuous

crops,

It gives such divine materials to men, and accepts such leavings

from them at last.

1856 1881

Source: Leaves of Grass, THE COLLECTED WORKS OF WALT

WHITMAN, Editor: EMORY HOLLOWAY, Blue Ribbon Books,

Garden City, New York, USA, 1942, p. 310 Ŕ 311.