An Interview

MANU KOTHARI

An interview

June 2000

Dr. Manu Kothari (1935) is Professor of Anatomy, at the Seth G.S. Medical College, in Mumbai, India. He is the author of eight books including: The Nature of Cancer (Vol. One), Bombay, 1973. Cancer: Myths and Realities of Cause and Cure, London, 1979. The Other Face of Cancer, Goa, 1994. Human Genetics, Bombay, 1986. Essentials of Human Embryology, Bombay, 1983. Death: A new perspective on the phenomena of disease and dying, London, 1986. Living and Dying, Goa, 1996. Violence in Modern Medicine: In, Violence and Science, 1988. Next to these books he published numerous articles in the Journal of Postgraduate Medicine.

The meeting that took place in Pretoria at the behest of President Mbeki, was to decide whether the orthodox group is right mainly that HIV causes AIDS, that AIDS is a fatal disease and must be treated as an emergency measure - or that there is not much substance in the entire hypothesis, as a very small group on the other side thinks.

And I think it is very bold of the President, to, intellectualise the issue and that is how we met there. You see, one of the key points which has been used by the media that AIDS is a curent catastrophe, and one point which Peter Duesberg pointed out, who is the pioneer dissident as you might say, who doesn't believe that there is an HIV virus, who doesn't believe that that it causes AIDS, who doesn't believe that AIDS should be treated like the way we are treating, you know. He was the person who said "Here we have a situation, where what is most important is that, as in his opinion, the orthodox group seems to be poorly read, and the dissident group which is very well read, is not listened to for whatever reason."

Now the question is what really is bygging this issue, and therefore, I want to use this as a platform to discuss medicine's failure, or otherwise in such leading areas as cancer, heart attack, hypertension, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, peptic ulcers. Just consider these, and you realise that you've got to fall back on a very important book which came out from Rockefeller Foundation called 'Doing better and feeling worse, Health in the United States'. This was in 1977. Now what is "Doing Better"? Until the '60s, the United States used to spend about 8 billion dollars a year on health. Now it is spending worth 1.25 billion dollars a day. Moral of the story.. doctors, hospitals, manufacturers are having a gala time! And who's "Feeling worse"? Oviously the patient!

The 1977 decision that we are feeling worse, patients are feeling worse, remains unchanged as of May 2000 A.D. Now the questionis "Why so"? If you go into that book, in the first chapter written by Lewis Thomas, a Yale, philosopher, physician, and who was lately the Director of Sloan Kettering Institute, he says, "..When it comes to these major issues like cancer, heart attack, hypertension, stroke, diabetes, arthritis and peptic ulcer.. medicine knows next to nothing"! And in the same book, there is another medical physician Wildarsky, who says that in 9 problems out of 10, medicine can do precious little. In fact, there is a global survey that 9 prescriptions and procedures, 9 investigations and whatever out of 10 are not onyl unneccesary but unwarranted!

Now why have we come to this? We have come to this because, I think, beginning 1930, technology started taking over thinking. And therefore, circa 1930 Betrand Russel said, that Modern Education teaches how to do, but not how to think. And since a common person wants things to be done, like it is in court, that Justice should not only be done but seen to be done, so therapy not only should be done, but seen to be done.

Assertive action has become a priority issue in medicine, however wrong it may be. Now with regard to AIDS, let me point out a few epistemological principles which come to the fore. Epistemology is the science of knowledge. It is a science which takes any piece of information and weighs its worthwhileness, its possiblity, its impossibilty,.. uselessness, its worthwhileness. Now consider that about 300 years ago, an apple fell on the bald pate of Newton and gravitation was born. Since then we have been studying gravitation left, right and centre! We know everything about it from the 10th decimal point.. but one thing remains certain, we can't alter gravity. As Robert Arturu says," apple must fall down"! Therefore, supposing we know everything about cancer cell, that in no way will allow you to alter the cancer cell. Therefore, in fact, Lyall Watson on the European side and Lewis Thomas on the American side, both have generalised that the biggest discovery of the 20th century is the discovery of Human Ignorance!

In 1996, the KEM Hospital, the institution where I work, celebrated its 50th year. And the Dean told me I should suggest to him a rather unusual, offbeat topic for a conference to be held. So I said, Sir, why don't you hold a first ever conference on Medical ignorance. And he started laughing. He didn't take up the issue for the simple reason, he said, that if this conference is held, money flowing in from pharmaceutical firms will close down. So I said, O.K. sir. I give you a guarantee that I will organise the conference, but not talk at the conference. But somehow it never came to pass. And lo and behold in 1977, I get a book from America sent to me by one of my students, Encyclopedia Scientific Ignorance. This was followed up by Pergaman Oxford in 1979 with Encyclopedia of Medical Ignorance. Now these two encyclopedias more than underscore what Lyall Watson and Lewis Thomas said. Let us go back in the hoary past and Shankaracharya. He said in 9th century, that if "Gyaan"(knowledge) is "Aananth"(happiness), so is "Agyaan"(ignorance). And much later Blaise Pascal said that knowledge is the inner surface of the sphere, whose outer surface is painted with ignorance. And therefore, sometimes when somebody calls me that I am well read, then I tell them that I know that I am very very ignorant, because the more you know, the more exponentially you become ignorant. And that explains to you why some of the greatest people who are very learned, are almost painfully humble. You almost get irritated that this man knows so much and yet he pretends to be humble. But in the depths of his heart you see, he knows that he doesn't know!

I am a teacher, and so I've got to teach my students. And I often think of my role. What is my role here? And then I realise that I am a resident of "the democracy of intellect". This is a phrase used by Jacob Bronowski in one of his small books titled 'Democracy and Intellect'. There is neither dissidence nor proponence. There is only a democracy of intellect. And what is my task? The task of any teacher is to take the student to the outer limits of knowledge and to the beginning of his ignorance, thereby establishing an epistemological equality which must be at the heart of any democracy. So thinking along these lines, our own department where I have been teaching for the last forty years, we have very cardinal principles. That on the first day, the student must learn to have a healthy disrespect for the three T's.. teacher, what is taught and the textbook. And towards that end we encourage them to take an oath which was supposed to be a ritual in early Europe, especially in particular universities. You take an oath, that here I have come not to worship what is known, but to question! Question, question and question! And therefore, the issue of HIV/AIDS also demands questioning.

Now to help our questioning on HIV/AIDS, or rather, to have a moral right on this issue, let us take other areas where things appear so pretty clear. 1946 Augustus Bier wrote, that all you know about cancer can be written down on a visiting card, we don't know! And till today it remains unchanged. Around 1983, James Watson of the double helix fame, characterised cancer research as intellectually bankrupt, financially ex invigorating and therapeutically useless. And he said cancer establishments are a lot of shit.. that is the term he used. Sir Meg McFarlen, the Nobel Laureate,summoned up the entire Nobel scene, and he said that after a thousand main years work, the outcome is precisely nil. And today what has happened is, cancer cell no longer is taken as a structural entity. Cancer cell is taken as one more form of normal cello. Now the question is what is cancer cell and what is normal cell?

So Albert Szent-gyorgii, the Nobel Laureate for the discovery of vitamon C and actin myocine, while chairing a session in America at the 69th Ciba Symposium on Sub molecular biology and cancer, on the last page, he is asked, Sir, can you define what is a cancer cell?. And he says, typically of a humble person,"My dear sir, how can I tell you what's a cancer cell when I don't know what's a normal cell?" Yet in the cancer establishment, the bogey of cancer cell as being a vicious, savage cell is being sustained. Another unholy humbug which thet are sustaining, is that chemotherapy and radiotherapy are useful because they tend to kill the more fast multiplying cells as compared to normal cells. So we went on till cytokinetics arrived. And cytokinetics arrived to destroy two illusions. Cytokinetics showed that if at all cancer cells multiply painfully slowly with the result that when you give radio therapy and chemo therapy, before you kill a single cancer cell, you will destroy a million normal cells. That is the trade off, okay? And the other illusion which it destroyed was that of early diagnosis, we still drumbeat early diagnosis. From 1802 through the 19th and 20th century, some of the most leading thinkers have shown that early diagnosis is not possible. This was said intuitively. Then came cytokinetics. And Cytokinetics has shown that before a tumour assumes one milligram of weight, which no scan ever can detect, it's a billion cell strong! And to arrive at that it will take a few years. Which means that by the time a cancer is diagnosed, a symptomatic silent cancer is diagnosed and detected by the most sensitive scan, it has been in the patient's body from 5-20 years. And therefore, when I think about this bogey of early cancer, I say, quoting, almost paraphrasing Churchill.."Never in the history of science has so much untruth been told, by so few, to so many, for so long".

Right, and therefore you know... go furthur! We wrote the 10th chapter of our smaller book, because Ivan Illich realised that the larger volume 'Nature of Cancer', 1000 pages, nobody will read. So he said. Manu, bring it to one tenth, and we brought it! And at that time we wrote the 10th chapter,'Cancer is unresearchable'. When I sent it to England, my publisher said, Manu, you are in the habit of joking, but this is carrying a joke too far!. So I said, what you do is circulate this chapter among top cancer specialists in England, and if they ask me to modify it. I'll do it. If they ask me to drop it, I'll drop it. On purely intellectual grounds they could do neither. And now that chapter has stayed in the series of additions and transalations and we have shown that cancer is unresearchable.

1979, 14th March was the 100th birth anniversary of my beloved Einstein, And therefore, Lopa and I decided to pay a tribute to him. Why pay a tribute to him? Let it be known to the whole world that in the word of J.B.S. Harding, Einstein has been the greatest Jew after Jesus Christ! So Lopa and I wrote an article, On Time, Uncertainity, Relativity and Normality in medicine. And that was published in Chicago. The title was "Trans science aspect of disease and death". That from the common cold to cancer, basically science can do nothing about its cause, about its course, about its cure. So some friend tod me, I'm a Luddite. I don't know what are technological advances. There is MRI. There is CT Scan and therefore, he says, just see. And therefore the next chapter was, Trans technique aspects of diseases and death. Believe me, till today, about cause, course and cure of common cold, cancer, coronary, heart attack, hypertension, stroke, diabetes, HIV and AIDS, medicine knows next to nothing. And medicine must accept that it knows next to nothing. okay?

About diabetes. We seem to know that there is diabetes and anti diabetic drugs. But I think we are kidding! Diabetes is a multi faceted problem. Protein metabolism is disturbed, fat metabolism is disturbed, sugar metabolism is disturbed, arterial health is disturbed. At the moment we have only one parameter, glucose level. So we give a drug to bring the glucose to the doctor's desired level not neccessarily to the patient's comfort. And you call it curing diabetes, treating diabetes! You're kidding.

I think, some years ago, there was a Conference held only to define Diabetes mellitus. And at the end of 3 days, they gave it up that it can't be defined. Medecine has not defined hypertension, medecine has not defined heart attack, medecine has not defined cancer, medecine can't define arthritis, medecine can't define HIV and AIDS! It Can't! when you are so grossly deficient, how can you research? At the moment writing the ABC of cardiolopgy. A for artery, B for blood, C for codium or heart. And what is my revelation? i thought that cardiologists must be knowledgeable people, but there is profound ignorance! there is not a single genuine anti cardiac drug, not a single one.

And I must wax eloquent on angiography, angioplasty and bypass. It was in 1993 that Renu Varmani, trained here. but now is a big person in America, majestically declared"we no longer trust coronary angiogram in the USA. We go for intra coronary ultra sonogram". So I said," Madam, should I put an obituary in the Times of India tomorrow, that coronary angiography is dead?" She said" You must pay, you must do that" And then she said "When you do angioplasty, the coronary arteries are invariably torn". So I said, " Shall I announce tomorrow that coronary tear is part of coronary care?" She said "Yes". And what is the bottomline today? That angioplasty does not lengthen life, creates many complications. And if you put stent inside, stent induced stenosis of the arteries today described as the most common iatrogenic, malignant disorder.

Okay! I have just a download from American college of cardiology and American Heart Association, which says angiography is unreliable! Therefore you do intracoronary ultra sonogram which is unreliable, therefore you do thalium optic study which is unreliable, therefore you do coronary angioscopy! All four together are unreliable. Now the fact that they are unreliable, I transalated into the fact that if you do angioplasty and bypass, nobody's life is lengthened. No one!

Let's go to bypass. Let's take Harrison's Textbook of Medecine. Large volumes, Volume One and Two.. nearly two and a half thousand pages, which i have followed from 10th to 14th edition, 1983 to 1998! Fifteen years and Five editions! And you go to the section, coronary bypass... and what does it say? We don't know how bypass works! But the following are the three theories. 1)Placebo is effective 64%! This 64% i got from another book, but no wonder N.Y.Times once described coronary bypass as the costliest Aspirin!

Okay, you spend a lot of money, and you are convinced that the right thing has been done. (2) Sensory neurectomy. Because the pericardium is cut, nerves are cut, the heart is botched upas ever, but because the fellow doesn't feel the pain, he does not build up an alarm reaction. And probably the worst is in cold print."Bypass probably works by infarcting the ischaemic segment", transalated into ordinary language, it means, bypass-by killing the complaining segment. So the segment is killed. it's nerves are killed and the fellow is pain free immediately on the operating table. But moral of the story... bypass is a surgery which is very very unscientific, to say the least. And I have a book, History of Coronary Revascularization, by Richard Preston, one of the Brooklyn cardiologists. And he has stated from 1890 till today, and this is a book around 1978, and he asked her, his cardiologist friend, as to why they were selling an operation which had very poor rational. And the reply was that the consideration of the economy. This is a marketplace, my client wants to buy, so I want to sell! Moral of the story, what do we do in cancerology or cardiology? We cannot attack the primary problem, precisely because there is no problem! It's a part of growing. okay? Everybody gets it.

So you can't treat everybody, but what do we do? Whenever there is a symptom, when cancer causes lump, in case the lump is bothering the contours and the beauty of the person, remove it! If it is blocking a tube, remove it. Moral of the story, Tata hospital has to ease, provided there is dis-ease! Presence of cancer means nothing, okay?

In fact, I may read out to you from Boyd's Pathology, that cancer is one of the classical examples where the person may be totally at peace with himself, therefore there is a lump, he has no disease, he has got cancer, but he has no disease. In a similar fashion, you may take my coronary angiogram and find it awfully diseased, but I have no symptoms. Because I have no symptoms, I am not dis-eased. There is no need for an easer called physician. And therefore, there is no need for the physician to violate what is called Heal's Law. He says that it is impossible to make an asymptomatic person feel better, therefore it is very much possible to make an asymptomatic patient feel worse1 You go to Hinduja (hospital). You go up well dressed, pay a large amount. You walk in as a person, you walk out as a patient! Because what do they do? They do investigate, and as Rousseau says, implant into your brain a worm of suspicion which starts crawling. From that day you start thinking that it's not hunky- dory with you, and this particular preempting a disease, has not paid off to anybody in any field. And therefore, my bottom line about cancer, my bottom line about coronaryu, my bottom line about diabetes and hypertension is, if they are silent, do nothing! And as and when you treat, treat the symptom, warning the individual that this will worsen his condition. One symptom will disappear, other will arrive! Just to give you an example, Lawrence Clinical Pharmacology is now in its 8th celebrated edition. You go under the section of cardiac failure. You go to the summarizing box at the end of chapter, and there is a very profound statement "Relief of symptoms does not improve prognosis and vice versa". You go to the 1956 Transactions of the N.Y. Academy of Medical Sciences, vol 6. There is a fifty page article by Hardin Jones of National Cancer Institute of Bethesda, Maryland. He surveyed global cancer of all types and compared the untreated and the treated, to conclude that the untreated out lives the treated, both in terms of quality and in terms of quantity. Secondly he said, "Cancer does not cure". Third he said"There is a physiological mechanism which finishes off an individual".

Which brings me to Bertrand Russel's 1918 article on Causation. He said, Causalism has died in all advanced sciences, but in some sciences it survived. Because like the King of England, the king of England and the king of Egypt, it's supposed to do no harm. Okay?

Susceptibility
The various recurrent symptoms people experience throughout their lives (chronic diseases) arise from individual susceptibility, from enduring 'constitutional' weakness. Likewise, in order to determine the 'cause' of an infectious (acute) disease, it is necessary to take into account both the virulence of the infectious agent and the resistance offered by the patient's defense mechanism. The resistance to contagion is based upon the susceptibility or 'host resistance' of the organism; it is largely determined by the miasmatic inheritance of the individual.

The Susceptibility of Plants and Animals
Plants and animals are susceptible to their environment, as, of course, is the human organism. Certain plants require certain kinds of soil in order to thrive. They also need certain kinds of climatic and atmospheric conditions. You wouldn't see a banana tree growing at the North Pole, for example! Plants will attempt to adapt to changing environment but some adaptation is too extreme.
Animals also adapt to their habitat in order to survive and in so doing they develop a protective immunity.
"Animals from certain parts of the earth's surface develop peculiarities of their own which are entirely different from their close relatives elsewhere. They can withstand certain influences and hold their own under adverse conditions which would be fatal to another of the same species developed under differing circumstances. In other words they develop a protective immunity against their environmental conditions.
The polar bear is immune to the rigors of the Arctic, but is susceptible and soon succumbs to the influence of warm climates. The Bengal tiger thrives in the humidity of the Indian jungles: other members of the tiger family have adapted themselves to the latitude and rarefied atmosphere of the slopes of the Himalayas and searching winds of those heights; either is susceptible to the ravages incident to a change in temperature."
H.A. Roberts M.D.

The Susceptibility of the Human Organism
The human organism may react to influences in its environment, on a mental, emotional or physical level.
If a person is not assimilating salt within his body, or if he is, in fact, healthy but sweating profusely in a very hot climate to which he is not accustomed, he may well develop a craving for salt, as his body is crying out for that need (or lack) to be met.
Some people thrive on pressure and react well in a situation of continual stress, e.g. the business tycoon who does not have ulcers or heart pathology! In him there is a need for excitement, and he is exhilarated by the thrill and uncertainty of his profession rather than daunted by it. Some of us can play three sets of tennis in the scorching heat, whilst others of us wilt in the shade on a warm summer day.
It has been noted that some people have such a strong constitution that they can smoke 60 cigarettes a day, drink half a bottle of whisky, burn the candle at both ends and still live to be ninety!
H.A. Roberts wrote "Everything that has life is more or less influenced by circumstances and environment." Disease or disharmony results when the organism cannot readily adapt to morbific agents (viruses, environmental pollution, grief, jealousy, etc.) and where that organism, because of constitutional weakness, is open or susceptible to adverse effects from the external influences.

The Morbific Agent
We have learned that as dynamic organisms we are affected initially on a dynamic level, and this original disturbance eventually results in the production of symptoms on the mental, emotional or physical levels of the organism.
"The one who is made sick is susceptible to the disease cause in accordance with the plane he is in and the degree of attenuation that happens to be present at the time of the contagion. The degree of the disease cause fits his susceptibility at the moment he is made sick."
J. T. Kent

It could be said that any living organism, including bacteria and viruses, has a dynamic energy or quality, a level of vibration or frequency which so far cannot be measured by scientific instruments. When this frequency is within the range or frequency of any given human organism (and therefore compliments it) it is able to produce an effect on the dynamic level of the organism. In health, no symptoms of any consequence will be produced.

H.A. Roberts describes it as a vacuum in the individual which attracts and pulls to it things which are most needed that are on the same plane of vibration as the want (or deficit) in the organism. (If the body is deficient in a substance it will crave that substance in order to fill the need.) He says that "in analysing susceptibility we find it is very largely an expression of a vacuum in the individual. The vacuum attracts and pulls for the things most needed, that are in the same plane of vibration as the want in the body ... the vibrations of the sick individual call aloud for something to meet the need." In this state of lowered resistance the body attracts that which may fulfil an inner need.
Let us illustrate the point by considering the emotional needs of children. For example:
A child presents with dreadful behavioural problems. His behaviour is so bad that his parents must keep close watch on him in order to prevent his outbursts of anger and destruction, but as busy professional people they find it hard to do this.
It is not hard to see in some cases that some children do not receive the love and attention they need and crave , and so some way is masterfully found by the inner being to fill the need (the lack). It is not uncommon for attention seeking behaviour to develop in such cases as a means , at least, of getting some attention. Any attention is better than none, and so an attempt is made to satisfy the emotional need in the best way possible in the given circumstances. This is merely a generalisation and is used simply to illustrate a point.
Childhood Contagious Diseases
Once the vacuum has been filled, the need is met and the system is satisfied. This can be well illustrated by using the example of childhood contagious diseases.
In childhood, before contagion, the state of health in constitutional terms displays a need or lack. This need may be because of the child's inherited tendencies to disease.

Roberts says that:
"The human economy has inherited many tendencies from the accumulations of its ancestral heritage. These tendencies show themselves in childhood in the great number of so called children's diseases, which are nothing more or less than an inward turmoil of bringing to the surface and expelling certain conditions; again, these eruptions are a lack of ability on the part of the patient to create a similar state within his own economy to satisfy the susceptibility ... Nature steps in with the laws of susceptibility and an influence is attracted which blooms forth as an infectious or contagious disease, so as to most fully satisfy this susceptibility."

Kent describes the meeting of a constitutional need as "stemming the influx". He says:
"Now at the beginning of disease, i.e. in the stage of contagion, there is a limit to influx, for if man continued to receive the cause of disease (if there were no limits to its influx) he would receive enough to kill him, for it would run a continuous course until death. But when susceptibility is satisfied, there is a cessation of cause and when cause ceases to flow into ultimates, not only do the ultimates cease but cause itself has already ceased."
Susceptibility to Maintaining Causes

An individual can be merely indisposed by the effects of business failure, unrequited love, stress, overeating, poisoning, etc., but as soon as the maintaining cause is removed the individual returns to health. A maintaining cause will lead to indisposition; prolonged indisposition will require treatment, and symptoms will reveal themselves according to the idiosyncrasies of the individual patient.

Constitutional Weakness
Some people can lead an orderly existence, eat good wholesome food, have no obvious maintaining causes, yet display symptoms that express a serious inner disorder. We must now consider the element of constitutional weakness with regard to susceptibility. The human economy does not start afresh at the time of conception; it is the product of imperfect parents, each with his and her own susceptibility and maintaining causes.
Not only the physical impediments of the parents, but also their mental dispositions at the time of conception, their diets, whether they are under the influence of alcohol, drugs or suppressive medication, etc., are all possible ways in which an invisible weakness can be cultivated in the economy of the foetus. So, even at that early stage, it is only able to make imperfect, ineffectual resistance to some morbific influences. In other words, for those reasons alone, it may not be a potentially healthy human being, with the ability to adapt to its environment effectively.
Furthermore, some weaknesses may be transmitted from previous generations. Hahnemann called these transmitted weaknesses MIASMS, which means a taint or pollution an inherited tendency to the deviation of flow of the vital force from its normal state. (Miasms will be considered in detail in Unit 8)
Family Susceptibility
Whole families can be susceptible to certain diseases. Our ancestors are connected to us like links in a chain, the first being connected to the last by the intermediary connecting links.
The tendencies towards cancer, tuberculosis, epilepsy, heart disease, arthritis, schizophrenia, etc., are frequently seen to span the generations of a family. Ambition, the desire for power, for excitement or adventure, can also often follow this course (although the polar opposite may present instead, and the business tycoon may have a 'drop out' son or daughter.)

Racial Susceptibility
Racial groups can be susceptible to particular diseases and have immunity to others. Roberts says "It is because the similar condition has remained unsupplied through generations and the laws of attraction and susceptibility are manifesting their powers." When eventually satisfied, immunity will be established which will produce changes in the economy that bar out any more influx.

Conclusion
Inherited constitutional weakness will render the individual susceptible to a deviation in flow of his vital energy, which is then open to the possible attraction of morbific agents, as there is not the vital power with which to resist them.
Maintaining causes will further debilitate the organism's dynamic energy, increasing its susceptibility and lowering the resistance to attack. This in itself weakens the organism's ability to adapt to its ever changing environment.

Susceptibility to Medicines
We are all susceptible to external and internal influences and have suffered suppression of one kind or another. A health inducing therapy would strive to lower the patient's level of susceptibility to any given morbific agent, rather than to merely try and remove the symptoms that might appear as the result of the original constitutional weakness, thereby rendering the patient susceptible to the maintaining factor.
Morbific agents do not produce symptoms in all people at all times, but it is quite a different case with artificial morbific agents, i.e. orthodox medicines.
"Every real medicine, namely, acts at all times, under all circumstances, on every living human being, and produces in him its peculiar symptoms (distinctly perceptible, if the dose be large enough) so that evidently every human organism is liable to be affected, and, as it were, inoculated with the medicinal disease at all times, and absolutely (unconditionally), which, as before said, is by no means the case with the natural diseases."
Aphorism 32
Furthermore, it must be remembered that the greatest susceptibility to influence is to the simillimum!

must read once.....

http://articlesofhealth.blogspot.com/2009/04/top-seventeen-health-nutritional-and.html

Phlegmatic temperament

Part 2: The Phlegmatic Temperament

Temperamental Portraits

What did Hahnemann mean by the "phlegmatic temperament"? To understand this one must study the teaching of Hippocrates and Hahnemann very closely. The data on the Hippocratic temperaments represent 2,500 years of continuous clinical observation. The homoeopaths of the 19th century were very familiar with the Hippocratic canon and most knew the constitutional temperaments. The archetypal images of the four temperaments and humours are still in use even in the modern English language. For instance, the word "temperamental" still means to be very sensitive or overly emotional. At the same time to be in "good" or "bad humor" denotes a happy or distressed state of mind. A person may also be "full of humor" or "humorless" depending on the nature of their personality or mood.

Somebody may be referred to as being in a "dark mood" or to be "melancholic" when he or she is depressed. The word, melancholic, is derived from the word "black" (melan) and the term "bile" which denotes a dark humour or inwardly sullen state of mind. We also say that some people have a "bitter temperament' or while others have a "sour disposition". To be bitter is defined as a state of intense antagonism or hostility whereas to be sour is defined as being austere, morose, or peevish. These states are associated with the choleric and melancholic humour. Terms like these have their roots in the tastes of the four humours i.e., bitter (bile), sweet (blood), salty (phlegm), and sour (atrabile). To be "jaundiced" not only means to turn yellow because of excess bile but also to be prejudiced, envious and resentful. To "turn white" is a common expression associated with a state of fear. To "see red" means to be violently enraged which is related to the term "sanguinary" which means to be ready to shed blood. To feel "blue" is defined as being depressed in spirits, dejected or melancholic. These terms are closely related to the colors of the four humours, yellow (bile), white (phlegm), red (blood), and atrabile (blue-black).

All of these terms are based on the doctrines of the ancient Greeks and the nature of instinctive, innate body language. The Hippocratic theory of temperaments is closely related to the psychological and the physiological functions of the psycho-neuro-endocrine system (PNE) and morphological structures. The intrinsic connection between constitutional development and the neuro-endocrine secretions are well known in modern medicine. Nevertheless, the 2500-year-old Hippocratic system is still much more advanced in its observations of human temperament. The following rubrics are part of a collection taken from traditional sources and a clinical study spanning more than a decade.

The Phlegmatic Temperament (Mental rubrics-Spirit and Emotional Character)

The water element is related to the emotional sensitivity and gives a person an ability to have deep feeling tones. This is why the phlegmatic temperament is psychic, sympathetic, mediumistic, and empathetic. When they are in "pleasant humour" they are imaginative, sensitive, artistic, romantic, sentimental and sympathetic. They are gentle, sweet, mild, and timid and have a receptive, yielding disposition with a tendency to try to please everyone. They like comfortable, safe situations and when they are with friends they come out and can be quite playful, frivolous, and jovial and like to tease.

Their strengths are that they are very sensitive, imaginative, sympathetic, adaptable, peaceful, tolerant, gentle, placid, soft, receptive, considerate and calm.

Their weaknesses are that they become easily attached and are prone to be sad, tearful, indecisive, vulnerable, unsure, fearful, timid, envious, hesitant, changeable, submissive, indifferent, silent, reticent, unforgiving, mournful, pitiable and stubborn.

Under stress phlegmatic types easily become tearful, fearful, sentimental and very moody. The phlegmatic type experiences changeable moods that come in waves and tides like an emotional ocean where one moment they seem happy and the next sad. Their emotional state changes like the phases of the moon. When their mental skies are cloudy they rain down a shower of tears that gives them a sense of relief and allows them to return to bright sunny clarity. They may cry for happy or sad reasons, and sometimes, for no reason at all! If they are under prolonged stress they become sad and withdrawn as if a dark cloud has settled over them and they become shy, inward and dreamy.

Phlegmatics make very strong emotional connections with their loved ones and sexual partners, and suffer greatly from loss if these relationships do not work out. They suffer deeply from a sense of abandonment if they feel they are not appreciated and are easily hurt.

They are < worse when exposed to too much excitement, over stimulating environments, and when forced to do things in a hurry. In their own private way they can be stubborn, irritable, and they easily suffer from inward grief with silent peevishness. They are prone to passive aggression. As the individual breaks down under stress the phlegmatic temperament becomes more insecure, indecisive, cold, careless, listless, apathetic and suffers from nervous exhaustion. They may even become completely dull, blank, slow and stupid and appear like an idiot. Phlegmatic Bodily Constitution (Generals) In the Hippocratic tradition the seat of a phlegmatic's inner energy is in the cool moist fluids of the brain and pituitary gland and its influence spreads through the lymphatic channels and the veins and has its outer lower seat in the lower abdomen. The negative pole of the "natural forces" that governs the anabolic processes of nutritional transformations and the generative seed rules the phlegmatic constitution. They rule the lymphatic system level of the five-fold defense mechanism and often suffer from autointoxication due to imbalances of the toxin-antitoxin axis. The body of the phlegmatic temperament is large boned, well rounded, and has soft tissue with flaccid muscles that tire easily. They easily suffer from water retention that makes them look and feel heavy, fleshy and fat. They easily put on weight on the hips, sacrum and thighs. The phlegmatic temperament moves with leisurely graceful motions and has difficulty doing things quickly because rapid motion makes them feel confused. Under continual stress the phlegmatic constitution suffers alternating emotional states, and becomes tired, weak, slow, chilly, and prone to edema. The phlegmatic constitution has a round face, soft features, and deep watery eyes that swim with emotion. The sclera and the iris of their eyes often have grayish white spots and the iris may show a white ring around its outer edge. This ring like effect is called a lymphatic rosary in iridology. The face of a phlegmatic is round with soft, oval features and is often slightly bloated. Their skin is commonly cold, moist, whitish, pale, pasty and translucent with blue and green veins showing through. They are < worse from cold food and drinks. The phlegmatic type may like open air because it stimulates them but they do not like cold wind. They have a tendency to cold clammy perspiration that may be < aggravated by emotions. All complaints are < worse by cold, cloudy weather, winter and dampness, and are better > in warmer, dry climates and warm influences. They also can be worse < cold and heat as their temperature control is extremely unstable. They suffer from skin diseases that are accompanied by swelling and clear discharges that may change from bland to more irritating clear or white secretions. They also have a tendency to form lesions with white scales. A phlegmatic type usually feels cold easily and is < worse by cold, damp environments and cold food and drink. Correspondingly, phlegmatic types are > better warm drier environments and warm food and drinks.

The tongue of a phlegmatic is pale, swollen and may be watery or coated with a white coating.

The phlegmatic pulse is usually slow, soft, wide and slippery. It is strong in the first phases of an illness but it becomes weak and stagnates as a disease becomes chronic.

The hands of the phlegmatic temperament are cold, thick, soft, humid, swollen, and plump and their skin is white, pale and puffy.

Their fingers are often short with thick tips and the joints are reasonably lax. The nails of the phlegmatic are often wide, white, pale, and soft and the moons are not very predominant.

When they shake hands their palm feels soft, wet, and cold, and their grip is weak. Phlegmatic women tend to hug softly and often do not offer a kiss as a greeting. If they do kiss, it is usually on the cheek, which causes them to blush and look sideways.

Von Grauvogl called them the hydrogenoid type because of their tendency to hold water weight and to be < worse by damp cold atmospheres, watery foods, or living near bodies of water. Physiognomists of the past have called the phlegmatic constitution such names as the venous, lymphatic, abdominal and thymus types. Morphologically speaking, Sheldon considered these constitutions to be pure endomorphs because of their large organs and lack of somatic structures. For this reason he called them the viscerotonic persons. In Danielopolu's system the phlegmatics are called vagotonic persons because they have overactive parasympathetic nervous systems that suppress the function of the sympathetic nervous system. This is related to many of their predispositions to hypofunction, coldness, slow metabolism, water retention, weight gain, etc. Phlegmatic Predispositions (Diathesis and miasms) The phlegmatic temperament is prone to water retention, cold stomachs, insufficient secretion of digestive juices (such as hydrochloric acid), poor assimilation, anemia, and flatulence. The phlegmatic temperament is prone to poor circulation, lymphatic stagnation, non-inflammatory swollen glands, watery swelling, autointoxication, glandular swellings, increased mucus and serous secretions and watery discharges of clear or whitish color. They have a tendency toward hypo-pituitary, hypothyroid, low blood pressure, slow metabolism, low temperature, and lack of energy. The phlegmatic has a tendency to disorders of the genito-urinary system and their urine is frequent, pale and in larger quantities. Their arthritic problems manifest with cold white swellings that are < cold and damp and often better > warm applications and dry weather.

They are prone to taking cold with watery discharges and chilliness and flushes of heat. They easily accumulate water in the lungs and have much phlegm and mucus that produces complications.

Tendency toward urinary infections (acute miasms), NSU, frequent urination and yeast infections with watery milky discharges.

The sycotic miasm tends to produce an abundance of phlegmatic humours and the phlegmatic temperament.

Now we can see that the phlegmatic temperament represents a portrait of a group of individuals who share similar natural traits and reactions to environment as well as predispositions toward certain signs and symptoms. This system includes mentals and generals, thermals, desires, aversions, sensations, modalities and pathological generals as well as particular symptoms of the regions of the body. It also assesses the vitality of the life force as well as the inherited and acquired miasms, predispositions and diathesis.

One can see that this system of constitution and temperament is much more advanced than any modern constitutional concepts (glandular and morphological types which have few symptoms) as it employs similar data to Hahnemannian Homoeopathy. Thus the ancient wisdom of Pythagoras and Hippocrates has found its home in the medicine of the future, Homoeopathy.

Phlegmatic Remedies

The phlegmatic, leuco-phlegmatic temperament as well as the lymphatic and hydrogenoid constitution is ruled by the same element (water). These constitutions are reflected in a group of well-proven remedies. It is easy to see the similarities between this phlegmatic constitution and Pulsatilla. It is also similar to well known remedies such as Agnus cast.. Aloe, Asterias rubens, Ammonium carb., Calc carb., Capsicum, Carbo veg., Cyclamen, Dulcamara, Graphites, Hepar sulph, Mercurius, Natrum carb, Natrum chlor, Natrum sulph., Sepia., Thuja., etc..

The carbon group of mineral remedies are very similar to the phlegmatic temperament, leuco-phlegmatic and lymphatic constitutions. Such remedies include Am-carb., Calc-carb., Carbo-v., Graphites, Kali carb., Natrum carb, etc.. The Natrums also have a tendency to phlegmatic states Nat-c., Nat-chlr, Nat-m., Nat-s. The Ammoniums, and Antimoniums also are similar as demonstrated by Am-c., Am-m., and Ant-c., Ant-t., Animal remedies include Asterias Rubens, Calcarea, Sepia (water creatures) and Apis. Many anti-sycotic remedies also are similar as there is a connection between phlegmatic states and sycosis. Here you find Agnus Cast., Thuja, Asterias rubens, Natrum sulph., Calc carb., etc.. Plant remedies include Aloe, Dulcamara, Pulsatilla, Cyclamen, Thuja, etc.

Constitution,Temperament & diathesis....

Part 1: Constitution, Temperament and Diathesis
The Essence is the Gestalt of the Disease
Hippocrates was the first to write of the constitutional nature of the human organism. He taught that all diseases (excluding injuries) were initially general in nature and only become local to provoke a crisis at a latter stage. All natural diseases are originally functional and then proceed toward pathological damage over time. The old master also taught that there was no such thing as a single cause in a natural disease. He taught that causation was of an interdependent origin rather then any one isolated factor. There is always the merging of the susceptibility of an individual or group with a sympathetic pathogenic influence. Therefore, the aetiological constellation includes the predispositions of the physical constitution and mental temperament, the nature of the disease state, as well as environment conditioning factors.
There are some who are averse to the use of the word "constitution" in any manner. They are even more averse to the term "constitutional remedy". This term was introduced by James Kent to indicate a chronic or anti-miasmatic medicine that affects the whole patient. This term was complementary to the "acute remedy", which was more suitable for the transitory local phenomena associated with acute crisis. Kent’s constitutional medicine had nothing to do with giving remedies by classical constitutions or temperaments. It was simply the remedy that was most suited to treat chronic diseases and miasms. In truth, Kent spoke out against the use of classical constitutions and temperaments in Homoeopathy in his Lesser Writings.
Any negative changes in the human constitution and temperament are simply signs that may become part of the totality of the symptoms when characteristic. One does not give remedies for constitutions or temperaments per se. Taber’s Medical Dictionary defines the term "constitutional" as something that affects "the whole constitution" and is not "local". Something that is constitutional pertains to the "whole constitution". Hahnemann certainly made it clear that deep acting homoeopathic remedies affected the whole patient through the medium of the vital force. In this sense, chronic medicines are certainly "constitutional remedies".
Hahnemann used his knowledge of the Hippocratic Canon to understand the nature of the constitution, temperament and predispositions and their relationship to the signs, befallments and symptoms. The first instruction on homoeopathic case taking is for the homoeopath to record all the significant momenta of the complete case history, the potential causations including miasms, as well as the 7 attendant circumstances. This information forms the basis of understanding the patient (nature-inheritance) as well as the environmental conditioning factors that affect the development of symptoms (nurture-situation). Vide Organon §5 (O’Reilly edition).
"It will help the physician to bring about a cure if he can find out the data of the most probable occasion [Bold by DL] of a acute disease, and the most significant factors in the entire history of a protracted wasting sickness, enabling him to find out its fundamental cause [Bold by DL] . The fundamental cause of a protracted wasting sickness mostly rests upon chronic miasms. In these investigations, the physician should take into account the patient's
1. discernible body constitution (especially in cases of protracted disease) [Bold by DL]
2. mental and emotional character (character of the Geist and Gemuet) [Bold by DL]
3. occupations,
4. lifestyle and habits,
5. civic and domestic relationships (relationships outside and within the home)
6. age
7. sexual function, etc."
The significant factors of the entire medical history (the disease timeline), acute and chronic causations (the aetiological constellation), the chronic miasms, and the 7 attendant circumstances form the basis of proper case taking (§5). On this solid foundation the objective signs, coincidental befallments and subjective symptoms of the body and soul are recorded in detail (§6). The 7 attendant circumstances are:
1. The discernible body constitution (especially. in chronic cases). This category of symptoms includes a comparison of the physical constitution during a time of relative health with the negative changes brought on by diseases. It also includes Hippocratic diathetic constitution (the scrofulous, lymphatic, venous, nervous, rheumatic constitutions, etc.), a description of the physique (tall or thin, short or fat, loose or tight tissue types, etc) and the state of the vitality (weak, strong, unstable, etc). Rubrics of this nature are found in Hering’s Guiding Symptoms and Knerr’s Repertory as well as throughout many repertories.
2. The mental and emotional character. This refers to the character of the Geist (intellect) & Gemuet (emotional disposition). In this statement Hahnemann uses the term "charakter", which means personality rather than just transient mental conditions. This implies more than merely recording unrelated mental symptoms. One must understand "who" they are treating by constructing a complete psychological profile. This includes all the qualities related to emotional disposition, rational spirit and intellect as well as the soul. Rubrics related to these states are found through the mental sections of most homoeopathic repertories. Rubrics related to Hippocratic temperaments (choleric, phlegmatic, sanguine, melancholic) are found in Hering’s Guiding Symptoms and Knerr’s Repertory. Strictly speaking, these temperamental rubrics relate to the complete mind/body complex.
3. The occupation. The occupation that a person chooses is often characteristic of the individual's innate talents and desires. It also is an area that reveals many occupational hazards that may produce diseases as well as maintaining causes that obstruct the cure. These areas can reveal important symptoms as well as being relevant to the case management procedures.
4. Lifestyle and habits. These are cardinal general symptoms. How a person chooses to live and what they like to do are very characteristic symptoms. These symptoms offer great insights into the personality of the patient and their negative mental states. Investigating how a person lives often reveals indiscretions in diet, rest, and exercise as well as substance abuse and other areas that produce unneeded stress and strain.
5. Civic and domestic relationships. These rubrics include family dynamics as well as social relationships. How a person relates to their mate, family relations, children, friends, co-workers and society offers many signs and symptoms. These situational rubrics are a very important source of significant symptoms. Dysfunctional relationships produce illness as well as forming maintaining causes that keep up the disease state.
6. Age. Stages of life are a very important part of time and progression in Homoeopathy. The critical times are conception, birth, childhood, puberty, adolescence, middle age, and old age. Some remedies work particularly well on babies while other are more suited to the elderly. Some work well at both extremes of life. Hering recorded this is the section of the Guiding Symptoms called States of Life and Constitution.
7. Sex and sexuality. Some remedies are relatively more characteristic of females while some are more reflective of males. Some cover problems unique to the female and others male. The sexuality of a human being is closely connected to their physical and emotional health. The frustration of the orgasm reflex and the human need for intimacy leads to physical and psychosexual disorders. A person’s sexual ethics, sexual fantasies, sexual performance, and their sense of sexual satisfaction are a rich source of symptoms.
The time and progression, causation, the physical constitution, mental temperament and the 7 attendant circumstances are the foundation of homoeopathic case taking. Without these internal and situational rubrics the totality of the symptoms is incomplete. Who are they? What do they look like? What is the mental and emotional character like? What kind of lifestyle do they have? What are their habits? How do they relate to other people? What are their family relationships like? How are they aging? What is their sexuality like? These areas of study include personal and group factors. This is very important if the homoeopath is to understand the layers by which complex chronic diseases have formed and recognize the reversal of the symptoms during cure.
On the basis ofthe study of the timeline, constitution, temperament, causation, miasms and the 7 attendant circumstances the detailed study of the disease symptoms is continued. On this solid foundation Hahnemann introduces the totality of the symptoms in aphorisms 6, 7, 8. It is very important that the homoeopath understand what makes up the essential nature of the characteristic symptoms of the disease state. What is the Esse in Hahnemannian Homoeopathy? Vide aphorism 6 of the Organon.
"The unprejudiced observer, even the most sharp-witted one – knowing the nullity of supersensible speculations which are not born out in experience -perceives nothing in each single case of disease other than the alterations in the condition of the body and soul, disease signs, befallments and symptoms, which are outwardly discernible through the sense. That is, the unprejudiced observer only perceives the deviations from the former healthy state of the now sick patient, which are:
1. felt by the patient himself,
2. perceived by those around him, and
3. observed by the physician.
All these perceptible signs represent the disease in its entire extent [Gr. Wesen, essence, nature, being – DL], that is, together they form the only conceivable gestalt of the disease [Bolds by DL]."
The Esse is the alteration of the condition of the body and soul that make up the Gestalt of the disease (§6). The disease-Gestalt is composed of the symptoms that mark the progression from the state of health to the state of disease. The essence is the individualized nature of the complete experience of suffering (§6, 91, 92 & 175). In this study Hahnemann included changes in the innate constitution and personality as well as the negative states brought on by the disease.
One cannot separate the susceptibility and predispositions of the mind/body complex from the disease suffered by the patient. They form an inseparable whole because the innate constitution and temperament are the major conditioning factors in the experience of suffering. The mechanists tried to reduce the entire disease state down to a single cause or disease name. As Hahnemann said, one symptom is no more the disease than one foot is an entire human being.
What is it that is altered when a person suffers a disease? It is the condition of the body and soul (Gr. Leibes und Seelenbeschaffenheit). How is this alteration known? It is known by the essential nature of the totality of the objective signs, coincidental befallments and subjective symptoms. What is at the root of these disease phenomena? Vide aphorism 7 of the Organon.
"The totality of these symptoms is the outwardly reflected image of the inner wesen [essence, nature, being - DL] of the disease, that is, of the suffering of the life force."
The inner essence of a disease (the suffering vital force) is invisible but the disease-Gestalt can be witnessed through the signs, befallments and symptoms. In this way, one can know the essential nature of the mistuning of the vital force and find appropriate medicine. This is the Esse in Hahnemannian Homoeopathy.
Hahnemann was the first physician to fully integrate into medicine the innate constitution, the spiritual, mental and emotional temperament, the instinctive vital force, inheritance, predispositions, single and multiple causations, susceptibility, infection, acute and chronic miasms as well as the complete objective signs, coincidental befallments and subjective symptoms. Hippocrates is normally thought of as the father of constitutional medicine but Hahnemann brought this study to its perfection in Homoeopathy.
The healthy state represents a harmonious tuning of all vital operations (§9). Disease is the mistuning of this harmonious tone by a dissonant dynamic influence (§11). It is the disease-tuned life force that manifests as the essence of the disease-Gestalt through the totality of the symptoms (§12). Homoeopathic remedies cure through their power to similarly alter the tuning of the human condition (§19). The primary action of a homoeopathic remedy over-tunes the disease and elicits a secondary healing response that retunes to the state of harmonious health. This is the Esse of Hahnemann’s treatment method.
The Spiritual-Bodily Organism
Throughout Hahnemann's writings he uses the phrases, the unity of life, the complete whole, laws of the organic constitution, our living human organism, the bodily constitution, temperament, the make-up of the body & soul, the spiritual-bodily organism, etc. What is this whole the Hofrath is speaking of? Vide Organon.
"It was next to impossible for the them [the materialists] to acknowledge the nature of the spiritual-body organism as a highly potentized wesen, to acknowledge that the changes of its life in feeling and function, which one calls disease, had to be determined and produced mainly (in fact almost solely) through dynamic (spirit-like) impingements and could not be produced differently. [Bold by DL]"
(Organon of the Medical Art, O'Reilly edition, Introduction, page 12.)
In the German text Hahnemann used the term, beschaffenheit (make up), which is usually translated into English as the word "constitution". This, however, does not reflect all the usages of the German term. This term can be used in a variety of ways that have nothing to do with the human constitution. The root word "schaffen" means "to do, to make, to work". Beschaffen is a verb that means, "to procure, make something available", and as an adjective it means, "constituted".
The English word, constitution, comes from the Latin root, constituere, which means constitutes: to set up, to establish, to form or make up, to appoint to give being to. Beschaffenheit is usually translated as constitution in relationship to the Latin root "constiture" in homoeopathic works. Chambers Dictionary defines constitution as: the natural condition of the body or mind; disposition. In this sense constitutional means; inherent in the natural frame, or inherent nature.
The W. Turner’s Dictionary, published in Leipzig in the 1830s, defines the German term, Beschaffenheit, as nature, quality, temper, condition, constitution, disposition and circumstance. Therefore, the term Beschaffenheit may include any circumstance, condition or quality related to the physical constitution and mental temperament as well as dispositions. This shows how the term was used in Hahnemann's lifetime. Modern German may not clearly convey this meaning. The homeopathic usage is related directly to the practice of medicine not the common usage of a layperson on the street. The term constitution is used at least 16 times in The Chronic Diseases. Pages 30, 34, 35, 48, 75, 90, 98, 99, 101, 103, 142, 143, 145, 181, 242, 243, etc. The term "beschaffenheit" may have the following meanings in German.
1. A quality of someone or something that is inherent or a characteristic trait that serves to define or describe its possessor.
2. The make-up or way something is composed or arranged, its constitution, composition, construction or nature.
3. A medical term for inherent traits and qualities of the human being [constitution; make-up and qualities of the body and/or soul].
The meaning of Beschaffenheit in English depends the context in which it is used. For example, in aphorism 5 we find the term "die erkennbare Leibes-Beschaffenheit", which means ascertainable or recognizable bodily make-up. This term "Leib" is not commonly used in modern German but in older times it meant the body with special emphasis on the abdomen. This area is a key center for storage of vitality in the organism. The vitalists and Mesmerists considered the vital energy to have two major centers of force. These are the energy of the spirit in the brain and pineal gland and the reserves of vital power stored in the abdomen. This reference to the objective make-up of the 'center of the body' refers to the nature of physical constitution and vitality of the individual that is being investigated.
Diathetic Constitutions
In Aphorism 81 of the German Organon Hahnemann uses the term "angebornen Koerper-Constitutionen", which means the congenital bodily constitution. The genetic constitution represents the essence of the paternal and maternal lineages. This represents the inherited diathetic constitution and temperament including all its predispositions. The interdependence of the mind/body constitution is as inseparable as the link between the essential nature (Gr. wesen) and the instinctive vital force (Gr. Lebenskraft). One does not appear without the other. Such relationships are called functional polarities and complementary opposites. This bipolar phenomenon is innate in nature.
Hahnemann saw the unity of the organic whole while the orthodox school fell under the sway of reductionist pathology and disease names. The Founder pointed out that the mechanist looks at the products of disease and mistakes them for the cause of the disease and the disease itself. 'Tolle Causum' they cry yet they do not yet realize that the cause of an event can never be at the same time, the event itself. Even in early Homoeopathy the constitutional view of the human organism was clearly defined and the local basis of disease refuted. Vide § 42 of the 1st Organon (1810).
"But the human organism in its living state is a complete whole, a unity. Every sensation, every manifestation of power, every affinity of the component parts of one part is intimately associated with the sensation, the functions and the affinities of the component part of all other parts. No part can suffer without all other parts. No part can suffer without all other parts sympathizing and simultaneously undergoing more or less change."
(Organon of Medicine 5th & 6th edition, Dudgeon and Boericke, Appendix, page 194, B. Jain, Delhi, India
What is the "human organism"? Let’s look at the definition of "organism" in O'Reilly's glossary to her edition of The Organon of the Medical Art.
"Organism: An organized or organic system; a whole which consists of dependent and interdependent parts. The human organism is more than just a body's accomplishments (e.g., Fending off malignities) and developmental capacity (e.g., the ability to become more seasoned through provings). The human organism houses the mental, emotional and bodily faculties, that is, it comprises of the body, the Geist (spirit) and Gemuet (emotional mind). (§ 9, 11, 26)"
Homoeopathy views the spiritual-bodily organism as a highly potentized essential being with spirit, mind, vital force and body. This synergy of natural forces composes a whole human being, which is more than the sum of its parts. Hahnemann integrated the ancient Hippocratic teachings on temperaments, physis, diathetic constitutions and miasms into Homeopathy and brought them up to date for his time. References to this subject can be found throughout Hahnemann’s writings and the Paris casebooks.
Although modern Homoeopathy has greatly expanded the psychological aspects of our materia medica few persons understand how Hahnemann used the terms constitution and temperament and their practical ramifications in the clinic. To appreciate this material the homoeopath must be familiar with the medical history of the vitalist lineage and its greatest practitioners as well as Hahnemann's original works. This dynamic view of mind/body constitution has its roots in Pythagoras, its trunk in Hippocrates, its branches in Paracelsus, and its fruit in Hahnemann. This fruit carries the seeds for a new generation of healers and will be part of De Medicina Futura.
Hippocratic Temperaments
Samuel Hahnemann used temperamental portraits that include both positive natural qualities during the time of health compared with the negative changes brought on by diseases. He utilized such constitutional information within the totality of symptoms when prescribing his homoeopathic remedies. The Hofrath gives a complete portrait of Pulsatilla in the *Materia Medica Pura, 3rd edition, 1833, page 345. This example includes the use of classical temperaments.
"The employment of this, as of all other medicines, is most suitable when not only the corporeal affections of the medicine correspond in similarity to the corporal symptoms of the disease, but also when the mental and emotional alterations peculiar to the drug encounter similar states in the disease states to be cured, or at least in the temperament of the subject of treatment.
Hence the medicinal employment of Pulsatilla will be all the more efficacious when, in affections for which this plant is suitable in respect to the corporeal symptoms, there is at the same time in the patient a timid lachrymose disposition, with a tendency to inward grief and silent peevishness, or at all events a mild and yielding disposition, especially when the patient in his normal state of health was good tempered and mild (or even frivolous and good humouredly waggish) It is therefore especially adapted for slow phlegmatic temperaments; on the other hand it is but little suitable for persons who form their resolutions with rapidity, and are quick in their movements, even though they may appear to be good tempered. [Bolds by DL]"
The above quote is a constitutional portrait. Hahnemann's picture includes attributes of the natural constitution (timid lachrymose disposition, slow phlegmatic temperament), positive natural traits during a time of health and happiness (good tempered, mild, good humouredly waggish) and negative emotions brought on by disease (inward grief, silent peevishness). This portrait includes natural, positive and negative qualities. As one can see from the above quotes this information was included within the totality of the symptoms.
Pulsatilla is "adapted for slow phlegmatic temperaments", while on the other hand it is less suitable for those who "form resolutions with rapidity' and are "quick in their movements". Such data establishes constitutional portraits as well as the use of temperamental counter indications as elimination rubrics. Pulsatilla is rarely indicated in those constitutions that make quick resolutions or move rapidly because this remedy does not normally suit that type of patient. This temperamental picture demonstrates several of the essential elements of the Pulsatilla proving. This demonstrates that Hahnemann was the first to open the field of investigation into constitution and temperament in Homoeopathy.
Hahnemann's Paris casebooks show that the Founder used Hippocratic terminology. Rima Handley noted in her Later Hahnemann that the Founder wrote in his casebooks that Mme del a Nois was "sanguine" and Eugene Perry was "choleric" Hahnemann also occasionally used the diathetic terms. For example, he wrote that Claire Christallo (DF-5) was "disposed to scrofula" and called another patient "lymphatic". Ms. Handley wrote that Hahnemann did not seem to use constitution, temperament or diathesis in his prescribing. While it is true that Hahnemann did not give remedies because a person was "sanguine", this is not the complete picture. Negative changes in a formerly healthy constitution and temperament are part of the totality of the symptoms.
Boenninghausen made it very clear in his writing that it was important to assess the physical constitution, mental temperament and predispositions during case taking. He felt it was important enough to include in his case taking directions. In Judgment of the Characteristic Value of Symptoms (Lesser Writings) Boenninghausen wrote the following under the title Quis, which means "who":
"Quis? As a matter of course the personality, the individuality of the patient must stand at the head of the image of the disease, for the natural disposition rests on it.
To this belongs first of all the sex and the age; then the bodily constitution and the temperament; both if possible, separated according to his sick and his well days i.e., in so far as an appreciable difference has appeared in them. In all these peculiarities whatever differs little or not at all from the usual natural state needs little attention; but everything that differs in a striking or rare way therefrom deserves a proportionate notice. The greatest and most important variations are here found mostly in the states of the mind and spirit, which must be scanned all the more carefully, if they are not only sharply distinct, but also of rare occurrence and, therefore, correspond to only few remedies."
Boenninghausen made it extremely clear how to use this information in case taking and remedy selection. He wrote that those things that "differs little or not at all" from the healthy natural state require little attention but "everything that differs in a striking or rare way there from deserves a proportionate notice". This means that the homoeopath is to assess the changes from the state of health that are produced by disease. Therefore, the healthy state of the constitution is of little or no use while the changes from the healthy state to the state of illness are important. The more striking or rare these negative changes are in the constitution and temperament - the proportionately more important they are to the selection of the remedy. For example, if a formerly obese, jovial person becomes thin, emaciated and depressed these symptoms are striking and rare for that patient. Therefore, these symptoms can be used in the case and may help in finding or confirming a remedy.
It is easy to see that Boenninghausen’s statements are intimately connected to aphorism 5 of the Organon and Hahnemann’s portrait of Pulsatilla in the Materia Medica Pura. To really understand this material the homoeopath must be somewhat familiar with the medical history of the vitalist lineage. Rima Handley also wrote that Hahnemann had no idea of the modern usage of constitution or essence. This is most certainly true in the sense of "essence constitutional prescribing" advocated by a few Neo-Kentian practitioners in the 1970s. Although Hahnemann did not use their method of so-called "essence prescribing", he most certainly did introduce the idea of the Wesen (essence, nature and genius) in The Organon. Hahnemann’s essence is the Gestalt of a disease as expressed by the characteristic symptoms of the mistuning of the vital force. This Esse contains the essential nature of the totality of the characteristic symptoms that leads to the most suitable homoeopathic remedy. This is the true Esse.
Hahnemann included the observations of Ludwig Christian Junker in the main body of text of The Chronic Diseases. This quote shows how the four classical temperaments and various diathetic constitutions condition the signs and symptoms produced by the suppression of psora. Vide The Chronic Diseases, Volume I, page 17.
"A brief survey of the manifold misfortunes resulting thence is given by the experienced and honest LUDWIG CHRISTIAN JUNCKER in his Dissertalio de Damno ex Scabie Repulsa, Halle, 1750, p. 15-18. He observed that with young people of a sanguine temperament the suppression of itch is followed by phthisis, and with persons in general who are of a sanguine temperament it is followed by piles, hemorrhoidal colic and renal gravel; with persons of sanguino-choleric temperament by swellings of the inguinal glands, stiffening of the joints and malignant ulcers (called in German Todenbruche); with fat persons by a suffocating catarrh and mucous consumption; also by inflammatory fever, acute pleurisy and inflammation of the lungs. He further states that in autopsies the lungs have been found indurated and full of cysts containing pus; also other indurations, swellings of the bones and ulcers have been seen to follow the suppression of an eruption. Phlegmatic persons in consequence of such suppressions suffered chiefly from dropsy; the menses were delayed, and when the itch was driven away during their flow, they were changed into a monthly haemoptysis. Persons inclined to melancholy were sometimes made insane by such repression; if they were pregnant the foetus was usually killed. Sometimes the suppression of the itch causes sterility, in nursing women the milk is generally lacking, the menses disappear prematurely; in older women the uterus becomes ulcerated, attended with deep, burning pains, with wasting away (cancer of the womb). [Bolds by DL]"
This quote clearly shows that constitution and temperament are primary factors in conditioning the nature of the symptoms developed after the suppression of the psora. This same is true with sycosis, pseudopsora, syphilis and any other chronic miasm. Junker noted that the suppression of the itch miasma tended to produce phthisis in young sanguine persons, dropsy in the phlegmatic temperament, and insanity in the melancholic temperament. He noted in the obese there was a tendency to produce suffocating catarrh and mucous consumption. Junker makes a direct link between suppression and the development of pseudopsora TB symptoms like consumption and phthisis. Each innate constitutional temperament has its own unique reactions to stimuli. For this reasons the same pathogen will affect the 4 temperaments and their 12 mixtures in a different manner.
For example, the phlegmatic (water-wet and cold) and melancholic temperaments (air-cool and dry) are usually aggravated by cold while the choleric (earth-dry and warm) and sanguine temperament (fire-hot and moist) are usually ameliorated by cold. If this is not the case, these symptoms become more strange, rare and peculiar. In each of the 4 major biological constitutions the environmental and situational circumstances are modified by the nature of their innate temperament. That Hahnemann understood how the mind/body temperament conditioned the signs and symptoms is shown by his inclusion of Junker’s observations in the main text of The Chronic Diseases.
Physiognomy and Temperaments
The use of Hippocratic temperaments (choleric, phlegmatic, sanguine and melancholic) expands the study of constitution in Homoeopathy because it includes physiognomy and the natural groupings of human beings into four major and twelve minor mind-body types. This 2, 500 year old system is the oldest living tradition in western medicine. These classical methods offer much insight into the nature of the innate constitution and temperament as well as potential diathesis toward particular signs, befallments and symptoms. Physiognomy is defined as:
"Physiognomy, the art of judging character from the appearance, esp., from the face; general appearance of anything; character, aspect-Greek- physiognomy, a shortened form of physiognomoni-physis, nature, gnomon-onos, an interpreter."
A homoeopathic physiognomist is an interpreter of natural temperament, heredity, predisposition, miasms and constitutional diathesis, as well as the present state of the spirit, mind and body. Let us look at the definition of the key terms, temperament, and constitution. What does temperament mean? The word temperament has different levels of meaning depending on usage.
Temperament from Latin, temperare; to temper, restrain, compound, moderate.
Temperament means a state with respect to a predominance of qualities; an internal constitutional state; a natural disposition; a proportioned mixture of qualities. Specifically it refers to the Hippocratic temperaments, the choleric or bilious, phlegmatic, sanguine and melancholy constitutions.
Temper-noun; a mixture or balance of contrary qualities; the constitution of the body and/or mind; a natural temperament; an innate or acquired disposition; a frame of mind; a mood; composure; to exert self control; to be uncontrolled, a fit of anger.
Temperament is also a musical term for a system of compromise in tuning. An equal temperament is a system of tuning by which the octave is divided into twelve equal intervals. The octave is a system of eight notes that make up the major or minor scale. The twelve note series of tones is called the chromatic scale.
Constitution, temperament, the spiritual body organism, the make up of the soul and body are synonyms for the living whole represented by a complete living human being. It is interesting to see that these major terms also have musical definitions. Even the word 'organism' is an archaic name for a musical instrument. The organism (musical instruments) supports the temperament (division of 12 notes of the chromatic scale-natural qualities), which is tuned (German-stimmung-tuning, voice, pitch and mood) by the vital force.
Disease is the mistunement (verstimmung) of the life force that causes disharmony in the temperament (the scale of notes -the natural qualities) of the organism (the instrument). Is this the Odes of Pythagoras and the theory of life as music? After all, Pythagoras introduced the 7 note major scale (diatonic scale), the five elements (ether, air, fire, water, earth) and the Mappa Mundi (geometric map of the macro & microcosm)) into western culture. These hold the keys to understanding the complete system.
The four major constitutions are called the choleric, phlegmatic, sanguine and melancholic or nervous temperaments. The twelve minor types are mixtures of the major type. They are the cholero-phlegmatic, the sangino-phlegmatic, the nervo-phlegmatic, the phlegmo-choleric, the sanguino- choleric, nervo- choleric, the cholero-sanguine, the phlegmo-sanguine, and the nervo-sanguine, the cholero-nervous, phlegmo-nervous and sanguino-nervous. Each of these temperaments represents a natural grouping of constitutional types that have similar mental and physical qualities.
Hering's Contribution
When temperament is used in a general way it means the mental and emotional disposition, state, mood, composure, etc. There are other references to disposition and temperament in Hahnemann’s writings. Vide Materia Medica Pura, lecture on Nux Vomica, page 223.
"Some practical instructions may be of use, deduced from the results of the careful experience of many years. Among these may be mentioned, that is more frequently required by those persons who are of an anxious, zealous, fiery, hot temperament, or of a malicious, wicked irascible disposition."
When temperament is used specifically it means the Hippocratic constitutional temperaments, the choleric, phlegmatic, sanguine and nervous melancholic. Hering expanded this temperamental portrait by adding the names of the Hippocratic temperaments and physical descriptions of the patient in the portrait. The source of this information is the observation of the Hippocratic temperaments during the provings and recording which constitutions developed the most characteristic symptoms. This was then combined with clinical confirmations in patients under treatment. Hering created a separate section for constitution and temperament in his materia medica called Stages of Life and Constitution. Vide Guiding Symptoms, Volume VIII, Nux Vomica, page 168.
"II. For very particular, zealous persons, inclined to get angry or excited, or of a spiteful, malicious disposition. II. Ardent character or a disposition disposed to anger, spite or deception; always irritable and impatient. II. Nervous, melancholic people, troubled with indigestion; venous constitution, with tendency to hemorrhoids. II. Suits thin, irritable, choleric persons with dark hair, who make great mental exertion or lead a sedentary life. I. Bilious temperaments. (hepatic affections) I. Patients addicted to use of much wine or coffee and to those of sedentary habits combined with considerable mental exertion. II. Debauches, thin, of an irritable, nervous disposition. II. Drug subjects."
In Hering's 5-point system of grading remedies II (5) is the highest grade, I (4) is the second grade. We find similar rubrics in Allen's Keynotes under the title "adapted to". Allen includes temperaments, miasmic tendencies, diathetic constitutions and symptoms in these rubrics. These are all constitutional general rubrics.
The above rubrics are an extension of Hahnemann's original portrait of Nux Vomica. This temperamental portrait includes natural temperament (bilious, choleric, melancholic, nervous dispositions with their traits), diathetic constitutions (melancholic with venous constitution), mental rubrics (angry, spiteful, impatient, etc), physical descriptions (thin, dark hair), lifestyle (sedentary or great mental exertion), habits, (addicted to wine, coffee, drugs), as well as predispositions to regional symptoms (tendency to hemorrhoids, indigestion, hepatic affections). On this constitutional basis the signs, befallments and symptoms are further investigated for those rubrics that are strange, rare and peculiar to the individual organism (Org. §5.6.7). To utilize this method completely one must understand the teachings of Hippocrates as well as Hahnemann, Boenninghausen and Hering.
Hering's proving collection and his clinical confirmations are the source of constitutional characteristics such as: Nux Vomica is well adapted to angry, irritable, dark, thin, dry, bilious, choleric persons; Pulsatilla is well adapted to gentle, blond haired, blue eyed phlegmatic temperaments; Phosphorus is well adapted to tall slender persons of sanguine temperament, fair skin, delicate eyelashes, fine, blond or red hair, with quick perceptions, and very sensitive nature; Arsenicum is well adapted to the over anxious, chilly, nervous anxious temperaments. Such symptoms do not automatically lead to remedies by themselves, as they are only part of the totality of the symptoms.
One might ask, what is a phlegmatic temperament? How does Hahnemann’s statement that Pulsatilla is "especially adapted to slow phlegmatic temperaments" fit into the overall picture? The next chapter in our study contains a review of the essential rubrics of the phlegmatic constitutional temperament. This should help to put Hahnemann’s statements into perspective.

Hering and Homeopathy

Part 1: The Origin of the Nosodes
"It is the duty of all of us to go farther in the theory and practice of Homoeopathy than Hahnemann has done. We ought to seek the truth which is before us and forsake the errors of the past."
Constantine Hering (1800-1880)
Hering and Nosodes
The advent of Hahnemann's theory of the miasms caused great interest in the chronic diseases and their anti-miasmatic remedies. It was during this period that the Hofrath introduced the methods of of acute and chronic intercurrent remedies. During chronic treatment he interpolated acute intercurrents when needed to remove a crisis and then he followed up with complementary chronic treatment. Sometimes he would interpolate a a dose of a chronic intercurrent during anti miasmic treatment. For example, when Hahnemann was using Sulphur he would sometime interpolate a dose of Hepar Sulph as an chronic intercurrent if the Sulphur no longer seemed to hold as well. The chronic intercurrent remedy is useful in the treatment of miasms, suppressions and obstacles to the cure.
One of the direct consequences of the publication of The Chronic Diseases (1828) was the development of the use of miasmic organisms as potentized homoeopathic remedies for the treatment and prevention of disease. It seems that shortly after Hahnemann published his chronic disease theory, Hering performed the first proving of Psorinum on himself. It was Hering's idea to use miasmic agents as potentized remedies. The Greek word "Noso" is a prefix which is added to give the idea of a disease indicating its morbid root. This term is also connected with the Latin word "noxa", the root of the term noxious or damaged. This implies the use of potentially dangerous noxious materials as a basis for potentized remedies. That is why Hering called these remedies "nosodes". As you can see by their very nature these remedies must be used correctly.
Hering is responsible for greatly expanding the materia medica of Homoeopathy and adding seven new categories of potentized remedies*. At the same time, he was one of the true defenders of the four cardinal rules of Homoeopathy, similars cure similars, the single remedy, the minimal dose and the potentized remedy. Hering's seven uses of idem in Homoeopathy includes:
1. The use of poisons taken from insects, snakes, and other venomous creature (Animal poisons).
2. The use of remedies made from miasmas (Nosodes).
3. The introduction of potentized miasmas and morbid secretions taken directly from the patient's body (Auto-nosodes).
4. .The use of homologous organs, tissue and secretions (Sarcodes).
5. The use of potentized miasmic products nosodes for the prevention of infectious diseases (Nosode Homoeoprophylaxis)
6. The use of chemical and nutritional elements innate to the human organism (Chemical and elemental relationships)
7. The use of potentized genus groups as curative and preventative remedies for individuals, groups, and habitats. Hering suggests potentized seed of weeds or dangerous plants to eradicate and destroy those plants and potentized insects or animals to remove and prevent infestations of dangerous species (Isodes).
*Lectures on the Theory & Practice of Homoeopathy, R.E. Dudgeon, B.Jain Publishers (P) Ltd, Lecture VI, Isopathy, pages 141-175
Hering continued to experiment with nosodes of acute and chronic miasms and invited others to conduct provings. He recommended the use of potentized watery excrements of cholera, the black vomit of yellow fever, the desquamated skin of malignant scarlet fever, to bind bags of milk sugar in contact with skin of typhus patients, the use of leucorrheal matter, etc. He introduced the use of psorine (Psorinum) gleet-matter (Medorrhinum), pthisine (Tuberculinum) and syphiline (Syphilinum). Many ancient isopathic remedies were introduced into the Homoeopathic Materia Medica by dedicated homoeopaths of the 19th century. Constantine Hering, W. Gross, Wilhelm Lux , Father Collet, Swan and Burnett immediately come to mind.
Hering was the first to propose that the nosodes could be used for the prevention of infectious diseases (homoeoprophylaxis). This research was further confirmed by the work of Baron von Boenninghausen who used Variolinum for the prevention of small pox. Hering also opined that various disease vectors could be removed by the use of idem in potency. He suggested that potentized weed seeds could be used for weed control and that potentized insects could help remove infestations. At the same time, he called on his colleagues to prove the nosodes of the chronic miasms so that their therapeutic picture could be integrated into the materia medica. Hering shared his information by letter with Hahnemann and sent a sample of Psorinum which the Old Master proved on three individuals. This research into the acute and chronic miasms, and their nosodes, expanded slowly but surely under Hering's guidance.
Hahnemann's Views
Shortly after the publication of The Chronic Diseases, Hahnemann reviewed the use of the miasms as homoeopathic remedies. He was quick to point out that what Hering was suggesting was not the same old isopathic method because the material used is potentized by the homoeopathic technique and given in minimal dose. This changes an ordinary isopathic substance into a homoeopathic remedy IF used properly.
Vide aphorism 56 of the 4th Organon (1829).
"One could in reality admit a fourth manner of using medicine against disease, i.e. to say the Isopathic method, to treat a disease by the same miasm which has caused the disease. But supposing even that the thing were possible, and it would certainly be a valuable discovery, as the miasm is administered to the disease only after having modified it up to a certain point by the preparation to which it is submitted, the cure will take place in such a case only opposing the 'Simillimum simillimo'."
It is the transformation of the medicinal substances by potentization that opens the Homoeopathic Materia Medica to the remedies used in the ancient isopathic tradition. Dr. Swan, who proved Medorrhimun, was once asked if it was legitimate to use nosodes against diseases when they were not proven homoeopathically. His answer to this question was that "since the symptoms of the infectious miasms have been observed in so many individuals they represent a natural proving". The syndromes they cause are similar to the conditions they remove even if the person does not have the exact same disease. (What a rather interesting point!) In this way a remedy like Morbillinum (measles nosode) has cured meningitis, erthyematous lupus, conjunctivitis, and spontaneous abortion when chosen by the characteristic signs and symptoms. All of these conditions are similar to the complications caused by measles miasm in the populace.
In the light of Hahnemann's logic the use of the miasmic material without potentization was crude isopathy whereas their use in potencies is within the realm of Homoeopathy. Vide The Chronic Diseases, the chapter called "The Medicines".
"Thus potentized and modified also, the itch substance (psorin) when taken is no more an idem (the same) with the crude original itch substance, but only a simillimum (thing most similar). For between IDEM and SIMILLIMUM there is no intermediate for any one that can think; or in other words between idem and simile only simillimum can be intermediate, Isopathic and aquale are equivocal expressions, which if they should signify anything reliable can only signify simillimum because they are not idem."
The major difference between isode and a homoeopathic nosode is that a homoeopathic remedy is proven on the healthy so its symptom picture and therapeutic range is greatly expanded. The idem prescription can only be used for the same condition it causes or its prevention. Isopathy without the principle of the potentized remedy is an extremely dangerous method. Once an isopathic substance is dynamized it becomes a pure homoeopathic potence. Therefore, it must be applied by the cardinal principles of Homoeopathy if it is going to be used correctly.
Hering's Testimony
Hering wrote much on these subjects and we should research his original works for a deeper understanding. He had complete faith in the principles of Homoeopathy and wanted to apply them to new regions. Of his tireless experiments Hering once said:
"It is the duty of all of us to go farther in the theory and practice of Homoeopathy than Hahnemann has done. We ought to seek the truth which is before us and forsake the errors of the past."
Hering gathered a tremendous amount of first hand experience in proving nosodes and applying idem remedies to acute and chronic diseases in the field. Hering introduced all these new remedies yet he clearly pointed out their limitations when used by idem. All these isopathic preparations cannot be regarded as absolute specifics, but only as chronic intermediate remedies, which serve to stir up the diseases, and render the reaction to the subsequently administered homoeopathic remedy more permanent.
IN 1836 Hering stated that:
HE NEVER SUCCEEDED IN CURING BUT ONLY AMELIORATING DISEASES WITH THEIR OWN MORBID PRODUCTS
This was after 7 years of rigorous clinical trials. He gave a perfect example of the proper use of idem in a case of suppressed syphilis which would not respond to anti syphilitic remedies like Mercury so he used Syphiline (his preparation of syphilinium) as an intercurrent. This brought out the cutaneous eruption and chancre which was then perfectly cured by Mercury followed by Lachesis. He had many similar cases. Without constitutional treatment it is impossible to perform the perfect cure.
THE TRUTH IS THAT POTENTIZED DISEASE SUBSTANCES ARE ONLY TRULY CURATIVE WHEN THEY ARE *ADMINISTERED BY THE TOTALITY OF THE CHARACTERISTIC SYMPTOMS*. They then become the constitutional simillimum.
IF DISEASE PRODUCING PRODUCTS ARE ADMINISTERED BY*IDEM* THEY ARE ONLY USEFUL AS *INTERCURRENT REMEDIES* WHICH HELP TO REMOVE OBSTACLES TO CURE AND MOVE THE CASE FORWARD. Their remedial actions must be complemented by constitutional remedies if a complete cure is going to take place. THIS IS THE PROPER USE OF IDEM REMEDIES WITHIN COMPLETE CONSTITUTIONAL CASE MANAGEMENT.
These observations have been confirmed by generations of Classical Homoeopaths. The pseudo homoeopaths remove the nosodes, allergens, drugs and imponderabilia (magnet fields, electricity, etc.) from the Homoeopathic Materia Medica and try to create their own healing systems. These individuals often leave behind the maxim of the single remedy and minimal dose and pay little attention to the individual constitution and the symptoms. This leads one away from the permanent cure because it looks outward at the medicinal substance rather than inward at the individual constitution and the vital force.
Hahnemann's Concerns
From this time on Hahnemann became more cautious and conservative in his comments on the use of idem in potency. In the 6th Organon (note to aph. 56) he points out the isopathic work of Lux, and his close associate Gross, but makes no mention of Hering. He reminds the reader that once an idem is potentized it is a similar not identical remedy and then speaks positively of the small pox inoculation with cow pox as an example of prophylaxis by similar not same. Hahnemann supported Jenner's small pox vaccinations because he felt they had reduced the number of infections. It was Wolf, Hering and Boenninghausen who first wrote about the negative affects of vaccinations. Hering and Boenninghausen later used nosodes for the prevention of infectious miasms. Hahnemann then goes on to say:
"But wanting to cure human disease (e.g. the itch diathesis or maladies therefrom) with an identical human disease matter (e.g. with a psoricum taken from the itch diathesis) is going too far. Nothing results from it but calamity and aggravation of the disease."
Hahnemann was a Master Homoeopath who could not reduce the entire case history to any one-sided aetiological symptom. Hering continued to slowly expand his study of epidemiology, conduct provings and collect clinical confirmations on the intercurrents and preventative remedies. Nevertheless, Hering was always very clear about the limited yet important role that potentized idem plays in homoeopathic methodology.
The half homoeopaths use intercurrent remedies (which cannot cure by themselves in idem) in long mechanical schedules by allopathic concepts of aetiology and antidotal medicine. This always runs the danger of suppression, over medication and the disruption of the constitutional picture. As Hering said, none of these isopathic remedies are curative in themselves, and should only be used as intercurrents to remove obstacles which block the complete action of the constitutional remedies! This is the way to integrate the use of idem within the law of similars and Classical Homoeopathy. This tradition is 160 years old!
Hahnemann taught that the totality of the symptoms includes all the data related to the physical constitution, temperament, aetiology, miasms, suppression, iatrogenesis and the signs (observations), befallments (accidents, idiopathic conditions, coincidence) and symptoms as well as the investigation of the obstacles to the cure. This complete case history must be investigated in the order of its development (the timeline) so that its fundamental causes and symptom layers are understood. Hahnemann first recorded the phenomena associated with the reversal of symptoms in 1828. Hering codified and expanded Hahnemann's observations and Kent called them Hering's laws.
Obstructions to the Cure
Since the Old Master's time careful investigation of causation, the reversal of symptoms and removal of obstructions to the cure has been a center of classical case management. Sometimes constitutional treatment needs to be complemented by the administration of an intercurrent remedy to treat miasmic obstructions and suppressions so that blockages to the cure are removed. When such knowledge is combined with Hahnemann's advanced liquid delivery system and the methods of adjusting the dose, aggravations can be kept at a minimum and the cure rendered gentle, rapid and permanent.
The proper use of the idem intercurrent, IF AND WHEN NECESSARY, is a method of traditional Homoeopathy when the maxim of the single remedy and the minimal dose is respected. The use of a nosode, drug or vaccine in potency is Homoeopathy when integrated into proper constitutional case management. The same may be said of the use of nosodes and homoeopathic remedies as prophylaxis for the prevention of disease. All of this is an integral part of Classical Homoeopathy from its earliest days. It is up to this generation of homoeopaths to bring it up to date and put it into practice in the proper manner.
In review, what we have been discussing is part of Homoeopathy's treasury of therapeutics when the cardinal principles are the guiding light. If one separates the intercurrent remedies from traditional Homoeopathy, and uses them only by idem, one cannot perform a complete cure. If one overuses idem it will disrupt the natural symptom pattern rendering the case more difficult to treat constitutionally. Allopathic thinking combined with potentized remedies can only produce a half homoeopathic-half allopathic system. If we want to understand how to use nosodes correctly we must understand Hering's complete strategy and posology methods and integrate them into contemporary homoeopathic practice.