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The
American Institute of Homeopathy defines a homeopathic physician as "one
who adds to his knowledge of medicine a special knowledge of homeopathic
therapeutics and observes the Law of Similars. All that pertains to the great
healing art is his by tradition, by inheritance and by right."
Homeopathy is a system of therapeutics based
upon the Law of Similars as expressed by the maxim "Similia Similibus
Curentur" -- let likes be cured by likes. When a patient presents a
group of symptoms similar to those produced by the administration of a
certain medicine to a healthy human, that medicine is homeopathically
indicated and if prescribed in correct dosage will relieve or cure.
Calomel by its physiological action produces
diarrhea, frequent bloody mucus stools, increased secretion of bile and
salivation. When these symptoms have been produced by any other cause other
than the administration of calomel (Mercurius dulcis), very small doses of
this medicine will be curative.
Again, Belladonna is indicated homeopathically
when the patient presents dilated pupils, violent congestion of blood to the
head with throbbing headache, high fever with hot red skin, cerebral
excitement, dryness of mouth and throat, muscular twitchings (symptoms such
as are frequently met with in scarlet fever). Any physician will recognize
the above symptoms as well known toxic effects of Belladonna.
There are many outstanding examples of this
dual action of drugs in common medical practice, but the observing student
will note as he reads the Lessons of this Course that the Law of Similars
applies to all substances possessing medicinal properties.
Homeopathy, or the "New School" of
medicine, was founded by Samuel Hahnemann. He did not discover the Law of
Similars, but he was the first to give it practical application to the art of
healing. He collected and translated from previous writings of all ages a mass
of evidence to show that others before him, including Hippocrates and
Paracelsus, were aware of this law.
Samuel Hahnemann was a celebrated scientist and
chemist and one of the leading physicians of his time. He had graduated from
the best medical schools and received personal instruction under the
physician to the Austrian Emperor, Freiherr Von Quarin. He was a translator
of note. He practiced successfully in several of the leading cities of
Germany and was looked upon as an eminent physician.
Hahnemann was a thinker. He perceived that for
the practice of medicine to be successful it must be guided by law. Up to his
day no definite law of prescribing for the sick had been announced or
followed. The practice of medicine was chaotic. Each physician prescribed
according to his own ideas or those of some "shining light" of the
profession.
Hahnemann at last became discouraged. Day after
day his doubts grew stronger. He said to himself, "It is not I who am at
fault, it is the art of medicine which is wrong. I know that I can prescribe
as well as the best of those who now give medicine, but if I am convinced
that the sick will do better with no medicine at all -- God help me! I will
practice no more!"
Finally he gave up the practice of medicine in
disgust and turned to the translation of medical and scientific books for a
livelihood. While translating a chapter of Cullen's Materia Medica
from English to German, it appeared to him that the author's explanation of
the action of peruvian bark was fanciful and irrational. So he set about to
determine in his own way the modus operandi of the drug. He tried it on
himself. He found it produced typical symptoms of malaria for which it was
recommended and used.
From this time on he conducted his investigations
along new lines. He did what others had not done before. He studied medicines
systematically by testing them on healthy humans. After repeated
experimentation upon himself and others, he eventually proved the Law of
Similars to be the basic law of cure. {It is a tribute to the genius of
Hahnemann that he was unaware that the homeopathic relation between disease
and medicinal effects was taught and practiced by Hippocrates and Paracelsus,
until it was brought to his attention by Trinks in 1825 (Vide: Life and
Letters of Hahnemann, by Haehl).}
One by one the medicines then in general use
were "proved" by this indefatigable worker and his associates. In
medicine Hahnemann was what Edison has been in electricity. He had vision as
well as scientific knowledge. Outside the beaten path he went in search of
new medicaments and found that each one tried was capable of producing its
own peculiar and typical symptom picture when given to healthy humans; and
when administered to the sick, who presented the same symptoms, was found to
be curative.
Early in his career, Hahnemann complained of
the untrustworthiness of pharmaceutical preparations, which no conscientious
doctor could prescribe. And in his contributions to medical periodicals which
were always read with interest, he frequently advocated the use of simple
measures and the single remedy in the treatment of disease. He was one of the
first to teach that accurate and definite prescribing could be accomplished
only by giving one substance at a time and observing the effects. He
condemned as unscientific the customary mixtures which in his times often
contained twenty or more drugs. He based his belief on the results of
experience.
He went further and found that clinically a
very small dose of a remedy, prescribed according to the Law of Similars
produced better results than larger doses. In fact, he found that large doses
aggravated the sickness when exhibited in accord with the Law of Similars.
Continued experiments along this line led eventually to potentiation.
This briefly is the history of the origin of
the prescribing of minimum doses of medicine in accord with the Law of
Similars, guided by signs and symptoms of the sick individual corresponding
to similar signs and symptoms produced experimentally by the remedy upon many
healthy humans.
These experimental or clinical observations of
drug action called "provings" by Hahnemann were made under controls
and in a most painstaking way. This was the introduction to the medical world
of "animal experimentation" and led the way to all of the more
recent developments of drug testing and standardization.
Among the outstanding early professional
accomplishments of Hahnemann we shall mention but one. During the scourge of
Leipsic, when tens of thousands were dying "like flies" from the
Plague, and when every victim of the epidemic was committed to the "dead
house," Hahnemann with his homeopathic prescribing saved 183 consecutive
cases (most of which were considered moribund).
Hahnemann did not work alone, nor were his
discoveries accidental. He had as associates many doctors who, like himself,
had an intense yearning for the Truth and who hoped to effect a change in the
haphazard and futile methods of medicine prevalent in their time.
Hahnemann and his associates were eminently
successful in practice, and as might be expected, jealousies and unjust
criticism were not lacking. Traditional medicine, then as now, was intolerant
of new ideas and human welfare was secondary to medical politics.
Throughout his long and busy life (he lived to
be eighty-nine) he continued to study, develop and practice the healing art
according to the Law of Similars.
Hahnemann's loyal and devoted students
continued his researches. Remedies were "proved" on thousands of
subjects and many volumes were added to the numerous works of the originator.
To France, Italy, Spain, England, and the
United States went homeopathic physicians, each one an apostle and a teacher.
Later to Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and other South American countries this
"New School" found its way: to Mexico and Central America it
advanced with higher civilization: to Egypt and other civilized parts of
Africa; to Australia and to Asia; to India where today it clalms millions of
adherents. With higher civilization and broader learning Homeopathic medicine
has kept pace.
At the present time there is an unprecedented
demand for doctors trained in homeopathic prescribing. Although the graduates
from homeopathic medical colleges are doubling in numbers annually, demands
are not one-tenth supplied. Answer the question "why?" in your own
way.
That people fundamentally believe in the
internal administration of medicine in sickness cannot be successfully
contradicted; that they are always ready and anxious for the more harmless,
the more pleasant, the more certain and effective is also true.
Homeopathic prescribing does not conflict with
surgery, physical therapy, manual therapy, suggestion or other non-medical
measures. However, homeopathic prescribing of properly prepared and
standardized remedies is supreme in the field of internal medicine.
You shall soon be led to see the raison d'etre
of Homeopathy and to understand how it must be adopted by any physician fully
awake to his responsibilities and possibilities.
As the Course unfolds it will reveal a broader
conception of disease and its management, and help you to become more
proficient in your chosen profession.
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