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| Hpathy Ezine, April 2006 | |||||||
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| I believe that when homeopaths adopt short cuts like putting more than one remedy into the same pill, or different remedies in the same day or week, before evaluation, for a chronically ill patient, it is because they have not been able to grasp the homeopathic method. Our colleges teach theories but perhaps insufficient methodology so that we misunderstand the philosophy. They are happy to teach the latest ideas which are as yet unproven over time, and adopt titles like ‘practical’ or ‘contemporary’ which signify modernity and imply something pejorative, or downgrade the idea of ‘classical’. Electronic machinery is used for diagnosis, biofeedback, allergy testing, and even the simulation of remedies which have until now been prepared by pharmacies. It is the allopaths who make antiques of their textbooks every 5 years. Ours can and should last longer than that. Inexpensive reprints from India are there for most of our classics, with a few gaps which I shall mention. Continuing professional development (CPD) seems increasingly to focus on counselling and psychological techniques for unravelling the practitioner / patient relationship rather than unravel the reactions of the patient in the light of homeopathic methods. There is also a focus on attending seminars and meetings as the best way to fulfil CPD. Here is a wondrous new book which will at once become the best
basic textbook of methodology for students of homeopathy, and the
best CPD for even the most experienced practitioner. If Dr Luc’s
earlier book, Hahnemann Revisited, presented the science
of homeopathy this book presents the art. The author has painstakingly
analysed Hahnemann’s later works, and then analysed the work
of his most famous and influential followers whether long gone like
Lippe or Kent, or recent like Vithoulkas or Sankaran, in the light
of his discoveries. How Hahnemann really selected and managed potency
between the 4th, 5th and 6th editions , is explored in detail, between
different editions of the Organon; the implication is that
many of us, including Vithoulkas, are actually using the methods
of Hahnemann’s 4th Organon (1828) not even the 5th
(1833) or 6th (posthumous – 1922 / 1982 /1996). Firstly Dr Luc may make remarks about other homeopaths as I have quoted but they are definitely not ad hominem, they are not in any way personal attacks, they are observations on practice methods. Secondly it is not only potency, but a long list of topics which are analysed: Similar and Dissimilar Diseases; Thirdly the book is clear and very readable, this look at theory in practice could be very heavy but the text is broken up with questions and answers, with cases, with references to short quotations, especially of aphorisms from the Organon. There are many diagrams. Fourthly there are many details, too many for this short review,
such as an analysis of the origins of the classic 19c ‘wait
and watch’ single dose method and ideas on how to avoid disastrous
results for the patient. There is a disclaimer at the start that there are many references to reprinted editions of old books, and the true dates are in the bibliography. The bibliography actually refers to the modern reprints on which most readers will have to rely. But the flaws in our practice originate in our lack of knowledge of the epistemology of our own subject. As an example, the 4th Organon of 1828 was translated in 1833 in Dublin and as a reprint became the first (and 2nd and 3rd and 4th) American edition and the one upon which Hering and Kent relied. The 1833 Organon was translated by Dudgeon in 1849 in London, and 1875 in America by Wesselhoeft. So it was reliance on earlier work of Hahnemann that has led us astray, and which Dr. Luc is here correcting. The science of the transmission of our knowledge would be clearer with accurate publication dates, even a chronology of editions. There is a great one in French by the late Jacques Baur Un Livre Sans Frontieres, Histoire et Metamorphoses de l'Organon de Hahnemann, (Lyon 1991). Dr. Luc refers elegantly to Hering's Set of Observations,
often taught as Hering’s Law. Once again the story
of editions is needed. He refers to the 1896 Tafel translation of
Hahnemann’s 1833 edition of Chronic Diseases. But
it is in the 1845 Hempel translation of the 1828 Chronic Diseases
that Hering’s Observations are published in full
as a preface. I published them in The Homeopath in 1987
and I have made them available at homeoint.org/cazalet/hering/chronicdiseases.htm.
Tafel had ignored them and so they have been forgotten by most of
us; read them and ponder what we have been missing. Francis Treuherz MA RSHom FSHom +44(0) 208 450 6564 Phone & Fax Hon Secretary, Society of Homeopaths |
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