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This is the most erudite and recondite materia medica I have ever
read. It exceeds even the arcane scholarship of the fastidious Otto
Leeser whose chemical explanations of inorganic substances laced
his mineral family materia medica with more chemistry than I ever
understood. Frans Vermeulen has excelled himself with an edition
of materia medica of a family or series never before published.
OA Julian wrote a book on nosodes that has been badly translated
as Treatise on Dynamized Micro Immunotherapy Isopathic Concretology.
Until now it was the main source about remedies made from the products
of disease.
This new book starts with taxonomy of bacteria and viruses on the
front and rear end papers. Using these charts one can immediately
see the relationship of all the bacteria and viruses, and the homeopathic
medicines which are prepared from them – if any. For there
are bacteria that have not been used as a medicine. I suspect that
the publication of the information in this book will lead to some
more provings of new remedies, and some real provings of partly
or hardly proved remedies, for there are many rudimentary materia
medica pictures here in this volume.
Each material is described in detail with some excellent typographical
devices to enhance, illustrate or summarise the information, before
the materia medica is given, that is, where it exists. Here we can
learn about the diseases and their symptoms and pathology as well
as the bacteria and viruses. At one stroke this book replaces our
allopathic textbooks of infectious diseases as all the material
appears together in an integrated fashion.
There is a set of introductory chapters, explaining not only the
nomenclature and classification but also the differences between
nosodes and vaccines for example, and as many questions as answers.
Here is a full explanation of the mysteries of the Bach and Paterson
bowel nosodes, Borrelia and Brucellosis. I have
only ever prescribed Malandrinum once but after reading
this I can see a couple of cases where I missed it. The ‘tuberculinums’
are differentiated, the gonorrhoeas are disseminated, the spirochaetes
are delineated. Avian flu and Oscillococcinum are properly
described. I have already used the book to assist a student working
on a project on MRSA. I looked in vain for Candida and
realised it is a fungus, and must appear in another volume, instead
I found Campylobacter and Herpes and more.
There is a rich bibliography at the end, although there are many
other references that are not fully sourced. There is a thorough
glossary, and an index, which usefully capitalises remedy names
within the rest of the information. This book, like so much of Frans
Vermeulen’s work, will rapidly become an indispensable modern
classic, and richly deserves to do well.
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