The Two Laws of Treatment

Hahnemann’s research and experiments had led him to rediscover the ancient principle of cure, called the “law of similars” (similia similibus). This law, known to the Egyptians and Greeks, stated that a disease could only be cured by a medicine that could cause that same disease in a healthy person. The problem in the past had been one of dose; crude doses used according to the law of similars were dangerous, and because of that this method had been largely abandoned by Hahnemann’s day in favor of the law of opposites (contraria contrarius), or for simply using regimenal measures to support the natural healing power.

If the principle of similars, which Hahnemann concluded was grounded in natural law, is curative, then using medicines on the basis of the law of opposites is suppressive.

Heilkunst does include the application of the law of opposites, but within the proper jurisdiction which involves the healing function of the sustentive power in diet, nutrition, lifestyle, energy work, psychotherapy, drainage, detoxification, etc.

There are several applications of the law of similar resonance, one of which is based on the overt symptom picture (totality of characteristic symptoms) of the patient, which is matched to the symptom picture or image produced by a given medical agent in a healthy person, to which Hahnemann gave the name homeopathy. Another is to make a remedy from the causal disease agent, either through a characteristic discharge, such as tubercular sputum (Tuberculinum), known as a nosode, or by isolating the disease agent itself, such as by using a dynamized and potentized form of cortisone to remove an iatrogenic disease caused by that drug. This is known as an isode.

Practitioners in Hahnemann’s time developed the use of nosodes, which are homeopathic dilutions of the disease agent made from an excretion of a person suffering the disease in question, of which Hahnemann approved. Rabies nosode, for example, is made by potentizing the saliva of a rabid dog. This provides a ready and effective means of finding a curative medicine for a new disease not yet identified.

The appropriate substance to treat a disease is one which induces a similar disease state in a healthy person. Heilkunst uses a vast range of isodes, that is, those made from all manner of disease agents (drugs, poisons, chemicals, vaccinations, etc.,) related to the pathogenic and iatrogenic disease jurisdictions.

Degrees of Similitude

What symptoms are associated with various substances is determined by provings, in which the researcher imbibes the remedy and records all physical, mental, emotional and modal symptoms experienced. A homeopathic repertory is a listing of remedies by symptom, used to determine the most appropriate medicine for a given disease. The appropriate application of a medicine can also be determined from clinical experience based on the knowledge of the applicable principle governing a disease jurisdiction.

Disease Classification

Since the cause of disease is not material, but lies in a disturbance of the dynamic or energetic level of our being, the diagnosis must address itself to this level. Hahnemann developed an extensive classification of disease.

First, he distinguished between those diseases that are idiopathic, that is, self-standing, autonomous and not dependent on other diseases, and those that are secondary and derivative of a prior disease. The self-standing or idiopathic diseases have a constant nature, that is, they always show up the same, such as the classic infectious diseases (measles, typhoid, cholera, yellow fever, etc.) and are termed “tonic” (Stimm-based disease in German) diseases in Heilkunst. They are addressed by means of the homotonic principle, that is, by means of remedies that are specific to a given disease. An example would be Apis mellifica for the homogenic disease from a bee sting.

The secondary, derivative diseases are variable in nature. That is, it depends on the nature of the interaction between the tonic disease and the patient as to which new diseases are spun off. These Hahnemann termed “pathic” diseases. They are addressed by means of the homeopathic principle.

Second, Hahnemann distinguished disease according to temporality. There were diseases that were acute and those that were of long duration (distinction by quantity of time) and diseases that were of a self-limiting nature versus those of a chronic nature (distinction by quality of time). Thus, measles would be an acute disease of a self-limiting nature, whereas malaria would fall in the category of a chronic disease, but if the person just contracted it and was suffering symptoms, it would be acute, and if the patient had been suffering for several years from periodic flare-ups, it would be of long-duration.

He also distinguished between the various layers of pathic diseases and the different jurisdictions of the tonic diseases. Within the tonic disease realm, he identified several: those based on a certain disease “irritation,” such as mental, emotional and physical traumas (homogenic); on improperly prescribed medicines (iatrogenic); infectious agents (pathogenic); and finally diseases caused by various false beliefs that cause us to act in ways against our overall health (ideogenic).

Hahnemann’s nosology also encompasses the spirit, soul, mind and body of man, providing a basis for assessing the impact of disease on the various levels of our being. It further includes the different elements of disease, from symptoms that are pluralized (plurific) in nature (changes in feelings, functions and sensations that the patient reports) and those that are unific in nature and require the participation and discernment of the practitioner, such as “the Feeling,” (das Gefühl) or “the Impression” (das Eindruck) of the disease.

In the area of acute diseases, Hahnemann distinguished those that were simply flare-ups of underlying chronic diseases, from true acutes, and here he distinguished between epidemic and sporadic on the one hand, and acute versus chronic miasms on the other. A miasm is a disease of constant nature, the term meaning “a noxious influence” in the medical terminology of his time.

Hahnemann wrote a separate book on his discoveries of the chronic miasms, and therein also distinguished these from the chronic diseases that were spun-off from these chronic miasms. The chronic miasms are tonic diseases, and the chronic diseases are pathic in nature.

Posology

From the very beginning of his new system, Hahnemann came to the conclusion that medicines, to the extent that they can affect the human being, must be able to act dynamically and that their power to act as medicine lay in this dynamic effect. He also was conscious of the serious negative effects of the crude drugs of his day and finally of the problem in using crude doses and the law of similars. All of this motivated him to seek to dilute the crude nature of medicines and to seek that level at which the negative effects of the medicine was minimal or nil, while still preserving a therapeutic (positive, curative) effect.

Thus, Hahnemann initially used doses that are akin to the current doses for drugs (milligrams and micrograms). However, he continued to dilute the medicines using a method based on the new decimal measurements. He systematically diluted on the scale of 1/100, or 1 unit of the crude matter (mother tinctures, bark, minerals, etc.) to 99 parts of water/alcohol mixture. The first dilution he called a 1C. Then he would take one unit of the 1C solution and add another 99 units of water/alcohol, and call this a 2C. Each of these levels represented a certain strength of potency of the dynamic essence of the medicine. (Thus, the 1C is known as a 1C potency, the 2C as a 2C potency, and so on.)

In the process of dilution, he shook the vial strongly, sometimes with impact, sometimes with a downward motion (succussion). As he increased the dilution, he noted that the therapeutic effect increased rather than decreased. Being a noted chemist, he knew about the limits set by Loschmidt’s Number (or Avogadro’s Constant as it is generally known in English); based on his system of dilution, the centesimal scale, this limit would be reached after the 12th serial dilution. However, in keeping with his insights regarding the dynamic action, he continued beyond this limit, finding that the higher dilutions increased in therapeutic power, and he came to refer to them as potencies.

The use of medicines in highly diluted doses is the most overtly controversial aspect of Dr. Hahnemann’s new system of medicine, but it is not essential to the application of the law of similars: the key to the law of similars is a similar resonance between medicine and disease, not whether the medicine is potentised or not. While medicines prepared according to Dr. Hahnemann’s rules are often referred to as “homeopathic medicines,” it is their application in an actual case against disease, not their dilution or potency level, that makes them “homeopathic,” or “isotonic” or “homotonic,” as the case may be, depending on the degree of similitude involved.

Hahnemann also developed, towards the end of his career, a new potency scale (a dilution of 1:50,000) which is often termed the LM scale, but is more properly called the Q scale. This scale is less well-known and developed as it has only come to light in the last 50 years. Research on the appropriate application of each of these two potency scales, as well as the D or X scale, is ongoing.

One Remedy Per Disease

A fundamental principle of Heilkunst is that there can only be one remedy for a given disease state.

Hahnemann discovered that a person could have more than one disease at a time, each of which might be contributing to the overall symptom picture of the patient.

Hahnemann clearly set out, right from the beginning of his new system of medicine, that the practitioner should first seek to treat the diseases of a constant nature, as these can more readily be identified in most cases by cause (e.g., Arnica for contusion disease), and since they are fixed in nature, they are always treated with the same medicine, thus simplifying treatment. The homeopathic approach to the remaining pathic diseases could then more easily be used.

However, because it was possible for there to be more than one disease at a time in the human organism, this also opened the possibility of the prescribing of more than one remedy at a time to the patient. Out of this understanding, and from his knowledge of the dual nature of disease, Hahnemann, through his own work with intercurrent and alternating remedies and the experiments of a close pupil, Dr. Karl Aegidi, used and worked with dual remedy prescribing. Initially (1833-36) he gave two medicines in the same solution (simultaneity of ingestion), but due to political pressures and misunderstandings switched to the use of two medicines within the duration of action of the other (simultaneity of action).

Chronic Miasms

In the light of difficulties treating more complex cases, Hahnemann undertook further research and developed his theory of chronic miasms, which are diseases of a fixed nature of the pathogenic type (originally infectious, but also inherited) which give rise to all the (secondary) chronic diseases, which are pathic in nature. Hahnemann identified three chronic miasms: syphilis, sycosis, and psora, and there is evidence that he also discerned a fourth that is now termed tuberculosis.

Dr. Elmiger of Lausanne, Switzerland uncovered a specific sequence to these miasms, which confirms and extends what Hahnemann himself wrote and taught, and which he termed the Law of Succession of Forces. This allows for a more effective and systematic treatment of various disease conditions that have an inherited component, even when that component is latent or not readily recognizable in the symptoms of the patient. Recent research has uncovered several more chronic miasms that also fit into the Law of Succession of Forces.

Direction Of Cure

Hahnemann also gave indications as to when the practitioner could tell that the disease had been cured by the similar medicine and healing was underway (the complete process termed “heilen” or remediation). Constantine Hering, often called the “Father of Homeopathy” in the US, further developed these guidelines, which are often referred to as “Hering’s Law, or Principles”:

• from more vital to less vital organs

• in the case of pain, from above down

• in the same direction as the natural disease process

This was later amended by James Tyler Kent who noticed that when disease was suppressed or several groups of symptoms (diseases) developed in a patient over time, the remedial process proceeded in the reverse order of the emergence. This provides the basis for the sequential treatment of traumatic disease states, from most recent back through time to conception, followed by the sequential treatment of the chronic miasms. The pathic diseases, existing in layers, are dealt with as they arise at various stages along the way.

If some symptoms become worse almost immediately after taking a similar medicine, this represents an apparent worsening of the natural disease, but is really an exacerbation due to the adding of the symptoms of the similar medicine to those of the original disease in the patient. This so-called “homeopathic aggravation” is of short duration and generally only found in acute diseases. There is also a later worsening of some symptoms, and even a return of old symptoms, essentially in chronic, complex cases, which Hahnemann called the “counteraction” and which is often referred to as the healing reaction. The “homeopathic exacerbation” involves the initial action of the curative medicine affecting the generative power of the Living Principle or Dynamis. The “healing reaction” involves the counteraction of the sustentive power of the Living Principle against the medicine (artificial disease).

The Law of Similars and of Opposites

Western Medicine recognized, even into Hahnemann’s time, two natural laws of therapeutics. The law of opposites (contraria contrarius) involves the restoration of balance or homeostasis, and is applied in diet, nutrition, supplements, various energy healing modalities, psychotherapy, and generally the entire range of the natural health field. The law of similars (similia similibus) involves the annihilation of disease states using a medicine that has a similar resonance or disease effect to that of the disease in the patient. Because of the power of this law to harm the patient if the dose was not correct, it was largely abandoned and replaced by the approach set out by Hippocrates (Let food be your medicine), involving the law of opposites, on which the modern natural health movement is based, albeit unconsciously.

The genius of Dr. Hahnemann was to discover a way to attenuate the dose so that it could be rendered harmless as to chemical side effects, what is often referred to as dynamization or potentization. Dynamization refers to the use of the dynamic aspect of a substance, while potentisation refers to the increase in strength of the dynamic or energetic action.

Because the prevailing system of medicine prescribed substances or therapies without any conscious knowledge or application of one or other of these two natural laws of remediation, Hahnemann termed it “allopathic,” meaning that it was without any principle of application grounded in natural law.

Because of the use of these two laws, Heilkunst holds that there are two great realms of medicine: medicine proper, which is the application of the law of similars, and therapeutic regimen, which is the proper application of the law of opposites. There is also a third realm, that of therapeutic education, which involves the expansion of human consciousness through the destruction of false beliefs that Hahnemann termed the “highest diseases.”

Later research by Wilhelm Reich was able to uncover the full extent of disturbances connected with the generative power in man, thus rationally expanding on what Hahnemann had discovered empirically. The principle underlying tonic remedies was taken to new heights by Rudolf Steiner in his lectures on medicine.

Sources:

Note: Most of the older texts are only available as reprints from Indian publishers. All of the texts should be available at the two main on-line bookstores: Minimum Price Books (www.minimum.com) and Homeopathic Educational Services (www.homeopathic.com).

Haehl, Richard, MD, Samuel Hahnemann, His Life and Works, Vols I&II, 1922, English Translation by Wheeler and Grundy, edited by J.H. Clarke reprinted by B.J. Publishers (Pty) Ltd., New Delhi, 1985 (later reprints available)

Hahnemann, Samuel, Organon der Heilkunst, available in electronic form from http://www.ebookmall.com/ebooks-authors/steven-r-decker-ebooks.htm

These are three linked PDF books (there are instructions at the end of the English version on how the links work).

* The Extended Organon of the Remedial Art of Samuel Hahnemann (english)

* An Interlinear Rendition of The Organon of the Remedial Art by Samuel Hahnemann

* Organon der Heilkunst und Chronische Krankheiten von Samuel Hahnemann

A written version, which is based on the Decker translation is the edition by Wenda Brewster O’Reilly, Birdcage Books, Redmund, Washington.

Hahnemann, Samuel, The Lesser Writings, ed. By R.E. Dudgeon, MD (B. Jain reprints)

Hahnemann, Samuel, Chronic Diseases (B. Jain reprints)

Handley, Rima, A Homeopathic Love Story, North Atlantic Books and Homeopathic Educational Services, Berkeley, 1990

Handley, Rima, In Search of the Later Hahnemann, Beaconsfield Publishers, Beaconsfield, Bucks. UK, 1990

Decker, Steven R., and Verspoor, Rudi, The Dynamic Legacy: from Homeopathy to Heilkunst (electronic version available at www.homeopathiceducation.com/dynamiclegacy/)

Three books by Decker and Verspoor that are available for free download at www.heilkunst.com:

*  An Affair to Remember: The Curious History of the Use of Dual Remedies, Its Suppression and Significance

*  Precursor to the Organon: Hahnemann’s Occasional Writings

* Selected Topics in Homeopathy: A New Look at Old Issues

Eizayaga, Francesco Xavier, Treatise on Homeopathic Medicine, printed in Argentina

Elmiger, Jean, Dr., Rediscovering Real Medicine, Great Britain

Rudi Verspoor DMH
Rudi Verspoor has been studying Dr. Hahnemann’s medical system for more than two decades and has acquired extensive clinical experience, particularly with  complex and chronic cases, in the application of this system. His abiding interest in history and philosophy has led him to undertake continual research into various problems and issues that have arisen in traditional homeopathic treatment, and this has included weekly conversations with Steven Decker for over 12 years. This research has led to the development of a systematic dynamic approach to therapeutics that is now being offered in a comprehensive form to others through a number of educational programs.

Rudi has written several books providing new insights based on his research and clinical experience and has lectured widely in Canada, the US, the UK and Europe. He served as the Director of the British Institute of Homeopathy (Canada) from 1993 to early 2001, and developed their Homeopathic Practitioner Diploma Program. He has taught extensively both in-class and on a distance learning basis. His previous experience has been in public policy, planning and administration.

He helped to found the National United Professional Association of Trained Homeopaths (NUPATH) serving as its president for 14 years, and the Canadian/International Heilkunst Association (C/IHA). Part of his time has been spent advising the Canadian government on health-care policy and in working for greater acceptance of and access to homeopathy and Heilkunst amongst policy makers and the public.

His publications include: Autism: The Journey Back, Recovering the Self Through Heilkunst (with Patty Smith); Homeopathy Renewed, A Sequential Approach to the Treatment of Chronic Illness (with Patty Smith); A Time for Healing; Homeopathy Re-examined: Beyond the Classical Paradigm (with Steven Decker); The Dynamic Legacy: Hahnemann from Homeopathy to Heilkunst (with Steven Decker). He also has written various articles for Canadian and International journals.