A Search for a Rapid, Gentle and Permanent Cure

I was originally taught the American tradition of Classical Homeopathy and was familiar with the writing of luminaries like James Kent, T.F. Allen, H.C. Allen, J.H. Allen, S. Close, C.M. Boger et al. I had heard of the Founder, Samuel Hahnemann, and the Organon but mostly from quotes from sources like the above practitioners. For the most part, I used the single dose wait and watch method as was elucidated by great masters of the past. The first time I read the Organon it was the Boericke 6^th Edition. I immediately resonated with the statements about likes cure likes, the single remedy, the minimal dose and the potentized medicine. The passages on the vital force were inspiring and immediately useful for clinical observation. Nevertheless, much of the text was too deep for limited understanding and the posology sections were very hard for me to truly understand.

At that time, I followed the Kentian theory that the size of the dose and delivery system by which the medicine was given made no difference to the action of the remedy. I normally administered a random number of dry pills sublingually, and if there was any improvement whatsoever, I did not repeat the remedy until there was a clear relapse of symptoms. In the Organon I was reading Hahnemann spoke of the use of the mysterious 50 millesimal potencies, the medicinal solution in divided doses and repeating the remedy to speed the cure, when necessary. This was all new to me and most of the material just flew right over my head. I decided to put the Organon aside for the time being and continued to practice in the manner with which I was most familiar.

The next time I took up the Organon, I came to understand that there were six editions that spanned the years 1810 to 1842-3. Each of these serial editions built on the preceding publications as Hahnemann developed his new healing art over a period of 33 years. When I reread the Organon I began to see that these paragraphs were presenting a sophisticated system that I did not really understand. How come I was never taught about these strange methods I was reviewing? Why were we giving all our doses in random numbers of dry pills when Hahnemann wrote passage after passage on the importance of the delivery system, the size of the dose, and subtle adjustments of the potency factor by succussions? Kent viewed remedial powers as a “simple substance” that had quality but no quantity, so the size of the dose did not matter. Hahnemann, however, viewed remedial powers as quantum energies in which both the potency (degrees of dilution and succussions) and the amounts (number of pills, drops or teaspoons) were all important. Such issues troubled me day and night. Nevertheless, I could not find one single homeopath that knew of these methods let alone practiced them.

Around this time I decided it was time to carry my education into the field and I left on a trip around the world. I knew that there were a number of experienced homeopaths in India and I wanted to see firsthand how they practiced in Third World conditions. While in India I decided to read the Organon for a third time. This time I came across a copy of The Organon of Medicine 5^th & 6^th Editions, which is based on Dudgeon’s translation of the 5^th edition and Boericke’s translation of the 6^th edition. After comparing the passages of the 5^th and 6^th editions I finally got a grasp of the differences between the administration of the centesimal and the 50 millesimal potencies. This work also possesses some important aphorisms taken from the 1st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th editions of the Organon. I was simply flabbergasted by my lack of understanding of the evolution of Homeopathy and a “fever-like state” came over me where I could not eat, sleep or wake without thinking about the subject.

I came to realize that the Organon is not written in an A to Z fashion like a modern textbook. It is the last of the medical classics and the 6^th Organon is written in the form of 291 aphorisms. Each aphorism builds on the understanding of the previous maxims as Hahnemann develops the cardinal themes. The key points are introduced in a specific order and then reintroduced on a deeper level as the themes unfold. For this reason, one needs to contemplate the meaning of each aphorism carefully before proceeding to the next passage. It became obvious to me that the Organon was not a user friendly manual that one read once and then put it away. One has to study the maxims and then put them into practice stage by stage to gather experience in the methods. It is in the clinic that the Organon comes to life when one applies the principles and praxis carefully. I knew I had to try but I did not know where to start.

In time I discovered that the 6^th Organon was not published in Hahnemann’s lifetime and only appeared in public in 1921 in German and English. This is the reason why there were no references to the 6^th Organon methods and the LM potency in the writings of Hering, Kent and other 19^th century homeopaths. Nevertheless I still wondered why contemporary homeopaths showed so little interest in any of these “new methods”. I decided that I should study the posology and case management methods of the 5^th and 6^th editions of the Organon side by side. To my greater surprise I found that the way I was taught to practice was not in the 5^th Organon either! I finally came to comprehend that the Homeopathy I was using was more similar to the 3^rd and 4^th Organon than the 5^th and 6^th editions. Why were we practicing the Homeopathy of the 1820s when Hahnemann lived through the 1830s and into the 1840s and published two more editions of the Organon? Why were the techniques that he used in his last ten years virtually unknown? I decided it was time for me to get to the root of the matter so I began a new series of clinical experiments.

My plan was to begin with a clinical trial using the methods of the 4^th, 5^th and 6^th editions of the Organon and compare the results over a longer period of time. This meant I would evaluate the results of using the centesimal potency in a dry dose as suggested in the first edition of The Chronic Diseases (1828) and the 4^th Organon (1829) with the results using the medicinal solution and split-doses of the 5^th Organon (1833) and the preface of the Chronic Diseases (1837). This trial was conducted during a period of over one year when I was treating hundreds of patients in free clinics During this process I began to investigate the mysterious 50 millesimal potencies of the 6^th Organon (c. 1842-43) and compare their actions with the C potencies.

The Case Management Procedures of the 4^th Organon

In the 4^th Organon of the Healing Art the Founder gave careful rules regarding the repetition of the remedy and perfected what may be called “the single dose wait and watch method”. This approach is clearly explained in aphorisms 242, 243, 244 and 245. By this time, Hahnemann moved away from the use of the drop dose of the pharmaceutical liquid and taught that the size of the dose should be kept as small as possible yet still large enough to be effective. For this purpose he suggested that one drop of pharmaceutical liquid be placed on a great number of tiny poppy-seed size pellets. Then the patient could be given 1 or 2 of these tiny pellets dry. The Founder begins his discourse in aphorism 242 by explaining that the remedy should not be repeated until the action of the previous dose had ceased.

“So long, then, as the progressive amendment resulting from the dose continues, it must at least be admitted that, in this case, the action of the remedy has not yet ceased, and consequently no other medicine should be prescribed.”

The Homeopathic Medical Doctrine or The Organon of the Healing Art; S. Hahnemann (Translation of the 4th Organon by Charles H. Devriant, 1833), Aphorism 242.

In this passage Hahnemann clearly explains that as long as there is a progressive improvement one must assume that the duration of the remedy still continues. As long as the patient is getting better in any way the repetition of any medicine whatsoever is forbidden. Hahnemann continues by explaining that the improvement produced by a well-selected remedy may continue for an intermediate period after the duration of the remedy ceases. He notes that the symptoms of the diseases that have been truly cured will not return, and an increase in health will be observable for some time even without additional medicine. At some point, however, all this improvement will come to a standstill and then there may be a relapse of the symptoms. This is a clear sign that the remedy duration has ceased and the time has come to repeat the remedy.

The Middle Path

During Hahnemann’s time, as today, there was great disagreement in the homeopathic world between the “conservatives” who used the single dose, wait and watch method exclusively and the “liberals” that tended to repeat remedies by preconceived schedules on most patients. The first group will not repeat the remedy until they are sure that the duration of the previous dose has completely ceased and the second repeat the remedy without considering the action of any particular dose whatsoever. Although these two groups are practicing in opposite modes they both claim success, and to be truthful certain difficulties are apparent with both techniques. Those using the single dose wait and watch method often proceed so slowly that the patient becomes disappointed and leaves, while those using mechanical repetition move so fast they produce aggravations and accessory symptoms that drive people away. Hahnemann was well aware of the debate being carried on around him and in secret he was working to overcome the problems associated with both methods.

The Chronic Diseases (1828) and the 4^th Organon (1829) present Hahnemann’s final views on the single unit dose and the wait and watch method. The only exceptions to the single dose wait and watch method was presented in The Chronic Diseases where Hahnemann suggests administering the remedy in divided doses in aqueous solution over a three day period, rather than the single dose of globules.

“In cases where the physician is certain as to the homeopathic specific to be used, the first attenuated doses may also be dissolved in about 4 oz. of water by stirring it, and one third may be drunk at once, and the second and third portions on the following days; but it should each time be again stirred so as to increase the potency and thus to change it. Thereby the remedy seems to take a deeper hold on the organism and hasten the restoration in patients who are vigorous and not too sensitive.”

The Chronic Diseases Their Peculiar Nature and Their Homeopathic Cure; S. Hahnemann (Theoretical Part), Psora, footnote, page 217.

In this method one or two pellets of the remedy are placed in four ounces of water and stirred well to slightly raise the potency just prior to administration. This slight change of the potency level alters the remedy so that the organism never receives the exact same dose twice in succession. In this passage Hahnemann is already pointing toward a future where the single dose and split doses will be united in a grander vision of a unified posology strategy.