THE HISTORY AND FOUNDER OF HOMOEOPATHY
In 1970 Mathur said that Dr Hahneman ".....was a believer and lover of truth ...... bold enough to speak the truth because he had the courage of his convictions. He wanted to know how ... drugs act and cure disease....what is to be cured and how cure occurs....why disease became chronic...(and) what are the obstructions to cure..."(Hahnemann and Dudgeon, 1970 p V)
Samuel Hahnemann was born in Germany in 1755 and he was 88 years old when he died on the second of July 1843 . He was born to poor parents and spent his entire lifetime studying and searching for answers. Throughout his life he was to become a physician, alchemist, pharmacologist, pharmacist, linguist and father of homoeopathy. His early education came from his father who was a porcelain painter. Later he was to enter into formal education primarily through the influence and assistance of a master of the Meissen school who saw the potential of young Hahnemann's capability and desire of knowledge.
Hahnemann became fluent in six languages during his studies and was granted a doctorate degree in medicine in 1779 - twelve months later he qualified as a chemist. He began practicing medicine in 1782 in Gommern only to become disillusioned with allopathic medicine, after two years practice, when many of his patients were not healed but displayed returning symptoms and illness. Even though he was an acclaimed physician at this time he turned his back on his medical practice and returned to literary work in Liepzig. Unknown to Hahnemann this rejection of allopathic medicine was the turning point of his life and the start of his tremendous, life long endeavour, to find clarity and truth about disease and healing modalities.
It was throughout the course of translating Cullens Materia Medica, that Hahnemann read that when the herb Cinchona Officianalis was taken in toxic doses the symptoms of intermittent fever was produced. He wondered whether he could produce altered sensations in himself if he took cinchona bark whilst in good health (Herring 1991). He made his first proving in 1790 and identified a group of symptoms exactly similar to those he had when he suffered from intermittent fever twenty years previous in Siebenburgen. He repeated the experiment a number of times and found that when he stopped taking it (after showing toxic effects) he got well. This systematic and scientific approach was to stand him in good stead for future proving/ work. Right up to 1820 Hahnemann personally observed the proving of every drug he experimented with and he began to identify the idea that each drug/ herb when taken created associated and particular symptoms. He argued that taking a drug, which had similar symptom capability, could cure the symptoms in disease. He was to say "... for the totality of the symptoms of the case of disease, a medicine which among all medicines (whose pathogenic effects are known from having being tested on healthy individuals) has the power and the tendency to produce an artificial morbid state most similar to that of the case of the disease in question" (Organon of Medicine, 1842). This idea of like cure like was in line with Hypocrites philosophy and Hahnemann often stated his esteem of Hypocrites.
His findings prompted him to write an essay, which he named 'A new principle' and published in 1796. In this he outlined his findings and formulated the foundation of homoeopathic philosophy even though he knew it was not the complete picture. His allopathic colleagues shunned this essay. Also a lot of his future work, eg his scarlet Fever remedies that cured a plague was outrightly ridiculed. He became dejected and his despondency was clear when he said " Now, once more, at the end of the century that has just expired, my zeal for the welfare of mankind misled me to announce a prophylactic remedy for one of the most destructive of children's diseases, Scarlet Fever. Scarcely a fourth part of the number I might have expected subscribed for it. The lukewarm interest shown for such an important affair discouraged me, and I arranged that the subscribers should receive a portion of the medicine itself, in order to satisfy them, in case my book on the subject should not be published." (The Lesser Writings of Samuel Hahnemann, 1990 pp 365-366). Despite his despondency he continued to forge ahead with his work even in the face of public ridicule. Up to that time he had been using mother tinctures to gain his proving, as he had not yet discovered dynamisation, attenuation and succussion.
When he did discover dynamisation he explained it as "... a process by which the medicinal properties, which lay latent in natural substances while in their crude state, become aroused and then become enabled to act in an almost spiritual manner on our life." (The chronic diseases Vol 1 1828p X1X) He meant that through the process of dynamisation a substance releases its latent inert properties which could not otherwise be present in a useful form and it is these energy properties, which is the medicinal portion of the substance. For example if we ingest a lump of iron, apart from having a stomach ache, no adverse effect would be noticed. However once the iron has been dynamised and administered a number of symptoms appear on various tissues. Through dynamisation the iron would be crushed and it's physical property partially destroyed but not its energy, for the law of conservation states that if matter is destroyed the energy is released. Hahnemann argued that it must follow that we obtain this energy, it can be used to interact with the energy of the human body. He thus conceived drugs as having a force, which is capable of altering the state of health through dynamic action on the human vital force/energy.
Hahnemann believed that the human body contained a vital force, which enabled it to function - he applied three names intermittently to this force:
1/ vital force
2/ dynamics
3/ energy
He believed that without this vital force humans would not be alive. This theory is in line with the modern day theories, which states that matter and energy are interconvertible, with the former appearing as a condensation of the latter. Sundararjan in 1980 said, "... we realise that in the evolutionary process energy, matter and life form a linear sequence. This trinity is the basis of the evolution of mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms, which are the integral components of our physical universe. Thus matter and life are two different dynamic expressions of the same vital cause namely ENERGY"(p A.2.5) Sundararjan's statement is based on experiments conducted in the last two decades in the twentieth century. The findings from these experiments showed that energy can neither be created nor destroyed but can only be transformed from one form to another - as per the law of conservation of energy. This supports Hahnemann's 19th century concept that if the body is stuck down with illness it's vital force must also be affected. He maintained that if the vital force is deranged the remainder of the body or the physical aspect would not be in harmony, thus portraying illness from which we could identify symptoms. He explained that if the deranged vital force effects certain tissue symptoms and a dynamised drug produced certain tissue symptoms that correlate to that deranged force then the energies would repel each other. Naturally the stronger force will repel the other so the vital force will become stronger to fight the disease thus a balanced energy will prevail and stimulate the body's vital force to return to a normal state. As Dhawale (1980) succinctly said " Homoeopathic medicines act only as a catalyst agent and it is the vital force which cures" (p B.1.13).
Conventional allopathic practitioners also rejected Hahnemann's work on attenuation and it was not until 1827 that he published the principles and practice of attenuation in his Materia Medica Pura. In respect to attenuation he had found that if he diluted the mother tincture in a prescribed formula and succussed (redynamised) the solution he would develop a drug with stronger and more refined properties than the mother tincture. His allopathic colleagues argued that in order to increase the strength of a drug, larger and more concentrated amounts would have to be added, they could not understand how diluting a drug would make it better and stronger. Hahnemann explained that the answer was in the trituration or succussion process which aids in the releasing of further refined energies - some diseases having stronger energy forces than mother tincture thus a higher degree / level of energy is required for healing.
Hahnemann believed that his allopathic colleagues would understand his theories, philosophies and practices if they would only be more perceptive. He saw perception as the major skill required in understanding and applying his 'Similia Simulbus Curentur' (similar cures similar) concept. By this time he had refined Hippocrates' philosophy by incorporating the idea that practitioners needed to view the patient / individual as a whole and use only the smallest dose possible.
From 1796 to 1805 Hahnemann had been working on another essay, a compilation of his drug provings. The first series of volumes written in Latin, which outlined the symptoms from provings, was published in 1805 and was called Materia Medica Pura. The first volume contained 27 drugs and by 1821 six volumes had been completed containing symptoms of 61 drugs. His essay also published in 1805 was titled 'Medicine of Experience' which claimed that there was no limitation to the applicability of homoeopathic medicine. Most of his allopathic colleagues again shunned these works claiming they could not possibly work due to the dosage or potency of the medication. However some physicians did take up the challenge and applied his teachings - unfortunately the majority of these did not apply his laws in total and experimented with the drugs along allopathic lines. In order to assist these practitioners Hahnemann published his now famous 'Organon of Medicine' and the 1842 6th edition is today hailed as the Homoeopathic bible for philosophy and practice.
By 1820 Hahnemann had gathered 1820 were applying a number of faithful followers and his philosophy and practice worldwide. He had active practitioners in Austria and notable physicians in America and Europe who closely followed his teachings. People like Hering, Boenninghausen, Joerg, Nening, and others had found credence in his philosophy. His work had finally reached the stage where he had:
1/ medicinal agents.
2/ the philosophy
3/ practitioners apply his teachings in total.
Hering was to complement these teachings by formulating a law, which stated "All cures come from within out, from the head down and in the reverse order as the symptoms have appeared in the body". Hahnemann had been aware of these phenomena having seen evidence of it in patients with the reversal of illness but it was Hering who clarified this theory of symptoms and direction of cure.
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