44 T H E B R I T I S H : I I O M ( ~ O P A T H I C J O U R N A L

HOMG~0PATHY AN ALLIED SCIENCE, NOT A RIVAL CULT

By D. M. GIBSON, M.B.(Lond.), F.R.C.S.E.

HOM(EOPATHY should be recognized for what it is, namely an ally to other forms of therapy, a most valuable and well tried and attested method of treating diseased states.

The aim of all doctors, nurses, and members of allied professions, is a single one or, perhaps, one might say, a triple one---the cure of disease, the alleviation of suffering, and the prevention of sickness. The last named includes the tssk of the promotion and maintenance of good health.

On all these counts homceopathy comes in with notable effect as has b('en amply demonstrated by the records of actual cases over a period of more than a century.

I t is being increasingly realized that in the matter of the cure of systemic disease the most essential fact is that, for ultimate success, the patient must cure himself. What is accomplished by any effective therapeutic procedure is the stimulation or assistance of the vital biological resources ef the body- - the power of the tissues to resist bacterial or virus invasion, to repair cell damage, to maintain growth and sustain health. Chemotherapeutic agents are said to take effect largely by their power of bacteriostasis, the power to inhibit the multiplication of organisms within the tissues, thus enabling the natural, or acquired, resistance of the body to deal with the infection and stamp it out. Chemotherapeutic agents are, however, not without their risks in liability to cause tissue damage, especially in hypersensitive individuals. Their beneficial effect, nevertheless, resides in their ability to assist materially the natural dcfence mechanisms of the body.

In the treatment of tuberculosis the whole technique of modern treat- ment-- tota l rest, pulmonary collapse therapy, graded exercise, and allied measures--is based on the assumption that the body defences can deal with the infection in most cases if given a reasonable chance, i f the patient lacks the necessary ability to cure himself all treatment is in vain.

Immunology in all its forms is based on the intent to stimulate the forma- tion of antibodies within the tissues so that the body can prepare its own defences against the specific organisms involved.

This principle of preventing or curing disease by assisting the inherent resources of the body is the very forts el origo of homoeopathy. The method had its birth in the days when disease was treated by clumsy, wholesale, and indiscriminate blecdings, blisterings, drenchings and purgings with potions, Which often contained a multiple hcterogeny of drastic drugs. Against the futility and folly, even inhumanity, of such procedures the penctrathag mind of Hahncmann rebelled. The more he thought about it the more he became convinced that disease and diseased states were systemic, the result of the presence of a miasm, or infection, within the tissues, affecting the whole body metabolism in general and individual organs in particular. Furthermore he believed that the cure of such diseased states must be from within and by stimulation of the vital resources of the body itself. He emphasized the idea of the single remedy, in contrast to the "blundcrbus" prescriptions of the time, and also laid great stress on the need to discriminate between one type of constitution and another in the employment of the remedy. In other words he sought to treat not the disease, as per label, but the sick individual as an entity possessing individual and specific reactions and susceptibilities requiring specific and particular remedial stimulus. How sound was this principle is being demons~r~;ted more clearly every day in our own time by means of research facilities which were, of course, totally non-existent in t tahnemann's day.

In endeavouring to treat sickness according to this intrinsic and

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individualistic principle Hahnemann found an application for the law of similars, namely that, if material of any kind on introduction into the body in substantial doses should cause certain observable symptoms and effects, the same material in minute dose and finely divided state would tend to cure sickness showing a similarity in symptoms. He found in effect that this was so : moreover that the more finely divided the particulate matter became the more potent it was in stimulating beneficial bodily reactions.

Since that day to this, more and more substances, having observable effects when taken in material doses by healthy individuals, have been found to be efficacious when employed in potentized form in the treatment of disease states characterized by similar signs and symptoms. There is a wealth of recorded evidence of disease symptoms that have yielded to indicated remedies of corresponding type. For well over a hundred years the method has not only been employed but has been found to work and give results, both in acute and in chronic disease.

Hahnemann was not content with the relief of symptoms in acute disease. He felt convinced that in many instances, although the body seemed able to overcome an acute disease, that is as regards immediate symptoms, there were too often persisting states of sub-acute and chronic disease and that these resulted from a residuum of infection that the body had not been able to over- come and eliminate. From this he progressed to the claim that remedies prepared homccopathically from actual disease tissues and given in potentized form would in all probability providc a stimulus that would enable the body to deal with this residuum of disease or infection and clear it up. Consequently he prepared remedies from actual disease material and called the preparations " nosodes ", a very apt and inclusive term. These preparations have proved of immense value in cases of chronic disease and have often cleared up a whole syndrome of symptoms that depended on the residual tox~emia left over from a previous infection, or even present from birth as an inherited disease taint.

In recent years quite a number of fresh " nosodes " have been prepared from cultures of organisms present in various disease states. These have proved to be of great value, not so much in the treatment of the corresponding disease in its acute state, when the available defence forces of the body are already mobilized, as in chronic disease states resulting from old infections. They have also proved of value in prophylaxis, and in lingering acute infections when the symptoms were not yielding as expected to the indicated remedy.

At the present time much is heard of psycho-somatic disease. I t is being increasingly realized that mental and emotional factors are of immense significancc in health and disease. The effect of emotional stress on cardio- vascular reactions and hormone secretion, to mention two well-proven examples, may produce tissue changes of far-reaching importance. In a recent address on the nature of cancer, Dr. F. Peyton Rous is quoted as saying, " Hormones are not themselves carcinogenic, but they bring the tissues upon which they act into such a disordered and excited state that neoplastic changes take place." Those in contact with tuberculous patients cannot but be impressed with the enormous importance of mental and emotional reactions in relation to the progress of the individual towards recovery. The cheerful, confident, contented people are the ones who get on top of their infection. Thc apprehensive, impatient, rcstlcss, and resentful patients usually do not do well.

This vital inter-relationship between mental and somatic health has from the very start been stressed in the practice of homceopathy. In assessing the significance of the various findings in any particular case with a view to selection of the most indicated remedy the mental characteristics are given precedence. Thorough and detailed case-taking and examination are, of course, always necessary for accurate diagnosis. In the homceopathic approach even the minutest, and at times apparently irrelevant, details are of special significance from the point of view of prescribing, of selecting the appropriate

46 T H E B R I T I S H H O M ( E O P A T H I C J O U R N A L

remedy. The totality of symptoms must always be considered. Amongst these the mental and emotional features peculiar to the patient are ranked high. I t is also noteworthy that in disordered mental states, anxiety neuroses, depressive states, lack of emotional balance, the employment of homceopathic therapy is amazingly effective.

Another fact that is becoming more and more pertinent in connection with modern forms of treatment is the individual response both to infection and to drug-therapy. In the ever-widening field of so-called " allergy " the matter of individual idiosyncrasy is right in the forefront of the picture and the problem. The sinister shadow of unwelcome, and often unpredictable, catas- trophe that lurks at the elbow of the physician in the shape of such reactions as anaphylactic shock, toxic agranulocytosis, post-inoculation encephalitis or hepatitis, owes its existence to this very fact, the strange susceptibility to or hypersensitivity of certain individuals to specific substances.

That the remedy should be suited to the individual ms such and not merely to the type of infection or pathological change present has from the start been a guiding rule in homceopathy. In this way the risk of untoward reactions can be reduced to a minimum.

Not only in acute and chronic disease is homceopathic therapy of immense service but in the matter of health promotion and disease prevention it has a wide scope. Quite apart from the specific value of the nosodes it is a fact o f experience that the exhibition of a suitable homceopathic remedy will not only clear up symptoms but engender a state of improved health and enhanced resistance to disease, including the " common cold "

Medicine cannot afford to neglect or discount such an ally in its age-long fight with disease and in its more modern campaign for better health.

The practice of homceopathy is an art and as such is exacting and demands the full-time and relentless application of its professors. That the minute, extremely finely divided, particulate portion of matter in the homceopathic remedy is potent to heal is a fact of proven experience. The explanation is still to find but it probably lies in the realm of bio-physics, and there are indications that more may be known soon. Research along the lines of radio- activity is being carried out. In the meantime there can be no excuse for denying to suffering mankind the benefits of a method of therapy that combines effectiveness with gentleness of action and prolonged response.