Homeopathy :: Hahnemannian Principles – Are they still true?

This article is intended for those who do not take complete faith in Hahnemannian Principles and advocate their own imaginary theories. They use a number of mother tinctures and medicines indiscriminately, sometimes mixed together and in drop doses in the name of homoeopathy.

The basic principles of homoeopathy are:

– Similia similibus curentur.
– Cito, tuto et jucundo or simili, simplex, minimum i.e. smallest dose of the medicine having pathogenesis similar to the disease to be cured, in its simple form (in the form the medicine has been proved in healthy provings).

Apart from the Organon of Medicine, Hahnemann has time and again explained the natural laws of cure he found out during his research and his experience, in his various writings, stressing the truthfulness of these principles – Homoeopathy.

Hahnemann is the first physician who used the word cure giving it the specific meaning and defined it thus:

“The highest ideal of cure is rapid, gentle and permanent restoration of the health, or removal and annihilation of the disease in its whole extent, in the shortest, most reliable, and most harmless way, on easily comprehensible principles.” (Organon, ?2)

Though this word (cure) has been used and is still in use by the other system of medicine, but only meaning as treated. When after the treatment a patient is discharged from a hospital, they write cured in his discharge slip against Result: often the patient has to be admitted again due to relapse of the disease a short time afterwards.

In the field of homoeopathy, it is a general notion these days that every thing has much changed during past two centuries, since the time of Hahnemann. The practitioners who advocate this notion practice under the banner of homoeopathy, but do not take faith in the Hahnemannian Principles. No doubt, a revolutionary advancement has taken place in the field of physical sciences, electronics, etc., etc. But, is there any change has occurred in the processes of nature or in the processes of life? They are the same as ever. Therefore the notion of change bears no meaning where processes of life are concerned.

In the nature the germination of the seeds is taking place in same natural manner, as ever. Every creature (including man) comes into the world, grows and ultimately dies in a certain pattern of its own since the evolution of its life.

There are two essential parts of life the one is its physical being (organism) and the second is the dynamic being (Hahnemann called it the vital force, vital principle, dynamis or autocracy). When both beings exist simultaneously only then there is existence of life.

Hahnemann writes:
“The material organism, without the vital force, is capable of no sensation, no function, no self-preservation; (It is dead, and now only subject to the power of the external physical world; it decays, and is again resolved into its chemical constituents) it derives all sensation and performs all the functions of life solely by means of the immaterial being the vital force which animates the material organism in health and in disease.” (Organon, ?10)

The above statement clearly states that the vital force, vital principle, dynamis or autocracy is solely responsible for the processes of life in health as well as in disease. This fact has not ever changed a hair’s breadth.

Health of any individual remains normal so long as the vital force remains in perfect order (Hahnemann has defined the health in ?9 of the Organon). But as soon as this vital force of any individual gets disordered under the influence of some morbid energy inimical to life, the processes of life become deviated in some peculiar manner according to the nature of that morbid energy; which is represented by the vital force through various painful and unusual sensations and feelings. This deviation is called the “disease”. If this disorder is not checked and brought to order promptly (through the law of cure – Homoeopathy) pathological, radiological and bacteriological changes take place. The various kinds of pollutants, use of synthetic materials in food and medicines, stresses of modern age, unnatural mode of living etc. definitely play their role in aggravating the disease. Yet properties of the vital force are unchanged, as it continues to try to preserve the life processes in the organism or the body.

Regarding the diagnosis of the disease Hahnemann says:
“The unprejudiced observer – well aware of the futility of transcendental speculations which can receive no confirmation from experience – be his powers of penetration ever so great, takes note of nothing in every individual disease, except the changes in the health of the body and of the mind (morbid phenomena, accidents, symptoms) which can be perceived externally by means of the senses; that is to say, he notices only the deviations from the former healthy state of the now diseased individual, which are felt by the patient himself, remarked by those around him and observed by the physician. All these perceptible signs represent the disease in its whole extent, that is, together they form the true and only conceivable portrait of the disease.” (Organon, ?6)

In cases of chronic diseases past and family histories of the patients are also required to be enquired in, to complete the picture of the disease to be cured.

Today the scientists have developed very sophisticated instruments by the help of which even minutest changes in the interior of the body can be detected, but what Hahnemann perceived nearly two centuries ago still holds true, in respect to accomplish cure in its true sense. Hahnemann says about the inquiry into the process of homoeopathic healing:
“We have no means of reaching with our senses or of gaining essential knowledge, as to the process of life in the interior of man, .. .. ..
for the changes in living organic subjects have nothing in common with those taking place in what is inorganic, since they take place by processes entirely different .. .. .. ; for it its only incumbent upon us to cure similar symptoms correctly and successfully, according to a law of nature which is being constantly confirmed; but not to boast with abstract explanations, while we leave the patients uncured; for that is all which so-called physicians have hitherto accomplished.” (Preface to fourth volume, Chronic Diseases; vol. 1)

The first duty of the physician is to elicit the complete picture of the disease to determine what is to be cured in the case in hand; the second part of the duty is to acquire the knowledge of the instruments of cure. Hahnemann says in Organon, ?105:
“The second point of the business of a true physician relates to acquiring a knowledge of the instruments intended for the cure of the natural diseases, investigating the pathogenetic power of medicines, in order, when called on to cure, to be able to select from among them one, from the list of whose symptoms an artificial disease may be constructed, as similar as possible to the totality of the principal symptoms of the natural disease sought to be cured. ”

Hahnemann has stressed the importance of finding out the pathogenetic powers of the medicinal substances and their use on the basis of similia. In the preface to Opium, (para 2, Materia Medica Pura, vol. II) he writes:
“………..But as homoeopathy concerns itself only with whole, undivided medicinal substances, as they exist in the natural state, and aims at the simplest mode of preparing them, in which all their constituents shall be uniformly dissolved and develop their medicinal powers, and as it looks only to healing and not to injuring human beings, consequently it does not, like the new pharmacy, consider it an honor to prepare from opium the most painlessly and quickly killing substance (Morphium aceticum); …………….”

He has given similar explanations at various places under various medicines. In Organon he says:
“The whole pathogenetic effects of the several medicines must be known; that is to say, all the morbid symptoms and alterations in the health that each of them is especially capable of developing in the healthy individuals must first have been observed as far as possible, before we can hope to be able to find among them, and to select, suitable homoeopathic remedies for most of the natural diseases.” (Organon, ?106)

Out of his experience Hahnemann writes:
“As it is now no longer a matter of doubt that the diseases of mankind consist merely of groups of certain symptoms, and may be annihilated and transformed into health by medicinal substances, but only by such as are capable of artificially producing similar morbid symptoms (and such is the process in all genuine cures), hence the operation of curing is comprised in the three following points:
I. How is the physician, to ascertain what is necessary to be known in order to cure the disease?
II. How is to gain knowledge of the instruments adapted for the cure of the natural disease, the pathogenetic powers of the medicines?
III. What is the most suitable method of employing these artificial morbific agents (medicines) for the cure of natural disease?”

Whoever practices homoeopathy according to the Hahnemannian principles finds wonderful and encouraging results even in the present era of highly polluted environments, synthetic substances in food and powerful drugs of the modern era.

In various cases of different kinds of infections where most modern antibiotics had failed I have achieved hilarious results from minute doses of indicated simple homoeopathic medicines. For example, I may be allowed to quote a case from my case records in short:
A lady about 50 years old got her left thigh crushed under a car she was being treated in a Nursing Home, most modern antibiotics failed to dry her large wound in a span of two months, the surgeon wanted to do the skin grafting but a great quantity of slimy matter was oozing from the wound it was so copious that a dressing by thick wad of cotton wool used to soak completely in 24 hours. At this stage when he accepted his failure my help was sought. A few doses of Hypericum and Silicea in high potency dried up the wound in only eight days. The treatment was started on 2nd May ’91 and the grafting was done on 10th May, ’91. To the surprise of the surgeon the grafting took very nicely, when the dressing was removed after four days.

In cases of various kinds of terminal cases of cancers where modern empirical treatment was carried out at reputed hospitals and ultimately the cases were left on their fate, minute doses of simple homoeopathic medicines selected on the indications present, relieved the patients to a great extent. Thereafter, so long such patients lived felt at ease and finally passed away peacefully. The clinical diagnosis of such cases was:
– squamous cell carcinoma of different parts (tongue, cheek etc.),
– surgical obstructive jaundice, cause, cancer of gall bladder and secondaries of liver,
– multiple myeloma (to extent of pathological fracture),
– etc., etc.

I may be allowed to quote in short one more case where the so called modern method of treatment failed to even check the progress of the disease. It is a case of Cerebellar Degeneration.
The patient is a Senior Medical officer of 42 years age himself. He had been suffering since 1983. His speech, muscular co-ordination, balance of the body and voluntary responses all gradually went out of gear to a great extent. When he came to me on 7-3-1996, his speech was unintelligible, he was unable to walk without assistant, yet he was staggering. He expressed that if the progress of his disease could be stopped at the present stage, he would be highly grateful. By the minute doses of simple homoeopathic medicines he promptly started improving.
In such advanced and much complicated cases we have to proceed like a relay race.
So, in a span of six years following medicines were used singly at long intervals:
Sulphur 1M (one dose), Carbon sulf. 30 and 200, Bufo rana 200 and 1M, Syphilinum 1M (one dose) and 10M (one dose), Phos. 200, 1M and 10M, Phos. ac. 200 and 1M, Baryta carb. 1M, Conium mac. 1M.
The patient has recently written the following in a paper (Meditrack 1st July 2002 – Ludhiana):
“I am a doctor serving as Senior Medical Officer in P. C. M. C. and suffer from Cerebellar Degeneration. After reading about Dr Mamgain in a reputed journal, I opted for his treatment. His drug worked like miracle. My speech, imbalance and co-ordination of muscles improved and the progress (of disease) has considerably slowed down.
I shall request my brothers and sisters who are suffering from Cerebellar degeneration, Parkinsonism & Alzheimer’s disease, etc., etc. to try homoeopathy.
.. ..
sd.-
Dr. Rajiv Asthana
Hoshiarpur

Experience has shown that the homoeopathic medicines prescribed in minute doses in their simple form (in the form they were proved) on the similarity of symptoms work wonders universally, in acute as well as in chronic diseases. Hence the Hahnemannian principles are still true.

“Doon Ratna” Dr. S. K. MAMGAIN Gold Medalist
MAMGAIN HOMOEO CLINIC
218, D. L. ROAD, DEHRA DUN – 248001
Phone No. 91135 656578
E mail – drmamgain@vsnl.net


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