by Livia Tiba, Classical Homeopath
About Dr. Samuel Hahnemann – Founder of Homeopathy
Dr. Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), was a great intuitive and outstanding medical researcher, who dedicated whole his life in discovering and developing the science and art of Homeopathy. I will mention here that nothing truly new and worthy was added to Homeopathy after his time.
He wrote and published six editions of “The Organon of Medicine” and companion editions of “The Chronic Diseases” exposing the laws and principles that form the base of Homeopathy. These expose the results and his extensive explanations of the continuous ongoing research and close clinical observations.
He continuously strived to find better solutions to make Homeopathy act more effectively and gently on our body constitution. His ideal was to achieve a “gentle, rapid and permanent cure” of diseases, which actually he succeeded by the end of his life.
Dry Dose Homeopathy
After many trials and clinical observations, in the effort to develop a more efficient and gently acting method, he changed the dose from drops of alcohol based potencies to medicated dry little pills. The drop doses of alcohol based potencies proved to be too strong for the constitution. He used one drop of the alcohol based potency to medicate 500 poppy-seed size pills, so the dose was dropped by 1/500 of the early used dose. Meanwhile, he also experimented increasing the potency from the low potencies to 30C. (Read about potencies at http://www.thegentlecure.com/html/q_a.html#HerbH )
In the 4th “Organon of Medicine”, published in 1829, he was practicing using the single unit dry dose of one or two poppy-seed size remedy pills, placed on the tongue. After the single dose he will observe the patient for a period of time, to asses the remedy’s action. This method is named ‘wait and watch method’ based on principles of minimal intervention and the minimal dose. The majority of today’s homeopaths are still practicing based on this method.
Getting to the Medicinal Solutions
Hahnemann was not completely satisfied with this method as it could still produce strong aggravations, especially when repeated too early. Also, waiting for a total relapse of symptoms lead to delaying the cure. Even with slow progressive improvement in symptoms, too early repetition leaded to aggravation.
The variety of people’s sensitivity and diseases called for more flexibility in adjusting the dose. He needed a better delivery system.
In 1837, in his book “The Chronic Diseases”, he wrote:
“Nevertheless the incredible variety among patients as to their sensitivity, their age, their spiritual and bodily development, their vital powers, and especially in the nature of their disease necessitates a great variety in their treatment, and also in the administration to them of the doses of medicine.”
In 1833 he published the 5th Organon where he introduced the method of freshly succussed medicinal solution in split doses. He has been experimented by now the uses of medicinal solution obtained by dissolving 1-2 poppy-seed size pills in 4-8 oz of water and give the dose in teaspoons.
He also observed that the organism cannot receive successive doses of exactly the same dose of the well chosen remedy, without causing an aggravation. After the first dose that was homeopathic to the case, the vital force is not anymore in the same position or condition; it already progressed on the way to health and the exact same dose is not indicated anymore. He realized that the next dose should be dynamically modified from the previous one in order to keep up with the changes of the vital force on the way to recovery.
“Before proceeding, it is important to observe, that our vital principle cannot bear well that the same unchanged dose of medicine be given even twice in succession, much less more frequently to a patient. …But in taking one and the same medicine repeatedly (which is indispensable to secure the cure of a serious chronic disease) if the dose is in every case varied and modified only a little in its degree of dynamization, then the vital force of the patient will calmly, and as it were willingly, receive the same medicine even at the briefest intervals, very many times in succession with the best results, every time increasing the well being of the patient. This slight change in the degree of dynamization is even effected, if the bottle which contains the solutions of one or more pellets is merely well shaken five or six times.”
The dynamically changed remedy, in medicinal solution, will be easily and more calmly accepted by the vital force even at shorter intervals than in dry doses, increasing the patient well-being, with every dose, and speeding up the cure.
Exposing research in the 5th and 6th Organon of Medicine
He continued to search for better solutions and since the publication of “The 4th Organon of Medicine” in 1829, over the next fourteen years Homeopathy went through a dramatic transformation. He introduced several innovations in regard to the delivery system and discovered the millesimal potency system (LM) which produced outstanding results.
In 1842, few months before his death, the 6th Organon was ready for publication, exposing these latest researches. Unfortunately, it was not made available until 80 years later, in 1921. At this point the homeopathic world was well established based on the 4th Organon methods with its ‘wait and watch method’. Unfortunately, after so many years, homeopaths lost interest in the last and most astonishing Hahnemannian work.
This is the principal reason why, today, the majority of classical homeopaths are practicing based on the 4th Organon and only a small group of homeopaths are practicing based on the 5th and 6th Organon.
The medicinal solution doses proved to act more gently and more effectively on our body constitution. They are able to effect more rapid cures, clearly being superior to the dry dose method of the 4th Organon.