etiology in homeopathy

DR. C. ROY M. A., HOMOEOPATH

Published by the Author

Hrishikesh Homeopathic Pharmacy

8 -A, Brindaban Basak Street, Hatkhola P. O., Calcutta., INDIA

Printed by Bashori Mohan Dey, at Paris Art Press, 38-A, Scott Lane, Calcutta.

1940

To

The Revered Memory

Of

My Beloved Father Late Bahu Hrishikesh Roy Whose Kind and Careful Guidance In My- Childhood

And Earnest Zeal for My Education In My Boyhood and Early Youth Have Made Me What I am.

This Little Volume is Respectfully Dedicated.

C. Roy;

This is a humble attempt to put together in a little volume all the important elements in Homeopathic Philosophy that are absolutely nece- ssary for a clear idea, comprehensive knowledge and thorough understanding of the Science and Art of Homeopathy. Without a proper knowledge and perfect control of the Etiology in Ilomoeopathg, drug-provings as recorded in our Materia Medica in dry detail will neither be fully understood, nor appropriately used. I personally felt the want of such a volume, and had to refer to various authors for my own satisfaction. As most of our students are not in a position to secure all these books, they often fail to have a clear first-hand knowledge on th^ subject. If this little work can in any way remove this crying need, I shall consider my labours amply rewarded.

Moreover, the book has been written in such a way that it will not only give, even outside the profession, a clear idea and deSnite knowledge of the elemental principles and doctrines in Homceo- pathic Philosophy but will also be a very pleasant reading and interesting study as a book on English literature.

As Health depends on Purity of Mind and Heart and as Sickness 3;and Suffering are due to viola- tion of Divine Laws, — Physical, Physiological, Biological, Moral and Religious, I have throughout

this little volume laid great stress on the absolute necessity of our leading a pure and chaste life if we are to enjoy health and happimss here below, and bliss and beatitude hereafter. To fulfil this end, to make ourselves fully impressive, and to make this dry and abstract subject quite full of life and interest we have often quoted from various standard authors, and freely inserted poetical quotations as they are very likely to throw a world of light on the intricate problems under discussion, as well as to supply our young readers with a store-house of precepts, aphorisms, and noble ideas and senti- ments that may help them materially in the purification of their mind and heart and in the formation of their character, and thereby to nip in the bud many of their physical ailments and consequent sufferings.

I shall be highly thankful to all those, both outside and inside the profession, who, by kindly pointing out the defects of this volume, are pleased to help in its improvement,

8/ A, Brindaban Basak Street “J

Hatkhola P. O., Calcutta. I C- Roy.

The 2nd. March, 1940. |

“We are like minnows in the creek trying to fathom the depths of the Ocean beyond.”-Plint-Theism.

The theory of causality is as old as the universe. Everything that exists does so because of its cause. None can conceive of an effect without having a simultaneous conception of its cause. This concept of causality is a very comprehensive term and includes in its connotation more ideas than one, but our present discourse of thought precludes its other side-issues, and we are here concerned mainly with its material (empiric) and dynamic aspects.

Now, from the standpoint of materialism^ rather I should say, empiricism which is only a refined and tasteful substitute, cause may be defined to be the invariable and unconditional antecedent, of which the effect is but the natural consequence ; in other words, the effect is only a transforma- tion of the cause under certain circumstances, in space and time. What existed as cause, now presents before our eyes as effect in an altered form ; aud in this transformation of cause into effect, various laws of the several Physical Sciences come into play, viz., the Law of Definite Propor- tions, the Law of Chemical Affinity, the Laws of Heat, Light and Electricity, the Law of Con- servation of Energy, and so forth. Though this School of thought often refers to some ^power’ or Torce’, existing in the effect and arising out of the Chemical combination or Mechanical modifica- tion of the various causal ingredients, yet the champions of this theory never acknowledge the separate existence, per se, of any ‘power% ‘force’ or ‘dynamis’, wffiich is beyond the jurisdiction of their five senses or allied aids, — the only means of acquiring knowledge worth the name or worth having. They argue — ^tvhat cannot be sensed can have no existence.'* This regrettable perversion of modern ‘Scientific’ mentality has been best described by Carlyle in his Essay on Signs of the Times, and I may be excused to reproduce his forceful statement. He says — “The science of the age is physical, chemi- cal, physiological ; in all shapes, mechanical. Nay, our whole Metaphysics itself, from Lockers time downwards, has been physical ; not a spiritual philosophy, but a material one. This condition of the two great departments of knowledge, — its out- ward, cultivated exclusively on mechanical princi- ples ; the inward, finally abandoned, because, culti- vated on such principles it is found to yield to no result, — sufficiently indicates the intellectual bias of our time, its all-pervading disposition towards that line of enquiry. In fact, an inward persua- sion has long been diffusing itself, and now and then even comes to utterance, “That, what cannot be investigated and understood mechanically, can not be investigated and understood at all.” In the eyes of these ^scientific’ people, thus materially or empirically ingrained, and, as a result thereof, entirely void of perception — the only mode of true vision, namely, seeing with the understanding, the real nature of disease can never flash its picture, but it remains, as it should do, ever and eternally unknown. They only see and are satisfied with the external and the ultimate, and take up the disease- effects to be the actual disease itself, as, in fact, nothing else can be sensed with their five senses, even with the most refined aid of the various up- to-date instruments and appliances. Out of this mistaken notion of disease, there arises the absurd and grotesque idea of the self-same patient suffering at one and the same time from various so-called ‘diseases’ which are not actually so many diseases but in reality the results, effects, ultimates, sensible embodiments in the organism of one and the same disease that has dominated the vital force and deranged its normal activities. With the adherents of such a misconception of disease, the causal idea thereof cannot but be of an allied nature. They trace causality to the inflowing into the system, through one or more of its openings, something material alleged to contain the disease-germ or disease-poison of an injurious and infectious nature, and definitely attribute it to this matter thus in- flowed, conveniently forgetting, as however they cannot, consistently with their system of thought, do otherwise, that it has no causative 'power, no crea- tive influence^ no propelling forces its natural state being that of inertia, rest^ quietude and silence. And here again, as in their conception of disease, they land us in an absolutely impossible situation^ the alleged cause essentially void of ‘force' or ‘power’ is still said to contain the ‘power^ or ’force’ to induce a morbid change in the economy, to derange its sensations and functions, and finally to produce the organic changes which they, however, designate, no doubt in keeping with their conception, as so many ‘diseases’ existing pari passu in the same sys- tem. Thus in brief is the fallacious theory of the Dominant School based on false premises and lead- ing to most contradictory conclusions. We have thought it desirable to enter into this preliminary discourse of their stand-point, so that our point of view, which we are now going to stud3% will be, by contrast, more lucid and clear, and its supreme excellence and unique merits more perfectly brought to light.

We, Homoeopaths, start on a fundamentally different basis which is quite in accord with the actual order of things in the universe. To make the matter clear, we have to discuss these points—

Introduction

5

(a) our conception of man, (6) our conception of disease, and © our conception of causality. Let us take up these seriatim : —

(a) Our conception of man : By man, we do not mean a mere chemical compound, his sensations and functions arising as a result thereof, as also the vital force. Our conception of man is that of an in-dwelling, reason-gifted spirit which you may call by the name of ‘Ego', ‘Self’ or ‘Soul’, as you like, and the vital force as a power subordinate to it but co-existent with the life of the bod}^ unlike the Ego or the Soul which survives its dissolution into the elements it came from. Thus, the vital force which pervades the body through and through, throbbing with every nerve — motor or sensory, and pulsating with every cell and capillary, however small and microscopic, is ?iot a mere by-product of physical laws and chemical affinity^ bat a separate force^ a dominant power that rnles the body from eentre to circumference and has absolute control over it, the Soul or the Ego being in too high a stratum spiritually to be interes- ted in such matters or to be touched by the usual affections of the body due to derangement of the vital force in the manner and by causes to be here- after discussed. We here take the liberity to call the vital force as the vice-gerent (not vice-regent, be it noted, which is a different concept altogether) of the Soul When we are in health, this vital force enjoys absolute freedom, all its activities are quite free and unhampered, as in fact — health means complete freedom. When we enjoy perfect health, we do not, so to speak, feel our bodily existence at all. We go on with our sensations and functions in such a normal way that their workings are not felt at all. Whenever there is any check, impedi- ment, hindrance or obstacle to this freedom of our sensations and functions, our attention is at once diverted to it, and the intensity of our feeling, usually painful, is according to the nature and volume of the obstacle in question. Now comes this question, Svhy this normal and free activity of the vital force is hampered at all f Originally, it was, of course, excluding the effects of heredity, quite free in its movements. What, then, led to its subsequent partial loss of freedom (we do not say complete, for that would mean death) ? The solution of these problems at once takes us to our discussion of the second point noted before, viz., —

Our conception of disease : The vital force is partially deprived of its free movements and activities, because of the derangement of its powers. It is no longer in its original state which was the state of complete freedom. It has now been diseased. It has lost its unhampered power of action, and it has now to work under certain impediments and checks which, in spite of its best endeavours, it is unable to overcome by its own unaided efforts. This impediment, this obstruction, this obstacle to the free and normal activities of the vital force is what wc mean by disease and the so-called ^diseases’ of the Dominant School, viz, various kinds of fevers, enlargement of liver and spleen, ovarian and uterine troubles, renal and cystic complaints, palpitation of the heart and blood pressure, head-ache and stomach-ache (dys- pepsia), and so forth, are either disease-effects, or mere outward sensible symbols of the disease, helping the physician in his diagnosis and prescrip- tion, and these outward and sensible manifestations are never intended by Nature herself to be taken as so many ^diseases’ for separate or conjoint treatment, locally by outward application or generally' by internal administration.

To put it briefly, then, disease is derangement of the vital force, and is of two kinds, — acute and chronic. Now, let us explain, in passing, the nature aijd peculiarity of acute anl chronic diseases. Unlike our Allopathic confreres, we attach very little importance to time to distinguish acute from chronic diseases. A disease of a day^s duration may even be chronic, while that continuing for a week or a month may still be acute, and mere duration is of little consequence to make out the distinction. The actual difference is this : an acute disease is one that has an inherent tendency to run out its course, has got a period of prodrome, of progress, and of decline, and, unless complicated by one or more of the chronic miasms, and provi- ded the patient is kept under strict hygienic rules, will in all probability leave the organism after the expiry of the stage of decline, though the patient, after the course of the acute disease is run over, may not be the same man as he or she was before the attack, so far as his or her physical and mental strength and stamina are concerned. But this is a different question altogether — weakness is one thing and disease, another. The former may be overcome by regulation of diet, exercise, etc, but the latter requires adequate physicking before it is removed. Acute disease, then, is self-healing, — it has a natural proneness and aptitude to heal itself, provided other cir- cumstances do not stand in the way. We may cite small-pox as a perfect type of ‘acute disease.’ But our chronic diseases are not of this nature — they have got no inherent tendency, no natural proneness, no innate aptitude to heal themselves, like acute diseases^ they too have got a period of prodrome, but the period of progress is not only indefinite, they have no declining stage at all, unless under the action and influence of suitable and appropriate remedies. If not duly and properly treated with appropriate medicine, these will gradually sap the foundation of the entire organism, finally bringing about its decay and death. There is another peculiarity ; the main causes of these chronic diseases do not come from without, but lie deep within the very organism itself and do not allow the diseases to run out their course, as in acute ones. These internal enemies are quite hidden within the organism, and, from their safe seclusion, are always ready with deadly weapons to attack and ruin the very organism itself, though there- in they live, move and have their being. These subtle adversaries are more than a match for the organism to overcome by its own unaided efforts, and if not duly assailed and destroyed with the help and assistance of a stronger ally — an appropriate remedy of a suitable potency, they are sure to overcome it and make a prey of it in the long run. These internal foes are Psora, Syphilis, and Sycosis. Their remote origin, rapid growth and extensive development through- out the big family of mankind will b^ fully dealt with in our discussion of the third point noted before, viz., our conception of causality.

© Our eonceptioH of causality. The concept of causality in our science is inseparably con- nected with some other allied concepts which require to be fully explained before Vire can understand it at all. These are the concepts of Substance, Chronic Miasm, Symptoms, Modalities, Desires and Aversions, Law of Sickness, Susceptibi- lity, etc, etc. The real meaning and significance of causality depending entirely on the clear, full and perfect understanding of these concepts, it is necessary that we should first explain and eluci- date, as clearly as possible, the meaning and significance of each of these latter j and when we have done so, our conception of causality will be automatically quite clear to our readers. We, therefore, take them up one by one.

First, the Concept of Substance. Now, let us see what substance really is. There was a heated discussion on the subject even in the very ancient times, and in this respect, Indian thought and Indian solution of the problem were the best and most consistent that reflec- tion and reason could arrive at. Our present object in view and space allowed forbidding, we r(egret we cannot enter into a thorough discussion of the problem of substance that en- gaged the acute attention of the various con- flicting Schools of Indian thought and philosophy, from the gross materialism of the Charvakas to the most refined Pantheism ( Vedantism ) of Sankaracharyya, and that pervaded the ancient Grecian atmosphere through and through, finding its most potent embodiment in the exquisite utterances and oral teachings of that martyr of a sage, Socrates, who, for his simplicity, love of learning and burning desire to regenerate his people, had to sacrifice his life by drinking the fatal hemlock. Indeed, such has ever been the world^s appreciative reward for those noble souls who dedicated their lives for its advance- ment and amelioration, purification and regene- ration. Such exactly was the fate of the foun- der of Christianity. The founder of Islam and the founder of Homeopathy had almost a similar fate : though not actually poisoned or put to the cross, they had to go through a life-long trial of tortures and tribulations at the hands of their very countrymen whose spiritual regene- ration and physical well-being were the only objects of their thoughts by day and their dreams at night.

Returning now from this digression to our main subject, we find the same problem of simple substance was, after Socrates, taken up by Plato, the greatest of his disciples, and then by the famous founder of that peculiar Nicomachcan Logic, Aristotle, each discussing the matter from his own standpoint. Since then many a thinker throughout the world have attempted to explain and elucidate the inscrutable nature of simple substance in their own peculiar way but for our present purposes, we shall consider here only the theistic — rather the i3antheistic view according to which a substance is a universal individualised, ~ an idea realised in the concrete. The concrete is what it is by reason of the moulding influence of the Idea or Substance. Substance, to be a Substance, must be in the objects, of which it is the essence, and not outside them. The Real or Substantial is not something beyond but inside the things which derive their reality from it. Without it, a thing has no meaning and no being. Thus, Substance, Form, Idea or Reality is not beyond the concrete and the individual; it is implicated in the very nature of the things of sense which acquire a meaning by reference to it. The Substance is, so to speak, the formative principle of things. The Substance is thus the actual, while the matter is but the potential; the former, operating in nature as a universal principle, moulds the latter according to its requirements and gives it the reality which it can possibly attain. A concrete substance is thus the merging of potentiality in actuality. Each concrete substance then has got an inner formative principle that moulds it and gives it the shape and size it is capable of having. From the apparently lifeless block of Silica to the beautiful living organism of man, that is from the very lowest to the highest order of existence, everything in this universe is sustained aiid kept in its place by the influence and working of this in-dwelling formative principle, this simple sub- stance. Our body is but the product and vehicle of our Thought, the external manifestation of the internal actuality* Hence it is that the body cannot but reflect the actual condition of the principle withiu. The disease is within — the dis- order is in the vital principle, 'fhe body which is but a sensible manifestation of the substance within, simply shows by signs and symbols what- ever change there appears in the normal workings of the latter. The body by itself can have no disease, as disease means want of order, want of freedom ; and these attributes cannot be referred to anything other than a simple substance. Even the popular conception of disease completely corrobo- rates this idea. It says — “I am ill, I have a head- ache, I have got a diarrhoea, etc.,” and what does this refer to ? Certainly not to the external phy- sical shape called 'body’, but to that internal essence that dwells within it, animates it and keeps it in existence. To put it in another way, disease is not in the physical material plane, but far beyond that ; itself being of the nature of simple substance, it affects the very simple sub- stance, — the internal spiritual force that pervades the body, as all action arid reaction postulate simi- larity^ if not identity y of the plane or stratum serving as the back-ground for such action and reaction. Hence, anything in a physical or material plane can never act or react on another in a spiritual plane. Now, it will be clear why the orthodox school of medicine speaks of the body being diseased, and not the spiritual vital force within, as all the alleged sick-making causes being material entities are only in the material plane and cannot, consis- tently with the postulates and axioms of the physical sciences, affect anything in a higher stratum.

So far we have shown generally that both the vital force^ and the disease that deranges its normal activities are simple substances. Now, let us specific cally deal with some of the most prominent attributes of simple substance that have immediate reference to our point of view.

1. Cohesion and Adaptation. There are two worlds — the world of thought or simple substance and the world of gross matter, and the admirable adaptation in the material world is due to this simple substance. All order, harmony and beauty in nature owe their origin to it, and they so exist because their maintaining cause continues to be inflowed in them. The death of organic bodies and the decay and dissolution of the inorganic mean nothing but their separation from the simple substance that brought them into existence, gave them a nice shape or body and allowed them to run their course in the most methodical and harmonious way, so much so that though the individual interests of the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms are quite different from one another, they never clash and conflict, far less collide, though all of them are eternally after the fulfilment of their own interests. This beautiful cosmos out of chaos, this unity in variety, would have never been possible at all but for the in- dwelling fulfilment of the simple substance. Now, look to our body. What is it ? Is it not a wonderful adaptation of individual parts for the beauty, harmony and excellence of the whole ? Each bone, each tissue, each cell, has got its own individual place in the economy, and individual function to perform, but the aggregate and joint functions

Introduction

of all the bones, tissues and cells never coipe into conflict or collide with one another • rather, the actions and functions of all are done in such a beautiful and harmonious way that they merge their individual differences in the universal good of the whole sj^stem and its complete harmony. All this is possible, — this harmonious welding to- gether of individual parts, this orderly method of sensations and functions of each and all the numerous individual organs, this nice adaptability of one organ for the easiest functioning of another — all this is possible, simply because of the in- dwelling essence whence this order, harmony, beauty and adaptability flow. Thus, in brief, is one of the attributes of simple substance : That it holds together the individual parts of concrete substances in the most beautiful and harmonious manner enabling each of such parts to go on with its peculiar functions without ever clashing or colliding with those of other parts, but all to- gether maintaining the harmony and beauty of the whole.

2. Pervasion. A simple substance pervades a concrete material body through and through : it is present in all its parts, however small and microscopic. Let us illustrate this principle by examples. Let us take a block of Silica. A block of Silica would not have been so but for the in- dwelling, or more properly, the pervading existence of the simple substance within. Had it , not been

so, the minute conceptual atoms making up the block would have never cohered together but have separated and fallen asunder, making it impossible for such a block to exist. It is because the simple substance pervades each and all the atoms of the block that they cohere at all and the block exists. Now, this principle of pervasion has an important bearing on our theory of medicine and of potentisa- tion. For medicinal purposes, we potentise, say, a grain of Silica, having a number of small atoms. From what has been already said, it is no doubt clear and quite evident that the visible, sensible, material atoms perse can have no power or potency but for the in-dwelling simple substance that per- vades them and in the act of potentisation we do not potentise the actual visible, material atoms themselves but their inherent power or potency due to the in-dwelling simple substance pervading them. Now, it is obvious that this process of potentisation, that is, increasing the degrees of power or raising the plane of potency to a higher level, is possible at all because the midicinal sub- stance to be potentised, essentially possesses the power, however low the original level or intensity may be. Had there been no such innate power at all, no amount of rubbing, triturating, shaking or concussing, would result in the production of the least show of power, not to speak of the actuality thereof. This is exactly the case in the natural production of conflagration in forests in a stormy

INTRODUCTION

weather. The branches of living trees (not neces- sarily dead and dry) coming in frequent and forcible contact with one another give birth to such a dread- ful fire as consumes the forest to a great extent, illustrating the principle of potentisation in the natural world, and showing how enormously in- creased the inherent power is by dynamisation. Ignition by friction of steel with a flint is also a common example of natural potentisation.

Thus, by the process of potentisation, we simply rouse the inherent power sleeping as it were in its dormant state but capable of infinite elevation and expansion, itself being of the nature of a simple substance. Hence it is that there is no limit to our potentisation. Had the medicinal substance been incapable of such infinite elevation and ex- pansion, •that is, had it not been a simple substance, there would have certainly been a limit to our potentising process, — there would have been ^^a thus far, and no further.’^ But that is not the case. We are quite at liberty to develop the medi- cinal virtues of our remedies to the extent of our requirements, and raise the limit of our potency as high as we like. This process of patentisation, let us repeat — as repetition often helps the understanding, is possible at all because the simple substance pervades the concrete material object through and through. Now, what is true of Silica is true of other objects. Among others, let us take up the

2

IS

human organism for a further verification of the principle of pervasion.

It goes without saying that the skeleton of our body is made up of a very large number of bones, admirably joined together by ligaments and tendons, and covered over with a tough fibrous membrane called the periosteum which serves the purpose of their outer coating. Then, throughout the whole skeleton there are innumerable glands, muscles, ner- ves, veins, arteries, capillaries, tissues and cells, all arranged in a harmonious way and protected first by the corium and then by the cuticle from any sudden external injury. Each of the above, while having an individual and separate existence of its own with an individual and separate function, is so wonderfully joined together with all the rest that whenever there is even the slightest injury to any of the cells, e.g., a tiny thorn pricked in the sole, all the rest of the body feels it in sympathy and directs its entire energy to remove the thorn and heal up the injured cell, if possible (and the need of medication coines in only after the failure of this attempt). Now, the body has got a legion of cells and only one of them has been injured 5 still the injury resounds and reverberates through the whole system, like an electric shock. How is this possible at all ? It is possible because each of the indi- vidual cells, while maintaining its individuality, is closely and inseparably connected with all the rest, because of the pervasion of the simple substance,

INTRODUCTION

the vital force, through each and all of them. As said before^ this vital force, so pervades the organism that it throbs with every cell of it, however small and microscopic. The necessory implications of this pervasion of the vital force are these : (a) The organism, though made up of so many parts, is still a complete and perfect whole ; (b) A disease, truly speaking, is not an affection of any of the parts forming the organism but pervaded the entire organism itself ^ and © our curative agents, to be curative, must be capable of working in the same plane as that of the simple vital force they are intended to cure, i.e., they themselves must be reduced to simple substances.

3. Formation and Construction. The simple sub- stance is essentially formative andl constructive. This wonderful world, with its universal order, harmony and beauty, is the creation of the Primary Simple Substance, or to put it in another way, the handiwork of God-our common Father. This noble sentiment has been so nobly expressed in the follow- ing lines that we are tempted to quote them:

Of all this wondrous world we see ;

Its glow by day, its smile by night.

Are but reflexions caught from Thee. Where’er we turn. Thy glories shine,

All things fair and bright are Thine

Sir Thomas Moore,

(The Italics are ours)

Thus, all the simple concrete objects of the

universe have derived their “life and light^^ from God, the Primary Source of all life and exis- tence, and all its constant wear and tear is being constantly repaired by the formative and constructive Principle within. Likewise, our vital substance, — the formative and constructive princi- ple within, is always after the repair of all wear and tear that our body may sustain during the odinary course of its existence, and after the removal of all lesion and injury — natural or mechanical, that it may have during such a course. But occasionally there comes a time when the vital force is unable, owing to reasons to be hereafter elaborated, either to repair this wear and tear or to remove this lesion and injury. Then and then only the question of medical help comes in.

4. Time^ Space and Weight, Time, space and weight connot be predicated of a simple substance, as it partakes of the nature of the Infinite : in other words, it is neither limited in time nor in space ; neither has it any weight at all. Thus, our vital principle has no time-limit — days, months and years have no duration for it, far less any limitation, whereas these latter have any meaning only with reference to our body. Similarly, it is not confined to any particular place in the body but co-exists and pervades the whole of it. We cannot say, the vital force resides in the brain, preferably in the cerebrum — the highest and noblest

INTRODUCTION

of all the organs, and not in the nostrils and the anus, as these latter always evacuate foul matter. But it should be remembered that the brain as well as the nostrils and the anus are going on with their functions because the vital principle is there in each case, and each of them would at once cease functioning as soon as it is away, i.e., in death. Nor has it any weight at all ; in other words, the weight of the body is not increased because of the indwelling vital substance. In case of need, it may be verified by comparing the weight of an animal at the point of death, and immediately after death ensues. Having no weight, a simple substance is not subject to any increase or decrease, production or reduction, expansion or contraction — of course from the standpoint of quantity^ ^though \t\s subject to all such processes, under certain circumstances, from the standpoint of quality, that is, so far as its degrees of refine- ment are concerned • or, to speak from our point of view, the sixth potency of Silica has not the same degree of refinement, the same degree of dissoeiation from the world of matter as the 30th which again has not the same quality of purifica- tion, the same standard of elevation as the 200th which latter again in its turn is at a great quali- tative and dynamic distance from the 1000th and so on adinfinitum. Let us shift our venue to the human family. What was the simple vital sub- stance of Ratnakar doing ? The man in the street

will answer it • — leading the most despicable and detestable life of a nocturnal waylayer, robbing and plundering, even by killing, in case of need, the innocent and unwary passers-by, wherewith to support himself and his family. Do you think it is the same simple vital substance of Ratnakar indwelling the physical frame of that first and greatest of India’s lyric poets, Yalmiki, hidden deep within the ant-hill but plunged in the unfa- thomable depths of divine meditation and contem- plation ? No, certainly not. The simple vital substance of Ratnakar has undergone a world of qualitative change (not quantitative, be it noted), has attained a great deal of purification and refine- ment, has been able to dissociate itself to a very great extent (but wt completely, for that would mean the merging of the human in tlie Divine Soul, and consequent annihilation of the human frame) from its attachment to the world of matter that is always acting as an obstacle to its spiritual progress j in other words, the indwelling vital principle of Yalmiki, though maintaining its iden- tity' with that of Ratnakar, has raised itself to such an Olympian spiritual height that we cannot recognise the identity any longer. Just as our remedies are capable of potentisation by outward physical means, viz., rubbing, triturating, shaking or succussing, so the human vital substance is likewise capable of potentisation, i.e., spiritual

INTRODUCTIOM

elevation, by imvard mental meansy viz., concentra- tion, contemplation and meditation.

Thus, we see that a simple substance, though maintaining its identity, is still subject to changes, qualitative changes, changes so far as its order, government and constitution are concerned. Just as it is capable of such a qualitative change for its eleva- tion and refinement, as for instance, from the crude medicinal substance of Silica to its high, higher and highest potencies, or from the attached and beclouded spirit of Ratiiakar to the free and shining soul of Valmiki, so also this simple vital substance is subject to some disorder and derange- ment in its very government and constitution. This constitutional disorder of the vital force, this qualitative degradation of its essence, this waning of its original effulgence, is due to its own default, — is the result of its own misguided energy. This derangement of the vital substance, this want of complete co-operation and co-ordination, this want of absolute unity in variety, this want of perfect accord and harmony in its very essence that is primarily responsible for all its subsequent ailments and allied sufferings, owed its origin, alas ! and subsequent slow but steady growth and development, to the disobedience of our first parents. (We here follow Christianity, though other religions differ on the subject.) This want of perfect accord and harmony in the inner essence of our vital substance has been given the

peculiar name of Psora by Hahnemann, the founder of this truly scientific, nay philosophic system of medicine. We have now come to the borderland of our second concept, viz., the concept of chronic miasm, and we reserve the comprehensive treatment of this important subject for the next chapter.

It has been said that the poetic genius is a Divine inspiration. A poet’s knowledge is due more to revelation, inspiration and intuition than to actual acquisition, and this truth will be fully corroborated if we go through thq writings of any great poet. Though the theory of Chro- nic Miasms was conceived and propounded by Hahnemann long after

‘^Sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy’s child, Warbled his native wood-notes wild,^’ yet the poetic inspiration of the ‘^Fancy’s child^’ could strike the key-note of this theory when he wrote

‘^The Miasms are the maggots that are born within the brain.”

This poetic expression of the miasms requires a little explanation. By locating the birth of the miasms in the brain, the poet means to say that our

Concept of Chronic Miasm

mind which is essentially a cognitive energy having emotional susceptibilities and volitional tendencies is primarily responsible for their origin. We think, we feel, we will, and action is but the external manifestation of the internal volition. A concrete example will clear the matter. A ripe mango hangs within reach from a tree on the road-side. It comes to the notice of a bo3^ who first defi- nitely knows it to be a ripe mango (thinking) 5 then his previous experience of the taste of a ripe mango rouses in him a pleasurable sensation in anticipation (feeling) ; then he decides to snatch it away for appropriation (willing). As soon as this decision (volition) is made, the hand with the help of motor nerves at once trans- forms the decision into action by puling it down. ,

Now, as in the jih^^sical world all movements arc in the direction of least resistance, so in the mental world all movements are in the direction of the objects of our love and affection. The boy would never have stolen the fruit, if he had not inwardly cherished the pleasure of enjo^”- ing it. His Motive of Action then is pleasure , and though during the processes of thinking, feeling and willing, a higher power, viz., the power of reasoning, comes in and tries to dissuade him from the action on principles of morality and religion, his motive power (enjoyment of pleasure) preponderates and overcomes ^‘the feeble

ETIOI.OGY IN HOMCEOPATHY.

voice of God^’ within, and leads him to the deed.

This is 7nostly the position to-day, and life may be said to illustrate almost a continuous hanker- ing after some sort of pleasure ^ and this deplora- ble and degraded standard of modern society has ])ecn very pithily and forcefully expressed in the following lines which we think will recompense being quoted:

“Whatc’er the motive, pleasure is the mark ;

For her the black assassin draws his sword ;

For her dark statesmen trim their midnight lamp • For her the saint abstains, the miser starves •

The Stoic proud, for pleasure, pleasure scorns •

For her affliction's daughters grief indulge,

And find or hope a luxury in tears

For her guilt, shame, toil, danger, we defy”.

Young,

But why so ? because the mind has lost its original purity and simplicity, and is now governed and controlled by extraneous influences (miasmatic taints) detrimental to its wellbeing and welfare. It is now unable to follow the dictates of conscience, though given in time, and rather prefers to listen to the enchanting syren songs that lure it to its further fall. We have used the word here as the exponent of

the vital force, as we are only aware of the activi- ties of the latter by and through this invisible organ.

Concept op Chronic Miasm

Thus, we see that our mind of to-day (and for *the matter of that, our vital force) is entirely bonded with certain evil powers that do not permit it to think, feel, will, and act as it should do. It is so much under their influences that it has almost forgot its Divine origin, and it now even takes pleasure to be in the company and control of these evil geniuses that ride roughshod over it and torment it like a nightmare. But like the foolish dog in the Fables with a collar in the neck, we seem ignorant of our bondage, or, are rather proud of it, and consider the native simpli- city, veracity and catholicity of a stray neighbour, who may be comparatively free from these Satanic toils and snares, as ([uite unbecoming and unsuita- ble for this ^^civilised'’ and ^‘scicntific^’ age of ours. Nay, he is usually called a ‘TooB^ because he is not only himself artless in his thought and speech, manners and actions, but also takes others to be so, even when these latter are deliberately tr3dng to conceal their real entities in the masks of their assumed ‘‘civil” and “scientific” selves.

There is an old adage, — ‘‘Face is the mirror of the heart.” We should like to say, — “Face is the mirror of the mind,” though at bottom both the expres- sions convey the same idea. Try' however frantically' we may^ we can never conceal our mind, but it is sure to have its picture flashed in the face. The face wilt appear calm and quiet, or agitated and tormented, according as peace and harmony, or

war and discord, reigns within, and these are some of the implications of this facial reflection:-^ (a) All external expressions are but the manifesta- tions of internal workings, (b) It is one of Nature^s plans, to maintain the effulgent equilibrim of her internal economy, to throw out as much of the internal venom and gloom as she possibly can. © Honesty or wickedness, virtue or vice, cannot possibly have a better means of natural expression, and consequent appreciation or depreciation.

Our system of medicine is inseparably connec- ted with morality, and, in fact, the Chronic Miasms that are the main causes of all human sufferings (the so-called immediate causes being only of the nature of a sounding board) owe their origin to our unpardonable defaults in morality. We regret our moral deflection commenced even in our first parents, as said before. Before their fall, they had no false modesty, no special privacy, no thought of concealment at all. But after it, they are a different being altogether. There is no need of further details, as these are known to all ; but what we want to impress is the infinite power every Divine Law is backed with. As soon as a Law is broken, the transgressor is followed with such a tremendous force that the very inner chambers of his heart throb and palpitate, shake and quake even in the solitude. The delinquent is not the same man inwardly he was before the breach of the Law, but a world of anxiety and an

Concept oe Chronic Miasm

enormous amount of fear upset the equilibrium of his mind, and disturb the smooth and even tenor of his life. The ripple of discord thus raised continues to be fanned by further transgressions until the inner accord and harmony is almost entirely replaced. Under such a state of things, the vital force is unable to supply the various organs induing the mind with the normal powers of sensations and functions. Itself bjing distuned and deranged, it can at mOvSt supply“ only a modi- cum amount of morbid energy to the various units and organs of the body, and these latter, being tainted and poisoned at the spring, will only emit fire and brimstone in their turn. The currents of our thoughts, feelings and sentiments as well as our volitional tendencies all get spoiled and polluted, and we begin to take pleasure in all sorts of unnatural thoughts, undesirable feelings, unseemly sentiments a^d immoral acts. Ill-feeling, envy, malice, and hatred take the place of fellow-feeling, friend-ship, brotherhood and love. The very fountain of life being thus soiled, the very source of harmony being thus distuned, the very crucible of beauty being thus destroyed, we can easily imagine what the consequences may be. There is disorder in the mental as well as in the physical sphere, and if not actual dementia or insanity, the mind has its frequent deviations and aberrations, and the body gets gradually filled with various disease-effects and ultimates.

Life is purity, and purity is health. So long we are pure in thinking, feeling and willing, we enjoy a perfect health, for body, as we have already said, is but the vehicle of our mind, — nay, the latter is but the formative principle of the former. Hence the pure and chaste life of the ancients was responsible for their freedom from miasmatic influences to a very great extent. We therefore find very little traces of the virulency of the chronic miasms in the philosophic life of the ancient Aryans, in the pure and athletic life of ancient Greece and Rome, in the religious life of the Israelites, Egyp- tians and Baliylonians, and later in the life of penance and mortification of the Buddists, though indeed all these peoifles had a conception of what Hahnemann has called Psora as an eruptive disease — a kind of pruritus, but never as a basic miasm — the parent of all diseases. Moreover, in ancient times, especially in India, the i)c^pE' kad implicit faith in their reigning sovereigns whom they regarded as incarnations of Divine Spirit, and whom they followed, almost literall3% even in their dry details of life ; and these ruling princes were universally of such a high and noble character that they considered their subjects even dearer than their nearest and dearest relatives, and in fact were a physical embodiment of all the cardinal virtues taught in treatises on Morality and Reli- gion. Really, the people were so enamoured of their patriotic chiefs that they almost forgot

Concept of Chronic Miasm

their separate existence and merged their indivi- dualities in them.

This admirable and most beneficent inter-rela- tion and inter-dependence of the sovereign and the people has been very nicely expressed by Vishnu- sarma in his Ilitopodesha, Vigraha^ where he says : — “The people are the lotus-leaves, their monarch is

the sun —

When he doth sink beneath the waves, they vanish

every one.

When he doth rise, they rise again with bud and

blossom rife,

To bask awhile in his warm smile, who is their

lord and life” —

( Arnold* s traublation )

Thus, like the sun in purity and nobility, in grandeur and beneficence, the monarch was always an ideal object of imitation to his subjects who, with such a moral and religious luminary to guide their course, never deviated in their conduct, nor erred in their dealings, but like the magnetic needle were always true to themselves and to others. Hence, it is easy to observe that the life as these ancients lived was too pure and transparent to distune and disturb the symphonious harmony of the vital substance and thereby to generate and spread the Chronic Miasms of the virulent nature and type the present-day people through- out the world are suffering from and groaning under. Not that we mean to say that the people

in the early ages of the world were entirely free from these Miasms but that these pests of humanity did not then develop to the extent as they have now done, so much so that the passions and in- clinations of “reason-gifted'^ human beings require, like those of ferocious wild animals, to be car bed and controlled to-day by the Police and the State ; and faced with such a dreadfully fallen state of society, that high priest of political philosophy, Burke, had to write in his French Eevohition : — “Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wa7ifs. Men have a right that these wants should be provided for by this wisdom. Among these w^ants is to be rockoned the want of a sufficient restraint upon their passions. Society requires not only that the passions of individuals should be subjected, but that even in the mass and body as w^ell as in the individuals the inclinations of men should frequently be thwarted^ their will controlled^ and their passioiis brought into subjection^ (The italics are ours),

Alas ! What a deplorable state of society w^e are in ! To carb our passions and propensities, we require the help of ‘‘the baton” or “the bayonet”! ! What further testimony does any body require of the completeness of our moral degradation, due to perfect bondage of the Miasms with the life- force ? Even the lower animals can be depended on for the proper use of their passions and propensities, because they follow histinct quite instinctively ;

Concept of Chronic Miasm

and instincts being natural provisions for the conduct of life, they are more infallible than reason in securing their ends, and in this behalf we have the testimony of Somerville : —

‘”Let cavillers deny

That brutes have Reason ; sure “tis something more, ‘Tis Heaven directs, and stratagems inspire,

Beyond the short extent of human thought.’^

Pope also writes —

‘”Say, where full Instinct is th* unerring guide,

What Pope or Council can they need beside V*

Thus, it is clear that the lower animals, though guided by ‘“blind” Instincts, are conducting their lives much better than the highest of His crea- tions on earth are able to do with their “‘rational” impulses. Hence it is that inspite of legions of doctors and quacks of the orthodox school as well as of the indigenous medicine, with their dispensaries or ‘”dens,” the unhappy human family, with the original curse on its back, is getting more and more unhappy, and we dare say so long the ”“moral leprosy” of the human race is not cured, its physical ailments will never have an end.

The empiric school of medicine pays scanty regard to the wonderful effects of heredity and rebirth on the spread and propagation of the Miasmatic influences, as these are things that cannot be sensed, though they are quite in accord with the order of things in the universe. If the 3

u

results of our deeds and doings do not reflect and redound on us and our progeny, who on earth shall care to lead a good life at all ? The very thought that the consequences of our mis-deeds will not only torment us here and hereafter, but also visit and torture our innocent offspring cannot but goad us to mend our ways, and thus avert all these calamities to us and to our children as far as possible. But the orthodox school will scarcely think with Schell- ing that —

And what we have been makes us what we are.’’

Unless therefore proper attention be paid to educate our mind and impiove and elevate the standard of our life up to the scale set up by Nature, mere improvement in the science and art of medicine, of any school whatsoever, will be of very little avail in reducing and palliating human sufferings and diseases, far less removing and curing them.

So far we have simply assumed that the varie- ties of human ailments are due to these Chronic Miasms, — our ^^enemies entrenched,^’ without giving any definite reasons for this assumption. No doubt, our Master has forcefully and finally dealt with the matter in his Chrome Diseases, giving definite reasons and conclusive proofs for his theory, and our readers are requested to have a careful and thorough study of it, as this theory of Chronic

Concept op Chronic Miasm

Miasms is the foundation stone of this wonderful and huge structure of Homeopathy as we see and have it, — nay, the very pivot on which the whole science and art of Homeopathy hinges. Here we are only giving a few of his arguments showing the logical necessity of his assumption that the basic Miasm Psora is not only the parent of the other Miasms, pure and mixed, but of all diseases and sufferings in the world, whether human, animal or vegetable. We have dared to bring the vegetable kingdom too within the jurisdiction of the destructive and death- dealing processes of Psora, as the arduous and untiring life-long labours of one of the greatest sons of India, — I refer to the late-lamented illustrious sage Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose of world- wide fame and repute, — have made it clear beyond the shadow of a doubt that vegetables too have got sensations and functions similar to those of lower animals and human beings. If so, that is, if trees, plants and vegetables have sensations and functions^ these latter are liable to excess^ defect and perversion leading to in- dispositiony ill-healthy pains, diseases and sufferings. By way of illustration, we may just point out the deformed leaves, parasitic growths, spurred rye, etc., as outward symbols or ultimates of the

vegetable kingdom. But our angle of vision and discourse of thought being confined to the human

family, we are mostly concerned here with the ailments and sufferings of the highest species of Divine creations on earth.

Our life force or vital substance is governed under certain laws, — fixed and irrevocable. All its workings are actuated, regulated and controlled by them.

These laws, however, are not to be construed as separate entities existing outside of, or side by side with, the vital substance, but are a part and parcel of it, and hence absolutely inseparable from it. Take, for instance, the laws of inhalation and exhalation, circulation of blood, digestion and assimilation, elimination of waste products, etc. You may call these as ‘'functions” but functions are nothing but certain unalterable laws or principles regulating our life. Now, the Chronic Miasm Psora has its origin through the medium of these laws that govern our vital force, and primarily through the laws that govern our mind, that is, our cognitive, emotional and volitional faculties, as fully explain- ed before ; and once deviating from their usual course, they acquire the tendency to further deviat- ion till they lose their natural functioning and begin to function in an unnatural and morbid way. Thus, our mind is deprived of its natural power to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong, what is really conducive to our Physical and Moral growth and what is actually injurious to our well-being, Under such a state, the mind even

Concept of Chronic Miasm.

rejects the salutary advice and admonition of our conscience or reason, and plunges headlong in the depths of degradation till its fall is well-nigh complete and subsequent redemption, a Herculean task even with the aid and assistance of our Divine methods of cure as outlined by our immortal Master Hahnemann, the apostle of God. It has been said, Hahnemann’s Psora theory is a mere fiction of his brain, having no foundation in facts, — nay, a mere myth more suited to the ante-diluvian age than to the present ‘^enlightened” and ^‘scientific^’ one. Though we have already given ample and profound reasons to contradict such a nefarious statement, we think it desirable to put forth the following arguments in further support of our views that naturallly and logically lead to the conclusion our Master has actually arrived at : —

(a) Persistency of Diseases. Twelve long years were assiduously devoted by Hahnemann, even reserving every third night for profound meditation and intensive thought and reflection, for a thorough search after the real nature of human sufferings and diseases which it was too much for him to look at and overlook. After close and careful study, continuous collection of facts and evidences, and examination of patients of vari- ous nature and type, throughout this long period, he was driven to the conclusion that the diseases of the human race have got a very peculiar and dogged pertinacity of their own, which can not

be otherwise explained than as due to the conti- nuity of the under-current of the causative influence that originally made the patients susceptible to the diseases in question, and that but for this continuity, the diseases in question, despite the best Homeopathic treatment possible in strict conformity with the Divine Law of Similars, would never have persisted at all. This under-current of the causative influence that makes mankind liable to diseases usuall^^ remains in its dormant state, awaiting some exciting cause of the nature of a sounding board that increases its intensity and quickens its velocity to the extent of overpowering the normal activities of the vital force and exerting its influence and supremacy over them, leading to and resulting in unusual and unnatural sensa- tions and functions of the organism, traceable to and localisable in a part or in the whole of it, according to the nature and type of the mal- direction of the vital force in question, incidental to the influence and supremacy noted above, and this under-current of this disease-producing element having its origin in our moral defaults as already explained has been given the name of Psora which is of Greek origin meaning to itch.

Incidentally, we may point out here that by Psora we do not mean the positive sensation of pruritus which we feel when we have itch eruptions over the -body, but* a certain peculiar and particular stote of the vital substance under which it is not'

Concept of Chronic Miasm. 3&

only unable to go on with its normal physical and mental functionings but is also subject to an inex- plicable and unnatural restlessness and uneasiness — a kind of peculiar morbid mental ^'itching^, either mild, moderate or extreme, according to the nature and degree of the progress and development of the underlying Miasm that has bonded itself with the life force. Hence, the peculiar mental morbidity the Psoric patients usually exhibit, after or during the the course of a protracted illness ; Irritable, Fretful^ Peevish Quarrelsome^ lll-limmured, Sad, Melancholy, Immoderately hasty, Wanting in Fixity and Stamina^ Disinclined to any serious ivorkj etc,

(b) Appearance of diseases without any apparent external cause. In everybody’s life, one observes that he is often obsessed with some indisposition, malaise, or uneasiness, if not with any positive and painful feeling somewhere in the organism, without any definitely ascertainable cause therefor. Now, from what has been said before regarding the nature of a pure and chaste life, we have no reasons to suppose that any such deviation from health is at all possible, any such abnormality can ever creep in, unless and until the smooth and even tenor of our vital force is somehow disturbed, and the sonorous chrord of its innate and inborn harmony, badly handled and rudely distuned. Thus, then, it is a prima facie case that

force, some internal agent has waged war against

it and upset the equilibrium of its inner economy and outer precincts, and being under such a state, it is only natural for the life force to give indica- tions of it by signs and symbols, in the shape of ^”indisposition,’’ “malaise, ““uneasiness,” or ”“pain- ful feeling”, as above referred to.

Thus, it will be seen that what appeared to be apparentl)” without any external cause is at bottom really caused by the grand primary cause of all sickness, sin and crime that have now defaced the face of the earth and made it a veri- table Hell of pains and suffering ! So, the following poetic picture of sin can be as well applied with still greater force to Psora, as the former is but an offspring of the latter

““The world has know thee, and has known thee well, Thy age, no mortal man can tell ;

Father of death, and mother of poor health,

The grave is but the storehouse of thy wealth.”

An admirable picture indeed ! A picture no prosaic pen has the least ability to paint : and be- cause of such wonderful powers of gentle but force- ful expression, humanity has thought it desirable to compliment and encomium the poetic genius as under : —

”“Poets alone found the delightful way Mysterious morals gently to convey,

In charming numbers.”

© Disappearance of symptoms in the reverse order of their coming. It has been generally observed, of

Concept of Chronic Miasm.

course in case of a chronic disease under our treat- ment in strict obedience to the Law of Similars, that symptoms disappear in the reverse order of their coming, that is, the patient under such treatment, while in his way to recovery, gets back those symp- toms first that left him last, then those that had arrived before this last batch, then again those that had come upon him before this last-named group and so on, till he gets back those very symptoms that had appeared first of all ; and after the departure of this last named set, there is none to come and the patient is then cured of the disease he was suffering from, and gradually gets back his i ori- ginal health and strength. The above statement is neither a figment of the brain, nor a mere stroke of the pen but a corroborative evidence of close study, careful observation and ripe experience of sages and savants and apostles of God who came on earth only to alleviate and remove human miseries and sufferings.

Thus, then, it is a fact that when in his way to recovery, a chronic patient under our treatment is successively visited by groups of symptoms in the reverse order of their original appearance. But one may ask, wherein lie the logic and philosophy of such disappearance of symptoms in the reverse order of their coming ? An answer to this question will only bring home to the doubtful and dogmatic materialists the absolute propriety and sweet*

reasonableness of our Master^s inductive assumption of the Psora Theory.

As already said, the morbid symptoms are but indicatory signs that the very citadel of our vital force has been attacked, resulting in (1) the loss of its freedom and (2) consequent establishment of the supremacy of its enemies ( one or more of the miasms ). Now, the appearance of a certain group of symptoms indicates that our vital substance has undergone a certain change reflected in the organism by means of these symptoms which re- present the nature and peculiarity of the change in question ^ and as a result of this change, the vital force receives a certain mark, stamp or im- pression which latter gradually gets itself bonded with the former, and as the inimical forces that led to the above change continue to acquire more and more strength, this bondage becomes stronger and firmer, leading to a different but more complicated state of the vital economy calling for a new set of symptoms that will induce a new mark on our life force and a new bondage to boot, and this latter bondage again getting gradually stronger and stronger will make the existing state of the inner economy worse than before, necessitating the pro- duction of a third group of symptoms then repre- senting the nature and peculiarity of the diseased vital substance, and in this way, the third batch will be replaced by the fourth and so on till the vital force is entirely overpowered, devitalised and

Concept of Chronic Miasm.

brought to an end, provided, of course, the patient in question receives no appropriate medical help from first to last. But suppose when the patifent is under the fourth batch of symptoms, he is fortunate enough to have the absolutely Hahne- mannian treatment of a veteran Homoeopath, what will be the consequences ? This fourth batch will be at once arrested by the superior force of the remedy applied, their power diminished, their citadel attacked — nay, the very foundation thereof entirely undermined. Thus, though under protest, they have to collect their forces and make a signal re- treat, and the vital force is thus freed from its latest bondage and allied pains and sufferings, but not yet cured. The enemies have shown their back no doubt and retreated to some extent but have not yet been vanquished. They have only taken shelter under the apparently stronger entrenchment be- hind, and lo ! the gentle breeze from heaven is flut- tering their flags again ! ( Appearance of the third group of symptoms that lately disappeared ). If the remedy already applied be of sufficiently higher potency, it will be able to cope with the enemy in its present protection, provided it gets necessary help by way of regulation of diet and observance of strict hygienic rules. If not, a higher potency of the remedy to suit the deeper stratum of the disease will have to be applied. But it has often been observed that when a certain potency of a remedy can not only ameliorate the existing symp-'

toms but can call forth those that disappeared immediately before, this potency is quite suitable to deal with this new group of symptoms thus aroused, and no higher potency of the remedy is required to be applied immediately, but that time should be given to the potency already used for necessary action. In the case in point, however, let us suppose that the potency already used is of sufficient strength to subdue the disease-forces (third set of symptoms) which gradually make there disappearance, giving further relief to the vital force which is thus cleared of another knot of complications (the third miasmatic bondage noted above) in her inner economy, but not yet cured. In this way, by the remedy in its original potency applied or in a higher potency, or in case of need, with the help of some other complementary remedy in a suitable potency, the patient’s previous groups of symptoms will be made to appear and disappear one by one, to the wonderful gradual improvement of his health and final recovery, that is, complete freedom of the vital force from the disease-forces.

It will appear from the above sketch of the gradual development of disease (chronic) from its first beginnings to its utmost virulency, step by step, and of the gradual subsidence thereof from its highest pitch to its complete disappearance (cure), also step by step, that there is an under- lying link that runs through the whole, a con- nective chain that joins the first to the last, an

Concept of Chronic Miasm.

4>5

under-current of virulent force that now appears in this form (a certain group of symptoms) and now appears in that (a different group), and that but for this underlying link, this connec- tive chain, this undercurrent of virulent force, the symptoms would never have disappeared in the reverse order of their coming. It will further appear that just as there is method and proce- dure in the development of the disease, so also there is method and procedure in its subsidence.

This orderly developmmt and this orderly subsi- dence ivould have been an utter impossibility, had there been no underlying unifying forcCy working as a basic principle, as the very root of the disease, and at the very heart and centre of the vital force.

This underlying unifying force, this basic prin- ciple as the very permanent possibility of the disease and working havoc at the very inner chambers of the vital substance is nothing else than that fell demon Psora that has now caught humanity in its terrible clutches and is about to devour it. It is no doubt a hopeful sign that the angelic force of the Hahnemannian Homeopathy is daily gathering strength, and with the necessary State support which it is going to have at an early date, it is very likely that it will gradualy succeed in stemming the awfully advancing tide of the enemy.

(d) An eruptive disease removes the internal original troubles. It has been observed that

many chronic patients are usually much relieved, if not entirely cured, of their chronic ailments after a severe attack of variola, varicella, rubeola, roseola and even rosalia. It is also a common experience that when we are oppressed wdth a severe attack of ordinary itches, and the erup- tions discharge impure blood and pus, all the internal organs, as if by the touch of a magic wand, begin to perform their respective functions in such an excellent way that we feel an im- provement of our health, unless of course our addiction to other counteracting habits and forces stands in the way. Now, how to explain these facts? What is the underlying noumenon that is responsible for such phenomena ?

Here is a stumbling-block to our friends of the regular school. But they should know that neither telescope, nor microscope, nor the powerful aid of the stethoscope, nor any other ‘^scope’^ that modern ingenuity may invent, will be of any avail to them to understand the matter, unless and until they see their way to give up this dogmatic attitude to try to know and explain the world and its numerous phenomena with the help of their external senses and allied aids. So long they will deny that we have an inward eye over and above the outward, so long they will ignore our powers of perception and understanding, there is no help for them, there is no other means to their arriving at a real knowledge of the world, and especially,

Concept of Chronic Miasm.

at the real causes of human sufferings and diseases. We however know that our Allopathic friends are not really so dull of intellect as to be unable to understand our principles, but alas ! their self interest has made them blind perforce ! Indeed, so bewitching is the charm, so ponderous the power, of self-interest that for majority of mankind it is only as natural as the night to follow the day as to act according to her dictates, and I may be excused to reproduce the following beautiful but pathetic lines, giving a forceful expression of the present degraded Psychology of the majority of the human race ; —

‘^Explore the dark recesses of the mind,

In the soups honest volume read mankind,

And own, in wise and simple, great and small The same grand leading principle in all ^

For parent and for child, for wife and friend,

Our first great mover, and our last great end Is one • and by whatever name we call,

The ruling tyrant, Self, is all in ally But we are confident, if not now, time will come soon when people will love and adore Truth for Truth’s sake, apart from any question of self- interest at all, as Humanity, the physical em- bodiment of Divine Substance can ill afford to have a continuous course of sufferings and diseases most of which, as our Master has proved it to the hilt, are due to excessive and improper drugging. Let us now revert to our main problem, Why and

how does an eruptive disease relieve and remove the internal stress and strain, anguish and trouble of a pre-existing chronic disease ? We have already hinted as to how it is done : — the eruptions dis- charging pus made of impure blood clarifies the system from all impurities, thereby inducing proper circulation of blood, and consequent normal digestion and assimilation, and if these three processes of circulation, digestion and assimilation can be maintained in their normal standard, the other organs of the economy are thereby strength- ened and envigorated, resulting in ease, comfort and relief to the organism as a whole. Bnt still this is an explanation from the standpoint of Materialism. Our Homeopathic (philosophic) ex- planation is as under :

When we have an eruptive disease, it indicates that the disease-force, so long clogged and pent-up within, causing indescribable and infinite damage and injury to our vital force and leading to various disease-effects and ultimates, has now come to periphery, thereby giving ease, comfort and relief to the vital substance so long labouring under its oppression, as one labours under a nightmare 5 and the vital force being thus relieved, it can now attend to its normal functioning throughout the system resulting in the gradual improvement of its physical counterpart, and alleviation and amelioration, if not entire removal, of the internal stress and strain, anguish and trouble noted atove.

Concept of Chronic Miasm.

So far, as to how it is done. As to why it is done, our brethren of the Old School have got no satis- factory explanation to offer. We beg to subjoin ours hereinbelow :

As said before, it is one of Nature^s plans, to maintain the illuminating equilibrium of her internal economy, to throw out as much of her internal venom and gloom as she possibly can. This constitutional principle of the vital force has been dimly shadowed forth by the phrase ^Vis Medicatrix NaturcoJ'^ In obedience to this principle, the vital force is always after cleansing and purging the system, not only of material waste- products but also of all malignant forces (disease- forces) that are subversive to its internal order and harmony, and when the vital force is unable to do its duties in this behalf, it is the physi- cian’s function to supply it with necessary aid.

Now, one may ask, ‘”What has your Psora theory to do with all this ?” It has everything to do with it, — nay, it is at the very core of the matter, because the Psoric state of the mind, as has been already shown, and, in fact, as has been acknow- ledged by the world from times immemorial to the present day, is responsible for all eruptive diseases — even those resulting from direct illegal sexual congress, as no such congress is at all possible without the basic Psoric taint of the mind being preliminary to it. ( Be it noted that we have taken the word ‘”mind“ here as exponent of the

4

ETIOLOOY IN HOMOEOPATHY

vital force ). Thus, it being clearly evident from the standpoints of both the Old and the New Schools of Medicine that eruptive diseases relieve internal stress and strain, it follows ipsofacto that such relief is at all possible because the life force has already been dis-burdened of the internal Psoric pressure now finding its outer expression in the eruptive diseases.

( e ) Suppression of eruptive diseases leading to secondary and tertiary malignancies. Before writing anything under this heading, I beg first of all to describe a case that will throw a consider- able light on this subject,

A child 10 months old got eczema ( ) in

both the ankle-joints. He was placed under an Allopath and was given an ointment for external application. That being done for some days, the eczema gradually disappeared no doubt, but there appeared instead a virulent type of whooping cough which the said Doctor friend, inspite of his profuse dosing for a pretty long time, was quite unable to cope with, and the child had to pass its nights almost without sleep and its days, even without sufficient rest. It coughed and coughed, and coughed itself hoarse, till it was almost unable to cough at all, and when the terrible paroxysms came, it almost fell under a swoon. Then the child was brought to our care, and After taking the case and in conformity with the symptoms, a dose of Cal. Ost, 200 Avas given.

Concept of Chronic Miasm

The next day the child felt much relieved and the cough gradually subsided. After a week, another dose of Cal. Ost. 1000 was applied and the child got back its eczema on both the legs within a fortnight thereafter, and it was entirely cured of both the cough and the eczema with- out further medicines.

The whooping cough here is a case of secon- dary malignancy of the suppression of the eczema. If the child did not receive Homeopathic aid in time, the whoopimg cough might lead to the tertiary development of Bronchitis which in its turn, if allowed to run its course unchecked, might involve the lungs bringing further complica- tions, to the serious detriment and danger to its life. This is a very clear example of how the suppression of an eruptive disease brings alx)ut serious internal disorders and malignancies. Though the citation of the case is enough for our present point of discourse, we may also mention the following to drive the matter home to our readers.

Most of our mothers are aware of the serious consequences to their children when the latter are attacked with measles which are somehow or other suppressed and this suppression in our vernacular is described as I The

disease force being thus driven from the periphery to the centre, it usually attacks the bronchi, the lungs or the intestines, and either bronchitis, pneu-

monia, dysentery or typhoid fever is the natural consequence, and our friends of the regular school will call these as the “sequelae” of measles, that is, separate diseases having no connection with mea- sles but usually happening after the latter, though in fact both the measles and the so-called “sequelae” are but the outer and inner side of the same disease force which being checked and arrested in its external ravages turns its death-dealing processes towards the centre to cause ruin and havoc there. So also in variola, varicella and rosalia, if the eruptions are anyhow suppressed, infinite internal complications follow, leading to untold pains and sufferings of the patient.

Now, from what has been written above, it will be quite clear that both the external erup- tions and the internal pathological states (Bron- chitis, Pneumonia, Dysentery, etc.) are but the active expression of the same underlying disease-force, — Psora — “the father of death and the mother of poor health.”

(f) Advent and attack of acute diseases. As we already said, our vital substance is the formative principle of our body, and as such, our organism can have no irregularities in its sensations and functions (diseases) unless and until its very formative principle is vitiated, its very spring and fountain is polluted, its very source of supply is enfeebled, enervated and exhausted. As we have already given a very graphic history of the develop-

Concept of Chronic Miasm. 63

ment of the basic miasm Psora in the human family, it is unnecessary for us to repeat. We have also said that the other two miasms of Syphilis and Sycosis owe their origin to Psora, and we shall study the subject very fully later on. Now, acute diseases do not and cannot bond themselves with the life-force independent of these chronic miasms. Our vital force must have degenerated through th^i adverse influence of these chronic miasms and thereby must have paved the way and prepared the back-ground for the advent and attack of these acute diseases. Thus, the very supposition and possibility of acute diseases depend on our vital substance being already prepossessed by a malignant force that has wrought such disorderly changes in it as to make it susceptible to its being attacked by la-grippe, measles, small pox, etc. The influx of such disease-forces as la-grippe, etc., would have been a sheer impossi- bility, had such disorderly changes been not already effected in the constitution of our vital substance, thereby making it prone or susceptible to the said influx. Thus, it is clear that all our acute diseases owe their origin and appearance to our vital force being already under the malignant influence of the basic miasm Psora, for if any of the innumerable acute diseases be directly due to Syphilis or Sycosis, the same is as well due to Psora, as Psora is also at the root of the other two miasms, (g) Any stasis of disease force or choking of

inhibitory centres leads to violent internal commotion and tvreckage of vital organs. In these days of “re- fined’^ manners, our conscience is quite at ease so long our externals are all right, no matter how defile, polluted and poisonous our internals may be. Accordingly, when the benign Nature, in pursuance of her eternal laws, throws out any of the internal venom in the shape of a burrowing abscess, a fistula in ano, a malignant ulcer, a gonorrhoeal discharge, a contagious leucorrhoea, a syphilitic bubo, or even the ordinary Psoric itches, our external-cleansing tendency will move heaven and hell and avail itself of the suppressive help of all sorts of virulent irritative agents, and, whether through their local irrigation or external application, will ultimately dam up these beneficent floodgates of Nature which, being thus foolishly and rudely interfered with, will take vengeance with compound interest by levelling and directing her forces, thus prevented from their benignant natural outward course, towards the central and more vital organs, such as the bladder, the kidneys, the uterus, the ovaries, the liver, the lungs, the heart, the brain and the spinal column, and accord- ing to the nature of the forces thus diverted, any one or more of these vital organs will be affected, and stony concretion, strangury, prolupsus uteri, sub-involution, retroversion, uterine or ovarian tuihot,'ga:ll stone, asthma, tuberculosis, consumption, cardiac palpitation, insanity, rheumatism or even

Concept of Chronic Miasm.

paralysis may result. But, one may ask, “Is it not all a theory ? A mere boss and moonshine ?” I shall answer by an example from personal experience.

One of my neighbours, aged 54, had an attack of fistula in ano. With the external application of this, that and a nameless ointment, he somehow managed to get the annoying pus-discharging opening of the fistula forcefully clogged and sealed-up. Do you think Nature received this rude handling mildly? No; not at all. The forces thus pent-up were directed to tfie centre and the man after a few months was fearfully oppressed with difficulty of breathing for which the customary nomenclature is Asthma. Then, after some time, he began to cough and spit blood, and the usual hectic fever followed suit. All sorts of Allopa- thic means and measures were adopted, not exclu- ding the help our indigenous medicine could afford, but all to no purpose. His life’s taper became gradually dimmer and dimmer till at last it was brought to a close. Such arc the horrible consequences of forcefully clogging-up the most beneficent flood-gates of Nature in pursuance of the most regrettable external-cleansing tendency of the day.

Now, the question may arise, ‘^Is there any necessary relation between the closing of the fistula and the subsequent appearance of Asthma followed by consumption” ? Perhaps, it is

56 Etiology in Homeopathy

unknown to our readers that fistula in ano can only appear, develop and flourish in a tubercu- lar diathesis. Hence, it was the height of folly, both on the part of the patient suffering from the fistula, and the doctors who treated him, to attempt at a forcible untimely closure of this natural gate which was really an inhibitory point or centre created by Nature herself thereby to save the more precious vital organs within. But when it was made to be closed, that is, suppressed by external application, without curing the tubercular tiiathesis of the patient, that is, only a symptom was suppressed but the patient was not cured, Nature being thus deprived of her choicest means to save her internal economy, did not care to create any other inhibitory cen- tre and allowed the pent-up evil forces within (pseudo-psoric miasm) to cause as much ruin and ravage as they could possibly do, and the results were as we have said above.

Now, besides the seven arguments already ad- vanced in favour of our theory of Psora, the basic miasm giving rise to the other two miasms of Syphilis and Sycosis, and the mixed miasm Of Pseudo-Psora, we could adduce further arguments in their support but we think we have proved our case quite conclusively for those who require any proof at all.

In this connection, however, our survey of facts will be rather incomplete if we do not

Concept of Chronic Miasm

refer to Dr. Hering's stmidpoint so far as his views on Psora theory are concerned. We have thought it desirable to refer to him specially in the matter as his statements and writings are some of the greatest land-marks in -Homeopathic literature. He seems to regret that he cannot see eye to eye with our Master in the necessity of the Psora theory, and asserts that the similar remedy applied under the provisions of the Law of Similars will do the needful, whatever under- lying miasmatic taint or diathesis there may be. In other words, he means to say that we should not bother ourselves with the nature and pecu- liarity of Psora, Syphilis and Sycosis, or of any mixed miasm, but should prescribe in strict conformity with the Law of Similars, and such prescription will cover everything. With due deference to his hallowed memory, revered personality and exalted authority, we beg to submit as under

(a) Disease-forces are no doubt inimical to our life-force. Just as when a country is invaded by foreign enemies, it is greatly helpful to the rul- ing power to know the nature, peculiarity and numerical strength, foot or horse, of the ene- mies as well as their weapons of offence and defence, so that the reigning prince may adjust and prepare himself, and arrange things and events accordingly, with a view to deal a death-blow to the enemies, and without a full knowledge of these particulars his necessary arrangements and

preparations are obviously ineomplete and he has, more or less, to grope in the dark all through, and his success necessarily depends more on chance than on martial tactics ; so also if the physician has a full knowledge of the nature, peculiarity and numerical strength of the disease-forces (un- derlying miasms), he will be very much helped in the selection of the most appropriate anti- miasmatic remedy, and thus in dealing the death- blow to his adversary by the first stroke, with- out ever having had to undershoot or overshoot the mark, which is only a round-about expression for groping in the dark. It is known to all good prcscribers that a certain group of symp- toms often (but not always) indicates more than one remedy, of course in rare complicated cases, and in such cases if we have a full knowledge of the underlying miasm or miasms, which know- ledge, however, we cannot but have if we but closely and carefully mark and examine the shape and contour of our patients’ body, their visual expression, face, nose, lips, ears, mouth, hair -its growth, lustre or lack of it, skin, nails, mode and manner of speech, whether hasty or slow, etc., our prescription is very likely to be always infall- ible and there will be no need for any altera- tion or re-selection, unless symptoms change later on.

(b) Mere monerical totality of symptoms is not always a safe guide, neither does it fulfil the force

Concept of Chronic Miasm.

of the Law, thought it mag ftilftl the letter of it. For an intelligent and infallible prescription, we not only require the totality of the symptoms but also a definite picture, a very clear image of the underlying disturbing dominant miasm that has now overpowered the vital force and brought about the disease-effects and ultimates. Without a definite knowledge of this picture, without a clear conception of this image, we may often err, if not alwa^^s, in our arduous task and responsi- ble duty of curing the sick, for a single mistake in our prescription may mean much, — nay, at times it may even mean death to our patients. Therefore, both the dut3^ and the responsibility of our profession conjointly demand that we should most diligently explore all the available avenues, — ^nay, the very creeks and corners of our science and art, iDefore we profess to be a ph^^sician to deal with the most precious human lives on earth in their sickness and suffering. Here, I may be pardoned to quote the following dictum from the Mahanirvan Tantra where the bipartite division of Sin has been prominently' brought to light

It is not only sinful to Commit, but it is also sinful to Omit. Thus, sins of omission are of the same gravity as those of commission. And if in any other profession that man can lead, it is in our profession of medicine that we can ill afford to omit. No sort of omission will do where the

ETIOJLOGy IN HOMOEOPATHY

question of human life and death is concerned. Hence it is, we humbly submit, our dependence on mere numerical totality of symptoms, to the unpardonable omission and neglect of the under- lying image or picture of the dominant disturb- ing miasm will, in all probability, often undershoot the mark, to the infinite detriment of the patient concerned and to our ignominious failure not unmingled with sin.

© Our literature is also full of reports of Cuban itch and army itch which being of sycotic origin and nature could not be cured by a similar antipsoric remedy, but required the application of an anti-sycotic remedy to be radically cured.

Thus, though the Law of Similars should always be our guide, we should never fail to arm ourselves with a full knowledge of the nature and peculiarity of the chronic miasms, as we have always to fight with these dreadful enemies —

They pitch their tents before us as we move,

Our hourly neighbours,” —

and unless we fully understand their death- dealing processes of non-assimilation and mal- nutrition, anaemia and devitalisation, sepsis and false growths of tumours, nodes, glands and cancers, making gaps and breaches in nature, thereby deforming the body, dulling the intellect and destroying the reason, we shall be almost like the unfortunate mariner in the wide ocean, who

Concept of Chronic Miasm.

is not only without his chart and compass, but also with his vessel without the rudder and the rigging. Thus, it will be seen that an accurate knowledge of all the chronic miasms with their individual peculiarities and modalities is absolutely necessary for a true Homoeopath, and his unlimited love for humanity and implicit faith in God will naturally endow him with such powers of close observation and acute insight that all darkness of ignorance will be gradually dispelled with the rising sun of his increasing knowledge, and he will not only find pleasure in the faithful dis- charge of his duty, but he will gradually merge his personality and forget his identity in the discharge thereof.

So far we have discussed the chronic miasms rather conjointly but their importance demands that we should now devote our time and space for their several and individual treatment, as such treatment is very likely to throw more light on their complex and intricate nature and greatly help our readers to a better understanding of the problem.

With Laplace, the originator, of the Nebular Theory of the Universe, we may say that the first nebula of disease is violation of Divine Law. Thus, sin is at the root of all miasms, all diseases, and all sufferings, and the wages of sin is death.

Now, as we have said before. Psora is the grand old miasm that was born with the very beginning of our race, as our first parents, though so near to God, could not withstand its tempting influences and fell an easy prey to it. Originally^ the indicatory signs of a Psoric constitution were the ordinary itches, but due to subsequent sup- pressions and oppressions, and association with other miasms, their Secondary a7id Tertiary complica^ tions gradually developed in the shapes of Shingles^ Herpes, Eczema, Urticaria, Lupus, liupia, Ichthyosis, Impetigo — both Sparsa and Figurata, Psoriasis — whether Out tat a, Diffusa, Gyrata, or Invetcrata, etc, and even Lcucodcrma and Leprosy,

While on this subject of Suppressmi^Xot us ex- plain fully what it really means. It is one of the eternal laws of nature to eliminate from her inter- nal economy all sorts of toxic and virulent agents, either by means of evacuations and discharges through one or more of the natural openings in the shape of unnatural and morbid stools, urine, sweat, nasal catarrh, syphilitic ulcer, gonorrhoeal dis- charge, etc., or, by means of any of the eruptive diseases of Variola, Varicella, Rubeola, Roseola, Rosalia, or any of those noted above. So, whenever there is any toxic . element within the inner preci- ncts of her economy, due either to external invasion or to internal growth through sepsis or miasniatic mal-functioning of any of the organs, Nature at once tries to eliminate it, and thereby to save the system from its baneful influences, by either of the two ways noted above. But, when Nature is actu- ally engaged in the fulfilment of this noble and benign duty of cleansing and purging the s)^stem from the inner poisonous impurities, if she is in any way checked, opposed or prevented, with the help of any or more of the various astringents, irritants, or suppressive balms and ointments, the toxic element which was being thus eliminated not only remains clogged and pent-up within but gradually gathers greater and greater force and virulency till the very fibre and cell of the entire consti- tution are permeated through and through, and thoroughly intoxicated, resulting in the origin, growth and development of that peculiar miasmatic state of the vital substance producing what are known as Cachexia, Diathesis, Dyscrasia, Predisposition, Idio' syncrasy, Susceptibility, etc ; — nay, even Struma, and Scrofula may be included in the list of such pro- ducts, though these latter two are sometimes used as synonymous with Psora, which view, however, is not properly tenable, as simple and unmixed Psora does not usually enchroach upon and attack the lymphatic glands and vessels whieh are, how- ever, the main points of attack of Scrofula (Strumaj, — nay, its very strong-holds of strength and power, thus showing its motherhood of Syphilis with fatherhood of Psora.

Thus, suppression of an outward expression of the disease-force is really a very barbarous process, a most retrograde step that a physician can take, — a physician whose “high and only mission is to restore the sick to health,^’ — nay, we can call it a foolish deflection of the benignant Divine Physiological Law intended for the safety, security and self- preservation of the human race. Thus, all sorts of suppression by whieh we drive back upon the inner life-processes what the vital force was throw- ing out to the surface where the destructive venom could be kept in abeyance and under its partial control, are not only absolutely unjustifiable but dangerously detrimental to the physical and mental w^ell-being of the patients who pay for mch suppressive measures.

The following two small extracts from the admirable work, The Chronic Miasms, of Dr. J. Henry Allen, M, D., will give eloquent testimony to the views expressed above.

“How careful we should be to not suppress any local inanifestions of one of these Chronic Miasms, knowing not what the outcome may be ; for, possibly by so doing, we may have started the organism in its dowmvard course to deaths instead of directing it in the right direction, whereby it might receive the blessing of its healer, the true physician, and not his curse.’ ^ — p. 269, vol. 1.

“We have in skin diseases and all external mani- festations of disease peripheral expression through

Psora..

nerve transmission. It is taken up from within and transferred outwardly as a relief process. This is Nature's provisional safety valve. This is as much a biological law and a physiological process as the elimination of the urine or sweat is a physiological process. When we suppress any local disease, we overcome that process or we annul it, and we are then enemies of Biologies or physiological law. This is the secret of all suppression, — we have deflected, if not destroyed, Nature's eliininative process, which is a life-process, and have forced Nature and her processes back upon herself.”

P. 112, vol. 1. ( The italics are ours. ).

Before leaving this subject, let us give a case of suppression of a simple malarial fever, A young lady, aged about 27, with a tubercular family history, and belonging to our part of the country ( Arambagh Sub-Division, Hooghly, Bengal ) which is notorious for its being the hot-bed of malaria, was, just after the rains, attacked with a virulent type of simple malarial fever. As usual in the locality, she was placed under an Allopathic quack whose alpha and omega of remedial agents were Mag- sulph and Quinine. In his usual fashion, he applied these medicinal myrmidons, with a supplemen- tary band of Lilliputian heroes (coloured tinctures) to fight out the malarial monster, and the war- riors were ‘^successful” to this extent that the monster did not “dare^’ to appear every day as it was previously doing but began to appear 5

every third day ( Tertian type — showing a more complicated condition of the vital force due to forcible suppression). Our ‘^doctor” friend, however, is ready with his “agents’^ ! Frequent use of the purgative salt and continued application of quinine with its fascinating tincture-allies went on for some days together till the monster did not ‘‘dare* to appear every third day even but began to appear every fourth day ( Quartan type — showing still greater complication of the vital force due to continued suppression ). But our friend has got quite an Achillean heart, — he is not a man to be daunted, aided and allied as he is with these wonderful agents. Of course, he continued the same process of treatment only in a modified form. The purgative salt once a week, and 5 grains of quinine every” morning on the intervening apyretic days. Strong and gigantic though these myrmidons were, they had still to fight a considerable time before they could subdue the monster. But vain delusive hopes ! The monster, like the chamelion, had simply changed forms, and the patient was now under an excruciating bronchial cough, almost day and night, accompanied with an extremely tormenting headache with its peculiar paroxysm commencing after sleep at night and continuing till 8 or 9 O’clock in the morning when the cool morning breezes have just ceased to blow, and the solar heat has begun its animating and vivifying function ( stage of . complete intoxication of the

Psora..

whole system by the baneful influence of the disease-force being thus continuously driven back from the periphery, and thereby made to attack the inner vital organs and derange their natural life-giving functions ). What had our ‘^doctor’’ friend to say now ? Why, he was quite exultant over his unique performance. He declared that he had at last been able to completely 'cure' a very complicated case of malignant malaria and that the present conditions of the patient were due to entirely different causes and should now require a separate treatment, as they were due to a separate ^‘disease^^ altogether. It is needless to say that he was allowed to do so for a consider- able period of time, but to no effect. Not only that, but during this last stage of his treatment the patient began to occasionally spit blood during her severe coughing paroxyms and the members of the family grew very anxious and decided not to leave the patient any more to his care. Her husband was at Calcutta and was informed of that new development of the disease, that is, spitting of blood with coughing. He took her over there and placed her under a good Homoeopath under whose treatment the lady has already made much progress and she is expected to recover at an early date.

The above case clearly shows the serious conse- quences of the suppressive methods of Allopathic treatment especially in the hands of innumerable

“innocent’^ rural quacks whose almost only the^ rapeutic agents are Quinine and Magsulph. It is a matter of much regret that Quinine has been thus made the panacea for almost all fevers, at least for those that actually or apparently scent of even the remotest malarial origin. Fever in itself is not a disease, but it is only an indicatory sign, among others, of the diseased state of our vital force and it is that entire state that needs therapeutic help and not a particidar aspect of it. Though the poetic genius, which is a kind of direct Divine re- velation, of one of the greatest poets that ever adorned the face of the world, I mean Shakespeare, might quite unerringly declare, —

The rose, in some other name, would smell as

sweet” —

thus attaching real value to the underlying substance and not to the conventional name there- of, yet these unlucky ‘‘dealers” in human life (rural quacks), chartered or unchartered with nameless diplomas and certificates for unbridled and unrestricted use of these dreadful means for the cure of sick humanity, attach absolute value to these conventional names of diseases that have been coined simpl3r for mutual understanding and inter -communication, and as soon as these diagnos- tic names are ascertained, treatment is accorded on the basis thereof, almost irrespective of the actual state of the entire organism, as indicated

Psora.

by the iudwelliug diseased vital force. Hence, the rural public, especially in some districts of Bengal, may be said to be under a double pest — the fierce pest of malarial fevers due to unhealthy conditions of living and the fiercer pest of this irresponsible quack-treatment with strong Allo- pathic drugs. Let us now revert from this long digression and take up the thread of our main point of thought.

Psora, as we have said before, is the result of thought — impure, immoral, illegal, devilish, Satanic thought, whereas Syphilis and Sycosis arc the re- sults of action — impure, immoral, illegal, unchartered, devilish, Satanic coition, and in as much as such coitions are mothered by volition and fathered by thought, Psora is at the root of Syphilis and Sycosis too. Thus, Psora pollutes the very spring of human life — the very source of all our feelings, emotions, sentiments and actions. Hence, with the greatest propriety and utmost precision that the French philosopher Descartes declared — ^^Cogito ergo sum'^ — ‘^we thi'nUy therefore, we exist Thus, our thought is the very essence of our existence, and Psora deranges, disorders, devitalises this very essence of our existence. When this very essence is out of order and out of tune, the subsequent course is but a foregone conclusion. Our feelings and emotions, nay, the very noble sentiments even — whether rational, moral, aesthetic, or religious, get all perverted, and our actions, based on such

perverted feelings, emotions and sentiments cannot but be wide of the mark.

We have already hinted at the present univer- sality of Psora and even included the vegetable kingdom within its perverting influences ; but it is working more ravages where life is led under artificial conditions and man-made laws. Our primi- tive Aryan ancestors, whether in their original abodes or in their subsequent colonisations, did not lose that poiver of resistanee — that genetic princi- pie of our vital substance, of which we are now almost a total wreck, due to our complete miasmatic involvement. Hence, though a great English poet, due to his miasmatic mood, may ask, —

“Who can wallow, in December snow,

Thinking of the fantastic Summer’s heat ?“ — thus drawing a sharp line of demarcation between the ‘^December snow’^ and the “Summer^s heat’^, they could easily bear not only the fierce heat of the Summer but also the terrible cold of the Winter, even without the present paraphernalia of our varied and fanciful dresses, and in fact, heat, cold and rains were almost the same to them, so strong was their power of resistance and so great was their power of adaptation. Such powers of adaptation and resistance are still to be found to a very great extent among the various so-called “uncivilised^^ tribes that are now living in many of the hills and jungles throughout the world. Alas ! our so-called ‘^civilisation” of which we are so

Psora.

proud, is thus gradually reducing us to our present Lilliputian existence, thereby making us quite unfit even to carry the sandals of our ancient Brobdingnagian forefathers !!

We are very much indebted to that saintly sage of a Homoeopath, Dr. James Tyler Kent, a.m., M.D., for the truth %-

“There is no such thing as one organ making U.nother organ sick’^ The implications of this noble utterance arc very far-reaching indeed ! If then a part is not liable, can we make the Whole as it is and in itself, that is, without being dominated by any evil forces known as Chronic Miasms, liable for its own sickness, suf- fering and misery ? Certainly not. Besides, as we have already said, our body by itself can have no disease, as disease means want of order, want of freedom ; and these attributes cannot be referred to anything other than a simple substance. Thus, the derangement is with- in, — the disorder is in the vital principle due to its miasmatic (Psoric or otherwise) involvement ; and no acute disease ever arises (save and except the traumatic and the contagious) that is not due to the effort of the vital force to throw away to the surface the effects of irmer miasmatic action. When, however, our life-force fails to do this, the disease-forces settle on some internal vital organ or organs, and the much-needed vantage-grpund is thereby afforded to our friends of the regular

ETIOLOOY IN HOMOEOPATHY

school in the shape of Diptheria, Bronchitis, Pneu- monia, Rheumatism, Paralysis, etc, thus showing (1) that disease-endings only are to be found in Pathology, whereas its beginnings are quite mys- terious and invisible, and (2) that all Pathology originates from the secondary and tertiary manifesta- tions of the miasms, the primary action whereof has no Pathology at all but it is only functional Hence the value and importance of our Master^s dictum — “^Pathology should be an uukuotvn quantity to a Homeopathic prescriberP And the reason is not far to seek. Instead of affording us any real help for proper prescription, Pathology rather mis-directs our attention and rivets it on a certain aspect of the disease to the entire exclusion of the rest. It is therefore a kind of quagmire, a sort of pitfall we should be careful about, nay, it may be said to be like that huge floating sand- bank, of which Milton speaks, where “whole armies have sunk.’^ In a sense, we too are armies in the field, and our opponents are no less powerful and treacherous than those of a mighty empire. How much more careful caution, then, and open- eyed watchfulness are require^ on our part to fight our foes whose wiles and tricks, and mean manoeuvres are so subtly beyond the comprehension of even the most skilful of our strategists (best physicians of the day) ?

It is no doubt a matter of much regret that the Psoric invasion of mankind is being greatly

Psora.

facilitated by all sorts of false theories of cure, all kinds of false teachings regarding the nature of human life and the ills it is heir to. We shall here refer only to that absurd and grotesque theory of curing the sick by means of water. At the very outset, we shall like to tell these neophytes in medicine that if water, pure and simple, however modified or ‘hnedicated” it may be with the rays of the sun or any such means, could have any such curative powers as the champions of the theory claim, the earlier sages in the field of medicine, viz., Charak and Susruta (originators of the Ayurvedic system of medicine in India), Aesculapius, Hippocrates, Galen, Pliny, Juvenal, and Paracelsus (Protagonists of the Heteropathic system of medicine) and the Prometheus of our system and his disciples, must have either laboured under a delusion or followed a mere phantom of the field. It is of course admitted on all hands that drinking of pure water in excess usually (1) nullifies and neutralises to some extent any immo- derate amount of acidity in the blood that may supervene and (2) helps to cleanse and flush out the kidneys and thereby to partially dissolve this immoderately acid and lithic state of the system. But the Hydropathists should bear in mind that this acid and lithic condition of the blood is simply a disease-effect, and the clearing and purging of a disease-effect is not tantamount to its cure. The venomous asp remains hidden within, and it will

continue vomiting further venom as soon as it is washed and wiped out. What we really require to do is to kill that deadly demon if we are to rescue our ill-fated patients from its dreadful clutches. Moreover, this miraculous materialistic method of water-cure can only affect our vege- tative and nutritive plane, but not the deeper dynamic one where the disease-forces are contend- ing with the vital force. At best, such deceptive methods of cure, then, are simply palliative and suppressive, complicative and disturbative and they only thus add very dry and inflammable fuels to the underlying miasmatic (Psoric or otherwise) fire to help the display of its fury and rage, and accelerate and facilitate the speed and progress of its ravages.

Then, we beg leave of our Allopathic friends to point out the misuse and misapplication of their surgical knife which is responsible to a very great degree for the miasmatic ( Psoric or otherwise ) conflagration thiit is now almost ablaze through- out the world. No doubt the art of Surgery is a blessing to humanity, but we regret it is not an un- alloyed bliss, and oftener than not its blessings are out-weighed and out-balanced by the sufferings and suppressions caused by it, leading to diffusion of the miasmatic poison throughout the entire system^ and specially to its direction to^ and attack of the tnore vital organs and centres of the body. The benign Vis Medicatrix Naturae, following the eternal and

Psora.

salutany laws of self-preservation sets up an in- hibitory point or centre, somewhere in the orga- nism, according to the nature of the miasmatic poison concerned, where all the disease-forces are, as it were, collected and kept in abeyance. This inhibitory point or centre may be either functional or structural, and by its peculiar signs and symp- toms, is often indicative of the nature of the disease- force, nay, it represents in many cases, so to speak, the similia of the disease, thereby inducing the application of the Homeopathic remedy under the Law of Similars. But our surgeon friend, due to his professional bias, will never acknowledge what is beyond the screen, as his empiric eyes cannot see through it. He sees a serious sinus in the ankle- joint which, despite his best attempts, both through internal application and external interference with the powerful help of his surgical box, he cannot cure ; here is a female patient with a pain- ful and swollen uterus ; with the help of the X-ray, our friend perceives that her uterus has become dark and bluish black, has got innumer- able nodular growths all over the external walls • our friend is at a loss how to remove these nodules ; he cannot possibly cut and scrape one and all, however shining may be the blade of his knife like the serpent’s tongue • there comes another lady, almost insane, due to excessive pains and troubles in her left ovary ; our friend, on careful local exploration, finds or feels a turner

V6 Etiology in Homceopathy

there - it is a very obstinate one and has the foolhardiness to defy his curative agents. After deep and serious thought, he decides that the ankle-joint must be severed, the uterus removed and the ovary snatched away, or his patients cannot be saved. So, for the ‘‘interests*’ of his patients, he accomplishes these heroic feats, and has the inward satisfaction that he thereby “cures” them, never thinking for a moment that these unfortunate organs arc not responsible for the pains and sufferings of the patients, that the disease- forces are not confined and limited to them, and that the removal of these hapless organs can, in no way, remove the peculiar morbid diathesis of the patient*s system that led to the setting up of these inhibitory centres. But how does Nature receive these rude shocks and uncivil treatment ? Why, with the removal of these favourite seats of the disease-forces, the latter, according to the Latv of Progression of Forces^ set up another in a more vital and central part of the organism, whether in the lungs producing the pathological states of Asthma, Bronchitis, Pneumonia, Phthisis, etc., or in the meninges resulting in Epilepsy, Insanity, Mania, Dementia, Deafness, etc., or in the spinal marrow leading to Paresis, Paralysis, Locomotor Ataxia, etc., or in the kidneys giving birth to all sorts of BrighPs disease. Renal and Cystic Colic, Strangury, Urinary Calculi, etc., or in the nervous system yielding Anaesthesia, Gout,

Psora.

Rheumatism, etc., or in the heart affecting cir- culation of blood and giving rise to Anaemia, Ascites, Anasarca, Cardiac Palpitation, Syncope, Angina Pectoris, etc. Even if no such special and particular vital organ be affected and attacked, the patients, after being thus deformed, or deprived of a necessary part of their organism, can only perform their physical and mental functions in a very defective and morbid manner and so live a very miserable life of it, owing no doubt to the com- plete miasmatic involvement, and intoxication of their entire system that survives the application of the surgical knife, thus showing how deadl\” and dreadful are the effects and consequences of the virulent miasmatic poison being diverted from its favourite scats selected at the salutary in- stance of Vis Mcdicatrix Naturae^ and thereafter diffused and dammed up in the s^^stem. Perhaps, our readers will now understand the mystery of the Grand Miasmatic Law. It is this : Disease-forces, tinged as they always are with the dominant miasmatic hue, in conjunction with the vital-force (Vis Medicatrix Naturae) and usually at the instance of the latter, produce an inhibitory point or centre (favourite seat of the disease-forces), where to be found a group of characteristic signs and symptoms representing the similia of the existing malady and helping the selection of the similar remedy. This, in short, is the keynote of miasmatic action in every case, and whenever this natural and normal

procedure is thoughtlessly and carelessly interfered with, the above-noted serious malignancies develop in due course, gradually sapping the foundation of the patients’ health and finally threatening them with the extinction of their terrestrial existence. We shall now beg leave of the allied profession to point out the infinite harm and injury that is being daily done to the sick and suffering humanity by the injudicious application of local measures which are nothing but suppressive, and consequently are mere contributory causes of miasfna- tie (Psoric or otherwise) growth and development. The all- wise and all-merciful Father of mankind has so instituted His beneficent laws (otherwise known as Physiological Laws — Fis Medicatrix Naturae) within our organism that the vital force under the direction of these laws is always throwing out to the surface, driving to the periphery, forcing to the circumference, whatever venom appears at the bottom, whatever impurity appears in the middle, whatever disorder arises in the centre, due to the mal-functioning of any of its organs owing, no doubt, to the malignant in- fluences of the Chronic Miasms. Thus, all sorts of eruptive diseases and all kinds of morbid evacua- tions and discharges, as already fully detailed, as well as a fistula in ano, a syphilitic bubo, a pialignant tumour, a burrowing abscess, a fierce carbuncle, etc — all owe their origin to this benignant working of the vital force under the guidance

Psora.

of the Divine Physiol ogicol Laws for the safety, security and preservation of its physical counter- part. But while Nature thus tries to relieve herself of her internal stress and strain by elimi- nating the toxic agents, in the shape and form of the pathological states and conditions, our friends in question at once come forward with their balms and ointments, salves and suppositories, irritants and astringents, for external application or internal irrigation, and as a consequence the elimina- tive ducts are barred and sealed-up, the safety valves closed and clogged-up, and the flood-gates forcefully shut-up. Thus, the poison which was coming out in the shape of morbid evacuations and discharges, or was being forced to the surface, in the shape of eruptive diseases or neuralgic and arthritic pains, is thus pent-up within the organism, resulting in the thorough miasmatic (Psoric or otherwise) intoxication of the very cells and fibres of the entire organism, with subsequent resultant break- down and collapse of the patient’s health, as, for instance, in the case of the closure of the fistula in ano leading to Asthma, Consumption, and death (vide P. 55, last chapter). Alas ! our friends conveniently overlook that the process of cure is always eliminative, but never suppressive. Plenee, the remedy should always be applied within, but never without, — barring, of course, cases of traumatic troubles. The empiric eyes may not possibly dis- cern that there is no pathological state or condition

(outside of traumatism) that is not due to pre-existent organic functional change^ producing abnormal cellular or molecular movement. Hence, the disorder in the economy leading to this organic functional change will have to be reme- died by the internal application of a suitable therapeutic agent, instead of applying external local measure or irrigation, with the vain and delusive hope to thereby “cure” the patient. At best, such measures will only suppress the local pathological state and the disease-force of which the said pathological state was a mere indicatory sign wmII forthwith shift its venue, select a deeper and more precious part of the organism (the liver, the kidneys, the ovaries, the uterus, the intestines, the lungs, the heart or the brain), and attack it with still greater might and main, as if with malice prepense, due to the said foolish frustration of its original efforts. And very se- rious indeed are the consequences of such local measures and irrigations when applied to the reproductive organs of the female sex, as there is no greater field for the display of miasmatic virulence than in such organs and their several functions. All sorts of ovarian and uterine troubles including the irregularities of menstrua- tion and various mal-positions of the uterus are in many cases the result of such local treatment.

Now, with a view to bring the dire conse- quences of local measures prominently into our

Psora.

readers^ attention, we may thus put their pecu- liar features in a nutshell : (a) Their action is

from without inward and never from within outward, though a paralysed limb or a defunct organ shows a very lamentable loss of its inner link, and stands in urgent need of a connection from within, (b) They are suppressive and not eliminative, though all processes of cure, as we have already fully explained, should always be eliminative and never suppressive, © They are inimical tOy and frustrate the salutary action of the Physiological Laws {Vis Medicatrix Naturae) ^ so mercifully instituted in our organism by its all- wise Creator for its security and salvation, (d) Instead of relieving, releasing, and refreshing, they increase and complicate our internal stress and strain^ disorders and difficulties^ though the sole aim and object of a therapeutic art is to relieve, release, refresh, soothe and allay, (e) They are quite opposed to the Divine method of Homeopathic cure from with- in outward and from above dotomvard. We therefore in the name of God and Humanity — His physical embodiment, beg most humbly to request our brethern of the allied profession never to resort^ barring of course cases of traumatism, to these local measures which are really so baneful to human health and happiness.

Another potent factor in the production, spread and development of miasmatic (Psoric or otherwise) cachexia is the misuse of various patent medicines

6

84 Etiology in Homceopathy.

that ate now being sedulously sought for ih the treatment of sick humanity. We shall do our very best to explain the matter as fully as we possibly can and try to show that such medi- cines can never ^^cure’’ the patients to whom they are applied internally or externally on the mere indication of similar pathological index. News- papers, magazines, calendars, almanacs, — nay, all sorts of printed papers intended for public perusal, are now being flooded with advertisements which declare, as it were, from house-tops, that such and such medicines are panacea for such and such diseases (pathological states).

Apart from the intrinsic merits or demerits of these vaunted preparations, the question that forcefully thrusts itself before our eyes is this : — If the suffering public have already got such Specifics and sure remedies for various pathologi- cal states and conditions (diseases), our Central Government as well as the various Provincial ones should no longer have any need to set apart in their annual budgets vast sums of money for medical education and aid in India, of bourse in their own way, and our practising friends of the various schools of medicine should have now ))een relieved of the enormous and arduous task of coping with various epidemic, endemic and sporadic diseases that have been ravaging this unfortunate tuad almost throughout the year. But alas 1 though l^iese vainglorious vociferators have long appeared

Psora.

in the scene, the miseries and sufferings of the people not only continue as before but are gra- dually on the increase, and the ruling authorities are being taxed and teased for more and more funds, and the number and capacity of the dis- pensing hands, of any school whatever, are not only being constantly increased and improved, but their energy or working power is being requisi- tioned to its utmost limit !

Let us now explain why a certain patent medi- cine cannot be applicable to, or useful for any and every pathological state of a similar nature, even though we suppose, for argument’s sake, that it originally “cured” a few cases of the same or similar pathological state ( known to the profession and the public under the denomination of a certain disease ). Let us suppose that four individuals, A, B ( males ), and C, D ( females ) are suffering from the pathological state known as “Insanity“ ann by “Insanity” we understand that the patient has lost his or her normal mental powers arid functions of thinking (understanding and reasoning), feeling ( sense-feelings,, emotions and sentiments ) and willing (volition and action). Now, the mental aberrations of these four patients are seldom due to self-same and identical causes. The first patient AJ’ inay be insane owing to the suppression of a serious attack of Tinea Capitis, just as a similar suppression by Nitrate of Silver led to complete deafness in a patient (.vide pp. 462 — 466. The.ScieQ<±

Etiology jn Homeopathy

of Therapeutics etc., — by Carroll Dunham A. M., M, D., 1858 ), the second owing to the inheri- tance of a malignant tubercular diathesis from his consumptive father pllft^*third owing to the suppression of malarial fever and scabies, and the subsequent resultant suppression of her menses ( vide — The Hahnemannian Gleanings-April 1930 issue-pp. 141-143 ) • and the fourth owing to the failure and disappointment in her love affairs (we need not cite any definite case, — there are innumerable instances of such madness in all standard literature throughout the world). Now, though these four cases of Insanity do not certainly call for the same remedy — ^‘A‘’ requiring a remedy that may develop and bring to the surface the suppressed Tinea Capitis, “B” requiring one that may elear and cure his inherited tubercular diathe- sis, “C’* requiring one that may develop the sup- pressed malarial fever, the scabies and her men- struation, and probably one in the shape

of arranging and securing the object of her fru- strated love, — yet the “Patent” inventors declare, as it were, from house-tops, that they have got

ments of all the four cases noted above. Not qnly so, this specific for Insanity is ^‘also useful in Epilepsy, Hysteria, Insomnia and Neurasthenia.” Thus, a certain fixed medicinal preparation is offered to the unwary and innocent public as a

Psora.

pathological states ( diseases ), irrespective ,of the large variety of causes that may give rise to each of such states ( diseases ). Can there be a greater crime in the eye of law or a greater sin in the omniscient eyes of the omnipresent Father than such a foolish publication in the garb of the apparent good of mankind but really to earn money at the expense of public health and happiness ? It may be safely said that almost 99% of the suffering public, though very proud of their worldly knowledge, have very scanty idea and knowledge of the science and art of Medicine including Hygiene, Anatomy, Physiology, and Pathology, though all of us should have at least a moderate amount of working knowledge of the healing science and art for the sake of our own health on which depend our knowledge, wealth and happiness. Thus, owing to our want of knowledge in Medicine, we are easily tempted to buy and apply ( externally ) or swallow these powerful and strong patent drugs whose exaggerated medicinal virtues are so force- fully and charmingly described in daily advertise- ments, and particularly because of this exaggera- tion and charming description it is often very difficult for the sufferers, who are so very anxious for their recovery, not to buy and use them, with the baneful result that in cases where they are not at all applicable, for reasons we have elabo- rated above, the physiological conditions of the patients become confused and complicated, aitfd

Etiology m Homeopathy

the disease-forces are inextricably bound-up with t^e life-force resulting in the subsequent subsidence of the latter (life-force) and aggravation of the disease, leading often to death by inches, unless the evil effects of these strong patent drugs could in the meantime be antidoted by a suitable remedy. How preposterous and absurd it is for a human brain to declare and publish to the world that he has invented “an amazing elixir of life indicated in Lassitude, Tropical Debility, Dyspepsia, Kidney and Liver Troubles, Anaemia, Blood Impurities, Impbtency, Sexual or Seminal Weakness, Loss of Flesh, Female Disorders, etc-^ That is, our angelic inventor is not satisfied with mentioning almost all the pathological states ( diseases ) by name^ but he assures the suffering public that all sorts of diseases that are now prevalent in the world or those that 7nay hereafter attach the human race, (which he means to express by his etcetera)^ will come within the curative jurisdiction of his ‘^ama- zing elixir of life” !! We simply wonder the inhuman greed for money can proceed so far ! In these circumstances, for the protection of the public health, it is desirable, nay, indispensably necessary that all advertisements for patent drugs should pass through a Medical Board comprising mem- bers from the Allopathic, Homeopathic, Ayurvedic aafitd Hakimi I Schools qf^; medicine, , wha will look iiato and. -satisfied of. their vaunted virtues

PsoKA. ay

before the advertisements are actually published for public perusal.

Now, to come back to our discourse of thought. These patent drugs, when misused, and in almost 99 cases out of 100 they are mis-used ( they are properly used only when their medicinal virtues, so far tested, have got a counterpart in the simi- lia of the disease-forces in the patients to whom they are applied ), are either suppressive, compli- cative, or destructive, and in any case they rouse into activity the latent and dormant miasms ( Psora etc., ) which, thus fanned into fury, obstinately stand in the way of the patients* recovery, if not paving the way to their death.

Therefore, in every case of disease, we are to study the peculiar constitution of the patient, his mode of living, his surrounding atmosphere and influences, his inherited tendency, susceptibility and diathesis, his occupation in life, his failures and successes, his social position and pecuniary condition, his domestic happiness or otherwise, together with the totality of symptoms as evinced by him — whether mental ( subjective ) or physical ( objective, — general or local ), paying of course more heed to the subjective symptoms as they are truly representative of the actual condition of the diseased vital-force. The selection of a suitable therapeutic agent, therefore, will depend on a very close and careful study of all the above aspects of t|^e patient, and never on a single pi^thologiea^l

U

indication Hke Fever, Piles, Diabetes, Insanity or Consumption, etc. as each of these pathological states is only one of the disease-effects, disease- endings, or disease-ultimates, due to tissue-changes in the organism on account of the disease-force having long been preventing the vital force from maintaining its equilibrium so necessary for the normal functioning of all the organs throughout the body. But is it at all thinkable that a patent medicine can ever provide for all such peculiar and varied exigencies of more patients than one, seeing that even the constitution of one patient is never exactly the same as that of the other, that while can easily digest a pound of meat richly cooked, gets a cholera morbus if he take that meat in, and that while can swim full three hours in the Ganges without catching any cold, “D’' ' has to take a weekly hot-bath in his closed room to avoid catching cold ? Hence, the mere pathological name of a Malarial Fever is not enough to induce the physician to prescribe, but we must analyse and see whether the ingredients of these medicinal prepara- tions do really possess, either jointly or severally, the healing properties that may cover the requirements of a particular case of malarial fever. The basic theory of patent medicines overlooks the cardinal prin- oipie in Tmdficim that no prescription is ever rightly Iliads -whefi it-is made on the mere index of a m^gle pathological state or condition, e. g.,. Fever, #to*,

Psora.

overlooking the rest of the other states and conditions of the patient, known as signs, symbols or symptoms. Hence, as no thorough provision can ever be made in any patent medicine for all the varying pathological states and conditions ( totality of symptoms ) of the individual patient in each case, it is unwise and unsafe to make use of any patent medicine that is advertised to be a “specific^ or ‘‘sure remedy’’ for a certain patho> logical state ( e. g , Fever, etc. ) which the patient in question may at the time exhibit, together with the other pathological states ( symptoms ) which are not even alleged to be covered, not to speak of being actually covered, by the vaunted virtues of the said patent drug, and the use of such strong medicines in massive doses, when not called for by the case in hand, is sure to result in unnecessary troubles, difficulties and complications that may last the remainder of the patient’s miserable life and end only in his death.

Thus, it is clear how the misuse of various patent medicines is one of the fruitful sources of the origin, spread and development of the chronic miasms (Psora, etc.), and so how their originators, out of their apparent motive to do good to humanity, are really doing, in most cases, a world of disservice to its real interests. Hence, we hope that our suggestion for such advertisements parsing through the scrutiny of a mixed Medical

Board before their publication may in no distant date be realised into an actuality.

In this connection, we should also like to point out how the hawking of patent drugs even with- in the various moving vehicles for human trans* port, e.g., omnibuses, tram-cars, passenger-trains, steamers, etc., by the paid servants and agents of the allied patentees, is causing infinite harm by way of usually or often arousing and developing the miasmatic fire (Psoric or otherwise) in the systems of the unwary and innocent public most of whom being either uneducated, ill-educated or half-educated, take up as gospel truth the very nice and beautiful word-pictures, either in hand- bills or by the said servants and agents them- selves, giving innumerable fancied virtues of the said drugs and thereby inducing them (the travelling public) to buy and use them (drugs) at once. Just on entering the vehicle, he distributes a few of the handbills among this, that and a third man, occupies a central space, and at once begins loudly lecturing on the various nameless qualities of the drug. All sorts of pains and inflammations, all kinds of wounds, sores and ulcers, all varieties of boils, abscesses, itches and eczemas, — nay, all kinds of skin diseases that may deface and dis- figure our ‘^public” and private parts and organs, may be “cured” in a day by the application of this “wonderful ointment.’' If he notices that his are , ever inattentive to his lecture, be

Psora.

will so raise the tone and tune of his vocifera- tions that they will perforce lend their ear to him. Thus, he gains his object ! Once they listen, they cannot but buy ! Once they buy, they cannot but use or apply ! Such other quaint drugs whose names are a legion are being thus forcefully made to be used every day by many a hapless member of our society with effects and consequences known to all.

Thus, partly through advertisements in news- papers, handbills, placards, plates, magazines, calendars, almanacs, telephone directories, railway, steamer and postal guides, telegram forms, station posters, tram-car posters, w^all-posters, etc., etc., and partly through the medium of paid agents, servants and hawkers, various kinds of patent medicines are made to be used by the unlucky people of this unfortunate land, and in most cases they unwittingly court their own misery at their own cost, as these strong patent drugs, when inaptly applied or used, and in most cases they are so done, cannot but complicate the internal state of the user and thereby develop his mias- matici (Psoric or otherwise) cachexia. O that we had the powers and means to put an immediate stop to all these fruitful sources of human pains and sufferings ! But we are fully confident there will soon come a day when mankind will learn to realise the true nature of . these alleged and supposed tmiversal remedies, as , our Divi^.

Father cannot perpetually allow His physical embodiment to be under the eternal torture of these thoughtless but greedy patentees !

We have already written enough to indicate the general nature of Psora, and we shall now confine our attention to the description of its special and particular features, thereby helping our readers to understand it clearly and thoroughly. But before doing this, we should like to refer to one peculiar mania or madness of the present-day civilisation, as it is sure to enormously increase the Psoric conflagration that is already ablaze in the world : We speak of the present raging and tearing campaign for Scientific Birth Control.

The idea of birth control by the use of Scientific Contraceptives has originated in the West where it has been found that birth-rate has been much higher than the death-rate, thereby bringing about an undesirable increase in population and result- ing in Lhe inevitable distress and misery of the people, for want of sufficient accomodation and means of subsistence. Even in the small island of Great Britain, the excess of births over deaths was well over 100,000 in the year 1929, and they

thought it very likely that so low a rate of excess of births over deaths would not be maintained during the years to come, for while the birth- rate, 163, was the lowest recorded, the death- rate, 134, was the highest since 1919. Thus, they had apparently some cause for anxiety. This

Psora.

natural prolificacy of the human race must be stopped. As a result, various Birth Control Clinics had already been established, of which that at Cambridge is the most notable one where admirable research works are being done to find out the easiest and safest way to check this natural productivity. We understand the Roman Catholics are opposed to this polic^^ though it is supported by the Protestants specially re- presenting the English Church. The other day (1930), the Bishop of Birmingham, while preaching on the subject at the Westmininster Abbey said : “Men would not listen to Church on matters as birth-control unless it is admitted at the outset that medical science and preventive hygiene have so lowered death-rate, especially among children, that the natural fecundity of humanity must be checked if the world is not to be disastrously over-crowded.^’ So far as to the movement in the West. But what do we find in India where the most servile imitation runs so rampant, specially in such spheres of human activity as relate to the lower side of human Nature ? Why, a great deal of propaganda work is also being done here, and newspapers are full of advertise- ments clearly showing the Indian trend of thought on the subject. These advertisers highly recommend the use of Birth Control Specifics, some on the ground of their ability to preserve the femak health and beauty, some to improve the health

t4 ETIOI.OGY IN Homceopathy

of weak women by preventing conception for all times to come, while others to build new. healthy and so on. Thus, all of them lay stress on the fact that these specifics are so admirably and wonderfully prepared that they will not only stop the conception despite usual cohabitation but will also increase the health and beauty of the women using the same.

As stated above, the idea of birth control arose in the West due to apparent stress and strain of hard Necessity, and they are trying to create an ideal state by the alliance of political theory with material force, their scientific contracep- tives being the outcome of the latter. Of course, we admire the noble end in view, but we do not approve of the means proposed and adopted. No doubt, they are apparently justified in this movement from the so-called Utilitarian standpoint, but it is doubtful how far there can be any ‘^greatest good of the greatest number’^ at the risk, sacrifice and suffering of each individual unit.

An ordinary machine, say, a clock or an engine, pannot work satisfactorily, or at all, if and when any of .its vital parts be removed, damaged, injured, or made defunct, as each and, every one of its vital parts severally and jointly contributes to the satisfactory and perfect working of the whole. Thus, it is clear that every vital part of a machine has got a peculiar function of its own, aiid it is . absolutely necessary to keep the machine

Psora,

in its perfect working order. Hence it is ^ that a, machine can ill afford either to spare such a part or to leave it to be prejudicially affected, if it were to miantain its original perfection.

A human body is a living machine. Its vital parts are living organs, each of which, while having a special and peculiar function of its own, is inseparably connected with the rest, so much so that whenever there is the least amount of pain or disorder in any one of them, the entire organism throbs and pulsates in sympathy and feels uneasy and sick. An organism is said to be in health when all its organs perform their functions properly and naturally. There is no organ that is useless, though our ignorance of its working may often call it so.

All female creatures on earth are endowed with organs of regeneration. In mankind, the ovaries and the uterus are specially intended for the purpose. But to suit our purposes, viz., either to check the population for want of sufficient accommo* dation and means of subsistence, as in the West, or to preserve the health and beauty of our wives for purposes better to be inferred than expressed, as in India, we are determined to make these bene- ficent organs defunct. That a drug, though deadening the natural functions of a vital organ, is finally grateful, salutary and beneficial to the organism as a whole, so much so that it builds new health, as alleged, is a dogma quite opposed to the principles of sound

reasoning, and we plainly 'confess our inability to understand it at all.

Whenever an organ is artificially deadened and its natural powers are forcibly annihilated by strong drugs, the tissues and cells of which it is made up cease to have the same amount of sympathy and co-operation from the other organs, due to their failure to reciprocate with them, as a defunct organ is as good as a dead one. Moreover, these Contracep- tives or birth control specifics, in order to be effec- tive, must bring about such thorough changes in the tissues and cells of the organs in question as will stand in the way of their effecting the con- ception in spite of usual coition ; that is to say, these strong drugs will, as it were, make the said tissues and cells quite lifeless and inert, or they would never fail to fulfil their natural functions of effecting the conception through sexual congress in due course. Thus, it will be quite clear that particular tissues and cells, lifeless and inert to all intents and purposes, can never act and react on the remaining tissues and cells of the body, and so the functions of the latter will be slowly but surely modified and affected by the morbid apathy and want of reaction on the part of the said lifeless, inert tissues and cells forming the said defunct organs of reproduction. Every organism is made up of a large number of tissues and cells, each of which has got a community of interest with the rest, and each of which lives and exists to swerve this

Psora.

common interest and common cause which but for their combined action will never be fully served and attained. Hence, if we employ, any drug with a view to permanently destroy the natural func- tions of a group of tissues and cells, we thereby indirectly produce a general physiological change and weaken the entire organism, thus affording ample opportunities to the dreadful miasm of Psora, already existing in the organism in a latent state, to work as much ruin and havoc as it possibly can ( from what we have already written on the subject, it must have been clear to our readers that there is no man on earth that is entirely free from the psoric taint ). Thus, with the forcible stoppage of the natural functions of the pelvic organs, our women folk will gradually lose their health, for the awakened and enraged Psora will make them a prey to various kinds of sicknesses unknown and unfelt before. Thus, being forcibly maimed in their main organs and deprived of the principal function of their existence, they will not only lead a very miserable life themselves but will also seriously affect the ease, comfort and happiness of those living with them.

Far better indeed would have been the practice of self-control and obedience to the tenets and principles of morality and religion. In our opinion, marriage should never be looked upon as a mere contract, and so a. means for the gratification of the senses. Indeed, it is a holy sacrament, and never an 7

unbridled charter for the unrestricted and unres- trained satisfaction of our passions and propensities. Thus, self-control on the part of both husband and . wife will easily do the needful ^ — it will control excessive births, thereby checking undesirable in- crease in population where necessary, it will be condvicive to the health of the couple and conse- quently to that of their offspring, thereby mitigating » the misery and distress, disease and suffering in the world, and finally it will enormously increase the mental and moral powers, and religious sentiments of the parents and so of their children, thereby making a heaven of this earth which is as good as a hell now, in point of the present deplorable moral degeneration and degradation of its denizens.

India had seen the light of civilisation long before the birth of Jesus Christ, but she had never any need for any specific for birth control to pre- serve the health and beauty of her women folk. Our civilisation, our modes of life, our manners and customs, our morality and religion, are quite unique in the world. Not only so, they are quite conducive to the full and perfect development of human nature. If we simply live up to our own ideal of civilisation, we shall never have any need for such scientific methods of birth control which, as we have explained fully above, are sure to bring in unknown and unthought-of miseries and sufferings in their train. We, therefore, in the name of our ancient civilisation, with its high and noble moral and

Psora.

religious ideals and principles, request our brothers and sisters in the land never to meanly imitate the materialistic out-croppings of any and every passing wave that may be brought to our shores by the breezes that blow, but to follow the lucid light of their own time-honoured civilisation that is sure to give them, if truly followed, health and happi-, ness here below, and peace and bliss hereafter.

we shall now try to point out the special and peculiar features of Psora as far as practicable^ —

(1) Psora by itself does not and cannot give rise to what is known as cachexia^ diathesis^ dyscrasia^ idiosyncrmy, or susceptibility, but one of the other two miasms of Syphilis and Sycosis must join with it before the patient can have the peculiar state of constitution expressed by any of the said terms.

Of all our loves, that for our own life is the most fundamental. No body loves any thing or any one better than his own life. This is a fact that is quite clear, and universally acknowledged.

Now, we quote the following from the Literary Digest of New York, U.S.A. : — “Toll of Suicide — one hundred and twenty thousand lives snuffed out in ten years — not by accident but by suicide. We are thus confronted with a national problem of consi- derable magnitude and it is no small thing to contemplate that 120,000 persons have voluntarily ended their existence during a decade ( 1919-1929 ) of unexampled prosperity.’^

In face of the above “un-exampled prosperity’’ in

general trade and commerce, how are we to account for this large number of self-inflicted deaths in a coun- try now the richest and most civilized in the world ? Though the matter may puzzle the best brains of our materialistic friends of the regular school, the explanation seems to loom large before our eyes.

Mankind is now under the active control of Psora. As a result, people in the world are over- burdened with an enormous amount of undesirable and un-natural craving, longing and lust, and this is more so where the so-called civilisation is most com- plete. Thus, Syphilis and Sycosis are moving hand in hand with Psora, thereby altering the natural human constitution. One by one, all the organs are attacked and their natural functions affected, modified and deranged, if not destroyed. In this way, when one or both of these dreadful miasms of Syphilis and Sycosis, in conjunction with Psora, will attack the liver and the hearty modify their constitution and derange their functions, the patients in question will see despair and hopeless- ness everywhere. If we study human nature closely, we can scarcely fail to see that there is a very close relation between the will and the heart and the liver. Hence it is that all severe cases of liver and heart troubles are usually accompanied by the peculiar mental state of utter hopelessness and strong inclination to die. When therefore we read in the said Journal

Psora.

of New York that so many people committed suicide even in times of ^‘un-exampled prosperity,” we are extremely aggrieved at heart to know the most deplorable physical and mental coditions of the people there who are apparently under such terrible sway of Syphilis and Sycosis with their mother Psora as could lead to and result in such excessive voluntary deaths.

We have introduced this episode to show that Psora, by itself and in itself, does not produce that peculiar physical state corresponding with that peculiar mental state of hopelessness and despair leading to strong desire to die • and the technical terms of cachexia, diathesis, dyscrasia, etc., denote nothing but such a peculiar physical and mental state. We think we have driven the matter home to our readers ^nth the help of the illustration made.

(2) Psora alone cannot produce any physiological change, though it may bring about a pathologi- cal one. We must have another miasm, Syphilis or Sycosis, or both, to have any physiological change in our organism. By physiological change, we mean change in the structure and constitution of the tissues and cells that make up our body ; by pathological change, we mean change in the sum- total of the morbid conditions that make up a certain disease (pathological state). To be more explicit. Psora may increase the thirst of a febrile paroxysm due to hepatic hypertrophy, but it is

beyond its power and jurisdiction, unaided by and un-allied with any of the other two miasms, to produce the said hypertrophy that induced the fever.

(3) A Psoric spell may be overcome and removed by physiological discharges^ e. g., diarrhoea, profuse urination, excessive perspiration, etc., but not the Syphilitic and Sycotic ones. By Psoric spelly we mean a special and particular exacerbation of Psora which, under ordinary circumstances, remains in a latent state. Though we may check such an out-cropping of Psora by any one of the said physiological discharges, it is absolutely impossible to check the vigour and virulency of any Syphilitic or Sycotic out-burst with the help of the said discharges.

(4) As already said, Psora is the result of thought — impure, immoral and Satanic thought, — thought of appropriating and enjoying what is not his own, what he has no right to appropriate and enjoy ; whereas both Syphilis and Sycosis are the results of action — impure, immoral and Satanic coition, induced of course by the said perverted thought of Psoric origin and influence. In the perfect mental state, when our intellect or the understanding is in its naive and natural condition, when it is almost, if not entirely, free from the Psoric domination — for there is none on earth entirely free from Psora, — a man will have the least thought of taking, for purposes either of ownership or of enjoyment, what belongs to

Psora.

others ; but such a mental state wherein Psoric influence is almost nil is scarcely to be found in the ordinary run of mortals, though we may at times find it among the saints and holy men who are leading a life of divine thought and contem- plation in sacred solitude and secluded retreats. Thus, it will appear that the control of our thoughts is the primary and most fundamental thing absolutely necessary for our health and happiness.

With a view to make the matter as clear as possible, we should like to bring into prominence the peculiar nature and characteristic of what is meant by HhoughV the control whereof is so essen- tial for the maintenance of our health. Our mind has got three separate faculties — (a) the faculty of thinking, (b) the faculty of feeling, and © the faculty of willing. The faculty of think- ing, otherwise known as Thought, Intellect or Intelligence, includes understanding, conscience, and reason of which ’Conscience' is nothing but Reason exercised in the moral sphere and the term ^Reason' is used to indicate the aprioriy and

gence j in other words, we usually restrict the term ‘Reason’ to the intuitive, and ‘Understanding,’ to the discursive exercise of our Intellect. Thus, by control of thought we indirectly mean to say the control of our passions and inclinations, as unruly horses, arising out of our thought-processes,

and consequent thereon, by the apriori and intui- tive exercise of Reason as charioteer. What Hahne- mann, by his Psora theory, the basis of his Homeopathy, wanted to inculcate, viz., the absolute want of rigid control over out thoughts, passions and inclinations being responsible for the origin, growth and development of the Chronic Miasms and the consequent disease and distress in the world, — thus making Medicine and Morality as essentially cognate, and almost co-extensive in their function and jurisdiction, was preached in our Upanishads even several hundred years B. C. Thus, in the third section (Valli) of the Katha Upanishad, the soul is compared to a person seated in a chariot which is the body, the Reason being the charioteer ; the will, the reins j the passions or senses, the horses ; and the things of sense, the roads. If, it is said, the charioteer, the Reason, is unskilful, and the reins are always slack, his senses are ever unruly, like horses that will not obey the charioteer j but if the charioteer is skilful, and at all times firmly holds the reins, his senses are always manageable, like horses that obey the charioteer. We also find a similar idea in our Manusanhita where it is said : — “In the restraint of the organs running wild among objects of sense, which hurry him away hither and thither, a wise man should make diligent effort, like a charioteer restraining restive steeds.” And because of such strict moral atmosphere of our Yedic age, the

Psora.

various strange and peculiar pathological states of opisthotonos and emprosthotonos, ovarian tumour and uterine prolapsus, hepatic hypertrophy and spleenic rupture, phimosis and paraphimosis, hydro- thorax and hydrocephalus, stricture and gall stone, etc., that are now the event of every-day occurrence, were almost absent or very few and far between. Hence, we are almost led to think that the full effect of Hahnemann’s Organon could only be given, could we bring back the spirit of our Vedic age now ! But, 0 the vanity of our hopes and wishes !

Now, as we have seen above, Psora being the product of perverted thought, a patient with a preponderance of Psoric taint will generally be characterised by an excess of the Power of General Perception so much so that he may be compared to a spiritual barometer recording every change ,in his physical constitution, whether of excess or of defect, in his sensations and functions. There can scarcely be any change in his economy, however small and minute, that escapes his attention. And because of such oversensitive senses he is over- complaining 5 even a matter of very small magni- tude gets itself magnified to his allied sense of intensified perception. Hence we find the very peculiar mental symptoms of such a patient, — he is irritable, fretful, peevish^ quarrelsome, ill-humoured, easily angered, restless, and so on.

(5) From the above, it is clear that Psora involves and attacks the Nervous System of the

patient through and through, and his unusually quick perception, and mental restlessness and irri- tability are due to the Psoric involvement of his nerve fibres and filaments. Ifcrmay be noted here that every organism has two kinds of nerves ; (a) Motor^ out-carrying, or effluent ; and (b) Sensory^ in-carryingy or affluent ; — the function of the latter being to convey impressions and messages to the sensorium, more particularly to the cerebrum, the seat of knowledge, whereas the function of the former is to carry out or execute the orders issued by the brain, of course on receipt of impressions and messages through the latter. Thus, both the nerves are always active ; the one carries the message in, the other acts up to it. Psora having changed the constitution, and deranged the function of both these motor and sensory nerves, tending rather towards excess than defect, acceleration than torpidity, a Psoric patient is not only cha- racteristically quick of perception (due to accelerated action of the sensory nerves) but also excessively irritable and restless (due to the excited state of the nerve-fibres of the brain as expressed by the equally quick-acting motor nerves ). Thus, either from periphery to centre, or from centre to circum- ference, nerve action is unusually quicker both ways than in the case of any other miasm.

The above may be said to constitute the grand, general characteristics of Psora, If these characteri- stics are constantly kept in view, it will be easy

Psora.

to ascertain whether a given patient labours specially under the Psoric influence or not. But there are innumerable minor peculiarities of Psora «some of which are discussed below, as they too are often of great help in distinguishing Psora from the other miasms. We have thought it desirable to append a small explanatory note to each of these items to show, as far as possibe, how they can possibly be considered as the outcome of Psora. These are : —

(1) A tendency to itches and similar shin affections. The explanation is easy enough. Psora pri- marily affects the nervous system, and through it the entire vegetative sphere, including of course the venous capillary system, provoking a sort of internal disturbance, restlessness and irritabi- lity, an internal itching sensation as it were, induced, of course, by the accelerated action of all the nerves, as said before, and the congestion of blood resulting therefrom. It may be noted here that the very constitution of the blood undergoes a great deal of modification, not in quantity but in quality ^ and when the said congestion is rather great, the internal irritability is thrown out to the surface by Vis Medicatrix Naturae in the shape and form of either itches or any one of the various kinds of skin eruptions to relieve the patient of the Psoric spell, referred to before. Thus, Psoric patients are overburdened with a very distressing itching sensation all through the body,

even when there are no aetual outward itches or any other eruptions, and we find a corresponing ‘^itching” state of his mind, which state is better described as ‘restlessness,’ 'irritability,’ 'fretfulness,’ etc. Perhaps, our readers will now understand why the term ^Psord* is popularly and ordinarily equivalent to 'itches.*

(2) iileep much disturhedy almost wantinQy restlessy full of dreams and ejaculations^

Owing to the unusually accelerated action of both the sensory and motor nerves during the whole day and early part of the night before retirement, and both these nerves being directly or indirectly connected with the brain, the nerve- fibres, cells and tissues of the latter (brain) cannot but be highly excited, inducing of course an unusual congestion of blood therein. A man with such a state of his brain is not expected to have any free and normal sleep. Hence, we find a Psoric patient enjoying, — rather labouring under, a kind of sleep noted above. Therefore, such a patient can derive very little relief from sleep, and he wakes the next morning almost with the same irritable state of his mind and body as he went to bed over-night with.

(3) Temperament is rough and harsh, lacking gentle^ ness and tending to irritability and anger.

Our temperament, nay, the whole state of our mind, is but a reflexion of our physical condition. With excited and irritable nerve-fibres throughout

Psora.

the body, a man can never expect to have a smooth and gentle course of the mind, not even an even tenor. Mind 'and body are so inseparably mter-related that physical irregularities can scarcely fail to be reflected in the mind and vice versa. Hence, where there is no calmness and even-ness, no equilibrium and equanimity in the movements of the various nerve-fibres and allied parts in his physical sphere, there can be no gentle- ness and mildness, no softness and pliability in his mental kingdom. So, a Psoric patient is usually obsessed with an over-dose of irritability and harshness, and thus he is often too unfortunate to exercise that noble divine quality of mercy, of which Shakespeare speaks, that drops as gentle rain from heaven beneath, as a double blessing, to bless him that takes and him that gives. This, however, appears to be quite in the fitness of things if we consider that the enjoyment of happiness due to the performance of an act of divine mercy must not be in the lot of those that have much deviated, either personally or through heredity, from the usual and eternal course of life so far as our thinking, feeling and willing are concerned, that is to say, our manhood as against beasthood is concerned.

(4) Scanty hairs on the head ; often approaching baldness ; looks prematurely old due to hairs getting unhandy grey ; scalp often full of dry dandruffs or eruptions.

110 Etiology in Homeopathy

I

Congestion of the brain and irritation thereof, as fully explained above, are often responsible for loss of hairs, more or less, and their untimely get- ting grey. Constant heat, due to the said conges- tion and irritation, is very unfavourable to the luxuriant development joj^the hairy growth on the. scalp, and the said heat is also at the root of the dry dandruff in question. We all know that all the deserts on earth, due to their extreme heat, are almost barren of vegetable productions which, for their normal growth and development, require heat, and moisture too, in a certain proportion ; but, the scalp of the Psoric patient lacks the necessary amount of moisture, in the shape of the local normal sanguineous state, required for the life and normal health of the hairs thereon. Hence the abnormality complained of.

(5) Most of his joints, especially of the legs, often crack whenever he moves.

This cracking of the joints and bones is due to the want or insufficiency of the synovial fluid required to properly lubricate them. A question may arise, “Whence this want or insufficiency ”’r We reply,— the Psoric miasm so alters the constitution, the com- position of blood, the usual proportion of animal heat and moisture in the economy as to seriously affect the production of this important fluid. Hence the want or insufficiency, and the abnormality in, question.

(6) Sexual propensity unusually intensified.

Psora.

Ill

All our senses of action, and not of knowledge,

of the brain which is, so to speak, the central govern- 'inent whose behest is immediately carried out by the various provincial ones, that is, the several executive organs of speech, hands, feet, anus and the generative organs. In Psoric constitution, ^not only the central government but also the various peri- pheral organs of action are in a fretful and irri- table mood due to the abnormal nerve-excitement thereof. Because of the disturbance and excitement engendered by Psora, the reproductive organ of such a patient usually loses its genial normal functioning, and is generally prone to excesses thus over-reaching the limits of its ^‘God-given best” in the words of Goethe.

(7) Tendency to catch sudden cold, with or tvithout any cause, or not to catch any.

As we have said, a Psoric constitution is over- burdened with an amount of un-natural heat. Hence, like all hot bodies, such a patient is very susceptible to cold. Hence it is that he catches cold in season and out of season. In cases, however, where the Psoric influence is deeper and more, profound, the patient at times may not appear to be susceptible to catching any external cold which may settle in some other organ or part of the body to the production of allied troubles and pains. And this idea is admirably confirmed by Dr. Kent who says j — ‘^In chronic cases, the taking of

Etiology m HoMOEOPAitor

cold generally locates, or creates a disturbance and increases disorder that manifests itself, in the weakest place. You can often say to sickly patients, Tfour cold now affects you in the ‘ weakest place. If you have liver trouble, your cold will settle in the liver, and so on • but when you get well, you will take cold, like other people, in the nose*.” Materia Medica, P. 230.

(8) Various sorts of head-aches aud head-complaints, often a hemicrania.

The constant congestion and irritation of the brain, as induced by Psora, can scarcely fail to produce the abnormalities as per the above head line. The reason why a certain side of the head is often preferred to the exclusion of the other is probably that the cells, tissues and nerves of that side have already been taxed to their utmost functioning by related reflexes from the periphery.

(9) Tendency to constipation or diarrhoea, or consti- pation alternating with diarrhoea.

A Psorie sufferer being generally over-taxed with an excess of internal heat, all his mucous membranes get usually dry, and the alimentary duct from the mouth to the anus is similarly affec- ted. Hence, constipation is natural with Psora, and diarrhoea is only a reactionary result.

(10) Tendency to the formation of various crusts in the nose and to pick them out.

As we have said, a Psorie patient is generally liable to catch constant cold. But his nasal mucous

Psora.

membranes, in conformity with his general constitu- tion, being usually hot, part of the coryza flowing over them gets hardened, forming the crusts noted dbove, and these crusts partially obstructing the nostrils and thereby preventing, to some extent, the natural respiration, produce an un-natural seUvSation therein, leading and inducing the patient to clear them off. After their removal, new crusts are similarly formed, and removed, and so we often find the Psoric patient with his fingers in the nostrils.

(11) Tendency to get easily tired^ or attacked with a disease which he cannot easily overthrow.

The nervous system of a man under the influence of Psora may be said to be under constant wear and tear, fret and fume ; it is, as it were, always exhausted ^ it has no reserve force, so to speak, for emergencies. But why so ? Because, all his nerves, motor or sensory, are constantly over- worked. It is easy to understand that the nervous system of such a man, already tottering with the usual burden of ordinary work, can scarcely bear the weight of an^’' extra work ordered to be done by it. Hence we find that he is very greatly prostrated even after a slight labour and that he can scarcely escape an epidemic of even a very mild nature. And because of the said natural exhaustion of his system, when he is once laid up, he cannot easily and soon recover. Thus, his sufferings are always protracted, and the more so,

8

il4 Etiology IN Homceopathv

if he Im: under a treatment with massive doses of strong drugs that are not at all grateful to his irritated and exhausted nerves.

(12) Tendency to all sorts of menstrual disorders. '

Menses may be early or late j scanty or profuse ; dark red or black ; thick or thin and ichorous ; anticipating or postponing ; attended with various excruciating pains in the abdomen and waist. All the miasms appear to direct their main forces towards the generative organs of both the sexes, specially of the female. The reason appears to be this ; when a man or a woman is not in health but labours under one or more of the miasms, he or she is quite unfit for the reproductive purpose, as the issue thereof, if any, will not only suffer all the life through, but be an additional burden to the world. Hence it appears to be one of Nature’s plans, with a view to reduce the quantity of misery and suffering in the world, to stop the birth of such invalid manikins, by deranging the reproductive organs of such patients at the outset. The reason is that Nature “loves from whole to parts,’’ as Pope has very aptly expressed it, though we, in our finitude “Must rise from indivi- dual to the whole’'.

' (13) Tendency to the formahon of worms in children. The lay public labour under the misconception thAt when a child suffers from worms and allied painful sensations, it should either have a strong purgative to clear them out, or be swgUoweii

Psora.

any of the bitterest drugs or vermifuges that may kill these innocent worms inside the intestines, so that the child may be thus freed from the worms and their ravages once for all. There is no doubt at all that it is a very mistaken idea. A mere washing or cleansing the intestines and the rectum, or the use of a* bitter drug, may temporarily remove or destroy the worms that are already born, but these processes cannot cure the tendency to their subsequent birth, growth and development. The puny patients suffering from these worms usually labour under a peculiar indigestion, a fermentation that favours the formation of worms. Hence, in order to remove this tendency, we shall have to so correct the digestion that worms will no longer hatch out and no longer thrive. But to try “to remove them,” in the words of Dr. Kent; “by physicking them out, and by vermifuges, only makes a bad matter worse, because it increases the indigestion, it increases the turmoil,” Materia Medico, P. 309. As he has very appropriately remarked — ^“All these worms will come if they are favoured with just exactly the right kind of fluids to hatch out in.” And our Psoric patients have a very strong liking, among all other things, for all sorts of sweets and acids the excessive use whereof not only injuriously affects the digestive powers but amply affords the most ^vourable element for the birth, growth anu development

of these worms. Therefore, to eradicate the tendency to the formation of worms, we shall have to use an anti-psoric remedy that will do the needful (a) by correcting the patient’s morbid desire for sweets and acids and (b) by correcting his powers of digestion and assimilation.

( 14 ), Tendency to Epistaxis, usually in early life.

Disease-ultimates and disease-centres or seats are not yet definitely formed and located in early life, but they are just beginning to be formed and located in the allied favourable localities as life advances, and the miasm in question, with its peculiar mischievous influences, keeps itself engaged and occupied round about such centres or seats after they are actually formed. As we have said before, a Psoric brain ( head ) is full of congestion and irritation. Nature, therefore, tries to relieve this tension to give at least as much temporary relief and comfort to the patient as she can ; and she brings this about by the peculiar make-shift of occasional epistaxis. But as life advances and favourite disease-centers are formed, ' the miasm remains mostly busy there, thereby partially relieving the said tension in the brain and thus epistaxis is usually confined to early life, though of course this very tendency to epistaxis may be cured by an anti- psoric treatment even when the life is very young.

( 16 ) Timidity or fearfulness is a peculiar feature of Psora.

A I^oric patient will scarcely be persuaded to

PsOra,.

remain alone in a dark room, or to pass by a place in darkness, which is alleged to be haunted by evil spirits : he is always fearful of the condition of his health or disease j a slight cause or incident entirely upsets his irritated nerve force, and he is wellnigh convulsed j a little business depression is enough to set him a-thinking, and it will even prevent his sleep for days togther. The reason is that fiis entire nervous system is in an extreme tension, and as a result he has totally lost the power of accommo- dation necessary for a new thought or a new idea. Hence, even a very trifling thing, or a tiny matter produces such a strong vibration of his already irritated nerve-fibres that it sends a thrill through- out his entire organism. It is for this reason that the natural emotion of fear is increased to a very great extent in a Psoric patient. Unlike that brave boy who cried, — ^“Mother, what's Fear ? I have never seen it,” a Psoric child, when brought to society will, in the words of Dr, Kent, “keep the hand up over the face and peek out through the fingers — so bashful, so timid, so easily frightened, so afraid of strangers .” — Materia Medica, P. 199. When such a patient is attacked with an ordinary disease, he thinks his condition is very serious, and is fearful of death. A close study of such a Psoric mind, — always timid, irritable, and restless, usually leads one to think that the transgression of the eternal and salutary laws of Thought, either direct or indirect ( through heredity ) carries with it its

118 Etiology in Homeopathy

own punishment which is so essentially necessary at least for its deterrent and corrective purposes, even if we overlook its compensatory aspect.

( 16 ) Sweet tmst preferred by Psora, among alt- objects of taste.

There are primarily four objects of taste — ^sweet, acid, salt and pungent. A Psoric patient whose nervous system is already in high tension and great irritation cannot possibly prefer pungent objects or objects with too much salt, as such objects are sure to greatly aggravate the tension and irritation of his morbid nerve-fibres. As all physical bodies move towards the direction of least opposition, so all mental activities are generally directed towards the enjoyment of greatest pleasure (if not happiness which is a purer and higher concept altogether). Thus, every one on earth is always on the look-out for things and objects that are likely to render the greatest amount of pleasure and/or happiness possible under the circumstances. Hence it is that a Psoric subject will avoid pungent and salty things. It is not that he does not like acid at all ; he likes it to some extent but not to the extent he likes sweets. The reason is that though the various acids are grateful to some extent, they are not so perfectly soothing and refreshing to him as are the sweets which appear to tone down, soften and mitigate his nervous excitability, at least for the time being, and thereby to appreciaMy lessen '

Psora.

his mental irritability too. It is therefore no wonder that in pursuance of the above hedonistic principle he will always long for and hanker aTter the objects of his greatest love, viz., all sorts of sweets.

We have so far studied only a few of the peculiar traits of Psora in its latent condition. We have not thought it desirable, nor even necessary, to prolong our discussion of such traits to make it almost complete ; for, the principal features discussed are deemed quite sufficient to induce the readers to undertake individual study on the subject with a view to perfectly understand the nature and peculiarity of Psora — the only basic principle, nay the very foundation of Homoeo- pathy.

As to the peculiarities of Psora in its patent state, it is quite impossible to describe them fully, or to enumerate. We may however say this much that all kinds of pains and sufferings, diseases and ailments that are known to mankind up till today under various names and epithets, shapes and forms, are the outcome of Psora, either direct or indirect. By indirect, we mean to say that those apparently brought on by Syphilis or Sycosis are at basis Psoric too, for it is Psora that gave birth to both Syphilis and Sycosis. Hence, in this sense, it may be said that all sorts of sickness and suffering on earth are due to Psora and Psora alone.

As we have often said, Psora is the grand primary miasm to pollute the human mind and so to enervate his body. It first brings about a peculiar perversion of our Thought which is the fountain- head and main-spring of human life and charac- ter. As said before, the apriori and iniuitive exercise of thought, otherwise knowm as Reason, is the governor of our mental kingdom; that is to say, it is Reason that checks the wayward spirit of our passions and propensities, moderates the exuberance of our desires and likings, tempers the excitability of our feelings and emotions and finally controls our deeds and doings by guiding the Will along the paths of Duty and Virtue. But Psora lays its corrupting hands on, and directs its evil influences upon this very gover- nor of our mind which being thus, partially or wholly, as the case may be, freed from its salu- tary control and beneficent guide, falls an easy prey to all sorts of external charms and infllu- ences that catch the eye and overpower it. Just as fn the physical world, we notice opposing forces contending with each other for supremacy, as for instance, heat and cold, fire and water. Summer and Winter,’ light and darkness (day and night), disease and health, poverty and wealth, and so on, so also in the mental world there are opposing forces

Syphius

that are always fighting with each other for over- lordship^ and though “virtue abhors to wear a borrowed face’\ vice is always painted in such bright and charming colours as scarcely fail to captivate the eye that meets them. Hence it is that human thought deprived of the wholesome counsel of Reason, easily succumbs to the alluring enchantments of the enemy that is ever ready with new devices and tempting baits to overcome and entangle its adversary. Just as a small pebble having stirred the peaceful lake in the centre, a circle straight succeeds, another still, and still another spreads, so also the central ruling power of the mind having been once perverted, all other thought- processes are gradully affected, moved, and modi- fied and the mind becomes wholly destitute of its controlling authority. The desires and wishes, the passions and inclinations of such a man, being without a restraint, run as wildly as possible towards the objects of their love, either for appropriation or physical (sensual) enjoyment. Thus, Psora very thoroughly prepares the back- ground, — nay, very beautifully adorns the stage where Syphilis and Sycosis are to exhibit tljeir unseemly feats and nefarious performances.

It is known to all that the dreadful miasm of Syphilis is the result of action, the outcome of secret vices, the direct issue of immoral association with public women. We all know that it is a very bad thing to seek such sensual enjoyment, as it is

122 Etiology in Homeopathy

very likely to inflict a life-long punishment in the shape of various venereal diseases • but we lack the mental strength and stamina to stand the temptation, as Psora has already undermined the foundation of our mental strength by beclouding our Reason and weakening our Understanding. Thus circumstanced, we may be said to be in the wide sea of very trying temptations and allurements, but without a chart or compass to guide us through. It is of course to be understood that the Psoric influ- ence is nothing like complete in every case, but that it is sure that in all cases of moral depravity and degradation, of error, deviation and fall, it is the predominating Psoric disturbance and domination that is responsible for same.

A question may here arise : Some of our readers may ask, “Supposing Psora perverts our thought- processes, how is it that such a man will drive himself direct to a house of ill fame to court his life-long suffering and uneasy death ? Has thought any thing to do with his actions ? Because his Intellect has been morbidly affected by Psora, does it necessarily follow that he shall be prone to sell his birth-right as man for the passieg pleasure of a moments merriment ?” Though we have already written enough on the subject to fully explain the psychological relation and inter-depen- dence of our thoughts and actions, we think it desirable to make the matter clearer, even at the cost of repetition. We do not say that all

Syphilis.

instances of even excessive Psoric perversion of thought are cases of Syphilitic and Sycotic suffer- ings ; but we maintain the contrary view, that is, wherever there are Syphilitic and Sycotic diseases and sufferings, it is Psora that led to same. Had there l3een no Psora at the root, the patients in question would not have caught these venereal diseases. Thus, wc mean to say that because the Intellect of such patients was previously perverted by Psora, they were led to seek the secret sexual pleasures in question and thereby to catch the miasmatic poisons. We are asked ‘^How and why V’ As to the hotv^ we have already explained the psychological processes very fully by the example of a ripe mango — how a boy saw it, thought over the pleasure of eating it, decided to have it, and actully had it (thinking, feeling, willing-action). But as to the tvhy, though it is rather a difficult philosophical matter, it is not ‘^practi- cally impossible to give a reply as has often been suggested, nor does it involve, in our humble opinion, any “arguing in a circle if we try to find out the original cause” In fact, the attempt “to find out the original cause’' of Psora, “at the dawn of creation, when not a single ripple of evil thought would ruffle our mental calm”, but “every thing was smooth and serene, and there was all order and harmony”, — does not in any way involve begging the question. It is

indeed a very abstruse metaphysical matter but let us explain as briefly as we possibly can.

God loves us as His children, just as human parents love theirs. Hence it can not but pain Him very much to see when we suffer. If that be so, why has He at all created Vice, Disease, Suffering, Darkness, Death, etc ? He could have as well created their opposites only, viz. Virtue, Health, Pleasure (Happiness). Light, Eternal Life, etc, and the world would have then been entirely void of all sufferings. No, not at all ; that would have defeated His very end and aim. A re- ward unsought and unworhed-for is neither apprecia- ted nor enjoyed. Moreover, Virtue, Health, Happi- ness, Light and Life would have been entirely shorn of their essential value and charming fasci- nation, had there been no Vice, Disease, Suffering, Darkness and Death. We rmc value health, as we have a definite idea and experience of what Disease is. The clearer our idea of what Vice is, the more is our respect for Virtue. Besides, where there has never been a conflict between Conscience and Inclina- tion, where Conscience had never an opportunity of deciding against Inclination, there is no Merit and Worth. Hence it is, as Cowper says, that man has been

“Placed for his trial on this bustling stage,

( this world)

From thoughtless youth to ruminating age.

Syphilis

Free in his will to choose or to refuse,

( the temptations of evil ) Man may improve the crisis ( his trial on earth),

or abuse”.

(The words within brackets are ours) Therefore, we find two opposing forces in the world, one contending, as it were, with the o,ther for supremacy' • and though we may apparently be led to despise the evil forces and so to question the wisdom of the Creator in letting them loose side by side with their opponents, on deep and profound thought we must admit that both are equally necessary parts of the world, as we have explain- ed above. Though it is quite clear that —

“ ’Tis the temptation of the Devil That makes all human actions evil’’, — yet, as we have discussed above, the play of the Devil’s part in the world is absolutely a necessary one and we can not possibly do without it. Thus, it will be evident that even ^‘at the dawn of creation”, the Devil was playing its part as it is doing now 5 and, at that time, though, ^‘every thing was smooth and serene, and there was all order and harmony”, yet the Devil was there with all its temptations, and we actually find our first parents, Adam and Eve, eating, at the temptation of the said Devil, the fruits of the forbidden tree, in direct disobedience to the explicit orders of God ( our Conscience that is constantly point- ing out to us the difference between right and

m

wrong, whether we may or may not follow it ). (Thus, Psora was born in our first parents and since then it has been spreading and developing by leaps and bounds, and now it has almost brought the whole world under its complete sway.: Hence, it will appear that there was no begging tht question at all ; though Psora was originally the direct outcome of evil thinking and evil design- ing, the latter two mental processes were not originally brought about by Psora but by the temptations of the Devil the successful overcoming whereof constitutes our chief merit and virtue lead- ing to health, happiness and eternal blissful life in heaven. Perhaps, we have now made it quite clear that the domain and jurisdiction of Medicine and Morality are almost co extensive, if not identical. It will now appear why the greatness and glory of the life and work of immortal Hahnemann who has invented and propounded this unique science and art of Medicine that is not only capable of quickly, gentVy and permanently curing all our physical ailments, but is also qnite conducive to the purity, nobility and greatness of our mind, will effulgently shine forth through all eternity, at least till human society and civilisation exist on the surface of the globe.

We shall now turn our attention to the des- cription and] classification of Syphilis as it is now rh^ng on earth.

We have already written rather at some length.

Syphius.

regarding the origin of this loathsome miasm. Now, the first question that comes up for consi- deration is the duration of the prodromal period dfter the infection is caught, and before the appearance of external manifestations of the disease in the shape of ulcers or chancres. The contagion usually requires about a fortnight to ma,ture for the said manifestations in the absence of any dis- turbing factor like a severe acute illness ( fever, cold, diarrhoea, etc ), or antipathic drugging of any of the alleged antidotes. In such cases of disturbance, the said period may extend even up to two months or so, according to the nature and influence of the disturbance in question. This is the case so far as the pritnary stage of the miasm is concerned ; that is, when the contagion is received through direct impure coition, or trans- ferred by the husband to the wife when the former is still under the primary stage. As to the secondary and tertiary contagion, the prodromal period varies according to the peculiar virulency of the infection transferred, as well as the pecu- liar constitution of the person catching it.

The second point for consideration is whether the contagion is transferrable in all the stages. According to Dr. J.P. Berjeau, though the disease is trans- missible in the primary and secondary stages, it is no longer transmissible and no more contagious in the tertiary stage ( vide, his Syphilis, p. 16 ).’ But, unfortunately, this is not the exact position. The

“128

EtiOLOC^y m Homoeofathy

fact is that the contagion is transmissible in all the stages, though, as Dr. Kent has justly expressed it, ^Vhen infection takes place in the primary stage, there is no way of disguising it, but if it occurs in the secondary or tertiary stage, there is really no way of detecting it immediately, because it go^ on so insidiously. If the husband has the primay sore, the primary sore will manifest itself in the wife, but if he gives the disease to his wife in the tertiary stage, with every manifestation suppressed or passed by, then you will not be -able to know whether she has taken the disease or not ^’—Lectures on Horn. Phil. p. 163.

So, then, we take it that the disease is trans- missible in all the three stages. But still there is one thing to cosider and it is the Latv of Protection by Pissimilars. Let us examine what this law is. According to this law, dissimilars repel each other { and, vice versa, similars attract each other ). So, if the wife happens to have a stronger Psoric or Tubercular miasm, her husband’s weak Syphilitic miasm will be unable to infect her. But if her Psoric or Tubercular miasm be weaker, she won’t he able to escape the stronger Syphilitic miasm of her husband.

Then the third point for discussion is whether the disease is at first local and then it pervades

the entire economy. Some are of opinion that

,the disease is at first local and after breaking

•out in the genital organs, it spreads over the

Syphxlis.

entire economy with the help of the lymphatic system. But this view is more antipathic than Homeopathic and is quite untenable. The fact is that the contagion at once pervades the whole organism and after gradual development, at first manifests itself, in the case of primary conta- gion, in the reproductive organs, as thes^ are the organs through which the contagion is transmit- ted. But in cases of secondary and tertiary con- tagions, the disease may or may not manifest itself in the genital organs in the first instance, and it may appear, either in ulcers, in eruptions, in glandular affections, or in some other peculiar form, anywhere in the organism, especially in those parts and organs that are weaker in the system.

The next thing for study is its various divi- sions and subdivisions according to the stages of its development. Thus, we have the Primary stage due to primary contagion, as already detailed. Then, after gradual development it reaches the constitutional stage vrhereof the secondary and tertiary stages are the two subdivisions. We shall give below the special peculiarities of each of these stages.

Primary stage. In this stage, the disease usually attacks the mucous membranes of the generative organs, the anus, the mouth, and the nose. It may also affect the eye. The contagion may spread in dressing syphilitic ulcers, and be 9

communicated by glasses, spoons, surgical instru- ments, etc when not duly washed and dis-infected. Even a syphilitic infant may spread it to its wet- nurse.

Secondary stage. The first sign of this stage is a feverish feeling throughout the body. The mucous membranes are invaded by specific inflamma- tion, succeeded by morbid growths and indurations and alterations of structure. Afterwards, cutaneous eruptions appear and finally iritis. The glandular system throughout the body is also affected. A feeling of general heaviness and lassitude, in alternation with restlessness and sleeplessness, may also supervene.

Tertiary stage. In this stage, the disease is more a dyscrasia than a definite disorder. In this connection, we feel the temptation of quoting the wise words of Dr, Berjeau w^ho says — ‘‘The older the disease is, and the longer it lasts, the more it beeomes divested of its specific character, and takes the form of a dyscrasia simulating the scrofulous diathesis. It is always preceded by the two former stages and shows itself not sooner than 6 months after the disappearance of the chancre. Sometimes, it may break out 10 or 20 years after the first infection ; tertiary symptoms affect particularly the subcutaneous and sub-mucous cellular tissues, the fibrous, osseous and cartilaginous tissues and lastly the nerves,

Syphilis

parenchymatous (fleshy) organs and, in short, the whole organism” — Syphilis— pp 15-16.

As chancre is the decisive evidence of the existence of primary Syphilis, we think it worth our while to enumerate its several varieties according to their specific peculiarities ; —

(a) The Regular y Simple^ Hunterian Chancre is the mildest form of the disease. It is at first soft and superficial, but becomes gradually indurated. It usually forms a single isolated ulcer.

(b) The Elevated Chancre, when first breaking out, looks like a small whitish ulcer, but gradually its edges, as well as the base, become raised. It often consists of several ulcers, instead of a single isolated one, as the Hunterian. The ulcers in this variety are usually not very painful.

© The Phagedenic Chancre is the most malignant and rapidly destructive. This is due either to the primary intensity of the virus, or to the depraved state of the system attacked. It has no induration. It penetrates less into the subjacent tissues than it spreads in circumferance. It is marked by putrid disorganisation. Often it is converted into a gangrenous sore.

While on the subject of chancre, we may profitably quote the very wise words of the Prometheus of our system : ‘^So long as the origi- nal spot upon which the chancre has developed exhibits a reddish, morbid looking red or bluish scar, we may be sure that the internal disease

is not completely cured ; whereas, if the chancre has been removed by the internal remedy, the original spot of the chancre can no longer be traced on account of that spot being covered by as healthy-coloured a skin as the rest of the body^\ — Chronic Diseases.

Now/ we shall turn our attention to the description of the various physical and mental changes wrought by Syphilis on a psoric back- ground ; —

(a) So far as the mind is concerned, all the affec- tions are pre-eminently deranged, so much so that the patient is deprived of even the most fundamental of all our loves, namely, the love of life, and he often seeks means to make an end of his present existence. Intellect is also affected, but not to the extent as the affections are. Owing to his intellect being deranged, he cannot properly understand anything and so every little thing rouses him into anger and turmoil. Thus, he is easily angered and easily vexed. His very appear- ance often looks dull and stupid, and his looks are often unmeaning, without a purpose and absolu- tely vacant. He is often sad and depressed and sees darkness everywhere. Nothing affords him any joy, — his business looks dark, his family troubles him, and his friends annoy him. His memory fails, and he cannot remember things in their proper setting. Hence, he often thinks and broods over things too trifling to claim

Syphilis

1S3

any serious attention, to the entire negligence of things more useful, and absolute indiffer- ence to matters more important. Thus, his intel- . lectual powers are very weak, and volitional ones, almost lost. He is anxious, restless, and apprehensive, especially in evening and at night. He is depressed and dejected, morose and suspicious, irritable and ill-humoured. Such, in bri^f, is the mental picture of a man under this miasm.

(b) As the physical changes of the patient, with this miasm deeply ingrained, are almost a legion, we shall specify only the most painful and obtrusive ones, with short explanatory notes, where necessary : —

(1) Primary chancre in the generative organs. As we have already dwelt fully on its nature and peculiarities, it is needless to make any further comment.

(2) Appearance of JBuboes. Syphilitic buboes affect chiefly the inguinal and the axillary glands and are generally due to the absorption by the lymphatics of the contagious virus of the disease. When there is a chancre in the genital organs, inguinal buboes are almost sure to appear. Primary buboes usually appear from the third to the sixth day of the contagion. Secondary buboes appear later . as sequelae ,to syphilitic chancre, . and constitutional buboes ar^ due to an old i;afection neglected in the. course oi its dcYe- lopment and which has thus become ‘ a constitu-

IH . Etiology in Homeopathy

tional disease. Again, ptimeity buboes are either acute^ indolent or phagedenic whereof the first is simply inflammatory and soon terminates in Suppuration, the second is noted by hardness And does not readily mature but runs a tedious course, and the third turns into a gangrenous ulcer and is the most painful and dangerous of the kind. In some cases buboes constitute a vicari- ous manifestation of the syphilitic disease in place of chancre, and should be carefully treated.

' (3) kppearanee of Erythe'ina affecting the interior of the mouth and fauces, especially the back of the palate, tonsils, uvula, pharynx and larynx, and appearing as isolated, circumscribed, dark-red or copper-coloured, slightly elevated, inflamed spots. There is a burning sensation in the mouth and fauces, and the patient is almost unable to swallow. He often becomes hoarse and feels it painful even to talk. The mucous membrane of the nasal cavity and of the sexual organs may be similarly affected at the same time. These inflamed spots become eroded and secrete fetid fluid.

(4) Tuberclesy either cutaneouSy mucous or deep- seated. The cutaneous or flat kind are single or in groups, found specially on the scrotum, penis, mons veneris, the perinaeum, round the anus, on the inside of thighs, in the groin, on the nape of neck, the arm-pit, the hairy scalp, the face, nostrils, between the toes, with this pecu*-

Syphilis.

liarity that they seldom appear in more than 2 or 3 of these places at once. They are of a bright-red copper-colour and usually painless. The mucous variety are often found in women and children on mucous membranes in various parts of their bodies and they often bring about very frightful mutilations of the face. The deep-seated kind are always preceded by a tuberculous thickening of the mucous membrane and adjacent cellular tissues. They often penetrate to a consi- derable depth and their usual seats are the nighbourhood of the glans and fraenum and the entrance to the vagina and uterus. When they occur inside the mouth, they may terminate fatally. The discharge from all of these tubercles is rather contagious and should be carefully avoided.

(5) Ephelides or Maculae. These spots are usually of a bright-red colour or often pale, and appear on the chest, neck, face, arms, thighs, and genital organs. They are distinguished from measles and roseola by their persistence. They develop very slowly and often grow larger after eating.

(6) Squamae or Scaly Eruptions are liright, copper-coloured, confluent elevations, covered with hard scales, and usually found in the hollow of the hands and soles of the feet.

(7) Rupia. It is often a sequel to Pemphigus or Ecthyma. These eruptions stand upon a swollen indurated base, and are never very numerous, only a few being scattered over the whole body.

They often impair the digestive functions, resulting in colliquative diarrhoea, and loss of strength.

(8) Alopecia. This is general or partial falling off of the hair, with furfuraceous desquamations on the head. The hair comes off, when combed or pulled. Finally, the whole cutaneous covering may be involved and every vestige of hair may disappear, the skin being covered with thin scales which form anew, if removed.

(9) Iritis. It is distinguished from the ordi- nary inflammation of the iris by the presence of tubercles. If not quickly checked, it may terminate fatally.

(10) Oummatose tumours appear as pea-shaped swellings under the skin, subcutaneous tissues and mucous membranes. They increase very slowly, often taking months to attain the size of a betel-nut. Moreover, they often appear in rows of 3 to 8. They remain hard for a long time, but finally pus forms in the centre of the tumour. Total absence of shooting pains and their copper-coloured appearance distinguish them from ordinary boils and eruptions of a like nature. This is a symptom of tertiary Syphilis.

(11) Orchitis is also a symptom of tertiary Syphilis. It is usually painless, so much so that even when the testicle has already swelled and become hard, the patient is unaware of it. nl extreme cases where the internal structure of

Syphilis

13V

the testicle is inyolved, the seminal secretion may gradually cease and impotence may result.

(12) Periostitis occurs in the tertiary stage. It is an inflammation of the covering membrane of the bone.

(13) Ostitis happens in the above stage. It is an inflammation of the bone itself.

(14j) Exostosis occurs in the said stage. It is a bony tumour, protruding from the bone.

(15) Caries and Necrosis. These also occur in the said stage. The first shows itself by pains deep in the bones which are either full of small holes, or dry and brittle. Necrosis is death of the bone and is accompanied by very severe pains. In cases of necrosis, an abscess forms on the affected part and is finally turned into a fistula which does not readily heal.

(16) Syphilitic Cachexia is the final state of the tertiary stage. It alters the whole economy — the skin, mucous membranes, serous membranes, veins, muscles and bones, as also the lungs, liver, spleen, kidneys, the heart and the brain. In extreme cases, the skin becomes sallow and livid, the muscles flabby, sight and hearing diminished and strength lost, resulting in palpitation of the heart and constant vertigo.

We shall now mention a few prominent indicd^ tions of , this felL miasm and close the subject. These are — . J

' (a) Offensiveness runs through the miasm in and

138 Etiology m Homeopathy

out. Thus, all sorts of excretions and secretions are markedly offensive. Hence, the stool, urine, saliva, sweat, pus, aural and nasal discharges, etc are all very fetid and foul.

(b) Nightly aggravation of all complaints : It does not matter what kind of sickness the patient suffers from, night is the worst time for him, as all his pains and sufferings increase at that time. No doubt, it is quite in the fitness of things that he should suffer most at night, as it is at night that he, either directly or indirectly through heredity, committed the diabolical deeds of which his present sufferings are only the natural and inevitable consequences.

© All sorts of discharges^ secrection or excretion, far from bringing any relief, as in the case of a psoric spell, are usually non-ameliorating, nay, some of them, as in the case of sweat, do actually agravate the complaints.

(d) All varieties of eruptions are usually copper- coloured and painless, and entirely void of any itching sensation, though this latter peculiarity is the sine qua non of all psoric eruptions.

(e) As to the modalities of Heat and Cold, the extremes of both are usually repugnant to this miasm 5 so the patient can comfort himself neither in heat nor in cold but he requires a medium equable temperature for the alleviation of his complaints. Hence it is that the heat of bed at night aggravates his ailments. Still, if we are to make any

Syphilis.

comparison, heat often torments him even more than cold, though in advanced age, cold often terrifies him even more than heat.

. (f) Bone-pains are a special feature with this miasm, the other two having almost none of this complaint. It shows how treacherous and insidious this miasm Is. Even the apparently insensible part of the organism, viz the osseous structure, is not immune from its virulent attack.

(g) We ordinarily feel the complaint of head- ache, being overheated by the sun ; but it is quite the opposite with this miasm. The patient^s headache aggravates at night and ameliorates, if not removed, during the day.

(h) The frequent formation of pus and consequent suffering therefrom, especially at night, in the ear, the nose, the eyes, etc, often indicate the existence of this miasm,

(i) To crown all, such a patient is an easy prey to all sorts of pernicious eruptions full and graphic descriptions whereof have already been given.

Immortal Hahnemann has termed Sycosis as one of the primary miasms or disease — forces that are responsible for all sickness and suffering our flesh is heir to. Let us try to understand what it really means. He often calls it the Fig-wart Disease and distinguishes it from the ordinary common Gonorrhoea by saying that while the latter only ^^locally stimulates the urinary organs,^’ the former ‘^penetrates the entire organism through and through.^’ Thus, while the former is just an eliminative process, the latter is one of permanent subversive forces that permeate the organism, and lead to various kinds of sickness in conformity with their peculiar nature and virulence. It will now be clear that Sycosis is not a new name for Gonorrhoea, nor is it Gonorrhoea in any sense of the term • for while Gonorrhoea is not a basic miasm, Sycosis is. Not only so • it is one of the most formidable enemies of the human race, and its destructive power and depth of action upon the human organism are quite unique and cannot be found in any other miasm. Though, therefore, Sycosis is thus quite different from Gonorrhoea, it is, however, at the root, dependent on it, and, in fact, is its remote after — effect. Gonorrhoeal infection is the primary original cause whereof Sycosis is the remote

Sycosis.

subsequent effect. The Primary gonorrhoeal dis- charge, though a natural eliminative process, is often suppressed out of shame or ignorance and this suppression, so fondly supposed to be the end of the disease, is unfortunately responsible for the development of the Secondary stage, — the stage of stasis to internal organs including specially the pelvic organs of both the sexes, though of the female in particular. As soon as the primary dis- tressing discharge comes to an end, patients care very little for this secondary engorgement and the poison thus driven to the internal organs not only goes on changing the normal functions of these inner organs but gradually pervades the whole economy and brings about abnormal altera- tion in all the tissues and cells thereof, thereby leading to what is known as the tertiary stage, and it will not be inappropriate if we call this tertiary stage Sycosis. Thus, Sycosis is the tertiary stage of gonorrhoeal infection when the poison has already polluted the system in its entirety and made it abnormally susceptible to all sorts of external influences which are even pleasant and healthful to constitutions untainted with this fell miasm. Sycosis, thus, is, at bottom, a true venereal disease — a disease of lust, as the only way of its contraction is through unjust and illegal sexual congress, barring, of course, tjie influences of environment and heredity that 4re partially responsible for the acquisition of the

m

disease by people who are personally innocent of the sexual deflection in question. These latter, therefore, may be said to be the indirect sources of the propagation of this dreadful disease, over and above the direct cause referred to above. Dr. Kent writes — “There are two kinds of Gonor- rhoea, one that is essentially chronic , having no disposition to recovery, but continuing on indefi- nitely and involving the whole constitution in varying forms of symptoms, and one that is acute, having a tendency to recover after a few weeks or months,^ and according to him the suppression of symptoms of this chronic variety gradually leads to the constitutional symptoms colled Sycosis, Now, this chronic variety of Dr. Kent is nothing else than the secondary stage of Gonorrhoea referred to above. Thus, further suppression of the chronic variety or the secondary stage of Gonorrhoea leads to the tertiary stage or the constitutional symptoms called Sycosis. With these preliminary remarks, let us now dis- cuss in detail this dreadful miasm of Sycosis under its five main aspects of the Law of Causa- tion, the Law of Transmission, the Law of Suppression, the Law of Evolution, and the Law of Cure. We shall consider these several aspects seriatim-

A- The Law of Causation.

We shall now take up the study of the Law of Causation. Of course, with the imperfection

Sycosis

and limitation attendant on human nature, it is ipso facto impossible for us to trace the final causes of any outward effect or phenomenon ; but nevertheless we shall do our best to point out the plausible conditions that are usually supposed to favour the infection, growth, and intensive development of this miasm that is un- dermining the very foundations of our society to-day.

(1) First of all, let us discuss its back-ground. If it be engrafted on a highly psoric or tubercu- lar back-ground, it finds the element quite natural and fertile for its luxuriant growth and rank development. It takes root deeper and deeper in the economy and spreads all over the system by leaps and bounds. As in the vegetable king- dom, so in the animal, “the rankest weeds the richest soils deface.’' Where the soil is fertile and fruitful, weeds, naturally strong in them- selves, find a stronger base to germinate, grow, develop and fructify. The taint of tuberculosis being the most productive soil for the seeds of Sycosis to grow and develop, and once implanted it is wellnigh impossible to weed it out by any other “pathy” except our own. This is. of course a condition or concomitant over which the victim has now very little control. He is born with the diathesis, and cannot possibly unmake it, though with a long course of treatment based on Simi- lia, during his infancy, the abnormal susceptibi-

Uties of his system might have been entirely removed and his diathesis corrected.

(2) As already stated, Sycosis being the worst type of venereal disease, its origin depending soley on illegal sexual congress, want of self- control may be said to be the next condition precedent of this fell miasm. Our passions and propensities are no doubt very' useful elements of our nature but only so long as they are under perfect control. If once we yield to them, they will gradually drag us down and down till we reach the very gates of hell and get ourselves plunged head-long therein. For, in the language of the poet,

‘^One mischief entered brings another in ;

The second pulls a third, the third draws

more.

And they for all the rest set ope’ the door’^ : —

Smith.

and, thus, we entirely forget ourselves of our rationality and be content with animality alone, and the subsequent series of sickness and suffer- ing that ensue are quite shocking indeed !

(3) The next item having bearing on this point

is a sad want of knowledge on the part of the

poor victims. They have no knowledge what-

soever of what is proper treatment to be had soon after the contagion or infection. Hence,

they usually take resort to the suppressive

Sycosis.

method which to the ignorant lay mind has some apparently charming attractions: —

(a) The feat of performance of the so-called cure is- said to be accomplished within a very short time ; (b) Every thing can be managed quite secretly, as if behind the screen, without any the least knowledge of the victim’s relatives 5 and © All outward expressions of the infection being thrown in, the patient is apparently, and at least for the time being, quite satisfied that his externals are quite clear, no matter what may happen internally at a later date. Like the poor fly in the cobweb, the ignorant sufferer fully realises the reality of this attractive treatment when the very serious sequelae of the suppression begin to peep in. Thus, lack of knowledge is often responsible for a lot of our sufferings. “My people perish for lack of knowledge,” says the Scripture — , “The most wondrous book ; Bright candle of the Lord ! The star of Eternity ! The only star by which the bark of man can navigate the sea of life, and gain the coast of bliss securely,^’ and, in fact, knowledge is power and strength, and often the surest means of self-protection and self-defence.

(4) The culminating point on this head is the merciless suppression of symptorns^ primary and secondary. These symptoms are nothing but Nature’s calls for help, and are often eliminative in nature. Full-fledged Sycosis, therefore, is but the result of suppression of the said calls of Nature.

Our unfortunate lay sufferers may be ignorant of the result of the said suppression, but our enlight- ened brethren of the old school should realise the result of suppression of the eliminative process taken resort to by Nature to rid the economy of the virulent poison ignorantly or lustfully taken in. Of course, some of these brethren have very little knowledge of the serious consequences of this suppressive method of their treatment and while doing the greatest dis-service to humanity, they often think of doing the greatest good. Thus ignorance, on both the sides, is sapping the very foundations of our present-day society, and we know not what more dreadful consequences are to follow. Though, therefore, the poet sings in his utopian attitude,

“Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,

As to be hated, needs but to be seen,^’ — Pope, we scarcely realise any truth therein, as a large majority of our society of to-day having not only seen but having a clear knowledge of the said frightful monster have not yet begun to hate her at heart, and the reason is that they did not receive, in their child-hood and early part of youth, necessary training to control their impulses by the practice of Brahmacharyya (a peculiar abstemi- ous mode of life wherein all objects of luxury together with those that serve to excite the senses are scrupulously avoided, and the cardinal virtues of Truth, Honesty, Sincerity and Self-control are

Sycosis.

practised to the letter), nay, on the other hand, they have been, from the very budding of their senses, placed in an environment that has gradu- ally changed the natural mould of their mind and made it what it now is, over and above their abnormal tendencies and susceptibilities the Law of Heredity is often responsible for. The remedy therefore lies in a wholesale change of the present structure of our society if the members thereof are to lead a life up to Nature and so to enjoy health and happiness ; but this is a super- human task and may only be done if and when our merciful Maker so wishes ! For, as the poet sings,

‘^There is a power

Unseen that rules the illimitable world,

That guides its motions, from the brightest star

To the least dust of this sin-tainted mould ;

While man, who madly deems himself the lord

Of all, is nought but weakness and dependence/’

— Thomson.

And this idea of our ultimate weakness and worthlessness has also been very beautifully expressed by another poet :

Dream of a dream ! and the shadow of a shade!’^

— Young.

We, therefore, sincerely pray to God to give us necessary strength and stamina so that we may check the swift speed of our present down-hill

journey, and gradually come back to our original natural mode of living which is all health and happiness. Before we leave this point, let us very briefly discuss the Philosophy of Suppression which is generally unknown on either side.

The Philosophy of Suppression.

We suppress symptoms which are subjective indications or objective expressions of the diseased vitality. When the vital force is diseased, it usually sets up in the organism an inhibitory point, func- tional or structural, where the disease-force centres itself, leaving the other parts of the economy com- paratively free from its ravages. When the patient is treated homeopathically, that is, in accordance with the natural Law of Similars, the said inhibi- tory point is removed in a natural way with the removal, rather annihilation, of the disease-force that was responsible for its being set-up but if it be removed by any of the various suppressive methods of local applications of hot, cold, and medicated douches, by actual cautery or electro- lysis, or by crude drugs of nameless varieties, or by various kinds of operative measures, — often of fantastic whim and caprice, namely, the extrac- tion of the ovary or the uterus, etc, etc, the vital force which is still suffering from the disease- force in question is compelled, in conformity with another natural Law of Action and Reaction whereon all life and motion depend, and in con- formity with the Law of Self-preservation which

Sycosis

is the first Law of Nature, to set up another inhibitory point located in a more important organ, or great centre, of the organism, and this transfer of the inhibitory point to a more central part of the system is only in keeping with the Law of Progression of Forces, which is another great Law of Nature, regulating all rhythmic motion on earth. Thus, the more tve suppress Nature's indications ( symptoms ) of the danger within^ the more endangered the system will gradually be^ till at last all such sluices or flood-gates being ignorantly clogged and closed, or improperly interfered with, quite in opposition to the pro- tective plan of Nature, the inner chambers of the economy will be full of rotten refuses and poisonous matters tending, by their inherent virulence, to cause gradual decay and destruction of the entire organism.

Thus, though suppression is nothing but a death- dealing process, we much regret it is being widely advertised, and actually done, in the name of radical cure. No doubt, all this is due to sheer ignorance^ but though there are spheres of life where one may justify the old adage,

'‘Where ignorance is bliss.

It is folly to be wise,^

it is not so where the question of life and death is concerned. From what has been said, it will he. quite clear that - many of . the chronic diseases that are now raging and roaring tampant

150 Etiology in Homeopathy

in our society of today owe their origin, growth and development to the suppressive method of treatment noted above. It is of course encourag- ing that Homeopathy is fast making its head- way by taking gigantic strides almost all over the world, and we hope with its development people will gradually give up their old injuri- ous practices, or wrong methods of treatment, and take their stand on the Divine Law of Similars in place of man-made generalisations (Heteropathy) so far relied upon.

Let us now turn our attention to a very brief study of

B- The Law of Transmission.

Intrinsically venereal in nature, being dependent mainly on sexual congress, the sycotic poison to be transmitted from the suffering party to the party to suffer can not but be of the nature and type existing in the transmitting party at the time of transmission. So, in the transference of the poison, the nature of infection or contagion will depend on the stage of suffering of the party to transfer. If he or she be in the primary stage of Gonorrhoea, the poison transferred will develop primary symptoms of Gonorrhoea in the newly in- fected one. If the transmission takes place in the seamdary stage, symptoms of secondary stage only will develop in the new victim, whereas fif it takes place in the tertiary stage, symptoms of thfe

Sycosis

last stage only will gradually show themselves in the new sufferer.

Before we proceed further, let us give some of the prominent symptoms of the said primary, secondary and tertiary stages. The symptoms of the primary stage of Gonorrhcea are usually very painful and spasmodic in nature. There is a great deal of vesical irritation. There is much ureth- ritis. There is some burning at the meatus, especially while micturating,— often with a fre- quent desire to pass urine, even though it may be a few drops only. The urine does not flow normall3r, — it flows, and stops, and flows again, and even when it flows, the flow itself is very slow and slender, and so it takes more time than usual to empty the bladder. There is some sort of discharge through the urethra, — scanty or profuse, and of varied colour and consistency. All discharges — whether secretions or excretions, are more or less offensive. In some cases, espe- cially of the virulent type, there is a peculiar pain- ful stiffness of the penis, technically termed chordee. Besides, there is a lot of anxiety and anguish, with a peculiar mental restlessness that nothing can ally. These in short are some of the usual symptoms of the primary stage. As a result of suppression of these symptoms, we come to the secondary stage, and the symptoms of this stage are usually wanting in the severity of the pain and spasm of the primary stage, as

162 Etiology in Homeopathy.

also in its excessive irritation and inflammation, though some sort of soreness and tenderness is felt in the organs concerned. The catarrhal dis- charge gets more and more scanty, and is usually offensive and muco-purulent, and of various, colours, greenish, yellowish or brown, or a combi- nation of some of them. The anxiety, anguish and restlessness of the first stage gradually disappear. If the S3^mptoms of this second stage are further suppressed, we come to the tertiary stage, or Sycosis proper, and the primary indica- tion of this stage is noticeable in the disorganisa- tion of the blood gradually leading to anaemia and its baneful consequences of cystic degenera- tion, fibrous growths, gouty concretions and engor- gements of various internal organs including the very citadel of our strength, the brain itself, and the stasis of this last organ often leads to various kinds of mania and mental aberrations often culminating in actual insanity of the worst type. It will thus be seen that even a rational being like man is made absolutely void of his rfitionality owing to reckless satisfaction of his senses. In fact, all our woes and miseries, physical as well as mental, are the outcome of self gratification, and our health and happiness depend on self-control. Vishnu- sarma in his Hitupadesha very wisely says : —

Sycosis.

her, she brings to woe 5 Lead her, ‘tis the way to Fortune — ^ChoOvSe the path that thou wilt go.^* (Arnold^s Translation)

If, therefore, we are to lead our life on earth as man, — the best and noblest of all living creatures, and said to be made in the image of his Maker, and to enjoy physical and mental health, we must scrupulously avoid all unrea- sonable indulgence of our senses and, even in the very minutest particulars of our life, we must always be actuated by the dictates of the Divine Law living in and moving with us, to guide us on along the paths of health and happiness.

We have so far discussed the various condi- tions contributory to the acquisition of the miasm under the Law of Causation, as well as the actual process of transference of the virus under the Law of Transmission, incidentally pointing out some of the prominent symptoms of the various stages of the gonorrhoeal infection leading to Sycosis proper. Now, we shall turn our attention to a brief study of the Law of Suppression, having already dwelt with it rather at some length when discussing its philosophy.

C. The Law of Suppression.

When any poison is thrown into pur system, either voluntarily or involuntarily, the vital force, instead of keeping quite silent, instinctively devises means

and ways to eliminate the poison out of the economy and thereby to preserve its health, — of course, as best as it can, though there are cases where its best endeavours are of no avail. This instinctive attempt of the vital force to purge the system of all its poisonous impurities is in accordance with a natural physiological law implanted by the Creator in every organism en- dowed with a vital energy. When, therefore, we imbibe or acquire the gonorrhoeal virus, the life force tries to eliminate it by establishing suita- ble discharges through the organs concerned, thus forcing the detrimental effects of the disease-force to be centralised in those particular organs, and thereby protecting the other parts of the system from being seriously affected by* the poison. If this point of inhibition of the malignant disease- force be artificially or heteropathically interfered with, and the beneficial eliminative process is disturbed, checked or stopped, the baneful poison thus clogged and plugged up takes inward turn and particularly affects those cells, tissues and organs of the system that have a special affini- ty to it. All the pelvic organs of both the sexes including the kidneys and the bladder are the first objects of attack, and there it sets up engorgements, inflammations, strictures, hypertro- phies, abscesses, mucous cysts, tumours, warty growths, etc; rhe const! cu don of the blood is materially altered, leading to ansemia and serious

Sycosis

changes in all the important internal organs of the system including the liver, the heart and the lungs ; the soft tissues of all the joints are parti- cularly affected, leading to gout and rheumatism of all varieties • and the substance of the brain is the final object of attack, and this metropo- litan involvement of the system leads to the various types of headache, meningitis, mania, dementia, moral degeneracy and even actual insanity in many cases. Thus we see that there is a law even for lawlessness, that even destructive forces act upon a method and a law (it may be the law of physiological or chemical affinity). The act of suppression, therefore, will not lead to any and every alteration in the working of the system, but it will alter the function of those cells, tissues or organs that are in love with, or have a special affinity to, the disease-force in question. This certainty of movement, this defi- niteness of procedure, this fixity of work, of the pent-up disease-force is what we mean to express by the Law of Suppression. Just as tl^e venom of Sycosis when suppressed has got a mode to follow, a method to proceed, a rule to be guided to, and a law to act upon, so also the suppressed virus of Psora and Syphilis, and of their combi- nation, Tuberculosis. These latter miasms have got special loves with, and special affinities to special cells and tissues which they affect in their own way, that is to sayj they have their

own laws of suppression which they faithfully act upon. Thus, even a malignant force forcefully suppressed acts under a law the invariable cha- racteristics whereof are certainty, definiteness, fixity, regularity, etc, and we are to clearly know both the denotation and the eon notation of this law of suppession if we are to do full justice to our patients as well as to our own profession the duties and responsibilities whereof demand close and careful observation of the workings of all disease-forces in the human eco- nomy, as well as regular life-long study not only of the science of medicine but all other sciences that are complementary to it. The life of a real physician ^ — a true guardian of health, should, therefore, always be a devoted one, devo- ted to self-education and self-perfection, to social service and amelioration of human miseries, as he is in fact a servant of humanity^ and so of God. With such exalted avocation the faithful and conscientious physician should always be bent upon in exploring all available avenues that render any the least help in the furtherance of his professional knowledge, and so in the attain- ment of his professional perfection. Let us now turn our attention to a comprehensive study of the expansion and development of this dreadful miasm in v the human family in accordance- .with the Law of Bvoltttion^

Sycosis.

D. The Law of Evolution

In very ancient times, the theory of evolution was originally propounded by the sage Kapila who in his Sankhya System regarded the universe and its various products as the gradual evolution of Prakriti (Nature). Prakriti (Nature), he says, is the rootless root of all things. The German philosopher Schopenhauer who was deeply influenced by the philo Sophy of the East may be regarded as the pre- cursor of Darwin and Herbert Spencer in intro- ducing the conception of evolution in Western thought. Evolution is defined by Spencer as “An integration of matter and concomitant dissipation of motion^ during which the matter passes from an indefinite incoherent homogeneity to a definite coherent heterogeneity; and during which the re- tained motion undergoes a parallel transformation^\ Thus, evolution is a natural process of very gradual development from any nucleus to a formed body, with appropriate organs and organisms in cases of high and higher developments. As in outward Nature, so inside the human economy, this natural law of evolution has equal juris- diction. Everywhere there is the same slow process of gradual development from a small beginning to a large whole. As it is not possible for us to follow, step by step, the gradual un- folding of the germinal virus in its way to ex- pansion and development, we shall follow the usual path of least obstacle and promisQuously

Etioi^ogy in Homeopathy

point out the subjective and objective features and characteristics of the miasm as they thrust themselves into our notice : —

(1) The virulent poison of Sycosis exceeds all. other miasms in its malignancy, destructiveness and fatality, and especially in the rapidity of its offensive onsets. Even Syphilis lags behind. ''Syphilis will often take years to accomplish what Sycosis will begin and bring to a fatal conclusion in a few months, even in a few weeks.’' Sycosis has a special affinity for the soft tissues which ate very seriousl}^ affected, often producing abnormal growths of varying forms and sizes. Thus, tumours, fig-warts, fleshy growths like cauli- flowers, haemorrhoids, all owe their origin and development to the extensive influence of Sycosis over the soft tissues. Wherever, therefore, the symmetrical symbol of man which is theologically supposed to be made after the image of his Maker is thus disfigured and distorted by such un- natural fleshy growths, it would be quite in order to suppose that the unfortunate mortal has, for a pretty long time, been under the ravaging influence of this dreadful miasm. We feel the temptation of quoting Dr. Kent who is very pithy on this point, and his comparisons are quite helpful to memory. He says — ‘'It is rather strange that Sycosis affects the soft tissues and not the bones. Syphilis affects the soft tissues and the

Sycosis

bones. Psora affects the whole economy, nothing escapes; it causes a general break down.’*

(2) This poison affects our blood so prominently that the red corpuscles lose their tone and strength rendering the system gradually anaemic. This alteration of blood, rather its enfeeblement, is responsible for the gradual weakening of all our vital organs, including the entire digestive appa- ratus as well. Thus, the man becomes an easy prey to external influences, and specially to any the least weather changes. Owing to this extreme susceptibility to outward exciting causes, he has often been aptly described as a “living barometer.”

(3) The most important hold it takes in the human system is over our miud. Mind is psycho- logically divided into thinking, feeling and will- ing. Sycosis alters each of these three aspects of mind so powerfully and profoundly that they almost lose their normal functioning, Thus, consistent thought, — the work of intelligence, is almost at an end; all higher feelings called emo- tions (like love, sympathy, friendship, etc) and sentiments (rational, aesthetic, moral and religious) are almost lost to this unhappy mortal, and, finally, will which implies rational choice from among the materials supplied to it, and which, in fact, brings credit or discredit to an agent according to the way in which he exercises it, is so overpowered that this rational choice, — this power of free determination which constitutes the

ETIOI.OGY IN Homeopathy

dignity of man becomes almost an impossibility, and the mind of this unfortunate mortal is, as Pope has so aptly averred, nothing but a ‘^Chaos of Thought and Passion, all confused ” Coming to particulars, we may further add: — He becomes irritable and easily* angered, low-spirited and self-centred; inattentive and forgetful, — especially of names, places and dates ; untruthful and irreligious, — nay, the sentiment of Religion is almost lost to him ; demented, if not actually insane j extremely impatient, — so much so that he cannot fully realise the actual nature of things, and so often looks only to their dark side, and it makes him more impatient still, and as a result of this unnatural impatience, he usually magnifies matters, and especially his own illness in which latter he generally visualises ‘‘Tempest in a teacup’', and cannot, therefore, divert his mind from it but often, as Shakes- peare has so beautifully expressed, “gives shapes and forms to mere empty nothings,” and this impatient and apprehensive attitude of his mind leads him to change doctors every few days, if not every few minutes, like a weathercock, with the inevitable result that his actual or latent malady, instead of being cured, is often more and more provoked, and made unmanageable ; he is awfully timid and faint-hearted, with this peculiarity that he has frequent urgings to pass water, though often small in quantity, on the

Sycosis.

approach of storms or rain-storms, shewing the excessive weakness of the nerves of the genera- tive organs, — rather of the entire pelvic region wherein this virulently inveterate miasm exerts its most pernicious and baneful influences ; utterly unable to speak fluently and appropriately, as he fails to call up in his mind, at the time of speech or writing, appropriate words and phrases to express himself, quite unlike Psora, “the ragged philosopher,’^ with a ceaseless flow of thoughts and ideas in quick succession, whether in speech or in writing, with the inevitable result that inveterate Sycotics are generally unfit for any oratory, not even previously set, far less extempore, and they are therefore quite unfit for various professions of life where any amount of success or excellence depends mainly on the gift of the gab, — a, free and appropriate use of the organs of speech; he is awfully obsess- ed with fixed ideas, — certain ideas take possession of him, as a man is possessed by a ghost, he is piteously oppressed but he can not get rid of them, he utters them or gives expression to them off and on, often with a semi-serious attitude, though mostly in a delirious manner, — thus the idea of possession in popular parlance is often typified in our Sycotics when, of course, they are in a state of any serious illness affect- ing the brain, and this mental peculiarity of Sycotics is diametrically opposed to that of Psora

Etioi^ogy in Homeopathy

tinder similar conditions, the latter often prates and raves in his delirious mood, jumping from this to that idea, — this to that topic or discourse of thought^ another special peculiarity of the sycotic mind is that it revels in the concealment of the actual state of things, — the Sycotics are seldom found to be quite free and frank in their private or public life but they will rather cringe and crouch and sneak, and will often tell a different tale from what actually goes on in their mind lest others should know it, and this mean and sneaking attitude of the sycotic mind is responsible for a large number of crimes punish- able by the laws in the penal code, and if we take a comparative statistics of criminal prisoners in different jails throughout the world, it will no doubt be found that most of them are sycotics of the worst type, and Sycosis, as already said, being at bottom a true venereal disease, — a disease of lust, we can well understand the reasonable- ness of the reformative type of punishment* often accorded to youthful offenders who, in committing a crime, are mainly influenced and overpowered by impulses or passions which, if left to them- selves, gradually weaken our moral constitution and finally take away the true dignity of man, though these impulses or passions are quite useful elements of human nature, and are never bad in themselves, but only when they are systematically misused they gradually lead us to

Sycosis.

crime, disrepute, death or destruction, and this idea has been very beautifully expressed by the poet : —

Well to serve, but ill to sway.

Like the fire, they must obey.

They are good, in subject state.

To strengthen, warm, and animate;

But if once we let them reign.

They sweep with desolating train.

Till they but leave a hated name,

A ruin’d soul, and blackened fame.”

Eliza Cook.

Thus, our young hopefuls, — the prospective objects of the glory and greatness of our country, should have, from the very budding of their life, proper disciplinary and academic education, along with suitable anti-psoric treatment in case of need, to enable them to control their growing passions or impulses which, if early unchecked, are thus responsible for a world of trouble to the whole world, being partly personal, partly social partly political and partly moral or religious.

(4) A comparative painlessness is a special feature of some of the sycotic troubles. Warts, tumours and some such , fleshy growths are mostly painless. Gonorrhoea in its early stage usually presents a picture of painful and spasmodic symp- toms, with decided vesical irritation and marked excruciating urethritis, and, not infrequently, with

a peculiar, chordee that sends a torturing thrill to the whole economy of this unfortunate victim who, out of shame, usually tries to put on au appearance of indifiference to his agonising troubles which are thereby led to canker away the very innermost of his heart and wholly upset the normal tune of his mind, but even the most typical case of Sycosis is absolutely lacking in the said painful and spasmodic symptoms.

(5) Of all the miasms, Sycosis is the most faithless and treacherous^ inasmuch as its desolating ravages of all the vital and most important .organs of both man and woman are done in a secret manner inside the system and without very little outward expression. Its work is so secret and sinister that it gradually alters the very substance of the brain, the citadel of our strength, and takes away our sanity, or even makes us actually insane, though during the course ,of the ravage its destructive influence is almost imperceptible to the hapless victim. Thus, while the rationality of man is being taken away, and he is being brought down to a lower category of creatures, he is entirely unconscious of the subver- sive force at work. With consciousness of the change, suitable means and methods might have been devised and adopted to avert the catastrophe. In the case of the woman, the organs of her motherhood are imperceptibly altered, and in ,most cases, she is made unable to fulfil the mission of

Sycosis

her life which is thereby made a very sad and heavy burden to her till death comes and closes the scene. Thus, while man is deprived of his manhood, and the woman, her motherhood, the victims are unconscious of the malady, and take no steps at all ! So much harm 'done, with so little knowledge !

(6) The miasm of Sycosis stands in the way of free growth and development. Hence, the children of Sycotic parents are mostly weaklings and abnor-: mally stunted in stature. Such children have, as: it were,' no tendency to grow. Thus even Nature seems to be baffled in her benign object, and these puny Lilliputians are at the entire mercy of this fell miasm. A miasm that can arrest the growth of Nature and thereby frustrate the very end of the Divine Law under which Nature acts, must have an infinite amount of repressive force at its control. Thus, unnatural acts, whether immediate or remote, bring forth unnatural objects, and this is nothing but an indirect confirmation of our Law of Similars, — a Law that pervades the universe through and through.

(7) Sycosis and sterility go almost hand in hand. Those of our mothers that are unfortunate in having sycotic husbands are either sterile or give birth to only a very few children, usually one or two, and they are mostly anaemic and marasmic, do not grow and thrive, and often have various bowel complaints, or lienteric stools, or,

cholera-infantum, with the advent of the summer sun.

(8) Sycosis is often associated with catarrh of every sort, whether of the nose and pharynx, of the eyes, of the digestive tract, or of the male and female generative organs. Discharge from piles is mostly Sycotic.

(9) Sycosis is also associated with restlessness in some forms of illness. When sycotic children are any the least indisposed, they will show an amount of restlesness, both physical and mental, much in excess of their actual indisposition in question. Patients suffering from Sycotic head- aches can’t remain quiet fo^ a moment, but will move from place to place in extreme agony of mind and physical restlessness. The reason why such patients want constant movement is that such movement gives partial relief to their sufferings.

(10) Sycotic congestions and inflammations are usually bluishy — rather, of a dark bluish tint.

(11) Sycotic discharges, whether secretions or excretions, are generally very offensive. No amount of washing can entirely remove their offensiveness. They are often extremely pungent, or, of the odour of a dead fish in process of decomposition. Such discharges of the excretory type are also very dirty to look to.

• (12) Sycotic patients, after a serious attack of

Pneumonia,- - 'Typhoid or some such lingering

Sycosis.

too, from a sad want of vitality to convalesce,-— they ‘‘go into a state of do-nothing’’, or rather “lie in a sort of semi-quiescent state,’' as aptly averred by a master mind, without reaction, without assimilation and without tissue-making. They must have quick necessary help of appropriate anti-Sycotic remedies to combat the opposing forces of the underlying miasm before their system can gather-up and arouse the dormant vitality to react, to repair and to recover,

(13) Sycotic discharges are usually excoriating^ due to the acidity they contain. When, therefore, we find young babies with their perineum hot, sore, painful and a bit inflamed, owing to their urine and faeces passing over it, we have no doubt of their sycotic inheritance. Similarly, even young girls suffering from leucorrhoea often have their parts excoriated. The eternal law of inheritance is broad enough to cover not only the material mundane properties of the parents but also their spiritual miasmatic dyscrasia or diathesis. Thus, biological evolu- tion has got a close relation to our science and art of medicine, if not to that of our brethren of the old school. These sycotic discharges from the pelvic organs, if locally interfered with, lead to very ominous inflammations and engorgements of these organs, especially of women, and they are thereby put to unnecessary prolonged suffering, with resultant mis-functioning or disfunctioning,

Etiology m Homeopathy.

in most cases, of the organs concerned, but similar interference in the case of men may not lead to such dreadful and destructive consequence, though we may often find orchitis, epididymitis, cystic troubles, piles and other rectal complications resulting therefrom, besides various forms of gout, arthritis and rheumatism, and these latter are usually noticeable in the male as a result of the said interference.

(14) Acute diseases of Sj^'cctics have a great tendency to sudden malignant developrnents. Two diflFerent patients, one with and another without this fell miasm, may catch cold as a result of the self-same exciting causes and suffer from consequent fever. Apparently, both the cases may look quite the same; but while the latter may recover only with the first aid of Vis Medicatrix Naturae^ without any the least medical aid, the former may suddenly develop into a very serious type of Pneumonia or Typhoid which it is often very difficult even for an expert physi- cian, not of the school of Contraria Contrariis Opponenda with its Doctrine of Signature or some such loud-speaking doctrines, but even of the school of Similia Similibus Curentur faithfully following the eternal Law of Similars to the letter.

(15) A word or two may not be out of place regarding the cough of Sycosis. This miasm makes

Sycosis

begins with sneezing, and watering of the eyes and ends with a running watery coryza. In a few days, the cold settles in the chest, and on comes the teasing, tiring coughs shaking the whole frame of the poor patient gasping for breath. He coughs and coughs again till the entire chest becomes painful and sore but can raise very little, though the chest may seem quite full and heavy. A lot of laborious coughing is often required to expectorate but a bit of glairy mucus which is really too small in quantity to necessitate the amount of trouble and suffering the patient is thereby put to. So, v^re may generalise by saying that the miasm of Sycosis is quite contrary to that of Syphilis in the matter of expectoration: for, while S 3 rphilis favours easy and profuse expecto- ration, painful and scanty expectoration is the way the poison of Sycosis prefers.

(16) Of all Sycotic lesions, warty growths of various kinds are the most beneficial^ as these skin symptoms agreeably fulfil the natural law under which the disease-force usually and normally acts, viz “from above downwards, and from with- in outwards.^' When the disease-force takes this natural turn, the inner vital organs of the system are * saved of its viruleney, and the economy may manage to work and run its usual course * but when this is not the way, there is nothig to stand in the way of the centralisation of the miasmatic forces upon the said organs, and

taalignant developments are sure to follow in the shapes of fibrous changes in the liver and the heart, the uterus and the ovaries, the kidneys and the intestines, or the lungs and the brain, trailing behihd various nameless diseases of the organs affected, and finally leading to cancer, carcinoma or epithelioma in some favourite part of the system. These latter may therefore he termed to be the malignant lesions of the sycotic poison and they are but the results of further interference with the miasm in the tertiary stage. Thus, life according to Nature is always conducive to our physical and moral well-being, both in health and in sickness,

latest lesions of the Sycotic poison have the special peculiarity to affect some one or other of the most important organs of the system, and its innermost parts, thereby leading to the deep- seated chronic diseases of end-less torture and prolonged' suffering, with the inevitable result of gradual decay and final destruction of the organism, unless of course the patient be put to appropriate treatment under any school but the so-called “rational” one. Psora and Syphilis may often be content with superficial affections of the system leavipg the vital organs to run the economy somehow or other but the Sycotic miasm is too virulent to . be satisfied with such affections and itavariably enters into the very innermost chambers

Sycosis.

of the organism and there pollutes and poisons the very spring and fountain of life, and there- after the poison is also diffused td all the peripheries of the system, with the disorganisation of the blood, thus bringing the entire economy, both in and out, within its dreadful clutches.

(18) No other miasm, not even Tuberculosis, is so powerful as Sycosis to disturb the balance^ equilibrium arid harmony of our system by reducing or even taking away its natural power of resistance.

As this idea has been very admirably expressed by Dr. J. H. Allen, we take the liberty to qupte him rather at some length. He says — ‘Mycotic patients have lost that power of resistance, that before their fall was a genetic principle in the life force. If it rained, they heeded it not j if the atmosphere was surcharged with moisture, it mattered not to them. The storm came and went; the winter and the summer passed but they suffered no special inconvenience. He has lost all that which gave him protection, that which shielded, that which fortified him to them all, and now he becomes subservient to their influence and their power. When it rains, he has pain; vrhen the atmosphere is filled with moisture, he suffers; when the elements clash, his organism is at war with itself; the rain, the snow, the cold, the barometer’s rise and fall are now his enemies. The planetary changes that before were his- friends, his supporters in life, are now his peace-disturbers, and his

Etioi^ogy in Homeopathy

combatants. In health, his organism, his system was in harmony with the whole solar system and its countless changes, numberless variations, and infinite relationships. Now, like a slave, he cringes and writhes and whimpers under them, and we see him seeking relief or palliation in countless ways; from the use of drugs, sedatives, anodynes, palliatives of all kinds, hot fomentations, baths — thermal and electro-thermal, mineral, medicated and non-medicated.” These are noble words indeed ! They very clearly point out how the violation of a law is attended with life-longsickness and suffering, especially when such violation has parti- cular reference to the celestial honour, dignity and chastity of womankind, even though she be a woman of the town. The very observance of laws and of moral precepts and principles, whether of God and Nature, or of the Scriptures or of individual Sages, like the noble precept of our beloved Sage Chanakya (consider

others’ wives as your mothers), etc, at once raises us into a higher sphere of life, by elevating our mind and ennobling our heart. To borrow the very appropriate expression of a noble thinker, such observance is in itself ‘^an ascendency into the higher altitudes of a greater existence and of a larger life.^’

(19) The whole human family torday is more or less miasmatic, with this difference only that there are members who are simply under . the'

Sycosis

influence of Psora, and this too, in a very latent undeveloped state, though a large majority are under more miasms than one. When this latter is the case, and a member suffers from two or more miasms with Sycosis as one of them, this last miasm, namely, Sj^cosis, takes the precedence over the xest by overshadowing their individual peculiarities

dreadful and pernicious of all the miasms our flesh is liable to.

(20) Though it is the tendency of all chronic miasms to be roused and provoked to activity, from their apparently inactive and latent state, when an exciting cause induces and maintains any acute sickness, or when the infirmities of age set in and the vital powers are gradually ebbing, the miasm of Sycosis is extremely susceptible to such causes and conditions, and is rather provoked to fury under such circumstances. Hence the unusual mortality of sycotic children that can seldom stand the sudden furious onset and out- burst of this fell miasm on any and every provocation, and the life-long suffering of excrucia- ting aches and pains of adult and aged sycotic

patients actually beggars even the very best human powers of description.

We could probably lengthen ad infinitum this list of the characteristic features of this malignant miasm while under process of evolution in the human family^ but we fear we have already tired out

our gentle readers, and we must now put a stop to adding up further details by mentioning some of the resultants (pathological names) this disease- force sets up in different human . systems in accordance with individual bias, peculiarity, and susceptibility : — Almost all the pelvic diseases of women, — all sorts of ovaritis and salpingitis, peritonitis, cellulitis, cystitis, peri-cystitis, metritis, perimetritis, and endo metritis 5 appendicitis is mostly of sycotic origin • almost all kinds of rheumatic pains and gouty concretions • mania or mental aberrations consummating in absolute insanity are often of sycotic origin ; warts and warty growths, condylomata, coxcomb, verruca accuminata, verruca necrogenica, verruca Peruana, pointed papillary . growths, tumours, fibrous growths, and cystic degenerations leading to scirrhus of. the different organs of the body j catarrh of different organs, as noted under (8) above ; all menstrual troubles leading up to sterility, resulting in uterine tumour, cancer, epithelioma, etc are usually sycotic ; ansemia, rachitis or rickets of most of the present-day children are often due to their parents’ default in the sexual sphere ; cholera-infantum, or lienteric stools of children in hot season are usually sycotic ; most of the inflammations, — especially of the male generative organs, such as orchitis, epididymitis, etc, and of the female generative organs noted above, and all kinds of neuralgias are often sycotic j all varie-

Sycosis

ties of troubles of the entire urinary apparatus including dysuria, diuresis, diabetes, Bright’s disease, retention or suppression of urine, bloody urine, pus with urine, etc ; contraction of muscles and tendons leading to lameness or difficult walking is often a sycotic peculiarity 5 ascites, overian dropsy, cardiac dropsy, and dropsy of the chest and peritoneum, — are mostly sycotic • haemorrhoids or piles of all varieties, — in fact, as already said, any sort of disease of a discharging type is mostly sycotic ; corpulent sycotics are often subject to erythemas of various kinds discharging offensive matter which is even a nuisance to the very sufferers, not to speak of the inconvenience and uneasiness of the persons, even their very near and dear ones, — coming in contact with thein ; — these are, in short, some of the disease-endings or ulti- mates established by this revolutionary miasm, in the process of its evolution, by radically altering the constitution of the cells and tissues of the relative organs of the system, or its parts cour cerned. Let us now turn our attention to a brief study of s —

E* The Law of Cure.

As in every other sphere of the universe, the process of real cure is controlled by a law, and it proceeds from centre to circumference^ that is, from above doivnwards and from within loutwards^ and never in the opposite way. Why ? Let us go a little deep into the matter, and it will cleat

itself. Our body in itself is only an inert material .mass, but there is a spiritual power in it which is ‘^equally present in all parts of the organism, in the fibres of sensibility as well as in those of irritability, the unwearying spring of all the normal natural functions of the body.’' This invisible spiritual power . innate in the .visible material body and Divinely “designed to direct in the most perfect manner the operations of life while it is in health/^ is called the vital force and its proper function is “the maintenance of the life and health of the organism.^’ ‘‘When a person falls ill, it is only this spiritual vital force that is primarily deranged by the dynamic influence upon it of a morbific agent inimical to life/’ and “the morbidly affected vital force is the producer of the visible disease/’ that is, the morbid symptoms with disagreeable feelings and sensa- tions. Thus, sickness or disease means central derange- ment, — derangement ot the said unwearying spring of life. Consequently, the curative process must begin in the centre by way of liberating the vital force from its morbid affection, and thence proceed to the circumference when the undesirable feelings and sensations throughout the organism will be gradually removed. Such being the real nature of disease and cure, — the morbid affection of a central spiritual power and its liberation from the said affection, our curative remedies must of necessity be spiritual in kind so that they may

Sycosis.

act oil the diseased vital force in obedience to the Laws of Action and Reacion. The application of material medicinal agents, therefore, whether internally or externally, being in direct opposition to the natural Law of Cure, can never effect any real cure but only aggravates or complicates the disease and thereby adds to the sufferings of the patient. When an arm is paralysed, or an ear is deaf, the loss is not simply an outward one but in each case it is an inward failure which indicates a central defect, a central derangement. These defective organs therefore can not be brought back to activity by any external means which do not reach the said centre at all. They can never be ^Vhipped into action from without the walls by electricity, by the X-ray, by mechanical or chemical forces, or by any of the thousand and one methods and means now in vogue;’' but if we are to really remove the defect of these organs, we must ‘‘send the help within the walls,” and in the shape of an appropriate spiritual medicinal agent having community with the diseased vital force which is the real “producer of the visible disease,” — the paralysed arm or the deaf ear. “An inflamed liver is not the disease”, observes Dr. Kent. “The liver is not the cause of itself. It is under the control of the Vital Force, and it is what the Vital Force makes it. We can never be good Homoeopaths if we think tissue changes as diseases. They are but the

EtioivOGy in Homeopathy

results of disease. We must think from within outward.’' Therefore, the central derangement, the derangement of the vital force the dynamic influence upon it of a morbific agent inimical to life/' is, as it were, the cause, and the consequent morbid symptoms throughout the body together with the undesirable feelings and sensations are its effects, popularly or hetcropathically called the perceptible, sensible or visible disease. Dr. Kent has well expressed the idea when he writes, —

must remain cured, as we do not take disease through our bodies but through the vital force.’^ We must remove the cause, — the morbid affection of the vital force, and the effect, — the sensible or visible disease, — the morbid symptoms with un- natural sensations, will gradually vanish. With the removal of the cause, — the said central affec- tion, order and harmony throughout the system will re appear, and natural feelings and sensations will prevail as before.

This natural law of cure from centre to cir- cumference has some corollaries of which reproduc- tion of original disease or discharge is the most important. This reproduction of the original disease or discharge by the application of an appropriate medicinal agent under the Law of Similars is the sine qua non of real cure, and in the process of reproduction the symptoms return in the reverse order of their coming, So much

Sycosis

stress is usually laid on this condition that Dr. Kent even avowedly declares, — “A sycotic is never cured unless a discharge is brought back/’ By way of emphasising the absolute necessity of the said reproduction, Dr. J. H. Allen writes, — ^‘‘Mali-

managed if we can reproduce the original gonor- rhc3eal discharge, but if we are unable to do this, our chances for a cure become very doubtful indeed. Often our only hope lies in reproducing the original disease, in order to cure any secon- dary disease, whether it be stomach-trouble, indigestion, haemorrhoids, headaches, neuralgias, rheumatism, or constipation’^ Incidentally, we might add that in the matter of reproducing Ihe original disease or discharge, high and higher potencies are more serviceable than the low and lower ones, and, in fact, these latter are often found to be of no use, as they are decidedly in a higher plane so far as crudity and quantity are concerned but obviously in a lower plane so far as potentiality and quality are coneerned, and our Master in his Materia Medica Pura, Yol. 1, page 16, (Dr. Dudgeon’s Translation) writes, — “ spiritual power of medi-

cine does not accomplish its objects by means of quanr tity but by potentiality and quality'^ Still, as high and higher potencies are very dangerous when mis-applied, young prescribers should be very care- ful to see that they are quite correct in their selection before they handle these high and higher

Etioi^ogy in Homceopathy.

potencies. To entirely and permanently remove the general mis conception of the lay public as well as of some of our young novices that our remedies do no positive harm even if they do no actual good, we take the liberty to quote the authoritative statement of Dr. Kent in this behalf. He says in his Materia Medicay p. 543 : ^Tf our medicines were not powerful enough to kill folks, they w’ould not be powerful enough to cure sick folks. It is well for you to realise that you are dealing with razors when dealing with high potencies. I would rather be in a room with a dozen Negroes slashing with razors than in the hands of an ignorant prescriber of high potencies. They are means of tremendous harm, as well as of tremendous good’*

Another corollary to the said law of cure is the process of elimination. Elimination is a clearing and cleansing process by which all internal impurities are thrust out to the surface or thrown away so that the inside may be quite clear, and free from their festering and corrupting virulence. Nature exhibits this eliminative process whenever we turn our eyes, and air, water and the sun are her gigantic agents to clear and cleanse the very nook and corner of her vast empire. All lower animals, living freely in nature, keep their abodes or resting places quite clean and free of all excrements though they are absolutely void of reason, and guided by the so-called ^blind^

Sycosis

instincts which are nevertheless more unerring and infallible than Reason in securing their ends, these instinctive acts being in entire harmony with the Divine provisions for the conduct of life, while Reason often labours under wilful human interference. Hence, some thinkers have gone so far as to give even a higher place to Instincts in the conduct of life :

“Let cavillers deny

That brutes have Reason : Sure ‘tis some- thing more,

‘Tis Heaven directs, and stratagems inspire,

Beyond the short extent of human thought/^

— Somerville.

Another poet confirms the same idea t

‘^Say, where full Instinct is the unerring

guide,

What Pope or Council can they need beside ?’*

— Pope.

Reverting from this little interesting digression, and coming a little higher up, in every human habitation, the dutiful housewife, just rising from bed early in the morning, gets, with the help of her constant companion, — the faithful ungrudging besom, all the dust and refuse of the house care- fully collected and thrown away' to a distant dung- hill. Further up, in every animal economy, lower or higher, its presiding power — the vital force, is always clearing and cleansing the internal parts of the system by purging the impurities away

through secretion or excretion, and whenever these natural processes of secretion and excretion are interfered with, delayed, or stopped, the accumulated impurities within at once begin to hoist the signal of danger by causing disagreeable or actually painful feelings and sensations in the affected parts, and the sufferer must take resort to suitable means and ways, medical or non- medical, to remove the cause of such interference, delay, or stoppage. Elimination, therefore, is really a natural universal process designed by the Creator for the maintenance of the health and harmony of His creation, and consequently the Law of Cure which is also an eternal natural law can not but be eliminative in nature. Wherever, therefore, the contrary process obtains, under any Apathy’ of medicament, the result is sure to be far from real cure. At best it will suppress, aggravate and affect and invade more important and central organs, producing unnecessary complications that may last to the very last day of the patient^s life.

Our Materia Medica is replete with a number of very deep and deeper acting remedies for the treatment of this pernicious miasm of Sycosis in all its stages. As a graphic picture and com- prehensive symptomatology of these remedies are available in any standard work on Materia Medica, we shall simply mention some of them and close the subject : —

Argentum Nitricum, Arsenicum Album, Arsenicum

Sycgsis.

lodatum, Benzoic Acid, Calcarea Ars, Causticum, Dulcamara, Fluoric Acid, lodium, Kali Bichromicum, Kali Carb, Kali lod, Lycopodium, Mezereum, Natrum Ars., Natrum Carb, Natrum Mur., Natrum Sulph., Nitric Acid, Phosphorus, Psorinum, Pyrogen, Sepia, Silicea, Staphisagria, Thuja and Tuberculi- num.

With sincere apology to the lovers of the present- day civilisation, we may at the outset boldly declare that Tuberculosis is nothing but a boon of the civilisation we are living and moving in, — nay, we may even go further and say that it is but its natural offspring. In pre-historic times, man, like other creatures, did not live in society, and he had to depend on his own exertions for all the necessities of life, though they were very few indeed. As time went on, he gradually began to realise the advantages of a social life, and so the nucleus of modern society came into existence. As man at this stage was quite pure

Etiology m Homeopathy

in mind and heart, he lived a life of love and sympathy that began to tighten the social bonds that were rather loose at the start. As the Divine in man was his unerring gnide, he was quite simple and sincere and Law-abiding and, in fact, followed Nature in every way. As such, he could find around him and in the various aspects and departments of Nature, endless means for his comfort and ease, joy and gratification. The. murmur of leaves, the blossoming of flowers, the singing of birds, the rising and setting of celestial bodies, — each of these could open up to him a store-house of infinite joy, and his very heart leaped and danced, and kept tune with the music of the spheres. Such simplicity, such sincerity, such godliness, such unity of thoughts, words and deeds could not but conduce

a life of perfect health with a peaceful and con- tented mind, and his hedonistic feelings of joy and pleasure naturally flowed out of his internal harmony and accord. In fact, unlike his unfortunate present progeny, he knew it very well that —

“The world has nothing to bestow, —

From our own selves our joys must flow-**

Cotton.

To-day, we live in cities and towns, and many of us with the silver spoon in our mouth. But then, we are always anxious, always uneasy, always uncomfortable. We multiply out fandfvl, needs and wants, and nothing on

Tuberculosis.

earth can remove such wants and make us happy. These imaginary tvants are really the results of the increasing sickness of our mind which has now been, generally speaking, only a diseased shadow of its original healthful state. This dis-satisfactory state of things, this anxious hankering tor some unknown object of pleasure, this constant uneasiness born of nonfulfilment of some morbid expectation, — all this clearly shows to what depth of degeneration and degradation our mind has been brought to. Such anxious hankering and morbid expectation disturbs the genial current of our mind, and subjects us to a process of constant change which takes away all our strength, — both mental and physical. As Matthew Arnold has put it, — ‘^Joy comes and goes, hope ebbs and flows Like the wave 5

Change doth unknit the tranquil strength of men^^ Thus weakened and degenerated, both physi- cally and mentally, man gradually becomes a slavs to his senses, instead of their master as he should really be, and his passions and impulses take over charge of his guidance from Reason and Con- science, the Divinity in Humanity, and the sub- sequent course of his life is only a series of reck- less law-breaking, right and left, — physical, physio- logical, biological, aesthetic, moral and religious. As Law is God, and God is Law, the non-obser- vance of l)ivine Laws is tantamount to leading a life under the regime of Passions and Lower

BTioi.ooy IN Homoeopaths

Propensities which are nothing but Satan incarnate, and thereby making the soil quite fit for the seeds of Tuberculosis to grow, Life in cities and towns, though universally alleged to be the head- quarters, rather the very emporium of modern civilisation, necessitates more un-naturalness and artificialities in the mode of living, and affords provocative exciting causes for the blaxing-up of even a dormant sexual fire. The Divine Law to treat others’ wives as mothers is lustfully set at naught, and immoral association with such mothers is recklessly resorted to. As un-natural acts bring forth un-natural consequences, the offspring of such association is the dreadful demon of Syphilis in many cases, and its only mission is to torture and torment its parents in various ways, especially in those of their organs that are responsible for its birth, and particularly during the night the celestial shades whereof are taken advantage of for the perpetration of the sinful act. Even when Sycosis is the issue of such amorous indulgence, it is even more relentless in devising nameless woes and agonies for its parents, and these follow the miscreants, like a veritable Nemesis, to their uninterrupted suffering, both physical and mental, not only at night but specially during the day when the rest of the world is freely enjoying the blessings of Nature all around. ThuSf life under the regime of Satan is respdnsible for theon-coming on earth the two gigantic human foes of

Tuberculosis.

]8T

Syphilis and Sycosis, Even when these miasms are already acquired by the prospective parents, the posterity may still be saved from the thunder- bolts of Tuberculosis and Consumption, if the mis- guided would-be parents do not take resort to the repressive and suppressive methods of treatment under the human law of Contraria Conirariis Oppo- nenda but, with an open mind and firm determina- tion, take the help of the Divine Daw of Similars to cure themselves.

But unfortunately for the posterity, and as their ill luck would have it, these delinquents do usually take resort to the said suppressive methods of treat- ment, and the Syphilitic parents do usually beget tubercular children, and the Sycotic, generally con- sumptive ones. Thus, we get the diathesis of Tuber- culosis and Consumption. But diathesis is simply the disease in its embryonic state, and it may still be changed, nsLj, fully corrected, if our loving Lilli- putians are made to live under the Laws of Nature, (instead of under the modern unnaturalness and arti- ficialities — the two majestic Hand-maids of our present civilisation ) and have necessary medical treatment unber Her Laws too. But who cares for Nature aud Her Hand-maids of Purity, Honesty, Simplicity and Sincerity, or for the matter of that, ‘^The unseen Power that rules this illimitable world,“ in these days of gross materialism and extreme hankering for self-gratification and the resul- tant pleasures, though these latter are in reality—

Etioi^ooy in Homceopathy

“Like the snow that falls on the river,

A moment white — then melts forever/^ — Burns. Or, as another poet says,

‘Xike the apples on the Dead Sea’s shore,

All ashes to the tasteJ *^ — Byron.

Thus, leaving aside Nature and Her Laws, — of Health and Hygiene, of Medicine and Moralit^s of Duty and Responsibility, etc, and throwing into dust-bins all our sacred Scriptures written, for the good of humanity, by ancient sages and saints, either under revealed knowledge or direct Divine inspiration, we, the modern “civilised^^ people of the world are always anxious to keep our ^externals' quite clean, no matter what may become of our ‘internals,’ — nay, sometimes to the positive injury or even direct detriment to the said ‘internals’ on the proper functioning whereof our life and very existence depend. Mind and body being abso- lutely interdependent, any mal-functioning of the physical organs has its serious repercussions on the mental plane which is ipso facto materially altered and affected. ^Weak mind in a weak body’, — goes the popular saying. Mind and body being both weak, with their resultant mal-functionings, we are quite unfit either to decide what is proper for us to do, or to do what is even properly decided. Thus, when benign Nature, in conformity with her maternal protective plan, shows signs and symptoms, in our little ones, of their tubercular taint lying dormant in the diathetic stage, in the

Tuberculosis.

shapes of enlarged tonsils, or inflamed glands — mesenteric or sub-maxillary, tendency to catch fre- quent cold or to sweat profusely in the upper part of the body — especially on the head, abnormal increase of adipose tissues at the expense of bones which are made weak and slender, occasional lienteric stools — specially in the hot season, pot-bellied- ness, nameless troubles and difficulties during the teething period, inability to walk or even to talk at the ^ proper time, continued irritability and undue obstinacy on a slight provocation, frequent undigested sour stools even under the most regular regimen, excessive longing for meat and sweets, etc, etc, we, in most cases, in our present depraved state of mind, have not the insight to understand, far less to realise, what they really mean, and, as such, we are fully satisfied if the symptoms are somehow palliated, or removed for the time-being by any and every quack that begs from door to door for a petty pittance j but, in cases even where we understand or realise what they mean, we usually follow the fashion of the day and place them in the hands of a good physician of the old school, but the gentleman in spite of his best intentions can not lay the axe at the root of the plant but only lop off its tender twigs, thereby turning the energy of the plant root-way to be more firmly fixed and settled in the soil. During the whole of infancy and early part of Ufe, such occasional pruning and lopping off of

the twigs are continued, and the tender stick of the plant gradually becomes a full-grown trunk when it becomes too hard to be any more lopped off by the pruning-knife of our said brother who is thereby forced to declare his inability to deal with the matter any more. In majority of cases, we miss the opportunity in this way of avoiding the catastrophe of a subsequent developed and active Tuberculosis by curing it in the diathetic stage in our young ones. Though absolutely curable in the diathetic stage, and here we have the testimony of Dr. Kent who writes, — ‘Tf Tuberculinum Bovinum be given in 10m, 50m, cm, and mm. potencies, two doses of each potency at long all children

and young people who have inherited Tuberculosis may be immuned from their wheritance and their resiliency will be restored*^ (p. 967, Materia Medica), Tuberculo- sis is very difficult to be cured when it reaches its fully developed and active stage, — nay, we may say it is almost impossible to cure it in the developed form. As, however, the principles of Homeopathy are being widely diffused, we hope time will gradually come when this pest of Tuberculosis will be boldly met with and entirely annihilated in the diathetic stage by placing our relative young ones in the hands of veteran physi- cians of our school, — the only school of Medicine the philosophical and metaphysical jurisdiction whereof is co-extensive with that of Morality and Religion. Syphilis or Sycosis in the father being

Tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis or Consumption in the child, the real remedy to remove these pests of humanity from the face of the world is a rigorous course of Brahmacharyya or self-control to be sincerely practised by the prospective fathers before they enter the stage of pro-creation, though of course a^ state control of public prostitution as practised in towns and cities may be of great help in this behalf. We, in Bengal, in particular, may be said to be under the grim clutches of Tuberculosis, and if things go on in the way as they are now doing, our future is very gloomy indeed. The enervating climate of Bengal is no doubt partly responsible for the gradual weakening of our constitution, but the plague point is the absolute want of Self-control on our part. We have practically converted our conjugal life as an un- bridled charter for liberty and license, lustfully overlooking or waiving the injunction of our Shastras (Scriptures),— C'the sole object of marriage is to get a son’^), etc, though of course we can not be unconditionally blamed for our seeming libertinism and, licentiousness for with the graduai enfeeblement of our nervous system due to the degenerating elements in Bengal, the sex propensities are greatly increased, — rather fired up, and the morbid mind, in such a constitu- tion, is ill able to control them. Hence the absolute necessity of a systematic course of Brahma- charyya (Self-control) during the early years of

192 ‘ Etiolooy in Homeopathy

life so that the virtue of Self-control, like other habits, becomes later on a habit with us to help us materially on in the fulfilment of our life’s end and aim. 'ffe^l^yittice of Self-control, it will thus be seen,T?s one of our most cardinal duties, — nay, it is the very pivotal one whereon the rest depend. If we make a habit of discharging this sacred duty of Self-control from the very plastic period of our life, we. indirectly weaken our evil propensities, and thereby not only acquire a love for this noble virtue \>f abstinence but gain a momentum for its habitual unobstructed perform- ance, and consequently its very observance becomes a source of pleasure to us. Here we have the testi- mony of a noble thinker who says : —

He is content who to obey has learn’d.”

Sir E. Brydges.

The good old custom of keeping our boys in the house of the preceptor to enable them to form their character by acquiring the principal virtue of Self-control along with other virtues is no longer in vogue. We have, therefore, to make our own house as that of the preceptor if we are to properly educate and train our boys to make them quite fit for entering the worldly life and manfully playing therein the parts of a good son, a good husband, a good father and a good citizen. Yes, we are to properly educate our boys to make them fit for life •, and to give you an idea

Tuberculosis.

as to what proper education is, we take the liberty to quote the saintly exposition of John Ruskin in his Crown of Wild Olive, He says, — “Education does not mean teaching people to know what they do not know. It means teaching them to behave as they do not behave. It is not teaching the youth of England the shapes of letters and the tricks of numbers • and then leaving them to turn their Arithmetic to roguery, and their literature to lust. It is, on the contrary, training them into the perfect exercise and kingly continence of their bodies and souls. It is a painful, continual, and difficult work • to be done by kindness, by watch- ing, by warning, by precept, and by praise, — but above all — by example. And the entire object of true educa- tion is to make people not merely do the right things, but enjoy the right things not merely industrious, but to love industry — not merely learned, but to love knowlege — not merely pure, but to love purity — not merely just, but to hunger and thirst after justice.*’ He says, — “above all, but example,” that is, we are to educate our chil- dren mainly by example, as

Example is a living law ivhose stvay Men more than all the written laivs obeyj^

Sedley,

And this example is to be set by the parents themselves, for the imitative propensity of children has its primitive play in the personality of their

parents. The intuitive genius of Byron strikes the key-note when he writes —

From drops at random flung.

So does the child, when words profane Drop from the parent’s tongue.’^

But how are we living our life to-day ? Is it at all consonant with the life that we should live ? The mere wish^ to have a good, noble son will not do. We must have to undergo a world of self-sacrifice, if sacrifice that may be termed in the real sense of the word, by leading an austere life of purity and self-control^ thereby ema- nating an aura of goodness and godliness, simplicity and sobriety that our young ones may easily imbibe and imitate, and unwittingly 7nake a part and parcel of their life; and on the natural law of ‘^As bends the twig, so bends the tree,” these young ones, with the increase of years, cannot but continue in the same state of their mind and character, partly by force of habit, and partly by their acquired love for it, but solely owing to the pleasure they derive from it, as, as we have already said, ‘^Duty by habit is to pleasure turn’d”. But the rub of the matter is that a chance desire on the part of the parents to lead ^an austere life of purity and self-controF will never help them to do so. Purity and self control greatly depend on a very rigorous course of physical and mental training from childhood, and, among other things,

TUBERCUI.OSIS.

m

on the nature and kind of the articles of out food which are usually divided into the three well-known classes of Sattvik, Bajasik and Tamasik We should avoid the two last ones, and do our best to subsist mainly on the first-named which consists of all the vegetables with milk and ghee (clarified butter), and, in fact these are the very articles of food prescribed by our sages for our young widows to help them to maintain their purity and chastity, as our mentality depends, to a very great extent, on the nature of the articles of food we take. All the noble qualities of our head and heart are of Sattvik (purest and most refined, as becomes the Godhead) nature, whereas our passions and evil propensities are mainly Tamasik (extremely gross) or Bajasik (active but not refined). Purity of rnind and heart, it will thus be seen, is an indispensable condition of Self-control, of real manhood, and if we are to get rid of this pest of Tuberculosis we have only to get back our original naive manhood, and to arouse and provoke into activity the long-defunct Divinity dormant in every human heart to be our sole unerring guide, both in weal and woe, and this detestable pest of humanity will automatically disappear.

With these preliminay remarks, let us now, for the sake of order, study this fell miasm of Tuber* culosis under its several aspects of the L?iw of Causation, the Law of Transmission, the Law:

of Suppression, the Law of Evolution and the Law of Cure..

A. The Law of Causation.

In the above preliminary remarks, v/e have given sufficient hints as to the causation of the miasm of Tuberculosis. Let us however be clearer still. There are two ways for the on-coming of this miasm on earth. The main gate is syphilitic or sycotic parentage and it is governed by the Natural Law of Karma (action) wherewith our Lord Buddha proposed to substitute the Creator and Ruler of the universe. Children of such parents appear to be personally innocent, but still they are put to peculiar abnormalities of health from the very moment of their birth, and one may be led to think that it is not justifiable under the rule of a righteous Father, But things are not really so as they often appear to be, as we can only see the fleeting phenomenon whereas the permanent Noumenon (Reality) is always beyond our gaze, and so hidden from us. One child is born of healthy parents, and another, of syphilitic ones. We may suppose it is all a matter of accident or chance. What we cannot understand or explain, we usually relegate to the domain of chance. But in reality there is no such thing as chance in this vast universe of God, and events that are ordinarily attributed to chance are really —

Tubercujoosis.

m

“Rather wondrous conduct of the gods !

By mortals, from their blindness, chanee misnam’d.’’ — Thomson

Here the supposed accident is really the natural outcome of the accumulated results of actions done by the child in all its previous births, and like a shadow, they follow it from afar. As has been very wisely said, —

“Our acts our angels are, or good or ill,

Our fatal shadows that walk by us still.” — Beaumont and Fletcher.

The merits of its previous deeds have led one child to be born of healthy parents, whereas the demerits of the other, of syphilitic ones. The child itself has nothing to do with the choice^ hut the very momentum of the deserts of its deeds forces it to the present field to enjoy or to suffer* In such cases, we get the miasms in the diathe- tic form and it may remain a diathesis all along if the patient in his youth and after-life be able not to waste his vital fluids, specially the invaluable semen whieh is said to be the very liquid life itself, and not to violate the laws of Nature including those of Health and Hygiene, But the trouble is that a miasmatic patient of this type, despite his most pious intentions, can- not but violate the above laws at any and every step, and his sexual propensities too are much in excess of those of a healthy man. Hence, inspite of himself he will embrace his own

t98 Etioloov in Homeopathy

miseries, and court his own death. It will thus appear that Sin-processes are so pernicious that they twist and torture our normal desires^ and disturb the normal functions of our organs which are useful elements of our life ^ that is to say, they pervert both our body and mind, and are finally the original causes of all our abnormal physical and mental susceptibilities^ One will thus be able to understand how the seed is never in want of the necessary conditions of heat and moisture ,for its germination, growth and development. The remedy here lies, therefore, in correcting the diathesis and curing the miasm while the patient is still a child by appropriate Homeopathic treatment under real Hahnemannian Homoeopaths.

Another way of entrance into the precincts of the sacred temple of our body is through the very violation of its sanctity under intoxicating

father of the Fatal Sisters — not the legendary Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos who now live and .move mostly in the mythology of ancient Greece and Rome but our well-known Syphilis,

, Sycosis and Tuberculosis who live and move with many of us to direct our destiny and control our fate ; and this is done in the very life-time of the patient himself. People who are under the firm clutches and inexorable grip of , active Psora are the very bond-slaves of

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too volcanic, — rather hellish, — to be controlled, far less put down, by the faint and lukewarm authority of their dull and deadened Reason or Conscience. Enjoyment of all sorts of sensual and sexual pleasures appears to them to be the only object of life, and they are always after such pleasures to fulfil the said object as best as they can. Such a course of life can not but gradually enfeeble and weaken the nerves and sinews of even a very strong and robust constitution, the daily loss of vital fluids being much in excess of the daily production. Excess of expenditure over the income always trailing ruin and destruction behind, how-ever mighty the man or the empire may be, such a voluptuary finds, much to his surprise, one nice morning, that the easy and normal process of breathing is rather painful and difficult to him; but he has not the power to pay proper attention to this salutary warning of benign Nature, and the subse- quent developments in the malignant mal-function- ing of any of the vital organs come rather in quick succession. In most cases, serious lung-disorders with occasional hemoptysis and the usual concomi tants of gradual marasmus, hectic fever, constant teasing cough, etc., appear in the stage to play their painful parts for a smaller or longer period of time till Death comes and closes the scene.

In the opinion of the ordinary lay public, to be more appropriate, of all non-Homoeopaths, there is still a third avenue for the coming-in of this

dred.dful pest, and it is, as they say, the avenue of contagion, or close association with one already suffering from the active form of the disease in question. Nevertheless, we, Homoeopaths, consider this viewpoint as unfounded, rather unscientific. The real cause of disease, just as the real source of happiness, is withiu us, and the world has nothing to cause or to bestow • A little illustration will make the matter clear. Mere close association with a tubercular patient of the phthisical type is not sufficient for the transmission of the disease, for in that case, all the attendants or nurses of such a patient would have been attacked with it, but that is not the case, and experience does not justify or confirm it. There must be some reason why one or some are attacked but not all. The reason is that those that appear to catch the contagion already have within them the very disease itself, though in its embryonic or diathetic form, and thereby are predi- sposed or susceptible ^Ho catch it,” as it were, when coming in contact with such a patient, though in reality they do not catch it at all but the contact and association only serve the purpose of an exciting cause to provoke and rouse into activity the dormant miasm which, without it, would have perhaps remained dormant for some time to come, though not the whole course of the patient’s life, for being of the nature of a seed, it would somehow or other seek out the conditions of its growth and development unless and until it is made dead and defunct by

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appropriate medicament on the basis of the natural Law of Similars. Here, a few words on the Philosophy of contagion will not, we think, be entirely out of place, though a slight hint on the matter has already been given hereinabove.

God is all good and good alone, and the world we live in is His handiwork. The sun with its pleasant light and heat, the air with its cool and comfor- ting breezes, the water with its soothing life- sustaining virtues, the entire vegetable kingdom with its awful foliage and beautiful flowers, fruits and roots with their hygienic and medicinal virtues, all these are wonderfully designed and admirably adapted to the various needs and requirements of His beloved children. In fact. He Himself is the life and light of this wondrous world, nay, to be more appropriate, the pleasing panorama of the world is nothing but the external expression, — the physical embodiment of His infinite Reality, — His Self-Realisation, We are the sons and daughters of such a Father. He has an infinite amount of love and affection for us, and out of such unbounded love He has planned and designed the universe in such a way that every atom of it is not only correlated with but exists for the good of the rest. Nothing in itself, per se, is noxious, morbific or contagious* Had it been so, the contagium would have diffused and disseminated disease right and left, and simul, taneous sickness of all the persons coming in contact with the contagium would naturally have been

the result, but human experience up-to-date does not confirm and corroborate it. Such experience, on the other hand, points to the fact that only some of the persons coming in contact with the contagium ‘catch^ it, but not all- Why not ? The contagium has equally acted on and affected all of them. How, therefore, can some of them •escape it ? What saves these ^some’ from the contagion, or transmi ssion of the dynamic morbific influence? It is nothing but the eternal Law of Susceptibility. Those escaping have escaped only because they are not susceptible to the contagium, that is to say, they have not the virus in them, even in a dormant state, similar to the virus of the contagium, and consequently, the Law of Action and Reaction postulating similarity, if not identity, of the entities to act and to re-act, the contagium, though equally exerting its dynamic morbific influence, failed to act upon and affect these latter, while those that actually ^caught’ it were actually susceptible to it, that is, they already had in them in a dormant state a virus similar to that of the contagium, but it had been waiting so long for a suitable exciting cause which offered itself in the shape of the contagium in question, and roused and provoked the sleeping virus into activity and the persons concerned fell ill. The next question is, why some have got the susceptibility, but not all ? Though we have already explained this metaphysical matter on more instances than one, let us repeat, as

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repetition is always helpful in getting such intri- cate points clearly impressed on the mind.

All sickness and suffering on earth, let other planets be alone, are actually the results of law- breaking, inspite of very careful and constant watching and warning by our gracious Father living in and moving with us as our Conscience or Reason to guide us at every step. At every breach, the healthful state of our body and mind is automatically altered, with the inevitable result that we are thereafter susceptible to external morbific influences, but just in conformity with the alteration in question, the variation in the said alteration depending on the variation of the breach and of the law broken. Therefore^ the less the breach, the less the susceptibility and consequent sickness and suffering. The Law of Susceptibility, therefore, owes its origin to the wilful transgression of Divine Laws inspite of definite Divine warning. It will thus be seen that the Law of Contagion is controlled by the Law of Susceptibility which latter, however, comes into play with the wilful breach of any of the eternal Laws of Nature. Let us now turn our attention to

B* The Law of Transmission- As we have already said, there are two stages of this miasm. The first is the stage of diathesis. In this stage, it remains in a latent or pa'ssive state but always seeking suitable exciting :causes ’for development into activity. When such causes are

actually available, it comes to the second stage when it becomes patent or active. The Law of Transmission is inoperative so long the miasm remains in its passive state, but it comes into operation as soon as the miasm assumes the active form. Here again the Law of Transmission depends on the Law of Susceptibility but not uncondi- tionally. So far as mere contact or association is concerned, transmission has to depend on suscep- tibility, as we have fully explained above. But there are cases where the Law of Transmission acts independently of the Law of Susceptibility and these are : —

( a ) Sexual Congress , In all cases of sexual congress, marital or non-marital, the tubercular virus is freely transferred from the one to the other, though apparently the transmission is more virulent in cases of non-marital congress, due no doubt to the double defiance of Divine Laws, the first defiance relates to the Law to treat others’ wives as mothers and the second to the Law to avoid any sexual commerce with patients suffering fron active tuberculosis of the phthisical or any other form.

( b ) Family Bond. When any one of the members of a family happens to develop active tuberculosis of the phthisical form, it is the duty of the rest to avoid free living with him (her) as under normal conditions. If they fail to do so, but lie and sleep with the patient, eat and drink with

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him (her) and from the self-same cup, glass and plate used by the patient and without proper washing or eat and drink w^hatever is left behind after the patient’s use, freely use, without proper disin- fection, the articles of clothing used by the patient, and in such other ways pormit the morbific influence of the tubercular poison to permeate them through and through, they or any of them with necessary weakness of the relevant organs — the organs that are quite favourite to this miasm for the display of its death-dealing processes, are sure to be its victims, and they may have in due course to sacrifice their lives at its altars. Hence the modern institutions in different parts of the country for the segregation of such patients are no doubt rendering yeoman’s service to the cause of humanity in a double W'ay — first, by giving all necessary help, medical and non- medical, to the unfortunate patients themselves, and secondly, by protecting the other members of the society from the ruthless ravages of this fell miasm. As to the said medical aid in such institutions, we would much like the authorities of the institutions concerned to see that such medical aid be always and under all circumstances given through veteran Hahnemannian Homoeopaths or experienced Kabirajes (Ayurvedic physicians) as neither Allopathy nor the mixed mongrelism of an Allo-Homeopathy is at all really helpful to them, far less curative, if any of them be still in the curative stage.

© Tea Stalls. In Indian climate, specially as in the plains, tea is not a necessary beverage. But since coming in contact with our present rulars in whose native climate tea, cocoa, coffee and such other beverages are a necessity, we have been accustomed to take tea regularly, though in most cases, e. g., in bilious constitu-. tions, to great injury to our health, and the amount of this injury is increased when the necessary concomitants of tea can not be used for want of money. Nevertheless, the harm done may be considered as negligible if the beverage is prepared and taken at home, instead of going to the said stalls which are, in most cases, nothing better than hot-beds of tubercular infection, of course so far as our Indian experience is con- cerned. People who are suffering from chronic Asthma, Bronchitis, Pleurisy and other serious lung disorders of a tubercular nature are gene- rally the regular visitors to such stalls, and their very breathing, coughing and occasional spitting as well as regular voracious using of the cups and dishes are quite sufficient to emit an aura of the tubercular virus that is very likely to inoculate those of the other visitors that regularly haunt such dens. Besides, it is known to all that the cups and dishes in such stalls are not properly washed, but are simply sunk in a bucket kept full of water, and again placed on the table with a lot of the said

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poisonous water in and on. As purity and health go hand in hand, our sense of purity together with our love of life should at once forbid us to visit such stalls so that we may thereby avoid the unnecessary infection and consequent life-long trouble and suffering, not only to ourselves but to our posterity as well.

(d) Amiimnent Halls. With due deference to regular visitors to such halls, we must say that most of such visitors are under the clutches of mias- matic influences, specially tubercular. Our lay friends, rather our non-Homeopathic friends, know very little of the special peculiarity of a tubercular mind. It is technically called cosmopolitanismy fre^ quent and constant desire for change. It is a kind of inner restlessness tvith dissatisfaction. He is always after something new to satisfy this craving. He is not satisfied with ordinary run of thmgs and events^ places and occurrences, but he always craves for some- thing netVy something extra-ordinary, something super-natural. His natural surroundings appear vapid and tasteless. Hence his wistful longing for new places with neiv surroundings. Only such minds in particular require regular diversions in the halls under reference. Persons impregnated with such a dreadful venom are sure to emit and exhale, even by the very natural processes of their physical functionings, invisible morbific influences that are very likely to infect their close associates, companions and neighbours,

specially owing to the unnatural excitement, both physical and mental, these latter are at the moment in. Moreover, the halls in question, at the time of performances, being usually full to their utmost capacity, and being furnished with a large number of very powerful lights, are absolutely deoxidised and thereby become a contributory cause for the inflow of the said morbific influences. We may also add, in passing, that these halls often sow the very first seeds of moral degeneration in the fertile minds of youth- ful visitors^ and so become the means of their sub- sequent contraction of loathsome diseases of Syphilis or Sycosis, and of their consequent production of tuhereidar children. Thus, if not directly, these halls are one of the fruitful means of indirect propagation of this dreadful miasm of Tuberculosis. Therefore, for the sake of our health which is the only means for the satisfaction of all the noble ends of our life we should avoid these halls as far as possible.

C. The Law of Suppression.

In childhood, when the miasm remains in its diathetic stage. Nature exhibits necessary signs and symptoms for the administration of appropriate remedies and consequent correction of the diathesis, as we have said before. But in most cases, either the indications are not properly understood, or the young ones are placed in the hands of the physicians of the old school and the said outward signs and symbols are made to disappear. This process con- tinuing during the whole of childhood and early

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part of youth, the miasm gradually attacks the vital organs and the patient is eventually declared hopeless. Our brothers of the old school being not satisfied with mere drugging often cut ofif an organ, e, g., an inflamed or enlarged tonsil, to cure the patient, as if only the innocent tonsil was respon- sible for the child’s sufferings. Similarly, to protect the important inner organs, when Nature sets up an inhibitory point in the shape of a fistula in ano, it is often removed with surgical help, and the disease-force is driven to the centre. In short, whenever these external symbols are not taken care of with the help of the natural Law of Similars, they are not really cured but are simply suppressedy and the disease-force that is responsible for their coming into existence is thereby driven in, quite infuriated, there to attack any of the important organs that may at the time be found to be the weakest. It will thus appear that every suppression reduces the power of resistance of the system and increases its susceptibility to external morbific influericeSy in other wordSy makes it more and more diseased. As childhood is the best time for correcting the diathesis by curing the tubercular taint, and as in childhood only, Nature depicts a perfect external picture of the internal disease, now in a dormant state, it is highly desirable that all our brothers and sisters make it a point to get even the

very petty ailments of their young ones cured by good Homoeopaths, or good Kabirajes ( Ayur- vedic physicians ), whose methods of treatment are always curative and never suppressive, so that their darlings may gradually grow happy and healthful as they advance in years.

D« The Law of Evolution.

If the miasm in its diathetic form is not cured by appropriate treatment. Ayurvedic or Homeopathic, it will, like a seed, gradually germinate, grow and develop, and finally blossom and fructify, under the natural Law of Evolution the nature and peculiarity whereof we have already described in detail, when writing on Sycosis. The development of the miasm, hower- ver, under this Law in different organisms, differs to a very great extent, according to the pre-disposing conditions and circumstances dependent partly on heredity, partly on environment but mainly on the patient^s personal mode of life.

The peculiar signs and symptoms, both mental and physical, are the indications given by Nature of the workings of the miasm within the organism. As a result of such workings, the free and normal functioning of the vital force is at first hampered and then deranged, leading to abnormal changes in mind and body as expressed by the said signs and symptoms. As it is very difficult, rather

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impossible, to follow the workings of the miasm step by step as it develops under the Law of Evolution, we give below some of the most prominent indications of its workings in the economy, irrespective of any sequence of timet —

(a) The normal constitution of the mind is greatly changed. Consequently^ correct thinking, natural feeling — sense-feeling, emotion or senti- ment, and proper willing — volition and action: — all these are awfully perverted. Coming to particulars we may add: The emotion of fear, apprehension, and timidity is particularly and prominently noticeable in young children ; they are also over-dosed with a kind of shame or bashfiilness which is at bottom a kind of fear — want of moral (mental) courage. They are so timid or bashful that whenever they are brought to the presence of a stranger, they will at once put their hand over the face and thereby hide themselves. They are also greatly irritable, and this irritability is particularly noticeable when they arouse from sleep, — nothing can please them, nothing can satisfy. The child frets and fumes, kicks and cries, even on an affectionate attempt at caressing and consol- ation. Thus, in childhood, unnatural timidity, unprovoked irritability — especially after sleep, and uncommon bashful ness are the special mental features of this miasm. Another puerile pecul-

iarity is their unumal intellecUial development* The boy can learn his lessons as if at first sight, and usually goes in advance of his class. Such boys are called precocious in their boyhood and are termed prodigies in their early youth, due to their extraordinary intellectual : devel- opment. As a riile^ tubercular diathesis often sharpens the mind at the cost of the body. With adult patients, the peculiar mental itching or restlessness technically called cosmopolitanism is a very special feature. As we have just described it very fully, it is unnecessary to repeat. Aversion to mental labour is a very characteristic trait. The patient actually dreads it. Even if he collects his mind and persists with it, he gets awfully tired and has to give it up through overpowering languor or weariness. The mind is so perverted that the patient fails to comprehend even what is very easy to understand. It seems the poiver of comprehen- sion is greatly diminished^ if not lost. As a result, the patient cannot concentrate his mind on any subject, as concentration requires comprehension and close attention which his men- tal restlessness does not permit. A thing or subject that appears attractive to him at first sight loses its interest and gets vapid the next moment, and becomes absolutely lifeless and insipid, and he gives it up in disgust in search for something new to turn his attention to, and fix his gaze upon, and the

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second is similarly given up as the first and so on. This state of the mind may be best expressed by anxiety ; he is always anxious but knows not for what. There is no peace in the mind, as if it is in want of something he does not know and so can not secure. Hence, he is always after some unknown object to satisfy this unnatural craving. The next feature developing out of this anxious unsatisfied craving is a kind of dull depression of spirit leading to gloominess and melancholy. Cheerful alacrity and willing readiness for work, physical or mental, are thus almost lost to him. lie sits silent and gets sad, but has not the inclination to do any useful work. Defection and depression take the place of alacrity and activity. Though hopelessness is sometimes found in some of the tubercular complaints leading to desire for death, careless indiflercnce is rather a feature. He does not care for it — whether he will live or die. His health is shattered and gone but he seems to be quite callous of it. Occasionall}^ it is even found that when the patient is about to die, he is still hopeful of life. When the tubercular toxin is well advanced and the patient is under a constant hectic fever, he is often found to be very loquacious, specially during the rising feverish spell. He talks on this and that, and often nonsense and meaningless, but he can not control himself, and, as it were, words come of their own accord. As ill-health and sleep do not go hand in hand, rather are always at loggerheads with each other, such patients are

usually troubled with teasing and tormenting thoughts daring the night which seems to be longer than usual as if to add to their misery. Owing to their extreme nervous weakness destroying the nor- mal power of resistancey even mere trifles produce intense irritation^ often leadmg to their visualising a tempest in a dea cup. Ovviag to the said nervous break-down, when their sadness and depression run high, they often sit and weep hut knoiv not for tvhy ; and, as a result of the said nervous fall, they are often outside the pale of decorum and good mamers, though regretting the breach later on. We often find a peculiar mental state. The mind is overcome with a fear of being attacked tvith tuberculosis. Wherever there is such unnatural fear, the miasm is getting nearer to its active stage from its previous diathetic one, and the patient must be very careful about it. These are some of the changes wrought in the mind by the powerful toxin of Tuberculosis, and they are so prominent and intruding that even an ordinary mind will be able to grasp them.

(b) The physical changes brought about by this miasm are quite innumerable. We shall however point out only those that are characteristically peculiar, and so quite help- ful in detecting the miasm and selecting the appropriate remedy to meet it ; —

(1) The pahns and solesy and the head of the child are hotter than the rest of the body,

(2) The child has a tendency to profuse sweat-

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ing in the head and upper part of the body whenever it falls asleep, so much so that the pillow under the head gets often moistened, — rather wet with the sweat.

(3) Appearance of pea-shaped^ nodules or glands in the nape of the neck, and inflammation of the subniaxillary, thyroid, mesenteric, aud inguinal glands, specially during childhood. Tonsilitis and adenoiditis are the troubles peculiar to this period of life.

(4) The child often exhibits an increase of flesh and adipose tissues at the cost of the bony structure. Its bones are soft and weak, and so it can not walk in time. Often however emaciation begins from the third or fourth year of the child with the exception of the belly which is actually larger than normal and looks like an inverted saucer, due no doubt to the inflammation of the mesenteric glands noted above.

(5) The hairs of the child are usually thinner. They are very rough and dry and often knotty due to lack of secretion of necessary fluid to keep them smooth and full of glaze. In fact, they are often so rough and curly that they can not be properly dressed even with a comb.

(6) Teething is usually late and the milkrteeth often crumble or are partly broken.

(7) Bleeding from the nose in childhood is

Btioi^ogy in Homceopathy

often an indication of this miasm, due no doubt to the tendency of blood to rise upwards and engorge the brain.

(8) The tendevicy to catch frequent cold is a very special feature. However carefully the child may be kept, it will still catch cold on the slightest exposure. This tendency continues, rather develops with age. The patient however awfully suffocates in a warm room, though a little exposure leads to fresh cold and coryza. Frequent paroxysms of burning syieexing are also a peculiarity. Coming out at night on a call of nature often leads to sneezingy and the cutting of hairs on the head is invariably followed by the catching of a fresh cold and coryza.

(9) As to appetitey it is rather towards excess thait defect^ but the patient going on emaciating still. Eating well but losing flesh all the time, the tubercular poison standing in the way of proper assimilation. The system lacks the power to appropriate and absorb the nourishment from the food taken, but it is simply taken in and ejected, and that's all.

(10) The sexual propensity of such patients is more than normal*, even in boyhood and early youth, the propensity to masturbate and so to waste the vital fluid is rather abnormal • all these go to show as if Nature is prone to make an end of such diseased organisms as soon as possible.

TUBERCUI.OSIS.

(11) The monthly courses of tubercular women are usually profuse and very debilitat- ing, and the fecundity of such women is rather towards excess than defect.

(12) Tubercular patients are sensitive to cold and they try to avoid it as far as possible.

(13) Such patients are noted for their unnatural craving for meat and potatoes, and both these articles are irritative to the system which is already irritated. It appears to be in the fitness of things that they have a special dislike for milk, the nectar of life, and in fact the only article of food that can alone sus- tain our life and help us materially in sooth- ing our nervous system in such a way that we may be saved of a lot of unnecessary excite- ment, and consequent waste.

(14) One special peculiarity of tubercular children is that they are always sick. They suffer from this and that, and as soon as one acute illness is gone, another comes in, and then another. Now it is cold and coryza, now it is loose stools or diarrhoea or dysentery, now it is fever and bronchitis, now it is tonsilitis, now it is adenoiditis, now it is helminthiasis, now it is otorrhoea, now it is keratitis, ;and so forth. The child keeps scar- cely well — its life is, as it were, under a curse, and it must sujffer and suffer, week in, week out. This frequency of fresh attacics of

this, that and nameless ailments is a parti- cular feature of this fell miasm, and it conti- nues in adult life too. When a man is found to be frequently attacked with Pneumonia, Bronchitis, Broncho pneumonia, Typho-pneumonia or any such lung-trouble, it can be safely understood that he is of a strong tubercular diathesis, and to save him from such recurring attacks, he requires immediate constitutional treatment under the Law of Similars, as no amount of Allopathic treatment can rectify his constitu- tional defect.

(15) Tubercular patients often suffer from a “bad type of afternoon and evening head-ache due to excessive hyperemia and consequent engorge- ment of the brain. Such abnormal conditions often lead to serious cases of Meningitis that may end fatall 3 L

(16) Loose and lienteric stools of children, specially in the hot season, are a peculiarity of this miasm. Early morning is the time of aggravation. Cholera infantum is often the ultimate of this disease-force,

(17) Tubercular diathesis is noted for its strong hcemorrhagic tendency, and the blood may come through any of the openings of the body,

(18) Obstinate constipation called obstipation, is also a feature- but, through reaction, diarr- hoea may often set in. ^

(19) The function of the kidneys is so alter-

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ed that frequmt copious secretion of urine^ with increased specific gravity is often a feature.

(20) Dry irritating hacking coughs off and on, is an accompaniment in most cases, and it troubles more at night, thereby showing the syphilitic parentage of the miasm.

(21) Tendency to profuse perspiration at nighty often very debilitating, though absolute cessation of siveat is also a feature. The colliquative sweat is, however, indicative of a worse state of the economy than dryness.

(22) Patches of ec%ema or ring-worms through- out the body, here and there, are often indica- tive of this miasm.

(23) A feeling of fatigue and faintness in limbs, especially from knees downwards, even after a short walk ^ as if the very bones ache and pain. Here also a clear indication of syphilitic paren- tage.

(24) Though morning is the best time for us, a tubercular patient feels unusually weak and faint in the morning.

(25) So far as respiration is concerned, breathing is often oppressive wdth a feeling of tightness at the chest.

(26) It is also a feature of this miasm to cause sudden changes in \our voice. It becomes suddenly hoarse and husky on a slight exposure to cold, often without any pain in the throat.

These are some of the broad and

land-marks of tubercular diathesis^ whether in chil- dren or in adults, and the patient is curable so long he continues in the diathetic stage. But as soon as the active stage supervenes and tissue- changes commence in any favourite spot, and disease-ultimates enter their appearance, cure is rather difficult, if not impossible. So, we should take time by the fore-lock, and get the diathesis of the patient corrected whenever we find any of the indications noted above, by placing him in the hands of a competent Homoeopath.

Let us now give some of the prominent patho- logical names of the disease-endings or disease- ultimates caused by this miasm in its active form^ as many of them are not known to the lay public as caused by the tubercular force

Monomania, Melancholia, Dementia, Insanity ; Hoarseness and Aphonia ; Follicular Pharyngitis, Diptheria, Goitre ; Cancer, Carcinoma ; Pleurisy, Bronchitis, Pneumonia, Consumption, Phthisis ; Haemoptysis, Haematemesis, Haeniatidrosis, Haema- tocyst ; Glandular Swellings ; Ring-worm, Eczema, Leucoderma, Leprosy ^ Necrosis, Caries 5 Diabetes- Insipidus and Melitus ; Gangrene ; Fistula-anal or lachrymal 5 Abdominal tuberculosis (Chronic Dysentery) ; Meningitis ; Erysipelas — Facial, Phleg- monous, and Wandering ; Carbuncles ^ Apoplexy — Spinal, Capillary, Pulmonary or Ingravescent ; Malignant Malaria and Kala-axar j Insomnia 5 Mania — Puerperal Mania, Religious Mania ; Epi-

Tuberculosis.

lepsy, Hysteria ; Marasmus, Rickets, Rachitis ; Scrofula ; Ulcer — Fungous, Indolent, Perforating, Phagedenic or Varicose ; Convulsions-Mimetic, Puerperal, Tetanic or Uremic ; Opisthotonos and Emprosthotonos.

E. The Law of Cure.

As to the nature of our Law of Cure based on Nature, we have discussed it very fully while dealing with Sycosis. Here, we have only to point out that so long the miasm continues in its diathetic form, we may profitably use our Law of Cure and correct the diathesis, provided the patient is kept under strict hygienic rules • but when the miasm attains its fully developed stage, and tissue-changes are already made, cure, even under our Law, is almost impossible in majority of cases, but still in this kingdom of an all-mercifnl Father nothing can be definitely dogmatised, as even many advanced cases have been brought back to life where the patients have really been penitent and prayerful, in mind and heart, and fully co-operated with the phy- sician so far as diet and mode of living are concerned, as excess of any kind being absolutely jarring against the slow curative action of the drug. But in view of such virulent and death-dealing nature of this miasm of Tuberculosis in its developed form, it is highly desirable that the miasm should be eradicated while still it is a diathesis only. Children of tubercular diathesis,

while under Homeopathic treatment to correct it, should be made to rise early in the morning and walk freely in the open air, to take regular physical exercises in the afternoon and to live on simple but nourishing food. Those usually living in cities and towns should, according as their means permit, occasionally be away at a suitable healthy place for a change but not at the well-known sanitoriums most of the rented houses whereof are rather notorious for their being infected with the contagion of incurable invalids. There is another thing. Even if we do not understand the signs and indications of the diathetic form of this miasm, as symbolised in our young ones, let us, one and all, make it a practice, rather a habit with us to get all the ailments of our children cured by compe- tent Homoeopaths, and this will automatically, though gradually, correct their diathesis, and this dreadful miasm will never be allowed to attain its fully developed and active stage. Homeopathy with its Natural Law of Similia is really the Divine mode of cure and as such it is always curative and never suppressive It helps Nature to have free play to correct the mal-functionings of the system and thereby to rectify the relative organs, tissues or cells, nay, — to bring them back to their normal state, and this is nothing else but correcting the diathesis.

Tuberculosis.

S23

So far as the treatment of Tuberculosis concerned, whether in its diathetic or active stage, the totality of symptoms should always be our guide, and the application of the Simillimum on the basis of such totality will supply Nature with exactly what she requires to control the disease-force and gradually to annihilate it, 0,nd thereby to bring the economy back to its normal state. The mere fact that a dozen children have got tubercular diathesis is no reason or argument that they will all require the same remedy, but each case is a law unto itself and should be dealt with on the basis of its individual pecu- liarities and idiosyncrasies which are quite different in different cases due to difference in heredity, environment, mode of living, ete. Hence, any abstraat information or instruction in anticipation is worse than useless, but each concrete case is to be carefully studied by the physician in the light of its etiology and totality of symptoms^ before he applies the Simillimum. In our preli- minary remarks, we have repeatedly suggested the absolute necessity of self-control and Saitvik mode of living for a real co-operation with the physician in his difficult task to correct a tuber- cular diathesis or to cure a tubercular patient, and we again repeat that without such a. co- operation the physician, however competent or well-meaning, is not likely to succeed, as a great deal depends on the patient tq be cured. Where the

patients are young, it is the duty of their parents or guardians to see that they are made to live under strict hygienic rules, and on simple but nourishing food. As the efficacy of prayer in purifying our mind and heart is universally acknowledged, we would like to suggest that our boys and girls should, from their very childhood, be accustomed to any kind of regular prayer, both morn and eve, so that it may grow a habit with them as they grow in years and help them materially to lead their life along the high broad way of Nature avoiding the charms spread or the pitfalls designed by their “enemies entrenched,’' and thereby a lot of the sickness and suffering consequent thereon.

As graphic pictures of our remedies can be had from any text book on Materia Medica, it will serve no useful purpose to insert any of them here, but we simply give below a small list of the remedies suitable in the treat- ment of this miasm, both latent and active : —

Abrotanum, Anacardium, Argent. Nit, Arseni- cum Alb, Ars. lod.. Baryta Carb, Bromium, Calcarca Carb, Calcarea Phos, Carbo Ani, Carbo veg, Conium, Fluoric Acid, Ignatia, lodium, Kali Carb, Kreosote, Lachesis, Lycopodium, Manganum Aceticum, Natrum Sulph, Acid Phos, Phosphorus, Psorinum, Spongia, Stannum, Sulphur, Tuberculinura — both Bacil. and Bovi.

Tuberculosis.

It must, however, be noted that the totality of symptoms, together with the anamnesis and etiology, of each case should always be the guide, and the remedy indicated by them should always be used no matter even if such a remedy be outside the usual tubercular group. The selection of the remedy, therefore, must, under all circumstances, be made with an open mindy and we should never be predisposed to pick out a remedy from the tubercular group because we have got to handle a tuber- cular patient. The remedy may be outside this group and still cure the patient if it happen to be the Simillimum.

Inner and outer, inside and outside, internal and external, — these correlatives are known to all. Even a boy, still in his ^teens, often

speaks of them. We ask, ^^\re they different, or do they represent the same thing Though an ordinary unthinking mind might say, “How can the ‘inner^ be the same thing as the ^outer’, the ‘inside^, same thing as the ‘outside’, the

‘internal,^ same thing as the ‘external^ But

to a thinking and pondering mind, unobsessed with atomistic views and ideas, like those of Charvaka and his host of followers till to-day, the ‘outer’ is only a representation of the ^inner% ‘outside’ of ‘inside,’ and ^external’ of ‘internal’. The ^outer' exists because of the 4nner.^ ^outside’, of ‘inside’, and ‘external,^ of ‘internal’. There could be no ‘outer’, ‘outside^ and ‘external^, had there been no ‘inner^, ‘inside’ and ‘internal.’ It is the ‘dinner’ that has given birth to the ‘outer^ and maintains it in its present condition. Thus, the ‘outer ‘outside^ and ‘externaT give us a pen- picture, so to say, of what the ‘inner ‘inside’ and ‘internal' actually are In fact, we have no other means of knowing the ‘inner’ and ‘internal’ save and except through the medium of the ‘outer^ and ‘external.’ The ‘inner' is the noumenon, the ‘outer,' the phenomenon, but then our sense-know- ledge is naturally confined to the phenomenon only, and as the latter not only represents the former but is also born of it, it is only in the fitness of things to ascribe to the latter the nature and peculiarity of the former ; in other words, to read in the latter a true and perfect image of the former. Thus, if we turn our attention to the wise and intelligent adaptability of the universe, things and beings existing for mutual aid and assis- tance and at the same time all drifting towards universal good, if we look to the glory and grandeur of natural phenomena inspiring awe and

Symptoms.

admiration at the same time, if we study the aesthetic unity is variety of natural objects, if we consider the instinctive attempts of ants and bees to provide against a rainy day, if we look to the orderly movements of legions of heavenly bodies never clashing with one another, though steadily fulfilling their duties, as Goethe describes it, “Like as a star,

That maketh not haste.

That taketh not rest.

Be each one fulfilling His God — given hest,”

can we for a moment fail to realise, of course from the human point of view, the nature and peculiarity of the Noumenon and Eternal Reality That underlies and gives birth to all these fleeting phenomena that meet our eyes in whatever direc- ion we may cast them ? No doubt, our sense- knowledge fails to give us an image of the Infinite Reality, but our perceptive faculties of under- standing and reason come to our ample aid and present us with a graphic picture of the hidden Treasure That has enriched many a human mind since time immemorial and has been the thought of others by day, and dream at night.

From what we have written above, it will be clear that the inner is fully represented by the outer, the internal sickness by external symptoms, — nay, the nature and peculiarity of the internal sickness are fully expressed by these

symptoms that can be either sensed or felt. In fact, the disease is fully represented by the totality of the sympto7ns and outside of this totality^ the disease has no other existence. The symptoms are the phenomena whereof the disease is the underlying noumenon, the symptoms are the matter whereof the disease is the form, but either the noumenon or the form can only be conceived in terms of the phenomena or the matter, for we can never conceive of things and objects that can neither be sensed, felt or perceived, as all knowledge consists in sensation and perception, — intuition being a form of percep- tion only. So, it is quite clear that outside of sensible and perceptible symtoms a disease has no other separate existence, the totality of these symptoms being the disease in toto. Therefore, all the existing symptoms of the patient are the disease he is suffering from, no matter by what name it may be called, — fever, ague or asthma. To show that our conception of disease as outlined hereinbefore, is very accurate and highly scientific, let us compare it with the old school conception as briefly as possible.

The dominant school scoff at us as symptom — hunters. No doubt, we are so, as that is the only way to know and understand the object of our study and cure, as we have pointed out above. They, however, quite in keeping with the materia- listic mould of their mentality, start with certain names of diseases quite vague and meaningless to

Symptoms.

all intents and purposes, e.g. fever, ague, asthma or pneumonia, though as known even to the dullest intellect, no two fevers, agues, asthmas or pneu- monias were ever identical with each other in'all details and particulars but that each one of them differs from the other as a boorish Negro woman differs from an enlightened Hindu lady, though both belong to the class of woman no doubt, and consequently both may be called by the name of a woman. Naturally, the thoughts, feelings, ideas and susceptibilities of a Negro lady as compared with those of an elegant Hindu one are as at poles asunder, and to accord the same treatment to both the ladies because both belong to the category of woman would be as mistaken as to accord the same treatment to two so-called cases of pneumonia, irrespective of the nature and peculiarity of each case, but solely on the strength of their nomenclature. If our friends of the opposite school would come forward and say that they do not treat all so-called cases of pneumonia in the same manner on the basis of the name only but that they take note of the differing signs and symptoms of each such case, and accord their treatment accor- dingly, we should shake hands with them and say that that is only a round-about way of symp- tom-hunting and nothing else, and that ultimately the physician will have to hunt for such differing or agreeing symptoms and thereby to individualise

the case, if he mean to cure his patients at all. Thus, mere pathological names are worse than useless, — they being of no help or use in treatment of the disease or diseases they are wrongly designed to convey, rather misconvey. Ultimately, the various signs and symptoms which may be called the peculiarities of the case are the last resort, not only of the hated symptom-hunters but also of the proud symptom- haters. Love or hate, Truth is a stubborn reality, and you have to bend your knees before it, if you wish success in life and good to humanity. Mere dogmatism will not do. Truth has no respect for personalities, or even for a sect or school. Therefore, mere names of diseases apart from and irrespective of the peculiar signs and symptoms of each case, are, like Will-O’-the-Wisp, extremely deceptive, and, if relied on and acted upon, sure to lead the patients on to death, leaving the medicine-monger to his fate !

So far we have attempted to show that even the most bigoted Allopaths with their inborn hatred for symptomatology can scarcely manage to do without same, but have ultimately to bow down their head before it. Thus, in the long run and finally, their abstract conception of disease-names are of no practical use to them. Hence, though directly hating, they indirectly admit our theory of disease which, in fact, is the only scientific theory ever conceivable by

Symptoms.

human mind. Therefore, the totality of the pa- tient^s symptoms for the time-being is his disease, it is immaterial by what name you are pleased to wrongly or rightly describe it. We are h^re reminded of the immortal words of the poet *. —

The rose, in some other name, would

smell as sweet.^’ Shakespeare.

So also, in Medicine, the names of diseases are but shadows, the symptoms are the only reality, — the only touch — stone or philosopher’s stone wherewith to test the patient and whereby to find the remedy to cure him. The super- human mental powers of our Master enabled him to unearth this philosopher’s stone, though the ancient alchemists tried in vain, and the study of this symptom-totality and the application of the Simillimum in accordance with same will amply repay the labours of the present-day Homcepathic alchemists by turning into gold whatever they will rationally and carefully choose to touch with.

Such are symptoms then, — they are the philo- sopher’s stone of the physician, to be most carefully handled and closely studied j individually^ they are the actual key to unravel the inner precincts of the patient’s economy and unlock the doors of its inner chambers, and collectively or in totali- ty, they are the disease.

Modalities indicate the mode or manner of actual working of our drugs. Desires and aver- sions, loves and hates, likes and dislikes, tones and temperaments, timings and localisations, aggravations and ameliorations, — each of these forms a part of what is meant by the collective epithet “modality.” Modalities are, as it were, the pole stars, sure infallible guides to the physi- cian in arriving at a proper study of the case and appropriate prescription. These may be called the general features of a drug, and a careful and masterly study of these features is indispensable to all Homceopaths.

A superficial student of a materialistic bias may interest himself chiefly in the book-worm study of the pathogenetic symptoms of a drug in their physiological order, waiving or even overlooking these broad and gigantic land-marks, but a true Hahnemannian will naturally devote himself, ah initio, to the thorough study of these “persona- lities” of our drugs, and as soon as he is well acquainted with such personalities of our polychrests, if not of all the drugs of our Materia Medica, he will find himself quite com- petent to deal effectively with almost all cases of sickness he may be required to handle. In fact, it is the personality of a drug, expressed in these

Modalities

modalities, that should be the first and foremost object of our study, and when the life-like picture of such a personality is deeply impressed on our mind, it becomes very easy for us to detect it in the patient that requires its application to be cured^ no matter what particular troubles and torments he at the moment may be teased and tortured with from the tips of his fingers to the ends of his hairs. Just as in Economics, if we take care of the pounds, the pennies will take care of themselves, so also in Medicine, if we take care of the ^‘generals”, the particulars will automatically fit themselves in. Let us therefore never bother ourselves seriously with these particulars ^ — the petty symp- toms, but go straight into the inner chambers and acquaint ourselves with the general charac- teristics — the modus operandi of a drug, and we are sure to win the case, and to cure the patient.

Our loves and hates, likes and dislikes, can not but truly indicate what we really are. As we are, so we desire. A Nabakumar or an Antonio will always do good to others even at the risk of his life, but a Ratnakar or a Shylock is ever ready to deprive others even if in so doing it would cost the victim’s life. The difference of personalities in the physical, material world as actually observed by us is nothing but a reflexion or representation of the difference of individual likes and dislikes. A pig will always prefer a filthy place to grovel in to a bed of roses to lie down upon. The white

ant and the rat feel it a pleasure to cut and tear, and thereby to injure, though in so doing they do no good to themselves, whereas the bee works and works, and goes on working mostly for the benefit of others. Thus, some of the characters in this big universal drama do not know what evil is, while others make it the end and aim of their life. This outward difference in their deeds and doings represents the inward difference in their desires or instincts.

Such exactly are the characters of our Meteria Medica. Each of them has got a particular and peculiar idiosyncrasy or individual uniqueness that is entirely and absolutely different from that of the others, and it is this idiosyncrasy or individual uniqueness that clearly and unmistakably differentiates one drug from the other. Hence, though almost all the drugs of our Materia Medica have innumerable points of similarity so far as the pathogenetic symptoms are concerned, yet each of them is totally different from the others because of the constitutional peculiarities noted above. In studying the modalities of a drug we are to study its constitutional peculiari- ties, a clear knowledge, careful realisation and perfect assimilation whereof can not fail to enable and empower the student to fight successfully with the malignant forces that arc out to take a telling toll of humanity far and near. Obviously, it is quite impossible even for a brilliant student

Mouautie?.

to remember all the pathogenetic symptoms of a drug, and in fact it is not at all necessary to do so- Let us fully study these general features, — rather characteristic traits of a drug, and they are sure to guide us safe to the proper prescription. We do not mean to say that the minor details of a drug should be entirely neglected but what we put our emphasis on is that we should not seriously tax our brain by trying to firmly impress thereon these dry details which are actually of very little help to the prescribing hand.

We have taken up “tones and temperaments,” “timings and localisations,” “aggravations and ameliorations,” under the subject, as these also indicate the mode or manner of action of a drug and the consequent changes wrought up both in body and in mind, and these resultant changes have got their “timings and localisations,” “aggra- vations and ameliorations,” and are also observa- ble in the peculiar “tones and temperaments” of the patients, — that is to say, these also clearly show the modm operatidi of a drug.

On several cx:casions we have already pointed out that it was the genius of Hahnemann that made it clear for the first time that Medicine to be of real and substantial worth must be co- extensive. if not identical, with Morality. The reason why Hahnemann was led to this conclusion is that the eternal source and fountain of both Medicine and Morality is the same, and that both these noble sciences as well as the arts based thereon, to be really good and useful to man- kind, have not only to merely reckon on the natural purity and original suavity of the said source and fountain but also to arrange for the maintenance or preservation of the said purity and suavity. Thus, though the ultimate source of both the sciences are the same, they differ so far as their end and aim is concerned. Mora- lity is mainly engaged in manipulating the mental states, and devising means and ways to maintain their mive simplicity and purity, and so far it is rather theoretical than practical, more a science than an art ; where- as Medicine is mainly engaged in meeting the maladies originating from * the said mental states degenerating from their natural simplicity, suavity and purity, and so far it is rather prac- tical than theoretical, more an art than a science.

Desires and Aversions

But the main similarity consists in this that just as in the plane of Moralit3% desires and aversions, like the two ends of a magnetic pole, infallibly indicate the nature and direction of the mental states, so also in the plane of Medicine it is these desires and aversions that chiefly indicate the mental changes wrought up by disease-forces, and point out in most cases the remedies that will not only remove the mental changes referred to above, but also the physical changes, better known as disease-ulti- mates, that is to say, will cure the patient in every way, both mentally and physically.

Our loves and hates, our likes and dislikes, our desires and aversions are truly indicative of the actual state of our mind and so of our body. The poet's fancy, surcharged as it was with heteropathic ideas of Medicine, might sar- castically blame the old school doctors and say,

‘^Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased.

And pluck from the memorj^ the rooted sorrow

— Shakespeare.

but we, Homoeopaths, do principally minister to the mind diseased whereby the outward expression of disease-forces in various shapes and forms throughout the body is slowly and gradually removed, evaporated and annihilated, though to do full justice to our friends of the regular school, we have to confess, to much of our dis- grace and ignominy, that there are some even

in our ranks whom we may quite fitly call as renegades and apostates who inspite of their apparently living and moving about in Homoeo- pathic garb are really worse than the worst Allopath, inasmuch as their atomistic and quan- titative conceptions, no doubt in perfect harmony and absolute accord of the mulism and mongre- lism of their creed, cannot but finally lead them on to that peculiar kind of confusion and hubbub that followed the vain attempts and mad endeavours of those Biblical Builders who wanted to build against the direct preachings and

principles of the Prophet. No structure was raised, nothing could be done ! Alas, confusion reigned supreme ! Such results and consequences are bound to follow, with dogged pertinacity, the footsteps of all renegades and apostates in all ages ! But the Prophet is never in want

of true disciples. The latter are sure to

be born with the birth of the Master not

only to take up the thread of his work but to develop and mature it to perfection, even in the face of the detracting and calumniating black- sheepism of the said apostates !

To revert to the main line of our thought, — desires and aversions are not only truly indica- tive of the real nature of our i&ental states, and therewith the physical, but also give us a fair idea of the depth of degradation and the amount of abnormality of such states. When we are in normal

Desires and Aversions

health of mind and body, our desires and averions are conspicuous by the absence of any fine-cut modalities and peculiarities, that is to say, they then run a very smooth, genial and temperate course free from those tumults and uproars that chequer their career when we are mentally and physically unsound, and in this latter state, they usually aquire special peculiarities and modalities that often go a long way in help- ing and guiding us to thq selection of the remedy. As in Morality, our loves and hates supply the motive power of our moral life which is under the control of our Rational Will, so in Medicine our loves and hates under the control of the same Rational Will, supply the motive power ol our healthy life. In fact, our desires and aversions have reference only to our will — the active principle of our vital substance, whereas impulses, inclina- tions and propensities have reference merely to our Thought and they usually come into our Thought of their own accord and pass away in a like manner. These latter have no reference to our will at all, and consequently they are of very little value to us in our search for the Similli- mum. Thus, our desires and aversions, having their origin in our will, are : rational so long as our will is rational,' that ;is to say, so long as we live a healthy life with a sound mind in a sound body, while our impulses and inclinations, tih- ged as they are with feeling and born of it, are

invariably irrational ; while desires and aversions are reliable as a sure guide to the inner atmosphere of our economy, impulses and inclinations are absolute- ly unreliable in this behalf, and if relied on, they may land us on floating sands or quagmires where the whole host of our medicinal myrmidons may sink into utter oblivion or annihilation.

Our desires and aversions are called morbid when we are not in health and consequently our will too is not fully governed by reason. With the derangement of our vital force, that is, while we suffer from a disease, all our mental powers including the will lose their normal and natural powers and begin to perform their functions or ‘•God-given hest’^ in a morbid manner. Even then these morbid desires and aversions indicate the nature of the morbid will made defunct under pressure of the disease-forces deranging the vital principle. Hence, these morbid desires and aversions are a sure guide and unerring clue to the unnatural changes wrought on our vital principle and there- by on our will by the disease-force in question. Therefore, in every case of ill health, these morbid desires and aversions are to be taken note of very carefully and to be given the first place as leaders to the remedy. Their worth and impor- tance, in comparison with physical or local symp- toms or feelings, are almost indisputable. Morbid desires and aversions show and indicate the abnormality and morbidity of their source — the

Desires and Aversions

will, though this very will is also based on the previous mental processes of Feeling and Thought. As, however, all diseases arise out of the perver- sion of our mind (Thought, Feeling and Will), discussed in detail elsewhere, and as these desires and aversions give us a clue to the nature of our mental states, they naturally occupy a very high place in Homeopathic philosophy. In contagion as well as in cure, their aid is indispensable. In fact, our loves and hates show what we are in both ways, up and down, — either the infernal depth of our degradation or the heavenly height of our ascension.

During perfect health our mind may be compared to a stringed instrument in tune. It has its own peculiar harmony, sweet and sonorous both to the singer and the audience ; under such a condition, our desires and aversions do not militate against the common will and universal good, but are in entire accord and perfect harmony with same, even the sting of individuality loses its pinching power. There is music in every mind, and the aggregate of such music might have led the poet philosophers of old to conceive of the Music of the Spheres.

So, in perfect health our desires and aversions have got no special peculiarities and modalities and so far they may then be said to have no palpable or perceptible existence at all. Nothing is specially desired and nothing is specially averted,,

ETIOI.OGY IN HOMCEOPATHY

but the mind maintains its natural relation- ship to all worldly things. It will now be seen why perfect health postulates a perfect mind — a mind that has not at all deviated from its natural norm, or original purity wherein loves and hates have little or no distinction, and self- love is mostly merged m universal good.

Our desires and aversions, then, take on percep- tible form and go on increasing in intensity with the increased alteration and modification of our mind from its native state by disease-forces (Miasms), and this mental modification establishes a parallel physical modification that has an exact affinity to the said desires and aversions. So, desires and aversions, though mental processes, are quite in accord with physical condition of the patient who, in satisfying them, satisfies hh physical requirements for the time being. This primary physical law incidentally corrobo- rates the most important elementary Homceopathie principle that disease-forces after deranging the vital force attack the mind first and modify its functions before disease-ultimates are perceptible in the body in the shape of enlargement, or engorgement, inflammation or suppuration, emacia- tion or fatty degeneration, change in tissue or fluid, in circulation, secretion or excretion.

As in the human mind, so throughout the. animal kingdom, nay, with the enlightened scientific knowledge of the day, throughont the

Desires and Aversions

plant kingdom too, these desires and aversions have their play and indicate the nature and peculiarity of these sub'human organisms. Certain animals have special longings as well as loathings for certain things to the exclusion of others and even among animals of the same species, these loves and hates vary in various degrees.

These desires and aversions can even be ascrib- ed to the inorganic material objects of nature and this may be noticed in their affinity to and enmity with certain things and substances they coalesce with or dissociate from. If we look more closely into the matter and enter* into the meta- physical aspect of it, we can scarcely fail to realise that this entire universe being only the realimiion of an Eternal and Infinite Rational Will, there cannot but be the throbbings and pul- sations of will-force in the shape of desires and avertions, loves and hates, likes and dislikes, affinity and enmity, union and separation, and so forth, throughout the universe, to show the nature and peculiarity of the various cosmic orders and gradations.

For want of space and accommodation we have squeezed, rather circumcised our thoughts as much as possible and have shown in this brief outline that desires and aversions are really expon- ents of the tvill and so, accurate and true indica- tors of our mental state, whether shining forth in its original effulgence and quick with its

native elasticity, or darkened and demoralised by disease-forces that have robbed it of its natural vivacity, alacrity and suavity.

It will now be clear that desires and aversions really occupy the highest place and are of greatest value in the treatment of the sick, as it is they that actually and truly express the patient^s mental condition, the primary object of all genuine treatment and cure. Treatment to be genuine, and cure to be real ( and not merely suppressive driving the disease-force from one centre to another ) must take note, first of all, of these desires and aversions of the patient, vrhich will give the physician a clue to the nature and peculiarity of the various other changes wrought up in the patient’s economy by the disease-forces concerned, and help him materially in selecting the Similli- mum. On the strength of these desires and aver- sions, the physician may at times neglect or overlook some of the physical or local symptoms that may look like running counter to these desires and aversions. In the treatment of the sick, mind and its modifications, so clearly depic- ted by these desires and aversions, must be the first object of the physician^s study and diagnosis if he mean to give real and lasting relief to his suffering patients and it is needless to repeat that in such a study and diagnosis, the aid offered by desires and aversions is really material and invaluable.

Had there been no such mental states as de^ sires and aversions to actually express the mo- rbidity and modification of the mind, the physi- cian^s task to cure the sick would have been an well-nigh impossibility. A thinking and reflecting mind can only gratefully thank the Lord and be lost in Him as it ponders over the designs and purposes, the teleology of the universe.

We, Homoeopaths, are often nicknamed as symptom-treaters in apparent contradistinction to disease-dealers. The alumni of the dominant school are said to treat diseases whereas we, symptoms only. Though to ordinary unthinking public the term ^symptom-treatment' may convey an idea of outwardness and superficiality, yet on close and careful thinking it will appear that what is abstractly called disease has no other existence than in the so-called ‘ symi^toms”. The disease by itself, and in itself, the disease in the abstract, the disease quite apar^- from the symptoms, has not only no existence at all but a contradiction in terms. The disease to be a disease must be something concrete ( as opposed to abstract),

something capable of being sensed. What, in fact, is sensed is not the disease in the abstract but its concrete manifestations in the shape of symptoms — both subjecUve and objective^ the sub- jective being those that can be sensed by the patient himself, while the objective, by the physician (or any body else ). The subjective symptoms gener- ally consist in the various pains and sensations, abnormal thoughts and feelings, unnatural emotions and sentiments, as well as the various dreams and visions, illusions and hallucinations that chequer and diversify the miserable morbid life of the sick ; whereas the objective, in every- thing the physician can observe in the said life of the sick with his five senses, either unaided, or aided by the up-to-date appliances of the various natural sciences.

It will thus be seen that in the name of treating the disease, our brothers of the ^^regular'^ school really treat the symptoms. But the actual difference between us and our said brothers lies in this that while they base their pres- criptions absolutely on what are called pathog- nomonic symptoms, we base ours mainly on characteristic^ though we do not entirely overlook the former. The pathognomonic symptoms are what we have already described as objective, — the physical and organic phenomena that are particularly indicative and expressive • of the dis'eh.se and in the absence whereof the disease

Disease Vs Symptoms

could not be diagnosed : — e. g., colour, texture and temperature of the skin and membranes, expression of the eyes and features generally, position, motions and attitudes of the body, secretions and excretions of glands and surfaces, and so forth ; whereas the characteristic symp- toms are what we call the general constitutional symptoms, mostly subjective, — the symptoms of mind and disposition ( loves and hates, desires and aversions, likes and dislikes ) as well as the conditions of time and circumstances leading to periodic recurrence, aggravation, amelioration, etc.

To make the matter clearer still, we quote from Dr. Kent : ^‘We may have in two remedies the same set of symptoms (pathognomonic), and yet they are all made worse from the opposite things. Thus, you see modalities indicate and contra- indicate remedies”. — Materia Medica P. 266.

The word ‘pathognomonic^ within the bracket is ours.He means to say that there are cases where two patients may have exactly the same set of (pathognomonic) symptoms, with difference in their modalities, that is, general constitutional peculiarities which we have included above in what we have called characteristic symptoms. Thus, it is these modalities, or general constitu- tional peculiarities, or characteristic symptoms that indicate the remedies and not ‘^the same set of (pathognomonic) symptoms” which are the principal object of attention, and subject of study of

our brothers of the heteropathic school. Having based their prescriptions on these fitful ever-chang- ing particulars, — the objective symbols of dis- ease, they have often to change their remedies as these particulars change from hour to hour, day to day, and so the patient is subjected to un-necessary over-drugging, and consequent drug- poisoning, and in many cases resultant drug-disease which stalks large now-a-days in our society in the persons of many of our helpless brothers and sisters under the grim clutches of nameless chronic maladies. To pay attention to the particulars therefore to the entire exclusion of the generals, the main constitutional (characteristic) symptoms not only occasionally baffles and frustrates its own end and aim but often carries with it a world of life-long miseries and sufferings to the unfortunate patients concerned.

Before we close, we would like to point out another very serious misconception our brothers of the “regular’^ school are labouring under : It is the original monumental misconception of their basic principle of Contraria Contrariis Opponenda by which they postulate the relation of opposi- tion between the symptoms of the patient, and the symptoms to be produced by the drug selected for his cure. It is not being our object to criticise this principle in extenso, we only quote a few lines from Dr. Carroll Dunham to show its absolute hollowness and utter futility.

Disease Vs Symptoms

He says — “When we come to symptoms which result from a modification of the vital forces and which consist in alterations of sensation, of function, of tissue, how can we find the contra- ries, the opposites of those symptoms ? What symptom produced on the healthy subject by a drug can be the opposite or contrary of a sore throat, of a gastralgia, of a toothache, of a miliary rash, of a delirium, of a nausea, of a small-pox pustule, of a scarlatina eruption, of a varicose ulcer f’ — M. Medica, I, page 30.

Thus, for a school of medicine starting as it does with an impracticable, if not absurd, law for its guide, and relying as it does on the most unreliable materials for its data, and producing as it does often the most undesirable results in the shape of permanent life-long invalids, it is most unbecoming to express an uncharitable view or unsympathetic opinion of an allied fraternity based on the solid foundations of an accurately scientific principle, working with tools and materials well-tried and up-to-date, and achieving the most brilliant results the world has ever witnessed !!j We, however, heartily acknowledge our obligations to the All-Wise Whose gracious guidance in the shape of the Similia Similibm Curentur has enabled us to rectify, wholly or partially, some of the flings and injuries unwittingly done to many of our beloved brothers and sisters all the world over !!1

What's a disease ? Obviously, it is a kind of malignant force that stands in the way of the economy to go on with its orderly and metho- dical work, both in parts and as a whole. Every part of the system, with its appropriate organ or organs and working muscles, tissues and cells, has to function a certain routine work every hour of the day, so long the organism remains a live one. Our body in itself, and apart from its sustaining power, is a mere mass of inert matter like the earth we tread on or the chair we sit in } but that it has got a certain sustaining power which is other than material and which keeps this inert body in a living state. This power pervades the economy through and through, existing in every cell and every atom, and supplying each of them with the necessary amount of energy to go on with its appropriate functioning so that the body as a whole can main- tain its corporate existence and the individual in question not only lives and exists but enjoys health and happiness. Universal wisdom has been pleased to call this pervading power as vital force. So long this vital force works freely throughout the system empowering, . energising and enabling its various parts and particles to

Trinity or Forces

freely and fully go on with their respective functions, wc enjoy good health ; but whenever it is opposed by some other inimical force and prevented from doing its ordinary and usual work, namely, the supply of energy to all the parts and particles of the body for their neces- sary methodical functioning, we get sick.

Thus, in plain and simple words, sickness means the abnormal functioning of the vital force due to the malignant influence of an oppo- site and inimical counter-force popularly called disease, but in our technical terminology, miasm. Cold and coryza, diarrhoea and dysentery, asthma and arthritis j — each of these is indicative of what is called sickness and each of them is due, or owes its origin, to the particular miasm that may be uppermost at the moment in the system suffering from such sorts of sickness. Sickness, then, is a specific term of which disease or miasm is the genus. We therefore come to this that all sorts of sickness humanity is heir to are but the results of the ruling miasm or miasms provoked to fury by exciting causes outside the economy. Consequently, the more miasmatic is an economy, the more shall be its sufferings : By contra, the less miasmatic a system, the less shall it be liable to the various species of sick- ness the miasms call up and evoke. To enjoy perfect health, therefore, is to be entirely rid of these miasms (Psora, etc).

ETIOI.OGY IN Homeopathy

The next point that demands immediate decision before we can proceed further is that these miasms being invisible immaterial 'forces, lying inherent in the economy, how can they be aroused, provoked and acted up, it is argued, by any outside agency material in nature ? Before solving this question, let us consider the nature of the stimuli our body is or can be affected with.

Whatever stimulus is received is evidently received through some one of our senses. Thus, our senses and the external stimuli have got mutual adaptability. It follows then that the various objects of our senses are the only stimuli our body is affected with. The chief among them are : Air, Light, Sound, Electricity, Heat and cold. Food and drink. Our body, then, is constantly affected by any one of these external stimuli whose over or under-supply disturbs the equilibrium of the system, and thereby provokes its ruling miasn into activity. Continued mal- adjustment and mis-use of these stimuli infuse more and more strength to the said dominant miasm with the result that the individual gets finally sick. Apart from the said natural sti- muli, obnoxious and poisonous matters often enter into our economy through any of our senses, and these, when entered, act as disturbing stimuli that lead to slow or sudden serious changes in the economy, making the man sick.

Trinity op Forces

Thus, continued abnormal supply of the natural stimuli provokes the dominant miasm of the system, which, when provoked, gradually induces its allied sickness ; but any other intruding stimulus, if injurious, affects the organism accord- ing to the virulent nature of such stimulus, and finally subjects it to such sickness as typi- fies the said virulent nature. In this latter case, the dominant miasm of the system plays no important part at first ; but if the sickness induced continue for some time, the ruling miasm adds fuel to the burning fire which, with such malicious aid, tries to defy all medicinal efforts at extinction, and the fire can not be finally put out unless and until the provoked misam is lulled to sleep again.

It will thus apear that though most of the sicknesses are actual manifestations and/or embodiments of the ruling miasm or miasms, yet there are such as owe their origin to care- lessness, accidence, or unavoidable environment ( all cuts and tears, burns and bruises are not really sickness proper ) ; but that in both these cases, external stimuli are the immediate exciting cause, and these stimuli are said to be, after all, material.

All exciting causes of our sickness, then, are said to be material. How can such material agents, it is pointed out, provoke the miasms that are immaterial in nature f How can such

agents disturb the normal working of the vital force throughout the sj^stem ? It would appear as if material bodies could act on the immaterial and vice versa, contrary to the teachings of our Natural Sciences.

True, Matter can not act on Spirit and vice versUf 3 but we should not forget that this visible world ( or universe ) with all its sensible objects is but an embodiment of an All-Pervading Spirit That being immanent in all sensible shapes and forms not only keeps everything in its place but contributes to its beauty and loveliness. Hence, even the minutest atom, un-observable with the naked e^-c, has its share and glory and majCvSty of this All-Pervading vSpirit, though in itself it is not the Spirit Itself, just as, as Mahatma Gandhi writes ( Published in Amrita Bazar Patrika of 19. 6, 36., quoting from ^Harijan’^ ) ‘‘Every drop of the ocean claims to have the glory and majesty of the ocean but is not the ocean itself”. It will thus appear that every atom of the universe is, as it were, the sensible body of its pervading Spirit, and our Theory of Potentisa- tion is not only based on this universal Truth, but is its further verification. It must not, how- ever, be supposed that the in-dwelling spirit of each and every substance is, therefore, the same, as each substance is favoured with the immanence of its Author. Far from it. Unity in

Trinity or Forces

variety is the essence of Beauty. Every substance, therefore, while having the immanence of its Author, has also a specific property of its own, and this too is essentially spiritual ; such specific properties of the various substances constitute the variety which, with the original Unity, is the source of all Beauty we see around us.

Thus, it will be clear that all external stimuli, though material in shape, have got their in-dwelling spiritual entities, as matter in itself, matter per se, matter as matter, matter devoid of its in-dwelling animating force, — if the existence of such matter is at all possible, — can not affect any thing else in any way, — either for good or for bad. The external stimuli, therefore, after their entry into the economy, affect the vital force and the dominant miasm (s), according to their nature, or peculiar properties. We trust we have now made it quite clear how external stimuli, apparently material can exert their influence on the vital force and the disease-force (miasms) that are essentially spiritual.

So far we have noticed the display of Um forces , — the vital force and the disease-force (miasm), the former pervading the economy through and through and helping all its organs, tissues and cells to do their, respective duties in a proper way, while the latter thwarting and opposing the former in every way and thereby causing sick- ness and suffering. Thus, disease is a kind of

counterforce to our vital force, the properties of the former run counter to those of the latter.

We have now to consider a third force similar in nature to the disease-force, where- with to rid the vital force of its undesirable hindrances and impediments by the disease-force, and to enable it to do its normal work, thereby remov- ing sickness and restoring health. This is our medicinal force roused and evoked from crude medicinal substances by our peculiar process of potentisation. Because the disease is something essentially spiritual, our medicinal agents, to be of real and ready service, must be essentially ( as opposed to virtually ) spiritual ( for, as we have already said, all material subs- tances are virtually spiritual too ). Thus, each of our spiritual medicinal agents, similar in nature to the disease force, when applied to the sick, works wonders with the help of the Law of Similars, a Law that had been work- ing in nature from all eternity but was only graciously revealed to the intuitive intelligence of immortal Hahnemann as if to save his contemporaries from the very trying and torturous heteropathic treatment of the time. The world has now been fully confident of the competency of our medicinal myrmidons to curb and control, and finally annihilate the disease-forces ; but if and where they fail, it is due rather to mis-application and

Trinity op Forces

mis-management than to any real lack of strength on their part.

Thus it is that we, Homoeopaths, handle dynamic agents, — life, disease and drug. Dynamic agents, if mishandled, are apt to produce not only very undesirable consequences, but often too serious to be controlled. Such being the case, amateurs, dabblers and dilettantes, with no responsibility to own, have no right to handle them. It is, however, a happy sign of the day that better brains are gradually com- ing to our school, and we hope time will soon come when even the best brains like our late- lamented Dr. Mahendra Lai Sarkar of hallowed memory, will, in appreciation of the super- excellence of our system, flock to our fold to render invaluable services to mankind in their sickness and suffering, and give glory to God.

Amen

“The Homeopathic Physician who thinks in Quantities can not realise true Homeopathy.” — writes Dr. Kent, in his Aphorisms and Precepts, P. 650. Let us examine this important utterance in all its bearings, drawing out the natural implications as clearly as possible.

First of all, we must distinguish between trm Homcfiopathy and the so-called psetido Homeopathy or mongrelism. To a true Homoeo- path, not only “Pathology is an unknown quantity”, but all sorts of quantitative thinking ; neither the disease nor the medicine, neitter dose nor potentisation, has to him any quanti- tative value, or presents itself to him in a quantitative conception. He never bothers him- self with the various disease-products or disease- ultimates that gradually make themselves visible, perceptible, or sensible to us, always in terms of Quantity or Matter, but looks upon Disease as a qualitative, immaterial, spiritual force affecting our vital force, which is of the same nature and type, as all communication presupposes qualitative similarity, if not identity, of the substances communicated and communicating. Spirit only can commune with spirit, just as matter with matter. A certain disease-force deranges first of all the vital

A Quantitative Homceopath

activities throughout the organism, and subse- quently various disease-products are visible or sensible in the body in the shapes of orchitis, pleuritis, keratitis, and so forth. But to our quantitative friend or the psetido Homoeopath, the immaterial disease-force has no meaning, as he cannot conceive of such a force at all, because it is not conceivable in terms of Quantity (matter). Hence the only things in the matter of Disease that he can conceive of are the so many disease-ultimates of various names and denominations all of which go to the domain of Pathology which, according to our master’s injunctions, should always be an “unknown quantity’“ to a true Homoeopath. Thus, a quantitative Homoeopath or a mongrel can only diagnose and prescribe for a quanti- tative disease which, from our standpoint, is no disease in its true sense, but only one of its natural consequences. Hence it will clearly appear that the vain attempt to remove a consequence without having an idea of the cause thereof, — far less trying to eradicate it, will eventually can not but be useless and abortive, as the effect being inseparable from the cause, the former can never be removed, — far less cured, so long the latter persists. Moreover, this quantitative mode of thinking cannot have an unitary view of dis- ease, as distinguished from the pluralistie concep- tion of disease-activities or sicknesses. The disorders,

irregularities and modifications in various organs and parts of the body can only be looked upon by the mongrel as so many separate sicknesses necessitating separate treatment, but he can never fully realise and comprehend that all these various affections in different parts of the orga- nism have got a common bond, a unity of purpose, — nay, an identity of origin (in most cases, except where more than one Miasm are on the ascendant). Hence, one may easily conceive the position and plight of such a quantitative doctor. He is, in fact, in the wide and endless see, without a chart or com- pass to guide him through ! He knows not which disorder of which organ he is to cope with first ! In other words, how and ivhere to begin the case [ No doudt, such is the lot of all who deal in Quan- tity (Matter) and Quantity alone \ But the world cares very little for Quantity where there is no genuine Quality (spirituality), for it is the qua- lity that rules the world in every sphere. From what is written above, it will be clear that a quantitative Homoeopath, from his very creed and profession, can never have a true idea of what Disease is. At best, he can only have ideas of what are called disease-activities or sicknesses — the subject matter of Pathology. Let us now see how he fares so far as the quality or nature of medicine is concerned.

The immortal originator of this ‘pathy* of Medicine took considerable pains to conclusively

A Quantitative Homceopath

prove that the material medicinal substances have no power to cure diseases, as such substances can only act on our material frame, in its vegeta- tive and nutritive planes but can never reach, due to qualitative dissimilarity of nature, as explained above, the vital force whose derange- ment through disease-force (s) is at the root of all sensible sickness. Only the latent spiritual power in medicinal substances, evoked by the technical process of potentisation, can liberate the vital force from its thraldom, can free it from disease-force (s). When the vital force is thus freed from disease-force (s) by the spiritual power of medicine which acts ‘”not by quantity but by poten- tiality and quality,’^ the various sensible sick- nesses or disease-activities disappear one by one, — preferably in the reverse order of their coming and the patient regains his former health. It is even clearer than sun-shine that the quantitative {materialistic) Homoeopath can have no claim to any spiritual power of medicine, for such a claim will be quite contrary' to his very creed and colour. He must only deal with the material (quanti- tative) power of the medicinal substances, but such a power, as we have said above, is abso- lutely unable to free the vital force from its affection by disease-force(s), and cosequently to cure the disease by removing the disease-activities (sicknesses). At most, such a power can only temporarily suppress the disease-activities, or

262 Etiology in Homeopathy

drive same from circumference to centre to attack more important organs there, which the mongrel, in his crude materialistic thinking, takes to be the appearance of new sicknesses ! Thus, the quantitative (materialistic) conception of medicine, instead of helping the physician to cure his pa- tients, does quite the opposite, inasmuch as his patients are, by his treatment, made worse than they had been before they sought his atomitic aid. So, even the dullest intellect can understand that the noblest art of Homeopathy, in the hands of an atomist, only defeats its own end ! So far we have examined and discussed the quan- titative conceptions of disease and medicine, and showed what absurd and fantastic positions and consequences they lead to. We shall now study the quantitative conception of Bose,

It is here that our atomist friend cuts a very ridiculous figure. Inured as he is with the objects of sense-perception, he can conceive of no other largeness or smallness than in terms of Quantity (Matter) alone, and his nebular vision is utterly incapable of realising the differences in Quality. What is larger must necessarily be greater m mass, and what is smaller, less but he cannot see, consistently with his profession, that there are gradations or shades of differences in the sphere of Quality too. He therefore uses a greater quantity of the medicated liquid, glo- bule or sugar of milk when he means to give

A Quantitative Homceopath 263

a larger dose, and a less quantity when a smaller, irrespective of the qualitative difference of the medicine through potentisation. But, as we have said elsewhere, Materialism and Homeopathy go ill together. Quantity has no place in Homeopathy except in a secondary way ; that is, the concept of Quality, to be fully understood, requires to be compared with its contradictory opposite, the concept of Quantity, just as the concept of Happiness to be fully understood and realised requires to be compared with its contradictory opposite, the concept of Misery. One drop of medicated liquid can moisten at least 100 small globules. Some use 3 or 4 such globules for a dose, while others, one such entire drop,— ^nay, at times more than a drop due to hasty dropp- ing. Here the drop-dose, in the estimation of our atomist friend, is at least 25 times larger than the globule-dose, and so should have either v.rorked a miracle or ruined the case, due to the prodigious size of the dose. But alas ! it does neither. The drop-dose does not work 25 times better than the globule-dose, or, inversely, the globule-dose, because of its minuteness, does not work 25 times less than the drop-dose. Can the nebular eye see to it or the atomic mind explain It ? No, they cannot. Individual miscon- ception cannot alter the course of universal laws f It may be individual folly to mis-read and mis-interpret certain laws but on that account

264 Etiology in Homeopathy

the laws do not change. The world with its eternal laws goes on much the same, however much individuals through their ignorance and folly may fare and suffer therein. Because an atomist pleases to interpret a .qualitative law in terms of Quantity, the law won^t change its inner nature to suit his mathematical calculation. It is his misfortune that the aven- ues of true knowledge are shut out of him. If a certain species of creatures please to amuse themselves in the quagmire, how can they enjoy the refined pleasures of a bed of roses ? Just as misfortune never comes alone, but always in battalions, so one folly begets another, and the latter eventually a whole host till at last the understading is beclouded with the gloom of ignorance and there is not even a single ray of light to distinguish the right from the wrong n

Let us now examine how the quantitative position fares with regard to the question of potentisation. First of all, let us see what potentisation means and why it is necessary at all. Though already stated, still we repeat that it is the spiritual power^ residing in a latent state in material medicinal substances^ that is capable of curing diseases or freeing the vital force from its derangement by disease-forces, and not any material portion of same. Potenti- sation is the technical process of evoking or

A Quantitative Homceopath 265

drawing out this spiritual power from its latent state, and of gradually increasing its intensity. It will thus appear that atomism and potentisation are at poles asunder. Potenti- sation increases intension (power) at the cost of extension (matter), and as the process goes on and on, extension becomes narrower and narro- wer till at last it may lead to pure force void of all material taint; whereas atomism can only increase force by increasing the mass of the vehicular material substance. Hence, potentisation to a quantitative Homoeopath is not only an impossibility but an absurdity. His crude understanding cannot grasp how decrease of mass can at the same time increase the latent (spiritual) power thereof, by mere succussions or triturations. His difficulty lies in the fact that he, in consonance with his creed, attempts to analyse and realise everything in terms of what is palpable, visible and tangible. He has no faith on what is not sensible in this way. Just as we cannot have a golden- earthen or golden-stony cup ( ), we must have either a golden cup or an earthen (stony) cup, so one cannot be an atomist and a true Homoeopath at the same time, — for the very intension of true Homeopathy includes spiritualism as one of its extensions or denotations, and atomism and spiritualism contradict each other. We know potentisation is

«

one of the most fundamental principles in Hahnemannian Homeopathy; but to our quantitative friend, the principle has, as we have showed above, no meaning and is consequ- ently worse than useless.

So far we have discussed four important prin- ciples in Homeopathy, namely. Disease, Medicine, Dose, and Potentisation, and clearly showed that these principles are wholly inconsistent with ato- mistic conception. We might as well take up other minor principles in Homeopathy and show that these too do not chime an accordant note when rung by the atomist. But we have thought it unnecessary to do so, as the particulars always follow the generals, and we have studied the generals in detail and found them totally want- ing from the quantitative standpoint.

From what we have written above it is need- less to state that a quantitative Homoeopath is even worse than the worst Allopa^'h, for the latter practises his ‘pathy^ in faithful pursuance of the principles, rather practices peculiarly his own and he has nothing in him of the mongrelism or mulism of an atomist Homoeopath. The latter is neither a true Homoeopath nor a true Hetero- path. He is a jargon, a confusion, a chaos, whereof no sensible speech, no accurate understanding and no orderly cosmos can ever be evolved and established. One would better have no — ‘path at all, for the relief and cure of the ailments our flesh is heir to,

A Quantitative Homceopath 267

than such a mixed breed that can only make the existing physical or constitutional confusion, in the language of Milton, ‘^worse confounded/^ We much regret to note that there are even to-day may such atomist spurious Homoeopaths who proudly stalk large and even pass current as genuine coins, not only to the infinitely incalcu- lable injur 3 ^ of the public concerned, but to the shameful ignominy and disgraceful profanity of this noble art of healing. The sooner their num- ber is minimised, nay annihilated, the better for us all and specially lor this art itself* for just as one sickly sheep spoils the whole flock, so a few such mongrels would gradully spoil and degenerate the whole race i May God in His infinite goodness bless this young noble art and help it to eliminate and eradicate these rankest weeds that are defacing the richest soils !

“The Spiritual Power of Medicine does not accomplish its object by means of Quantity but by Potentiality and Qualit37’/' This is an epoch- making immortal utterance of our Master and it is embodied in his Materia Medica Pura, Vol. 1, P. 16, Dr. Dudgeon^s Translation.

Just as we analyse the above utterance, two things come to our mind ; — first of all, namely, a vital substance and a medicinal substance : the vital substance is deranged or disordered by disease or diseases, and the medicinal substance possesses virtues or qualities wherewith to rid the vital substance of its derangement or disorder. The vital force or vital substance being a simple substance it is invisible, indivisible, immaterial and qualitative in nature, as all simple substances are, and our medicinal agents are to act on such a qualitative immaterial vital force if we are to cure the sick. The sick are sick and their bodies are full of painful symptoms here and there, because their vital forces being deranged by disease-force(s) are unable to function duly and properly all through their organisms, thus making it possi- ble for the symptoms to appear indicating the sickness. Thus, the vital force is deranged and, for the matter of that, the man himself is

Medicine — a Spiritual Power. 269

sick, but not his body whereon the symptoms are staged to indicate the nature and peculia- rity* of the sickness. In common parlance, we say, ‘‘I have a headache, I have got diarrhoea, I am ilP’ thus showing that the or the

man himself is ill, and not his body. Moreover, our body is a mere vehicle or abode of the vital force, (We are not concerned here with the question of our soul ) , and without the animating power of the vital force, the body is a mere mass of matter dead and defunct in every way. Such being the case, the body of itself, in itself and by itself, cannot be said to have any disease or sickness apart from the vitalising power of the life-force that sustains it and keeps it in existence. The body is what it is, with all its sensations and functions, because of the animating force of its presiding authority. It is therefore impossible to con- ceive that the vehicle or the abode will lack in systematic order and methodical arrange- ment (health) so long as its animating and pre- siding authority to which it owes its origin and existence is left entirely unaffected or unaltered, that is to say, in its original, primitive, perfect state. So, it is only natural to conceive that this animating and presiding deity (vital force) is first affected, altered, deranged or disordered and thereby made unable, more or less, to duly and properly function throughout the body with

Etioi^ogy in Homceopathy

a view to keep it fully animated with all its normal sensations and functions, and all the distressing symptoms or signs of sickness owe their origin and subsequent existence to the said inability of the vital force. Besides, if we are to conceive of our body being diseased of itself, without the vital force being previously deranged by disease-force (s), we shall have to conceive of a number of diseases or sicknesses having simul- taneously attacked the body from all quarters, namely, fever, headache, coryza, diarrhoea, renal colic, profuse catamenia, splenic, hepatic and cardiac hypertrophy, croup and laryngitis, and so forth, and certainly it is absurd to conceive that each of the various organs is attacked by a separate malady, though all happening at the same time, as if by a pre-arranged plan 5 where- as the above picture of a patient is possible when the central animating force g^ts deranged and its subsequent abnormal functioning through each and every cell of the organism gives rise simultaneously to all the said painful signs of sickness throughout the body. So, from all pos- sible view-points it is only reasonable to think that the presiding vital substance is deranged previously to the appearance of signs of sickness in the body, thus conclusively proving that the primitive disorder is of the life force and not of the body, and so in the matter of cure] the curative agents will have to be applied to the

Medicine— A Spiritual Power.

disordered life force and not to the body where- on the said disorder is made manifest by painful signs or symptoms of sickness.

As we have already said, the vital force is a simple substance, and, as such, invisible, immate. — rial and qualitative, and as action and reaction are only possible between things and substances of the same nature and quality, our medicinal agents, to work upon our vital force and to be of any the least use, must also be similar simple sub- stances, spiritual and qualitative in nature, other- wise they will be unable to achieve the end they will be used for. So, the medicinal material substances, as they exist in nature, or their multiform material transformations by peculiar, technical, chemical torturings, are quite unfit to cure the sick. In fact, it is ^^the spirit animating every single substance ^ tvhich enables it to cure cer- tain morbid states' (Vide Materia Medica Pur a, Vol, I. P. I), and not the material substances (phlegma, ethereal oils, empyreumatic acids and oils, volatile salts, fixed salts and earths, resin, gum, gluten, starch, wax, albumen, alkaloids, etc. ) which are either extracted by wet and dry distillation or separa ted b^’' means of various re-agents from medi- cinal material substances as they exist in nature. Therefore, as our Master has very clearly expressed it, ^^Medicinal substances are not dead masses in the ordinary sense of the term^ on the contrary, their true essential nature is

ET10I.0GY IN HOMCEOPATHY

only dynamically spiritualy is pure force^X Materia Medica Pura, vol. II, P. 4>6 ).

So far, then, we have arrived at definite conclusions regarding the two most fundamental problems in Homeopathic philosophy, namely, —

1. That our vital force which is a simple substance, qualitative and spiritual in nature, is the direct object of all medical treatment ( barring, of course, all cases of acute trauma- tism ) in the matter of curing the sick, as it is the primitive derangement of the vital force that is responsible for all the distressing symp- toms (abnormal sensations or functions or both) appearing in the body and indicating the nature and peculiarity of the sickness to be cured. And,

2. That our medicinal agents, in like manner, are simple substances, qualitative and spiritual in nature, and the concept of Quantity is entirely and absolutely unattributable to theiiiy as all simple, qualitative spiritual substances are invisible and indivisible, and Quantity on the one hand, and Invisibility and Indivisibility on the other hand, being contradictory opposites^ cannot be made to co-exist even by the omnipotence of God Himself, not to speak of the utter impotence of—

made i.

Medicine — a Spiritual Power.

Dream of a dream j and the shadow of a shade i Young

In the matter of any medical treatment, we must have clear ideas about four things, among others, namely, (1) the nature and pecu- liarity“ of the object of our treatment, (2) the nature and peculiarity of the medicinal agents,

(3) the relation between (1) and (2), either heterO’-^ geneity^ opposition or similarity, that we are to follow with a view to cure our patients, and

(4) the question of the dose to be employed for the purpose. We have already discussed fully about (1) and (2), and come to definite conclusions, and our Master has established beyond the shadow of a doubt that Similarity is the only relation, in fact, the only Natural Latv of cure. We shall there- fore now take up for discussion the remaining point, namelyq the question of the dose.

Though the spirit of our Master, with his animating personality, is vividly present before our mental eyes, we much regret he is not physically present before us, (may his soul peace- fully rest in heaven !) and so whenever we are in doubt, in trouble or in difficulty to under- stand any portion of his writings or any of his views, we must have to read and explain same with the help of the general principles enunciated by him. Hence, in the matter of dose, his above- noted immortal utterance, will not only give us lead and throw much light on the subject, but

help us materially to arrive at a conclusion. In the matter of dose, some of our learned Indian friends and colleagues have understood Hahne- mann to mean that one small medicated pellet of the size of a poppy seed, of any poteitcy^ is the smallest dose, whereas if the number of such pellets, of any potency, be increased, the dose will be large or larger according to the increase in the number of the said pellets. Thus, our said friends mean to say that the spiritual power of medicine has everything to do with quantity, though, as per said utterance, it will be seen that this view is quite the opposite to what our Master held in the subject, and as we have already pointed out, Spirituality (Invisibility and Indivisibility) and Quantity are contradictory opposites, and so cannot be made to co-exist even by the Omni- potent Creator, far less by an impotent creature ! The essential nature of the medicinal agents being qualitative and spiritual, no question of quantity can arise at alL Hence, to speak of attributing quantity to simple, qualitative, spiritual substance (medicine) is to speak of a material spirit or a spiritual matter, and both these imageries are absolutely inconceivable.

However, one may ask, ^^What, then, is meant by a small or a large dose Why, the real interpretation, in faithful obedience to the dictum of our Master, has been already given by all bis faithful disciples and followers in their own

Medicink — A Spiritual Power

books and stray writings, and of these great and noble souls the names of Drs. Boenninghausen, Guernsey, Hering, Dunham, Kent, Allen, Farring- ton and a few others will be eternally associa- ted with that of their Master and be eternally honoured and adored with him till the last vestige of human society and civilisation will exist. However, let us give below, with requisite modesty and humility, the real and faithful interpretation of these savants of the question of dose, large or small : —

1. The Ia7*ge7i€ss of a dose depends not on the large quantity of the excipient of the medicine used, powder, globule or liquid, but on the lotver sfratu7u of the potency used, and so, as the potency used is low, lower and lowest, the dose is large, larger and largest, and in this way the lx or Ic potency of any medicine may be said to be the largest dose (but not the mother tincture, as Homoeo- pathically speaking, it is a crude material sub- stance, and not a real spiritual medicinal agent). On the other hand,

2. The smallness of a dose depends not on the small quantity of the excipient of the medicine used, powder, globule or liquid, but on the higher stratum of the potency used, and as the potency is high, higher and highest, the dose is accordingly small, smaller and smallest, and in this way, the limit to our smallest dose may be said to be indefinite^ if not infinite^ as we finite beings

having no definite idea of infinity should not attribute it to any thing in relation to us. In this connection, Dr. Kent says, “We are up to tht 13 M.M. (potency) and the end is not yet.’^ — (Vide His Lectures on Homeopathic Philosophy, P. 261).

Now, as to the number of globules to be used as a dose, Dr. Carrol Dunham, a.m., m.d. uttered the truth as far back as 1864 in repl^^ to a corres- pondent enquiring about it. Thus, in reply to the question, '‘IIoiv many constitute a dose he says, “If properly medicated, one is as good as one hundred. As there is a posibility that, in medica- ting several thousands at one operation, a pellet here and there may fail to get satui*ated, we usually give about four to six ; we use the smallest pellets as most easily and surely medi- cated .’* — The Science of Therapeutics^ etc. pp. 263-4. And this view has been endorsed by all the great apostles of our Master.

There is another important fact : Hahnemann often speaks of single olfactio7t of a single medi- cated globule quite as good as the ingestion thereof, and this also shows, as positively as ever pos- sible, that the spiritual poiver of rnedicine does not act by quantity, for if the action depen- ded on, or varied according to the variation of, the quantity of the medicine used, or the quan- tity of its excipient, Hahnemann would have been the last man to advise olfaction, in place of ingestion, — nay, a single olfaction of a single globule,

Medicine — a Spiritual Power

even in a single case. We beg to our readers to kindly go through the following quotations which will speak for themselves

(a) ‘”According to the most recent develop- ment of our new system, the ingestion of a single, minutest globule, moistened with the decil- lionth (x) development of power would have been quite adequate to effect an equallj^ rapid and complete recovery ^ inched, equally eertain would been the mere olfaction of a globule the sixe of a mustard-seed moistened ivith the same dynamixation^ Materia Medica Piiray Vol. 1, p.21, Foot-Note,

(b) “‘According to our present knowledge and experience, the same object would have been attained by taking one of the smallest globules of Pulsatilla x (Decillionth potency), and ivith equal certainty a single olfaction of a globule the sixe of a mustard seed of the same potency of PulsatillaP Ibid, p 23, Footnote.

© “For this purpose, a single momentary olfaction at a phial containing a globule the size of a mustard seed, moistened with the de- cillionth potency of Aconite (which may be kept for this use for years in a well-corked phial without losing its curative power) is quite sufficients — Ibid, p, 26, (All italics are ours).

From all the above, it will be quite clear that our medicinal agents, being simple substances, are purely spiritual and qualitative in nature, and the question of quantity has nothing to do with them.

What do we mean by sickness? How does it differ from Disease? First of all, we must have clear and definite ideas about these con- cepts. Though to a layman and to other schools of medicine than our own, both these may mean the same thing, namely, some sort of physical irregularity occasioning uneasiness, pain or suffering to the patient, to us they convey a very different idea altogether. As Pheno- menon is to Noumenon, as Ectype is to Prototype, as Matter is to Form, so Sickness is to Disease. Disease is the underlying noumenon whereof sick- ness is but the sensible phenomenon. All sorts of sickness are nothing but the activities of disease. Thus, disease exists in esse, whereas sickness, in mere posse. Hence, sickness is but the sensible sign or symbol whereby the insensible disease- force makes itself known to us. So, it may be said that disease and sickness represent two aspects of the same thing, as do noumenon and phenomenon. Just as a certain phenomenon emanates from and adheres to the relative noumenon, so also a certain sickness owes its origin and present existence to a certain disease- force underlying the sickness. So, sickness is changeable and variable according to the inher- ent nature of a particular disease-force that

Law of SickNHss

gives birth to it. It will now appear that Psora, Syphilis and Sycosis are the three .primary disease-forces whereof all sorts of sick- ness are the mere activities^ as opposed to passivities^ that is to say, all sorts of sickness come into existence, grow and develop when one, two or all of these primary disease-forces are active or patent within the economy, and not merely passive or latent therein.

The relation of sickness and disease may still be expressed in another way with the help of Logic. In Logic, we have got the for- mula, Denotation increases as Connotation decrea- ses. So also in medicine, though the increase of symptoms shows the increase of Sickness, the increase of sj^mptoms often shows diminution of Disease (vide Dr. Kent's Aphorisms and Precepts, P. 681 ), — thus Sickness, representing Denotation, and Disease, Connotation, — Sickness, the external appearances, Disease, the inner essence. In this way, we mean to say that the volume and vehemence of disease-forces are diminished to some extent as the volume and vehemence of distressing symptoms (Sickness) originating and emanating from such forces are increased. Thus, while Sickness (Denotation) increases. Disease (Connotation) decreases, and vice versa. Now, it will be clear why paucity or entire absence of painful symptoms, despite sensible pathological changes or production of ultimares, indicates a

very dreadful state of the economy, — as it shows decrease of Sickness and increase of Disease-force. Thus, the disease-force with all its . usual outlets being pent — up and clogged, cankers and eats into the very vitals of the economy, and paves its way to an early decay and disruption into the elements of which it is composed. We think we have now fully explained the relation between Sickness and Disease.

Such, then, is Sickness the Law whereof is also the Law of Influx. This vast universe may be said to be abroad stage whereon eternal Laws are the only Pla3^ers and Actors. In every depart- ment, whether in the mineral, vegetable or animal kingdom these Laws guide and control even the very dry details and, as has been well expressed, neither a dry leaf nor a tin\’' sparrow ever falls with- out the predisposing direction of these Laws. Nay, some thinkers have gone so far as to desig- nate these Laws as the Vice-regent of God Him- self in view of the fact that it is these Laws that practically rule the universe, they are so fixed, so unalterable, and so merciless ; they know no special pleading • they have equal justice and equal retribution for all, be they monarchs or men in the street. Such being the case, all sorts of sickness and suffering, and their original and exciting causes can hy no means be thought to work and work havoc on earth without having

Law of Sickness

some of these eternal Laws to shape and mould their course and action. What, then, is this particular Law of Sickness ? Once we can under- stand it, we shall be in a position to under- stand the Law of Influx too.

When we say a man is sick^ we mean to say that he is suffering from some of these painful experiences, states, or conditions, otherwise called symptoms, viz, chill, heat, sweat, headache, unu- sual thirst, constipation or looseness oi bowels, renal colic, hepatic or splenic hypertrophy, pain in limbs, abnormal growths, dropsy, gout, etc. So, when we SSLY that a man is sick, we mean to say that he is suffering from a group of these con- ditions or symptoms according to the nature of the predisposing disease or diseases he is under the grip and influence of (the original cause) , and to the nature of the morbific immaterial noxious agents (the exciting cause) that flow into his economy in the direction of least resistance, being led by his special and peculiar susceptibility. It may however be noted that in our consideration of Sickness, we exclude all cases of traumatism, for these are a matter of chance or accident, though, metaphysically speak- ing, there is no such thing as mere chance, as

what we call chance is, in the poetic garb of Thomson, —

“Rather wondrous conduct of the gods !

By mortals, from their blindness, chance mis-

nam^d/^

EtiOJvOGY in IIomceopathy

So, barring cases of traumatism, all sickness and suffering on earth are controlled by immutable universal Laws, and we are here to discuss, as briefly as possible, what these Laws are. Instead of defining what they are, let us describe, as description is always clearer than definition.

First of all, there is the Laiv of Heredity, Let us see how individuals are affected by this Law. If we consult our experience, we find that child- ren inherit not only ancestral, especially parental, properties, but their Diseases too. Thus, the back-ground of individual diathesis is formed with the formation of individual physical frame, by the operation of tbis Law of Heredity. Hence, even on the firse day of our birth, we do not begin life with a clean slate, but the latter is already full of spots and dots that develop and grow darker and darker as life advances. So, it may be said that our susceptibility to external inimical forces begins, more or less, with the very beginning of our terrestrial existence, and this susceptibility is stronger or weaker according as the said spots and dots are more or less dark. Thus, the nucleus of our predisposition to the said inimical forces is formed with the formation of the foetus in the mother ^s womb.

Next, there is the Law of Trinity , — the three Chronic Miasms. The infant at the mother’s breast is, through the Law of Heredity, already under their influence, — whether of one, of two, or

Law of Sickness

of all. But as life advances, and the child becomes a boy or girl, and then a man or woman, the said influence gradually increases in depth and volume, thereby increasing the intensity of the predisposition noted above. In case of additional personal accjuisition, the old and the new blend together, resulting in further derangement of the vital force and consequent complication of the economy, as well as further increase of the said susceptibility that helps the influx of all exciting causes of our sickness.

Thus, we see that the Law of Heredity and the Law of Chronic Miasms, either severally or jointly, constitute the third factor, nay the most important element in the production of all sickness and suffering, and it is the Laia of Si/scep- tihility. This third may be said to be the direct issue of the first or second, or of both. But for these latter, the former would not have come into existence at all, and sickness and suffering would have been things unknown. It is this Law of Predisposition that is immediately (as opposed to mediately) responsible for all sickness on earth, for in the absence of this Law, no morbific influences can flow into the economy and morbidly afl’ect it through the vital force. One may ask, ^What is Susceptibility’ ? It is a particular abnormal state of our economy permit- ting the inflow of external inimical forces that are the exciting causes of all sorts of sickness,

with this peculiarity that the susceptibility is satisfied as soon as enough has entered to cause a certain sickness, thus preventing the possibility of additional and excessive inflow to seriously affect the system, overpower it, and possibly to bring about its instant death. We reserve further remarks on this Law for a subsequent chapter.

So, then, we see that the Law of Sickness comprehends the Law of Heredity, the Law of Trinity, and the Law of Susceptibility, and in fact without these latter three, the former can have no existence at all, for there would have been no sickness, had there been no Heredity, Trinity, and Susceptibility and by trying to explain these Laws, we have explained what the Law of sickness is. From what we have written above, it will be clear that the Latv of Influx is at all possible because the economy is already prone to receive what flows in, and but for this tvilling welcome, this cordial reception, there will be no room for any influx at alL Heredity and Trinity have so altered the economy that it has been made quite fit for the reception in question • in other words, it has been made prone or susceptible to the inflow of the immaterial inimical forces as this Law of Influx represents. Hence, things (Laws of Sickness and Influx) which are equal to the same thing (Laws of Heredity, Trinity and Susceptibility) are equal to one another. Thus, the Law of Sickness is the Law of Influx. (Vide Dr. Kent^s Aphorisms and Precepts, P. 659).

Body or matter exists because of its in-dwelling simple substance, otherwise called the Sonl. Life postulates the co-existence of body and soul, and death, their disintegration or separation. Beauty, the Soul-inspiring Unity in Variety, is onl^^ an expression of the inner unifying principle that pervades the material bod 3' and gets itself mani- fested through it. Thus, all material forms are what they are, and can exist as they exist, simply because of the intelligent principle that works within, not only to keep them in existence but to maintain their beauty and symmetr3^ Thus, in short, the unif^-ing simple substance works in the ph3^sical world, and all visible shapes and forms lose their life, their beauty and symmetr3% their unity in variety, their individual peculiarity — that is, their susceptibility or idios3mcrasy, as soon as they are dissociated from the said unif3^- ing principle. Hence, it may be said that all material forms owe everything to their inner spiritual entities that have called them into exist- ence and made them what they are. Such is the relation of body and soul.

Now, transferring the metaphor to our field of study, we may say that the principle of idios3m- crasy is nothing but the soul-force in Homeopathy,

Homeopathy is what it is because of this prin- ciple of susceptibility. Had there been no such principle of susceptibility, there would have been no Homeopathy. Homeopathy with its Law of Similars has been an actuality only because the principle of individual liking and disliking works in the world. It is general experience that individuals differ as to their susceptibilities or idios^rncrasies. We all know how they differ, how one man likes warm food and drink, and another cold, how one man likes to sleep on the right side and another on the left, how one man speaks little and another much, and how one man avoids society, while another courts it. Let us, however, try to understand the ivhy of it as much as we can.

It may be asked, ‘‘Why not all people like and dislike in the same way, as they are all ultimately coming down from the same source An intelligent question, no doubt, but such an assumption is ipso facto impossible on the face of it. Personality is nothing but difference in susceptibi^ lity 3 so, unity in susceptibility woidd efface personality from the face of the world, though personality or mdi^ mduality is absolutely indispensable for the grada- tions of the cosmic order.

It may then be asked, “Why people are susceptible at all, susceptible to good or evil, heat or cold, anger or grief, and so forth ?” The reply is that the very possibility of life presupposes and postulates the necessity of susceptibility.

Law of Susceptibility

The organism to be a living one must be susceptible to the worldly influences, and the • cessation of such susceptibility means death for it. Siisceptibility is not only the means and medium of all growth and development^ but of all progress and civilisation in the world. All these latter have been at all possible because the principle of susceptibility rules the world through and through. Wc are what we are because we are susceptible to the rays of cnligh- tened culture and education^ of ennobling onorality and religion. Similarly, this principle of suscep- tibility is responsible for all disease and deterio- ration, decay and death. Changes, physical or mental, whether for the better or for the worse, are at all possible because of the inherent working of this eternal law of suscep- tibility within the economy concerned. The barring out of this law, or the absolute cessa- tion of its work, means complete stasis and perfect arrest of all movements and activities in the world.

Let us now turn our attention to this univer- sal law as it works in individuals. As we have said above, individuals differ as to their suscepti- bilities in various ways, and this difference is due partly to the working of the Law of Heredity, partly to their peculiar surroundings and environ- ments, and partly, in fine, to the use they make of their will and understanding. We hear

of a born poet, a born orator, or a born painter, and the explanation is that the universal law of susceptibility is liable to be moulded and modified by individual efforts, and the results of such efforts continue from life to life, making the subsequent ones brilliant from the very start. Platons Theory of Reminiscence and Wordsworth’s Ode to Immortality are but instances in point. Just as in the intellectual sphere, so also in the emotional, aesthetic, moral and religious spheres too, this individual difference in susceptibility is due to the above causes and influences, and sets and rises with the setting and rising of individual life.

Now, turning our attention to the province of Medicine, we find that the individual

susceptibility to the disease-forces is exactly made and modified by the causes and influences

above referred to, and, here too, the plane of susceptibility is transferred from life to life, with the setting and rising of our soul. Hence it is that a certain child is always sick, be you as careful to nurse it as you can, while another of the same parents and reared under exactly the same circumstances, fares much better. The reason is that the quality, nature and plane of their susceptibility to catch disease-forces are quite different.

There is, however, another factor to deter- mine the nature, and regulate the tendency of

Law of Susceptibility

our susceptibility to sick-making causes, and it is the working in the organism of the miasma- tic trio, — Psora, Syphilis and Sycosis, severally or jointly, and their conjoint action makes the organism the most suitable hot-bed for the most luxuriant fostering of all sorts of sick-making seeds which, in such cases, have the easiest influx therein, proceeding as they do, in the line of least resistance. These miasms, be it noted, play a very important part in the modification and regulation of our susceptibility, — nay, it is they that are at the root of all our sickness. It may perhaps be said that there is no organism entirely free from the influences of these miasms and so there is none that is free from sickness.

One may ask, ^^Supposing these miasms conti- nue doing havoc in the organism, will it continue to be susceptible to .sick-making causes inde- finitely The reply is a definite ‘No.^ That is impossible on the face of it. The influx of these causes (exciting) which are immaterial, for they are primarily to affect the vital principle which is immaterial, action and reaction being possible only between substances of the same kind and quality, continues so long they cannot and do not produce a change in the economy, but as soon as a change takes place, the organism is no longer susceptible to the same causes, and the influx ceases of its own accord. In other words, so much of sick- making influences is allowed to enter in as is

sufficient to effect a revolution in the economy, and as soon as this revolution is wroght up, the susceptibility ceases, and the organism gets ill; The reason why tbe influx ceases after a time is that the state of the organism antecedent to the said inflow was quite favourable to it, but after the inflow being allowed for a time necessary to effect the said revolution, the said state gets changed to a plane quite different to the plane of the said causes which, however, do not undergo any modification in the meantime to modify their plane to suit the changed plane of the organism. This is an instance of the benevolent wisdom of the eternal laws to protect life on earth. It will thus appear that though enough of the sick-making influences is allowed to enter in to affect the health of the organism, the door to further entry is automatically closed and sealed up to save the organism from fatal injury or instant death. Falling to sickness is nothing but trafisgrcssion of His laws and the transgressor must be punished ^ but even in aivarding the punishment^ His all-mercifid heart tempers the hands that deal justice out i This is a sample of the kind of mercy that Shakespeare speaks of through Portia in his Merchant of Venice, Just as all sorts of sicknesses are possible because of the working of the principle of sus- ceptibility within the organism as shown above, so also all sorts of cure are ever possible because of the working of the said principle in the economy.

Law of Susceptibility

Had there been no susceptibility^ there would have been no cure at alL But here we have an advantage over the natural sick-making causes in the matter of satisfying the susceptibility and the advantage consists in this that we can change the potency of the medicine used according to the changed plane of the susceptibitity and thus the human economy is more under the control of medicine than under that of natural morbific causes. Medicines are effective only so long the organism is susceptible to them, and in the absence of such susceptibility, they are quite useless. To ascertain whether a particular sick organism is susceptible to a certain medicine, we are to see whether the former exhibits symptoms characteristic of the latter, and its susceptibility to the latter conti- nues so long it continues to have the characteris- tic symptoms of the latter. Hence it is that in incurable casesy paucity or absolute ivant of symptoms indicates the existence of very little, or almost no susceptibility y and so even the best attempts to cure such cases end in failure in the end. This very fact clearly shows that medicines can do nothing where there is no susceptibility ; in other words, susceptible lity is the soul of Homeopathy. Homeopathy could render no good to humanity, had there been no principle of susceptibility in the back ground to aid and assist it. Homeopathy is the body, and susceptibility, the soul, just as the body exists and is useful so long the soul animates and

vitalises it, so also the existence of Homeopathy and its usefulness depend entirely on the anima- ting and vitalising powers of the principle of sus- ceptibility.

Let us now turn our attention to the cycle, turn or rotation of susceptibility whereon depends the continuity of action of a dose of medicine. The dose administered satisfies the susceptibility for the time being, and as the cycle of susceptibility is very short in acute cases, they usually call for frequent repetition of the dose. But the cycle of susceptibility being rather prolonged in chronic cases, the latter do not call for repetition of the dose, even with change of potency, as in acute cases. This cycle of susceptibility partly determines the curative action of the dose, though there are various other factors, both internal and external, that go a long way in the modifi- cation of the said determination. Thus, not only in the selection of the remedy, but also in the administration of the dose, the law of susceptibility is the prime mover and chief indicator. From what we have written, it will appear that susceptibility is not noly the soul of Homeopathy but the very fountain-head and mainspring of our life itself.

So far we have dealt with the Law of Susceptibility as it works in living beings, but the law being universal, its workings may

Law of Susceptibiutv*

also be found among natural objects with which, however, the natural philosopher, more than the Homeopathic physician, being directly concerned, we leave the workings of the law among natural phenomena in his hands and close the chapter.

physician above all men if not innocent should be anything else but a doctor : A bad man has only coarse, vicious ideas of the human heart.^'

We have taken the above from the writings of one of the early sages of our system, — writings which have made Homeopathy of to-day as it is, and without which we would still require some centuries to attain the position now held by us.

Homeopathy is true perception ; without a very clear and accurate perception of the human mind and heart, it is well-nigh impossible to have a perfect picture of any remedy as shadowed in the sick. A man is man because of his traits and features of the head and the heart, and apart from these, he is in no way superior to other creatures. Every man thinks from his own point of view. He judges things from his

J94

ETIOI.OOY IN HOMCEOPAYHY

own stand-point. In the world outside, he only finds a shadow of his inside world — a group of ideas and thoughts he is used to and possessed by. So, when going through a forest, an oil-man would see a good club for his mill in every tree he passes by, a wood-cutter will only notice dry and decayed trees he may cut and collect for fuels to earn his bread with, a hunter will automatically fix his gaze on games and beasts of prey he may feast his missiles with, a fowler will slyly look at a sleeping dove perching in a thick foliage, a lover will eagerly look out for a suitable bower to jolly the time over with his sweet-heart, a thief will be anxious to get the densest place he may safely conceal himself in against any possible pursuit, a hermit will readily find out a shady grove to sit under and be lost in divine contemplation, an artist will find himself quite lost in the infinite and un-utterable beauty and glory of Nature around him, a poet will only see the image of God depicted in all things fair and bright that meet his eyes, and so on. The forest is as it is and remains quite the same, but different men take it in a different light. Why ? Because, each of these men has got a certain universe of his own which is reflected on whatever things and objects happen to come before his sense of sight, and in proportion to the elevation of his inner world, the perception of his outer world is not only natural but quite

FrOFESSIONAIv Perrectiom

solemn and sublime. This is exactly the case with our brotherhood too.

. A physician has got to perceive the true nature of his patients, that is to say, he has to stud}” his patients in and out. Study of the inner side, namely, mind and heart, is the most difficult problem and without a correct study of the subjective side (loves and hates, likes and dislikes, desires and aversions, joys and griefs, thoughts and feelings, etc), no true image of the disease can be obtained and no true remedy ascertained. But, as we have fully explained above, true perception of nature, organic or inorganic, postulates perfection in the perceiver concerned, and but for such perfection, the perception is never likely to be truly representative of the things or states of things perceived. Our professional duties and responsibilities, dealing as we do with precious human lives, arc certainly too great to allow us to be ease-loving and easy-going. If we are to discharge our duties to the satisfaction of all concerned, — ourselves, our patients, our Maker and Master on high, we must exert our very best to make ourselves quite competent for the noble but extremely responsible post we hold. Mere book-learning does not constitute competency. Above all men, we physicians should have exemplary moral character, as without such a character, a world of theoretical

EtioivOgy ih Homeopathy

knowledge is of no use to us at all, as it does not help us in the least to collect the very materials so necessary for our work. Mere intellectual endowments are often unavailing, specially with us who handle spiritual agents only, viz,, disease (a spiritual, though malignant, force), diseased (vital force, a spiritual power) and our dynamic remedy (also a spiritual, here benignant, force). To fully and perfectly under- stand the nature and peculiarities of these spiritual powers, we must be idealistically minded and spiritually advanced to a degree. Otherwise, for want of true perception of the said spiritual agents, we shall often over-shoot or under-shoot the mark, to the great and irreparable injury of the patients concerned. With the expansion and development of our mind, therefore, we must have to expand, elevate and ennoble our heart as well, to such an extent as may enable us to have infinite love and sympathy for our sutfering sisters and brothers, and to consider their sufferings as our own, as only in this latter view we can not only realise the gravity and seriousness of such sufferings but also perceive their true nature, and prescribe the appropriate remedy for the speedy removal thereof. Only when we can think the thoughts, and feel the feelings of our patients, we have a true and representative perception of their thoughts and feelings, so essentially necessary to meet the requirements of our Simillimum.

. Our medicinal agents are all spiritual, and as such they are very deadly weapons. So, they should be very carefully used. Our friends of the old school, in their ignorance of the true nature of our remedies, are often heard to say that our medicines, if they do no good, will at least do no harm, and this idea also finds favour to some extent with some of the half- educated and ill-educated of our school. Such ideas however are entirely wrong. If a force, when rightly used, can do good, there is no doubt that it can, when wrongly used, do harm as well. If the latter were not the case, the former would have also been quite impossible. In fact, this was exactly the view-point of Dr. Kent when he wrote : “If our medicines were not powerful enough to kill folks, they would not be powerful enough to cure sick folks. It is well for you to realise that you are deal- ing with razors when dealing with high potencies. I would rather be in a room with a dozen Negroes slashing with razors than in the hands of an ignorant prescriber of high potencies. They are means of tremendous harm, as well as of tremendous good^^^ — Materia Medica, p. 543. These noble remarks of Dr. Kfent clearly show how undesirable it is for us to practise Homeopathy without* being

fully competent for it. His noble self would rather prefer to be cut to pieces by a dozen Negroes with a dozen sharp razors in hand than to be treated by an incompetent (and so ignorant) Homoeopath. Thus, he means to say that an incompetent Homoeopath is very likely to destroy human life more ruthlessly than the most barbarous of the human race, with their utmost atrocity, can. Can there be any more scathing condemnation and poignant indictment levelled against the incompetent of our brotherhood ?

In view ol the above, we must respectfully submit that we shall be entirely failing in our duty to ourselves, to our patients and to our God if we do not care to be fully competent for our post but nevertheless continue to hold it on and on.

Man is not so much overpowered by want as by sickness and consequent suffering. Privation and want do, of course, take away a great deal of his energy and working power, but seldom make him absolutely prostrated and confined to bed. If we look to the pages of history, we see that in the early stages of civilisation, his needs and wants were very few, as he lived after Nature and the present-day artificialities were entirely unknown to him. As such, the changes of weather and of season failed to make any perceptible impression on him and he could easily bear even the furies of the elements. He was used to all varieties of hardship, and his sinewy muscles and powerful nerves enabled him to do the har- dest work, undaunted and unwearied. The blessings of health, — cheerful readiness to do any kind of mental or physical labour, good appetite, sound sleep and, above all, perfect equanimity of mind, — were all his own. Thoughts and anxieties that eat into our very vitals and canker away our life-blood, were almost unknown to him. He could find around him and in the various aspects and departments of Nature, end- less means for his comfort and ease, joy and

gratification. The murmur of leaves, the blossoming of flowers, the singing of birds, the rising and setting of celestial bodies, — each of these could open up to him a storehouse of infinite joy, and his very heart danced and kept tune with the music of the spheres. Such was, in short, the life of our fore-father of the pre-historic age.

From a careful analysis of the above, it will appear that our itinerary forefather of the forest lived a life of perfect health, and his hedonistic feelings of joy and pleasure naturally flowed out of his internal harmony and accord. In fact, to strain at joy, or to strive after pleasure, is ipso facto an absurdity, or a contradiction in terms. Our joys and pleasures are really the result of the sweet and sonorous music of our internal parts, and whenever the tiniest string of the instrument is out of tunc, the h^irmony is gone with the resul- tant hedonistic feelings.

To-day, we live in cities and towns, and many of us, with the silver spoon in our mouth. But then, we are always anxious, always uneasy, always uncomfortable. We multiply our fanciful needs and wants, and nothing on earth can remove such wants and make us happy.

These imaginary wants are really the results of the increasing sickness of our mind which has now been only a diseased shadow of its original healthful state. This dissatisfactory state of things, this anxious hankering for some unknown object of pleasure, this constant uneasiness born of nonful- filment of some morbid expectation, — this in itself a great mental malady which, conjoined with its full-fledged expression in the physical counter- part, has made human life of date rather a curse than a blessing. We arc sick hi mhid frrst, then in body ^ and if we are to radically remove, and not merely to suppress, our physical ailments, unnatural morbidity of the patient’s mind should receive the physician’s foremost attention. In other words, the physician’s attempt and endeavour to cure his patient will succeed in as much as he will be able to put his patient^s mind in order. Hence our Master’s peremptory order to give first place to the mental symptoms in the selection of a drug.

The curative powers of our drugs, appro- priately selected with special reference to the said mental symptoms, will, in due course, not only remove the outward signs and symptoms of the disease-force within, but will gradually destroy the very disease-force itself that, by disturbing the normal functioning of the vital force, deranged the natural functions of body and mind. Released and undisturbed vital-force with its normal functioning will restore physical and mental functions to their natural state, and free and natural thinking will be the result. With the restoration of the thinking powers to their naive normal state, people will naturally lead a life of morality and discipline^ and sickness

and suffering will cease to torment. In this connection we give below an extract from the July 1939 issue of ‘‘Homeopathy’^ — the Organ Of the British Homeopathic Association, and it will speak for itself

“As stated above, the subjective symptoms play a great part in the right choice of a drug, and it is claimed for Homoeopaphy that it can set right mental aberrations. Let us see the logical results of this claim. If a child is looked after by a Homoeopath from the first entry into this world, it cannot be below par in its ph 3 ^- sique or intellect. The problems of idiocy and lunacy are solved. If a case of suspected idiocy or lunacy gets into the care of a Homoeopath at its inception, the mental defect would be promptly checked and mental equilibrium restored to nor- mal. There arc several cases of children exhibi- ting a tendency to tell a lie, thieve, or to be cruel to their neighbours or to animals or birds. These abnormal idiosyncracies can well be brought under control in the early life and when the child grows into a man, his character would in no way be below the average. So, intellect and character can both be developed by havuig re- course to Homeopathic treatment. Nervousness and sensitiveness can be replaced by grit and stamina to stand the ordinary shock of life. So, national characters and national stamina can both improve and tvith the improvement in character the problem of crime also is solved as criminal tendencies can be brought under control. It has been rightly said by the very Rev. W. R. Inge, D. D., thus : ^^Abnor- 7nal proclivities are often more like disease than crimed (The italics are ours.) ,

It will appear from the foregoing that the existing mundane misery is due absolutely to the present morbid mental functions of our race^ and the only means to the removal of such misery may be said to consist in the rectification of the said morbid psychological process. Of all the “pathies’^ so far known, antecedent to the inven- tion of our system of cure with its Divine Law of Similia, the utter inability of Heteropathy to correct and cure morbid mental states was apparently acknowledged even by Shakespeare, the great master of human psychology, whose intuitive genius guided him to the utterance when he said, -‘^Physician, can’st thou not minister to the mind diseased It goes without saying that the dominant school from their materialistic standpoint and use of material and massive doses can scarcely be expected to ‘^minister to the mind diseased,^’ as action and reaction are possible only between things of the same category and not of different ones. Matter can act on a material entity and not on a spiritual one. But as the physician’s first and foremost professional duty is to remove the morbidity of a spiritual substance, if he is to cure his patients at all, he shall

certainly be in the wide sea without a chart or compass if he is given only a number of material medicinal agents to assist him in the discharge of his said duty. It will now be quite clear why our Master thought of potentising or

{Spiritualising these medicinal agents.

Even the ancient Ayurvedic and Unani systems are satisfied with material massive doses. No doubt, in some instances, they use molecular, atomised or rarefied doses, but these even are material and not spiritual. As such,

the champions of these schools too, with

material medicinal agents at their call, are ill able to cure the mental sickness of the world and thereby to reduce the mundane

misery in question. Hydropathy and other

fanciful “pathies” of date share the same fate.

“The spiritual power of medicine acts not by quantity but by potentiality and quality”, — this is a grand declaration of our Master and may be said to be the foundation stone of our

system. Of all the “pathies” of date, it is

Homeopathy only that handles spiritual medi- cinal agents, and as such, it is Homeopathy only that can really and effectively “minister to the mind diseased,” — the pressing necessity of the day. If the world is to be rid of its present misery, let its intelligent but idealistic section plunge deep into the infinite abyss of Homeopathy, collect the precious

Mundane Misery and the… 305

gems an^ jewels scattered therein and freely distribute same, right and left, with a catholi- , city of heart that knows no difference in caste, creed, and colour, or wealth and poverty. In other but simple words, we take the liberty to say that through spread of true Hahnemannian Homeopathy (and not the mixed mongrelism that is trying in vain to keep pace with us), among the classes and the masses all over the world may, in the writer' s humble opinion, gradually reduce and minimise the intolerable burden of misery the world is now groaning under.

Before concluding, the writer humbly appeals to his professional brothers and sisters to be good enough to pay their most serious attention to this all important matter and do their utmost to spread true Hahnemannian Homoeo- pathy as much and as far as they possibly can.

Homeopathy is a matter of digestion, of assimilation, of realisation. It is a matter of thought of contemplation, of selfrdevotion. It is a matter of love and sympathy, of fellow-feeling and brother-hood. Being based on Nature and Her Law, it is a Nature-study, — study of human nature through and through. Naturally, the physician must have an infinite amount of love and sypathy for his patients, if he is to success- fully study their nature to meet the require- ments of his science and art, of his Simillimum. Consequently, he must be a man of keen intel- lect, with purity of mind and nobility of heart. He must be simple and sincere to the letter. His must be a life of plain living and high thinking, dedicated to the furtherance of his professional interest, — the removal of. the sickness and suffering of his patients. As such, he must live, move and have his existence in Honiceo- pathy and Homeopathy alone. It must be his thought by day, and dream at night, — nay, he must so dive deep into the infinite abyss of Homeopathy that he must be lost in it. In other words, he must forget his individual existence and its needs and wants to satisfy his ever-incr easing desire for a thorough knowledge and perfect study of this Divine science and art of healing so that he may cure his patients *quickly\ and *gently^, and thereby remove their distress and misery. Having to deal only with simple substances, purely spiritual in nature, namely, the trinity of forces,- — the vital force, the disease-force and the medicinal force, he must be a perfect Idealist (Theist or Pan-theist) so far as his morality and religion are concerned, as Materialism and Homccopathy, as we have very clearly explained in these pages, go ill together, — nay, are at daggers drawn. As all ‘life and light’ we see around us owe their origin and existence to God, man, the best and highest of all living existence, may be said to be the physical embodi- ment of Divine essence, and only in this view of humanit3” that the physician can consider his patients^ sickness and suflering as his own, and thereby be in a position to study them full^” and remove them quickly. In the mind of a true physician, with such an exalted avocation, the question of gain or loss should never loom large but his primary duty is and should ever be the removal of his patients' suffering by mring their sickness, where curable, or palliating it for an euthanasia, where incurable. Even in cases where the poverty of his patients precludes the possibi- lity of any pecuniary gain, the inward satisfac- tion of doing a good deed, of removing the pains and aches of a poor human sufferer, a brother or a sister, a son or a daughter, will be his ample reward, — nay, to put it in the poetic imagery of Sir E. Dyer, —

“It far exceeds all earthly bliss

Moreover, such a good deed, though quite trifling in itself, has its own peculiar effulgence th,at outlasts and outshines many a dark and dismal night, as Shakespeare puts it : —

“How far that little candle throws his beams !

So shines a good deed in a naughty world/’ There is another thing yet we have to lay our emphasis on : In view of the usual defects, draw- backs and imperfections of finite beings, we physicians, however profou|id and scholarly may be our medical knowledge and attainments, should, whenever handling a case, no matter simple or complicated, acute or chronic, always humbly invoke the invaluable aid and assistance of His guiding hand in the selection of the Simillimum and we are sure such an attitude on the phy- sicians’ part can not but crown their efforts with success. If we are seriously bent upon doing good to humanity, irrespective of any personal gain and with this oVjject in view we implore His unerring guidance, our hand can not but be IBs baud in administering the appropriate remedy to cure the sick and so to relieve their suffering, I am sure if my professional brothers and sisters are pleased to follow these humble suggestions, they will fully realise the truth of these remarks, as my poor self has often done throughout his life.

“Now the labourer’s task is o’er :

Father, in Thy gracious keeping Leave we now Thy servant sleeping.”