British Homoeopathic Journal 57

to these topics, but without any real evidence to subs tan t ia te the hypo these s be ing advanced. The theory is applied to asthma, generalised fever and the parasitic disease, trichinosis.

The 86 pages of text (plus references and an index) were easy and enjoyable to read. On the back cover the promotional material claims that 'this book is an outcome of many years of painstaking research on high dilution pharmacology and homoeopathy ' . Despite this attestation, there are no substantially novel theories presented. We are still left with the problem of explaining - and proving - how homoeopathy works. However, the book does provide a number of interesting ideas that complement our existing knowledge. There are also some useful references.

STEVEN KAYNE

In Search of the Later Hahnemann. Rima Handley. Beaconsfield: Beaconsfield Publishers 1997. s ISBN 0-906584-35-3 Paperback 235 pp. Most students of homoeopathy are familiar with the outline of Hahnemann's life and know that in 1834, in his 79th year, Hahnemann made a surprising second marriage, to a young Frenchwoman called Melanie d'Hervilly. At this time he was living in semi-seclusion in the little dukedom of Krthen, but soon afterwards he went with his wife to Paris, where he quickly establ ished a successful and fashionable practice. However, it is not so widely realised that the homoeopathy he was practising at this time differed in important respects from what had gone before. One reason for this relative unfamiliarity with Hahnemann's later thought may be the predominance of Kent's view of homoeopathy. Kent died in 1916, but the sixth edition of The Organon, written while Hahnemann was in Paris, did not come to light until 1923; thus Kent was familiar with the fifth edition and based his practice on that, but the sixth edition differs in impor- tant respects from the fifth. Rima Handley has therefore performed an important service to homoeopathy by making this account of Hahnemann ' s late phase available to the homoeopathic community.

The publication of the sixth edition of The Organon was due to Hahnemann ' s chief biographer, Richard Haehl. Shortly after this Haehl died, leaving a vast amount of material

unedited and unpublished. Fortunately, it survived the Second World War and has been preserved in a collection in Stuttgart. It appears to be of unparalleled importance for homoeopathy. There are, for example, 54 thick volumes containing the records of most of the patients treated by Hahnemann since 1801; this material is almost unknown though a few preliminary articles have appeared in German. Handley's book deals with only that part of the a rch ives which re la tes to Hahnemann's Paris period, but though it is fairly brief this is a scholarly study well supported by notes and references. Handley is a historian by training and her general approach creates a feeling of confidence in the reader that she has got her facts right. I was therefore intr igued to find Melanie referred to as a Marquise; I have not seen this appellation applied to her previously and it is a pity that Handley does not elaborate on it.

We often hear or read references to some- thing called 'classical homoeopathy'. This is usually taken to be synonymous with Kentian homoeopathy (reliance on the single dose, emphasis on the use of 'mentals' in prescribing, and so on). Anyone who has read the sixth edition of The Organon will already know that Hahnemann himself had departed con- siderably from this way of practising at the end of his life, and this book will make that even clearer. There is of course no mention of 'constitutional prescribing', which is a post- Hahnemannian innovation, but it is perhaps more surprising to find that there is nothing much about trying to cover the totality of the symptoms. Instead, Hahnemann lays great emphasis on the psora theory; almost all his patients are prescribed sulphur and some get only sulphur. Moreover, they don't get single doses, but prolonged courses of repeated daily doses. Usually the potency of successive doses is slightly altered by a technique similar to that known today as 'plussing'. The LM potencies are also used extensively, and we see Hahnemann just beginning to experiment with nosodes, though not the ones which we are familiar with today; he even tries some isopathic remedies.

For Hahnemann at this stage of his career, psora is virtually the key to disease and its treatment. Handley rightly identifies the theory as based on the notion of infection. Psora is thus in p r inc ip le an acqu i red d isease ,

58 Volume 87, January 1998

although there is a glancing reference in a note in the sixth edition of The Organon which hints at the notion that psora might be inherited. It was later homoeopaths, especially in the USA, who made the question of inheri- tance an integral part of the theory. As Handley correctly remarks, 'Lamarckian ' ideas of heredity were current at this time and it is a historical anachronism to project our own unders tanding of heredi ty onto Hahnemann.

One of the ways in which homoeopathy differs from mainst ream medicine is the extent to which it is h is tor ica l ly based. Newcomers are genera l ly told that it is founded on the provings and on Hahnemann's writings. This is at best a half-truth; it would be more exact to say that it is founded on what various writers have said about these things. Few modern homoeopaths read the original proving material and The Organon, it has to be said, is not l ight reading. Nevertheless, I have long been convinced that it is impossible to understand homoeopa- thy in depth unless one does make the effort to come to grips with its historical foundations. I should therefore say that this book will be essential reading for any serious student of the subject. Handley is to be congratulated on making this material available in a scholarly but readable form. I hope that she will return to the Stuttgart archives to shed further light on the earlier development of homoeopathy.

ANTHONY CAMPBELL

Homeopathy for Musculoskeletal Healing. Asa Hershoff. Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books. $20. ISBN 1-55643-237-2 Paperback 314 pp. The author of Homeopathy for Musculoskeletal Healing is a naturopath and chiropracter currently living in Santa Monica, California. The purpose of the book is to gather and consolidate knowledge and give practical guidance for the treatment of musculoskeletal problems from the homoeopathic literature. Each r emedy d iscussed in the text was researched in more than 150 books. Inevitably, from such a large data source, there were found to be differences in opinion and the author has tried to balance this by providing accurate and complete information. In addition, traditional styles of describing remedies have been updated with modem terminology and

physiology wherever possible. Musculoskeletal problems are extremely

common and result in pain and dysfunction which impinge upon the lives of many ordinary people, resulting in significant reduction in quality of life. Homoeopathy offers a safe and valuable contribution towards treatment.

The book is divided into several sections, the first of which is concerned with an introduction, suitable for the beginner in homoeopathy, which describes the principles of homoeopathy. The presentation, which takes up approximately 60 pages, is fairly standard in content and is nicely illustrated with line drawings and charts.

The following section is titled 'Condition Charts' which are grouped into General Topics, The Spine, The Extremities, Arthritis and Headache. There are 31 charts in all, covering types of pain and general symptoms together with specific problems. Much use is made of line drawings to illustrate specific problems, together with clear lists of selected remedies associated with relevant symptoms, signs and modalities. Problems are summarised, usually in one paragraph, and really require some pre-existing background knowledge of mus- culoskeletal disorders. This is followed by a discussion of suggested remedies which is expanded in the line diagrams. The final part includes an unusual sub-heading of 'Body Language' which forms a significant section of the chart. It includes interpretations of posture with linguistic associations such as 'shoulders droop with failure and depression' and 'shoul- der problems can mean a sense of impotency, disempowerment, feeling beaten; unable to raise a hand to help oneself or pull oneself up'.

The next section of the book is a Materia Medica consisting of 61 remedies. Headings include key-notes, musculoskeletal symptoms, symptom profiles, dosage and clinical condi- tions. It includes most of the polycres ts together with those remedies frequently used for specific musculoskeletal problems. The majori ty of remedies are covered in two pages and are inevitably fairly brief so that an experienced practitioner would need to have more comprehensive references to hand. Nevertheless, they form concise and very practical guides which would be of particular value for the beginner.

The final major section, the Therapeutic Guide, is the equivalent of a short repertory.