Homeopathy before Hahnemann

Vitalism is the science, religious philosophy, and doctrine which states that life is unique and possesses properties in some manner above and beyond its physics and chemistry. We struggle with the language of Hahnemann because the vitalistic language was born without any modern science intervention by which we chart the medical course. It was well-structured in the nineteenth century when most classical homeopaths were writing but had been. And it is one of the major sources of contention that we live with that by defending homeopathic philosophy we must defend the vitalist tradition or create a more mechanistic Darwinian model of component interaction.

The vital force was a result of not knowing what the nature of living systems was. The germination of a seed or the flower of a plant was attributed to divine intervention. Before the advance of celestial mechanics where we knew how the clockwork of the universe was put together, a ghostly mainspring was invented called the “vital force.” The vital force has affinities in astrology, alchemy and the traditional sciences and magics. The attraction to identify homeopathy with healing through general energy fields and vibrational patterns is based out of a biological vitalist tradition. That tradition has always denied any connection with astral planes or occult beliefs. It has always simply been a chemistry of life that was not part of our library of inorganic chemical knowledge.

Another style of vitalism, that of the hermetic vitalist, borrows from any new information in traditional science and blends it through occult associations derived through intuition and deep thought. The record of associations are carefully documented and authorities ascribed. Acupuncture texts that associate remedies with meridians and texts like Robin Murphy’s Materia Medica that combine astrological signs and remedies are some of the more recent examples of this. New associations such as those in quantum physics are borrowed for a possible glimpse of truth into the nature of cure in a physical remedy. William A. Tiller in the foreword to Vithoulkas’ The Science of Homeopathy describes the nature of the curative force in remedies as the levitational force arising out of the etheric substance “postulated to manifest itself in the negative space/time frame.” 

The idea of the individualized curative substance has persisted since Paracelcus who believed that it was the essence of the substance. He held that each disease required a special curative essence and that some could be used for any disease. We owe remedies such as sulfur, calomel, copper, arsenic and lead to Paracelcus who gathered much of his information from the streets in contrast to the medical establishment.

There have always been two distinct styles of medicine, that of the Empiricist and that of the Rationalist. Almost all of what we know about medicine today is grouped under the Rationalist tradition which is based on the accumulation of anatomical and pharmacological knowledge. It’s important as a Rationalist to know the mechanisms of bodily functions, chemical solutions to toxic states, and ways to arouse sluggish systems. When surgery was developed, surgeons were able to eliminate the diseased tissue itself. The Rationalist desires a general system based on all of the successful elements of past treatments.

The Empiricist, however, has nothing but individually unique situations to apply his art to. They believe that anything worth learning about the disease state can be observed from the person themselves. There are no uniform categories of disease here. Empiricists do not have to be vitalists though, nor do they need to share their idea of the vital force.

Hippocrates chronicled the medical practices of the day and included what we call the Law of Similars. This was prescribing a remedy whose effects on a healthy person would match those of the sick person. The doctor must choose the right remedy and moment or otherwise the cure would not inspire the curative action. The doctor interceded in behalf of the vital force by prescribing hot baths for those with fevers, for instance, which would encourage the event that was happening anyway. It did not assume any quality about the disease that was in progress and establish a repeatable process.

Opposing this in the Rationalist tradition which arose from a later group of physicians historically associated with the Cnidians, was the treatment that would prescribe a cold bath in order to lower the temperature of the patient with a fever. Humoral remedies were easily prescribed this way. Purgatives, sweating, emetics, and bloodletting were used to eliminate the disease elements depending on how the disease was perceived.

Galen proceeded from theory to observation as a Rationalist but was considered an Empiricist by practice. In his writings he was able to transfer the idea of the vital force and contain it within the individual organs expressed by the humors. He attempted to provide a general theory but failed and fell back on the unity of the vital force instead. Galen’s synthesis has given modern medical thought its perception that the organs are the site of the important bodily processes. It has also converted a number of alternative medical systems to that view.