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Common themes to the animals are snakes and creatures of the sea. Amongst the snakes or Ophidians, the similarities of symptoms make it hard to distinguish Lachesis, Elaps and Crotalus.
Typically, violence and intensity of action characterize symptoms of animal poisons. This is associated with diseases of destructive nature, disturbed nervous conditions, inflammations and fevers. They produce mental symptoms of high emotional state tending to produce the description of animal intensity.
Minerals haven’t taken off as much as other groupings. Maybe it’s because of the previous popularity of Schussler’s cell salts during the first part of the century with the related interest in mineral water spas and sanatoriums.
Dividing the mineral kingdom up into two electrically charged parts as Farrington did produces some insights about the action of the mineral remedies. One grouping considered more positive chemically are conductors of heat while the negatively charged ones are conductors of light. The positive remedies act downwards on the body throughout the day while the negative ones start say in the bowels in the morning and work their way up the body to the chest in the afternoon. Sulph might have a morning diarrhea and increasing asthma in the afternoon while many of the salts (Kali) have worse chest symptoms in the late morning and bowel problems in the afternoon.
People group remedies into plant families to use a successful model of analysis that hopefully will return a deeper understanding of the remedies. Botanically, those remedies that have medicinal value are found in similar groups. That can lead to the use and better understanding of a smaller remedy or possibly a new remedy.
The study of the vegetable kingdom also involves to some extent the study of the mineral kingdom because many of the medicinal properties of plants owe their existence to substance derived from the minerals in the soil in which they grow. The principal effects of some of the grasses are the result of the large quantity of Silica they contain. 99% of the effects of Laurocerasus come from hydrocyanic acid.
It is interesting that substances found in the plant kingdom as well as the animal kingdom are more powerful in the animal kingdom. The Colorado potato bug has more powerful Solanine than does the potato. And it is also true that minerals are more potent when they are taken up into the plant kingdom such as with Laur.
Taking plant family study to a new level, ex-hippie David Warkentin and Asa Hershoff also believe that plant family study can increase the accuracy of your view of disease and you can gain a deeper understanding of the spiritual human journey. It is with this evangelical zeal that David has included botanical families into MacRepertory, his computerized repertory program.
Thought question: Check and see if Laurocerasus and Hydrocynanicum acidum do have the same symptom picture. What are the differences? Could they be attributed to lack of a thorough proving?
Superorder |
– anae |
Aralianae |
Order |
– ales |
Apiales |
Family |
– aceae |
Apiaceae |
Subfamily |
– oideae |
Apoideae |
Tribe |
– eae |
Apieae |
Genus |
1st word |
Apium |
Species |
2nd word |
graveolens |
This botanical family was recently reclassified but most homeopaths still use Umbelliferae as the family name. It is present with 33 members in our materia medica and is probably the one family with the most homeopathic remedies after the Ranunculaceae (with 43 members). The family got its name from the umbrella shaped flowering stand, which is common to all its members.
There is a surprisingly large number of plants in this family which are used as foods or spice such as carrots, parsley, parsnip, celery, and fennel. It’s probably the family with the largest number of food plants and spices in homeopathy. We’ve heard of the big ones like Cicuta and Conium but the rest could be just as valuable.
In physiological terms, these plants have a strong action on the nervous system sometimes producing hysteria. They also affect the glands producing engorgement or atrophy. All of them act on the mucous membranes producing cold-like symptoms and some of them act upon the skin to develop pustular eruptions. According to Massimo Mangialavori who has done seminars recently on this family, superstition is a common theme to all Umbelliferae. According to Hershoff and Warkentin, the themes are stimulation, withdrawal and conflict.
Thought question: Can you select a remedy from the materia medica that does not involve one of the mental themes mentioned for the Umbelliferae family (superstition, stimulation, withdrawal or conflict) ?
Nosodes are produced from diseased tissue or discharges, many of which have been demonstrated to possess medicinal properties. Some nosodes are derived from the diseases of animals and others from plants. Of course, these remedies are not given in low potencies. Nor are the nosodes given as an isopathic remedy e.g. Syphilinum to the syphilitic. Other common nosodes are Pyrogenium and Psorinum.
During the middle of the century, a group of nosodes called bowel nosodes gained some popularity and still is used by a small group of people. Bowel nosodes are made from cultures of the bowel intestinal flora as found in human fecal material. Dr. Edward Bach, a bacteriologist who also created the Bach Flower Remedies, Dr. John and Elizabeth Patterson, and Dr. F.J. Wheeler introduced the bowel nosodes into homeopathic practice in the 1930s.
Sarcodes are remedies made from healthy glandular or tissue extract and are not popularly accepted since they are assumed to act to restore the normal functioning of the respective tissue or organ. Pharmacies carrying sarcodes advertise organotherapy. Hering advocated the use of sarcodes in 1834 but C.E. Brown-Sequard conducted the first important research.
Thought question: How do vaccines differ from nosodes?
There are those remedies that don’t fit into any category above and generally don’t get talked about much. But if you look you can find sunlight, magnetism – both north and south poles – and X-rays. The one I’m waiting for is cell phone radio waves.
In 1853, Adolph Teste created a systematic ordering of the materia medica as was known then according to the similarities he saw in their symptom picture. For instance, his Group I was based on Arnica and included Ledum, Croton tiglium, Ferrum magnet., Rhus tox, and Spigelia. This provided a foundation for drug relationships later on. According to Clarke, Arnica is similar to Acon, Am-c, Crot, Ars, Bapt, Bell, Bry, Cham, Chi, Eup, Calend, Hep, Hyper, Ham, Ipec, Led, Merc, Puls, Ran-s, Rho, Ruta, Staph, Sil, Symph, Sul, Sul-ac, and Ver.
