2. DISEASE CLASSIFICATION
○ In the early seventeenth century the
C.Linnæus Classified-- FLORA
○ In 1817 and 1818 Cuvier Classified
--- animal life into four great
kingdoms.
○ A contemporary of Cuvier was
Samuel Hahnemann
3. ○ At that period, disease was known only
by a few named diseases, with no
relationship or method of classification.
○ Hahnemann set himself to this task,
bringing his logical, scientific mind to
bear on the situation
○ He made the first classification of
diseases that had ever been
attempted.
4. ○ Hahnemann classified disease into four great
divisions.
○ The first --- all diseases that might spring
from mechanical and exterior sources; this
included fractures, strains, indiscretions of
diet, external poisons such as fumes or
noxious plants, extremes of thermic
conditions such as frostbite or sunstroke, and
all trade diseases. This class embraced
conditions which are largely self-curative in
that they may be rectified by regulating
environment and habits.
5. ○ Hahnemann was especially struck with the course
of non-venereal diseases.
○ Hahnemann found himself treating seemingly
acute conditions with apparent success
○ cases would return with a recurrence of
symptoms at intervals.
○ Considerable study of these cases convinced
Hahnemann that there was some underlying
condition which was the mainspring of these
recurrent manifestations and which was causing
more or less gradually a retrograde condition,
although the acute manifestations were apparently
met and conquered by the homoeopathic remedy.
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6. ○ It occurred to him that he was
treating in these acute conditions
only a part of the real disease;
otherwise the disease would have
become completely and permanently
cured by the administration of the
simillimum.
7. ○ In his study of disease, he separated
all disease conditions into the four
great groups before mentioned. The
mechanical, conditions were easily
detected and classified.
○ To the three remaining groups
Hahnemann gave the term miasms.
8. ○ A miasm is defined as polluting
exhalations or malarial poisons.
○ Residual poisons of syphilis and
gonorrhoea , according to
Hahnemann's classification, the
miasms of syphilis and sycosis,
might better be termed the stigmata
of syphilis and gonorrhoea.
9. ○ The effect of either virus affecting
the primordial cell casts a stigma or
blight upon the developing cell that
is nearly ineffaceable. The same
stigma may be laid upon the
constitution of an individual by
acquiring the disease, if the virus is
not thoroughly eradicated from the
system.
10. ○ The word sycosis, coming from the Greek word
meaning fig
○ Modern medical dictionary : Hahnemann's term for
the constitutional effects of the gonorrhoeal virus.
○ One of the accepted definitions of the word sycosis
is that which Hahnemann had in mind, and which
he called alternatively the fig wart disease.
○ At first he classed these under one head, but later
divided the venereal miasms into two
classifications, syphilis and sycosis, or gonorrhoea.
11. ○ Hahnemann traced these hitherto
unclassified diseases, and gave to them the
name of psora. This word psora, which
Hahnemann used to denote the third great
miasm, is defined by the modern medical
dictionary as follows :
○ 1. Scabies. 2. Psoriasis. 3. Hahnemann's
term for the "itch dyscrasia", defined as the
parent of all chronic diseases - skin diseases,
neoplasms, insanity, etc.; it was similar to,
though of more extended application than,
the "herpeti diathesis" of French writers. And
the definition adds: p. leprosa, psoriasis.
12. ○ Funk and Wagnall's Dictionary gives: Psora. 1.
Pathol. The itch, or some such similar skin
disease. 2. The itch mite.
○ The derivation is Latin and Greek, but it is
rather Hebraic in origin, coming through the
Greek and Latin, the original word being
tsorat.
○ Interpretation of this Hebrew word .Tsorat: A
groove,a fault; a pollution; a stigma; often
applied to leprous manifestations and to the
great plagues. It is the meaning of the original
Hebrew word that we must regard as the basis
for the term covering this constitutional defect.
13. ○ A groove, a fault. . . . so-called deficiency
diseases ,the lack of certain elements in the
system, or the inability to assimilate them
from foods, is the great common denominator
of almost all the so-called psoric conditions,
plus a lack of balance in the equilibrium of
health that manifests through a
hypersensitivity of impressions - functional
disturbances and the patient's recognizance
of disturbance that varies from consciousness
to neuroses
14. ○ Hahnemann became convinced that
these recurring symptoms owed their
existence to this chronic miasm which
he called psora, and that of itself this
condition could never be cured. While
the acute manifestations may subside
and be quiescent for a considerable
period, the chronic state that causes the
acute eruption of symptoms never dies
until it is met with the similar remedy.
15. ○ Hahnemann found that this form of
disease was first made manifest on
the skin, as a skin infection or
eruption; this was its natural place,
but here the natural manifestation is
susceptible of suppression by many
forms of treatment.
16. ○ It is on the surface that it naturally
thrives and here it will do the least
harm. By suppression this
constitutional state becomes more
manifest in a train of distressing
symptoms, so long as the skin
manifestation is quiescent, and may
affect any part of the body
17. ○ It is characteristic of the skin in these
conditions that there is considerable
itching, for psoric conditions always
itch. In fact, not only was psora
considered the mother of all diseases,
but it might well have been
considered as the source of almost all
subjective symptoms, especially
those described by the patient
"sensation as if".
18. ○ Although fundamental miasms have their
period of remission, latent states lasting
perhaps for years without showing any
manifestations, some sudden crisis in the
history of the individual may rouse them to
sudden eruption and the patient will become
severely disturbed in health. These crises
may be in the form of accidents, exposure,
some slight infection, indiscretions of diet or
hygiene, some apparently simple thing out
of all proportion to the serious
consequences ----almost all of those grave
states roused by a seemingly slight cause.
19. ○ Only the dynamic form of the similar
remedy can possibly be the
simillimum for these cases, since
these chronic conditions are so
closely knit with every fibre of the
patient's being that they have
influenced his innermost dynamis.
20. LATENT PSORA
○ The vital energy often places the psoric
poison in a latent state, where it may lie
for a long period, sometimes for years,
without manifesting much disturbance.
○ This acute manifestation may be due to
any one of many different causes; it
may be due to an accident, to an
exposure, or to any other seemingly
slight cause;
21. ○ One of the strongest characteristics
of psora in its latent state is the
mental condition.
44. ○ These elements which, in simple
form or combined, are essentially
constructive, to demonstrate the
significance of our hypothesis that
Psora, and Deficiency in properly
balanced essentials, are one and the
same;
45. ○ some essential failure of the system
to assimilate the necessary
constructive materials that provides
the background of the so-called
psoric taint;
46. ○ Mg – convulsions
○ Co & Ni -- diabetes
○ Mn – sterility in male & loss of
mother –love in female
47. ○ It is not the overfeeding or gross
starvation of any element that
provides us with the so-called psoric
problem, but the subtle functional
disturbance with many sensations.
48. ○ It is not necessary to compare the
symptomatology of many of our
remedies with the body elements to
bear out our contention that the
problems of psora and deficiency are
closely related.
