29 December Saturday
Bedtime Story
Understanding Origins of Homeopathy
Do you know what the foundational doctrine
behind homeopathy is?
It is “simila similibus curentur” which is
a Latin for “let similar things be taken care of by similar things” or to be
more general (and vague) ‘like cures like’.
Even on translation this did not made sense
to me.
On reading further about it I came to the understanding
that the practitioners of homeopathy believe that if any substance found in
nature on consumption can evoke the group of symptoms characteristic of a
specific disease then it is liable to cure it as well.
What is the logic and rational behind this
wonderful and very appealing idea I can’t say but then I have realized that in
matters of faith lack of logic works in its favor.
Well let us forget about the treatment part
of homeopathy and let us explore how this system explains origins and
mechanisms of diseases.
The founder of this so called medical
science, a chap by the name of Hahnemann, pinned the underlying cause of all
diseases to be ‘miasms’.
Now what on earth are these miasms?
Well, I have no idea but the author calls
it by an alternative name of “infectious principles” which perhaps he may be
referring to microbes unknowingly.
I must admit that we must not be too hard
on Hahnemann simply because at the time when he was a practicing physician
(1781 in Mansfeld, Saxony) microbes were barely known as medically significant
entities.
Yes, I accept that the Dutch businessman
Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek had documented “animalcules” via his correspondences to
the Royal Society starting from 1673.
But it was only much later in 1876 that
Robert Koch experimentally established microorganism as the causality of
infectious diseases.
The kind of medical procedures that
Hahnemann was taught to treat diseases was bloodletting done either directly by
physicians with the aid of unsterile sharp instruments or indirectly using
leeches in the belief that toxic “humours” were being drained out in this
process.
You would laugh at it today but believe me
dear apes there is no shortage of humans who believe in such kind of toxins and
their riddance from bodies as an important component of staying healthy (think
of billions spent on health spas, steam saunas and massage parlors).
Even though William Harvey disproved the
efficacy and the basis of this treatment as early as in 1628 and yet even as
late as in 1838 lecturers of the Royal College of Physicians continued to hold
it in high esteem.
One of them wrote, “Blood-letting is a
remedy which, when judiciously employed, it is hardly possible to eliminate too
highly.”
Other physicians resisted discarding the
idea saying “we are not prepared to discard therapies validated by both
tradition and their own experience on account of somebody else’s numbers.”
Stay tuned to the voice of an
average story storytelling chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night Mon Ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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