Materia medica

Materia Medica (from Latin materia = substance, subject and medicus = healing, healing, " healing substance ") is a historical term for the study of the drug, which was originally created by Pedanios Dioscorides. In his work " De Materia Medica " plants are described and illustrated, which are designed to benefit the mind and body of man. Today the term is used in homeopathy. He called there on the one hand, the homeopathic materia medica as a whole, on the other hand, individual works in this field.

A materia medica in this latter sense is a collection of symptoms or even so-called "pictures" of homeopathic remedies. They are each the symptoms and syndromes, which are associated with a homeopathic medicine that is to say at homoeopathic provings have occurred, have been observed in cases of poisoning or homeopathic case reports were submitted to the application according to the corresponding agent. Medicinal teachings are often used in homeopathy to check a drug choice that had been hit on the way repertorisation. All materia medica have a similar structure:

  • The homeopathic remedy contained are listed alphabetically, as with any other lexically structured reference book also.
  • The division within a central description follows the so-called head - to-toe scheme: First, "General symptoms " are described, followed by psychological, organic symptoms then the head via the neck down to the feet; final data refer to the comparison and correlation with and to other means. So-called modalities ( ie circumstances in which symptoms occur, disappear, be better or worse ) will be either listed in the individual symptoms or presented together at the end. The so-called cardinal symptoms of the remedy are often performed at the beginning of a summary.

Types of homeopathic medicines teachings

There are different types of homeopathic medicines teachings. The original type whose first representative of Hahnemann 's six-volume Materia Medica Pura, lists only symptoms of homeopathic provings and observations on poisoning, sometimes with information about the dose and the time of occurrence. Other representatives of this type are the ten-volume Encyclopedia of Pure Materia Medica by Timothy Field Allen and the four-volume Cyclopedia of Drug Pathogenesy Hughes / Dake. In these cases, detailed references are usually attached.

Another type complements these symptoms lists by observations derived from the homeopathic use of funds (so-called cured symptoms ), and instructions for application. Already the Chronic Diseases Hahnemann can be assigned to this type, the most influential representatives, however, Constantine Hering with the ten-volume Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica. Also John Henry Clarke's Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica has been widely publicized. All basic works of these types of materia medica have already appeared in the 19th century or at the beginning of the 20th century, are still being used today.

Furthermore, there is the type of " bedside prescriber " that is relatively compact collections of symptoms and application tips that are intended for direct use in practice and refrain usually on source information. The most common representatives of this type is William Boericke Pocket Manual of Homeopathic his Materia Medica, but also the drug teachings of Henry Clay Allen, Nash, Boger and Phatak are attributable to him.

Finally, James Tyler Kent coined in the 19th century with his Lectures on Homeopathic Materia Medica, the tradition of " homeopathic remedy pictures". Here the means are presented in a coherent text. It is a vivid picture of the patient and disease type sought are to be expected when the effects of the drug. This highly influential variant of pharmacology has been the talk way favored a concrete patient corresponds to a particular agent or " was" this means; it is now widely used in homeopathy, but also highly controversial, as not only symptoms with clinical significance, but also personality traits are listed here. Additional representatives about Margaret Tyler's Homeopathic Drug Pictures or recently Catherine Coulter Portraits of Homeopathic Medicines and Materia Medica viva by George Vithoulkas.

Criticism

All homeopathic medicines teachings are based on the principle of similarity (cf. homeopathy): The symptoms that could cause an agent to healthy, at the same time are indications for the use of the sick. This axiom applies in medicine today to be incorrect. At best, in individual cases and on superficial examination, such a similarity relationship 'll produce.

The sources of the Materia Medica, in particular the homeopathic provings, are also the subject of sustained criticism. They often come from the 19th century and have not been worked out using the methods of modern pharmacology. Especially if there is indeed a correlation between the respective funds raised and the observed thereafter symptoms is often unverifiable. A source criticism usually does not take place, checks are rejected by many homeopaths. Where such checks have been made, the results do not usually go into the practice. The same applies to the observations of so-called " cured cases ", which are usually documented inadequate and rather must be considered as anecdote.

Finally, there is also within homeopathy has long been disputes about the interpretation of proving symptoms that have been achieved with so-called " high potencies ", ie preparations containing no detectable amount of the drug raw material more. Representatives of the so-called " scientific- critical" direction of homeopathy, about Richard Hughes, the above-mentioned author 's Cyclopedia, held such symptoms for not recyclable, while the " classical" homeopaths them even attach special value. Generally it is in the various homeopathic schools disagreement on the assessment.

A list of influential teachings of homeopathic medicines

Standard gauges

Essential medicines teachings / materia medicas are for example:

  • William Boericke: .. Handbook of homeopathic materia medica, Haug, Heidelberg 1996 Source Critical translation and editing of Boericke's Pocket Manual of Homeopathic Materia Media, 9th Edition 1927 The first edition was published in 1901 in San Francisco, after numerous revised, expanded and updated editions.
  • John Henry Clarke: an encyclopedia for homeopathic practitioners, 10 volumes, Stefanovic, 1990 ( the most extensive German language works ). Source Critical revised translation of Clarke's A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica, 3 volumes, London 1900-1902.
  • Samuel Hahnemann: Materia Medica Pura, 6 volumes. Reprint of the 2nd edition, Haug, Heidelberg 1995 ( originally: 1822-1827 ).
  • Constantine Hering: Concise Materia Medica, Narayana Publishers, 2008 ISBN 978-3-939931-21-8 Kandern 1st edition (originally 1898 translation by Bruno Gisevius ).
  • Julius Mezger: Sightings Homeopathic Materia Medica. 2 volumes, 12th edition, Haug, Stuttgart 2005 ( 1st edition 1949).

Essential medicines teachings / materia medicas that have appeared only in English:

  • Timothy Field Allen: The Encyclopedia of Pure Materia Medica, 10 volumes, reprint, New Delhi 1995 ( originally: 1874-1879 ).
  • Richard Hughes, Jabez P. Dake: A Cyclopedia of Drug Pathogenesy, 4 volumes, reprint, New Delhi, 1979 ( originally: 1884-1891 ).
  • Constantine Hering: The Guiding Symptoms of our Materia Medica, 10 volumes, reprint, Jain Publishers, New Delhi, 1974 ( originally: 1879-1891 ).
  • F. Vermeulen Synoptic Materia Medica. Merlijn Publishers, Haarlem, 1996.

Further reading

  • G. Charette: Homeopathic Materia Medica for practitioners. Hippocrates, 1991.
  • R. Morrison: Manual of Homeopathic Keynotes and confirmation symptoms. Kai Kröger, 1997.
  • S. R. Phatak: Homeopathic Materia Medica. Elsevier Urban & Fischer, 2006.
  • Veronika Rampold: MINDMAT - Complete Materia Medica of ichnahen symptoms. 118 means of tabacum to Zizia. Volume 10, Narayana Publishers, Kandern 1997, ISBN 3-930256-15-0.
  • A. Seideneder: Medium details of homeopathic medicines. Similimum, 1997.
  • K. Stauffer: Clinical Homeopathic Materia Medica. Sonntag, 1998.
  • M. L. Tyler: Homeopathic remedy pictures. Burgdorf, 1993.
  • George Vithoulkas: Materia Medica viva. Burgdorf, 1991. ( Incomplete, yet ends with "E")
  • H. Voisin: Materia Medica of homeopathic practitioner. Haug, 1991.
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