Book Review
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 2000 May / Jun VOL II NO 3.
Reviewed by
Kasi Vishwanathan

Kingdom Evaluation:

1. A history given in a structured, organized way with details and lists points to a mineral remedy.
2. If done in an emotional, sentimental tones, then a plant remedy,
3. If done to attract the attention of the physician it may be an animal remedy.

Next Turn To Materia Medica And Repertory Software: select as many rubrics which express the central idea. Then take a few rubrics, which cover the symptoms of the case; by elimination, identify common remedies. Then consult source Materia Medica books and provings to select the remedy. All That The Patient Says Must Fit.

The final and the most important step is to answer the question- "Is there anything which does not fit?" The very fact that it does not fit may lead to the remedy closest to the core of the case. He has included three cases of this type, where Theridion was chosen instead of Tarentula, Selenium for Staphysagria and Elaps instead of Staphysagria.

If one or two very strong themes run parallel and interconnected, then think of a salt; this is justified when the qualities of two ions interact with each other throughout the case. Eg: a middle-aged woman suffered from lumbar disc herniation. Her problem started when her brother-in-law refused to look after his sick mother and proposed that she should be left in the streets. That attitude angered her. The themes of lack of care and caring for others.

(Phos) and concern for the family (Kalium) and the feeling that she was not getting support from her husband led to the selection of Kali-phos

As Regards Potency:

1. The potency should match the intensity of patient's state.
2. Where the mental and general symptoms predominate, use high potency.
3. Where the pathology predominates, it means that the disturbance has reached the peripheral stage and would need a low to moderate potency.
4. The presence of characteristic symptoms indicates good vitality and calls for moderate to high potency.
5. Potencies also relate to age of patient:
   • in a child with lot of fear and no pathology- a high potency;
   • children with congenital problems or severe pathology- low potency

The coped up state represents the positive side, while the failed state represents the negative side of the remedy; the more the negative side is expressed at the conscious level, the higher the potency.

LM potencies are appropriate with severe pathology and a frail patient and in chronic slowly progressing diseases.

The Criteria For Follow-Up:

• The general energy of the patient;
• Mental and emotional state;
• The status of the chief complaint;
• Appearance of new symptoms or recurrence of old symptoms etc

1. In most cases the dreams are explored to find the uncompensated state, even in the follow-ups. Either the patient no longer gets the same repetitive dreams or amelioration is reflected through new dreams. In some cases, he explains how dreams led to the remedy.
   
   
2. Two cases are presented where the mother's state during pregnancy and father's mental make-up, determined the choice of the remedy.
   
   
3. In all cases he has administered only one remedy in varying potencies and no acute remedy was prescribed. There is no mention of prescribing the constitutional remedy in contrast to the present day practice of deleinating Acutes, Intecurrent-nosodes, and Constitutional.
   
   
4. Some of the cases illustrate the concepts of intermediate miasms introduced in his earlier book. (he has also elaborated on the miasmatic classification with a comprehensive chart in the appendix.)
   
   
5. Dr Jan Scholten's concepts in arriving at the theme of the compound remedies-eg Calcarea- nitricum case are employed. He has also used the proving of remedies he had made while arriving at the remedy.
   
   
6. Some of the cases in which he arrived at the remedy such as Platinum, Staphysagria, Coffea and Strontium-carb. Eg arriving at Coffea - There was constant activity of mind and the need to innovate and create. Tremendous sensitivity to pain; feeling that he is in dirty, filthy and closed places; sleeplessness. Sense of alienation. Cannot accept anything from others unless he has been giving. His son and his wife surreptitiously gave his wife some money, which he direly needed but was reluctant to ask and this episode made him break down and weep. The feeling in this remedy is "I will get love and consideration only when I do for others". Coupled with rubrics - creative activity, ailments from excessive joy, sleeplessness from activity of thoughts and abundant ideas allowed selection of the remedy.
   
   
7. Follow-up interviews aim at ascertaining whether the delusion has disappeared.
   
   
8. He makes an important point regarding treatment of acute diseases while treating a chronic complaint, "the acute is actually a part of the chronic disease and not a new separate disease; it is usually a healing crisis and care should be taken not to disturb it. During this acute exacerbation the disease state becomes more pronounced, so that the characteristic and peculiar symptoms are thrown up and help find the correct remedy".

Conclusion By
Dr Vishpala Parthasarathy
It is a remarkable book.
I must confess that I have not read Rajan's earlier books- not to say I have not tried - maybe desultorily without success. Maybe it is true that there is a child in every one of us, and mine was satisfied by this latest book- gripping and readable.

After all the practice of Homoeopathy is an art and to borrow a phrase from Zen it is a gateless gate. There are several entrances to the temple of similimum. In the past and in present times, several leading Homoeopathic practitioners had evolved their own art of practice such as Dr Boenninghausen, Dr Kent, Dr Guernsey, Dr Phatak, Dr Ananda Zaran (wound and wall) Dr Jan Scholten and Dr Sehgal of revolutionary Homoeopathy (where the present, persistent and predominant symptoms lead to the remedy by giving imaginative interpretation to the reportorial rubrics). Since Homoeopathy is the art of individualization one has to choose from several that what is appropriate in a particular case. It is therefore necessary that every practitioner becomes conversant with all these approaches. It is also true that he may be sub-consciously following some of these or synthesize and evolve his own art. This book will serve as simulator (as in the case of pilots and astronauts) for Homoeopaths. It is important that all Homoeopaths sharing their vast clinical experience- the only true way to learning, and the raison d'etre for the existence of Journals, which play a pivotal role in bringing to you learning from every quarter- book reviews such as this, seminars or direct experiences through cases.
Aude sapre. (dare to be wise)

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