Are Mother Tinctures Homoeopathic Medicines?
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 2003 Mar / Apr VOL V NO 2.
Dr Poonam Batra
Selection of the potency of suitable indicated medicine has always been a burning question and really judges the skill of the physician. The fact that mother tinctures and lowest potencies of the drugs as a rule produce only the superficial, most common and general symptoms of the drugs, is very well recognized. It is also known that more similar the remedy, more clearly and truly the symptoms of patient take on peculiar and characteristic form of the remedy, greater the susceptibility to the remedy, higher the potency required.
What to do in certain terminal conditions and in chronic diseases marked by gross pathological lesions , where the power of the organism to react, even to well selected homoeopathic remedy or an intercurrent remedy is so low, that it is difficult to arouse the weakend Vital Force? Dr Stuart Close in book ‘Genius Of Homoeopathy’ advocates the use of tinctures in such cases. He cites an example of valvular heart disease where Digitalis was indicated, but no effect was produced in any potency. The patient responded, however to tangible doses of mother tincture and made a good recovery from a hopeless condition.
Certain malignant and rapidly fatal diseases like cholera may require material doses. Dr Close refers to Hahnemann’s famous prescription of Camphor in drop doses of Mother Tincture given every 5-10 minutes, in cases of cholera, with which so many lives were saved.
In such situations, a homoeopathic physician fails and an allopath, after giving so called physiological doses, restores the patient and takes all the credit. The occasional successes of allopathic physician in such cases are nearly always accomplished with drugs which are essentially, although homoeopathic. Common sense here demands the administration of the drug that is really homoeopathic to the case, but in stronger doses to excite the curative reaction. The homoeopath who habitually uses high potencies is apt to forget or overlook the fact that a terminal case may reach a point where the symptoms call for material doses, because susceptibility is so low that it will react to no other, but to them only. Later, when reaction has been established, higher potencies of remedies corresponding to the symptoms of later stages of the disease can be used.
According to Dr Close, such material doses of mother tinctures, judged only by their amount, might be regarded as physiological or pathogenetic doses, the nature of reaction in such cases is clearly not pathogenetic, but dynamic and curative. It does not in the least degree invalidate nor violate the principle of minimum dose. Here the principle of similia, as applied in the selection of both remedy and dose is eternally and universally true.
Dr Kent, in his lectures states that the nutritive plane is entirely the outermost ie in the tissues. It is simply in the realm of tissues and ultimates that crude drugs operate. Therefore in acute diseases, mother tinctures accomplish their purpose because the outermost which they affect, is only on the surface. The innermost has in acute diseases, tendency to go away of itself, but a true disease with a period of prodrome, progress and decline or continuance cannot be implanted upon the economy except by a dynamic cause and hence necessarily man cannot be cured except by drugs, attenuated to act on the dynamic plane.
Therefore the conclusion is to apply the tools as and when required and mother tinctures are definitely homoeopathic.
(Editor: I do not think anyone denies that Mother tinctures are homoeopathic. But yes, classical homoeopaths are using less of these, that fact must have warranted this article. We have included it here, as even in low sperm count, sometimes pathological doses help stimulate and increase the count. All remedies have to be used as per the situation.)
