Hahnemann's experiments with 50 millesimal potencies: A further review of his casebooks

BACKGROUND

A review of Hahnemann's clinical records at the Institute for History of Medicine of the Robert Bosch Foundation in Stuttgart shows that until the end of his life, Hahnemann continued to refine his clinical method, based on clinical cases. His "most perfected method" motivated him to write the sixth edition of the The Organon of the Healing Art, proposing solutions controlling the side effects he observed with repeated doses of homeopathic medicines. Unfortunately, this was published many years posthumously. The sixth edition of The Organon introduced the fifty-millesimal scale.

OBJECTIVES

To identify the clinical cases treated with fifty-millesimal potencies and analyze Hahnemann's use of them.

RESULTS

1836 prescriptions of fifty-millesimal potencies were found, between 1837 and 1843 in three phases: initially sporadic; later compared regularly to centesimal dynamizations; and finally systematically. Thirty five medicines were identified in fifty-millesimal prescriptions, seven in potencies higher than 10 and only 3 (Sulphur, Mercurius solubilis and Rhus toxicodendron) used in the 30th degree. This accords with Haehl's information about the remedies in Hahnemann's case of fifty-millesimal potencies.

CONCLUSIONS

Hahnemann probably decided to write the sixth edition, in 1840, to incorporate his latest experience with the repetition of potentized doses and periodically modified potencies. He must have revised it after February 1842 to include his latest findings with fifty-millesimal potencies in ascending degrees. Hahnemann's conception about the superiority of the fifty-millesimal in comparison with the centesimal dynamization was based on a significant number of experiments with the two scales.

Systematic analysis of animals used in medieval Azerbaijan medicine

In order to study the special composition of animals used in the medieval medicine of Azerbaijan, a wide range of medieval sources on medicine and pharmacognosy from the collection of the Institute of Manuscripts of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences in Baku has been studied. About 40 medieval sources from the 10-18th centuries including 17 manuscripts in Turkic, Persian and Arabic have been selected as the objects of this study. As a result, 150 species of animals described in medieval Azerbaijani books on medicine and pharmacy have been identified. Many of the identified animals are mammals, (47 species or 31% of total number of identified species). The medieval authors describe 12 species of reptiles and 4 species of Amphibians (frogs, toads, salamanders and tree-frogs (Hyla arborea). 15 species of fishes described in medieval manuscripts have been identified. The identified molluscs are cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis), mussel (Mytilus edulis), octopus (Octopus vulgaris) and snail (Helix pomatia). Most crustaceans used in medieval Azerbaijan medicine belong to Decopoda. Medieval manuscripts contain numerous names of various worms and insects (ants, flies, beetles, etc.), however their exact identification is rather difficult. As usual, medieval authors unite a number of species under one name and do not give sufficient information about their morphology. Results of the research create grounds for the idea that the recommendations of the medieval authors on the medicinal application of animals can be applied to modern medicine once they have been experimentally and clinically tested.

Healing with animals in the Levant from the 10th to the 18th century

Animals and products derived from different organs of their bodies have constituted part of the inventory of medicinal substances used in various cultures since ancient times. The article reviews the history of healing with animals in the Levant (The Land of Israel and parts of present-day Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan, defined by the Muslims in the Middle Ages as Bilad al-Sham) in the medieval and early Ottoman periods. Intensive research into the phenomenon of zootherapy in the medieval and early Ottoman Levant has yielded forty-eight substances of animal origin that were used medicinally. The vast majority of these substances were local and relatively easy to obtain. Most of the substances were domestic (honey, wax, silkworm, etc.), others were part of the local wildlife (adder, cuttle fish, flycatcher, firefly, frog, triton, scorpion, etc.), part of the usual medieval household (milk, egg, cheese, lamb, etc.), or parasites (louse, mouse, stinkbug, etc.). Fewer substances were not local but exotic, and therefore rare and expensive (beaver testicles, musk oil, coral, ambergris, etc.). The range of symptoms that the substances of animal origin were used to treat was extensive and included most of the known diseases and maladies of that era: mainly hemorrhoids, burns, impotence, wounds, and skin, eye, and stomach diseases. Changes in the moral outlook of modern societies caused the use of several substances of animal origin to cease in the course of history. These include mummy, silkworm, stinkbug, scarabees, snail, scorpion, and triton.

An early glimpse at western medicine in Jerusalem 1700-1840: the case of the Jews and the Franciscans' medical activity

During the Mamluk and Ottoman periods, the monks of the Franciscan Order were the only representatives of the Catholic Church in Jerusalem and they provided medical treatment for Christians. This article looks at the activities of the Franciscans, in particular in their pharmacy, which was associated with the production of Jerusalem balsam, famous both in the East and in Europe. It compares these activities with those of Jewish physicians in Jerusalem and looks at the relationships between the two groups and their effects on medical development in the Levant.

The medical content of English almanacs 1640-1700

There has been a great deal of recent interest in popular health care in early modern England, resulting in studies on a range of topics from practitioners through remedial treatment. Over the past decade, the history of books has also attracted growing interest. This is particularly true for the seventeenth century, a period marked by a dramatic rise in all types of printed works. The 1640s are especially significant in the evolution of printed vernacular medical publications, which continued to flourish during the rest of the century. While recent studies on popular medical books have contributed greatly to our understanding of contemporary medical beliefs and practices, they have failed to properly recognize the effect that almanacs had on early modern medicine. Although their primary function was not to disseminate medical information, most provided a great deal of medical information. Furthermore, these cheap, annual publications targeted and were read by a wide cross-section of the public, making them the first true form of British mass media. This article is based on the content of 1,392 almanacs printed between 1640 and 1700, which may make it the largest comparative study of the medical content of any early modern printed works. The project has resulted in two major findings. First of all, almanacs played a major part in the dissemination, continuing popularity, and longevity of traditional astrological and Galenic beliefs and practices. Secondly, at the same time, almanacs played an important early role in the growth of medical materialism in Britain.

[General situation of the study on the toxicity of Cinnabaris]

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) experienced a gradual course in recognition of the toxicity of Cinnabaris from "nontoxic" to "toxic". The ancient doctors of TCM understood both the toxic property and the regularity of increasing toxicity of Cinnabaris. In long-term clinical practice they developed the methods of detoxification guiding the safe use of Cinnabaris. The toxicity of Cinnabaris is produced by mercury existed in it. Improper administration leading to an acute absorption or chronic accumulation was the main cause of clinical adverse effects. Kidney was the main poisoning target organ. On the other hand, improperly combinative application of Cinnabaris with other drugs of TCM or western medicine could increase the toxicity. Therefore, the crucial approach to avoid the poisoning is to use Cinnabaris properly.

[The archaic pronunciation of materia medica from Central Plains in the Han dynasty retained in Chinese medicinal business in Taiwan]

Chinese traditional medicine took its root in Taiwan together with the culture of Central Plains since our ancestors traveled to Taiwan during the turn of the Ming-Qing dynasties. For 400 years, the profession of Chinese medicine continues to develop through the transmission from fathers to sons, from tutors to disciples. During our contacts with Chinese medicinal businessmen, we found that this routinely closed and time-honored profession retained the archaic pronunciation of materia medica from Central Plains in the Han dynasty. This is a living database for studying ancient Chinese language.

The antiepileptic Materia Medica of Pediacus Dioscorides

Since it was written about the middle of the 1st Century AD, and up to comparatively recent times, the great Herbal, or Materia Medica, of Dioscorides provided medicine with its chief source of information about what were then considered therapeutic substances. The work contained data on various materials of botanical, biological and mineral origin which were claimed to provide benefit to sufferers from epilepsy, though often with no clear underlying rationale for their use. Some of these materials continued to be used as antiepileptic remedies over many centuries till they were finally recognised to be without useful effect in the disorder. The longest survivor amongst the Dioscoridean antiepileptic remedies was a rather esoteric one, viz. two stones taken from the belly of a young swallow during the rising phase of the moon and also whilst the swallow's parent birds were absent from the nest. The stones, or one of them, were worn against the skin of the seizure sufferer. The use of the swallow stones for epilepsy was recommended as late as in the writings of Thomas Willis (1675).