The cause of chronic disease
- BENERJEE.P,
 |
| The cause of chronic disease |
Another man comes and tells you, "I catch cold so easily. It lasts for a few days after which there is some thick expectoration and I am all right then, but for a few days only, because there is a similar cold again, and that too is followed soon by a recovery. This is how I have been going on for some time. There is a regular habit of catching cold over and again. Can't you please do something for me?" You study up the case and prescribe some medicine as indicated by the symptoms in hand. The man is relieved once or twice in the beginning, but the same cold comes up again, when at last the medicine that gave relief at first, fails to give any relief at all, even in a higher potency.
You will find hundreds of such cases in your practice, and you will find that in these cases, there is a remarkable fact, namely that the disease is relieved at first by the indicated remedy, but it comes again and again, when at last the indicated remedy too fails to effect anything even in a higher potency. Now, what can be the cause of their return so frequently and why are these diseases not annihilated at all even by the indicated remedy, which gives such prompt relief at the first or second attacks? These question will lead you to suppose that diseases that have this very peculiar tendency of returning repeatedly and of not being removed even by the remedy indicated on the basis of the law of similars, must not be very superficial things and must have their source deeper into the system. And as such, more deep acting medicines than have already been used will be necessary for annihilating them. You will also be struck by another fact, -"How is it that one catches cold so easily, while others do not in the same circumstances, and how is it again that there are some who are even better from cold, instead of catching it? Then again, some people get headache for some reason, while there are some who get nothing from the same reason. How to explain all these?" You will perhaps say that it is the difference in the nature of these different person that explains the difference in the affection of the one in one way and of the other in another, though the cause is the same. But the question comes up again, why should there be a difference in their nature?
If you study cases more closely, you will see that in some cases the headache perhaps disappears or is perhaps permanently relieved by some medicine, but instead there comes colic. And if the colic is not cured, there is perhaps epilepsy. Thus, after one disease there is another. The above habit of catching cold at the slightest exposure may disappear for some time, but perhaps a habitual headache comes in, in its place. Here again there is a tendency of one disease coming in after another. These must lead you to think that there must be some very deep acting cause behind this tendency of one disease disappearing and making room for another, In fact, it will be apparent to you that these apparently different diseases, cold, headache, colic, epilepsy and insanity, are only different manifestation of the same thing. And this thing Hahnemann has called "Psora." This Psora is the only cause of all the various diseases of mankind; or in other words, this "Psora" is the only disease, while all the so-called diseases, having all the different shapes and names, are its different expressions. Now you will gradually understand that Nux, Spigelia or Sanguinaria, when you have used them in a case of headache, has only touched a leaf of the parent tree, while the tree itself and its roots have been left untouched. If you destroy a leaf, the main tree is not affected; it goes on spreading its branches in all directions, until the root is demolished. Psora is the root, and until that is destroyed and annihilated, you cannot stop its activities, only if you remove the headache or the cold. They are only leaves of the parent tree, "Psora".
Thus, Psora is the original disease of mankind. If there was no Psora, there would have been no disease in man. Let us now try to find out how this Psora came to be, what its nature is and how it can be annihilated.
Man was not born ill. We cannot conceive that God who is goodness and greatness only, could have made man otherwise than good and great. The good, healthy man was living out his life in purity and health. God gave man goodness, but he gave man also the power to be bad. Man was good, and God, his Creator desired him to be good, but God gave him the power of free will and free action. So long as man lived according to the laws of God, i.e. , without exercising or rather abusing the power of free will, there was no trouble. So long he was good, and therefore, pure and free from disease. But as soon as he exercised the power of free will, with which he was endowed, and willed against the laws of God, the trouble began. Man began to think, feel and will against the laws of God-against the laws of Nature, e.g. , God willed man to love his neighbour, but instead of loving his neighbour, according to the will of God-law of Nature-suppose, he began to hate his neighbour, by virtue of the freedom of will with which he was gifted by God. Thus, man set himself against God. Evil thinking created a tumult in his mind. Yet, it was evil thinking only, that is to say, that, this condition of the mind was yet a condition of the mind only, and was not yet expressed in an active desire. But any passive condition of the mind is bound to be followed soon by an active condition. The passive hatred gradually developed into actual hatred and then came action. First comes an idea (passive thinking) about something, then comes thinking (active thinking, actual thinking) and last of all action. Now, passive thinking is harmless, because in it, the element of endeavour to do is wanting, but active thinking, in which there is this element of "doing" according to the "thinking," is the beginning of harm. This active thinking, this mental endeavour of doing, is a kind of mental itching, and this is "Psora". This "Psora" was yet in the mind, i.e. , it was yet a condition of the mind not expressed in the body. In the mind, instead of the smoothness that was before, there is a tumult now, as it has been opposed to the laws of Nature. But this condition of the mind cannot be long confined to the mind alone, because the mind will gradually shape the body. Thought will be soon expressed in the physical body. Suppose, you feel dissatisfied at something; here the dissatisfaction of the mind takes concrete shape and is soon expressed in the features of your face. So, in the same way, the condition of the mind, which was a condition of itching, as it were, gradually came to be expressed in the physical body in the shape of itches. This was the physical manifestation of Psora. The first evil thinking modified the mind and gave it a condition of itching; this was Psora latent. Then, this latent Psora of the interior gradually came out on the body in the shape of itches; this was the physical manifestation of Psora. The history of the growth of Psora is, therefore, this:-First there came in man a desire to think otherwise than God willed him, i.e. , to think unnaturally; then there, was actual unnatural thinking; and this unnatural thinking gradually came to be manifested in his physical body in the shape of itches. The unnatural, evil thinking produced Psora in the interior, but it was yet invisible. It came to be visible only when it appeared on the physical body, Now, what is Psora?-Psora is a condition. Condition of what?-Condition of Man, (and Man is his mind and body) Thus Psora is a condition of man, a condition that favours disease, just as the itching of the mind, as it were, favoured the appearance of itches on the body. Psora is that condition of man, which tends to produce disease in him. Without Psora (that is to say, without the tendency for disease), there could be no disease in man. And I have already explained how this tendency for disease came to be in man. It came only out of his free thinking-free thinking in such a way as he should not have thought; and this is equivalent to evil thinking. Thus, you see that the mind is the fountain of disease.
There are many Homœopaths who understand Psora to be itches, but that is far from the fact. Psora is not itch, but it is the cause of itch. Itch is an effect or expression of Psora. Psora only makes itch possible. There could be no itch without Psora being already there, and that is all. Itch only indicates the existence of Psora, but it is never Psora itself. Psora and itch are never identical. Let me make it clear once again,-Psora is that condition acquired by man (at the beginning i.e. , prior to his having any disease) by evil thinking, but now inherent in him, that gives him the tendency for disease. In short, it is the now-inherent tendency in man for disease. Though it has been stated before that itches indicate the existence of Psora, it does not necessarily follow that there is no Psora if there are no itches. The fact is that Psora may be there without there being itches, only that itches cannot be there without Psora. If itches do not indicate the existence of Psora, how are we then to make sure of its existence?-By itching. If there is Psora, there must be itching (not itches), and if there is itching there must be Psora. Itching and Psora are inseparable. In fact, Psora is mental itching, and the itching of the body is the physical expression of that mental itching.
All our ills are due to, or are rather the effects of Psora. Psora has given us an eternal susceptibility to disease. Let us enter still deeper into the matter. Let us understand how Psora gave us this susceptibility. What did Psora do?-It brought about a tumult in our mind; it disturbed, the even and natural processes of mentation; it affected the processes of our mind. Now, mind means thinking, feeling and willing; and that the mind was affected means that all these three processes were affected. Action is always in accordance with the mind. As the mind thinks, so will the action be. And the mind (thinking, feeling and willing) affected as it became, evil as it grew, led to evil action. Psora having vitiated the mind, the very spring of action was vitiated, and the action of man was necessarily evil; and his evil action brought on two other disease-Sycosis and Syphilis. Psora was the result of evil thinking, and Sycosis and Syphilis were the results of evil doing. It, therefore, follows that without Psora there could have been no Sycosis and Syphilis, because without thinking, there could have been no action. Thus, without Psora there could have been no disease at all. In fact Psora prepared the ground for all our ills and for Sycosis and Syphilis too. Psora is, therefore, the cause of these two also. Psora is the prime cause, the only cause of all diseases. All the different diseases are only external manifestations of the internal cause, Psora. There could be no disease in man, that is to say in the external body, if there was no immage of that disease in the internal mind, because the external is only a reflection of the internal.
I have endeavoured to give you a correct idea of Psora, what it is, its growth and character, and I believe, there is no ground for your confounding it with "itches." As, however, there are some people, who actually confound Psora with itches, it is quite possible that there will be some who would understand Sycosis to be a gonorrhœal discharge, and Syphilis to be chancre. But they are never so. Sycosis is not gonorrhœa, nor is Syphilis chancre, and we must understand Sycosis and Syphilis very correctly, as any misconception is bound to lead us into errors.
Sycosis-In order to understand Sycosis, it is necessary, first of all to understand Gonorrhœa, so that we may guard against confounding one with the other. Gonorrhœa is not the urethral discharge which often results from an inflammation of the canal due to over heating in the sun or stimulating food and drink etc. But it is quite a different thing. It is a highly poisonous infection, which is acquired by co-habitation with a woman who has already had it. It is also had by inheritance from parents, who might have had it either by direct acquirement or by inheritance in their turn. There can be no Gonorrhœa unless there is either direct acquirement or inheritance. Now, this Gonorrhœa, whether it is acquired direct or inherited, may be radically cured by a course of true Homœopathic treatment, and if it is cured at once, the trouble ends there. (It is not my intention to write about Gonorrhœa and its treatment, because these can be found in many books on the subject, but my object is to give you an idea of Sycosis and all about it). But if on the contrary it is not cured according to the law of Similars-the only law of cure-it implants upon the system the great miasm of Sycosis. Sycosis, therefore, is not Gonorrhœa, but it is that condition of the system, which is bonded to it by Gonorrhœa, when it is not cured, but only made to disappear, either by a course of unhomœopathic treatment, or of itself. Unhomœopathic treatment i. e., treatment not based on the natural curative law of Similars, only removes the local infection of Gonorrhœa in the shape of the characteristic discharge, and turns the infection inward, and it then gradually attacks the more internal organs and establishes Sycosis. Once the local infection is removed, the disease-force is bound to travel inward. There is rescue from it even yet, but that never happens, because, when the more internal organs are attacked, the infection does not appear there in the shape of the discharge, but in the characteristic way of expression that, that organ may have, and this causes difficulty in understanding it as a different aspect of the same infection. If it attacks the digestive tract, perhaps it appears there in the shape of colic, and the ordinary physician has not the reason to interpret it as a modified expression of Gonorrhœa, in a more internal part of the system. The colic is then treated in their old fashion, and it soon disappears from there, only to re-appear in a more important organ in another form. Perhaps it settles this time in the heart, as rheumatism, till at last it combines with Psora (because Psora is already there, and there could have been no Gonorrhœa without Psora making the ground for it) and produces a complexity which it becomes difficult for the system to be rid of.
It is perhaps clear to us now that like Psora, Sycosis is also a condition of the life force, and that it is acquired by suppression of Gonorrhœa, and there should, therefore, be no ground for confounding or identifying it with Gonorrhœa. Psora is acquired by evil thinking, and Sycosis by evil action. The course of Psora is from the centre to the circumference, from the mind to the body, from mental itching to physical itching, but the course of Sycosis is naturally from the circumference to the centre, from the body to the mind, from the Gonorrhœal discharge to colic, rheumatism and insanity. Psora has already given man a tendency for various diseases, and Sycosis will now give him certain other diseases, first by itself and then in combination with Psora.
Syphilis-This is also often identified with chancre, but it is as great a mistake to consider chancre to be Syphilis, as it is to consider itches to be Psora, and gonorrhœa to be Sycosis. Like Sycosis, Syphilis is also acquired by co-habitation with a syphilitic woman. Like Sycosis, Syphilis is also thus the result of evil action, whereas Psora is the result of evil thinking. So far Sycosis and Syphilis are similar; but they have a primary difference, and this primary difference is the difference between gonorrhœa and chancre. The former shows itself by an ulceration and inflammation in the canal and also in the root of the genital organ, with a sloughy discharge, while the latter appears in the shape of a similar ulceration and inflammation on the glans. It is, if this ulcerated condition or chancre, as it is called, is not cured homœopathically, but instead, only removed by any uncurative, i. e, suppressive method of treatment, that Syphilis is implanted upon the system. Just as Sycosis is a condition of the system arising out of the suppressed gonorrhœal discharge, Syphilis is also a condition of the system, arising out of the suppression of the chancre. The suppression of the chancre removes the primary manifestation from the glans, from the surface, and turns it inward. The process of Syphilis is also from the surface to the interior, from the circumference to the centre, from the body to the mind. Psora prepares man for all diseases, even for Sycosis and Syphilis, and Sycosis and Syphilis each gives him the tendency for specific types of diseases. Let us not, therefore, mistake Psora, Sycosis and Syphilis for so many particular diseases, but let us understand them only as certain conditions of the system that give that system the tendency for certain specific types of diseases, each in its own way. That is to say, Psora gives diseases of one type, which Sycosis and Syphilis cannot give, Sycosis gives diseases of another type, which Psora and Syphilis cannot give, and Syphilis gives diseases of a third type which Psora and Sycosis cannot give. Each has its own speciality.
While explaining the difference between acute and chronic diseases, it has been stated that the main point of difference is in the nature of the two classes-namely that, an acute disease has the tendency to terminate of itself, after running its course, while a chronic disease has no such tendency to terminate of itself, but on the contrary, a tendency to continue and continue in various shapes, until removed by a deep-acting Homœopathic remedy. Let us now see that there is yet another point of difference between them-namely that an acute disease has not as its cause Psora, Sycosis and Syphilis. Even if they are the prime causes (because there can be no disease unless Psora is there), they are not the immediate causes. Every acute disease, in order that it may be there, must have an immediate exciting cause, or in other words, an acute disease cannot be there without an exciting cause. Such is, however, not the case with a chronic disease, because a chronic disease has its only cause in Psora, or at times, in Psora and Sycosis, or in Psora and Syphilis, or in Psora, Sycosis and Syphilis. It, therefore, comes to this that an acute disease has an immediate exciting cause, and has a tendency to end, while a chronic disease has no other immediate cause than Psora, Sycosis and Syphilis, and has on the contrary, a tendency to continue.
The various diseases with all their learned nomenclature, which we meet with in course of our practice, are not in reality so many independent diseases, however different they may be in their appearance one from another. They are only so many expressions of Psora, Sycosis and Syphilis, or of any two or of all the three of them. But where is the convincing evidence for such a sweeping generalisation? How can it be proved that these diseases are not independent diseases, but are only manifestations of Psora, Sycosis and Syphilis?-To this very pertinent question, the best and most convincing answer is to invite you to a study of your own experience, as my experiences and even those of Hahnemann himself cannot be expected to convince you.
Though first hand experience and study of cases is necessary in order that you may have your own conviction in the matter, I shall try to cite a case from my own practice. If you closely follow the course of cure in this case, some very prominent facts will be found, and they will help you to see for yourself that the essence, the reality of disease, is not what appears as disease.
Mr.-Roy Chowdhury. Age 42 or 43, residence, Damodarpnr, Dt. Manbhum. Fair looking; thin, slender figure. Head slightly larger in proportion to the other parts of the body. Temper irritable. Applied to me for treatment on 11. 6. 1918.
The present symptoms were:-Almost a constant dry cough with practically no expectoration of mucus, but of some frothy saliva with streaks of blood. Bowels seldom clear. Feels unwell at about 4 or 4-30 in the afternoon, but this could not be interpreted as fever. There were no other symptoms.
History-Parents not alive, and the history of the patient's early life was not, therefore, available. Up to about 18 years of age, he was in pretty good health. He lost his father at 18. The father suffered from asthma for about 4 or 5 years before his death, and died of diarrhœa and dropsy. The mother had died before this. After his leaving school i. e. at about 19, the patient joined a competition in swimming, and excessive swimming brought on fever the very evening. There were severe soreness in the body, and cough. There was, however, a recovery after 10 or 12 days' suffering. He was treated by an Allopath this time, and the patient could not say if he was given quinine. After this attack of fever, he used to have cold and cough occasionally, and a day's fasting or some allopathic medicine brought him round every time.
At about 30, he had an attack of Pneumonia. He was between life and death this time, and the treatment was allopathic. He recovered, however, after 70 or 75 days. Since his recovery from Pneumonia, he got a regular habit of catching cold at the slightest exposure. He began to have repeated colds and cough and even slight fever in spite of all precaution. There was almost a constant stitching pain, in the left side of the chest. Gradually, streaks of blood came to be seen in the sputum. Appetite dull. Was satisfied with a few morsels, and after a meal the abdomen was bloated. There was acidity and a marked intolerance of cold.
There was a severe aggravation of the symptoms last winter. Awful weakness, and he could have no sleep after 2 or 3 in the morning. Had to sit up in his bed and cough till day-break, and it was at day-break only that there was some expectoration of mucus. No expectoration during the rest of the day and night.
I examined his lungs, but could find practically nothing, nothing beyond a dull sound in the left chest at a spot not more than an inch in circumference. I did not, however, attach much importance to this.
From a study of the case, I arrived at Kali Carb and gave a dose of it in the 200th potency (14.6.18) asking the patient to report after a fortnight. A whole month elapsed, but there was no change.
20.7.18. -Kali Carb 10,000-three doses, one daily.
4. 8. 18. -The patient's report was-"The pain in the chest has much increased, and it was the severest during the last three days, particularly at 2 or 3 in the morning. During the day, there is only dry cough -but this seems to be much less than before."-No medicine.
18.8.18. -"The aggravation has passed off and I seem to be better, appetite seems to have improved. Cough and weakness less than before. Sleep not very refreshing, but yet I seem to be better."-No medicine.
20.9.18. -The patient was improving so far, but on this date, there being a sudden aggravation of all the symptoms, I was called to see the patient. What I saw really frightened me. The patient had spat about 4 ounces of blood in the morning. There was high fever with drowsiness and bloating of the abdomen. The mental condition of the patient was worse and this last symptom was indicating that the aggravation was not a Homœopathic aggravation. But yet I could not think that the medicine was wrong. In fact, I was quite positive regarding the correctness of my selection. I could not, therefore, change the medicine. But what was the aggravation due to? I concluded, it was certainly the usual course of the disease,-the usual aggravation of the disease. If, however, my prescription was correct, then it must have been that it was not being able to cope with the strength of the disease force, as it was then. But the potency used was high enough,-10,000. I then concluded that it was the tenacity of the patient that was not allowing the disease to go. Now, what could this tenacity be due to, or in other words, what was there that was not allowing my medicine to act to the fullest extent?-It must have been Psora. And I gave a dose of Sulph.-1000 at once.
16.10.18. -The patient came to me personally and showed me some eruptions on his person. I examined these eruptions and understood them to be Sycotic. Mark here,-as soon as Psora was controlled by Sulphur, Kali Carb which is an anti-Sycotic, displayed its full action. However, I advised the patient not to interfere with the eruptions. Alongside the appearance of the eruptions, the condition of the patient was much better. There was no spitting of blood from 5.10.18.
24.10.18. -When I saw the patient on this date, I could not check my own surprise! Thank God, his whole body was covered with innumerable eruptions, mostly on the head, genitals and eyelids.
15.11.18. -The eruptions were gradually disappearing, and I gave him a dose of Sulph. again in the c. m. potency on 20.11.18. (I could not give such a high potency at first, as the condition of the patient was very weak, and he might have failed to stand the reaction of such a high dose).
14.12.18. -Some more eruptions had come out and were now disappearing. Please note, the patient was gradually improving in spite of the eruptions, or more correctly, simultaneously with the eruptions. Now, there were only dry cough, expectoration early in the morning; tendency to fresh attacks of cold was now less than half of what was at the beginning of the treatment.
7.3.19. -Report was received that the patient was much better and the only trouble was the tendency for catching cold. I advised him to wait.
11.4.19. -The only trouble was the tendency for catching cold, and this was not leaving the patient yet. There was no prospect of any further improvement from the medicine that was given (namely Kali Carb). I, therefore, gave him a dose of Tuberculinum c.m. After this, I had no information about the patient. When however, I happened to meet him after a year of the above dose of Tuberculinum c.m. , I was told that he was completely free from all diseases.
The above case clearly shows that the patient had Sycosis on a Psoric background. It was Sycosis that was pushing him to blood-spitting and phthisis, and it was Sycosis that was giving all the various so called diseases that the patient was having throughout, after the 18th year of his age. And when Kali Carb, a deep acting anti-Sycotic remedy was given on the indication available from the patient's condition, some improvement was seen. But as there was Psora, which always furnishes the ground for Sycosis and Syphilis, the tendency, which it had implanted upon the system was not allowing the Sycotic condition to leave the patient. And as soon as an anti-Psoric (Sulphur) was given, all the Sycotic taint in him came out in the shape of eruptions, and passed off. But yet the patient was not completely cured, because he had yet the tendency for catching cold. This indicated that the disease-force was far more in the interior than could be reached by Sulphur and Kali Carb. A more deep acting remedy-Tuberculinum c.m. -had, therefore, to be given.
Now, it may not be very difficult to understand that, the various so called diseases that pass under various names are not so many independent diseases. There is only one disease in one man and that is either Psora, or Psora + Sycosis, or Psora + Sycosis + Syphilis. It is only the difference in the proportion, that is to say, in the strength of the three different miasms in their combination in different persons that furnishes the explanation for the differences in the expressions of diseases. There is only one disease in man, and the different manifestations in the shape of fever, rheumatism, cough, asthma and phthisis etc., are only so many different expressions.
Let us recapitulate that, Psora is always the most predominant factor, or in other words, it is an indispensable miasm, and it can be said that Psora is the only cause of all the various chronic diseases. Though Sycosis and Syphilis combine with Psora, yet it is the fact that there can be no Sycosis and Syphilis without Psora being there, so that Psora is the cause of Sycosis and Syphilis too. Thus, it is an unmistakable fact that, Psora is the only cause of all the so called chronic diseases,-no matter under whatever name those chronic diseases may be recognised by the ordinary people and by the Allopathic school.
If we say that Psora is the only cause of all the so called chronic diseases, and that all the chronic diseases are only manifestations of Psora, it comes to this that Psora is the only chronic disease. I am afraid, even most of the avowed Homœopaths of today, not to speak of Allopaths, will startle at this sweeping statement, and the reason is not far to seek. Most people are reluctant to make the exertion necessary for observation. If a patient comes to you and is suffering from skin eruptions, and if you advise him to refrain from using any ointment, and warn him that such suppression with ointment may bring in a serious disaster, you will be simply laughed at. If, however, measles are suppressed by bad treatment, or by exposure to cold, or for any other reason, everybody understands that the consequences are not very happy, and that such suppression of measles often brings in convulsion, paralysis, idiocy and even death. Everybody understands it, but everybody fails to understand that suppression of itches may cause similar disasters. Why?-Because the effect of suppressed measles follows the suppression so quickly, while the effect of suppression of itches etc., developes very slowly. There is an excuse, if ordinary people have such failure in understanding, but there is absolutely no excuse for such want of observation and interpretation on the part of the avowed practitioners of the healing art-absolutely none.
That Psora is the only cause of all chronic diseases, or in other words, that Psora is really the only chronic disease on earth, and that this apparently impossible fact cannot be more effectively brought home to you than by a dispassionate and critical analysis of cases in course of your own practice, have already been stated by me. But I will yet cite some more facts of reason and evidence, (than the fact of the case of a patient already cited), by way of elucidating the point further.
1. Facts of reason:-
It has been stated before that physical itching is the external expression of Psora. There was a disorder in mind first of all, which we have called mental itching, and this disorder of mind or mental itching was subsequently reflected in the physical body. But one might argue,-"If there was a disorder in the mind, why was it not confined to the mind? What was the necessity of its coming out on the body?"-To this I would say that, that is according to a law of nature. When there is a disorder in the mind, the mind is burdened as it were, and its natural tendency in such a case is to free itself of this burdened condition. The mind wants to ease itself. If you are distressed with a bad news, you feel awfully wretched so long as you keep it in your own mind alone and do not share it with others. But as soon as a friend presses you for disclosing the facts to him, and as soon as you actually do this, you are certainly relieved to some extent. It is, therefore, correct that the mind naturally wants to ease itself by throwing out its burden. Now, the disorder of the mind is thus naturally thrown on the body in the shape of itches. Not only does this process-which is the inevitable process of nature-ease the mind, but it also helps the process of cure. When the disease is coming to an end, it comes outward on the surface, but when the disease is increasing, its course is inward, into the interior. If the natural process of relief is a process from within outward, and if this is why external manifestations of itches etc., appear on the skin, what other than disaster can be expected from manipulating those itches with ointment thereby turning them inward? If there is to be any cure after such an inward turn to the itches, it cannot possibly be effected except by bringing them out. Observation will confirm this always. When, however, itches etc., are turned inward by external application of ointment, they naturally attack the internal organs, effecting first of all, some change in their functions and then some change in their structures. (Of course, for structural degeneration of any organ, some more miasm than Psora alone, is necessary, and this will be dealt with later). Those who hold that the diseases of the skin are only diseases of the skin and have no connection with the whole man, are hopelessly mistaken. The skin is also one of the organs of the body, and it has its functions, but are the functions of the different organs independent of each other? Are not all the different parts (organs) performing their functions for a common cause, for the man as a whole-mind and body? Are not all these parts tending to the health and well-being of the whole man (mind + body)?-Certainly, and their functions cannot, therefore, be independent. Any deviation in the function of any organ has always a proportionate deviation in the functions of all the others, no matter, whether you can find out this deviation in the latter or not. There is not a tissue, there is not a cell in the whole economy that does not feel the disorder in any other tissue or cell. The skin is, therefore, not an independent unit in the man, and any deviation in it must cast its reflection on the whole man (mind + body). And if by a process of nature, the deviation or disorder of the mind, has been thrown out on the skin, by way of relief to the whole man, and if that process is upset on the merest theory of brute force and the itch destroyed by ointment, there is not the least doubt that the whole man will be disordered. The skin, or any organ, is not much of a sufferer in the affair, but it is the whole man that has to bear the brunt of it. The skin or the different organs are no independent units. They are all functioning to the same common end, namely the health and well-being of the whole man (mind and body). It is a common fact that, when a particular organ is diseased, it is not that particular organ alone that suffers. It is the whole man that suffers. If the organs, the skin, liver and kidney are independent, and if there is no oneness behind this plurality of organs, it is the independent organs that should suffer when diseased, and not the man. But, as it is the man that suffers and not his organs, it is never the fact that it is the organ that is diseased; it is never the fact that the itch on the skin has no relation to the internal-to the whole man. If, therefore, you only turn the itch inward by application of ointment, and not cure the whole man, the whole man continues to be affected-and affected far more than before, because the more important and more delicate organs than the skin are attacked this time. And as a result, various diseases of various names ensue.
2. Facts of evidence:-
Where is the evidence that Psora in conjunction with Sycosis or Syphilis or in conjunction with both, or Psora alone, is the cause of all chronic diseases?-Some evidences are of course there, and I will enumerate them one by one.
(a) During the course of the treatment of a chronic case, it happens that the old symptoms of the patient re-appear (and then disappear) in the reverse order of their coming, that is to say, in the order opposite to the order in which they came. To make it more clear, let me cite a case.
A lady was suffering from leucorrhœa and though she was over 20 or more, she had not been rid of the habit of wetting the bed at night, a habit which she had in childhood. She was a lovely little lady, and her husband had spent a lot of money for her treatment. He then applied to me. In Hahnemann's language, it was an one-sided case, as I found on recording the history. It was ascertained that when a child of three years of age, she had suffered from eczema. It had severe itching and a sticky exudation, so sticky that in the morning the bed sheet used to be found struck to the body. She had a swarthy complexion, and was rather fat. Had constipation too. There was no difficulty in selecting Graphites, and I gave her a dose in the c. m. potency and instructed the husband to report after a fortnight, or earlier if there was any change. There was no change after a fortnight, but after 18 or 19 days it was reported that the patient was having a burning discharge. It was not in the patient's history, as given to me, that the husband had gonorrhœa and that the wife had acquired it from him. However, I hastened to see the patient and found, she had fever too. On a thorough examination I could understand that the discharge was gonorrhœal, but as I had not the impertinence to say so openly, I enquired,-"What could be the cause of such a discharge?" The husband frankly admitted to me that he had gonorrhœa and said all about it. I at once understood the action of my medicine, and with a view to allowing it to act on, I gave a few doses of placebo and returned. After another 8 or 10 days, that is to say, after about a month of the use of the medicine (Graphites, c. m.) the gonorrhœal discharge disappeared, and with it the leucorrhœa, but instead all the body was covered with eczema. The patient was feeling better now, and my instruction for not using any ointment was not disregarded. Gradually, the exudation of the eczema ceased and it assumed a dry character. I had then to give Sepia 50 m, and last of all Sulphur, but I need not enter into those details, as my object in citing this case is simply to show the reverse way of appearance of old symptoms and their gradual disappearance and cure. This case clearly shows how the immediate preceding symptom "gonorrhœa" came after the use of the medicine, and how that disappeared gradually, and how after that re-appeared the old eczema in all its old character, and how this eczema also disappeared, and how with the disappearance of the eczema, disappeared the habit of wetting the bed. This case clearly shows that a Homœopathic medicine in high potency, correctly prescribed on the law of Similars, brings back the old symptoms (that had not been cured but only suppressed by unscientific treatment) in the reverse order of their coming-the itching eruption, which is the manifestation of Psora coming last of all. Does not this prove that Psora is the cause of all the so called diseases, or better still, that Psora is the only chronic disease?
Though in the above case gonorrhœa was also latent in the system, yet gonorrhœa too had to reappear and disappear on the action of the potentised medicine. This small case furnishes an unmistakable evidence of the fact that it is Psora only that is all and that the so called diseases are only outbursts of Psora.
(b) It often happens that a man is apparently quite healthy, but he falls ill suddenly on some slight irregularity, say, for a little walk in the sun or a brief swimming or a little wetting in the rain or for some such slight cause. And he thinks that this slight illness is nothing, that it will pass off in a few days. But unfortunately, he does not recover so quickly as expected. Beginning with that slight illness, he goes on having various illnesses one after another. His friends also think that there was not much of an irregularity in a simple wetting in the rains, and the man is suffering from one disease after another like this. In fact it appears to all, that he suffers much, very much in proportion to the apparent cause. A very close examination would reveal in such cases that the slight irregularity in question is not really the cause of his disease. The real cause was all hidden in him, and the slight irregularity only brought it to light. The cause was sleeping in him -as it were-and the irregularity, the apparent cause, has only waked it up. It cannot be that the slight irregularity was the cause of such a mighty effect, and the hidden cause must be Psora and nothing else.
(c) A close examination of a number of chronic cases will show that they have an inherent characteristic of continuing, of not leaving the patient, and of appearing repeatedly in various forms; and that, regularity of habit and diet, and change of climate etc., have no effect on this characteristic. This seems to suggest that the various forms of diseases which appear are not really the main thing, or, remedying them would have remedied the chronic disease, which, however, is never the case. It seems as if behind all these diseases (manifestations), there is something that is producing them, and it is this something that is required to be removed, in order to effect a permanent annihilation of the chronic disease. It is like a show of the magic lantern. If you want to stop the show of the pictures, you have to remove the operator, because, if the operator is there to do his work, the pictures will continue to appear on the screen.
(d) Even ordinary people-not to speak of trained doctors-have found certain patients suffering from various diseases to be relieved of their suffering, suddenly enough, when some eruptions on the skin have appeared. This also shows that the eruptions latent in the system were the main thing in their cases.
I have given above some broad facts of reason and evidence to show that Psora is the sole cause of all the various diseases, and I invite you to confirm your convictions by an analysis of the cases of cure in your own practice.
It must have been clear to you by now, what chronic disease is, its cause and nature, and before I take up considering the mode of curing it, it is necessary to tell you something about suppression. The primary manifestation of Psora is on the skin, in the shape of itching eruptions, and to consider them as independent of the whole man, to consider them as mere local affections without having any relation to the rest of the economy is a mistake. To treat them with such an idea, and that in a manner that is short of permanent annihilation, is no cure, but suppression and giving the said manifestations an inward turn. What, besides application of ointment, give such an inward turn to the disease-force, and how these can be avoided and remedied, are things that we must know, before we actually take up the treatment of chronic disease.
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