Some reflections on the materia medica in the light of Richard Hughes's cyclopaedia of drug pathogenesy

Abstract

Volume 71, Number 1, January 1982 IntroducHon The provings, together with toxicological reports and a few animal studies, represent the primary source material for the homeopathic materia medica. The principal collections are first, Hahnemann's writings (the Materia Medica Pura and the Chronic Diseases) and second, Hughes's Cyclopaedia. As is well known, Hahnemann's compilations, in spite of their unrivalled importance, are extremely indigestible since they consist merely of lists of symptoms arranged in accordance with an anatomical scheme. This makes it impossible to read them in a consecutive manner. Hughes, on the other hand, gives his symptoms in narrative form, which makes them in principle easier to read, though I have to admit that in practice their readability is only relative; they certainly demand a great deal of close attention (see Appendix). Nevertheless, the importance of the Cyclopaedia is very great, for it is (at least for readers who know only English) the only readily available major source of original proving material other than Hahnemann's writings. And because it presents this material in narrative form, it is one of the very few places in which we can assess the real bedrock upon which the whole homoeopathic edifice is constructed. I think we must therefore acknowledge the almost unique significance of the Cyclopaedia.