The Doctrine of Signatures

Abstract

‘The Doctrine of Signatures’ started with the idea that God has marked everything he created with a sign (signature). The sign showed the purpose for the creation of the item. The ‘Doctrine of Signatures’ was promulgated by the writings of Jakob Bohme (1575–1624), a shoemaker in Gorlitz, Germany, who had a profound mystical vision in which he saw a relationship between God and man that caused him to write Signatura Rerum (The SigUp to the end of the 16th century, ‘resemblance’ played a constructive role in the knowledge and symbolism of Western culture [1] . The Doctrine of Signatures was applied historically to try to predict which of many herbal remedies might be efficacious in human illnesses. Referring to the common fern Asplenium scolopendrium , history showed that the sori on its fronds were shaped like (resembled) a spleen, which caused the ancients to think it would be useful for treating ailments of the spleen. In the 1500s, Paracelsus von Hohenheim (1493–1541) expanded an older Christian European idea as the Doctrine of Signatures. He and many others believed that the shape, colour, taste, smell and other attributes of a plant indicated its use in healing. For instance, he observed that the leaf of Hepatica acutiloba used to treat liver disorders was in fact shaped like the liver. The leaf of the Cyclamen persicum superficially looks like the ear, and was therefore used to treat earache. Paracelsus noticed that the Christmas rose (Helleborus niger) flowered in winter, and concluded that it had rejuvenating powers; he introduced it into the pharmacopoeia and recommended it for people over 50. Another example was Eupatorium perfoliatum , a perfoliate meadow plant whose stems perforate the leaves. This was believed to indicate a sort of splint effect that might promote the healing of broken bones, and so it was called ‘Boneset’ and used for fractures. Received: July 18, 2007 Accepted: July 19, 2007 Published online: May 16, 2008