In my studies I have frequently heard, "read/study the MM", the repertory is just a path to the MM. I own Phatak, Boericke, Clark's dictionary, and Morrison Desk Ref - but if a new student should pick one to learn and study - which one would you suggest?

All Mateira Medica's are equally important as each give you a slightly different insight into a remedy.

For beginners, its good to have a copy of Allens KEynotes as well as then you don't miss Essential symptoms of a remedy. Each symptoms recorded there is important of that remedy. Then Phatak takes the trouble to give an essence of the mentals and generals of each remedy.

Boericke concentrated on physical generals which are very important and understanding of the application of the remedies in pathological conditions.

Clarke is most interesting from a historical perspective and clinical understanding of the remedy, though the Materia medica listing is exhaustive. HEre's where Allen's KEynotes helps you concentrate on what is characteristic, especially when studying the remedy for commiting to memory.

Morrisons is much like a modern Homoepathic text book, and should be studied after one has studied the basic essentials of the remdies from the other books.

So no short cuts, you need to read them all. This is what I found most difficult in homeopathy - like studying an encyclopedia and commiting it to memory!!! Regular reading and re-reading is the only way out.

Hope this is helpful.
doctorleela

[ 26. August 2002, 04:22: Message edited by: doctorleela ]

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Hallo
In German: Jahrs Ausfuehrliche Arzneimittellehre
In english: Allen's Handbook
All the one's mentioned in the previous posts are secondary literatur, which don't give the provingtext. Allen's Handbook is about 80% complete compared with the actual proving and combines the 10 Volumes of the enzyclopaedia into one, adding some clinical experience, which is strictly kept seperate from the main text.

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Hans Weitbrecht
Consultant Homeopath

Hello RDS,

I think whichever book makes the subject intellectually accessible to the individual person is the best one to start with.

At some point though, when the decision to practise becomes serious, I believe it is vital to study remedies from the proving material such as those polychrests in Materia Medica Pura and Chronic Diseases. T. F. Allen's 'Handbook of Materia Medica' is good because it intersperses the proving material with clinical examples. A remedy proving means nothing without examples of clinical application. But if you learn remedies only by their clinical application you are liable to STEREOTYPE that remedy into a very narrow usage. For example, the remedy Platina has a 101 clinical applications that have nothing to do with nymphomaniacal women when it's prescribed on a number of its characteristic symptoms. Yet I wonder if you saw this remedy rate highly in a repertorization and the male patient had no specific imbalance in the sexual sphere if you would be prone to disregard it. Sometimes the difference between a partial simillimum and the simillimum can be a mere footstep or the difference can be as wide as the Pacific Ocean. In the clinic this difference translates to rapid gentle cure (simillimum) or a long drawn out case with many winds and turns (partial simillimum). We all owe it ourselves to become familiar with the original provings (of old and new remedies) as early as possible in our studies. And then look at how the information has been applied clinically. Many of our homoeopathic MM texts do not distinguish where the information came from, that is, if it is a proving symptom or a clinical finding. You need to be discerning about the quality of some information. Not that I'm suggesting it's wrong. It's just that what works for one will not necessarily work for another and it is a fact of life that we have many different methodologies all attempting to give meaning and clarification to Materia Medica in different ways. Analogy has always been present in homoeopathy.

One further suggestion is, if your health permits, to test some remedies on yourself. You won't experience the full proving symptoms, sometimes it is merely a temporary upset stomach, diarrhoea, or frayed nerves, a headache, a skin rash, or the blues. This enables you to understand the quality of sensation associated with a remedy. Imagine trying to explain how a mandarin differs in taste to an orange to someone who has never even seen them. This is what we more or less expect our patients to be able to do for us when we try to differentiate between a number of similar remedies. There is a difference between reading about something and having an experience of it. Perhaps your wife would be willing to test some remedies as well? Well, anyway, just some suggestions which may be useful...

All the best,
Chris

Hi RDS,
YEs Hans suggestion (seconded by Chris) of reading TF Allen is really worth it, but I'm refering to the encyclopedia here. Its difficult to hang around with all the volumes, which is why Clarke could be a sort of alternative.

BUt if you do get it on Hard Disc, its worth refering to often.
regards,
doctorleela

[ 28. August 2002, 12:59: Message edited by: doctorleela ]

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If I can introduce a related question, I'm wondering whether there are any professional grade textbooks on homeopathy that people can recommend?

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"The need to perform adjustments for covariates...weakens the findings." BMJ Clinical Evidence: Mental Health, (No. 11), p. 95.... It's that simple, guys: bad numbers make bad science.

bwv - I put this on the other thread - but Luc De Sheppers Hahnemann Revisited is a professional quality textbook.

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Appreciate the responses. I own Clark's dictionary, but will now read it with more interest after thinking about Chris' response. Also see the validity in purchasing the Allen set. Very helpful for me. Unfortunately, I am not sure my health permits me to experiment, but will consider later.

Hello bwv,

As well as Luc De Schepper's book, you could check out M.L. Dhawale 'Principles & Practice of Homoeopathy' for a good textbook of the ABC's.

You might also be interested in Edward C. Whitmont 'Psyche and Substance'. One of the essays deals specifically with psychosomatics and includes case examples. Thank goodness for Jungians!

Regards,
Chris

Hmmm. Ah-ha. Yes, I see now. Jungians. Mmmmm.

Anyway, thanks for the input. Since I'm already spending more on books than I can afford, I probably won't even notice it when I add your recommendations to the list!

Bach

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"The need to perform adjustments for covariates...weakens the findings." BMJ Clinical Evidence: Mental Health, (No. 11), p. 95.... It's that simple, guys: bad numbers make bad science.