The form or manner in which the dynamic energy of any particular substance manifests itself depends upon its physical condition and upon the condition of the organism which it acts.
The knowledge that drugs act upon the living organism and that the organism react to drugs; and the further knowledge that the organism reacts in a different manner to each drug led to the recognition of the specific character of drug action and to the doctrine of elective affinities; that each drug had a specific or peculiar relation to or affinity for the living organism, differing from the action of every other drug.
Prior to Hahnemann’s time, with only a very few exception, the idea was limited in its application to diseased conditions alone. Drugs were used to modify diseased condition upon fanciful or theoretical grounds, without any knowledge of their action upon the healthy organism. Empiricism reigned in medicine. Deluded and hampered by the idea that disease was an entity the futile search for specifics for diseases began and has continued to this day, regardless of the obvious fact that no two person affected with the same disease are affected in exactly the same manner, and that, therefore, there can be no such thing as a specific for a disease. Disease is not an entity but a process – a constantly changing condition or state.The doctrine of specifics applies to disease as well as to drugs, but it is limited to the *individual. It does not apply to the class. The direct, Producing causes of disease are entities, but the cause can only become active under certain condition, and the action of any disease-producing substance is always modified by the peculiar character and conditions of the individual and his environment. This modification must always be taken into consideration in practice. The practical problem is to find the remedy for the individual and correctly measure its power and action.
Hahnemann attacked the problem from a new standpoint when he began to investigate the action of drugs upon the *healthy human organism. By his tests or “provings” he showed that the healthy organism has an attraction for drugs and that it will react to their influence., under proper conditions, in the production of objective and subjective phenomena, or symptoms. By observing these phenomena the peculiar or specific properties and character of drugs may be definitely determined and measured. Drug action is thus proven to be dynamical and brought within the scope of the general law of attraction.
Knowledge of the existence of this attraction or affinity of the living organism for drugs and of the phenomena which they produce, taken with the conditions under which they are produced, opens the way for the formulation of a dynamical theory of how they act. The power which they exert, or the power which the organism exerts in reacting to them may be both measured and controlled. Considered from the standpoint of dynamics we have here *quantities with which to deal, the same as in any other department of physics. Power of a specific kind is generated, applied and expended for a specific purpose-drug or medicinal power for proving or cure. The drug possesses potential energy, or the power of doing work of a certain kind in the living organism under certain conditions. The quantities dealt which are assignable quantities and may be measured mathematically or otherwise.
Hahnemann’s First great discovery was that *the quality of the drug action is governed by the quantity of the drug used.
In order to control drug action, therefore it was necessary to find and adopt a scale of mensuration for drugs which should be both quantitative and qualitative. The centesimal scale of dilution adopted by Hahnemann practically fulfills the requirements for quantitative measurement of drug action and satisfies the pure therapeutist even as a qualitative yardstick; but for the scientist it leaves something to be desired in accuracy for qualitative measurement.
It remains true, however, that Hahnemann’s conception of the dynamic nature of drug and disease action brought their phenomena within the scope of the universal laws of motion and made possible the development of an efficient system of therapeutic medication.
Dr. Close was born November 24, 1860 and came to study homeopathy after the death of his father in 1879. His mother remarried a homoeopathic physician who turned Close's interests from law to medicine.
His stepfather helped him study the Organon and he attended medical school in California for two years. Finishing his studies at New York Homeopathic College he graduated in 1885. Completing his homeopathic education. Close preceptored with B. Fincke and P. P. Wells.
Setting up practice in Brooklyn, Dr. Close went on to found the Brooklyn Homoeopathic Union in 1897. This group devoted itself to the study of pure Hahnemannian homeopathy.
In 1905 Dr. Close was elected president of the International Hahnemannian Association. He was also the editor of the Department of Homeopathic Philosophy for the Homeopathic Recorder. Dr. Close taught homeopathic philosophy at New York Homeopathic Medical College from 1909-1913.
Dr. Close's lectures at New York Homeopathic were first published in the Homeopathic Recorder and later formed the basis for his masterpiece on homeopathic philosophy, The Genius of Homeopathy.
Dr. Close passed away on June 26, 1929 after a full and productive career in homeopathy.