Doctrine of Chronic Diseases Contd


I have frequently heard homoeopathic practitioners attributing to sycotic infection, the occurrence of ordinary warts and encysted and other tumours, but Hahnemann distinctly says that these are of psoric and not sycotic origin….


Opinions relative to the psora theory since the recognition of the itch-insect-Russell’s historical paper on itch-Abenzohr knew of the insects- The German peasants were acquainted with them- Moufet described them-Hauptmann gave a drawn of them-Bonomo wrote about them- Waehmann alluded to them-Afterwards they were lost sight of and disbelieved in -Rayer gets them pointed out to him- Adams describes them, and gives himself the itch-Since then they are generally believed in-Hebra’s account of scabies-His description of the acarus and its tracks-Hebra’s account of scabies-His description of the acarus and its tracks-Habitat of the vermin-Eruption dependent on its presence-The acarus the sole infecting agents-His treatment of the disease-Puffer defends the psora theory against Hebra-Denies itch to be a parasitic disease- The itch-insect the product of the disease-He allows that itch requires external treatment-Hebra reply to Puffer-He contends that the acarus is the sole essential feature of itch-He denies that any danger attends the suppression of itch- Griesselich’s views on the psora-theory-Hahnemann cured chronic diseases before he had a single antipsoric-The psora theory supplies a defect in Hahnemann’s previous doctrines-Influence of the theory on Hahnemann’s pathology of acute diseases-Hahnemann’s psora equivalent to dyscrasia, cachexia, and humours of others- Hahnemann wrong in his diagnosis of itch-Doubtful if itch can be cured by internal medicines-Influence of the ordinary treatment of itch in producing serious disease-Benefits conferred on practice by the psora theory-Absurdity of the division of medicines into antipsorics and apsorics-Weber’s definition of an antipsoric-Arnold’s views on the psora-theory-How can a parasitic disease give rise to other diseases?- The psora theory must include other skin-diseases besides itch-Hahnemann’s psora theory was a concession to the humoral pathologists- Henderson’s defence of the psora theory-Russell denies the repercussion of itch-Explains how its suppression may cause disease-Simon contends for more than three chronic miasms -Leboucher misapprehend’s Hahnemann’s cures of psoric diseases without antipsorics-Before he had any antipsorics he proposed to cure chronic diseases only by homoeopathy-Hahnemann fails to prove the origin of chronic diseases from itch-His diagnosis of itch incorrect-He confounds it with other diseases-Secondary diseases are sometimes produced by suppressing itch-How this happens- Danger of suppressing extensive exanthemata-Hahnemann erred in overlooking hereditary disease- They have been recognised in all ages-Aristotle-Piorry-Linz-Many causes of latent disease- Probability of certain eruptive diseases being connected with certain internal diseases-Nunez-Reasons for Hahnemann’s adoption of the psora-theory-Good done by the psora theory-Treatment of itch-Want of success of the internal treatment-Importance of destroying the acarus. Modes of doing so-Syphilis-Sycosis-After diseases of sycosis-Antisycotic medicines.


I NOW come to a consideration of the opinions of the more recent homoeopathic writers and others on the subject of Hahnemann’s psora-theory, expressed subsequent to the pretty general recognition of the presence of the acarus as essential to the disease with Hahnemann held to be the source of so many chronic diseases, viz., the scabies or itch.

In the sixth volume of the British Journal of Homoeopathy you will find a paper on the subject of psora or itch, written by Dr. Russell, in which the history of the knowledge of the existence of an animal inhabiting the skin in the disease we term scabies is traced from remote times.

It appears that about 640 years ago Abenzohr spoke of the existence of small vermin accompanying a skin disease, in such terms as must lead us to acknowledge their identity with the itch-insects of our days. His words are-“Syrones (called by the Arabs assoalat and assoab) are lice which creep under the skin of the hands, legs, and feet, and there excite vesicles full of water. So small are the animalculae that they can hardly be distinctly seen.” Magnifying-glasses had not yet been invented.

Abenzohr gives this as a popular brief, and it is curious, that in almost all countries a belief obtained that itch depended on the existence of a small vermin in the skin, and in many, certain old women and others were in the habit of driving a lucrative trade by extracting these small insects with a needle or other sharp-pointed instrument, and thus curing the disease. The peasants of Germany had a particular name for this operation. They termed it Sauren-graben, Sauren being probably a corruption of the more ancient syrones. In Moufet’s Theatrum Insectorum, published in the year 1634, this insect is introduced upon the stage as the chief actor in the drama of itch. Hauptmann of Leipzic gave a drawing of it in 1650; likewise an Italian of the name of Bonomo published an account of these creatures in 1683; and again, Wichmann in 1786 makes mention of their existence. Later pathologists and authors upon skin diseases, however, were either ignorant of the fact that it had ever been said that the itch had anything to do with an insect, or they noticed the report only to discredit it. Even Rayer and Biett, the celebrated dermatologists, continued as late as 1812 to disbelieve in the existence of the acarus; and a student from Corsica first convinced Rayer of their presence in the skin, and instructed him in the art of extracting them, as he had often seen the operation performed by the peasants of his native country.”

Before this time, Dr. Adams, in his works on Morbid Poisons, described the method of extracting the itch-insect, called in Portuguese oucoes, as he had seen it practised in the island of Madeira, and gives what he may call a pathogenetic proving of the insect; not, however, by means of swallowing a trituration or dilution of the vermin in the orthodox Hahnemannian manner, but by allowing two of the acari to burrow under his own skin, whereby he got in due time a severe attack of itch all over his person, from which the was only cured by means of an ointment of white precipitate.

Since that time all dermatologists coincide in the opinion that the little insect called acarus scabiei or sarcoptes hominis is essential to the itch-disease; that this well-known disease is never without it, though the difficulty of finding it is sometimes considerable, but that with a little patience and skill, and knowledge of the exact spot where it may be expected to be met with, it may always be discovered and drawn from its crypt in the epidermis.

In 1844, Dr. Ferdinand Hebra of Vienna, professor of skin diseases and physician-in-chief to what is called the Kratz- abtheilung, literally Itch Department, but more properly Cutaneous Disease Department of the Vienna General Hospital, wrote an essay in the Austrian Jahr-bucher, or medical journal, upon scabies. I may give you a brief abstract of his description of the disease. He says, is characteristic feature is the presence in the epidermis of certain tracks or passages, termed canaliculi, containing the itch-insect or acarus scabiei. Without the insect, he observe, there is no itch, and wherever the insect exists, there will be found the tracks or canaliculi just mentioned. These tracks differ in appearance under different circumstances. In young cleanly individuals, with fine soft skins, they appear as delicate white lines, slightly tortuous and somewhat elevated above the surface of the epidermis, varying in length from one line to as much as several inches.

At one end is generally a vesicle, pimple, or pustule, but this is not the seat of residence of the acarus, but represents the point of his entrance; the little animal will be found at the farther end of the track, and his presence is indicated by a very small, roundish elevation, somewhat darker in colour than the rest of the track. The vesicle stands in the same relation to the acarus that the mole-hill does to the mole, and this circumstances will account for the want of success of many searchers for the acarus, as they have generally thought that the animal was to be found close to or in the vesicle or itch-pustule, which is far from being the case. In cases of long standing, and in patients who are older or dirty, or who have a thicker epidermis, the track of the insect is no longer white, but often scarcely to be distinguished from the surrounding skin except by its elevated appearance or by its greater dirtiness.

As a rule, Dr. Hebra says, the acarus is confined to certain parts of the body, viz., the hands, wrists, and fore-arms, the feet and ankles, occasionally the penis and scrotum, and more rarely the anterior surface of the thorax and the knees. The general eruption over the whole body is produced by the scratching of the patient, owing to the sympathetic itching over the whole skin that accompanies the presence of this little vermin. As a proof of this, he alleges that paralytic patients infected with itch present none of the scabious eruptions on the limbs destitute of sensibility, excepting the itch-vesicles and canaliculi, the immediate effect of the acarus.

R.E. Dudgeon
Robert Ellis Dudgeon 1820 – 1904 Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh in 1839, Robert Ellis Dudgeon studied in Paris and Vienna before graduating as a doctor. Robert Ellis Dudgeon then became the editor of the British Journal of Homeopathy and he held this post for forty years.
Robert Ellis Dudgeon practiced at the London Homeopathic Hospital and specialised in Optics.
Robert Ellis Dudgeon wrote Pathogenetic Cyclopaedia 1839, Cure of Pannus by Innoculation, London and Edinburgh Journal of Medical Science 1844, Hahnemann’s Organon, 1849, Lectures on the Theory & Practice of Homeopathy, 1853, Homeopathic Treatment and Prevention of Asiatic Cholera 1847, Hahnemann’s Therapeutic Hints 1847, On Subaqueous Vision, Philosophical Magazine, 1871, The Influence of Homeopathy on General Medical Practice Since the Death of Hahnemann 1874, Repertory of the Homeopathic Materia Medica, 2 vols 1878-81, The Human Eye Its Optical Construction, 1878, Hahnemann’s Materia Medica Pura, 1880, The Sphygmograph, 1882, Materia Medica: Physiological and Applied 1884, Hahnemann the Founder of Scientific Therapeutics 1882, Hahnemann’s Organon 1893 5th Edition, Prolongation of Life 1900, Hahnemann’s Lesser Writing.