One more phase of the subject suggested by our friends strictures remains to be touched upon: the relation of materia medica to the decline of interest in homoeopathy and the drift to other schools and methods, for which there are many reasons. It is admitted that there is a relation, but the real reason is commonly over-looked. It is not primarily in the size of the materia medica nor the number of remedies, but in the manner in which materia medica is taught and studies.
The evils of the pathological, or empirical method, by which a few remedies are more or less arbitrarily associated with “diseases,” or pathological entities, have already been alluded to. This plausible and seductive (because seemingly simple) method has led more students of homoeopathy astray than any other. It violates or perverts every principle of the Inductive Method of Science upon which Homoeopathy is based and is fatal in its results.
The opposite method, which teaches the mere thoughtless, mechanical matching of the symptoms of diseases with the symptoms of remedies by means of repertories or indexes, is almost if not quite as bad; but as it has appealed only to a few superficial formalists who pride themselves on being governed by what they take to be the “letter of the law,” the mischief it does is not so widespread.
The usual method of teaching materia medica followed by nearly all teachers is so well known that it requires no lengthy description. The drug is described, its characteristic symptoms are pointed out, comparisons with other drugs and clinical suggestions are made and the student is expected to memorize as much of its as he can. Study of the materia medica by this method is utterly dry, bewildering and uninteresting. No appeal is made to reason. No logical explanation of the why and how of drug action is or can be made.
The student learns by rote, assisted by such other aids as he can devise to fix the symptoms in his memory. And this is the fundamental objection to the method-that it deals only with the memory and sets before the student a task which he at once perceives to be utterly impossible of accomplishment, since no one is capable of memorizing the entire materia medica, either from a book or the lips of a teacher. No wonder the average student quickly loses any interest he may have had in the subject and turns away from it to something that seems more rational. Only the exceptional student continues to plug along, absorbing and retaining as much as he can, but really assimilating only a small part of his unbalanced ration.
Until the materia medica is firmly grounded upon Human Morphology, which deals by actual measurement with the form, proportions and relative degrees of development of the various organs and system of organs of the human body, and the relation of these to its mode of functioning, there can be o scientific or logical explanation, teaching or understanding of the individual difference and peculiarities of drug action which are constantly met in provings and practice.
Form and character of organization determine the mode of functioning. When either is known the other can be logically inferred and explained by the morphological method. The influence of constitutional tendencies and predispositions as they appear at different stages of development, in health or disease, can be intelligently observed, valued and even predicted.
By linking it with the Science of Human Morphology, the homoeopathic materia medica becomes as interesting and fascinating to the qualified student as a good novel or a biography. It enables him to see why and how a remedy acts as it does in a given case and gives him a scientific foundation for his prescription. In one word, it enables him to individualize both case and remedy.
When all is said and done-when all the critics, the emasculators, the condensers, the morons and the pirates have done their best (and worst), what shall we have? just the same grand old materia medica we had when they began-imperishable, impregnable, immortal-accessible and available to all who have the inclination and the ability to rightly consult and make use of it.
Let no one delude himself with the idea that the materia medica can be abolished, destroyed or obliterated. It is an accomplished fact. The work has been done. The record of it has been made, filed, printed, published and disseminated. It constituted a part of the literary and scientific heritage of the world. It may be ignored, neglected or forgotten by the hoi polloi, but it is still there for the use of all who know and appreciate it. Immortal, humanly speaking, with the immortality conferred by type, printing, publication and distribution to the libraries of the world, it can never be lost.
As well say that the works of Moses, the Prophets, Hippocrates, Galen, Dante, Shakespeare, Goethe, Darwin and Pasteur could be obliterated from the world as that the works of Hahnemann and his disciples could be obliterated. Humanly speaking, it cant be done. those who attempt it obliterate only themselves as active factors in the worlds attainments and progress. They take their place with the great, unthinking, slow moving mass of mankind who respond and react to leadership only under pressure. But they do react eventually, and so the world moves on in its appointed course.
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.