History of "Like Cures Like"???

[H3LL]

While reading I Claudius, his physician, Xenophon, was discussing with him about how "Like cures like" and recommends using Bryony.

I know I Claudius is a fiction, but Robert Graves knew and researched his subject, so I checked and Aristotle seems to be believer as well as Xenophon.

It seems the delusion of "Like cures like" is not confined to 200 year old homeopathic quackery, but quacks much further back in time.

I was curious if any of you know more of the history of "Like cures like", any schools of 'medicine' that have used it as a founding principle and any juicy links I can get my teeth into plus older sources than Xenophon and Aristotle if you know of any?

Thanks.

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[sthomson]

H3LL,
Actually, a lot of ancient greek and roman philosophical texts were re-discovered and re-appropriated during the enlightenment, so it's not surprising that homeopathy is based on a much much older theory. I dunno if we can really call ancient philosophers "quacks," since really they were doing the best they could without the benefit of our hundreds of years of science.

[JoeTheJuggler]

In a way, it's just sympathetic magic.

It's also akin to the old herbalist/occult "doctrine of signatures". The plant that has nodes that look like joints is a cure for arthritis because God (or whatever) made it look like what it's supposed to treat.

[Macoy]

The Mandrake plant has references going back a bit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandrake_(plant)

[H3LL]

Originally Posted by sthomson

I dunno if we can really call ancient philosophers "quacks," since really they were doing the best they could without the benefit of our hundreds of years of science.

I wondered about this exact point when I wrote it.

If I lived in the 14th century they would be my doctor, my healer, my shaman, my surgeon, my barber etc. but I don't live in the 14th century.

Choosing the definition of quack medicine to be presented falsely as having curative powers their opinion about most of their healing powers were still false. False things don't become true the further back in time you go.

They may have had no practical method by which to test their cures other than anecdote but that does not make them good medicine. False things don't become true because you currently lack the ability to test them.

Many years ago, perhaps it was common for people to believe that the world was flat. It wasn't. They were wrong then and wrong now.

So I stayed with quack.

I might be tempted to agree that they were not deliberately deceiving their patients, so do not deserve the label quack. However, by the very nature of their trial and error methods, "I wonder if this tree bark cures this ailment?", there is sufficient deception to allow it.

Sorry long answer for a small point.

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[MRC_Hans]

Yes, the concept of like cures like is as old as the hills. However, as Joe points out, the traditional version has all kinds of properties, like the appearance of a plant (even the name), in it.

It was Samuel Hahnemann who developed the idea that all one should specifically match symptom profiles.

Hans

[eir_de_scania]

Wasn't the "the weaker the potion the stronger the effect" Hahnemann's idea? I have never seen that "theory" mentioned elsewhere, but I'm not that well-read on the subject.

[H3LL]

Originally Posted by MRC_Hans

Yes, the concept of like cures like is as old as the hills. However, as Joe points out, the traditional version has all kinds of properties, like the appearance of a plant (even the name), in it.

It was Samuel Hahnemann who developed the idea that all one should specifically match symptom profiles.

Hans

Originally Posted by eir_de_scania

Wasn't the "the weaker the potion the stronger the effect" Hahnemann's idea? I have never seen that "theory" mentioned elsewhere, but I'm not that well-read on the subject.

Hmm.

I know a novel is not the best source but you have now further piqued my interest. Is what you say correct?

Claudius The God - P.179. 1944. 10th Edition. Xenophon speaking about his methods:

Quote:

...At Cos we classify diseases by their remedies, which are for the most part the herbs that if eaten in great quantities produce the very symptoms that when eaten in moderate quantities they cure. This if a child wets his bed after the age of three or four and shows other cretinous symptoms associated with bed-wetting we say: 'That child has the Dandelion disease.'

Has Graves adapted homeopathy to Xenophon's medicine or is his source older and more academic (most of his sources are).


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[MRC_Hans]

I cannot guarantee that I'm correct. I do suggest, however, that since Claudius was written post Hahnemann, some homeopathic doctrine may well have found its way into it.

I don't know how precise our knowledge of ancient practices really is.

Hans

[MRC_Hans]

Originally Posted by eir_de_scania

Wasn't the "the weaker the potion the stronger the effect" Hahnemann's idea? I have never seen that "theory" mentioned elsewhere, but I'm not that well-read on the subject.

Mmm, that is not exactly what Hahnemann says. What he claims is that his procedure "potentizes" the medicine, and thus concentrates and enhances the effect. However, all that is a late Hahnemannian theory. His basic homeopathic doctrine precedes that.

Hans