By Daniel P. Towle, D.C, DNBHE

 

Miasms: A Theoretical Review of an Antiquated Concept

 

"The true natural chronic diseases are those that arise from a chronic miasm, which when left to themselves, and unchecked by the employment of those remedies that are specific for them, always go on increasing and growing worse, notwithstanding the best mental and corporeal regimen, and torment the patient to the end of his life with ever aggravated sufferings. These are the most numerous and greatest scourges of the human race; for the most robust constitution, the best regulated mode of living and the most vigorous energy of the vital force are insufficient for their eradication." Organon Aphorism #78

Psora is a fascinating subject. Just ask any homeopath. As a result, millions of pages of material have been written, countless hours have been spent teaching and discussing it, and WE ARE NO CLOSER TO A SOLUTION NOW THAN WE WERE IN 1816 WHEN HAHNEMANN PROPOSED THE CONCEPT OF PSORA.

Doctor Hahnemann was apparently frustrated at a road block he found in treating disease. He stated: "There is a time when the medicines only manage to obtain a mild relief; after a repeated efforts to be victorious over an affection which frequently reproduces itself with some new modifications, and even when the patient has nothing to change of his diet and when he punctually does everything which he was prescribed, more and more often diseases remain, diseases which not even the best reputed medicines can make disappear, and frequently not even diminish, in which, unceasingly multiplying themselves, become more and more fatal. Thus, the homeopathic physician only manages to delay the chronic disease which, nevertheless, goes getting worse year after year". Treatise on Chronic Diseases

Later in the same Treatise he states: "The serious problem which worried me night and day during 1816 and 1817 was to try and find a cause by which all medicines known in homeopathy did not obtain real healing of the diseases, as well as trying to get to know more exactly the true nature of the thousands of affections which resist the treatment in spite of the constant truth of Homeopathic Law. During this span of time, God Almighty enabled me to arrive at a solution by means of my assiduous meditations, my indefatigable and trustworthy observations and my exact experiences; same must redound in benefits for all of MANKIND". (emphasis added)

So after twelve years of observations, experimentation's and meditations, Hahnemann proposed the theory of chronic miasms. He observed the life altering and long term effects of venereal disease. These formed two of the miasms - sycosis from gonorrhea and leutism from syphilis. However this left a huge area of disease conditions uncategorized. This last area he called psora and for Hahnemann, it was the oldest miasmatic chronic disease in mankind. Everyone is familiar with the Greek word Tsorat which translates to a fault or groove or stain. Doctor Hahnemann felt that the fault or weakness was in the patients Vital Force and this predisposed him to all other weaknesses.

Hahnemann did not postulate the origin of psora was the hundreds of generations of skin diseases - treated and untreated which disturbed the Vital Force. There is no mention of the parasitic origin of scabies in the Organon or in his Treatise on Chronic Diseases, which does not mean he ignored it. However, it seems clear that he attributed to the acarus (parasite) to be a purely arousing cause of the internal diathesis or susceptible terrain. Unlike the other two miasms, psora does not produce the destruction of tissue, but expresses itself more in skin symptoms, functional and mental symptoms.

For Dr. Hahnemann, psora was the original diathesis or dyscrasia or dysrhythmia of our energy. He came to this conclusion because of the observation that the correct treatment of acute ailments did not reach deep enough into the patients vital economy to correct the underlying defect which allowed the condition to occur in the first place.

This disturbance would today be looked upon as a defect in the DNA, a genetic basis for the inheritance of conditions. Just as having red hair and blue eyes was thought to be genetic back then, so too would eczema, insanity, epilepsy, etc., be expected to be passed from generation to generation. Indeed, this observation stems back thousands of years since the Bible states: "The Lord is long suffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation." The Holy Bible; Numbers 14:18 (emphasis added)

The diathesis or "terrain" of the patient was the excellent observation that each individual contains fertile ground for the development of health or for the morbid predisposition (or susceptibility) to disease. Hahnemann did what every other doctor does. He named a condition or series of conditions by categorizing them into miasmatic syndromes. Just as a label of congestive heart failure will clue in a doctor and provide a treatment program, so homeopaths say that the terrain is sycotic, syphilitic or psoric. Unfortunately, naming a disease or miasmatic syndrome does not eliminate the problem, it just gives us a starting point to work from.

Hahnemann's brilliance was in the observation that the body was either hypo-functional, hyper-functional or dys-functional in all of its actions. He chose the term sycosis for the hyper-functional state because of the development of fig warts after contracting gonorrhea. He assigned dys-function the name of leutism since syphilis in the 1500's was a far, far deadlier disease. Syphilis, having replaced either leprosy or yaws, was a devastating condition that rapidly destroyed the body of the sufferer. Over time, we either developed some 'herd-immunity' to this disease or it mutated into a less virulent - but more chronic - disorder that we see today.

Now we have two categories which immediately tell us a lot about the Vital Force and its condition and we have a possible source -- venereal disease for both. We have immediately reduced the number of remedies that need to be considered for a patient and have therefore simplified homeopathy somewhat.

We have theoretical origins for sycosis and leutism. Remember, there is NO PROOF that these miasmatic states actually exist. What we have are Dr. Hahnemann's acute observations which have colored homeopathic history, being reobserved by nearly every homeopath since him. What is the origin of psora then? There is no mention of scabies or any other skin condition being the source of psora in either The Organon or the Treatise on Chronic Disease.

THIS IS OF CRITICAL CONCERN TO EVERYONE

This is not just some idle speculation. This is a vital matter since it deeply affects all of us to one degree or another. "If the miasmatic concept of disease is correct, then there is no hope for the untreated human race. We are doomed. In fact, all life, if untreated, on the planet is also doomed. For the end result of all miasmatic disease tends to be death by suicide. One could say that contamination by the miasma and their continued reinforcement by sexually contracted diseases, suppressive application of both allopathic and natural medicines and the increasing stresses of modern society (remember stresses are very frequently the triggering mechanisms of latent miasmatic tendencies) are subconscious affirmations of the miasmatic suicidal tendency. According to the Hahnemannian concept, if not properly countered, miasma's will continue to multiply in the human race until each individual will reach the point where life is no longer possible because of them."

This was written by Charles Wilcher, DC, DNBHE in the Summer 93 issue of THE PROVER. He is absolutely correct; spend some time thinking about the future of humanities path. This quote is just an extension of Aphorism #78 which was presented at the beginning of the article. Reread this Aphorism and remember:

As goes the individual, so goes the family,

as goes the family, so goes the community,

as goes the community, so goes the state,

as goes the state, so goes the country.

There are not enough trained homeopaths OR PEOPLE AWARE ENOUGH of the miasmatic problem to access fully the ones that we do have. Even with 10 times as many homeopaths we could not treat even a fraction of the estimated 6,500,000,000 people that will be on the planet by the year 2000. Before then the chances are quite good that some "syphilitic" madman, who cares nothing for his own life or that of anyone else, will get his hands on nuclear or biological weapons and start some mass destruction. Its vital that we develop some answers and soon. Since psora is the "mother of all diseases" (including mental ones), understanding the origin of psora is necessary to reevaluating our treatment options so we can avoid the undesirable fate mentioned above. One of psora's standard bearers was Dr. Kent, it is appropriate to examine his input first.

KENT AND PSORA

There are three possibilities for psora's origination. The first two are concepts espoused by J.T.Kent, MD; the third proposal is credited to Herbert Robert's, MD. What if Kent was correct? Psora is our "original sin" come back to haunt us and make us suffer. This was an observation he made in Lecture XVIII and he twisted the concept of psora to fit his peculiar religious tenets since he was a follower of Swedenborg (see the article "Kents Hidden Links" in the Winter 1995 issue of THE PROVER). There are two serious ramifications to this pronouncement that he made; (a) the Roman Catholic version of the sacrament Baptism didn't work, since Baptism would "wash" away original sin and thereby eliminate psora and (b) the doctrine of miasms was to remain warped for several decades until the genius Herbert A. Robert's, M.D. wrote his book "Principles of the Art of Curing with Homeopathy".

We can see how Kent's concept perniciously permiated all of homeopathic teachings. By attaching psora to original sin, he implied that either God created Adam defectively or that Adam became defective when he ate Eve's apple. Either way Kent effectively put the access and the treatment of psora out of everyone's reach. Psora would plague mankind till its demise, all because of a mistake made by one man? Doctor Ortega's book "Notes on the Miasms" (1980 English translation) states:

"Psora is the representative miasm PAR EXCELLENCE, since Hahnemann has established that its presence is indispensable for the acquisition of any other illness. Hence the following equation is necessary. If illness is an imbalance of the vital force, an imbalance which issues from thought and transcends the whole being, this anomalous thought must necessarily and inevitable issue from a mind and will which are already defective. [Did God make Adam defectively that Adam could use his mind and will to eat the apple? ed.] We are of course, talking about an illness of miasmatic origin, while we leave aside for later discussion the origin of this initial miasmatic illness, merely pointing out that man's liberty permits him to commit this transgression and that this transgression leads him to the imbalance which is the initial illness."

Ortega goes on to state: "Thus psora is the basic miasm. If illness is the result of a violation of nature and its laws (which give us great liberty, but still establishes limits), then the miasm is the result of repeated transgressions whose effects logically extend into the very depth of the organism, both somatic and mental, and are thus manifested in both the somatic and the mental realms. Man's position of freedom in the universe permits him to transgress; transgression brings on imbalance, and repeated imbalance constitutes the initial illness. When the consequences of this imbalance invade the whole being and these become permanent, the miasm arises. The imbalance alters something which is indispensable to existence - rhythm, both inside us and in respect of the individual's multiple relations with his surroundings. Psora is an alteration of rhythm in the sense of deficiency; the individual tends not to be, not to do, not to produce -- stagnation, immobility." [emphasis added]

Ortega implies that we transgress the laws of the universe and are punished for it by illness. If the "transgression" was by our great-great grandparents and we "inherit" the condition, we still suffer from it. This is a continuation of Kent and the original sin concept. It did not make any sense then - except as a convenient way to explain away something they had observed, but not understood. As with the lightning gods of the primitives and the goddess of fertility of the Greeks, this attachment of "original sin" to psora must be recognized as another child-like explanation and it should be ignored in our curriculum.

PSORA IS CAUSED BY SKIN CONDITIONS

Accepting that psora is not associated with original sin, the topic of assuming that the influence of psora is due to the millennial accumulation of miasmatic damage due to repeated skin conditions that our ancestors had must be questioned at this time. This concept is admirably summarized by Max Tetau, M.D. who states:

"Eczema in infancy and asthma at adolescence, then, a sickly person for life, with various pains, hepatic attacks, reappearance of episodes of eczema or dyspnea, that is the pattern of psoric illness. The specific for Psora is Sulfur.

Its etiology: a <>. By this term must be understood not only sarcoptic parasitosis, known to Hahnemann, but also all of the skin diseases which have flourished on the skin of countless generations: the affliction of Job on his manure, leprosy, psoriasis, various eczema's, all treated by means of sulfurated pomades. For a Homeopath, a skin disease is not cured from the outside, but from the inside, by an appropriate internal treatment. If not, the illness is <> and observation proves that sooner or later it will reappear under another form, this time in a different, internal and more serious localization. The skin is an outlet which must never be sealed forcefully. The illness heals from the inside toward the outside, as Hering has written." (underlined emphasis added)

His is the other standard explanation of why psora exists at all. Hahnemann never stated that psora was caused by skin problems, he observed that skin conditions reflected the strength of the Vital Force. Fortunately the answer to the question of the origins of psora are not to be found in the empty mists of time, when just Adam and Eve walked the empty Earth. It is discovered with research into how people lived in Hahnemann's time and how they live today. For this we first move into the 20th century and visit with Dr. Roberts.

ROBERTS AND PSORA

Roberts observations are the third possibility for the origin of psora. He cut through Kent's religious hyperbole and went back to Hahnemann's original observations. He stated: "Psora is, undoubtedly, the constitutional state of defect, of lack, of failure in a minus sense, of inhibition and its results." What Roberts deduced is confirmed by physiopathology. "On being inhibited, just the same in the man-individual as in the cell-individual, all its expression is reduced, it is badly nourished and it weakens."

"Psora is the unbalance of Defect, the unbalanced lack of the inhibition; the unbalanced rhythm alteration in the negative sense, every organ and every little cell begetting everything that is lacking, everything that is insufficient." He followed up in 1942 with "Principles and Art of Cure by Homeopathy" in which he studies 30 known chemical elements which are vital for the construction of the human body. He states: "We are, however, discussing primarily these elements which, in a simple or combined form, are essentially constructive, to demonstrate the meaning of our hypothesis as regards psora and deficiency being one and only thing in appropriately balanced (constitutional) elements, or if both problems are not identical, we must admit that here there is a significative clue for the problem of the psora which deserves deeper studies."

Roberts, building on Hahnemann's work was correct. Psora is a deficiency state. This answers the question of what psora is, but not the question of why we have to make note of it, nor how do we use the information to return our patients to good health. Both Roberts and Hahnemann had a piece of the puzzle. Research over the past 50 years can help to fill in the gaps Roberts knew nothing of and increase our understanding of this miasm.

PSORA AND SKIN CONDITIONS

Why was psora first noted on the skin (psoriasis, eczema, rashes, etc.)? As stated above, Hahnemann did not think it was related to scabies, but also he could not have known that the life span of a skin cell is approximately 4 weeks, or about 13 times per year there is a complete exchange of skin cells. This is far more frequent than the turn over of bone, muscle, red blood cells or nervous tissues in the body. By the time of adulthood (age 30) there have been 400 skin changes. The easiest analogy to use is our common experience with photocopy machines.

If you took a copy of a copy of a copy 400 times, you will note that there is a degradation of the image. The copy may be 99.5% perfect each time, but the small difference continues to add up and up until it is quite visible or possibly even distorting. Is it any wonder that skin conditions show up first? Putting aside "Herings Law of Cure", we can see that sheer mathematics demonstrates Hahnemann's observation of psora having origins on the skin - but not due to a pathological or disease related process. Error creeps into the system and it inevitably shows up at the skin level first.

Additional observations must be added onto this. First is that the skin acts as a and as such, the skin has detoxification responsibilities. If the toxic burden of the body is too great then the skin cells will demonstrate the damage first as they are poisoned from within and the process of skin replication is interfered with. Second, the skin is obviously a barrier to keep out harmful elements, so again, it is at high risk of exposure to noxious agents. As the skin absorbs abrasions, burns, virus attack, fungus, chemicals and abuse - it is little wonder that it would break down quicker and provide a barometer to the health of the Vital Force.

Keeping these things in mind, what if some critical vitamin or mineral is in short supply and the skin cells must be manufactured defectively? This would be analogous to having a dirty platten on the copy machine and watching the image degrade more rapidly, quite similarly to how we watch psora manifest when the skin cells are defective and are rapidly degrading. Again, Dr. Hahnemann's observation that the health of the body is reflected by the health of the skin is most appropriate.

VISITING HAHNEMANN'S EUROPE

Europe, the cradle of our modern civilization, will be the initial focal point to observe how Hahnemann may have viewed mankind. The concepts presented here are equally applicable in Asia, the United States or any place else. Prior to, and following the decimation caused by the bubonic plague, feudalism was in its height and glory. Every square inch of useable land was claimed by some king, queen, prince, baron, bishop or lord. The people lived in a state of serfdom at the whim of the king. In exchange for protection - both from other rulers and from their own king (a first class case of extortion), serfs farmed a piece of land and had to give a substantial amount of their crops and animals to the king.

The average life expectancy of a serf was probably 30-35 years and life was hard for everyone but the king. The observation made by the locals of the time was that grandpa died of an aneurysm at age 35, dad had one age 32 and 3 of his 4 sons had them by age 30. Shooting from the hip, we could easily explain this as a genetic condition passed down from generation to generation. A detailed case history would reveal that there was a history of skin conditions (who could avoid them back then?), possibly some venereal disease as well. A homeopath would see a mixed miasmatic condition emphasizing leutism.

However, an analysis of the soil at the time would reveal a copper deficiency. Since our serfs worked the same patch of land for generations (albeit under new kings from time to time), a copper deficiency that was present in 1250 would still be there in 1350, 1550 and 1950. Each succeeding crop would withdraw a little of what was left in the soil until it was totally depleted. The structure and integrity of the vascular system is totally dependent on copper. An adequate amount of copper is required for the enzyme lysyl oxidase which is vital in determining the quantity and quality of elastin formation and collagen cross linking. A copper deficiency is related to vascular defects such as aneurysms, heart enlargement, heart failure and infarcts. How would our hard working serfs get copper to provide elasticity to the walls of the blood vessels and thus prevent them from blowing out? Would a homeopath say he was psoric because some ancestor had scabies before him?

Very little travel took place unless you were in the army. Most people lived, and died, within 10 miles of where they were born. Since the king got the lions share of the production, there were reasons that one region (perhaps high in copper) could not trade with our serf. The serf didn't have anything extra to trade (it went to the king) and he couldn't get it very far from his home without spoilage. If it wasn't in the soil on his farm then it wasn't in the crops he grew, so it wasn't in the animals either when he ate them, since they grazed on the same land the crops came from.

The odds are that if the soil is deficient in copper, it is also deficient in other minerals, for example zinc. Among other symptoms of a zinc deficiency, poor growth (short stature) really stands out. Our serf was short by today's standards. The average Spanish conquistador was between 4'8" and 5'2". When the Spanish arrived in Florida, they were amazed to see the Indians so tall (6 foot and above).

This, of course, is just common sense. While the body is growing through infancy to adulthood, each day it must have the raw materials to carry out the process of growth and repair. Each element, each nutrient becomes a . The rate of action of any process is limited by its presence (or absence). Our serf, without zinc, was short. Every time he was supposed to grow, there was no zinc present. So - NOTHING HAPPENED! No zinc equaled no growth and short stature. JAMA (9/9/95) reported on a study conducted at four county health clinics in Alabama that found that daily doses of 25 mg. of zinc during pregnancy appears to promote fetal growth, especially if the mother is thin. Birth weight increased an average of 15 ounces in one group. The test cohorts had fewer infections, half the premature birth rate and increased skull capacities. A major note must be made here, the mothers did not start supplementation until the 19th week. Imagine how much more dramatic the results would have been if supplementation was started pre-conception since the initial trimester is the most important to the health and growth of the fetus.

If our grandparents or parents were short, does this mean genetically we will be short? The answer is a resounding no. It is likely our forefathers were short (or had early balding, or had aneurysms, etc.) because they were nutrient deficient in some area, or put another way, THEY WERE PSORIC!

Last year watching the Senior Bowl football game on TV, they showed a "human interest" clip of film. One of the 6'8" 280 pound tackles was standing next to his 4'6" mother. She emigrated to the United States from Poland and he was born here. He had access to a greater amount of protein, vitamins, minerals, etc. than his mother did and therefore he came closer to reaching his genetic potential! His mother was definitely psoric - she might even had had some skin conditions, but that wasn't because of a long history of skin problems and suppression in her family, or because she had more original sin than others. She was just malnourished and did not even come close to her genetic potential for height.

TRACE MINERALS AND THE SECRETS OF SEASONING

Manganese is only one of a number of minerals found in tissues of the body in much smaller amounts than are calcium, magnesium, or iron. They are generally called trace minerals, and their importance is only just beginning to be appreciated. Until recent decades the presence of these minerals in the body and in foods was thought to be accidental. The discovery of small amounts of copper, zinc, or manganese in the ash of burned plant and animal tissue was attributed to contamination. As our research methods have become more sophisticated, however, it has been discovered that these tiny amounts of minerals are in fact critical to the proper functioning's of the plant, animal and human bodies. Their most dramatic role is as strategic components of enzymes.

Every metabolic reaction in the body depends on the presence of an enzyme to make it move along at the speed necessary to sustain life processes. Enzymes are huge protein molecules with slots or grooves in them where the smaller molecules that they are acting on can fit, much as a key would fit into a lock. When the smaller compounds to be processed slide into the slots of the enzyme molecules, they are brought into contact with a single atom of one of the trace minerals, such as zinc or copper. In some little-understood fashion, this contact triggers the desired reaction. The orchestration of the metabolic reactions going on in all the tissues is based on the presence of adequate quantities of the appropriate enzymes at each site. If an enzyme is deficient, the metabolic processes related to it will be slowed down and the overall functioning of the body will suffer. The end result of such a deficiency can range all the way from the kind of breakdown in specific tissues that we call disease to a general sense of lethargy, a lack of energy, and a clouded consciousness.

Enzymes can be manufactured in adequate quantities only if the trace minerals that are necessary for their construction are present in adequate amounts. With the increasing availability of precise diagnostic tools and the use of routine tests of trace element status, it is becoming obvious that deficiencies are common. They are due to a decrease of trace minerals like zinc, manganese, and selenium in our food supplies. Processed foods are lower in minerals than are foods that are whole and unaltered. For example, bread made from white flour has only about one fourth the zinc that whole wheat has. But even whole wheat can vary in mineral content, depending on the soil in which it was grown. Faulty agricultural practices that are now commonplace have progressively depleted the soil of its mineral content, with the result that the plants grown on that soil are deficient. It was discovered earlier this century that nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (N-P-K- fertilizers) will artificially stimulate plant growth despite other deficiencies. So we can grow crops, but that has nothing to do with their being healthy.

Sick plants emit infrared signatures that attract bugs to attack the 'diseased' plant. Therefore we have developed AND USED an impressive array of fungicides and pesticides in order to keep the plants alive long enough to be harvested. Organic farmers that supplement their soil with glacial rock dust as a trace mineral supply, have virtually no problems with insects or diseases and the crops they grow are so big, they must be seen to be believed! We then have food that is simultaneously nutritionally poor and chemically toxic. As Dr. Wilcher stated above, these are some of the of modern life that can apparently trigger latent miasmatic weaknesses. Or do they - let us return to our European serf for additional observations.

OUR SERF IN HAHNEMANN'S DAY

Our serf has been and now has more freedom (Magna Carta signed in 1215) than before. The population in Europe has steadily increased despite tens of thousands of deaths from typhus. Travel is increasing, mercantilism is on the rise. The major countries have colonized areas far from Europe and we have trade that is more global. Vast quantities of foods are imported to Europe; sugar, spices, meats, fruits, and vegetable grown elsewhere.

Our serf is a free man but still a farmer. Perhaps he has a taste for pepper, grown in the rich volcanic soils of southeast Asia. By using the pepper, he gets enough copper that he doesn't get an aneurysm at age 30, he may live to be 42 before he dies from diabetes brought on by his concurrent zinc deficiency. [Banerjea reports diabetes and enuresis are secondary symptoms of psora.]

With increased population travel and increased distribution of food, someone in Germany could get wine made in Italy, sheep raised in Switzerland and fish from Denmark. With a diet consisting of more than what he grows on his small farm, he gets a better variety of nutrients and a better chance at surviving, possibly coming nearer to his genetic potential. Our ex-serf hops on a boat and comes to the New World hoping to have a better life for himself and his family.

In America, the immigrants flourished as they moved west. It is applicable to note that as many families moved west, they cleared and farmed a piece of land for 3 to 5 years then they moved further west to a fresh patch of land. They farmed "till the land gave out" and moved again. These people were hardier and getting bigger and stronger by each generation. These settlers were still restricted to travel by horseback or stagecoach which still didn't allow most people to get very far away from the homestead. So many apparently genetic conditions of asthma, goiter or arthritis could easily have been due to the relative soil conditions found in the region. We don't consider the "goiter belt" to be an area of massive sycotic influence in the mid west, we know it to be a soil deficiency of iodine. But this is hardly a new concept. The book Das Leben by Julius Hensel published in German in the 1890's was translated to English and published in America by Boericke & Tafel!!

He stated: "One or the other must take place. Either unexhausted new soil or the restoration of the nutrition consumed to the soil of the fields. When the latter has not been done, as by the first European settlers in America, the crops decreased and the settlers moved from the east to the west, in order to gain enough cereals from the yet unexhausted soil for export to Europe. Now they have also come to see in America that they cannot continue thus, as there are no more domains without owners into which they can emigrate without let or hindrance."

AMERICA 1900 - TODAY

Major changes in nutrition took place this century, greater than any other recorded piece of history. With the widespread use of the auto/truck, we could move from coast to coast, or have food trucked into us from coast to coast. Florida orange juice is shipped to California, California broccoli is sent to New York and wheat from the midwest goes every where in the world.

Our chances of having a nutritionally full diet were maximized - just in time to have the soil conditions in this country minimized. As a result, we get to eat more variety but the variety is nearly worthless. Any remaining nutritional value in the food is often wiped out by processing the food, either for taste or for increased shelf life. Without question, psora is alive and well in the United States. Some examples will follow shortly.

 

MAN'S CHEMICAL COMPUTER

Despite our best efforts to deny it, man is a biochemical computer. All that we do, feel, think, and are is based on the chemicals comprising the body. If you change the chemical soup in our body then you change EVERYTHING! This is perfectly obvious when a child gets too much sugar, or an adult has too much caffeine or the body has too much lead or not enough of some other critical element such as zinc.

A brief review of cell membrane chemistry is in order. The inside of the nerve cell is negatively charged in comparison to the exterior, primarily due to the relative concentrations of Na+, Cl-, K+, and larger intracellular proteins and anions. The sodium-potassium pump determines cellular function and health and is mediated by MgATP (magnesium adenosine triphosphate). The action potential of a nerve cell is regulated by depolarization and repolarization. Depolarization occurs when a stimulus suddenly increases the permeability of the membrane to Na+ ions. This alteration in permeability is mediated by calcium (Ca+) ions.

The cellular chemistry is altered by both endogenous and exogenous sources, not even considering the effect of a deficiency of any of the primary minerals such as sodium, potassium, calcium or magnesium. Cell function is altered by neurohormones such as prolactin, histamine, endorphins, prostaglandin's, bradykinins, growth hormone, renin-angiotensin, cortisone, etc. If there is a deficiency in the production capacity of any of these hormonal systems it is obvious what a dramatic effect it would have on ALL body systems. This deficiency could occur by missing some of the basic building blocks (such as essential amino acids, minerals, etc.) or in the enzyme pathways mediated by these chemicals (due to missing co-factors such as minerals). The functions of cellular chemistry are also distorted by alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, aluminum contamination, anti-histimines, aspartame, etc. Even something very basic, such as sub-clinical dehydration , can markedly alter body chemistry and create a wide array of symptoms which can include colic, ulcers, depression, weight gain, hiatal hernia, rheumatoid arthritis pain, angina, headaches, asthma, allergies, high blood pressure, etc.

We now know oxytocin is the "love hormone", it is what chemically stimulates the sex drive and is currently being used in Europe to treat impotency. How about when lovers break up; chocolate is used since it has some chemical analogs that the brain uses to compensate for the change in biochemistry associated with the emotional distress. High copper and low zinc levels causes hyperactivity and calcium can be used to treat schizophrenia. Work has begun treating mental retardation with nutrition. One case reported by Dr. Harrell was regarding a seven year old with an I.Q. of 30 who still needed to wear a diaper. Obviously a severe miasmatic distortion of this child's vital force. With nutritional supplements, by the time he was nine, he had an I.Q. of 90 and was fully integrated into the school system. What would a homeopath say when confronted with a patient that abandons, neglects and ignores her infant and the baby dies. Is this an ancient syphilitic trait or is it psoric?

Roberts states (The Principles and Art of Cure by Homeopathy) : "Scientists have discovered that manganese starvation in animals will produce sterility in the male and loss of mother-love in the female; this loss of maternal instinct incites them to refuse attention to their young, who die in a few hours. McCollum tells us: "When to the carefully prepared manganese-free diet is added as little as 5 thousandths of 1 percent of manganese, all the abnormalities described are corrected."

Banerjea discusses the vitiated syphilitic mind; "The destructive miasm: no mercy, sympathy or affection for anything. An urge for destruction seems to be his only emotion." The argument could be made that .0005 solution of manganese mentioned above is approximately a 4x remedy and therefore capable of treating an apparently syphilitic trait. Boericke states in his description of manganese in the repertory: "Syphilitic and chlorotic patients with general anemia and paralytic symptoms often are benefited from the use of this drug."

 

SYPHILIS OR MALNUTRITION DISGUISED AS PSORA?

Manganese is essential to all known living organisms; it activates numerous enzyme systems including those involved with glucose metabolism, energy production and superoxide dismutase; it is a major constituent of several metalloenzymes, hormones, and proteins of humans. Manganese is part of the developmental process and the structure of the fragile ear bones and joint cartilage. Deficiency diseases of manganese are very striking. They range from severe birth defects such as congenital ataxia, deafness, chondrodystrophy, asthma, convulsions, retarded growth, skeletal defects, disruption of fat and carbohydrate metabolism to joint problems in children and adults.

Doctor Banerjea teaches that these types of severe birth defects are due to the inherited syphilitic miasma. He states; "Syphilis disturbs metabolism of the mineral elements as manifested by defective formation of bone and teeth." Did one or more of the parents ancestors have syphilis, or did mom have a manganese deficiency during her pregnancy thereby depriving the fetus of a nutrient needed for proper growth. Remember that if the manganese is absent, all chemical reactions mediated by it STOP COMPLETELY. Joint, nerve and muscle tissues all fail to develop.

A fascinating study was initiated by Citizens for Health carried out by University of California medical centers. They wanted to know the difference between the normal population and the criminal (especially violent criminals) population. The only consistent marker they were able to find was manganese levels in human hair. Typically this should be below .7 ppm. In 78% of the violent offenders, the manganese levels were extremely high (toxic levels), this compared to only 8% of the non-violent offenders. They tested 90,000 normal people and found normal copper/zinc levels, manganese at the 55 percentile and no toxic heavy mineral burden such as lead or cadmium. This was opposite what was found in 'syphilitic' sociopaths such as Charles Manson and James Oliver Huberty (the San Ysidro McDonalds massacre-20+ killed including Huberty). They even created a new psychological term--episodic discontrol type -- to cover behavior such as Patrick Henry Schirral who was one of many postal workers that went 'syphilitic' and shot a bunch of his co-workers.

PICA: PSORA OR ISOLATED BIZARRE BEHAVIOR?

Pica is a fascinating topic. It covers the full range of human behavior, from the curious to the abominable. Boericke lists it as: < Appetite - Perverted Cravings (pica) > and goes on to list everything from to < charcoal, coal and chaulk > to < water, cold.> Yes, people that compulsively chew on ice have a form of pica as well. Dr. Banerjea states: "Psora, ABDOMEN I) Excessive hunger for unnatural things: chaulk, clay, indigestible things. II) Psoric children are usually hungry and eat beyond their capacity of digestion."

"Salt appetite" is very striking in both pregnant animals and humans. Bizarre cravings are legendary in the pregnant human. From antiquity, the description of cravings or "pica" in humans relates its major incidence to pregnant women. The Hawaiian King Kamehameha's mother, Queen Kekuiapoiwa had cravings for eyeballs, although she specifically wanted chiefs eyes, she was given the eyes of sharks to eat. Pica in pregnancy is so common, it is virtually ignored. It is unfortunate that it is since it is reflective of the mother's bodies need for additional nutrients which translate into these cravings.

Pica, or perverted appetite or irresistible cravings with the eating of bizarre or unsuitable non-food substances (or fattening non-foods) has been a curiosity for philosophers, doctors and priests for thousands of years. Pica, as a symptom of mineral deficiencies, is universal in the world and has been reported in animals (called cribbing when horses and cows chew on the wood of the stalls or posts) and humans of all age groups. In modern times the easy availability of candy, sugared - high calorie snacks, soft drinks and junk foods has led to obesity when people feel the deep cravings of pica that they tried to supply at the local convenience store.

A doctoral thesis on pica by Agustus Fridericus Mergiletus (1701) begins with the definition of pica: "The malady pica is called "kitta" in Greek. Its derivation comes from the name of the common magpie because the bird ("pica" is the Latin name for "magpie") itself is believed to suffer from some malady...because it flits from tree to tree constantly seeking food or because it enjoys all sorts of foods."

A catalogue of bizarre instances of pica is found in Mergiletus' thesis. In men, he recorded one individual who ate leather, wood, nestlings and live mice, a second consumed woolen garments, leather, a live cat, and some mice; a third ate cats' tails and decomposed human bodies with maggots!!

In Mergiletus' female subjects he recorded women who ate human flesh including one particularly horrible lady- "She lured children with sweets, killed them and pickled them for her daily fare. The murders were only discovered when the woman's cat stole the pickled hand of a child and carried it over to the neighbors house." Does this give us a clue how a 'syphilitic' murderer like Jeffrey Dahmer is created by our society?

The most common description of pica by Mergiletus were of women's desire for mud and mortar scrapped from walls (just like modern children who eat caulking and lead paint - children who eat lead paint are screaming for minerals for their mineral starved bodies - give them minerals and they won't eat lead paint); girls who ate their own hair; girls who ate cotton, thread from their own clothes, raw grain and lizards.

Cooper (1957) in her classic report on pica refers to several ancient and medieval writers who emphasized the occurrence of pica in pregnant women, i.e. - Aetios noted pregnant women to crave various and odd foods, some salty and some acid; some, he said; "Crave for sand, oyster shells and wood ashes." Aetios recommended a diet including; "fruits, green vegetables, pigs feet, fresh fish and old tawny fragrant wine."

In modern times, the substances frequently reported as eaten as a result of pica behavior in humans includes paper, metallic gum wrappers, ice, dirt, coal, clay, chalk, starch, baking powder, pebbles, wood, plaster, paint, chimney soot, hair, human and animal feces and cloth. Because of social constraints on our public behavior most people under public scrutiny who display pica eat sugar, snack food or soft drinks when they crave minerals. Ice eating (pagophagia) is also common, especially for iron deficient children and adult.

Lanzkowsky (1959) reported that 12 children with pica had hemoglobin that ranged from 3g% to 10.9g% with a mean of 7.89% +/- 2.64. The institution of iron (i.e. - iron dextrin) "resulted in a cure for pica in one to two weeks." Reynolds et al (1968) reported that 38 people with anemia exhibited pagophagia (ice eating) as the most common form of pica; twenty two of the 25 had their symptoms of pica disappear after correcting the iron depletion.

CANNIBALISM

Cannibalism would seem to be a VERY syco-syphilitic manifestation. However, cannibalism is actually just the ultimate extension of pica (bizarre cravings and behavior resulting from extreme mineral deficiencies). Cannibal cultures are usually found in hot equatorial environments where essential mineral elements are leached from the soil by high rainfalls and/or irrigation type agriculture. Cannibalism was also reported in Europe and Ireland in the Middle Ages and was reflected in this simple child's rhyme:

"Fee Fi Fo Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman; be he live or be he dead I'll grind his bones to make my bread"

The Giant in Jack and the Bean Stalk

 

EUROPE IN THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES

"Europe was besieged with horde after horde of fanatic Saracens, Spanish Moors, Vikings, Bulgars, and Magyar horsemen. Christian barons slaughtered each other with a vengeance over a piece of land, killing their enemies' serfs -- men, women and children to weaken them economically, burning villages and crops, and cutting down fruit trees for good measure. Even in Rome, rival popes imprisoned, starved, mutilated, castrated, blinded and assassinated each other. Recurrent famines added to the general misery occurring at least six times on a wide scale in the 9th century. These famines caused cannibalism on a horrific scale. Parents ate their children, robbers not only waylaid hapless travelers, but also devoured them. A charcoal burner installed himself inside an abandoned church and murdered and ate persons that went there to pray. A husband and wife that stopped there to ask for shelter surprised the cannibal, who was surrounded by 48 human heads as he was gnawing on the 49th. The pair managed to escape and report their grisly discovery. The culprit was caught, smeared with pitch, and set aflame. People found themselves reduced to eating earth." ( AD 1000: Living on the Brink of Apocalypse)

For the Aztec, human sacrifice and cannibalism was an essential part of their culture - it was a ritual slaughter in a state sponsored program (reminiscent of the Charleton Heston movie Soylent Green ): "A regular supply of victims for the priests was necessary for ensuring the beneficial motion of the sun and the fertility of the crops and men. The procedures of sacrifice were elaborated constantly. Each had a deep symbolism. Following the ritual removal of the heart from the still living victim by the High Priest (the breast of the victim having been opened with a knife of obsidian), the heart was held up to the sun that each might give strength to the other. The body was thrown down a flight of a 100 or more stone steps where it was cut up and eaten by the warriors, their families and their close associates.

"To justify the scale and methodical cannibalism of the Aztec's the perspective has to be placed on mineral hunger (pica) since calories from maize and fresh water lake algae were plentiful. Cannibalism was an extreme societal evolution for the Aztec culture; under conditions of total environmental collapse, very high population pressure, the dependence on maize agriculture, almost total depletion of wild game, the inability to maintain domestic animals (minerally depleted soil in the Valley of Mexico) led to endo- and exo- cannibalism.

"Increased agricultural production in the form of tons and bushels was possible and in fact a constant project of the Aztec nobles, but to satisfy the craving for minerals required meat and bone!!! Cannibalism was the logical solution in the eyes of the Aztec. The Aztec nobles were able to recruit warriors from the general commoner population by promising "meat rewards" to successful individuals - the nobles were able to pump up and create an "invincible war machine" with the promise of meat - human meat!!! The underlying genesis of the much acclaimed Aztec war machine was the total ecological collapse of the Valley of Mexico with the resultant depletion of soil minerals." [Quotes courtesy of Rare Earth's; Forbidden Cures by Dr. Joel Wallach]

MIASMATIC GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION

The following graph is one potential analysis of soil depletion of critical nutrients. It demonstrates that maximum Vital Force coincides with maximum soil availability of nutrients.

The maximum soil mineralization is directly related to the maximum vital force expressed. This explains such healthy and long lived groups such as the Hunza's. They are one of five cultures where the average individual lives to be 120 to 140 years of age, working 12 hours per day, seven days per week without cancer, diabetes, strokes, heart disease, violence, murders, prisons, etc.

As the soil becomes more depleted, the apparent pathology worsens and we see more conditions that Hahnemann classified as psoric, sycosic or syphilitic. The soil conditions continued to deteriorate in the 19th and 20th centuries and the tubercular and oncotic miasms HAD TO BE added to the list. People in the 17th and 18th centuries were NOT SICK ENOUGH YET TO HAVE A NEED FOR THESE MIASMATIC CATEGORIES, so Hahnemann didn't define these! Today, one in two or three will develop cancer. Soon we will not have enough trace minerals to support even a weak, temporary human race which will lead us to either cannibalism or extinction. This is evidenced by the rapid rise of the new specialty -- pediatric oncology. Never before in recorded history has cancer struck at new born babies.

In the excellent article Musculoskeletal Disorders and Their Holistic Treatment by Diethelm Kleinstoll, MD he states; "In Germany, affections of the musculoskeletal system already appear among 10% of children during their very first years of school. The rheumatic segment of these diseases involves rheumatic fever, polyarthritis and juvenile onset arthritis." We are rapidly reaching the point where our existence or our extinction is going to be out of our control. Having discussed psora and its implications, it is appropriate to move to the right on the graph and next discuss the sycosic miasm and then the other miasmatic conditions.

SYCOSIS OR PSORA?

Dr. Banerjea states about sycosis: "This is the most markedly degenerative stigmata, in its suspicion, its quarrelsomeness, its tendency to harm others and to harm animals. This produces the worst forms of cruelty and cunning deceit and the worst forms of manias of any of the stigmatas. Men and women who commit suicide today are mainly sycotic. Cruelty, lack of affection, rudeness and vexation. Anger from trifles which even leads to physical assault. Tries to hurt other's mind. Absent minded: Loss of memory; loses the thread of conversation, forgets the recent events but can remember the events of distant past. When Sycosis is coupled with Psora, becomes the basis of most criminal insanity's and most of suicides. When Syphilis and Sycosis are combined these patients are sullen, smoldering, threatening to breakout into dangerous manifestations."

Let us compare his description with ancient (and current) legends of vampires, werewolves and cannibals. Prince Dracula was the "greatest" psychopath in history ever recorded. The number of people killed during his reign was 20% of his population!! The dead were; "Chopped up as meat their blood drunk from goblets and their limbs, hearts and livers cooked in every fashion for Dracula and his court." Thus the legend of the "vampire" Count Dracula was born out of the true recorded history of a serial killer that drank the blood and ate the bodies of his victims in an effort to satisfy his < appetite: perverted cravings > in an effort to obtain minerals.

Of course, Dracula never stood a chance. If the lord of the region - with full access to the bounty of the serfs (he came to power in 1434 in a mountainous district near Transylvania), then it is obvious that his people had the same deficiencies. What was not in the soil could not be in the plants grown and consumed or the animals that grazed upon the lands and therefore could not be in the peasants bodies either. So the pica went on and on and on, never satisfied and the Count's behavior along with his court and his army full of cannibals continued to deteriorate.

SYCOSIS IS MORE RAMPANT THAN WE THINK

All through history we have these extreme examples of pica, which manifest as sycosis. In 1610 Countess Erzsebet of Hungary was tried for the murder and consumption of 650 teenage virgins. The American Indian tribes have stories of the Windingo, the Wechage and the Man Eater. The first of the < modern > vampires was Jack the Ripper in 1888. He attacked 5 prostitutes, 4 of them were mutilated, dissected and partially cannibalized.

What are the "keynotes" of this advanced stage of mineral deficiency? Recall what Dr. Banerjea says above regarding the degenerated sycotic mind and compare it to the following list of behaviors that Dr. Wallach gives us.

1) "Look sane" to outside observers.

2) Explosive rage and temper over little things.

3) Seeks help for bizarre cravings, bed wetting (an iron deficiency symptom) and "emotional problems".

4) Confabulations - making up stories since they can't remember what really happened.

5) History of assault

6) History of difficult pregnancy

7) History of cruelty to animals.

8) Fascination with fire, arson and pain inflicted by fire

 

At least #1, #2, and possibly others were already mentioned as part of the new syndrome called episodic discontrol type behavior. The postal workers would not have had much reason to believe one of their co-workers would try to kill them. The FBI lists 5000+ unsolved serial killer victims each year in the United States. Most are written off as "Satanic Cults" because their blood, hearts, livers and other organs are missing. In the past, vampires were killed by a stake through the heart, werewolves were shot with silver bullets. Today; we use Prosac, electroshock therapy and jails to control some of this behavior. What will we do when more people develop advanced stages of pica? Do we say that they all have gonorrhea imbedded in their genetic code?

SYPHILIS OR MORE PSORA?

Syphilitic behavior was mentioned above, but there are some additional clues to be gathered by looking at it further at this time. There is extensive evidence that severe and repeated drought and desertification conditions, which promotes famine, starvation and mass migrations among subsistence level cultures is a leading cause of syphilitic behaviors. This evidence is from dozens of archeological and paleoclimatic studies indicates that the great desert belt of modern day Saharasia was, prior to 4000-3000 BC, a semiforested grassland savanna. Large and small fauna, such as elephants, giraffes, rhinos, and gazelle lived on the highland grasses, while hippopotamus, crocodile, fish, snails, and mollusks thrived in streams, rivers and lakes.

"Today, most of this same North African, Middle-Eastern and Central Asian terrain is hyperarid and often vegetation-barren. Some of the now-dry basins of Saharasia were then filled with fresh water to levels tens to hundreds of meters deep, while the canyons and wadis flowed with permanent streams and rivers. This gradually changed as the climate dried up and life became harsher and harsher.

"A number of traumatic factors specifically related to the hard life in deserts and droughty regions were identified. One major example was the use of the restraining, head-molding, back-pack cradle by migratory peoples of Central Asia, which appears to have inadvertently led to the dual traumas of infant cranial deformation and swaddling. Infant cranial deformation as a social institution died out around the turn of the 20th century, but swaddling today appears to persist in the same general regions. Normally, an infant subjected to painful restraint struggles to free itself and will cry loudly, quickly attracting the help of alert caretakers. Not so, I speculate, among famished infants strapped into a body-restraining (and oftentimes head-squashing) back-pack cradle for a long march during a parching drought. Under extreme drought and famine conditions, caretakers would become less attentive, contactless, and less willing to constantly stop and quiet a child hurting in the cranial-deforming restraints of a back-pack cradle. (Authors note: This sounds like very 'syphilitic' behavior. Recall what Dr. Banerjea stated:" ...no mercy, sympathy or affection for anything.")

"As desertification progressed in Central Asia, migration from region to region became a relatively permanent way of life. The archaeological record suggests that cranial deformations and swaddling subsequently became institutionalized parts of child-rearing tradition in those same areas (DeMeo 1986, pp.142-152; Dingwall 1931; Gorer & Rickman 1963). Indeed, painful cranial deformations and swaddling became an identifying mark and cherished social institution of such peoples, to persist even after they gave up the nomadic existence for a settled lifestyle.

Other major social institutions, such as male and female genital mutilations (circumcision, infibulation), were found to be geographically centered on, and have their earliest origins within the great Old World desert belt, though for reasons that are less clear."

Among many homeopaths, the North Americans and Europeans are considered to have a very sycotic lifestyle, while the mid-east is considered primarily syphilitic and the areas of equatorial Africa represent a primarily psoric group of people. There are many other behaviors a homeopath would call syphilitic noted in this journal, but space constraints do not allow a full description here. What the above map demonstrates is that syphilitic type behavior actually existed more than 4,000 YEARS BEFORE SYPHILIS DID.

Medical historians place the origination of syphilis in Europe within the first decade of the 1500's, prior to this, no evidence of syphilis occurs. Obviously, for the syphilitic behaviors to occur without syphilis even existing yet, something other than the syphilitic miasm must be at work here --- namely advanced malnutrition, which we call psora.

What about patients that have nerve palsies, hemiplegia, paraplegia, convulsions, aphasia, maniacal behavior, catatonia and acute paranoid delirium? Any or all of these symptoms have syphilitic roots to them. The careful observer will note that these are also all signs and symptoms of advanced hypoglycemia which is a chromium deficiency state.

TUBERCULAR MIASM OR MORE PSORA?

We all recognize that the tendency to bleed is a tubercular trait. Numerous observers have reported that Greenland Eskimos, the same population that has a very low incidence of heart disease, is also given to frequent episodes of bleeding. Several Arctic explorers commented on the frequent nosebleeds suffered by the natives. One of them noticed that he, himself, also began to have the problem when he failed to bring along his own rations and found it necessary to follow the Eskimos' diet. The tendency in these Eskimos to cough up blood and to have blood in the urine were also reported, as well as hemorrhages after childbirth that were difficult to control and that were associated with maternal mortality. One physician in 1911 wrote: "The Eskimos are strongly inclined to bleeding. The tendency almost amounts to hemophilia."

Curiously, there is a pattern to chronic infections, especially TB. During an acute bacterial infection, iron is sequestered in the storage areas of the reticulo-endothelial system to remove the iron that bacteria need to replicate. The body automatically denies the bacteria iron to deprive them of a key nutrient while increasing the amount of copper in the serum to improve the bodies capability to mount an effective attack and overcome the micro-predators. TB is no exception, it has a remarkable iron binding capacity. However, during a chronic infection, the reverse is true, the iron level increases and the serum copper level decreases. This later increase in iron no doubt aids the TB bacilli in spreading and in becoming chronic and devastating, thus creating the miasmatic state that we recognize today.

Perhaps part of the true effect of a TB infection causing a miasmatic graft on the Vital Force is due to the loss of iron (bound to the bacteria) creating an iron deficiency. This could easily occur in a condition of low copper supplies resulting in a poor immune response to the infection because of deficiency (psora). Of course, a depletion of iron has profound and far reaching effects on the body. First of all, iron deficiency results in a thyroid insufficiency, the symptoms such as fatigue, malaise, poor cognition, memory deficits, dysphagia, anemia, etc. all exist and worsen over time. Since all systems of the body are ultimately and intimately connected to the amount of oxygen getting to the critical areas, disrupt this pathway and you disrupt the entire body.

Research into tuberculosis indicates that TB did not exist in the Eskimo population prior to them coming widely into contact with Europeans. If there is a tubercular miasm, it shows up very strongly in a population that has had minimal and brief disease exposure which, for example, is contrastable to the Europeans and their millenial exposure to tuberculosis. Of course, it may be true that they had all of these bleeding problems centuries before contact with Europeans and there was no one there to record it for us. In which case, they had a tubercular diathesis without the disease, which is one of the observable patterns in syphilis as well. It does seem more likely that what we observe here is the psora aspect of the < pseudo-psora > that homeopaths consider tuberculosis to be. Once again this demonstrates the acute and accurate nature of the observations that homeopaths have made over the past century.

ANOTHER TUBERCULAR DISEASE ::: PERNICIOUS ANEMIA

Leading remedies for pernicious anemia are Arsenicum album and Phosphorus. Do patients develop pernicious anemia because an ancestor had tuberculosis? Or is the cause more immediate. In 1948, Vitamin B12 was isolated from liver extract (scientific cannibalism) and demonstrated antipernicious anemia activity. It was discovered that there was a single cobalt atom as the central metal component of vitamin B12. No cobalt --- no vitamin B12.

Cobalt functions as a cofactor and activator for a number of enzymes, it fixes nitrogen during amino acid production and is required for good health. The soil concentration of cobalt is 8 ppm although vast areas of the Earth are totally devoid of cobalt. Assuming that one lives in a cobalt rich area, if a person has hypochlorohydria (usually a NaCl deficiency) the intrinsic factor will not work and B12 /cobalt is not absorbed. Vitamin B12 /cobalt joins with folic acid, chlorine and the amino acid methionine to transfer single carbon groups (methyl groups) in the synthesis of the raw materials used to make RNA and the synthesis of DNA from RNA. Growth, myelin formation and RBC synthesis are dependent on B12. In addition to this cobalt is also a necessary cofactor for the production of thyroid hormone.

Here we see the role of psora in genetics. If we have a cobalt deficiency, and cannot produce RNA or DNA correctly, and this DNA strand is found in the ovum or the sperm at the moment of conception, then the < miasmatic stigmata > or genetic weakness is passed on to the offspring in the form of defective genetic material. If the offspring cannot correct the DNA abnormality, then they too can demonstrate a symptom complex. Depending on what the signs and symptoms are that they demonstrate, we'd declare them to have a miasmatic layer that we need to address homeopathically.

It must be observed that if there is a cobalt deficiency - it is unlikely to stand alone. A concurrent deficiency of zinc will interfere with the production of hydrochloric acid in the stomach. Without sufficient stomach acid, the body will not be able to rip the minerals out from the food that are present and deficiencies of all other minerals can ensue. The deficiency states that become symptomatic first are the states where the minerals are the most marginal in the system. If it is chromium - you develop diabetes (another syphilitic state), hyperactivity (sycosis) or just impaired growth (psora). Dr. Hahnemann was correct, psora is; "The mother of all diseases!"

 

CANCER AND ITS CAUSES

Cancer has become so prevalent this century that we have created a new miasmatic category for it and the nosode Carcinosin along with other remedies are now in use. This is the last stop before extinction found on Graph 1. Cancer is considered by most to be a combination of the hypertrophic aspect of sycosis with the dystrophic/destructive action of syphilis. Of course Hahnemann insisted that underlying both is psora. He was correct. The link to psora is through the element selenium.

Selenium is an essential trace mineral needed by both humans and animals. It was discovered in 1817 by the Swedish chemist Jons Jakob Berzelius, who named the trace element selenium after the moon goddess, Selene. Selenium, of course, originates in the soil where it is absorbed by plants. Plants in turn are consumed by living organisms, and so it goes, on up the food chain. One would assume, since humans are mainly omnivorous, that a shortage of selenium in the human diet would be a rare occurrence. Unfortunately for many, a deficiency in selenium happens all to often. This occurs because in many parts of the world the soil is deficient in this vital element.

It wasn't until 1957 that selenium was concluded to be an essential nutrient for animals by Dr. Klaus Schwarz. Its essentiality in the human diet took another 16 years to discover. It was at the University of Wisconsin that Dr. John Rotruck and his associates demonstrated that selenium was absorbed into the molecules of an enzyme called glutathione peroxidase (GPX). This enzyme is essential for the protection of red blood cells, cell membranes, and subcellular components against dangerous reactions with soluble peroxides. In short, it is an incredibly effective antioxidant. This discovery led to the understanding of how selenium protects us against cancer, heart disease, arthritis, and accelerated aging.

In 1976, doctors Ray Shamberger and Charles Willis, both of the Cleveland Clinic, found that people living in low-selenium areas had three times more heart disease than those living in selenium rich areas. Dr. Johan Bjorksten discovered, that for Finland, counties containing 0.1 parts per million (ppm) of selenium in the drinking water, the death rate from heart disease in people 15-64 was only one per 1,730. Yet in counties where the drinking water contained only 0.05 ppm of selenium, the death rate from heart disease in the same age group was one per 224. These were compelling statistics, indeed. It is remarkable to compare the map of selenium soil concentrations to a map of cancer incidence. There is a high degree of correlation.

In 1978, it was discovered that cystic fibrosis could be iatrogenically induced in rhesus monkeys. This, of course, was initially a wonderful breakthrough since with a way to 'create the disease', scientists could study it in more detail. There would be no shortage of test animals with which to use new drugs and protocols on. That is until they discovered that cystic fibrosis, a supposed 'genetic' disease was caused by a prenatal selenium deficiency. To carry matters further, the CF created in chicks could be totally reversed if they were given selenium supplementation within the first 30 days of hatching. The value of selenium doesn't stop there. Keshan Disease, found in the Keshan Province of mainland China, causes a type of muscular dystrophy. This too is completely preventable with selenium supplementation.

In one study of 87 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, they were found to have significantly lower serum selenium levels than controls. The reduction in serum selenium was most pronounced in patients with active, disabling rheumatoid arthritis of long standing duration, demonstrating a significant inverse correlation between selenium levels and disease severity.

Additional features of selenium deficiency are a definite mixed miasmatic bag of symptoms. Selenium deficiency in growing children can result in crib death or SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) slow growth, small size (failure to reach genetic potential for size and mass), muscular dystrophy, scoliosis, cardiomyopathy, anemia, liver cirrhosis, muscular weakness, lowered immune capacity and neuromuscular diseases such as ALD (Adrenoleucodystrophy or "Lorenzo's Oil" type syndromes). In young adults, selenium deficiency appears as anemia, chronic fatigue, muscular weakness, myalgia, muscle tenderness, pancreatitis, infertility, muscular dystrophy, scoliosis, cardiomyopathy, part of the anorexia nervosa complex, multiple sclerosis (adequate selenium protects against mercury poisoning), Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS) and liver cirrhosis. Selenium deficiency in adults appears as reduced immune capacity, anemia, infertility, "age spots" or "liver spots", myalgia, muscle weakness, multiple sclerosis, ALS, Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's Disease, palpitations or irregular heart beat, cardiomyopathy, cirrhosis, cataracts and cancer.

 

THE CANCER CONNECTION

Volumes of clinical studies exist which support one simple but important fact: selenium prevents cancer. In fact, evidence exists that shows selenium may even cure some forms of cancer. While it's true that by itself selenium can't protect all people from all types of cancer studied so far in large populations, selenium contains practically all the properties one would need for a natural cancer protecting agent to have. And just as important, it employs its protective functions by different mechanisms, including those at the nuclear, cellular, and whole body levels.

For example, at the nuclear level selenium exercises antimutagenic properties. It prevents the activation of oncogenes, and of tumoriginic viruses. At the cellular level it increases the oxygen consumption of cells, alters the metabolism of carcinogens, and protects cell elements from peroxidative damage. In addition, selenium slows down the cell division process so that fewer errors occur during DNA reproduction and more time is available for genetic repair.

AIDS: A NEW MIASM

There have been homeopaths 'campaigning' to have AIDS be declared a separate miasmatic state. The argument could be made that AIDS is the next step on Graph 1 towards our eventual extinction since without an immune system, we would not last very long against nature's clean-up crew of viruses, bacteria, fungus and mold. However, "The school of pharmacy from the University of Georgia released a report in August of 1994 that concludes a human selenium deficiency is related to the onset of full blown AIDS in chronically infected HIV patients. According to their report, HIV requires large amounts of selenium for replication and in selenium deficient patients, the virus competes with the patient for limited amounts of the essential mineral. The HIV patient actually dies of selenium deficiency encephalopathy, liver cirrhosis or cardiomyopathy. Long term HIV patients (20 years or more) that never developed full blown AIDS had supplemented with relatively large amounts of selenium." It would therefore seem redundant to add a new miasmatic state when all we are really discussing here is psora in its 'hydra-headed' manifestations.

When we acknowledged that goiters were caused by an iodine deficiency (psora) and since iodine was added to all table salt, goiters have virtually disappeared in this country, even in the so called midwest "goiter belt". A lack of iodine causing hypothyroidism has all the characteristics of psora. They are fatigued, intolerant to cold, cold all the time, muscle aches and pains, brittle nails, weight gain, constipation, dry skin and hair, etc. It can't get much clearer that psora is a deficiency state. Hopefully there will come a day when selenium will be added to our salt along with iodine.

[As an aside: most homeopaths have noted that over the past 5-10 years, the cases we see are more complex, respond slower, have deeper layers of pathology and are more complicated by drugs, chemicals and environment. This fits well with the continued gradual depletion of minerals from the soil and thus from our food and therefore from our biochemical computers. What used to be primarily psoric cases (simpler disorders) in Hahnemanns' day have become primarily sycotic and they are rapidly becoming syphilitic and cancerous. This is true of individuals as well as our nations leadership.]

Witness a government that sanctions armed raids by SWAT teams on doctors, such as what happened to Jonathan Wright M.D. How about the indefensible position the FDA had on folic acid. More than a thousand infants per year were born with neural tube defects, not because of the ancestral history of syphilis, but because the FDA would not allow folic acid to be given to pregnant women. The chances of the government becoming less twisted and obscene and doing something good - like reinforcing selenium in the diet is somewhere between unlikely and impossible. It therefore becomes the prerogative of the individual to supplement themselves and the task of the true doctor/healer to teach them about how necessary this is in today's world.

 

BACK TO PSORA AGAIN

Referring back to "Principles and Art of Cure by Homeopathy" by Dr. Roberts, he states that Boenninghausen prepared a list of 50 remedies published in Hahnemann's time that were used with great success in treating psoric conditions. Out of the 50 remedies, 16 were vegetable, one was animal, 33 others were mineral. When broken down by atomic number, the list of elements present are:

1. Hydrogen 14. Silicon

3. Lithium 15. Phosphorus

6. Carbon 16. Sulfur

7. Nitrogen 17. Chlorine

8. Oxygen 19. Potassium

9. Fluorine 20. Calcium

11. Sodium 22. Titanium

12. Magnesium 25. Manganese

13. Aluminum 26. Iron

What becomes obvious is that Roberts was puzzled by his observation that ..."we only find three (Baryta, Platinum and Aurum) that appear in the range of chemical elements higher by atomic weight than those essential to the construction of the human body." The three remedies having their source in the higher-than-body construction elements may be considered as falling into the anti-syphilitic class, and we may reasonable question their adaptability to the anti-psoric condition when unmixed with a venereal taint. Of course this was back in the 30's; we now know of some metabolic uses for higher atomic number elements in a healthy body.

In the proving of hydrogen (by Jeremy Sherr) he states that the lower the atomic number, the more anti-psoric an effect it has. The carbon remedies (carbon atomic number of 6) such as Graphites, Carbo-veg. and Calc-carb.are excellent anti-psoric examples. The higher the atomic number of the element, the more anti-syphilitic it is according to both Roberts and Sankaran (The Substance of Homeopathy). However, even the 'experts' disagree as to what point the element becomes anti-syphilitic. Roberts lists aluminum as antipsoric but Sankaran states in his chapter on aluminum (atomic number of 13) that it is anti-syphilitic: "This metal is close to other metals in its quality, but the situation is more desperate. Here is the picture of the oxide of aluminum namely ALUMINA."

"There are some things that are essential to the life of a human being and if these things are taken away from him, he doesn't find any point in living. First of these is hope. Whatever be the situation in life, as long as there is hope he will live and if there is no hope he will deteriorate and die. The remedy for total absence of hope (e.g. in a black night) is Syphilinum. Dr. Phatak describes Syphilinum in his materia medica as 'hopeless despair of recovery'. Despair itself means hopeless and hopeless despair means hopeless hopelessness. Therefore Syphilinum is the remedy of death and destruction. He could commit suicide or homicide."

Aluminum was chosen as an example because it is 12% of the earth's crust and is needed in organic form for health. What if both Roberts and Sankaran are correct? Hahnemann stated that at the root of both sycosis and leutism, lies psora. Perhaps Sankaran was observing an advanced mineral deficiency state as may occur in zinc or chromium. An explanation for this may be found later in the monograph explaining the role of homeopathy in managing psora (nutritional deficiency states).

EXCESSES AND DEFICIENCIES

Of course the trace minerals are not all benign. In the soil, excessive magnesium will cause potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen deficiency. Excessive potassium, sodium and magnesium will cause calcium deficiency. Excessive calcium will cause magnesium, phosphorus and trace element deficiency. Excessive manganese will cause effects similar to magnesium deficiency. Excessive boron will cause potassium and magnesium deficiency. Excessive sodium and/or cholorine will cause potassium deficiency. As D.D. Palmer stated; "Too much or too little is disease".

It has already been noted that when there is no trace element present, there is no growth or repair. As the trace mineral concentration increases, the deficiency area is diminished in size. At the plateau, function and nutrient availability are at a peak for the organism. The width of this plateau varies with the life form involved. In mammals it is quite wide because natural trace nutrients are under homeostatic control. The human body has a fantastically exact mechanism for maintaining balance of its inorganic elemental composition. Plants are not as lucky. For this reason, the plateau for plants is narrower. Beyond the plateau needed for proper growth, the same nutrient that might have been characterized as deficient at one time is now toxic and even lethal. For example nickel is known to be used in a few metabolic pathways, but, because of our industrial society, typically occurs in toxic amounts.

 

TYING THE CONCEPTS TOGETHER

"Our mind has a natural tendency to reject what does not come within the framework of the scientific expectations of our epoch. Scientists are men after all. They are impregnated with the prejudice of their class and times. They readily believe that what is not explainable in current theory does not exist." A. Carrel

It should be apparent now that psora is a mineral deficient state. Massive amounts of other evidence exists, obviously in a limited monograph such as this, not all of it can be presented. Kent's theological declaration was absurd. Hahnemann and Roberts knew the place psora had come from. We may even need to reevaluate the place gonorrhea and syphilis have in sycosis and leutism. Consider the disease states people suffered from in the 16-17-1800's. Smallpox, cholera, typhoid, typhus, etc. were all acute disease states. You either lived or died. No one had a chronic case of cholera. The only chronic diseases of the day were venereal and tuberculosis.

Noted above was the University of Georgia study showing HIV has a high selenium requirement causing a selenium deficiency in the host and destroying the immune system. The following article by Julianne Basinger ran in the Associated Press release of June 15, 1995.

SELENIUM DEFICIENCY OF HOST MAKES HARMLESS VIRUSES HOT

By Julianne Basinger Associated Press June 15, 1995

Raleigh, N.C. -Investigators have confirmed a link between nutritional deficiencies and viral disease by showing for the first time that a nutritional deficiency can help a virus mutate and become more deadly in the host it infects.

Investigators at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that a virus severely damaged the hearts of mice with deficiencies in the mineral selenium, but had no effect on mice that had enough selenium in their diets.

"It's direct evidence," said Melinda Beck of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who oversees the research. "We saw the virus itself had changed because it was replicated in a selenium-deficient animal."

The study, published in the May 1, 1995 issue of the journal Nature Medicine, shows for the first time that a nutritional deficiency in a host can affect the mutation of a virus, its authors said. Beck's co-authors were Qing Shi of UNC, along with Dr. Orville Levander and Virginia Morris of the USDA's Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, MD.

"I think this is going to blow things wide open. It could be that any number of nutritional deficiencies cause all sorts of viruses to undergo similar changes," Orville Levander, a Department of Agriculture nutritionist who was one of the key researchers.

"We just looked at (one virus) and selenium," he added. "Who knows what we might find if we went systematically down the list of vitamins, minerals and pathogens?"

Beck, a viral immunologist and pediatrician at the UNC-CH School of Medicine, said that if the findings prove to apply to other viruses, it may help explain the evolution of more deadly forms of diseases such as influenza and hepatitis.

"I think it's important that people look at nutrition as one component of viral disease," Beck said. (end of article)

What if gonorrhea and syphilis do the same things to the host by using up one or more trace elements. This eventually creates a deficiency complex that we define as the sycotic or syphilitic type syndromes. As previously mentioned, acute and chronic bacterial infections cause significant distortions in the iron and copper levels of the body. Not mentioned was that viral conditions are similar in this regard. Tissue copper levels are depleted with chronic bacterial infections (like gonorrhea), while in viral states, copper levels rise dramatically. It is not certain what distortions take place due to the unique type of bacterial infection by the treponemes that cause syphilis. We could postulate that syphilis causes a chronic zinc deficiency. For example, the congenital birth defects associated with zinc deficiency include the following 'syphilitic' conditions.

*Down's Syndrome

*Cleft lip

*Brain defects (dorsal herniation, hydroencephaloid)

*Micro- or anopthalmia (small or absent eyes)

*Spina bifida

*Clubbed limbs

*Syndactyly (webbed toes and fingers)

*Diaphragmatic hernias (hiatal hernia)

*Umbilical hernias

*Heart defects

*Lung defects

*Urogenital disorders

Might zinc deficiencies be a problem in the mideast where 'syphilitic' behavior is most noted? The role of zinc in human nutrition received a major boost in 1964 when it was found that boys in Iran and Egypt had severely underdeveloped testicles. Tests showed that they had advanced zinc deficiencies yet zinc was widely consumed and available. It was discovered that zinc was bound by the phytates in the bread they ate, so even that which existed in the diet was incapable of supplying the bodies need. The underdeveloped testes is a fine example of psora in young boys, however as noted above, zinc deficiency in pregnant women can be linked to a wide array of syphilitic conditions as well. It is not real likely that the condition of pregnancy will miraculously unbind the zinc from the phytates so that this mineral is available for fetal growth.

Are we likely to find out if syphilis causes a zinc deficiency and creates deformities? Think of the incredible disruption in allopathy if we started treating conditions < and preventing them > with dirt cheap minerals. We will spend a trillion dollars or more on sickness care this year. More and more children will develop cancer, arthritic conditions, hyperactivity, etc. and more adults will develop degenerative diseases or die at an early age. There are a lot of vested interests that want to maintain the status quo. Fortunately homeopaths never cared what the allopaths wanted, our goal was always to heal our patients. So while we can't fix the 260 million plus people that don't come to our offices, we can provide simple, yet elite, care for those that do. By studying the work of the European scientists Menetrier, Tetau and Kervran we get a clear look at 3 possible mechanisms for the use of homeopathy in dealing with psora.

MENETRIER and OLIGOTHERAPY

Oligotherapy is based upon the use of oligo elements (which are trace elements). The choice of the oligo element is based upon the patients diathesis. Menetrier's definition of diathesis is a disturbance in the terrain or immune defense system of the body that allows disease to flourish. Disease is not an external event but an internal derangement of the system. In general terms the diathesis is an expression < of a disruption in enzymatic activities >. These observations were based on studying:

1) general behavior (physical, psychological, intellectual)

2) functional and prelesional symptoms and

3) pathological evolutions.

Note that Menetrier created new categories for symptom complexes. They do not correlate exactly with Hahnemann's miasms, he created new divisions according to the patterns he observed and the trace mineral deficiencies which caused the disruption in enzymatic activity. These are listed in the adjoining tables.

A particular micro-element (oligoelement) is used to bring back an altered metabolism or enzymatic activity to an equilibrium in the scientific belief that micronutrients are essential catalysts for enzymatic activities. For example, the formation of pyruvic acid requires manganese and zinc. The most frequently used oligoelements are manganese; manganese and copper; manganese and cobalt; copper, gold and silver; zinc, nickel and cobalt; and zinc and copper. There are also other "corollary" trace elements that focus on particular organs by means of catalytic phenomena.

Each microelement is specifically suited for a particular diathesis and not for a single symptom. This makes sense since, as discussed above, the symptoms from a single mineral deficiency will affect every organ system and function of the body. Therefore one or a group of micronutrients would remedy the whole constellation of disorders of a particular person falling within a particular diathesis.

Being European, did Menetrier observe these symptom complexes and associate them with the most common mineral deficiencies found in Europe? By now, the careful reader will have associated many of the symptoms attributed to each diathesis shown in Table 1 to a mineral deficiency mentioned above. So oligotherapy becomes a homeopathic form of trace mineral supplementation. The homeopathic preparation of the minerals is likely to be nearly 100% absorbable and capable of bypassing problems such as poor absorption due to hypochlorohydria.

Perhaps here in the United States we might not obtain as much value from these oligo elements because we are deficient in others (such as selenium and boron) and these would be more appropriately used to treat American diathesis. With rapid utilization, the body would be able to carry on previously interrupted enzymatic functions thus clearing the symptom pictures until it reaches another < rate limiting step > deficiency. Notice that diathesis (2) "evolves naturally toward diathesis (4), and diathesis (1) evolves into diathesis (3)." A different < rate limiting step > deficiency requires a different element or combination of elements.

The aforementioned observations regarding psora would indicate that there are a multitude of other diathesis complexes (past the 5 defined ones) that were never cataloged, since the possible number of trace elements (single - not counting combinations) is more than 60 at this time. It seems apparent that we could maximize our chances of successful prescribing if the appropriate oligoelements were given in conjunction with the well selected remedy to insure that those biochemical blockades do not interfere with the deeper acting constitutional therapy.

TETAU and DECHELATING LITHOTHERAPY

Dr. Tetau discusses lithotherapy and states that: "Dechelating lithotherapy uses diluted and dynamized minerals and rocks. They belong to the group of mineral therapies whose purpose is to improve the patient by the administration of oligometallic and oligometalloidic solutions. It is one of our therapies that acts on the diathesis of the patient and aims at normalizing perturbed metabolic circuits by removing blockage at the enzymatic level.

"It is known that enzymes and catalysts play an important role in fundamental physiological metabolism. It is also known that some metals and metalloids, in trace amounts, are important in the activity of some enzymes. The role of the ions of phosphorus, cobalt, copper among others have been remarkably studied.

"Various pathological disorders originate with an enzymatic deficiency that provokes metabolic deviations. These enzymatic deficiencies are of two kinds: either the total absence of the indispensable enzyme in the organism, that is the case with ailments due to hereditary enzymatic deficiencies such as PKU (phenylketonurea): or the inactivation of the necessary enzyme, present but inactive because of the non-intervention of the metallic ion indispensable to its action.

"A simple logical analysis of the phenomenon should lead the doctor to imagine that if a patient has disorders which are explained physiologically by a lack of calcium and phosphorus even though his organism is receiving and contains enough of them it is because he cannot utilize the ions in question because there is blockage at some indeterminate level. It is then absurd to force more of them into the patient. It is preferable to liberate the ions which are apparently lacking in the metabolic processes.

"A striking example of these metallic blockages is provided by copper. It is known that organometallic solutions of copper are excellent anti-infectious agents. The administration of ampoules of copper gluconate in the 5th Hahnemann decimal is now classic for the medical biotherapist in various viral ailments, influenza amoung others. But in all these illnesses, highly infectious, highly inflammatory, the blood copper, the cupremia, is not only not diminished but on the contrary is considerably increased. Everything happens as if the copper were incapable of intervening in the defense mechanisms, and were in some way blocked and hence unusable. (emphasis added)

Chelation is the name given to this blockage of metallic ions. The indispensable ions are sequestered, chelated, imprisoned and consequently removed from active metabolism. The use of Hahnemann dilution's of the metal permits the liberation of a part of the complexed ion."

This approach is now well documented to be effective for the removal of toxic metal structures (calcium, arsenic, nickel, etc). Oligotherapy supplies missing trace elements to the body, lithotherapy frees up the trace elements that have been complexed and are unavailable for usage. What might the rest of homeopathy do?

KERVRAN and the BIOLOGICAL TRANSMUTATION of ELEMENTS

Starting in 1822 William Prout made a systematic study of the variations between the amount of calcium found in an egg and how much is found in a freshly hatched chick. He found the chick had 4 times more lime than the egg did. Of course the egg is a perfect closed system and the "creation" of calcium in the chick was remarkable. His work was picked up in 1935 by the French scientist Kervran. He studied (reproducibly) dozens of different types of biological transmutations of one element in abundance to one in deficiency. He met with the same stone headed resistance that quantum physicists do from the ardent believers of Newtonian physics. [This is detailed in Philosophy 101 & Philosophy 202 found in the Spring and Summer 1995 issues of The Prover.]

Dr. Kervran states ... "The reluctance of some physicists to admit that not all their laws are applicable to biology, comes mainly from those University professors of physics who have lost sight of original principles on which the laws were founded. They declare that a negative entropy, the force which in biology would build up matter, is an impossibility. For them there is only one positive entropy, in accordance with the second principle of thermodynamics of Carnot-Clausius regarding the breakdown of energy. They maintain that energy always breaks down; there can be no "negative energy" in the opposite sense of the law of degradation. This would imply an endogenous production of energy within the organism to a level which, in their view, tends to decline naturally towards the breakdown and death of matter.

"These physicists do not deny the presence of an energy which maintains life, but for them this energy comes from what the organism takes in from its surrounding outside medium. They do not realize the great flaw in their argument! If this energy comes from outside, it is a mistake to represent it as justification for applying Carnot-Clausius' principle to biology. This principle has never been applicable in such cases. It was formulated only for closed systems having no exchange with the outside; therefore the concepts of entropy and negentropy (negative entropy) have no significance when there is an exchange with the outside medium."

As with all irrational beliefs, the holders of these concepts carry contradictions like scientific fact. They denied Kervran's work by applying < closed system > laws to open systems, then denying that they did so! So Kervran was 'blackballed' from science and his brilliant work ignored. This sounds very similar to the treatment Beneviste' received for his documentation of the homeopathic effects of dilute solutions published a few years ago in NATURE magazine.

[Author's Note: A recent line of research is that of the French team led by Benviste'. In the now famous 1988 "water" experiment, subsequently repeated after much controversy, they showed that human white blood cells respond to the presence of potentized dilutions of an antibody known as IgE, just as they do to normal concentrations of IgE. It is important to note that the potentized dilutions contain no molecules of the antibody. The first report generated much controversy because it did not adopt a double blind protocol. The second report describes the same results using double blind methods. This experiment demonstrates that potentized preparations act on living cells as well as on isolated enzymes.]

Kervran's observation was that the mechanism of transmutation occurred when equal numbers of protons or nucleons were present simultaneously to yield a biological transformation. For example sodium with 11 protons combined with oxygen (atomic number 8) yields potassium with 19 protons. Further, he states that there are many incompatibilities, and one must not "manufacture" nonexistent elements in nature from written equations. The reverse can occur as with what bacteria do on limestone walls where calcium (20) - Hydrogen (1) will = Potassium (19). A third option for the production of potassium is using aluminum (13) plus Carbon (6) = Potassium (19).

Think of the potential this has. A sodium (11) plus a hydrogen (1) = magnesium (12). Then magnesium (12) plus oxygen (8) = calcium (20). It has been known for years that the herb horsetail is high in silicon (14) and has been used for recalcification of the skeleton even in ancient times. It was used even for tubercular patients in order to hasten the calcification of the lesions of the lung. Actually mineralization takes place more quickly (by x-ray) using horsetail (silica) than with calcium. Silica (14) plus carbon (6) = calcium (20). Of course, if the circumstances permit, silica may be available by carbon (6) plus oxygen (8) = silica (14).

Kervran put fresh water fish in salt water (.8% Sodium Chloride) and found after 72 hours an increase in salt and a substantial amount of potassium chloride appeared. As mentioned above sodium (11) plus oxygen (8) = potassium (19). The formation of the shell of crustacean (like a conch) was a mystery until he demonstrated that plentiful magnesium (12) plus oxygen (8) = calcium (20). Germinating seeds will take manganese (25) plus hydrogen (1) and create iron (26). There are dozens more examples in his book.

Let us return to our 18th century serf with diabetes due to a chromium deficiency since there is none in the soil. Our talented homeopath prescribes Argentum metallicum. Silver (47) minus chromium (24) leaves vanadium (23) to balance the sugar chemistry. However, it must be noted that the minute amount in his 30C or 200C Argentum met. dose is not the source of the chromium. Our serf, now being liberated, has found that a silver piece placed in milk or cider will keep it from "souring" because the silver is bactericidal. [A common trick on the wagon trains moving west through America as well.] The energy from the remedy provided his body with the needed power boost to transmute what it did have (silver) into what it did not have (chromium).

We know that homeopathic remedies past 24x have no molecules remaining of the original form. It is strictly an energetic transfer from the remedy to the host that potentiates change and makes homeopathy effective. If over 6C the molecular replacement value as found in oligotherapy would not be of much use to a deficient system. So what does this homeopathic energy do in the system? This is not a rhetorical question - the answer to this explains all of the effectiveness of homeopathy. We must "follow the energy" through the body and see where it leads us.

ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS

Why do Roberts, Hahnemann, Sankaran and others all say the lower atomic number atoms are the antipsoric ones? First it is by observation of the use of the carbon based remedies (atomic number 6). Carbo-veg., Calc-carb., Nat-carb., etc. are well known psoric remedies. Second is common sense. Since we have the capacity to transmute elements, we will have better access to the building block atoms of hydrogen (atomic number 1) through sulfur (A.N. 16) and chlorine (A.N. 17). As mentioned before aluminum (A.N. 13) comprises 12% of the earth's crust, gold is only found in .00023 parts per million in land animals. Obviously we'd be in trouble if we had to constantly "build down" from higher elements (like gold) to lower ones.

However, a case could be made for this transmutation of higher elements to lower ones. Recall Roberts' curiosity over why Boenninghausen put metals such as tin (A.N. 50), barium (A.N. 56), aurum (A.N. 79) and iodine (A.N. 53) on the list. Iodine seems the most obvious. An iodine deficiency will create hypothyroidism which, as mentioned above, is almost a perfect description of psora. Barium (A.N. 56) may split to two vanadium (A.N. 23) or perhaps calcium (A.N. 20) and iron (A.N. 26).

Tin (A.N. 50) may split into 2 manganese (A.N. 25 -- one of the most commonly used oligoelements) or a calcium (A.N.20) and a zinc (A.N. 30). Aurum (A.N. 59) could become zinc (A.N. 30) and copper (A.N. 29). Each of the elements is critical for many body systems and a deficiency of any of them with create a large symptom picture. Even nickel, typically evaluated as a toxic mineral, has biochemical pathways dependent on it. Perhaps heavier elements are storage banks for light elements when we run out of them. Or we may just not have enough biochemical knowledge of all the enzyme systems (which easily exceed 2000) to know where all the elements fit in.

SULPHUR AS AN ANTI-PSORIC

As Dr. Tetau stated, sulphur is the primary anti-psoric agent. What makes sulphur so effective against this miasm? Sulphur serves a vital role in many cell functions such as collagen synthesis, digestion and vision. Every body cell contains sulphur, with the greatest concentration in the cells of the skin, hair and joints. Keratin, the horny layer of skin, has a high concentration of sulphur as do the nails and hair. A deficiency of the mineral sulphur causes a red, shiny tip of the nose, burning feet, arthritic complaints, eczema, dermatitis, psoriasis and a host of other conditions.

The connection seems to be through the amino acids cystine and methionine as well as being a part of glutathione, insulin, ergothionene, taurine and some of the vitamins. Sulphur in its dietary role is a powerful aid in protecting against radiation and pollution, it slows down the aging process and therefore extends life. Part of the metabolism of Vitamin C requires sulphur as well. Amino acids such as methionine are methyl donors and act as chelating agents for toxic concentrations of lead, mercury or cadmium. In one experimental study, 100 "arthritics" received I.V. colloidal sulphur. Pain and joint effusion disappeared with a return of the cystine fingernail test to normal.

Sulphur (A.N. 16) is ideally positioned in the periodic table to combine with other common elements such as oxygen, nitrogen, aluminum and carbon. This would allow the production of critical elements such as chromium, vanadium, copper or selenium. It is likely that sulphur actually plays a variety of roles in its position as the leader against psora. Further research will be necessary to define the other pathways by which sulphur works.

HOMEOPATHIC AGGRAVATIONS

The examination of the homeopathic aggravation phenomenon leads to several potential conclusions (detailed in Philosophy 202 found in the Summer 1995 Prover). Unfortunately we have a significant number of homeopaths that take a perverse delight in patient aggravations, mistakenly believing that this is a good sign of the correct remedy choice. When patients present for care they are already in misery. To initiate care and worsen it, then claim its for their own good, is irrational and a total violation of the Homeopathic Prime Directive (Aphorism 2).

Skilled homeopaths administer the well selected remedy in a well selected potency to fulfill Hahnemann's directive. One source for the phenomenon we call aggravation may be found in the mineral kingdom as well.

If our psoric serf patient has a deficiency of manganese we can see the biochemical results. Asthma, anorexia, growth failure, EKG change, neuromuscular problems, tetany and convulsions, depression, muscular weakness, tremors, vertigo, etc. are potential and frequent trouble spots. In a biochemical cascade, the production of the end product can be determined by dozens of steps and reactions. For example, in a manganese deficiency, not only does the one reaction dependent on the mineral stop, but all the subsequent steps fail also. This is what complicates the picture and produces such a wide range of symptoms. Unlike well defined deficiencies like scurvy or beri beri which are limited vitamin shortage problems, the mineral imbalances can distort everything from fertility to motility to mobility to cognition. Even fears, phobias, schizophrenia, etc., are based on biochemical abnormalities that can be due to mineral deficiencies.

Our skilled homeopath administers the well selected remedy to our psoric (manganese deficient) patient. The diet of our psoric patient is deficient in manganese but high in other elements. In taking the remedy, his body now has sufficient energy to convert (transmute) aluminum (A.N. 13) which is common everywhere plus magnesium (A.N. 12) into manganese. The manganese starts to fill into the missing enzyme pathways and rapidly hundreds upon hundreds of chemical reactions are potentiated and all the cascades of production get completed and his body sudden (or slowly) begins to improve as cellular harmony and health are restored.

The high potency, which triggers an aggravation, probably transmutes a substantial or even majority of the body's available magnesium into manganese. This creates a temporary shortage of magnesium and our psoric patient develops symptoms of a magnesium deficiency state because all those enzyme pathways are now blocked off (because of a relative and temporary deficiency state). Aluminum, the other 1/2 of the transmuting process is prevalent in everyone's water & food so there is not likely to be a shortage there.

Now that our psoric patient is getting better and has an aggravation, he will continue to have an aggravation for days to weeks until he can consume enough magnesium to eliminate the deficiency state created artificially by the remedy or until he has sufficient available energy to transmute two carbon (A.N. 6) into one magnesium often enough to clear the deficiency.

Potency selection is important. A potency too low would either not have enough energy to transmute the elements or it can only transmute a limited amount of elements and thus not solve the deficiency state. This may explain why remedies "wear out" and lose their effectiveness over time. The solutions brought about by the remedy will always be temporary. The reality of the situation is that a patient is never really "cured". He will redevelop the same or similar deficiency state eventually since it is likely that he will not have altered his diet substantially to increase the amounts of missing nutrients that created his symptom picture in the first place.

Recall Hahnemann's observations in Aphorism #78 at the beginning of this article. "...These are the most numerous and greatest scourges of the human race, for the most robust constitution, the best regulated mode of living and the most vigorous energy of the vital force are insufficient for their eradication." This is absolutely true, the vital force can only compensate for deficiencies for so long before it breaks down. It is no different than the vital forces compensations when you are deprived of oxygen for minutes at a time. The example of oxygen deficiency simply manifests faster than other deficiency symptoms. Either way, the vital force does what it can, but without the materials to work with, disaster strikes, sooner or later.

WHAT DO ALL THE OTHER REMEDIES DO?

What about remedies other than the noted antipsoric ones? How do remedies such as Nux vomica or Gelsemium function? Boericke states: "Nux seeds contain copper, notice the cramp causing proclivities of both," and "Gelsemium contains some magnesium phosphate." Gibson states that Lycopodium contains ..."also sugar, phytosterin, traces of aluminum, phosphoric acid and silica." Perhaps that's why Lycopodium is "trimiasmatic", it contains many mineral components capable of clearing multiple deficiency states simultaneously. Certainly any of the naturally occurring substances (Sepia, Tarantula, Coffee, etc.) will contain mineral elements which are capable of engaging the transmutation process.

It is certain that transmutation is only one of the mechanisms involved in the energy exchange between remedy and host. Other well noted effects are neurohormonal, such as Belladonna, which when given in a high fever will alter hypothalamic activity and drop the temperature, and neurovegatative, since we see that Cocculus has the ability to terminate seasickness. An explanation for these effects will be dealt with in a future monograph.

 

THE NEXT CONUNDRUM

We can view the conclusion of this monograph from several standpoints. The obvious and easiest summary would be that Hahnemann made extremely accurate observations about miasms. Not knowing much (or anything) about trace mineral deficiency symptoms, he graded patients deficiencies as mild, moderate or severe by calling them psoric, sycosic or syphilitic. He discovered a way to treat them accordingly and many millions of people have benefited over the past 200 years.

Our next observation might be that miasms do exist. Far from just being homeopathy's boogey man, they really do exist and have an overwhelming impact in our lives. This leaves us with two possibilities. First, is that the mineral deficiency state is another symptom of the deep miasmatic layer present. Just as psoric patients manifest skin conditions and sluggishness, they manifest an iodine deficiency as well. This is a classic case of; "What came first, the chicken (deficiency) or the egg (miasm)?"

Our other miasmatic consideration would be that the deep miasmatic layer can be dormant until triggered by a stress or and then it becomes active. We know that stressors can include things like illnesses, divorces, injuries, etc. In this case the stressor could be the mineral deficiency state that sets the miasm in motion.

It is an inescapable conclusion that miasms are linked to deficiency states. Since the miasm is theoretically located in the vital force (or encoded in the genetic structure), we do not currently have the technology available to definitively prove which of these theorems is correct because - other than the careful observation of our patients, we do not know if the underlying miasmatic state was touched by our work (muscle testing and EAV equipment aside). This is the conundrum which will remain unsolved at this point.

Is it important to know which theory is correct? It is. Once we know more about miasms and their effects of living being (plants and animals included), then we can improve our understanding and utilization of homeopathy. Our deeper understanding of this complex issue will surely yield us better results than Hahnemann, Kent or Roberts could have had.

A last observation at this point would be that from a practical, clinical standpoint, a difference that makes no difference is no difference. </U> Applied here, whether theory 1, 2 or 3 is correct doesn't change the fact that we still need careful case taking, remedy selection, potency choice and a commitment to health from our patients. The doctor needs to teach his patients the rules of proper living and remove any obstacle to cure. No matter how you choose to look at it, trace mineral deficiencies are a major obstacle to cure. Major enough to prevent a well selected remedy from being effective. Therefore, every homeopathic patient no matter how < good > their diet is, should be supported with colloidal or chelated trace minerals. They will get better faster, have fewer aggravations and may actually be "cured", if they continue on the minerals for the remainder of their lives. This will help keep them from backsliding into other deficiency states over time.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

This monograph was meant to stimulate intellectual curiosity among homeopaths by preparing a detailed explanation of the origin of psora and why it is equivalent to mineral deficiency states. Kent's position that psora is related to sin is refuted. Mechanisms for the function and efficacy of homeopathic remedies are presented and it becomes clear that Hahnemann was not only correct, but he was centuries in advance of medicine and science.

When dealing with patients with a weak vital force (prolonged malnutrition & deficiency), the risk of aggravation could be significantly reduced by a 2-4 week "build up" of the patient with a liquid colloidal mineral supplement. This will start to activate dormant enzyme pathways and build up a small mineral reserve that, when transmuted, will be readily available and the patient will be capable of comfortably carrying out repair.

Healthier patients would also benefit from supplementation since any aggravation they sustain due to the depletion of a mineral(s) would be minimal. It is apparent that our population is steadily becoming sicker and sicker. With a disease care bill this year exceeding 1 trillion dollars, our crisis continues to rise. We will need all of our tools and < know how to use them to their best advantage > to master the conditions that our patients will present us with over the coming years. As more new information becomes available on homeopathy & health, you'll be able to read it first here in THE PROVER.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Clinical Homeopathic Materia Medica and Biotherapeutic Associations by Max Tetau, M.D., published by Editeur Maloine: Paris, France; 1986

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45. Health Consciousness, Vol.16 No.1 , January/February 1996

Author : Towle, Daniel P.

Article Title : Miasms: A Theoretical Review of an Antiquated Concept

Publication Name : Prover, The: The Journal of the Chiropractic Academy of Homeopathy

Volume & Number : V. 7; N. 1

Publication Date : 03-30-96

© Copyright Daniel P. Towle, D.C, DNBHE