Posology, part 2
The Development of Dose and Potency in the History of Homeopathy
I’ve posted this previously, but repeat it here as part of a series on posology.
For more detail, see my self-paced online course Dose & Potency in Homeopathic Practice.
It is important to recognize that Hahnemann spent his life systematically exploring the ramifications of similia similibus. Homeopathy did not spring fully-formed from the proving of Peruvian bark. If we are to understand our art, and particularly if we are to presume to further its development, we need to be familiar with the path of exploration followed by its founder.
It seems reasonable to date the birth of homeopathy at the 1796 publication of Hahnemann's Essay on a New Principal for Ascertaining the Curative Powers of Drugs. If I may presume to anchor a chronology on the date of this Essay, we find ourselves today (1997) in year 202 "AE". The completion of the 6th edition of the Organon, and Hahnemann's death, occurred in 1843, "year 47". I'd like to use this framework to examine the development of homeopathy over those first 47 years, and in this essay to look specifically at the concepts of dose and dynamization as they developed over that time. In future essays I will address the related issues of repetition of dose and mode of administration, from this same perspective.