Encyclopedia of Metaphysical Medicine 0710087810

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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF METAPHYSICAL MEDICINE

Benjamin Walker

Encyclopedia of Metaphysical Medicine

By the same author: Beyond the Body: The Human Double and the Astral Planes Encyclopedia of Esoteric Man

Encyclopedia of Metaphysical Medicine Benjamin Walker

ROUTLEDGE & KEGAN PAUL

LONDON AND HENLEY

First published in 1978 by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd 39 Store Street, London WC1E 7DD and Broadway House, Newtown Road, Henley-on-Thames, , Oxon RG9 1EN Set in IBM Press Roman by Express Litho Service (Oxford) and printed in Great Britain by Redwood Bum Ltd Trowbridge and Esher ©Benjamin Walker 1978 No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except for the quotation of brief passages in criticism

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Walker, Benjamin

Encyclopedia of metaphysical medicine. 1. Pathology I. Title 616 RB111 ISBN 0 7100 8781 0

Contents Introduction

page ix

depression

page 60

abulia

1

diagnosis

61

acupuncture

3

diet

63

aetiology

6

disease

65

allopathy

8

drug therapy

67

anaphrodisiacs

9

dysgenics

72

angst

10

eccentricity

76

anxiety

11

electrotherapy

78

aphrodisiacs

13

embryonics

80

aromatherapy

15

epidemics

83

ars moriendi

18

epilepsy

87

artificial generation

20

erotomania

92

art therapy

24

etherosis

94

asylums

25

ethics and healing

98

aversion therapy

28

eugenics

101

behaviour therapy

29

exorcism

102

biomagnetic therapy

30

experimental medicine

104

biotelemetry

33

fear

107

bleeding

35

fever

108

borboric therapy

36

floritherapy

111

cancer

39

furor

113

catalepsy

41

genius

114

cataplexy

42

geotherapy

118

chromotherapy

44

group therapy

121

constipation

45

herbalism

126

convulsions

48

homoeopathy

127

cupping

51

hormone therapy

129

cyclothymia

52

hydropathy

132

death diagnostics

53

hypnosis

134

degeneration

56

hysteria

137

depersonalization

58

iatrogénies

140

Contents page 143

physiotherapy

page 214

infection

145

215

infertility

148

phytotherapy placebo

influenza

150

pneumopathy

217

kinesiotherapy

154

possession

220

leprosy

156

primitive medicine

223

magnetotherapy

158

psychiatry

227

mania

159

psychic surgery

229

massage

160

psychic vampirism

230

161

psychodiagnostics

231

medical materialism

164

psychodrama

234

melancholy

165

psychogenic death

235

mental illness

168

psychopathy

237

menticide

170

psychosomatics

239

metallotherapy

171

psychotherapy

240

microbes

173

quackery

242

migraine

175

rejuvenation

245

mind cure

177

religious therapy

249

molecular biology

179

scatotherapy

250

incubation

mass hysteria

'

216

monomania

181

schizophrenia

254

multiple personality

185

sexophobia

256

music therapy

186

sex therapy

258

naturopathy

190

shunamism

260

necrophilia

191

sleep therapy

262

neurosis

192

sociopsychosis

264

nightmare

194

somnambulism

268

obsession

196

spiritual healing

269

occupational therapy

198

stigmata

272

opposites

199

stress

273

organotherapy

202

suicide

275

osteopractic

203

syphilis

277

pain

205

thanatomania

280

pain therapy

207

thanatophilia

281

paraesthesia

209

theomania

283

patient

212

therapy

285

vi

Contents thermosomatics

285

urinoscopy

293

touch healing

288

xenophrenia

294

transference

289

zone therapy

295

tuberculosis

291

Index

299

Introduction Much of the material for this volume has been assembled from areas that lie outside the boundaries demarcated by modern orthodox medicine, and is therefore beyond the pale of scientific respectability. An attempt has been made here to provide a concise account of the whole dimension of pathology and therapy which might roughly be classed as occult, spiritual, fringe, out-ofthe-way, off-beat, and, for want of a more comprehensive term, metaphysical. The term metaphysical medicine as used here covers various shades of meaning. It is applied to the causes and treatment of disease believed to arise from pathologies of what is known in occultism as the second body, or the non-material substratum of the human organism. It covers arcane medical theory and abstract speculation, orthodox and unorthodox, relating to the effects of sickness on the mind, the association between disease and genius, and the role of disease in history. It is also extended to include the ethical principles that underlie medical practice, and all aspects of medical morality, ancient and modern. However far we have advanced in our scientific culture, we are still short of an understanding of ourselves if we have not graduated to a stage above the materialistic. In the sphere of medicine, we know that the deeper problems of health and healing are not wholly solved by attending exclusively to the mechanics and chemistry of the body. The human being functions on several levels, somatic and psychosomatic, psychological and parapsychological, physical and metaphysical, which constantly interact to make an individual what he is, and sickness is a predicament in which all these levels often be­ come involved. Perhaps in no other field has the experience of the human race been so uniformly concentrated for so long a period of time, as in the art of healing. This art reached a surprising degree of sophistication and subtlety in the early stages of human civilization. We know that the psychological and indeed spirit­ ual insight of ancient and primitive societies was quite remarkable, and many physical and mental ills were effectively dealt with by methods well estab­ lished long before modern scientific techniques came into use. The fact that this experience, some of it dating from preliterate times, has survived to this day, and finds contemporary sponsors and exponents, is a tribute to its enduring value. We cannot dismiss as superstitious all those methods and traditions that have helped human groups from sickness to health for countless millennia, nor can we brand as credulous those who today believe that certain of these ancient principles and remedies are worth examining afresh in the light of present knowledge. It has now been established that almost anything can be pathogenic, or disease-producing, and almost anything can be therapeutic, or healing. The range of therapies is therefore a wide one, and a realization of this fact has ix

Introduction created a renewal of interest in remedies and prophylactics that are found in the simple elements immediately at our dispQsal: water, sunlight, fresh air, natural sleep, herbs, fasting; and has also created increasing misgivings about technological treatment, and synthetic drugs of high potency. The material presented in this volume will not be found in the usual medi­ cal encyclopedias, nor in the usual books dealing with fringe medicine. The object of this compilation is to make a brief survey of the whole field, and not to suggest cures. It should therefore be made clear that this is not a hand­ book of home medicine, and is not intended to provide remedies for self­ treatment. I have benefited greatly from information supplied by the practitioners of some of these therapies; and of course owe an immense debt of gratitude, which I gratefully acknowledge, to the authors of the many books on the subject that I have had the opportunity to read. Most of these have been listed in the bibliographies, which have been compiled from material currently accessible, and will be of use to those who wish to pursue the subject in greater detail. As in my earlier works of reference, an asterisk after a word indicates that there is a separate article on that subject. B.W. Teddington

A ABULIA (Gk. a, 'non', boule, ‘will’), or aboulia, the inability to make up one’s mind or to act on a decision, a mental condition often found in depression, melancho­ lia, dementia, epilepsy, and in certain neurotic conditions like psychasthenia. The term has broader implications which suggest a state of apathy, indif­ ference and helplessness, stemming from a lack of faith or interest in oneself and in others. Abulia is to be distinguished from another privative concept, that of ataraxia (Gk. ‘non-agitation’), greatly esteemed by the Stoical philosophers of classical antiquity, who regarded it as an eminently desirable state of mind, and an ideal to be attained. Ataraxia implied not apathy, but an attitude of philosophical calm in the face both of adversity and triumph, joy and sorrow, success and failure. A Greek citizen of Pergamum in Asia Minor, beset by troubles and sorely harassed by a shrewish wife who nagged him more than Xanthippe did Socrates, when asked to name his newborn son, named him Galen (from the Greek word for ‘calm’), because he wished the boy to have, above all other virtues, the quality of ataraxia. The boy Galen was destined to become one of the most famous physicians of all time. A medieval variant was acedia (Gk. akedeo, ‘non-caring’), in the sense of ‘not being involved’; and its derivative accidie, meant spiritual apathy, feelinglessness or lack of concern. The latter was sometimes translated ‘sloth’, one of the seven deadly sins, and more evil than all the others. This sloth did not imply laziness, but indifference and tepidity, an absence of ardour and enthusiasm for matters of human concern. It was the only one of the sins that could outweigh the seven virtues put together. Abulia is primarily a condition of spiritual emptiness. Nothing exists in the life of the abulic to excite his affections or stimulate his will. The absence of direction in his life makes every effort meaningless. In the Bible, God’s message to the prophet at Patmos for the Laodiceans makes clear the penalty for such an attitude: ‘I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth’ (Rev. 3:16). Abulia is related to, yet distinct from, another concept, known as anomie (Gk. nomos, ‘rule’), or the absence of standards, originally applied to those who, owing to lack of physical or mental energy, were unable or unwilling to adjust to circumstances. Old people, hermits, eccentrics, are prone to anomie. Here again the term is also used in a more extended sense to include all those whose standards of behaviour are unclear, or in conflict with the prevailing norm. They are alienated from their own traditions, lack a sense of continuity with their past, and consequently drift into a state of disorganiza­ tion and disorientation. Emile Durkheim (d. 1917) the French sociologist

1

ABULIA

believed that a breakdown of personal or social standards inevitably leads to delinquency and crime, and not infrequently to suicide. Not only individuals, but social institutions can degenerate into an anomic^state, as we find in the sphere of sociopsychosis*. Translating the ancient concept of abulia into modern terms psychologists today speak of men being afflicted with the meaninglessness of their lives. A general sense of abulia and intellectual malaise is often experienced by those whose lives lack a deeper purpose or motivation. It is experienced when even successful people suddenly begin to wonder what their work is all about, and feel disenchanted with their fame and prosperity. Life, they feel, has some­ how passed them by, and their attainments are so much Dead Sea fruit that has turned to ashes in their mouth, and nothing has really been worth the effort. t With abulia both idealism and hope are lost. If the world has any signifi­ cance it is not apparent and not worth bothering about, for nothing really matters. Students of the modern crisis point out that for all the material pro­ gress of modern civilization, Western man is afflicted with boredom and lack of purpose. Many people lose their reason because they lose their faith. Carl Gustav Jung (d. 1961) wrote that a large proportion of his patients were suffering from a sense of emptiness in what they were doing, because life had become devoid of meaning. Existentialist psychologists lay great emphasis on the need for reappraising philosophical and religious issues like values, meanings and purposes, without which there is an existential vacuum, leading to a vacuum neurosis in all sec­ tions of society. Where parents and teachers lack definite principles, the chil­ dren grow up disturbed. Young people become oppressed with a sense of pointlessness and futility, a lack of clear values, and an absence of purpose, and are unable to organize their lives. Many demand a credo by which they can restore a sense of direction to their existence. In the view of some existentialists a meaningful life cannot be without its ordeals. To think that the elimination of suffering is the highest goal of man is to open up a prospect of bitter disappointment. Although suffering is best avoided, if possible, it is inevitable and indeed necessary, and all religions teach the value of its discipline. Its real effects on us are generally hidden and widely different from what we imagine at the time, and its value is only realized when seen in retrospect. The suffering over, it is often found to have brought an expansion of the personality, and greater maturity of spirit. Viktor Frankl (b. 1905), Austrian psychologist, who spent many months as a prisoner in Auschwitz concentration camp, thinks we need a better understanding of the positive aspects of life as well as of suffering and death. In his view the sexual frustration of Freud’s day has given place to the current existential frustration. He contrasted Freud’s will to pleasure and Adler’s will to power with his own will to meaning. Frankl created a system of existential analysis which he called logotherapy, a ‘logos of existence’. The term ‘logos’ primarily signifies meaning, and logotherapy is meant to help the patient develop a set of values based on a wider world-view and to put meaning back into life.

2

ACUPUNCTURE Books Bakan, David, Disease, Pain and Sacrifice: Towards a Psychology of Suffering, Beacon Press, Boston, 1971. Bettelheim, Bruno, The Informed Heart, Thames & Hudson, London, 1961. Frankl, Viktor, The Will to Meaning: Foundations and Applications of Logotherapy, World Publishing Co., New York, 1969. Jung, C. G., Modern Man in Search of a Soul, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1945. Ledermann, E. K., Existential Neurosis, Butterworth, London, 1972. May, Rollo et al., Existence: a New Dimension in Psychiatry and Psychology, Basic Books, New York, 1958. Sykes, Gerald, The Cool Millennium, Prentice-Hall, New Jersey, 1968.

ACUPUNCTURE (Lat. acus, ‘needle’), a method of relieving pain and curing ailments by prick­ ing a part of the body with a needle. The point punctured is not the organ affected and not even necessarily near the source of the trouble, but may be in another part of the body altogether. Thus, the little toe may be pricked to cure a pain in the shoulder. This system of therapy first-originated in China, where it is said to have been practised since the Bronze Age. The earliest treatise was reputedly com­ piled by Huang-ti (c. 2500 BC), the Yellow Emperor. This work is lost but a Chinese manual called N’ei Ching, written about 150 BC, is believed to record all the acupuncture theory and practice up to that time. Subsequently the art was greatly altered in taoist treatises especially as an aid to sex magic. From China acupuncture spread to Japan, Korea, Tibet, Nepal and other countries in the East. In Chinese medical theory the vital, bipolar yang-yin energy that is every­ where diffused in the universe, flows in a free rhythm through the human body, where it is called ch’i, ‘breath’. It permeates every part of the body and, in the normal, healthy organism, circulates freely and continuously, carrying the subtle potencies of breath, blood, the nutritive elements and the life-force through the physical frame. The vehicle that actually conveys this energy is a ramifying network of invisible ‘subtle arteries’ known as meridians. The Chinese distinguish 14 major meridians running longitudinally down the length of the body, from the scalp to the toes, along which the vitalic force is distributed; and some 800 tiny points or nodes on the body’s surface which are directly linked by a system of lesser branching channels to the limbs, head, trunk and the internal areas and organs. Of the main meridians, 5 connect with the 5 fou organs, which are yang and hollow and concerned with food, namely, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, gall-bladder and bladder; and 5 connect with the 5 tsang organs which are yin and solid and concerned with breath and blood, namely, heart, lungs, spleen, kidneys and liver. Two other meridians control reproduction and vitality; and still 2 others are diffused as yang and yin potencies, making 14 meridians in all. A precise knowledge of the ‘map’ of the meridians and nodes is essential for the practice of acupuncture. For the use of the Chinese Imperial College two life-size bronze statues were cast in about AD 775, perforated with over

3

ACUPUNCTURE

800 holes to indicate the nodal points, and these remained the standard guide for many centuries. But the ordinary physician did not depend on such models to locate them. More commonly he used cha»ts based on traditional diagrams which only approximately marked the nodal position. Ordinarily only about 365 nodes are listed, but seldom are more than 100 used by any one practitioner. The theory underlying acupuncture is that if any part of the body is diseased or any organ not functioning properly, it is because the flow of the vital current in the corresponding meridian is impeded. Disease results from sluggishness in the circulation of the life-force and an imbalance in its distri­ bution, which manifests in a morbid condition of one of the vital organs, and it becomes the doctor’s business to find out where the deficiency is and to treat it by stimulation in order to restore the lost balance. Diagnosis is made in the usual way, by examining the tongue, eyes, pulse, and so on. Since all the meridian lines pass either directly or as subsidiary channels through the chest and abdomen, examination, diagnosis and treat­ ment are frequently effected by light digital pressure in certain places in these areas. The shape, size, hardness and ‘fluidity’ in and around the areas are all noted, and the centre of the trouble located in this manner. Treatment, which may be both preventive and curative, consists in regulat­ ing the rhythm and restoring the yang-yin balance, and thus remedying any derangement in the circulation of the ch’i energy. This can be done in one of several ways. The nodes can either be toned up (stimulated) or toned down (sedated), so as to achieve the correct volume of the flowing energy. As already indicated the nodes are not necessarily near the site of the organ it is desired to heal, and it makes no difference how deep-seated or inaccessible the organ may be. Thus, for affections of the head certain points in the foot may be treated; for pain in the back the knee may be treated. Trouble on the right side calls for treatment on the left side, and pain in the front calls for treatment in the rear. The usual method in acupuncture consists in pricking the appropriate nodal point with fine needles made of gold, silver, steel or copper. They may be pushed in direct, or given a clockwise or anti-clockwise turn, or vibrated gently after insertion, depending on the nature of the disease. The needles are stuck far enough into the flesh to stay in position and not drop off, but in some cases they are pushed in rather deeper. They are left in the flesh for a few minutes and then removed. The method of withdrawal also varies. Often the relevant node is subjected to a deep and firm pressure of the fingertips or finger-nails, held at right angles to the flesh, and then stimulated by a gentle to and fro or circular, boring movement. The finger must be moved with the tissue beneath it, and not just rubbed over the skin. The dura­ tion of this treatment may take anywhere between thirty seconds to three minutes. The movement is rather brisk if the organ is to be toned up, and gentle if soothing action is required. Yet another method is known as moxabustion, in which the nodal points of the body are heated, blistered or scorched, by burning a roll of dried moxa, a downy material from the leaves of a certain kind of wormwood. Modern Western practitioners use a small moxa hammer, which is heated over 4

ACUPUNCTURE

a spirit lamp for a few seconds and then applied to the nodes, the pointed end for toning, the rounded end for soothing. Chinese practitioners claim that acupuncture will cure most human ail­ ments, including sciatica, neuritis, bronchitis, asthma, diabetes, malaria, ton­ sillitis, beriberi and infantile paralysis. Thousands of patients from all over the world have testified that acupuncture has cured chronic complaints where all the resources of Western medicine have failed. Acupuncture gives anaesthesia, and major surgery has been performed on kidneys, lungs, liver, brain, ovaries and other internal organs, on patients who are anaesthetized after two or more needles are inserted at selected sites; in some cases an electric current is passed through the needles for about twenty minutes. This numbs one part of the body but leaves the patient conscious and talking throughout the opera­ tion. Since the end of the Second World War acupuncture has become more generally known and practised in the West. There are over 30 acupuncture clinics in Britain alone. Russian scientists tracing high-frequency electrical fields in man, have found that the human bioflux can be tapped at hundreds of points on the skin surface, which are connected with organs deep within the body. These points correspond exactly with the Chinese acupuncture nodes. A special instrument, the tobiscope, developed in the USSR, can locate these points. In Japan, Dr Hiroshi Motoyama of Tokyo, has apparently established a correlation between the nadi circuitry of yoga, and the acu­ puncture meridians. The efficacy of acupuncture is ascribed to the fact that it might stimulate the production of antibodies in the blood, or that it perhaps excites the pituitary or adrenal glands. It is known that when the skin is pricked a sud­ den biochemical change is effected in the system, and there might be some therapeutic value in a sharp and stinging pain. Eastern experts maintain that a number of the 800 nodes are vital crosspoints and that it is possible to interrupt the flow of energy through them, and so produce paralysis'or death. Exponents of certain forms of Chinese and Japanese physical culture claim that by touching one of these nodes or ‘holes’ in a certain way, an expert can cause the effects to manifest themselves only after some hours, days or even months, at the end of which time the victim becomes paralysed or dies. This ‘delayed death-touch’ is known to the masters of shorinji kempo, a kind of Japanese boxing. Books Austin, Mary, Acupuncture Therapy, Asi Publishers, New York, 1972. Barclay, Glen, Mind Over Matter, Arthur Barker, London, 1973. Lavier, J., Points of Chinese Acupuncture, Health Science Press, London, 1965. Loung, Ti Sang, Akupunktur und Räuchern mit Moxa, Munich, 1954. Mann, Felix, The Treatment of Disease by Acupuncture, 3rd edn, Heinemann, London, 1974. Morant, G. S. de, L'Accuponcture chinoise, 2 vols, Paris, 1939-41. Motoyama, Hiroshi, Chakra and Nadi of Yoga and Meridians and Points of Acupuncture, Institute of Religious Psychology, Tokyo, 1972. Ostrander, Sheila and Schroeder, Lynn, PSI: Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Cur­ tain, Sphere Books, London, 1973.

5

AETIOLOGY Stanley, Krippner and Rubin, Daniel, Galaxies of Life: the Human Aura in Acupuncture and Kirlian Photography, Interface, New York, 1973. Veith, Ilza, The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, William & Wilkins, Balti­ more, 1949.

AETIOLOGY (Gk. aitia, ‘cause’), the study of causes, specifically with regard to the origins of disease. Physicians look for symptoms in their patients, and from these symptoms make their diagnosis*. The cause of the disease may then become apparent, but this is by no means always the case; quite often the actual cause remains unknown. All causes are broadly classifiable into two categories: exogenous, or originating from outside, and endogenous, or originating from within. In general the ancient aetiologies stressed the external factors, witch­ craft, demons, environment; and modern aetiology stresses internal factors, like hormones, stress, anxiety. In ancient times the study of causes was undertaken in far greater detail, since it was held that the apparent symptoms did not always reveal the under­ lying malaise, which could only be understood against the background of the total self, for many obscure factors militate against a person’s health and •welfare. A combined catalogue of the principal theories, past and present, including all likely causes would cover almost every possible contingency. Thus, in primitive societies diseases are often attributed to a demoniacal cause: evil spirits possess the bpdy and have to be exorcized*. Disease may also result from the loss or displacement of the soul, and it becomes the physician’s job to find and restore the soul. Disease may come from wilful maleficia, that is, witchcraft and sorcery. It may arise from a breach of taboo or failure to observe a religious or social rite. It may be caused by the intru­ sion of some disease-object, such as a piece of bone, pebble, splinter or worm, which must be removed, usually by the witch-doctor sucking it out. In more advanced societies disease is sometimes ascribed a divine causation, and is then regarded as a form of chastisement sent from above. Again, astrological factors, the position of the planets and constellations, are believed to predispose one to certain diseases, and render one prone to weakness of certain parts or organs of the body. In addition to these there are the various cosmobiological factors that are thought to have a direct bear­ ing on a person’s health: sunspots, lunar cycles, seasonal changes, time of day or night, atmospheric phenomena, the weather, all of which play their part. Aretaeus (fl. AD 100), Greek physician of Cappadocia, laid great emphasis on the effect of climate in the aetiology of disease. Ecological or environmental factors are also to be taken into account, including the nature of the soil (see geotherapy), water, air, topology. Hereditary factors take in the physical and psychical tendencies inherited by the individual, including the racial background of his parents and ancestors. This complex of causes is known as diathesis, which is the hereditary or con­ stitutional predisposition of an individual to a particular disease. According to the circular definition that is implicit in diathesis, the cause of migraine,

6

AETIOLOGY or rheumatoid arthritis, for instance, is the inbuilt constitutional liability of the person to get these ailments. It is the diathesis not the disease that is inherited. Equally, the social and domestic circumstances from which the indivi­ dual has emerged and in which he is placed can play a significant part in causing disease. In particular, the mental and physical health, moral conduct and social behaviour of the mother during pregnancy, as well as the cir­ cumstances attending the birth of the child, for example, foetal disease or birth injury. Reincarnationists attribute all disease to karma, or the deeds done in a previous existence, whose consequences are carried over into this life. According to yet another theory, many illnesses are due to a patholo­ gical condition of the etheric body, which according to sensitives can be diagnosed from an examination of the patient’s aura or bioplasmic emana­ tion. Sickness may further emerge from the wider sphere of sociopsychosis*, or disease of society itself, which infects the individual. Also from progress and technological advancement, and the accompanying angst* of modern civiliza­ tion. Psychosomatic factors or emotional causes, especially sorrow, fear, anxiety, hatred, envy, jealousy, loss of love or some traumatic mental shock, play a major contributory role. So do lack of friends, lack of support for the ego from family or peers, discouragement and disappointment, and a hostile environment. In modern life many of the factors causing stress* lead to disease. Some sicknesses again are said to be iatrogenic*, that is, brought on by doctors themselves, and the hospitalization, drugs and other treatment prescribed by them. Physiological causes, according to the older pathologies, may depend on the crasis (Gk. ‘mixing’) of the four ‘humours’ in the body: eucrasis is a proper balance, dyscrasis an imbalance of these humours. In modern terms this is equivalent to a hormonal disturbance due to malfunctioning of the endocrine glands, or other chemical imbalance. Also overindulgence in food, drink, smoking, sex, drugs, sleeping and exercise. Conversely the lack of some of the above, such as undernourishment and insomnia, will lead to deteriora­ tion in health. Microbes and viruses are of course the more obvious cause of many ill­ nesses, but these often operate in strange ways, causing infection only when circumstances are favourable. Most disease germs are carried by everyone all the time, but stress or weakness empowers and activates them. Lastly, acci­ dents and injury directly affect the body. Today as in the ancient past there is a tendency towards poly aetiology, that is, finding more than one causative factor in disease, with all the causes interlocked. Hereditary (genetic), constitutional (diathetic), environmental (sociological), individual (idiosyncratic) and other factors are all taken into account to form a composite picture. In the esoteric view, both predisposing causes (for example, heredity) and provoking causes (for example, excessive eating or accident) are ultimately always occult in origin, prompted by far-reaching concatenations of circum­ stances.

7

ALLOPATHY Books Benivieni, A., The Hidden Causes of Disease, Springfield, Illinois, 1954. Clements, F. E., Primitive Concepts of Disease, Berkeley, California, 1932. Guirdham, A., Cosmic Factors in Disease, Duckworth, London, 1963. Paracelsus, The Occult Causes of Diseases, trans, by Agnes Blake, London, 1930. Theosophical Research Centre, Some Unrecognized Factors-in Medicine, 2nd edn, Theo­ sophical Publishing House, London, 1949. Wolfram, E., Occult Causes of Diseases, Rider, London, 1940.

ALLOPATHY (Gk. alios, ‘different’), a system of healing traceable to the physician Galen (d. AD 201), whose therapy rested on the principle of contraria contrariis curantur, ‘opposites are cured by opposites’. ‘Hot’ diseases are cured by ‘cold’ remedies and cold diet; wet by dry, and so on. It became fashionable with Galen’s followers to prescribe a combination of drugs: one drug was the active agent to attack a manifest symptom; another an antidote to counteract any ill-effects of the first drug; an adjuvant to help the active agent; a drug to restore the bowel function; yet another to cure the debility resulting from the ailment, and many others, all mixed with an inert vehicle, either water or chalk. Physicians thought that medicines should have as many substances as possible, and prescriptions with 50 ingredients were not unknown. This was known as polypharmacy, or multidrugging. Associated with this was the system of polypragmacy (Gk. pragma, ‘action’ or ‘treatment’), or the multiplicity of treatments. The patient was subjected at one and the same time to a complex regime of starvation, sweating, emetics, purgatives, enemas, bleeding, slashing the flesh and burning with hot irons. This produced what was termed a syncrisis (or in more stubborn cases, metasyncrisis) which brought the patient to a state of collapse, after which he was left to recover. These drastic methods, used by many eminent physicians in Rome and Asia Minor, were adopted by certain members of the Arabian school, and were standard practice in medieval Europe. Paracelsus (d. 1541), who once burned the books of Galen and Avicenna before starting one of his lectures, was a violent opponent of the system. But his advocacy had no effect on the practice of healing. Louis XIII (d. 1643) of France was given 213 purgatives, 212 enemas and 47 bleedings, all in one year, and many like him suffered a similar fate. The next great name in the battle against polypharmacy was Samuel Hahnemann (d. 1843) who first used the term ‘allopathy’, in contrast to his own system of homoeopathy*. Today the name allopathy is generally given to all forms of therapy opposed to such naturopathic* régimes as herbalism, diet, simple remedies and natural sleep. The tendency of modern allopathic practice is a reversion to the old doctrines of polypharmacy and polypragmacy. We have today a mechanistic concept of the body and an engineering concept of healing, since the patient is the same everywhere, and the tendency is to treat a disease by eliminating its symptoms. In both mental and physical illnesses we have a multiplication of therapies

8

AN APHRODISIACS

where several cures are tried simultaneously, and a general ‘riding madly in all directions’. These include surgery, including the removal of troublesome limbs and organs; electric and other forms of shock; behavioural conditioning; encounter groups; psychotherapy; and above all, powerful combative drugs. The average medicine-cabinet contains at least 25 drugs, some of them taken regularly. Even those who are perfectly healthy tend to dose themselves. Preg­ nant women are given drugs at various stages of pregnancy. The dying and those in intensive care are a medicine-cabinet in themselves, and a testimony to the durability of the Galenic ideal.

Books Ackerknecht, Erwin, Therapeutics: From the Primitives to the Twentieth Century, Hafner, New York, 1973. Inglis, Brian, Fringe Medicine, Faber & Faber, London, 1964. Sigerist, H. E.,A History of Medicine, Oxford University Press, 1961. Singer, C. and Underwood, E. A., A Short History of Medicine, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1962.

AN APHRODISIACS Anaphrodisiacs have an effect opposite to that of aphrodisiacs*, tending to reduce sexual desire or causing temporary or permanent sterility. Their study is important both for those, who desire to improve their virile power, since they learn what to avoid; and for those who wish to get their sexual appetite out of the way so that they can get on with what they consider to be more important matters. Many drugs act as anaphrodisiacs. A number that initially stimulate sexual passion ultimately reduce desire, and if continued, kill it altogether. Cocaine, banisterine (caapi), myristica (nutmeg), LSD and others, which increase the pleasures of intercourse and orgasm, end up by weakening one or more of the triggering processes that bring about erection and ejaculation in the first place. Also possessing anaphrodisiac properties are salicylic acid, quinine, cam­ phor, menthol, the bromides, valerian and the solanaceous drugs. Among the foods, lettuce, cucumber and dried coriander are sexually depressing. Among drinks, coffee and tea in excess reduce the erectile powers, as do all acid drinks such as lemon and orange juice, and vinegar. Soda water is also a sexual depressant. It is said that an infusion of white water-lily (Nymphea alba) taken for 12 days will make a man incapable for one year; taken for 40 days it will permanently extinguish all sexual desire. In ancient and medieval folklore numerous scatological substances figure among the anaphrodisiacs. According to Pliny (d. AD 79) a lizard drowned in urine has an anti-aphrodisiac effect on the man whose urine it is. Pigeon dung and snail excrement taken with oil or wine have the same effect. A man in love with a woman or bewitched by her, can be cured by placing some of the woman’s ordure in his shoe and wearing it. This strange superstition was once very widespread in Europe. Both tobacco and snuff are anti-aphrodisiac. Indeed, it has been said that 9

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there is a latent antagonism in the male body between tobacco and women, so that a taste for one diminishes the taste and capacity for the other. For this reason most true Lotharios eschew smoking.