The Organon of the Healing Art (Organon der rationellen Heilkunde) by Samuel Hahnemann

Samuel Hahnemann

Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann was a German physician, known for creating an alternative form of medicine called homeopathy.- Early life :Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann was born in Meissen, Saxony near Dresden...

, 1810, laid the foundations of all theory and method of homeopathy

Homeopathy

Homeopathy is a form of alternative medicine in which practitioners claim to treat patients using highly diluted preparations that are believed to cause healthy people to exhibit symptoms that are similar to those exhibited by the patient...

. The work was repeatedly revised by Hahnemann and published in six editions, with the name changed from the second onwards to Organon of Medicine (Organon der Heilkunst).

The Book

Hahnemann wrote this book in order to document his new theory of medicine, "Homeopathy". In 1796, some six years after Hahnemann first experienced the effect of Peruvian Bark Cinchona

Cinchona

Cinchona or Quina is a genus of about 38 species in the family Rubiaceae, native to tropical South America. They are large shrubs or small trees growing 5–15 metres in height with evergreen foliage. The leaves are opposite, rounded to lanceolate and 10–40 cm long. The flowers are white, pink...

 in 1790 he published an article under the title "Essay on a New Principle."

After conducting personal observation and experiment, Hahnemann collected his new theory of homeopathy into book form in 1810. The original title of the book was Organon of Rational Art of Healing. In 1819, the second edition was published, with the revised title Organon of Healing Art. The third edition (1824) and fourth edition (1829) kept this new title, while the latter introduced Hahnemann's "Theory of Chronic Diseases."

The fifth edition was published in 1833, and included the doctrine of vital force and drug-dynamization. The sixth edition, written in 1842, a year before his death, was retitled Organon of Medicine and not published until 1921.

First edition of the Organon

• The first edition of the Organon was published in 1810 in Dresden
  Dresden
  Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
  
   while Hahnemann was at Torgau
  Torgau
  Torgau is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district Nordsachsen.Outside Germany, the town is most well known as the place where during the Second World War, United States Army forces coming from the west met with forces of the Soviet Union...
  
  .
• The first edition had 271 aphorisms and was named Organon der rationellen Heilkunde nach homöopathischen Gesetzen. It was later translated to English language by C.E. Wheeler as the Organon of Rational Medical Science in 1913.
• Below the title of the Book was written a small couplet from Gallert's poem -

• The First edition did not had any table of Contents.

Second edition of the Organon

• The second edition of the Organon was published in the year 1819 when Hahnemann was at Leipzig in Germany.
• The second edition had 315 aphorisms and was named Organon Der Heilkunst. It was later translated to French language by Ernest George von Burnnon and was named as Organon of the Healing Art in 1824.
• The couplet from Gallert's poem was replaced by the words Aude Sapere which mean Dare to be Wise.

Third edition of the Organon

• The third edition of the Organon was published in the year 1824 when Hahnemann was at Köthen (Anhalt) in Germany.
• The third edition had 317 aphorisms and was named Organon Der Heilkunst and in English language as Organon of the Healing Art.

Fourth edition of the Organon

• The fourth edition of the Organon was published in the year 1829 when Hahnemann was at Köthen (Anhalt) in Germany.
• The fourth edition had 292 aphorisms and was named named Organon Der Heilkunst. It was later translated to English language by Charles H. Deurient and was named as Organon of the Healing Art.
• Hahnemann's miasm theory, deriving from his two volume work, The Chronic Diseases published the previous year (1828), was alluded to many times in this edition of the Organon.

Fifth edition of the Organon

• The fifth edition of the Organon was published in the year 1833 when Hahnemann was at Köthen (Anhalt) in Germany.
• The fifth edition had 294 aphorisms and was named named Organon Der Heilkunst. It was later translated to English language by Robert Ellias Dudgeon two times, first in 1849 and second time in 1893 and was named as Organon of the Healing Art. The fifth edition of the book was also translated to English language by C. Wesselehoft.
• This fifth Organon was radically different in style and content from all four previous editions in containing numerous references to new metaphysical ideas for the first time, e.g. vital force, miasms, potency energy.

Sixth edition of the Organon

• The sixth edition of the Organon was completed before the demise of Hahnemann in 1843 when he was at in Paris in France, but was published long after his death, in the year 1921 .
• The sixth edition had 291 aphorisms and was named Organon der Medizin. It was later translated to English language by William Boericke and was named as Organon of Medicine.
• The Sixth edition of the Organon contained many new additions and alterations like -
• Change of Vital Force to Vital Principle
• Introduction of the 50 Millesimal Scale of Potentisation
• Changes in the preparation, administration and repetition of drugs

Outline of the Organon of Medicine

The book begins with a preface by the author on the subject, with table of contents and a vast introduction to the subject, the philosophy and the presentation of how Homeopathy comes into presence as a method of practice in the medical profession.

The fifth edition of the Organon of Medicine is split into "Aphorisms", numbered 1 to 294. The doctrine of Homoeopathy is discussed in the first seventy aphorisms, often referred to as the theoretical part:
The sub-division of the philosophy of Homoeopathy is below:

1. The mission of Physician and Highest Ideal of cure. Aphorisms 1 & 2
2. Requisite knowledge of a physician. Aphorisms 3 & 4
3. Knowledge of disease. Aphorisms 5-18
4. Knowledge of drugs. Aphorisms 19-21
5. Application of drug knowledge to disease. Aphorisms 22-27
6. Knowledge of choice of remedy, different modes of treatment, superiority of homoeopathic therapeutics. Aphorisms 28 to 70

Aphorisms 71 to 294 are known as the practical part:

1. Three points, which are necessary for curing. Aphorism 71
2. Classification of disease. Aphorisms 72-80
3. Case Taking: recording of patient data. Aphorisms 83-104
4. Knowledge of medicinal power, curative power and drug proving. Aphorisms 105-145
5. Proving of drugs
6. Most suitable method of employing medicine to a patient. Aphorisms 146-261
7. Allied support during treatment, diet in acute diseases. Aphorisms 262-263
8. Preparation of medicines. Aphorisms 267-269
9. Administration of medicines. Aphorisms 271-292
10. Mesmerism. Aphorisms 293-294