Lectures on Homeopathic Philosophy - India

From the Book

Lectures On Homoeopathic Philosophy
by Dr. James Tyler Kent

William Tiller, Ph.D.
Chairman of Materials Science and Engineering Dept.
Stanford University.
"It is clear that we are going out of the age of chemical and mechanical medicine and into the age of energetic and homeopathic medicine." (1977)

Nicholas Von Hoffman
nationally syndicated news commentator
"Homoeopaths prescribe minute amounts of their unique remedies on the theory that the medicine isn't supposed to fight the disease, but to enable the body to fight it. Nor do they, like regular doctors, believe that all diseases with the same name should be treated the same way.

"They put much more stock in patients' symptoms, in their being one-of-a-kind beings who must be prescribed for in a one-of-a-kind way."

The Washington Post
January 5th, 1970

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Details

These Lectures on Philosophy were delivered by Kent at the Post Graduate School of Homoeopathics and originally published in 1900.

Presented to his Organon study classes, they are not meant to take the place of the Organon (5th edition), but to be read alongside that work. They are a form of a commentary, the object of each lecture being to dwell upon the particular doctrine to sufficiently perceive and emphasize Hahnemann's thought.

This course of lectures does not cover the whole field of homeopathic philosophy. Kent meant it as an introduction to further study and as a textbook for his students.

As Kent's Swedenborg influences were quite strong by this point, they filter his perception of Hahnemann's work. If used as intended one can see where Kent modified Hahnemann's intent.

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Heritage

Transcriptions of the lectures Kent gave to his classes in the study of the Organon.

Although the year of the lectures is uncertain it was probably between 1896 (when Kent began to introduce Swedenborg concepts into his lectures) and 1899 - the last year he taught the course at the Post Graduate School in Philadelphia.

The first edition contained a "Homeopathic Catechism" written by Julia Loos, MD, consisting of 100 questions about the Organon. "It is deemed that anyone who can fully and comprehensively respond to this list of queries has a good working knowledge of the principles of Homeopathy and their application."

In 1917, Ehrhart and Karl issued "The Memorial Edition" with a photograph of Kent as a frontispiece and several eulogies for Kent. The edition was re-printed several times. A 5th edition was printed in 1954.

Julian Winston writes:
A "guidebook" to the 5th edition of the Organon as seen by Kent through his Swedenborgian filters.

Because most of the teachers up to the present day were strongly influenced by the pupils of Kent, the models presented by Kent that discuss homeopathy with the Swedenborg overlay have formed the "whole cloth" of the homeopathic garment with little critical discussion comparing the work of Hahnemann (what was said) and the work of Kent (what he says Hahnemann said).

From:
The Heritage of Homoeopathic Literature
copyright 2001 by Julian Winston
Reprinted with the permission of the author

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Author

Dr. James Tyler Kent, M.D.

(1849 - 1910)

Dr. Kent was born in Woodhul, New York. He graduated from the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati, and started practice in St. Louis as an Eclectic. He became interested in homoeopathy in 1878, when his wife's illness failed to respond either to eclectic or allopathic treatment and was cured by a homoeopath.

Kent began practice with low potencies, but he was not satisfied. Later he resolved to test the 30th potency to see if there was any medicine present. He prepared with his own hands the 30th potency of Podophyllum according to Centesimal scale after the method of Hahnemann.

One day a child was brought in to his clinic in emergency and it appeared that the child would not live long. While it lay in the arms of its mother, a thin yellow fecal stool ran all over his carpet. The odor was like that of the Podophyllum stool. It was horribly offensive, and the stool was so copious that the mother made the remark that she did not know where it all came from.

Dr. Kent thought to test Podophyllum 30 prepared by him for that case. Next morning he was surprised to learn from the grandmother of the child that he was doing well. One dose of Podophyllum cured a dangerously ill patient. He then realized the power of the potentized remedies, and he thought of using increasingly potentized remedies in his practice.

He became famous as a high potency homoeopath, as most of the homoeopaths before him were using low potency remedies. He advocated the use of the 30th, 200th, 1M, 50M, CM, DM and MM potencies made on the Centesimal scale. Dr. Kent introduced the doctrine of 'Series in Degrees' in the treatment of chronic diseases.

He found that one potency was not sufficient for chronic cases, though it would generally do for acute illnesses. Many chronic illnesses were cured by keeping the patient under the influence of the one indicated remedy for two or more years. But this cannot be done with continuous curative action, unless the doctrine of 'Series in Degrees' is fully understood and used.

Dr. Kent discovered that "just as there are octaves of musical tones, so there are octaves in the simple substance, through which severally it is possible to correspond with the various planes of the interior organism of the animal cells."

These planes correspond to the similar remedy in 30th, 200th, 1M 10M 50M, CM, DM, and MM potencies. He found that when the action of the 30th is completed the patient needs the 200th potency, but when the action of 200th potency is exhausted, the patient requires the 1M potency; and so on till the same remedy in higher and highest potencies cures permanently.

Dr. Kent also discovered the 'Law of Vital Action and Reaction' as pointed out by Dr. Hahnemann. "A medicine is not too high to cure so long as it is capable of aggravating the symptoms belonging to the sickness; in the first hours in acute, and in the first few days of a chronic sickness."

He also thought that a homoeopathic aggravation was essential from the application of the Simillimum in chronic cases. Dr. Kent felt that if there was relief without homoeopathic aggravation, the chronic sickness was only superficially affected and would require a deeper acting remedy to remove the vital disorder.

Dr. Kent laid greatest importance to the will, understanding and memory of the patient. They form the innermost of the man, and are extended outward through the general physical organism.

Cure takes place from center to periphery, but if the symptoms retreat from periphery to center the prescription is wrong and must be antidoted. Hence in order to treat successfully, the homoeopath should know the correspondence of organs and direction of cure.

Dr. Kent proved many new medicines, which he described in his book: 'New Remedies, Clinical Cases, Lesser Writings, Aphorisms and Precepts'.

Dr. Kent was famous for teaching Materia Medica. He taught Materia Medica at the Homoeopathic Medical College of St. Louis, from 1881-88, at the School of Homoeopathy, Philadelphia from 1890-99, at Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital, Chicago from 1903-9, and Hering Medical College Hospital. Students from England, European countries, India and other parts of the world sought admission to the institution where he taught the subject.

Sir John Weir, A.H. Grimmer, Pierre Schmidt, B.K. Bose, and other famous homoeopaths from all over the world were his disciples. He was the President and Trustee of Chicago Homoeopathic Hospital. His lectures on 'Homoeopathic Materia Medica', 'Homoeopathic Philosophy', and the 'Repertory of the Materia Media', are fundamental texts still utilized today.

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Contents

The Sick -- 17-25
The Highest Ideal of a Cure -- 26-32
What the Physician Must Perceive "Fixed Principles" Law and Government from Center -- 33-46
Discrimination as to Maintaining External Causes and Surgical Cases -- 47-53
The Unprejudiced Observer -- 54-60
Indisposition's -- 61-66
On Simple Substance -- 67-76
Disorder First in Vital Force -- 77-84
Materialism in Medicine -- 85-88
Sickness and Cure on Dynamic Plane -- 89-95
The Removal of the Totality of Symptoms Means the Removal of the Cause -- 96-101
The Law of Similiars -- 102-105
Susceptibility -- 106-110
Protection from Sickness -- 111-114
Oversensitive Patients -- 115-120
The Science and the Art -- 121-125
Chronic Diseases-Psora -- 126-132
Chronic Diseases-Psora(Cont.) -- 133-139
Chronic Diseases-Syphilis -- 140-143
Chronic Diseases-Sycosis -- 144-151
Disease and Drug Study in General -- 152-157
The Examination of the Patient -- 158-161
The Examination of the Patient(Cont.) -- 162-168
The Examination of the Patient(Cont.) -- 169-173
The Examination of the Patient(Cont.) -- 174-178
Record Keeping -- 179-181
The Study of Provings -- 182-190
Idiosyncrasies -- 191-195
Individualization -- 196-198
Characteristics -- 199-202
The Value of Symptoms -- 203-208
The Value of Symptoms(Cont.) -- 209-214
The Homeopathic Aggravation -- 215-223
Prognosis After Observing the Action of the Remedy -- 224-234
The Second Prescription -- 235-241
Difficult and Incurable Cases-Palliation -- 242-244

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