Steps in the Creation of Synthesis

Steps in Creating Synthesis
Parts 1 | 2 | 3
Dr. Frederik Schroyens
Gent, Belgium
First day of the summer, 1993

We estimated the time had come to improve, on a qualitative level, the language and the structure Kent used, but within the hierarchical framework that most homeopaths were used to. We trust our option will prove the best way to counteract the mentality where progress in homeopathy has been measured by quantity, be it additions or megabytes available. This version of Synthesis provides a sound basis to make additions. Some additional reasons for the exceptional quality of this Repertory are:

Synthesis contains repeatedly checked additions from the standard homeopathic literature, including Kent, Hahnemann, Hering, Allen, Clarke, Boericke, Knerr, etc. Additions from living authors are added only with caution, most often only in the first degree unless confirmation of a higher degree comes from other authors.
Thousands of corrections to Kent's Repertory have been made. The corrections are recognizable because the remedy in these instances mentions "K" (= Kent's Repertory) as well as the reference indicating the source of the correction. E.g.: "Delusion -starve - he must": kali-m. k,cl indicates this remedy in Kent was corrected on the basis of a symptom in Clarke's Dictionary. Rarely, this type of reference is also used to indicate a confirmation of Kent's information.
Thousands of symptoms have been rewritten following a clearly readable "symptom format". At each level, either the words follow each other in the normal order, or the sentence is split only once. This split is indicated by the sign " ; " to show the place from which one should start reading. This differs from the presence of a " , " which is used to improve readability. e.g.: "pieces, sensation as if head would fall in, when stooping" became: "pieces, on stooping; sensation as if head would fall in".
The structure of the symptoms has been made more transparent in order to avoid all possible ambiguity. This was especially the case for symptoms where subrubrics seemed to depend on superrubrics with a contradictory meaning. e.g.: "generals - trembling externally - internally - joy, from" became "generals - trembling externally - joy, from".
A list of combined modalities has consistently been applied throughout Synthesis: the parts of a same combined modality can always be found in the same order. e.g.: "cold wet weather" is to be searched as "weather - cold -wet"; never under "cold damp weather" and never under "damp cold weather".
The order of the groups of symptoms (sides, times, modalities, extensions, localizations, descriptions) was followed throughout and corrected wherever necessary.

In addition, the specific order of the symptoms within each group was applied. e.g.: "teeth - pain": localizations precede anything else; "alternating sides" or "one side" are sometimes positioned between the sides, sometimes between the modalities.
Leading words have been positioned in front at each level and the alphabetical sorting was corrected accordingly. e.g.: "in bed" => "bed, in"; "as if frozen" => "frozen, as if", ...
Unclear symptoms have been completed on the basis of the Materia Medica, e.g.: "cough - sulphur fumes or vapor, sensation of agg." =>"cough - sulphur fumes or vapor; cough agg. by sensation of".
Whenever possible ambiguous words have been clarified. e.g.: "breast" has been replaced by "chest" or "mammae", "storm" by "stormy weather" or by "thunderstorm", ...
Some global superrubrics were created so that one can easily find related symptoms. e.g.: symptoms on "periodicity" or "children" have become subrubrics of "periodicity" and "children" respectively.
Similar rubrics were merged into one. e.g.: "nose - obstruction - alternating sides" and "nose - obstruction one side - alternately".
Symptoms were split into meaningful bits whenever this was not done by Kent. e.g.: "cough - loose exercise and warm room agg. " was split in two rubrics "exercise" and "warm room - going into a warm room" (for the correction: see Bromium in HR1)
The language of the Repertory has been completely revised. Nineteenth century spelling has been consistently replaced by modern American English spelling. The whole book has been spell-checked by computer. e.g.: "anaemia" became "anemia"; "diarrhoea": "diarrhea"; "faeces": "feces"; "haemorrhoids": "hemorrhoids"; ...

For hundreds of words or expressions, written in two or more ways, only one has been maintained, based on Webster's Dictionary. e.g.: "descending stairs" in Synthesis replaces "descending stairs, when", "descending steps", "going down stairs" and "stairs, on going down", all of which exist in Kent.

Seldom used words and expressions have been replaced by contemporary language, for everyday language as well as for medical expressions. e.g.: "dipsomania" by "alcoholism", "childbed" by "delivery - after", ...

The hours and times of aggravation have been given the same order and hierarchical structure everywhere.
Clinical rubrics were renamed according to modern disease names. New clinical rubrics were introduced with caution, as sufficient clinical verification is still lacking in most cases. e.g.: "coryza - annual" became "hayfever"; "skin - becomes sore" became "decubitus", ...
A new standard list of remedy abbreviations is presented. Many new remedies have been added, all abbreviated following the same rules used by Kent. The differences between the remedy abbreviations of Synthesis and those used by Kent or Barthel's Synthetic Repertory, are printed at the beginning of this book. The full list and all comments follow at the end.
A new standard list of author abbreviations is presented as well. Letters are used to indicate an author. This allows additional combinations and is easier to memorize.

Not one addition has been made without indicating the source. One reference refers to only one author, if possible to exactly one book or article. Most of our references refer to a specific book or article, which will make it even easier to go back to the original sources.

The full list of references can be found at the end of the Repertory. All changes are annotated with the greatest care to facilitate verification. Thousands of references and synonyms have been added, especially where a change was made to well-known rubrics or remedies.

When it was not possible to indicate the change (e.g. because a mistake had to be deleted), the correction is mentioned in the "Index of important changes and corrections" which you will find at the end of this book.

Next (Steps in Creating - Part 3)
Back (Steps in Creating - Part 1)

MAIN SECTIONS:

Tour of Synthesis 9.1 for RADAR Software

Synthesis Overview | The Reason for Synthesis | The Creation Process
Synthesis the Book | Synthesis for RADAR Software | Invitation to Particpate

Software Home | Encyclopedia Homeopathica | RADAR
Synthesis | Veterinary Synthesis | Visionary Health Software

WHN Home | Homoeopathy Info | Homoeopathy Info PRO
Software | Books & Tapes | About WHN