HOMOEOPATHIC SCHOOL OF NATURAL MEDICINE AND STUDYING NATURAL MEDICINE
Samuel Hahnemann, the brilliant exponent of the homoeopathic school of natural medicine, found yet another principle relating to herb usage. He discovered that by giving massive doses at varying strengths of a particular herb certain symptoms could be produced in healthy people, and he formed the theory that a person showing this same set of symptoms in illness might be cured by an infinitesimal dose of the same herb. Application of his discoveries has provided some astonishingly effective results in the field of natural medicine. This is an over-simplification of a very complex theory, and further reading on the subject can be very rewarding.
I do not think any of us can scoff at something that works, and works not only on humans but on animals as well, thus confounding those who cry “Faith Healing!” and “If you believe in something hard enough, you will be cured.” Homoeopathic doses of herbs are even being used to activate the compost heap. Work done in England recently has shown that a concentration of one in ten thousand parts of yarrow (Achillea millefolium) added to the compost heap is the most effective “dose”. I have proved this myself, and the short time taken to produce rich well-decomposed compost has been very valuable to me in my herb nursery, where all the plants are organically grown and natural compost is one of their chief foods.
In 1927, in Baker Street, London, a Mrs Leyel started up a small shop selling dried herbs and herbal preparations, known as the “Society of Herbalists”. Interest in the use of herbs grew to such an extent that in 1936 a new Society of Herbalists was formed by admirers of her work, by those who had benefited by using herbs, and those who wished to gain more knowledge to help in healing others. The hundreds of members became thousands, and Mrs Leyel wrote many books that have become reference works for those studying natural medicine.
Another herbalist with a world-wide reputation is Juliette de Bairacli Levy, an Israeli lady who has spent a large part of her life living amongst some of the primitive peoples in so-called “under-developed” countries, learning from them their herbal lore and usage. The American Indians, the natives of several South American countries, and the gipsies all over the world, have given her a wealth of information on how they manage to raise their families and their live-stock under extremely poor conditions. In many cases, their health and vigour, even in old age, should bring shame on our affluent, enlightened society, with its increasing toll from asthma and obesity and early coronaries. Two of her books are listed in the bibliography at the end of this book, and I can recommend them to those wishing to raise livestock by natural methods or to care for the health and well-being of the family without recourse to unnatural products.
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