COMMENT BY PAUL BOOYSE:
A powerful statement by Hahnemann. Know that concerning what we can hope to cure, there is no hidden illness. The inner state will reveal itself by means of "morbid symptoms and signs" to the "accurately observing physician".. So we don't need fancy theories, as the allopaths of his time were inclined to concoct. Just observe correctly and the state will be clear.

Now already in Aphorism 3, Hahnemann states that we should know what it is that needs to be cured in disease. So the observation we make of the morbid symptoms should in totality give us this understanding of the case. For this reason we will place more emphasis on certain signs and symptoms than others, but this evaluation should be done after we have observed the total expression.

Because this expression of signs and symptoms is the inner state speaking, it is important to really listen to the patient, as sometimes we can pick up a lot by the choice of words. We can definitely pick up a lot by the emotional way in which something is said or reflected upon. The body language and underlying tone can help a lot to evaluate what is revealed, because compensation can mask the true state.

So for example a patient may seem smooth and confident, with no hint of nervousness in a challenging situation. If we perceive deep enough we may see that it is just a cover, a bluff, that in fact the confidence is actually over-confidence. At some stage we may see a little crack in the armor when the patient is caught unawares. In this instance we could see that the person actually lacks confidence, and is actually hiding this aspect. Such a state exists in Lycopodium, and Lycopodium will go a long way towards restoring confidence in this "seemingly confident" individual.. So when Hahnemann says "the inner state will reveal itself" , we must remember that he stipulates "to the accurately observing physician".

Then we must also remember other references where he implores us to be "unprejudiced observers". So we must not assume that a person displaying confidence is actually compensating. We must explore the case until we are absolutely sure. At that point, the inner state will have revealed itself. Until then we will only be seeing glimpses, snippets and often perhaps delusions of the true state.

COMMENT BY EILEEN:
Coming from an Emergency Medical Technician angle, I want to pick up on what Paul said about "signs and symptoms." They are very different from one another--one more medical; the other far more biased. SIGN is a condition displayed by the paient that you observe, such as bleed, a bruise, swelling of tissue, etc. SYMPTOM is a condition that the patient tells you about, such as "I feel dizzy," or "I'm bloated in the abdomen" or "I'm just really feeling tired." From a strictly medical standpoint, the one most prized is the SIGNS that you, as the homeopath observe in the patient.

Hahneman was a doctor. And unfortunately, a lot of homeopaths nowadays aren't and they don't know how to take a pulse, listen to heart/lung sounds with a stethoscope, palpate an abdomen, take a blood pressure reading. All of these are primary tools of building nonprejudicial look at the patient, too. Yet, they are mostl ignored by most homeopaths who are not MD's. What a shame. We can tell so much from a pulse (bounding, rapid, weak, etc.), and blood pressure is indispensible. Just looking at the patient's skin, counting his respirations per minute (normal for an adult is 12 to 20 breaths a minute), and putting this picture together. Just looking at the patient's eyes to see if the pupils are dilated or constricted, equal or unequal, tells us so much. Yet, how many of us know to do these things.

The EMT's are far more homeopathic than they realize and we can use one of their tools, which is already one of ours as homeopaths. It is called the "six pain questions" and looks like this: OPQRST. O stands for Onset of the pain. P stands for Provoked--what makes the pain occur? What happened? What makes it better? Worse? Q stands for quality of pain. Is it sharp? Knifelike? Throbbing? Dull? Aching? R stands for Radiation or where does the pain start and where does it go (extend) to? S stands for the severity of the pain. How intense is it? Does it come and go? On a scale of 1 (being no pain) and 10 (being worst pain), where are we with the pain? T stands for Time. When does the pain occur? How long does it last? Is there a specific time it occurs?

So you see, we have wonderful bridge connectors between our cousins, the allopaths and ourselves. This handy little did-you-know transcends both medicines and can be used by both camps handily. Again, observation is about asking the right questions to get the answers you seek in order to understand the patient, the SIGNS you see and their SYMPTOMS that they are sharing with you. All of it is like puzzles pieces and once you put them together through non-prejudicial observation, you will get a picture of the patient and that is what you're seeking. It's all there--we just have to open eyes to see with and open our ears to listen with. Plus, roll up our sleeves, pull out our blood pressure cuff and stethoscope and do some hands on palpation and listening. It can only serve our patient and her/his health even more.

These small observations are the cornerstone of our trade, too. If you don't believe it, just go look in our repertories under PULSE, Skin discoloration, eyes, etc. Its important that you get training to cover this area of being a homeopath, too. Without it, you are cheating your patient and you're missing signs that can help build a picture that will lead you to the correct remedy.

COMMENTS BY GABY ROTTLER:
I find it interesting that Hahnemann writes: What is CURABLE is reflected by morbid signs and symptoms - if we are able to perceive them. He did not say: what is MORBID is reflected by signs of disease and symptoms. An interesting difference, I believe. So , if we get a chance to really see all the symptoms and characteristic signs (symptoms of the indívidual as well as signs of the disease) we can get hold of that red thread that leads us directly to the 'curable'.

On the other hand we can come now to the conclusion that there may be incurable conditions. Can that be? Yes, when there are no signs, no symptoms. Is that possible? It may be. But that does depend of the ability of the homoeopath, too, if he is able to see the symptoms. And there may be one-sided diseases (Aph. 172...) that present only few symptoms.

Like Eileen I strongly recommend a thorough physical examination, because these are objective signs that are necessary : pulse, respiration, turgor , ...How do the hands feel to your touch (perhaps the patient has the feeling they are warm, but when you touch them they are really cold - that can be a strong hint to a certain remedy), how does he smell...and so on. These are some pieces of the puzzle that should not be neglected.

Best wishes,
Gaby