What Science And History May Owe To Homeopathic Medicine

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What Science And History May Owe To Homeopathic Medicine

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/91606.php

A new scholarly written book describes hundreds of well-known and

respected physicians, scientists, politicians, corporate leaders,

and literary greats who used or advocated for homeopathic medicine.

Eleven U.S. Presidents, seven popes, Sir Osler, J.D.

Rockefeller, Kettering, and C. Everett Koop are among those

famous people who were known to have benefited from homeopathy.

Perhaps most surprisingly is the evidence of Darwin's use of

homeopathic medicines and the significant results he received from

them.

In the new book, The Homeopathic Revolution: Why Famous People and

Cultural Heroes Choose Homeopathy (North Atlantic Books, 2007), Dana

Ullman presents strong evidence derived primarily from

Darwin's own letters about the treatment he received from a

homeopathic physician. Ullman suggests that Darwin would not

have lived long enough to have completed his seminal work, The

Origin of Species, in 1859 if he didn't get homeopathic treatment

ten years previously.

It is well known that Darwin became very ill during his trip to

South America in the late 1830s. His health continued to decline,

and he was so ill that he couldn't attend his own father's funeral

in 1848. He suffered from severe and constant nausea, heart

palpitations, widespread boils, and trembling for 12 years, and by

1849, he had suffered from fainting spells and spots before his eyes

for two years. According to Darwin's letters, he was not able to

work one day in every three.

Finally, in 1849, he sought the treatment from Dr. Manby

Gully, a homeopathic physician who owned a hydrotherapy spa.

Although Darwin was skeptical of homeopathy, he obediently took the

prescription of homeopathic medicines his doctor gave him, and

within a month, his health was considerably better. Darwin didn't

have nausea for a month, gained some weight, took a seven mile walk

(which he was previously unable to do), and then wrote to a

friend, " I am turning into a mere walking and eating machine. " After

just a month of treatment, he had to admit that Dr. Gully's

treatment was not quackery after all.

Ullman also has uncovered some of Darwin's own experiments using

extremely small " homeopathic " doses of various ammonia salts and

watched their significant effects on insect-eating plants (Drosera

rotundifolia). He was so shocked by his experiments that he had his

son replicate them, and ultimately, he felt embarrassed to have to

report on their surprising findings. Although Darwin provided

details about the exceedingly small doses he tested, he never used

the word " homeopathic " when referring to these experiments. He

wrote, " I am quite unhappy at the thought of having to publish such

a statement " about these results. An endorsement of homeopathy by

Darwin at that time might have led to great antagonism against his

new theories about life and evolution.

Many famous people benefited from Dr. Gully's care, including

Dickens (novelist and writer), Alfred, Lord Tennyson (poet),

Florence Nightingale (famed nurse), Eliot (British novelist),

Carlyle (ish essayist, satirist, and historian),

Bulwer-Lytton (British novelist, playwright, and politician),

Babington Macaulay (first Baron Macaulay, poet and politician), and

Bishop Wilberforce. Further, three prime ministers sought Dr.

Gully's care, including Gladstone, Disraeli, and

Hamilton-Gordon, as well as Queen herself. Hamilton-

Gordon described Dr. Gully as " the most gifted physician of the

age. "

According to Ullman's book, other leading physicians and scientists

who used and/or advocated for homeopathy, including Sir

Osler (the " father of modern medicine " ), Emil Adolph von Behring

(the " father of immunology " ), August Bier, MD (the " father of spinal

anesthesia " ), Harold Griffith, MD (founding president of the World

Federation of Societies of Anesthesiologists), Frederick

Menninger, MD (founder of the Menninger Clinic), and C. Everett

Koop, MD (former Surgeon General of the United States).

Besides physicians and scientists, this book uncovers biographical

information about many cultural heroes of the past 200 years,

including various literary greats ( Dickinson, Louisa May

Alcott, Washington Irving, Goethe, Bernard Shaw, Lord Alfred

Tennyson, Marquez), sports superstars ( Beckham

and a Navratilova), musicians (Beethoven, Chopin, Wagner, Tina

, Cher), politicians (11 U.S. presidents, Gandhi, Tony Blair),

clergy (seven popes and leading rabbis and Muslim clerics), and

corporate leaders (JD Rockefeller, Kettering).

Besides the personal stories from history and the present day, this

book also reviews modern high quality clinical research and

evaluates both positive and negative outcomes. Ultimately, the

preponderance of scientific and historical evidence shows how the

placebo effect is an inadequate explanation for the clinical results

from homeopathic treatment. Ullman also reviews recent basic science

evidence that provide new insights into how homeopathic nanodoses

may have biological activity.