Calcium carbonicum and the concept of constitution in homœopathy^{[ * ]}

Summary

The idea of “constitution in homœopathy” is analysed first, on the example of Calcium carbonicum. It is noted that this concept consists of two parts, the general physical appearance and the temperament, and, later on, the manner in which the patient reacts to environmental influences, which is very much in line with Kent's general symptoms. It is ascertained with respect to Calcium carbonicum that the dull, obese individual does not represent the usual constitutional expression of the remedy so much as the plethoric, robust, intensely-reacting individual. Corpulence and dullness appear to be signs of illness, not the normal constitution. Then the difference is brought out between simple constitutional indications, which apply in each instance to many remedies, and which characterize a single remedy only in combination with several others; and precisely described, fully developed symptoms, each one of which suffices for diagnosing the particular remedy. To exemplify such a living symptom, a Calcium carbonicum syndrome is considered in detail, out of daily practice. It reads: Hunger; the patient eats more and more, until it is too late, since the painful full feeling or the feeling as if there were stones in the stomach does not come on immediately to warn the patient, but only a quarter of an hour after eating.

^* Lecture given at the State Assembly of Baden Württemberg's Program for Continuing Education, Nagold, 12 August 1978. Translated from the German by Peter Pendleton. Reprinted from Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy 74, 244 ff., with the kind permission of the Editor.