Miasms and Social Change

Summary

While the miasms have frequently been studied from the clinical perspective, little has been done about identifying their origins. However, if social factors are included among the possible environmental causes of illness, a significant pattern emerges. Study of historical, biological, anthropological and palaeopathological information reveals a number of points. There is a temporal and geographical correlation between the earliest appearances of the miasmatic diseases and the emergence of class societies. The different impact of colonisation on the health of Europeans and indigenous peoples appears contradictory until social relations are taken into account. Surveys of modern European society indicate a direct relationship between higher social status and lower mortality rates even when living standards are high. The indigenous classless societies of both North America and Australia appear to have divided illnesses into those arising from accidents or poisoning and those arising from social factors. Study of the mental aspects of the miasms is also revealing in this context. The symptoms of psora show a strong relationship to the circumstances of developing social divisions and unequal distribution of resources. The symptoms of tuberculosis (and leprosy) and syphilis show a similar relationship to the circumstances of social tension and collapse. In conclusion, it would appear that the miasms may well have their origin in the development of the first class societies, suggesting that a prerequisite of their permanent cure is the restoration of egalitarian social organisation.

Miasms - Class - Status - Disease - Colonisation - History

References

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1 Wilson 1994 p. 275.

2 See Marx 1981 pp. 61 – 74.

3 Hahnemann 1995 pp. 9 and 87 ff.

4 Hahnemann 1995 pp. 9 and 83 ff.

5 Hahnemann 1995 p. 7; Hahnemann 1996 §§ 80 f. pp. 167 – 70.

6 Allen 1998 p. 69; Close 1995 (pp. 103 – 4) considered tuberculosis to be psora and to have much in common with leprosy, which Hahnemann considered to be psora (Hahnemann 1995 p. 10).

7 Manchester 1991 pp. 163 – 4.

8 Manchester 1991 p. 164.

9 Manchester 1991 pp. 164 – 6.

10 Manchester 1991 p. 168.

11 Quoted in Friedman 1947 p. 377.

12 Quoted in Friedman 1947 p. 377.

13 Quoted in Friedman 1947 p. 377.

14 Friedman 1947 p. 52.

15 Quétel 1992 p. 41.

16 Quétel 1992 pp. 40 – 2.

17 McNeill 1979 p. 166.

18 Berkow 1997 p. 878.

19 Quétel 1992 p. 34.

20 Ross 1996 p. 240.

21 Ross 1996 p. 240.

22 Ross 1996 p. 240.

23 Ackerknecht pp. 3 – 4.

24 Manchester 1991 pp. 164 – 5.

25 Manchester 1991 p. 164.

26 Karlen 2001 p. 42.

27 Karlen 2001 p. 35.

28 Friedman 1947 p. 377.

29 Verano c. 1992 p. 41.

30 Karlen 2001 p. 43.

31 Proust 1994 p. 1.

32 Bagley 2004 pp. 15 – 16.

33 Proust 1994 p. 1; Proust 2003 p. 1; Ackerknecht p. 11.

34 Ackerknecht p. 11; Proust 2003 pp. 1 – 2; Bagley 2004 p. 15; see also Lewis 1990 and Cawte 1966.

35 Quétel 1992 p. 35.

36 Verano c. 1992 p. 41.

37 Bagley 2004 p. 16.

38 Verano c. 1992 p. 41.

39 Lewis 1990 pp. 1 – 2.

40 Bagley 2004 p. 18.

41 Proust 1994 pp. 1 – 2.

42 Proust 1994 p. 2. Note that they “cohabited” as opposed to “married”.

43 Coolican 1973 p. 73.

44 Bynum 1994 p. 75; Friedman 1947 p. 11.

45 Evans 1994 p. 5 (author's emphasis).

46 Evans 1994 p. 7 (author's emphasis).

47 Friedman 1947 chapter VI.

48 Harman 1999 p. 3.

49 Harman 1999 p. 8.

50 Harman 1999 p. 2.

51 Harman 1999 pp. 24 f.

52 Harman 1999 pp. 33 f.

53 Harman 1999 pp. 29 – 31.

54 Harman 1999 p. 23.

55 Hahnemann 1995 p. 7.

56 Hahnemann 1996 § 78 p. 166.

57 Kent 1993 p. 146.

58 Kent 1993 pp. 136, 140 & 150.

59 Hahnemann 1995 pp. 8 ff.

60 Roberts 1995 pp. 281 – 2; Creasey, 10/11/2002, lecture at the London School of Classical Homoeopathy.

61 Kent 1993 pp. 140 – 151.

62 Burnett 2001 passim.

63 Hahnemann 1995 pp. 7 – 141.

64 Wulff 1986 p. 10.

65 Agrawal 1995 pp. 32 & 40; Choudhury 2003 pp. 50 & 98; Speight pp. 2 – 9.

66 Sankaran 1999 p. 70.

67 Sankaran 1999 pp. 27 – 8.

68 Sankaran 1999 p. 70.

69 Agrawal 1995 pp. 11 – 12; Choudhury pp. 18 & 31; Speight pp. 2 – 9.

70 Agrawal 1995 p. 12.

71 Sankaran 1999 pp. 26 – 7.

72 Boericke 2000 p. 620.

73 Roberts 1995 p. 191.

74 Allen 1998 pt. 1 pp. 9 – 73.

75 Bynum 1994 p. 226 (author's emphasis).