posted September 2, 2024
In this post we will share:
The fascinating story of Dr. Constantine Hering (1800-1880) a pioneering spirit who played a vital role in establishing homeopathy as a force in the US.
How Dr. Hering was converted to homeopathy, the daring story of how the bushmaster snake, Lachesis was caught, how he prepared a homeopathic remedy from its poison and then tested it on himself.
How Lachesis is connected to the Greek mythology of the three fates and the god of medicine, Asklepios.
The healing power of Lachesis in homeopathic form. Clinical Employment of Lachesis
Soon after graduating medical college, Hering, was hired to write an article that would expose homeopathy as a fiction, and Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy as a charlatan.
Hering immersed himself in Hahnemann’s published works, to better understand Hahnemann’s hypothesis and expose its flaws. His perfectionist nature and mathematical mind made it necessary not only to subject homeopathy to theoretical analysis, but also to put it to the test by practical investigation.
He reasoned that his starting point had to be the Cinchona (quinine) experiment, which had opened Hahnemann’s eyes to the Law of Similars.
SIDENOTE on Cinchona (quinine) experiment
Growing increasingly disillusioned with medical practices of his time, Samuel Hahnemann (1755 – 1843) stopped practicing medicine and began translating foreign medical texts into German.
While translating Gullen’s works he questioned that the decoction made from the bark of the Cinchona tree (source of Quinine) cures malaria because of its astringent qualities and started to test it on himself. After taking couple of doses he started experience symptoms similar to malaria.
Hering approached an apothecary acquaintance for a supply of the drug and when asked for what purpose he required it, Hering replied: “For the purpose of proving it, in order to more thoroughly attack the new folly (homeopathy).” The apothecary raised an eyebrow and knowingly commented, while handing Hering the preparation, “Let it alone Hering; you are stepping on dangerous ground.”
Conversion
As far as Hering’s allopathic convictions were concerned, these words proved to be true. His findings with cinchona reduplicated Hahnemann’s original observations. He went further, doing more extensive provings and testing the results clinically. The results left him with no doubt about the truth of Hahnemann’s teachings.
As if to drive home this conclusion, very soon afterwards he developed a dissecting-wound of the hand – a condition that was much feared in those days, long before the advent of antibiotics. The associated infection could become so severe that only amputation would save the surgeon’s life.
He was at first treated by his allopathic teachers, but when the wound steadily deteriorated, one of his fellow students, who had studied with Hahnemann, sought advise on Hering’s behalf, and the recommended [homeopathic] remedy (Arsenicum album) promptly did the trick. With this final proof, Hering’s conversion to homeopathic science was complete.
Surinam
Dr. Hering’s first professional post was as a science instructor and house physician to the Blochmann Educational Institute, which, with the backing of the Saxon Government, sent him and the scientific researcher, Weinhold, to Surinam (Dutch Guiana) on a botanical and zoological expedition.
His wife accompanied him. He was to spend more than five years there (1827-1833). One of his major tasks was the collecting of plant and animal species for classification. The rich biodiversity of the fauna and flora of the Upper Amazon region provided a wealth of research material. His stay in South America was to prove of incalculable value to homeopathy, because, at this early point in its history, Hering discovered a remarkable remedy that would become of pivotal importance in the treatment of a wide range of ailments, both emotional and physical.
Lachesis
Soon after Hering arrived, he heard of the reputation of the dreaded Surukuku – a huge snake, which lurked in the depths of the equatorial forest.
The local inhabitants were terrified of it and told many lurid tales of its vicious, aggressive nature, its ambushing skills and its deadly poison.
Upon hearing these exaggerated and questionable stories, Hering’s interest was fired up. The fact that the snake possessed a rich folklore and elicited such reverential terror gave him a hint of its importance. He offered a handsome reward to anyone who would bring him a live specimen.
The reward provided the necessary lure and some time later… one was brought to him in a bamboo box, and those who brought it immediately fled, and all his native servants with them.
Hering stunned the snake with a blow to the head as the box opened, then, holding its head in a forked stick, he pressed its venom out of the poison bag upon sugar of mi!k.
To ensure that he would capture the full medicinal power of the venom, Hering immediately set to work on preparing the lower attenuations (potencies) of the remedy. This he did by means of triturating the venom saturated sugar of milk with a mortar and pestle for an hour.
It was inevitable that during this lengthy procedure, Hering was continuously inhaling emanations from the highly toxic venom. The consequences were dramatic.
The effect of handling the virus (venom) … was to throw Hering into a fever with tossing delirium and mania – much to his wife’s dismay. Towards morning he slept, and on waking his mind was clear. He drank a little water to moisten his throat, and the first question this invincible prover asked was: ‘What did I do and say?’ His wife remembered vividly enough.
They carefully documented the details of their experience and these provided the introduction to the proving of Lachesis Muta – the Brazilian pit viper or bushmaster.
Lachesis
When Hering seized the snake by the neck, milked its venom and captured its essence through potentization, he materialized an ancient, primordial energy of immense, yet subtle power.
From time most ancient, the snake has been regarded with awe, reverence, fascination and horror – a universal symbol of extreme ambiguity – the duality of the divine and the diabolical.
Above all, the snake was, and remains, a magical and religious embodiment of the primeval, autonomous life-force, which permeates all existence and consciousness, and taken to its highest form where the snake swallows its own tail, it symbolizes eternal renewal and divine self sufficiency.
To Jung it was a dramatic metaphor for the realization and assimilation of our “shadow self”, the incorporation of our undeveloped or rejected aspects, which is essential to our spiritual evolution.
The ancient Greeks intuitively recognised the healing power of the snake and hence the symbol of Asklepios, the God of Medicine, became a staff round which a snake coiled – the serpent of life and death, mortality and immortality, wreathed around the tree of life.
While all snakes exemplify to a varying degree these dark and mysterious aspects, none is more archetypal of all that a snake embodies than the magnificent Surukuku -not even the cobra! Why should this be?
Of all the pit vipers, she is the only one that is oviparous – she lays eggs; all the others are ovoviviparous and bear live young. She is the progenitor, the source, the essence, the matriarch and the jungle is her shrine. She epitomizes all that the snake represents in our myths, legends, beliefs and superstitions, and all that is visualized in our dreams, our delusions and our fears; her venom is charged with all that is both sacred and worldly within the human psyche!
The Swedish botanist Linnaeus, called the Surukuku, Lachesis, after one of the three fates of Greek mythology. Collectively, they were known as the Moira and were understood to have a defining influence upon the course of a person’s life. They were, therefore, held in great awe and respect.
Lachesis is pre-eminent amongst the Moira. It is she who assigns the lot and thus determines a person’s destiny; it is Clotho who spins the thread of life and it is Atropos who cannot be stayed, who finally severs it.
Once again, we are persuaded of this snake’s fundamental importance in the treatment of the distressed and tormented psyche seemingly subject to an uncertain destiny, externally at the mercy of unseen, relentless, arbitrary forces, internally pushed and pulled by conflicting impulses and urges – the turbulent passions of the mind, body and soul.
Into this maelstrom, when indicated by the nature of the contention, Lachesis can bring harmony and promote the sublimation of ungoverned passion towards serenity and bliss.
Lachesis represents the primordial serpent force of the instinctive, primitive, animal will within all of us, which it is our destiny to wrestle with through many incarnations, until through transcendence we, like the snake shedding its skin, cast off the layers of ego-self which veil the true-self and emerge as the resplendent beings we really are.
The rest of the Hering/Lachesis story is provided by Catherine Coulter in an essay contained in her exceptional set of books, Portraits of Homceopathic Remedies, in which she presents comprehensive, psychological studies of many of the major homeopathic archetypes, including Lachesis. In a footnote she informs us that: The seven-foot snake is now preserved in the Philadelphia Academy of natural Sciences, entered in the ledger as item #7039 and listed as Lachesis muta, collected in Surinam by Dr Hering.
In 1833, Hering returned to Saxony for a short stay, before leaving once more for America. Having German friends in Philadelphia, he made this his first destination and it proved a permanent one. He soon became involved in homeopathic education there and this lead in 1848 to the founding of the Homeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania, which became the foremost teaching institute for homeopathy in the world.
A study of Lachesis
here are three clinical cases from the article Study of Lachesis
Clinical Employment of Lachesis
Since we have a day available for dealing with the pharmacological status of Lachesis, I will perhaps be permitted to contribute only a few basic principles on clinical employment of Lachesis:
- Blood clotting and vascular lesion.
- Circulatory disorders, in particular in connection with menstruation.
- Sleep and dream.
Case 1: Blood clotting and vascular lesion
On 26th May 1972, Mrs. I. Sch., born on 21st September 1939, came for a consultation. She reported that she had observed for over a year hemorrhages on pressure sores of the body after gymnastics or after a hot bath. She had been sent by her family physician initially to a nearby clinic and then later to a renowned university hospital for determination of the blood clotting. She was initially observed and treated there on an outpatient and later on an inpatient basis. The diagnosis caused great difficulties. Vasculitis on a toxic-allergic or hypergic basis was mentioned. Accordingly, she was treated with cortisone and when this brought no improvement she had been later treated with it in combination with immunosuppressive medicaments. Unfortunately, no success was achieved.
The cause of the condition in this 33-year old woman with two children who worked in the family dairy could probably be found in the use of numerous sleeping tablets, analgesic tablets and oral contraceptives. She herself assumed that the death of her father (in 1971 from a heart attack followed by the death of her mother in 1972 out of grief at her husband’s death) had provoked or aggravated the illness.
The homoeopathic symptoms spoke clearly in favour of Lachesis. Permit me for the sake of brevity to omit these symptoms. She received Lachesis 12 LM, 5 drops every evening.
When she returned on 26th June 1972, approximately 4 weeks later, she stated that the entire thrombopenic purpura had disappeared. The patient was quite astonished at this, as was her family physician, who in the mean time has resorted to homoeopathy. The disturbance has made no subsequent appearance. The post-observation has lasted for over two years.
It should also be reported that during the illness, the menstrual period became weaker and weaker. The libido decreased more and more and finally disappeared. Around two months after administration of Lachesis, the menstrual period again set in strongly. The libido became quite normal. The existing sleep disturbance gradually disappeared. Likewise, a chronically recurring pyelitis with lumbago and urinary bladder deficiency improved almost completely.
Her migraine has not improved. It existed prior to the illness and continued afterwards. One and a half years after the Lachesis treatment, the findings were clinically checked. The severe diminution of the capillary resistance was still present to only a minor degree, plasmatic coagulation had become normal (the diminuation of factors II, V and VII had disappeared). Prior to the treatment, the thrombocyteric phase had been normal, afterwards there was a marked deficiency of blood-platelet (thrombocyte) factor 1, 3, 7 and 9. Lachesis had thus decisively improved the vascular factors and the plasmatic phase and aggravated the thrombocyteric phase.
Case 2: Circulatory disorders in particular in connection with the menstrual cycle
Mrs. M.W., born on 20th August 1940, schoolteacher, married, 2 children, came for a consultation on 9th November 1971. She reported heart complaints which had first occurred with puberty and had increased after the second pregnancy. The heart complaints were connected with the time of the menstruation. She described the heart complaints to the effect that the heart was being churned up. It stopped and then heavy beats came. The whole thing lasted half a minute but was accompanied by indescribable anxiety.
Objectively, blood pressure of 114/80 was present, signs of vegetative lability were revealed by the ECG. All of the blood findings were nonpathologic. First of all, a toxicosis due to foci was eliminated. This achieved such an improvement that it was not necessary to employ the Lachesis which had been planned. She continued to come back for consultation but did not receive Lachesis until the end of 1973.
This was occasioned by a severe agitation before the period accompanied by troubled sleep. She flew rapidly into an explosive condition under which her husband and children had to suffer. She felt best on the 1st day after her period. This was true both for her mood and her performance. Following the period, her sleep was good for 14 days and then it became increasingly poor and was at its worst immediately before the period.
She received Lachesis 6 LM to be taken in 5-drop doses in the evening on the last three days before the expected period. She noticed the penetrating effect of these drops upon the first administration. She then took Lachesis for a quarter of a year before each period. She has now been completely relieved from this disturbance. This was a great help for this woman who had a great amount of work to do in the school and for her family. She suffered no decrease in libido as is the case with many women who have an aversion to coitus despite strong sexual desire, which particularly during menstruation becomes unpleasantly evident.
Case 3: Sleep and dream
15 years ago, a 50 year old widow appeared for consultation because of various complaints. When she had gained some confidence, a painful experience finally came to the fore. During the last war, her husband, a government official, had been denounced as a Nazi opponent and thereupon called into military service. He did not return from the Russian campaign. On the other hand, the denunciators continue to live in good health in the immediate neighborhood of the widow. She is deeply embittered by this fact. A mania, combined from distrust and suspicion, has developed.
Physically, she complained of cardiac pains, intestinal cramps, constipation and above all of stubborn sleep disturbances. She constantly has the same dream. She is in a butcher shop, as was the case when she was young. She must chop meat. The meat is somehow or other identical with her husband. During the dream, her husband appears and then leaves her. The dream was so constant that on the basis of this symptom I gave her Lachesis which is indicated for such dreams.
Lachesis 6 LM, taken 5 drops every evening for a month, permanently released the patient from her dream, made her more relaxed in her mental situation and eliminated most of the physical complaints. Characteristic for the Lachesis type in addition to the dream was remaining in the presence of negative sensations without moving away — which should have been the evident solution — the aggravation through the sleep with the dream and the awakening in the characteristic mood for Lachesis.
Credits
Text excerpts in this article: from the book Healing the Soul by Dr. David Lilley
Photo: Maroon village, Suriname River, 1955 by John Hill – originally from en.wikipedia; description page is/was here (I inherited this photo from my father, Ted Hill, who took it in 1955.)
Photo: Snake eating its tale by medievaloccultcraft.com
Image: The three Moirai, by Johann Gottfried Schadow (Old National Gallery, Berlin)
Photo: Homeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania presented by Sylvain Cazalet
Dugouts (canoes) at the Suriname River.
A study of Lachesis section from Homeopathy 360
Photo: Arsenic poisoning and Mees lines. (Courtesy of R. Pascuzzi, MD, Indianapolis, IN.)
Article: Arsenic in the 1800s: A Dangerous Poison
The Healing Power of Homeopathy is the online course based on the teachings of Dr. David Lilley who states that “healing the body, in its entirety, necessitates healing the soul.” LEARN MORE…
