Volume 108 Number 2
50 AJHM Summer 2015
Robert Goldman, MD
istics and Repertory, Kent´s repertory and others), rubric
analysis, case analysis and philosophy. Most courses are
led by Dr. Gypser and his assistants; however, over the
years guest-lecturers, including Prof. Ekkehard Fräntzki,
MD Heiner Frei, MD, Abdur Rehman, MD, Heinz Schott,
MD, PhD and others have also shared their knowledge and
experience. Occasionally, there are evening sessions for
colleagues to discuss cases and related topics. All teaching
events are acknowledged by the Chamber of Physicians.
Opus magnum – Revision of the
Homœopathic Materia Medica
A dozen homoeopaths were present at the inaugura-
tion in September 2004 to exchange ideas concerning the
situation of the homœopathic profession. All agreed that
the tools for a solid homœopathic practice needed to be
improved considerably. The standard works, the Ency-
clopaedia of Timothy Field Allen, published 1875-79 and
the Guiding Symptoms of Constantine Hering, published
1879-91, were over a hundred years old, were incomplete
even at the time of their publication and contained a num-
ber of mistakes that were transferred into the repertories.
We, as homœopathic practitioners, had at that point no
comprehensive and accurate collection of the homœopathic
sources, not even considering access to modern computer
programs. The material of two hundred years of provings
and clinical symptoms, dispersed mostly in periodicals,
had to be made available to the homœopathic community
for the sake of our patients.
In foresight Dr. Gypser had already laid the foundation
for this effort by publishing the “Bibliotheca homœopathi-
ca” with Jacques Baur, Georg von Keller and P W Thomas
in 1984. The book was compiled of 682 homœopathic
journals and arranged according to country, date and lo-
cation of publication, with a newly created abbreviation
index for bibliographical reference.
The next step was to install an alphabetical remedy in-
dex by going through the most valuable journals and sepa-
rating provings on the healthy, toxicological symptoms
(poisonings) and clinical symptoms from published cases
(including verifications of proving symptoms).
Consequently, it was necessary to create a computer pro-
gram to facilitate the logical arrangement of the symptoms
according to the head-to-toe-scheme. The emphasis was
on finding a certain symptom quickly so that it could be
compared easily with the patient´s symptoms. With the
symptoms in proper order, a study of the remedy is so much
more reliable than the compilations of secondary source
material we find on the market. In addition, any rubric in
the common repertories can be analyzed for its content by
looking up the symptom in the monographs.
In 2007, the first three volumes of the MMRH-Project
(Materia Medica Revisa Homoeopathiae) were published:
Introduction, Dulcamara and Rhododendron. With the
growing number of co-workers (about two dozen at this
time) 45 printed monographs followed under the super-
vision of the editor, Dr. Gypser. All authors contributed
their time and work on a voluntary basis. The publication,
including printing and copying, was generously supported
by colleagues, several foundations and homœopathic orga-
nizations. The 47 monographs from Agaricus to Zincum
contained more than 67,000 symptoms.
This material is now at our fingertips, independent of
any homœopathic school or tradition. We can now com-
pare the patient´s symptoms with the proving and clinical
symptoms of published cases of the past, study a remedy
thoroughly or analyze any repertory rubric for its content.
The more homœopathic practitioners support and pos-
sibly join this project—a wonderful opportunity to return
the benefits we received ourselves from the homœopathic
method—the sooner we will hold an accurate repertory in
our hands. With a reliable modern repertory we can expect
a considerable improvement of the therapeutic results fol-
lowing our prescriptions.
See also:
henning-gypser/
