Vol. 19 No. 5 November 1999

The Vermiculitum article in the June issue stirred quite a lot of interest, and I am glad there are more people who have discovered how valuable this remedy can be.

Ron Meek’s report on page 2 is a good example of the sort of success that may be achieved, plus it raises the question of another property Vermiculitum may have-can it help menopausal flushing? The article on using Staphisagria starting on page 3 is interesting because it shows the success of homœopathy in an easily conducted trial, one which could be repeated with close to the same procedures. A few trials like this run under the ægis of a university or major hospital would provide the doubting world with evidence of homœopathy’s efficacy . . . but would it take notice?A potentially more valuable homœopathic experiment is the trials run by Dr B. Geetha Singh, of Lucknow, testing how potentised substances might affect the growth of fungi that damage the leaves of plants. The moulds were grown on dishes of growth medium then dosed with four different remedies used in homœopathy for treating people, all in various potencies.

The tests showed that Fagopyrum was a very good fungicide, and higher potencies were better than lower ones. They also showed that medicines homœopaths claim to be effective for fungal infections like ringworm, athletes foot and thrush do in fact have an effect on fungi.

Benjamin Goldberg’s talk on the treatment of conditions especially affecting the elderly holds valuable tips. The second part of it will be in the next issue.

In the last issue a precise citation was not given for the article by Dr W. Lees Templeton; the reference is, British Homœopathic Journal October 1939. Also in the last issue was the story by a Dr Ainley about a child who drank from a teapot spout; I do not know who Ainley was, only that he flourished about a century ago. I confess the same ignorance about Dr Goulon who writes on page 23 of this issue.

Best wishes to you all for the holiday season. The next issue will appear in February.

Bruce Barwell