Table Of Contenty
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How It Really Works
Jay W. Shelton
Prometheus Books
59 John Glenn Drive
Amherst, New York 14228-2197
Published 2004 by Prometheus Books
Homeopathy: How It Really Works. Copyright © 2004 by Jay W. Shelton. All rights
reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, or conveyed via the Internet or a Web site without prior written
permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical arti-
cles and reviews.
Inquiries should be addressed to
Prometheus Books
59 John Glenn Drive
Amherst, New York 14228–2197
VOICE: 716–691–0133, ext. 207
FAX:716–564–2711
WWW.PROMETHEUSBOOKS.COM
08 07 06 05 04 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shelton, Jay, 1942–
Homeopathy : how it really works / by Jay W. Shelton.
p. ; cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 1–59102–109–X (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Homeopathy.
[DNLM: 1. Homeopathy—methods. 2. Holistic Health. 3. Materia Medica—
therapeutic use. WB 930 S545h 2003] I. Title.
RX71.S485 2003
615.5'32—dc21
2003010925
Printed in the United States on acid-free paper
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 7
INTRODUCTION 9
11. Introduction to Classical Homeopathy 13
12. Types of Homeopathy: Commonalities and Contradictions 43
13. Remedy Potency 57
14. Provings 73
15. Selecting the Remedy 105
16. Administering the Remedy 115
17. Following the Patient’s Progress 133
18. Nonremedy Healing Mechanisms 155
19. The Essentials of Good Theories 169
10. Cured Cases: Reliable Data? 187
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6 CONTENTS
11. Clinical Effectiveness Testing: The Bottom Line 197
12. Animals, Babies, Epidemics, and Vaccinations 217
13. The Homeopathic Fringe orthe Leading Edge? 225
14. The Mechanisms of Misperception 245
APPENDIXES
Appendix 1: Some Remedy Preparation Details 267
Appendix 2: Molecules Remaining in Dilute Remedies 271
Appendix 3: Water Clusters 275
Appendix 4: Purity and Contamination 279
Appendix 5: The Multitude of Procedures for
Selecting the Remedy 283
Appendix 6: Clinical Trial Replications 297
GLOSSARY 303
INDEX 315
Acknowledgments
I
am grateful to the following people for useful feedback on all or parts
of the manuscript: Iris Bell, Ph.D., M.D.; Anthony Campbell, M.D.;
Julian Winston; David Riley, M.D.; Nancy Nylander; John Shelton, Ph.D.;
Heidi Lynch; Don Feinberg, M.D.; Sharon Angert; Reed Jackson; Jeremy
Bradford; Anita Herron; David Kern; Ryan Leary; and Ann Dasburg. I am
especially indebted to Jim Klemmer, whose patient perseverance in trying
to help me understand the homeopathic perspective enabled us to have
stimulating and productive dialogue despite differing perspectives. I
acknowledge the help of all these people, and none bears responsibility for
any errors in this book. And, finally, I thank my wife, Katherine, for making
the whole project possible.
7
Introduction
H
omeopathy is an approach to health care based primarily on the
concept that a patient can be cured by properly prepared minute
doses of a substance which, when given to healthy people, induces the
patient’s symptoms. This book is a study of homeopathy, not a self-help
guide for using homeopathy. It is primarily an application of critical
thinking and the methods of science to homeopathy.
Homeopathy was developed about two hundred years ago by a German
physician, Samuel Hahnemann (1755–1843), at a time when there was
great dissatisfaction with conventional health care. Medical practice was
not very effective, and many treatments, such as blood-letting, were detri-
mental to health. After about a century of strong growth, homeopathy
entered a deep decline in the United States that was roughly coincident with
the rise of science and the understanding of the biological causes of many
common diseases and ailments.
Over the last few decades, the popularity of homeopathy has increased
dramatically, both in the United States and worldwide. Annual U.S. sales of
remedies increased by 500 percent between 1987 and 1999, and worldwide
sales in 1999 were about $1.5 billion.1
Homeopathic care can be provided by professional homeopaths, or
9
10 INTRODUCTION
patients can self-prescribe. The self-prescriber market, for remedies one
can buy at grocery and drug stores without a prescription, is much larger
than the prescription market. Most of the remedies are in the form of tiny,
round sugar pills with names that reveal the condition to be treated:
“Sinus,” “Alertness,” or “Constipation.” Another class of homeopathic
remedies has names like “Sabina 30C,” “Hep. sulph. calc. 30C,” and
“Arnica montana 6X.” To know which remedy is needed for which condi-
tion requires some homework, and dozens of books are designed to help the
caregiver understand homeopathy and select the right remedy.
Homeopathy is hard to define. There is substantial dissension within
homeopathy over what “authentic” homeopathy is and over which prac-
tices have been “verified.” This book deals primarily with what has come
to be called classical homeopathybut includes examples and discussion of
what some would call the creative and forward-looking part of the field,
and others would call the wandering and perhaps lost fringe.
Some homeopaths are overtly proud of how unscientific homeopathy
is; they see it as an art, an intuitive healing system which they believe sci-
ence will never explain. Classical homeopaths, however, see the field as
solidly grounded in science. They chide the New Agers for not following
“proven scientific methods.” And therein lies a major disconnect; a close
look reveals substantial discrepancies between classical homeopaths’and
scientists’view of what science is.
How can there be such a wide range of views within homeopathy on its
scientific aspects? Some self-declared homeopaths have essentially no
formal education in science, while a few are M.D.s or Ph.D.s. Some have
formal education in homeopathy and some have none. There are no gener-
ally accepted training, degree, or certification requirements for home-
opaths. Thus the term “homeopath” as commonly used is ill-defined.
Today’s resurgence in interest is again caused in part by dissatisfaction
with conventional medical care. Many treatments are seen as invasive and
uncomfortable, and the whole system can be impersonal. The shift toward
homeopathy is coincident with growing public mistrust of and distaste for
conventional medicine as well as for science generally. Homeopathy is per-
ceived as natural, effective, safe, and free of side effects, and its delivery
by professional homeopaths is viewed as gentle, caring, and patient. What
more could one ask? We want it to be true.
But is it true? Homeopathy is still looking for a plausible mechanism
that explains how homeopathic remedies should work, particularly the
many very dilute remedies with none of the original medicinal molecules
