Author: Dr Nagendra Babu
ISBN: 978-81-319-07672
Publisher: ‘B Jain Publishers Pvt. Ltd.’
Book Reviewed by Dr J. Rozencwajg
This book could appear to be yet another commented edition of the Organon. It is far more than that. Its subtitle is very clear: “An attempt to understand the Organon of Medicine as a Scientific Treatise”. If you do not feel like reading this whole short review, you can stop after this sentence: that attempt is fully successful!
After a relatively short introductory part reviewing the history of homoeopathy, the life of Hahnemann and the creation of the multiple editions of the Organon, Dr Babu regroup the Aphorisms into basic knowledge (Knowledge of the Physician), understanding of the diseases (Knowledge of Disease), of medicine (Knowledge of Medicine), of the different clinical approaches (Different Therapeutic Methods), Nature’s Law, Actions of Medicine, Classification of Diseases; then goes on with the theory of chronic diseases and miasms, the clinical approach and the drug provings. He then goes more into detail about the remedies, difficult cases, dosage, etc. The book ends with the biography of major homeopaths, the history of homeopathy in India and curiously placed at the end of the book, a comment on the “Introduction to the Sixth edition of the Organon”.
The originality of this work is that it does not simply group Aphorisms in specific categories with a comment, but explains them based on their interpretation and practical use made by homoeopaths we consider as our mentors: Kent, Tyler, Roberts, Close, Allen, Nash, Clarke, Boericke, Boenninghausen, Hering and many others. The quotes are so extensive that it seems to me I have read the most important paragraphs of those authors while reading this book; they are completely focused on the part dealt with. At the end of a chapter, the reader has a very wide and deep view of that group of Aphorisms and a better understanding. It would have taken a long time and a lot of effort to go through the different authors and selecting their understanding of each group of Aphorism, and that is what the author has achieved, giving us a “concentrate of comments and uses of the Organon”. Magnificent! Only so-called “classical” authors have been included; there are no references to more “modern” theories and practices that have flourished recently, just time-honoured practitioners whose results speak for themselves. Indeed the creators of modern methods have always written and insisted that we need to understand and be fluent with all the basics, with the roots of the profession; only then can we adapt and evolve, if we wish to do so. Dr Babu’s book gives us an opportunity to do so; it would be foolish to neglect it.
The only drawback is the lack of proofreading. Spelling errors are frequent, especially in foreign languages: born in Missen instead of Meissen, Helikunst instead of Heilkunst; incomplete sentences, some of them not understandable at all. It does not remove any validity from what is written, but a book of that calibre that deserves to be widely read by each and every practicing homoeopath and student worldwide also deserves to be written in a grammatically and scholarly correct manner. I can only hope that this will be taken into account before the next batch of books is printed.
Dr Mrs. Meena Shumbha AHMC, Dept. of Organon, Nagpur says, “For someone who has studied endless different books about this subjects, I strongly feel *Comprehensive Study of Organon by Dr Nagendra Babu* is very vast and unique in terms of uncommon and unconventional topics like Zufalle and Erscheinungen, moral remedies, happy go lucky operations. These topics are not covered by most of the books. The language is also simple and easy to understand. Life history and contribution by many pioneers of Homeopathy is covered in this book. Maximum syllabus is covered here.”
