Invertebrates in Homoeopathy

Invertebrates in Homoeopathy by Dr. Ghanshyam Kalathia, English; pages 292

Understanding invertebrates from homoeopathic perspective is a cumbersome task due to two reasons: one, the vastness, variability and diversity of these creatures; and two, the paucity of literature available on them in the arena of homoeopathy. Though the idea of kingdom analysis and differentiation was originated by Boenninghausen, Roberts and Farrington, it has been successfully carried forward by doctors Rajan Sankaran, Jan Scholten, Nancy Herrick, Massimo Mangialavori, Jo Evans and Paul Theriault through their writings in books and articles and presentations in seminars.

The book Invertebrates in Homeopathy is a compilation of information about invertebrates from the internet, provings and clinical experiences. The book has 12 chapters, with the first chapter having general themes and concepts of invertebrate group. In the next each 11 chapters, the author has written about the general information on phylum, list of homoeopathic remedies prepared from that phylum, general theme of the phylum, Materia medica of the remedies and cases treated successfully with remedies from that phylum. This book contains description of 11 phyla and 50 remedies according to orders of phyla.

Dr Kalathia has attempted to delve deep into the world of invertebrates to incorporate the taxonomy and evolution of these creatures and tried to relate them with human development level. For example, Porifera, he says, needs total care and support like foetus in the womb while ctenophores and cnidarians are sensitive and reactive as if they have just emerged from the womb and need support like a baby.

The book takes us to the realm of invertebrates, the rather unexplored area, for which the author deserves appreciation. However, a few suggestions can be a value addition to the further editions of this book.

1. The information on Arachnida and Insecta is missing.

2. The author has followed the approach of ‘Doctrine of signature’, but nowhere in the book he has written this. The picture of proven remedies may be traced back from literature and brought to the knowledge of the reader.

3. The case presentations are missing at many places. More cases pertaining to each phylum may be presented in a formal way, highlighting the characteristics that can be used by readers in their practice.

4. The reference citations of proving of drugs pertaining to invertebrates, citing who has conducted the proving, with the number of provers, will make the work more authentic.

5. At the end, instead of ‘References’, Bibliography could have been a better term. References can be additionally given, citing the sources that he has referred to in the book chapters.

6. This book has no ISBN number.

7. A thorough language editing is needed.

The author has graciously acknowledged all the people whose work he has used for this compilation. He proposes to come up with new publications on Mammals and Birds in Homoeopathy. The efforts of Dr Kalathia deserve all admiration for the stimulus his book provides to the budding homoeopaths to inculcate the habit of reading and digging out the gems buried in the vast ocean of homoeopathic literature.