Positive Health Online

When this book arrived on my desk my first impression was that it was big! 820 pages to be exact, I took a deep breath and weighed in. My initial trepidation was unfounded as the style is very friendly and easy to read; it is almost as if Colin Griffith is talking to you. It is obvious that he is a gifted teacher of the principles and practise of homeopathy.

The book is split into three parts. Part 1 – The Cinderella of Medicine takes you through the origins of homeopathy and its basic principles, and the homeopathic interpretation of disease via the action of the Vital Force. Part 2 – Maintaining Causes covers many modern day sources of toxicity and blocks to remedy action or cure. He describes how they influence a case and how to get around them. Part 3 – The Hierarchy of the Miasms is a thorough description of miasmatic influences and how they can affect the interpretation of a case and action of a remedy. He compares the relationships between the various miasms and how they relate to specific remedies from the materia medica. Throughout, Griffith uses many well placed references to history and literature; both characters and quotes that keep the reader's attention. One aspect of the book I particularly enjoyed was the use of many fascinating case studies to illustrate the processes discussed in the various chapters – a definite boon that brings the page to life for many students of homeopathy who are trying to get to grips with homeopathic philosophy by slogging through the dry, archaic language of Kent's Lectures on Homeopathic Philosophy.

If I have criticisms in any way, they are with regard to some of the medical rather than homeopathic content. There are several errors and assumptions that I would challenge. Examples would be referring to Mycobacterium leprae (causing leprosy) as a fungal infection when it is bacterial, describing how suppressed haemorrhoids cause hiatus hernia, peptic ulcer and IBS without supporting this with any evidence, other than saying that the anal and cardiac sphincters are the same type of structure, which is incorrect. Griffith also describes the brilliant self-healing powers of the body with regard to Crohn's disease and fistula development. Now, as a homeopath myself, I am well aware of the fantastic healing capacity of the body, but this example pushes it. He describes how a fistula will develop in a healthy region of gut away from the inflammation in order to create a channel to enable continued movement of gut contents, thus by-passing the inflamed region (again unsupported by references) so that the gut can function normally. If this were the point of fistulas with Crohn's, why do we nearly always see the fistula developing in the most inflamed regions of the gut and very often between the gut and other regions such as the bladder, vagina and body wall to the exterior – clearly these are not enabling the gut to carry on its normal function.

A book of this calibre targeting the professional audience should be well referenced and I was disappointed to see that there are none. It is obvious that a lot of research has gone into it. Each chapter has a series of notes given at the end of the book, but this is little compensation for those of us who would like to follow up on some of the statements made.

However, the above criticisms aside, I would strongly recommend this book to any professional homeopath – both students and those who have been in practice for years alike. It has something to offer all of us.