This book review is reprinted from No. 94, Summer 2004 edition of The Homoeopath with permission from Nick Churchill of The Society of Homoeopaths.
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Homeopathy - How It Really Works
by Jay Shelton

Prometheus Books, New York, 2004
softback, pp320, ISBN 1-591 02-1 09-X

Reviewed by Elizabeth Bell

Jay Shelton, an American physicist, suggests in this book that it is the 'non-remedy' effects of homeopathy that cause the healing. In what reads as a well-researched text, he takes the 'interested reader' through fourteen chapters. He starts with an introduction to homeopathy (both classical and otherwise), after which he goes on to discuss various aspects of homeopathy, such as provings, remedy selection, potencies, administration of the remedy, and case management. He also examines homeopathic philosophy and 'theory', and goes so far as to question the reliability of the data supporting cured cases. In chapter eight 'Non remedy Healing Mechanisms' - he finally presents the main thesis of his work: patients get better, he tells us, not because of the remedy, but because of some or all of the following:

1. Unassisted natural healing.
2. The 'Spaghetti effect' - that is, a specific herb in the Bolognese sauce the patient ate caused the cure, but unfortunately the specific effect of this herb is not yet known to us.
3. Statistical healing or regression to the mean people generally seek help when at their worst; therefore, they are likely to get better anyway with time.
4. Non-homeopathic treatments - conventional or otherwise - may have been the cause.
5. Cessation of harmful treatments may have made the patient better.
6. Lifestyle changes - such as changes in diet, exercise, and sleep,
7. The placebo effect.
8. Psychological healing - "Spending an hour with someone who really cares about the patient, who wants to know all about the patient's innermost feelings, for whom no detail is too small, and who is completely non-judgemental will be cathartic and helpful for most patients..."

So there it is!

Unwisely, for a book which is described on the cover as a "balanced and in-depth assessment" the author includes, on page 226, a section on witchcraft, which reads as follows: "Some homeopaths do not even try to approach their field scientifically [my italics]. Homeopath Jorg Wichmann believes that homeopathy is in the 'hermetic' tradition, 'which puts homeopathy in the same line as shamanism and alchemy.. .so let's just say - Yes, homeopathy is as much witchcraft as you have ever suspected it to be.'" Note the lack of any authorial comment on Wichmann's words.

Throughout the text there is an uncomfortable conflict, derived from the fact that the author is submitting a holistic discipline or practice before the methodology of an atomistic science - of course it is hardly surprising that he finds inadequate proof. We know that the cause is lost from the very first page, for the author always speaks from the conventional paradigm, on behalf of what we might call the 'god of science'. Indeed, he frequently uses the terminology of theology, referring, for example, to the 'beliefs' of homeopaths; by emphasising beliefs, he is, intentionally or otherwise, implying that homeopathy is a bit like a religion. And by pitting the ideas of religion against the 'proofs' of science, he is effectively saying that homeopathy is invalid.

On page 37, he explores the vital force, describing it as "a controversial concept". But why should the idea of vitality be deemed controversial? Yes, it might be invisible and intangible, but without vitality, we would be dead. And, as Aristotle said, "a dead dog is not a dog".

Of course, it is difficult to accept concepts like the 'memory of water', or to comprehend how miniscule amounts of substances can be powerful forces of healing, but to present the argument for homeopathy with the aid of the strange, greying photographs that we are presented with in this book is hardly unbiased or scientific. In the end though, even Shelton has to admit that the way homeopathy works remains a mystery.