This book review is reprinted with the permission of the American Institute of Homeopathy
925 E. 17th Avenue
Denver, CO 80218

The Magical Staff: The Vitalist Tradition in Western Medicine
by Matthew Wood
209 pages
North Atlantic Books
Berkeley, California
Reviewed by George Guess, MD, DHt
A Scholarly and Pleasurable Historical Text

The Magical Staff details the lives and medical contributions of several of our most illustrious homeopaths - Samuel Hahnemann, James Tyler Kent, James Compton Burnett, Edward Bach, as well as other prominent figures of the Vitalist tradition - Paracelsus, Radmacher (alchemy), Samuel Thompson (herbalism), and the founders of the Eclectic tradition. The book is quite obviously a scholarly text, well written and well referenced, but it is also a lot of fun to read. I especially enjoyed reading of Kent, Burnett and Bach. Unknown to me, Burnett's contributions to and influence upon homeopathy were considerable, and I appreciate the opportunity Mr. Wood afforded me to acquaint myself with them.
I readily recommend The Magical Staff to anyone even remotely interested in the rich history of our homeopathic and vitalist predecessors.

JAIH December 1992, Vol. 85, No. 4