This book review is reprinted with the permission from the Summer 2009 Edition of The Homeopath.
The Society of Homeopaths
www.homeopathy-soh.org
Homeopathy: Medicine for the New Millennium
By George Vithoulkas
2008, 27th edition, International Academy Classical Homeopathy, Alonissos Greece, 234 pgs, paperback
ISBN 0722509898
Reviewed by Mo Morrish
This is a re-invigoration of a work that was originally published in 1970 as Homeopathy - Medicine of the New Man a title that may have linked it overmuch to the 'New Age' movement. This slight modification seems more appropriate for the times.
I like it that Vithoulkas uses the word 'medicine', I like it that he has written this introduction to homeopathy for the general public and that his works have been translated into twenty five different languages. Outside of our homeopathic community most of the rest of the world still has no idea what homeopathy is or what it can achieve. Vithoulkas continues to spread the word.
The first chapters are much as before in terms of content, and are well written and succinct. He then presents a new selection of cured cases, many of which were recorded on video and are 'available to any medical authority that might be interested'. In a new epilogue to this chapter he writes that in forty years of practice he has seen more than 150,000 cases, most of which, he asserts, have benefited from homeopathic treatment. If only ten percent of these were video recorded then that is a lot of experiential evidence for any interested medical authority. I confess to finding it quite beyond me how any medical authority could fail to be very interested!
What else is new here? 'The Great Misunderstanding' describes the popular misconception that the health of developed nations has improved and provides two pithy reasons why it has not. The brief chapter 'What is the Alternative?' sets the reader up for the second appendix, 'A Revolutionary Proposal for National Health Policies' in which Vithoulkas puts forward a well reasoned proposal for improving healthcare and pension allowances in the European Union or, indeed, any other country.
Generally, the book is presented with greater clarity than the original. It looks cleaner and brighter; quotes are now separated from the main text and referenced at the end of each chapter rather than at the foot of the page. I enjoyed reading it and was surprised to realise how formative it had been in my homeopathic adolescence. I remembered how many of my copies had gone missing down the years, never returned by patients who had passed them on to others. I feel that I have re-discovered a useful resource and will recommend it to students and patients alike.