This book review is reprinted from the British Homoeopathic Journal Volume 79, Number 3, April 1990, with permission from Peter Fisher, Editor.
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Tutorials on Homoeopathy.
Donald Foubister.
Beaconsfield: Beaconsfield 1989.
200 pages.
ISBN 0-906584-25-6.
9.95 pounds. [Editor's note: As of August 1996 Minimum Price Books' price is $18.95]

This book is a distillation of Donald Foubister's long experience in homoeopathy. Donald Foubister joined the staff of The Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital in 1937, not long after qualifying, and worked under Sir John Weir, Dr Douglas Borland, Dr Margaret Tyler and Dr Marjorie Blackie. After the war he rejoined the hospital staff and was appointed consultant homoeopathic paediatrician in 1956. At this time, as well as paediatric and general medicine, surgery was also performed in the hospital. Donald Foubister had therefore a wonderfully wide experience in the use of homoeopathy in all these disciplines and this has come through in his book.

The book is based on a series of tutorials and is divided into five main sections. The first section is on general principles and there is a particularly clear chapter discussing the question of 'constitutional types'. The second section covers paediatric prescribing, drawing on his long experience in the children's wards at the hospital. Inevitably, some of the conditions Donald Foubister commonly saw then are less common in the UK today, e.g. pneumonia, osteomyelitis and rickets, but these therapeutic hints may be particularly valuable for other parts of the world. He used antibiotics in conjunction with homoeopathy when required and found no problem with their combined use, as each therapeutic agent worked in a different manner.

The third section is on Carcinosin, which Donald Foubister was responsible for developing and led to his world-wide acclaim. This section also includes suggested additions to certain rubrics in Kent's Repertory, particularly in regard to Carcinosin. The fourth section is an interesting discussion on less well known medicines, which Donald Foubister found by experience to be very worthwhile, e.g. Alumina in allergies, Helleborus in head injury and Osteoarthritic Nosode, which he prepared from the synovial fluid of an OA knee. It also includes a chapter on the use of nosodes from acute illness-the 'never well since' problem.

The final section covers the treatment of certain conditions in which Donald Foubister took a particular interest, such as the after-effects of general anaesthesia and head injury, the post glandular fever syndrome and scar tissue. The book ends with an appendix on therapeutic hints which summarizes some of the remedies he found useful.

As the book is based on a series of tutorials, some of which I was lucky enough to attend during Donald Foubister's retirement, before his death in 1988, there is inevitably some reiteration of points previously discussed. However I think this is useful for beginners and I felt this book will be very useful for both beginners, who are past the very initial stages of study, and for more experienced homoeopaths-but not for the general public. As with all Beaconsfield publications, the book is well laid out and is slim enough to be carried around in the pocket for reference and has blank pages for notes at the end. Beginners will find it an easily read book with a clear discussion on general points, which I would have found helpful when I started. More experienced homoeopaths will draw inspiration, both from the interesting approaches to treatment and from the many case histories which show both the ups and downs of prescribing, but also from Donald Foubister's obvious enthusiasm for homoeopathy and the benefit it brought his patients. In conclusion this is a book I would certainly recommend for your library.

RUTH TAYLOR

British Homoeopathic Journal
Volume 79, Number 3, July 1990