ORIGINAL PAPER

The concept of miasmevolution and present

day perspective
Mohit Mathur*
Department of Practice of Medicine, Nehru Homoeopathic Medical College & Hospital, B-Block, Defence Colony,
New Delhi 110024, India
This paper reviews the circumstances in which the concept of miasm evolved and how
subsequent developments in medicine have improved our understanding of the cause
of diseases. It concludes with an emphasis on the need to further rene the
homeopathic concept of disease. Homeopathy (2009) 98, 177180.
Keywords: miasm; germ theory; Louis Pasteur; Kochs postulates; psora; syphilis;
condyloma acuminatum
Introduction
The concept of miasmis one of the most controversial as-
pects of homeopathy. Their evolution, exact nature and how
Hahnemann came to consider them the fundamental cause
of both acute and chronic disease are areas where opinions
of the homeopaths are divided. In order to understand the
evolution of the concept of miasmwe have to study the state
of medicine during the time of Hahnemann.
Concept of acutemiasm
In Hahnemanns time very little was known about the eti-
ology and pathogenesis of any disease, including acute in-
fectious diseases. Although scientic world was aware of
the existence of microorganisms, their relation with dis-
eases was not fully appreciated. But because of their uni-
form clinical presentation the acute infectious diseases
were recognized as distinct clinical entities even before
the discovery of their exact causative factors. Hahnemann
used the term acute miasm for all such acute infectious
diseases. In aphorism 73 of the Organon (6th edition)
1
he
mentions acute miasm as recurring in the same manner
and hence known by some traditional name. To explain
the mechanism of spread of these acute miasms among peo-
ple he wrote, explaining the term dynamic inuence in the
footnote to the 11th aphorism of the Organon just as
a child with small pox or measles communicates to
a near, untouched healthy child in a invisible manner (dy-
namically) the small pox or measles, that is, infect it at a dis-
tance without anything from the infective child going or
capable of going to the one to be infected.
The above excerpt clearly indicates that he used the word
dynamic to symbolize phenomena that cannot be seen and
hence cannot be explained. Hahnemann was not optimistic
about nding causative factors for acute infectious diseases
inside the body of the patients. Neither was he in favor of
denoting them as distinct clinical entities. He tried to deal
with the question of how acute diseases are caused and
how they are transmitted from one person to another by as-
cribing them to dynamic noxious inuences (miasms).
There were two basic factors behind Hahnemanns theory.
The rst was the repeated but unsuccessful attempts
made by physicians to identify the cause of these acute in-
fectious diseases in the tissues and morbid discharges of the
patients. As we now know, there were technological
constraints: although much before Hahnemann, Anthony
Leeuwenhoek (16321723), had invented the microscope
through which he observed the presence of microorganisms
in his own body secretions. But he and other workers did
not relate them to human disease and simply reported their
ndings. The absence of a clear understanding of the etio-
logical factors and pathogenesis of these diseases created
a fertile soil for theories and assumptions many of which
now seem absurd. As a result absurd and often hazardous
methods were used in treating these acute diseases.
The second factor was the discovery of the Law of Sim-
ilars by Hahnemann. This enabled him to treat acute infec-
tious disease conditions in a safe and effective manner. The
*Correspondence: Mohit Mathur, Department of Practice of Med-
icine, Nehru Homoeopathic Medical College & Hospital, B-Block,
Defence Colony, New Delhi 110024, India.
E-mail: [email protected], drmohitmathur@gmail.
com
Received 16 November 2008; revised 9 April 2009; accepted 11
May 2009
Homeopathy (2009) 98, 177180
2009 The Faculty of Homeopathy
doi:10.1016/j.homp.2009.05.003, available online at http://www.sciencedirect.com
good results which he achieved in the treatment of acute dis-
eases through the Law of Similars, convinced him that this
approach was the only correct way of treating acute dis-
eases. At the same time repeated failures met by allopathic
physicians in treating the same acute diseases were reason
enough for him to conclude that there is nothing hidden
inside the body which causes disease (see aphorism 13 for
example).
1
The endeavors of conventional physicians
were therefore completely rejected by Hahnemann and his
disciples.
The causative factor of disease remained a black box
until the second half of 19th century when an important
breakthrough was achieved with the consolidation of the
germ theory of disease by Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch
in the late 1870s.
2
Even before Pasteur and Koch, Edward
Jenner laid the groundwork for the germ theory. In 1796
he took a major therapeutic step towards the development
of vaccination. In his paper An inquiry into the causes
and effects of the Variolae Vaccinae known by the name
of the cow-pox,
3
published in 1798 he reported how, over
a period of years, he had observed the immunity provided
by cowpox against small pox. Hahnemann refers Jenners
observations in the Organon (aphorism 46). Although,
like Hahnemann, Jenner had no theoretical insight into the
biological mechanism of resistance to diseases, vaccination
became a lasting prophylactic technique on purely empirical
grounds. We nowunderstand more about the hosts immune
response to a cross-reacting virus variant.
But was the germ theory of disease, due to Pasteur and
Koch that set a new course for studying and contending
with infectious diseases. Louis Pasteur explained many
well-known biological processes, whose precise mecha-
nisms were unknown. Before Pasteur putrefaction and other
similar processes were often perceived as dynamic phenom-
enon. Pasteur demonstrated that both putrefaction and fer-
mentation were due to the growth of microorganisms. He
also demonstrated that these microorganisms do not appear
spontaneously but originate in the surrounding environment
thus discrediting the theory of spontaneous generation. Pas-
teurs research on fermentation and so-called spontaneous
generation inevitably led him to the study of infectious dis-
eases. He had recently demonstrated that if environmental
yeasts are prevented from being deposited on grapes, the
juices of these grapes will not ferment, when he wrote
By analogy, is it unreasonable to hope that the day will
come when easily administered preventive measures will
be able to stop the scourges which terrify and decimate pop-
ulations, such as yellow fever and the bubonic plague? In
other words, infectious diseases are, like fermentation,
probably due to germs and it may be possible to protect
human beings against them as one can protect grapes
against yeast.
4
Pasteurs work on the microbial basis of fermentation and
similar biological processes gave a strong credence to the
hypothesis for microbial origin of disease. Although he pro-
vided the clue towards the relationship between microor-
ganisms and infectious diseases the experimental proof
about the role of specic microbe in specic disease was
still lacking.
By the end of 19th century the causative agents of various
infectious diseases were being reported by different investi-
gators in such profusion that it was necessary to introduce
criteria for proving the claims that a microorganism isolated
from a disease was indeed causally related to it. These cri-
teria, rst indicated by Henle, were enunciated by Robert
Koch. According to Kochs postulates a microorganism
can be accepted as the causative agent of an infectious
disease only if the following conditions are satised:
1. The bacterium should be constantly associated with the
lesions of the disease.
2. It should be possible to isolate the bacterium in pure cul-
ture from the lesions.
3. Inoculation of such pure culture into suitable laboratory
animals should reproduce the lesions of the disease.
4. It should be possible to reisolate the bacterium in pure
culture from the lesions produced in the experimental
animals.
5. An additional criterion introduced subsequently requires
that specic antibodies to the bacterium should be de-
monstrable in the serum of patients suffering from the
disease.
5,6
Even today, Kochs postulates are applied whenever
a new infectious disease [such as human immunodeciency
virus (HIV) infection/acquired immune deciency syn-
drome (AIDS)] arises. Koch placed the germ theory of dis-
ease on a rm experimental footing. He experimentally
demonstrated the causative organisms of tuberculosis and
cholera. His techniques of disinfection and sterilization
not only enabled laboratory research but also quarantine
and other public health measures like water ltration in
the control of cholera and typhoid.
7
The cause that was considered to be dynamic or invisi-
ble by Hahnemann and his contemporaries was no longer
invisible. Infectious diseases were once thought to be
caused by wrath of gods, conguration of stars or miasmas,
after a struggle that lasted for almost a century and included
stupendous work from people like Pasteur and Koch, they
were proved to be caused by microorganisms. The germ
theory of disease not only provided a suitable ground for de-
veloping appropriate treatment for infectious diseases but
also gave an opportunity of reducing their incidence in com-
munity by controlling the spread of causative microorgan-
ism. Thus was born the idea of preventive medicine.
Homeopathic physicians also achieved great success in
treating cases of acute infectious diseases but the homeo-
pathic world largely remained uninuenced by the growing
knowledge about the nature of infectious diseases and their
relation with microorganisms. As a result homeopathic phy-
sicians have no answer to problems like treatment of a car-
rier or a subclinical case of infectious disease, prevention of
infectious disease, etc.
Concept of chronicmiasm
For Hahnemann miasms were symbolic of disease cause.
He always believed that actual cause will always remain
hidden and will never be discovered. But Hahnemann
The concept of miasm
M Mathur
178
Homeopathy
soon realized the drawback of not recognizing the cause of
disease when he found that while the similia principle can
be successfully applied in the treatment of acute diseases,
medicines prescribed according to the same principle failed
to give lasting relief in chronic diseases. This failure to cure
chronic diseases brought Hahnemann face to face with the
problem of the cause and nature of diseases. But while
the conventional medical science continued to search for
the cause in body tissues of the patients, Hahnemann, en-
couraged by his success in the treatment of acute diseases
and his rmbelief in the dynamic nature of cause, continued
on his path of studying chronic diseases on purely clinical
ground.
But chronic diseases are different from acute infectious
diseases in being more diverse in their clinical presenta-
tion. Unlike acute infectious diseases it was extremely dif-
cult to identify them as distinct clinical entities, let alone
identify their cause. Hahnemann observed that when strong
medicinal substances were prescribed for quick relief of
disease symptoms, the symptoms disappeared initially,
but soon either recurred with greater vigor or were fol-
lowed by deeper ailments. This gave birth to the idea
that new ailments can result from suppression of prior ail-
ments, which in turn, may be caused due to suppression of
ailment occurring prior to it. This process of suppression
of disease was a common observation of many physicians
including Hahnemann.
Hahnemann studied the chronology of clinical events in
many patients linking former events to later ones on the ba-
sis of cause and effect relationship trying to reach the rst
illness in the life of patient. That rst illness was regarded
by Hahnemann as the mother of all illnesses. He observed
that in majority of patients the rst illness was an itch dis-
ease
8
or psora. In his Chronic Diseases (pages 2240) Hah-
nemann quoted from about a hundred authorities who
believed in the truth of this psoric or itch theory and gives
from their writings illustrations of cases of various chronic
diseases resulting from suppressed eruptions.
9
But there were serious aws in this retrospective clinical
study of chronic illnesses.
First it tried to establish cause and affect relationship
among clinical illnesses, which now we know, are of en-
tirely different origin and have no relationship. Linking
all chronic illnesses through the concept of suppression cre-
ated a great confusion, and made it impossible to explore
their individual clinical course. The proof of multiplicity
of causes (chromosomal mutations, environmental factors,
disordered lifestyle, microorganisms, etc.) for chronic
diseases would not have emerged if the idea of miasm
had predominated.
The claim that psora is the cause of all chronic diseases
lacks scientic coherence because if psora caused nearly
all chronic diseases including various mental disorders, tu-
mors, ulcers and inammatory conditions, why did this
multifarious disease producing cause not give rise to vene-
real chancre which was attributed to another chronic miasm
syphilis?
The reason is apparent from Hahnemanns own writings.
In aphorism 79 of the Organon he stated that hitherto
syphilis was the only disease which was known to terminate
in death if left untreated. Syphilis was rst identied in Eu-
rope in late 15th century.
10
The characteristic hard chancre
of syphilis was rst described in 1514 by De Vigo and syph-
ilitic and nonsyphilitic condylomata were differentiated in
1563.
11
The clinical course of syphilis was better elucidated
by 18th century than most, and the disease was recognized
as distinct clinical entity.
Undoubtedly there were many chronic diseases in that
period were life threatening when left untreated but they
were not recognized as distinct clinical entities as their clin-
ical course was unpredictable. By declaring syphilis a mi-
asm distinct from psora Hahnemann acknowledged
syphilis as a distinct chronic disease. Still in the absence
of denite laboratory test it was difcult to differentiate
clinically the lesions of secondary syphilis such as arthritis,
uveitis, hepatitis, etc. from nonsyphilitic conditions. These
extra-genital features were erroneously ascribed to psora by
Hahnemann who wrote that the disease is frequently com-
plicated with psora.
9
He identied another disease with the name of sycosis or
g-wart miasm which widely spread during Napoleonic
Wars but later become rare.
9
According to the Hahne-
manns description the disease seems to include condyloma
acuminata infection (anogenital wart). Both syphilis and sy-
cosis were known to be sexually transmitted and, because of
morphological similarity between anogenital warts and the
condylomata lata of secondary syphilis, were erroneously
considered homogenous.
9
This proves that pure clinical
study was inaccurate and unsuitable for exploring disease
cause.
Second, the precise mechanism of the phenomena of
suppression was never explored. The phenomenon of sup-
pression is a concept fundamental to the Miasm theory be-
cause it explains how a single entity, psora, led to multitude
of chronic diseases. But we know little about factors that
govern the process of suppression and to what extent it is
applicable.
Third, the diseases that are mainly prevalent in the people
of younger age group and transmitted rapidly from person
to person, so as to infect a large proportion of population,
were more likely to be implicated as the fundamental illness
even if they were acute illnesses; for example tinea infec-
tions, scabies, louse infestations, etc. all of which were
very common in Hahnemanns time.
Fourth and perhaps the biggest weakness is that unlike
the germ theory of disease, the Miasm theory has not
been experimentally investigated, and largely remains phil-
osophical speculation. This probably was the reason why
Hahnemann could not provide any explanation as to how
psora inuences the action of homeopathic medicines in
the treatment of chronic diseases. Homeopathic cures took
place before the advent of the psora theory; of the fty med-
icines named as antipsorics by Hahnemann in 1828 in the
Chronic Diseases, twenty-two had been previously incor-
porated in the materia medica without the title of antipsor-
ics.
12
The psora theory did not provide any criteria for
determining which medicine is capable of curing chronic
diseases and hence should be included in the group of
The concept of miasm
M Mathur
179
Homeopathy
antipsorics. The effectiveness of these medicines can be ex-
plained with the help of knowledge of materia medica and
growing knowledge of the pathogenesis of diseases.
If we study the list of antipsoric medicines provided by
Boenninghausen
13
we nd that almost all inuence several
organ systems and give rise to a wide spectrum of signs and
symptoms. Many of these symptoms have their origin in
deep-seated pathologies. In contrast the acute or non-anti-
psoric medicines, like Aconitum napellus, have a narrow
range of signs and symptoms and can only cover a fraction
of the clinical spectrum of a chronic disease. For example
the patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis characteris-
tically have inammation in multiple joints. But in addition
to arthritis many also have anaemia, and some also suffer
from extra-articular features including vasculitis, pleuritis
or Sjogren syndrome, etc.
A typical case of rheumatoid arthritis has symptoms and
signs of arthritis like pain in joints along with tenderness,
swelling and limitation in mobility of joints, constitutional
symptoms of anaemia like lassitude, fatigue, insomnia,
breathlessness on exertion, etc. If in addition there are ex-
tra-articular features this may present in the form of poly-
neuropathy, cutaneous ulceration or petechiae in the nail
bed. To cover this varied symptomatology and its peculiar
symptoms medicines with a wide spectrum of symptoms
covering multifarious disease pathologies are better suited
than acute medicines.
Conclusion
The concept of miasm was an outcome of the inability of
the medical profession to identify the real cause of disease.
It was a hypothetical concept and disappeared from the con-
ventional medical world with the advent of germ theory,
which provided the rational cause for all acute and chronic
infectious diseases. It still exists in Homeopathy because
homeopaths never appreciated disease as a distinct entity
and continued to build on the concept of miasm despite
its lack of scientic coherence. The search for the cause
of chronic disease has not ended, we still do not know the
exact cause of many chronic diseases. We should move for-
ward from hypothesis and look towards seeking causes that
is rational and susceptible to experimental investigation.
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