Reprinted with the permission of The Society of Homeopaths (from "The Homeopath" magazine, Autumn 2007 edition):
Reviewed by Hazel Partington:
Reprinted with the permission of The Homeopathic Links magazine, volume 20, Winter 2007:
Reviewed by Harry van de Zee, Netheralnds:
Corrie Hiwat's review of "An Insight into Plants Volume I and II" (published in LINKS volume 15 issue 3/2002, page 169) disÂcussed the outlay of the series. The volume under review here was published earlier this year. For an understanding of the phiÂlosophy and practice behind this series the reader is recommended to read "The SenÂsation in Homoeopathy" by the same auÂthor.
If you take yourself seriously as a homeoÂpath and if you want to keep in touch with the direction in
which homeopathy is deÂveloping, you cannot ignore Rajan Sankaran's work and the increasing number of books he has written. Throughout the years there has been a clear line of develÂopment evident in his books; among them the three volumes of "An Insight into Plants" form a set of handbooks every hoÂmeopath should have close to hand.
Many homeopaths all over the world have worked for several years now with Rajan's concept of the Vital Sensation and with his interview technique and case analysis of reaching to the Vital Sensation in their paÂtients; the first two volumes of "An Insight of into Plants" have proven to be of value in finding a remedy from the plant kingdom if indicated.
To the twenty-one plant families discussed in the first two volumes this third volume adds five more (Brassicaceae/Cruciferae, Dioscoreaceae, Piperaceae, Rosaceae, Ruta-ceae), as well as one kingdom (Fungi) and one group (carnivorous plants).
In Julia Schiller's excellent article "An InÂsight into Taxonomy" in LINKS volume 18 issue 4/2005 she challenges Rajan to imÂprove on his work, among others things by :ncorporating more input from the homeoÂpathic community. Showing that these volÂumes indeed are a work in progress, Rajan has entered many new cases of the previÂously discussed families from a wide varieÂty of internationally well-known homeoÂpaths. These cases partially confirm the ideas expressed in the earlier volumes, but also help improving the understanding of the families and have allowed the addition of some plants filling some of the gaps in the earlier tables of families and miasms. At other levels too, Rajan responds in this new volume to Julia's constructive criticism of the two earlier volumes.
Whether or not taxonomy purely based on genetics should be the basis for forming homeopathic families of remedies remains a valid question. In the way Rajan has rormed his families he to some extent alÂready took the liberty of deviating from strict taxonomical rules, which I think is a practical and valid approach. His group of insect-eating plants, for instance, consists of five plants coming from four different families. There are many ways to constitute families of practical use to homeopaths. Within the plant and animal kingdom geÂnetics is only one, biotopes that transcend not only the borders of families but also of kingdoms are another.
To save homeopaths from having to leaf through three volumes in one's daily pracÂtice, this third volume includes tables in the appendices that include all families inÂvestigated so far, together with four new ones (Araceae, Ericaceae, Piperaceae, The-ales) that are apparently under construcÂtion. The Chart of Plant Classification by Jorg Wichmann, as the last appendix, makes clear that not only Rajan, but all of us dedicated to further exploring the width and depth of the homeopathic materia medica still have a long way to go in gaining insight into plants.
Second review: Reprinted with the permission of The ARH (from the magazine 'Homeopathy in Practice', Winter 2007 edition):
Reviewed by Theresa Partington BRCP;
The first two volumes of An Insight into Plants came out in 2002, so it has been a long wait! Part 1 of Volume III provides a recap on the first 21 families with more cases, and 'Source Words' for each family - a new idea to help in identifying the'key sensations as they come up in patients' words and gestures. Part 2 covers the remaining six families and fungi, a separate kingdom. Part 3 consists of charts and tables for easy reference.
The introduction consists largely of a discussion about taxonomy, the way in which the natural world is divided into classes and sub-classes, orders and famiÂlies. In 2005 Julia Schiller published a lengthy article (Homeopathic Links, 2005) in which she criticised Sankaran's use of what she called out-dated taxonomy. He follows the Cronquist system (with variaÂtions) but leading botanists (including Kew Gardens and the University of Uppsala, home to Linnaeus) now use the APG II system which relies more on genetic analysis. Under this system, plants that Sankaran has put together in one family sometimes should be in another or, if a level is taken that can include them all, should also include others currently placed in different families with different 'sensations'. To do him justice, Sankaran always invites feedback and criticism and he not only publishes Schiller's article in full here but provides a detailed response. He defends the older taxonomies over the newer genetically verified ones and claims that none is perfect yet. He also goes full circle and says that vital sensation is actuÂally a pretty sound basis for classification itself. Lily is as lily does. Interestingly, Agnus castus which he had inaccurately placed in the Labiatae family on the basis of vital sensation is now being included by some botanists in that family anyway in a revision of classification.
The only problem with this is that you could end up including Lyssin in the Solanaceae family, as Mangliavori does, and what seemed like a new logical and systematic approach to tracking down the simillimum begins to seem less so. It all seems rather a dry debate but if you are going to use kingdoms and family groupÂings, position in the periodic table and so on, to add to our knowledge of remedies then the reliability of the data is important.
The last chart in part 3 lists the taxonÂomy according to Wichman/Cronquist together with Sankaran's own headings (sometimes family, sometimes order, sometimes class) and typical remedies. Other charts differentiate between famiÂlies that have common sensations. For example, Compositae, Loganiaceae, Magnolianae, Papaveraceae and Umbel-hferae all have a common sensation of shock but it manifests in different ways.
The cases that go with each chapter are, again, a strong point of the book. In fact, they are even better presented in this book than in the previous ones, with many contributors taking the trouble to analyse the case in terms of Sankaran's kingdoms and levels and explaining more carefully why they have selected a particular miasm. It also gives one a chance to see the associated interview style in action. Many practitioners who are interested in the case analysis and use of families to narrow the field in remedy choice baulk at the interview style that we so often see and say that that 'bit' is not for them. The idea is to look for recurring words and themes that reflect feelings and sensaÂtions and pursue them to clarify and define the vital sensation that will lead you to the right family and miasm. This can lead to some very repetitive questionÂing. For example in one (Cactina) case the practitioner asks the patient to describe the work 'poking' three times and three times asks him to describe what he means by 'becoming smaller'. One wonders how often such practitioners get punched on the nose! However, reassuringly, not all cases are like this. Most are sensitively conducted and well within the bounds of a 'normal', respectful homeopathic conversation.
The system enables the practitioner to access small remedies that may well not have otherwise come to mind. Frequently the contributors here have done just that and have been able to show that the remedy arrived at by this means does in fact cover the case brilliantly when checked out in the materia medica. SomeÂtimes, though, there is so little known about the remedies that not only has the prescription to be an act of faith (Cactina itself had to be made up specially as it had not existed as a remedy before and is not actually a plant in its own right but an alkaloid extracted from Cactus grandi-florus) but it is also hard to see how they are reliably allocated into a miasm. Cactina, as an alkaloid, is easy to place in the acute miasm but how did Fagus sylvat-ica and Pseudotsuga menziesii end up in the Ringworm miasm? Much is made to hang on the odd phrase in a sparse or very new proving. And even with better known remedies I still have doubts. How did Cannabis sativa, with its acute and chronic gonorrhoea, end up in the Malaria miasm, leaving Cannabis indica in the sycotic? I know ability to cure a named disease is not the only criterion but it does seem a bit contrary to tried and tested usage as well as terminology.
However, Sankaran has always said that his books and theories are openers in a promising debate rather than the last word. Julia Schiller, in spite of her conÂvincing criticisms, describes her article as A Companion to An Insight into Plants and the latter as a 'useful and exciting work' - and that it certainly is.
For those of you who would like to find out more about this major contribution to homeopathy without committing initially to all three volumes and the Schema (book of charts) you could just about get away with buying Vol III alone as it contains all the plant charts, and recaps previous plant families. You would miss out on some extra information and cases and also on the background and philosophy outlined in Vol I but so long as you have a good materia medica it would be enough at least to get you started and there are now plenty of lectures and seminars around. I doubt Dr Sankaran would approve though.
