Aphorism 42:
The Coexistence of Dissimilarity: Understanding Aphorism 42
In Aphorism 42, Samuel Hahnemann concludes his examination of the third scenario that occurs when two dissimilar diseases meet in the same person: the law of complication. He clarifies how it is possible for multiple maladies to inhabit the same body simultaneously without destroying the “unity of life.”
The Principle of Simultaneous Occupation
Hahnemann observes that Nature allows for the “simultaneous occurrence of two (indeed, of three) natural diseases in one and the same body.” However, he emphasizes that this phenomenon is strictly limited to dissimilar diseases.
Because these diseases lack resemblance, they follow a specific set of natural laws:
- No Mutual Annihilation: Dissimilar diseases do not remove or cure one another.
- Separation within the Organism: The diseases remain “separate in the organism.”
- Specialized Localities: Each disease “takes possession of the parts and systems peculiarly appropriate to it.”
The Complexity of the “Double Disease”
When this complication occurs, the patient becomes “doubly diseased.” As discussed in the preceding aphorisms, this most frequently happens when:
- Natural Miasms Meet: For example, a patient already suffering from psora is infected with syphilis. In such cases, the two miasms do not merge into one; instead, each involves the parts of the organism it is best adapted for, rendering the patient significantly more difficult to cure.
- Allopathic Interference: This complication occurs even more frequently through the “long-continued employment of powerful, unsuitable (allopathic) medicine.” These drugs add a new, artificial, dissimilar malady to the original natural disease, often creating a “hideous monster” of complicated suffering.
Conclusion: A Challenge for the Physician
Aphorism 42 serves as the final proof that dissimilarity never leads to a cure. While two dissimilar diseases can coexist by “partitioning” the body between them, they only serve to increase the patient’s burden of suffering. This reinforces the necessity of the Homoeopathic Law of Cure discussed in the following sections: only a similar and stronger force can truly occupy the same “space” in the vital force to extinguish and annihilate an existing disease.
