by syphilitic miasm on Tue Sep 23, 2008 4:41 pm
THE SYPHILITIC MIASM
The etiology of a disease, the constitutional temperament of the patient, and the totality of the signs and symptoms are three factors that form a complete picture of a disease. In Homoeopathy we often speak of the totality of the symptoms as the basis of selecting a remedy, but sometimes we forget to include the causative factors, miasms, and the physical constitution of the individual. The physical signs of a person are fundamental to the treatment of chronic disorders because the constitution and temperament shows the effects of the inherited miasms. We must get beyond relying solely on the personal or family history to uncover miasms. The syndromes produced by the miasms point to the fundamental cause even if it can not be traced in the case taking to a specific etiologic factor.
Knowledge of all miasmatic phenomena would be a complete knowledge of all that is known as disease. Hahnemann discovered the miasms due to the fact these ailments kept coming back, year after year. Even when the correct remedy was given, there was no permanent cure. Hahnemann's proof of the existence of miasms was the persistency of these chronic diseases even after taking care of other disease causing factors like diet, hygiene etc. They seem to come from within the organism, from some peculiar dynamis within, from something that was deranged within the life-force itself, inherent, internal, pre-existing within the dynamis.
Syphilitic miasm owes its name to the fact that it shows an innate inclination to destruction, which is a predominant feature in syphilis. It has been tormenting the human race before the outbreak of syphilis. We should consider syphilis as one of the most probable manifestations of the syphilitic miasm. Certainly if Hahnemann was alive today, he would pick another name for this miasm.
One of the predominant features in syphilitic miasm is the tendency to conquer. He constantly wants to conquer something. After the conquest the object conquered loses its importance, it may even disgust him. He has set himself a new target; he is a hard person to satisfy, that is to say. The syphilitic is the kind of person to be easily envious. Whatever catches his eye, he wants to have it.
Another major feature of syphilitic miasm is the person’s tendency to destruction. Hooligans, for example, destroy everything, whatever they run across. They destroy even when their team wins. They go to sports field not in order to enjoy the game but to destroy. Destruction is a delight to them.
Thus, whereas the psoric fan will be modest and will respect the rules and the opponent and whereas the sycotic fan will tend to show off by wearing multi-colored scarves of his team, the syphilitic person seeks destruction at every single moment.
The syphilitic religious person also destroys in the name of God in whom he believes. He wants to kill, to eliminate the supporter of a different religion; in contrast to the psoric person who penetrates the deeper meaning of religion and who is a religious philosopher as well as the sycotic person who sticks to ritualism.
Another syphilitic expression of religious sentiment is the rites of “Black Magic”. The believer invokes the God of conquest and destruction in order to achieve his aims, either of conquest or destruction. Another frequent syphilitic picture is atheism.
The “iconoclast” who respects nothing, who believes in nothing, is also another syphilitic expression. Religion is an expression of the law, the syphilitic struggles against the law. Syphilitic persons do not have a developed social consciousness; they cannot offer other people anything of themselves.
They are anti-heroes; they do not accept having social obligations. They refuse to do their military service as by law enacted. There is a lack of social consciousness and we can also notice a dependence on family. This dependence shows a profound immaturity. It is a form of dependence that does not correspond to his age but bears elements of infantile dependence.
This is due to the fact that the personality is not adequately formed, so it collapses under the impact of a stress producing stimulation and the person adopts more primitive ways of functioning, in other words he behaves like an infant. This tendency to dependence is the main predisposing factor to dependence on toxic substances and alcohol, which in their heavy forms are syphilitic situations.
Another feature described above is how easily the syphilitic person becomes disorganized under the impact of a stress producing stimulation. Even in the case of a stimulation of medium intensity there is a tendency to disorganisation, complete disorganisation, till the person is brought to the verge of the organism’s destruction. So it happens, for example, during a psychotic incident. The syphilitic reaction to a stimulation, which an ordinary man considers to be of medium intensity, is a complete disorganisation, a complete loss of contact with reality.
The syphilitic’s person anger is a violent, explosive anger that scares the people present. It is characterized by destructiveness. The psoric person is hot-tempered, as a result of his intense oversensitivity. It is, however, a superficial and temporary annoyance. After having expressed himself, the annoyance is gone. The sycotic person usually controls his anger but when expressed, is excessive; so excessive that he becomes the focus of attention. In no case, however, will he scare the others, as the syphilitic person will.
The syphilitic person’s sadness is marked by destructiveness too. The person thinks there is no sense in living any longer. He is gloomy, sad and dismal. He denies life completely. He is not interested in anything; in contrast to the sycotic person, who shows his sadness through face expression, body posture and tears, and contrary to the psoric person, who retires into himself, possessed with feelings of inadequacy.
At moments of joy he is characterized by destructiveness as well. He wants to destroy out of joy. This destructiveness may manifest itself either outwards or inwards by driving the person mad. Someone losing his senses on a happy occasion is syphilitic miasm; contrary to the sycotic person, who wants everyone to share in his joy, and contrary to the psoric person, who behaves like a child when he becomes emotional.
Intense desire to put an end to one’s life is syphilitic miasm as well. Suicide or Murder. It is an expression of the destructiveness typical of the syphilitic person. Generally speaking, the syphilitic person does not experience joy. He cannot feel the simple joys of life. For example, at a child’s birth the syphilitic person will be thinking to himself: “Why have you come to this world? …You’d better not have been born…Troubles and worries await you”.
On the other hand the sycotic person will be boasting about his child, trying to point out the new-born’s natural gifts, and he wants everyone to admire his child, whereas the enthusiastic psoric person behaves like a child out of joy.
Each of the chronic miasm has its own characteristic signs that are an integral part of the totality of the symptoms. For example, Psora tends to produce irritation, inflammation, and hypersensitivity; Sycosis infiltrations, indurations, and over growth. Pseudo-Psora tends toward tubercles, fibrosis and suppuration; Syphilis tends toward granulation, degeneration and ulceration.
As far as the physical constitution, Psora tends to make the organism toxic, the skin unhealthy, and perverts the functions of the digestive and eliminative organs. Pseudo-Psora tends to produce pipe stem bones, narrow chests, sunken cheeks and sparkling eyes. Sycosis tends to cause heavy bones, water retention, over growth of tissue and slow metabolism. Syphilis tends to cause congenital defects, asymmetrical bony structure, deformed teeth and the classic bull dog face.
The Syphilis temperament has a mixture of madness and genius with a deep sense of irony that leads to obsession with death and destruction. They have strong, pessimistic view on life, cannot modify what is wrong, give-up, destroy, feel no point in trying to adjust, and have sudden impulsive violence directed at him or others. They become guilty, self destructive, and end in idiocy, insanity or suicide.
The pains of Syphilis seem lacking for the condition present or are deep, aching, agonizing, tearing, bursting, burning and esp. < at night. Discharges of Syphilitic miasm are very offensive, foul, putrid, smelly discharges.
The Syphilitic skin has brownish red, or coppery color spots, eruptions that do not itch, and a tendency toward easy ulceration – a typical physical manifestation of syphilitic miasm. Ulcer is a destructive process. There is destruction of shape, destruction of structure at some point of the tissue which is slow to heal. Complaints are < by heat of bed. Spoon shaped thin nails that tear easily.
The Syphilitic clinical conditions include blindness, ulcerations in veins and bones, carcinomas, fistulas, gangrene, hyperextension, bone marrow inflammation, insanity due to depression, leucorrhoea, rheumatism of long bones, skin disease which ooze putrid pus, ulcerated sore throat, history of abortions, sterility, immature death, ischemic heart disease, suicidal deaths, insanity, destructive/last stage of cancer, disseminated tuberculosis, ulcers of ear, nose, urinary organs, mouth.
