Medicine and philosophy - Classical Homeopathy Online

Galen on qualified experience 289variations in the quantity and the proportion in which a substance (or acombination of various substances) is administered. 39Additional types of relevant qualifications can easily be found in On theMixtures and Powers of Simple Drugs:it makes all the difference whether a substance consists of fine particles() or of thick ones (); 40it makes all the difference whether a substance is applied to a healthybody ( ) with a good temperament (), abody which naturally has a bad temperament ( ), ora body which is ill or accidentally badly tempered ( ); 41if a substance’s power is tested by applying it to an ill body, it is importantto apply it to a body suffering from a ‘simple disease’ () rather than from a ‘complex disease’ ( ),because in the latter case there may be all kinds of complicating variables;42within one genus of substance, one should take into account that differentspecies (e.g. of water) may have different powers; 43the cause of the state to be dispelled by the drug may vary: thus a thirstquenchingsubstance may not be efficacious in a particular case becausethe body suffers from a special kind of thirst which is different fromnormal thirst. 44Thus what Galen seems to mean when he says that a pharmacologicalquestion or issue should be decided on the basis of ‘qualified experience’( ) is an empirical test of a substance’s dietetic or pharmacologicalpower which takes into account the conditions that have tobe fulfilled in order to make the test have an evidential value and providesufficiently specific information. Though the passages discussed are by nomeans exhaustive, it turns out that Galen recognises a fairly comprehensivelist of diorismoi, ‘qualifications’ or ‘distinctions’ that serve as requirementsfor a correct use of, or search for, empirical data, and thus for a truly informativeexecution of experience (). His primary concern, to which39 De temper. 3.5 (p. 113.20ff. Helmreich, 1.691 K.). For further elaborations of these diorismoi inpharmacology see De comp. med. sec. loc. 5.1 (12.805ff. K.) and 7.2 (13.14ff. K.).40 1.3 (11.385 K.). On the topic of see Debru (1997).41 1.4 (11.386 K.); 1.21 (11.416 K.); 1.33 (11.438 K.); 2.9 (11.485 K.); 2.21 (11.518 K.); 3.13 (11.572–3 K.). Cf.Grmek and Gourevitch (1985) 25; Harig (1974) 84 n. 32.42 See the example of erysipelas in De simpl. med. fac. 7.10 (12.39f. K.), and of in 2.10 (11.485ff.K.). Cf. Harig (1974) 85 nn. 33–4, who refers to De simpl. med. fac. 2.21 (11.518 K.); 4.7 (11.641 K.); 6proem (11.791 K.).43 De simpl. med. fac. 1.18 (11.413 K.). 44 De simpl. med. fac. 1.32 (11.437 K.).