“Like cures like…”
The idea of “similia similibus curentur” or “like cures like” lies at the heart of two pseudoscientific medicinal practices that used plant-based and other natural remedies: the Doctrine of Signatures and Homeopathy.
The Doctrine of Signatures centers on the idea that plants look like the body part they are meant to help. For example, hepatica was considered a cure for liver ailments because its lobed leaves resemble the lobes of a liver. It is uncertain whether the Doctrine was used to select plants for medicinal treatments, or if the Doctrine was developed later as a mnemonic device to help people remember and find the plants used to treat various ailments. The resemblance and associated curative properties also influenced common names for various plants including eyebright, birthwort, and liverleaf.
Homeopathy, developed by Samuel Hahnemann, administers treatment via diluted doses of substances that cause similar symptoms to those experienced as part of an illness. Plants – many poisonous – are used in Homeopathic treatments, along with other dangerous substances like arsenic.
Medical “recipe” to cleanse and restore the liver. Receptes par M. Anthoine Fulconier, 16th century.
An example of the Doctrine of Signatures, this recipe was intended “to purge and refresh the liver” by using the plant Hepatica Nobilis, as its leaves resembled the lobes of the liver. The flowers of the plant were soaked in white wine; after several hours of soaking, the mixture was ingested and followed two hours later with chicken broth.
Anemone acutiloba (DC.) G.Lawson (Sharp-lobed hepatica)
On loan from the L.H. Bailey Hortorium Herbarium.
Jakob Böhme. De Signatura Rerum. London: printed by John Macock, for Gyles Calvert, at the black spread Eagle, at the west end of Pauls Church, 1651.
Philosopher Jakob Böhme’s work exemplifies the idea that plants mimic characteristics of parts of the body and, therefore, are intended to treat ailments of those parts.
Samuel Hahnemann. Organon of Homeopathic Medicine, 4th American edition. New York: W. Radde, 1869.
Here Hahnemann advocates testing homeopathic treatments on healthy individuals to see what symptoms they produce.
Manual of homeopathic remedies in case with vials containing homeopathic substances; accompanied by box of additional vials. Jaime Piza Rossello. La Salud. [Madrid: Farmacia Homeopática], 1887.
Intended for use in the home, this pocket-sized manual of homeopathy was published with its own leather wallet case with space for vials of the substances used in various remedies. The accompanying leather-covered wooden box contains additional substances including arsenic, belladonna, and opium.
