Hering’s Law of the Order of Cure
Constantin Hering (1800 – 1880) was a German physician who set out originally to disprove Hahnemann’s theories and assertions. After a dramatic personal experience, he became a convert. He emigrated to the USA and became known as the ‘Father of American Homeopathy’. He was a writer of great importance but perhaps his best-known contribution was that of his observations on the body’s healing processes. He formulated a ‘law’ to describe the phenomena that he observed. The phenomena, as described in ‘Hering’s Law of Cure’, are:
“All cure comes from within out, from the head down and in reverse order as the symptoms have appeared in the body.”
Hering’s Law is more usually written:
Cure progresses:
- from important organs to lesser organs
- rom within outwards
- from above downwards (in animals this can be taken as from cranial, caudally and down the limbs)
- in reverse order of appearance.
Furthermore, chronic disease may retrace previous signs/symptoms.
In cases of therapeutic aggravation, a study of Hering’s Law helps us to determine whether we are indeed witnessing a therapeutic aggravation or simply seeing worsening of the disease.