health: Gesundheit[soundness]. Soundness, freedom from disease orabnormality; a condition of optimal well-being or functioning.Hahnemann uses two words to refer to health: Gesundheit,translated as health (¤12) and Wohlseyn, translated aswell-being (¤120). Gesundheit refers more to objectiveindications of health while Wohlseyn is more subjective. TheOrganon presents three models of ideal health in terms of the three spheres offeeling, thinking and willing. The patient in perfect health is adepiction of healthy feeling (i.e., the focus is upon healthyfeelings, functions and sensations, ¤9); the self-provingphysician is a depiction of healthy thinking (¤141); and themesmerist who possesses great good nature and a powerful will isa depiction of the healthy will (¤288). [SRD]

disease: Krankheit. A solelydynamic mistuning of the Living Power, which is manifested inone's state(which is primarilyexhibited in behavior), in one's condition (whichcomprises one's feelings, functions and sensations), and in one'sappearance (which includes objective signs of disease); analteration of the state and condition of healthy organisms whichexpresses itself through objective and subjective symptoms ofdisease. Becoming diseased is a dynamic process which manifestsitself through adverse sensations and irregular functions in theorganism, through signs and symptoms which are felt by thepatient, perceived by those around the patient, and observed bythe physician.

Diseases can be classifiedaccording to duration (see acute, chronic, protracted) andcategorized according to genesis (as iatrogenic, homogenic,pathogenic and ideogenic diseases). An iatrogenic disease is onewhich has been induced by a physician through his diagnosis,manner or treatment (see the Introduction). The ideogenicdiseases are those of the spirit and soul. They include diseasesreferred to by Hahnemann as the highest diseases (i.e., thosewhich can be brought to pass through a mistunement of the livingprinciple by means of the imagination, fn 17), and they includediseases which are spun and maintained by the soul (¤224-¤266).The pathogenic diseases include those whose propagation involvesinfectious micro-organisms (e.g., the epidemic diseases) and alsothose brought about by toxic substances such as poisons. Thepathogenic diseases, like all other forms of disease, aretransmitted dynamically. Hahnemann refers to the involvement ofinfectious matter (i.e., micro-organisms) in the propagation ofdisease in fn 81b. He more fully discusses the the role ofmicro-organisms in the transmission of disease in his article,"Cause and Prevention of the Asiatic Cholera"(translated in The Lesser Writings) in which he refers to the"excessively minute, invisible, living creatures, soinimical to human life." He describes Asiatic cholera as"composed of probably millions of those miasmatic animatedbeings," and he discussed the habituation of thesemicro-organisms to colder climates as follows: "When theyare transferred to distant and even colder regions, they becomehabituated to these also, without any diminution either of theirunhappy fertility or of their fatal destructiveness." It isimportant to understand that Hahnemann's expressed views on therole of micro- organisms in the transmission of certain diseasesin no way contradicts his very strong and clear statements thatdisease is transmitted in a purely dynamic way. Micro-organisms,like all living organisms, include a dynamic aspect without whichthey cannot exist; the material organism and its dynamic presenceform a unity (¤15). Therefore, where they are involved in thetransmission of disease, micro-organisms act dynamically as wellas having a material presence. Hahnemann clearly indicates thatdiseases (and also medicines) affect the condition of the humanorganism only by acting dynamically upon the Living Power. TheWesen of the disease dynamically interacts, impinges upon andalters the tone of the Dynamis (i.e., the human Wesen). In otherwords, the Wesen of the disease acts on a dynamic levelinstantaneously, in the wake of which there is a materialmanifestation of the disease, which is associated with thereproduction and growth of micro-organisms. [SRD]

state: Zustand. A mode ofbeing. A person’s state refers particularly to the state ofGeist and GemŸt (i.e., the spirit and the emotional mind). Anindividual’s state is not directly perceptible but revealsitself through behavior, through changes in one’s condition(i.e., feelings, functions and sensations), and throughone’s circumstances. A person’s state is also directlydiscernible to the astute, participative observer. A healthystate involves knowledge of the truth of things. A diseased stateis characterized by ignorance, which includes false beliefs(superstitions) and fancies connected with compelling deceptions.(¤17, ¤224) See also impression, participation. Hahnemann also refers to somatic states (¤225,¤226). [SRD]

symptom: Symptom. Anindication of disease in the patient. (¤6) Symptoms may beeither subjective or objective. Hahnemann uses the term‘symptom’ and ‘sign’ interchangeably in hisreference to the three major modalities of disease manifestation:a. behavior (i.e., attitudes, positions and performancesindicating the mental and emotional state, ¤253), b. indicationsof condition (i.e., abnormalities in feelings, functions andsensations, ¤11, ¤19), and c. appearance (i.e., objectivesigns, both those that are readily observable and those thatinvolve tests or the use of diagnostic instruments). Symptoms maybe experienced by the patient or by observers of the patient,either through the sense organs or the faculties of participation(i.e., the Geist and the GemŸt). See also participation.

symptomcomplex:Symptomen-Inbegriff.[Symptomen, symptoms + Inbegriff, (quint)essential inclusiveconcept]. That group of characteristic symptoms of a diseasewhich represents the essence (Wesen)of the disease. Hahnemann uses two terms to refer to thesymptomatology (the combined symptoms) of a medicine or a case ofdisease: Symptomen-Inbegriff (the symptom complex, ¤16, ¤100)and Gesammtheit der Symptome (the totality of symptoms, ¤7,¤24). The term ‘totality of symptoms’ refers to thesum total of disease symptoms; the term‘symptom-complex’ contains a limiting reference to theessence of the disease as revealed by its characteristicsymptoms. While the two terms seem to be used fairlyinterchangeably (¤18), there is a distinction between them.Hahnemann, who was fluent in several languages, often used termsin such a way as to remind the reader that a word that representsa thing is not the thing itself. By describing the symptomologywith two different terms, Hahnemann provides the reader with afuller, more dynamic and more holographic definition. Thetotality of a patient’s symptoms can be distinguished alsofrom the totality of a given disease’s symptoms.