Local Maladies

Organon Aphorism §197

This treatment, however, is quite inadmissible, not only for the local symptoms arising from the miasm of psora, but also and especially for those originating in the miasm of syphilis or sycosis, for the simultaneous local application, along with the internal employment, of the remedy in diseases whose chief symptom is a constant local affection, has this great disadvantage, that, by such a topical application, this chief symptom (local affection)1 will usually be annihilated sooner than the internal disease, and we shall now be deceived by the semblance of a perfect cure; or at least it will be difficult, and in some cases impossible, to determine, from the premature disappearance of the local symptom, if the general disease is destroyed by the simultaneous employment of the internal medicine.

Samuel Hahnemann, Organon of Medicine, 6th edition, translated by William Boericke (1922, public domain). Checked word for word against the 1922 printing in October 2026.

Hahnemann’s footnote

One more footnote to this aphorism is still being checked against the 1922 printing and will appear here.

Study notes for this aphorism are not published yet. They appear here once a homeopath has reviewed them.

Study the Organon the active way

Bookmark aphorisms, read AI-drafted study notes beside each one, and practise case-taking in live AI cases — free account, no card required.