The child’s face was suffused by a bluish-red colour and Hahnemann realised immediately what had happened when the father showed him the pretty black berries he had snatched from the child’s hands – belladonna poisoning! By chance, the physician noticed that there was an extraordinary similarity in the appearance of the women and the child; both had a bluish-red flush on the face. The causes were different but the results were the same. The doctor suddenly realised what he must do, the significance of which has only become fully recognised and appreciated in our time: ‘Similia simi-libus curantuf, the ancient Hippocratic teaching and principle of similarity.
As soon as Hahnemann had given the child something to make it vomit, he went out with the father, broke off a branch of the belladonna with flowers and fruit, and squeezed the whole thing into some water. By diluting it to about 4x he prepared the yellowish-green liquid into a medicine, which he then gave to the sick woman. Noting her reaction, the doctor followed this up with a second dose, and a few more, until the woman was finally out of danger. Thus, the child’s belladonna poisoning saved the woman’s life and at the same time brought about a deeper understanding and knowledge of another law of nature.
*765/28/1*
