No fear of ghosts in Lycopodium: a contribution to the discussion on repertory reliability.

BACKGROUND

Repertory mistakes in modern homeopathy have been pointed out since the early years after the publication of the sixth edition of Kent's repertory. A structural error of many current repertories is the use of Kent's repertory as a basic information source. 'Fear of ghosts' is widely considered to be a symptom of Lycopodium clavatum by the homeopathic community.

OBJECTIVE

To demonstrate that the source of 'fear of ghosts' in Lycopodium clavatum was an inaccurate translation, that has been spread by secondary sources and to review Hahnemann's conception and efforts towards a reliable repertory.

RESULTS

The symptom 'fear of ghosts' does not exist in the primary source, being the product of a misunderstanding of the English translation of Hahnemann's original record, 'fear of frightful imaginary images'. Hahnemann's efforts to compile a reliable and complete dictionary of Materia Medica were also briefly presented, as well as Rückert's repertory, which, in addition to collating and classifying symptoms in alphabetical rubrics and sub-rubrics, displayed them completely, as registered in primary sources.

CONCLUSIONS

The misunderstanding about 'fear of ghosts' in Lycopodium clavatum exemplifies how distant current homeopathic information is from its primary sources and from Hahnemann's ideal of a symptom-lexicon. In spite of its technical limitations, Rückert's repertory, which was strongly recommended by Hahnemann, can be considered as a template for new repertories based on primary sources.