David Little: Hahnemann's miasms are the inherited and acquired affects of unresolved infections.These are collective diseases of common cause and similar symptoms that affect homogeneous groups. For this reason, he taught that there are acute, half-acute and chronic miasms. Acute miasms are quick acting self limiting acute infections such as measles, mumps, smallpox, etc. They reach their crisis quickly and end in either recovery, or partial recovery based on damage or death. Half-acute miasms are also self limiting and reach their crisis over a longer period of time than the acute diseases. Hahnemann's example of such a disease was rabies or the lyssin miasma.

Chronic miasms are life long infections that are not self limiting by nature. This includes endemic diseases like malaria and universal diseases like syphilis. The endemic diseases are based on zoological and environmental hosts so they are limited in range. The universal miasms are spread human to human, and for this reason they are global in nature. This states lead to a great number of recorded and unrecorded auto-immune and immuno-deficiency disorders that produce a number of degenerative chronic diseases. This study makes Hahnemann the founder of modern epidemiology.

Hahnemann introduced psora (skin infections caused by mites, bacteria, fungi and viruses), sycosis (HPV and gonococci), and syphilis (spirochetes). The chronic miasms also include tuberculosis,chronic hepatitis, HIV-AIDS, etc. The unresolved affects of these chronic miasms are passed on to then next generation. In some cases like syphilis and HIV-AIDS the infections may be congenital. In other cases the affects are passed on dynamically and produce states which are similar to the original infection in the ancestor. For example, children born of tubercular parents often manifest TB-like system such as difficulty gaining weight, fevers, coughs, swollen glands, free flowing pus infections, etc., as well as a heightened susceptibility to acquiring TB infections. All of the chronic miasms are marked with primary, latent and secondary stages that progress to chronic degenerative states that are considered very hard or impossible to cure by orthodox medicine.

There are many more "metaphysical explanations" of what the miasms are but I have chosen to present the "clinical view" introduced by Hahnemann, Hering and Boenninghausen. This is because I find this view the most practical in actually treating infectious diseases and their sequels in patients suffering from these serious states. Acute infections are still carrying away far too many persons, rabies is still all too prevent, serious skin infections are rampant, venereal diseases are at epidemic levels, and TB and malaria is still killing 1,000, 000s. Once we understand this clinical view of these miasms then we can look deeper into the underlying states such as constitution, temperament, predispositions, susceptibility, infection, suppression, mutation, degenerative states and study the deeper proximate cause, which lay in individual and collective moral, mental and physical causes and the stresses of of rapid civilization.

David Little: The vital force is that instinctive power which is the source of the energy of the physiological systems such as the nervous system, vascular system, digestive system, immune system, etc. All the physiological systems act synergistically with the vital force to produce a whole that is more than the sum of its parts. The vital force is like the conductor of an orchestra who gives direction, rhythm, and harmony to the functions of the each group of instruments (the brass, strings, woodwinds, etc.). The immunological system is in charge of resisting and adapting to infectious process, which by nature is related directly to the infectious miasms and their sequels. The connection between the vital force, the immune system and miasms is inherent to the human organism.

David Little: You can see the immune system because its is a major system of the physical body, as is the nervous system, lymph system, digestive system, etc. These are the synergetic parts. The vital force, however, can not be seen by the senses as it is the sum total of vitality and energy associated with living organisms. At the moment of death the immune, nervous, endocrine system can be observed in the corpse but the forces of life is no longer present so these material parts will decay. Until we understand the power of "life" more fully the materialists will only think in terms of physical systems.

When Hans Seyle (the founder the modern understanding of the endocrine system) discovered how human organism resists and adapts to biological stress call this force the "adaption energy". This adaption energy is nothing more than the life force of the vitalists. Hans had to reconstruct the Pythagorean-Hippocratic terminology to fully explain the concepts of biological stress and strain because modern science did not have the proper terms. This caused him to explain the ideas of pathogen (the cause of illness), ponos (the fight for life-stress) and pathos (suffering-strain) and the vital energy in more modern terms. This is all recorded in the Stress of Life, and other works, but most modern doctors have ignored the implications of this work as it shows that all illness is constitutional and dynamic in nature because the human organism's reaction to stress is a general systemic adaption and global in nature not just local and specific as in reaction of cells, etc.

David Little: This question goes beyond the organic vital force, which is considered the inherent, instinctive, vital power associated with living organisms. Hahnemann did, however point universal forces use example of gravity and magnetism when seeking to explain this "dynamis" in the Organon. Therefore, the idea may be applied more universally. The essence, nature or being (Gr. Wesen) is an invisible archetypal power which is the dynamos behind the vital force and vitaility. We cannot see the Wesen but we can observe it actions through the movement of its vital power on matter. This "essence" and "energy" represent a functional polarity which makes up all that we see regardless of its manifestation as a mineral, plant or animal form. So in this sense the essence-energy is even beyond the quantum energy field which is its manifestation.

Energy is energy and all energy shares similar properties and obeys similar laws. The energy matrix associated with quantum physics is at the atom level, which is inherent in the mineral, plant and animal kingdom but manifest in different manners as a whole. Even the basic material found in a rock, a flower, and a monkey all have their origin in the stars, which are the source of the original elements found in the periodic table.The energy contained by every manifestation of the ladder of life is still the same energy but its potential for more complex patterns increases as one moves from the mineral to the plant to the animal life. The human Wesen (Esse) and the Lebenskraft (life force) discussed in the Organon relates to the human organism and is an organic power which manifests as animal magnetism. It is a well known fact that bioelectricity is an inherent, fundamental force necessary for life in living organism. One cannot separate the bio electrical functions from the chemical functions as they come together to form a whole which is more than the sum of its parts.

The vital principle, force and energy behind all manifestations is similar but the manifestations are not the identical although they share the same power at the atomic level. Someday, science may come up with a unified field theory that will be able to unite all the phenomena witnessed quantum physics (the most minute) and astrophysics ( the most expansive) but as of yet this has not been fully accomplished. This involves a deeper understanding of the power behind the microcosm and macrocosm. For the vitalist that power is the *dynamis, which Pythagoras called "pneuma". All principles, powers and forces have their source in the universal life force, which is a manifestation of the Esse. Once humanity evolves to the point where they have a fuller understanding nature of this dynamis a true unified field theory will come into being. These are very good questions - but I only have poor answers as that day has yet to come.

All the best, David Little