Vis medicatrix naturae

Vis medicatrix naturae

Vis medicatrix naturae (also known as natura medica) is the Latin translation of the Greek, νονσων φνσεις ιητροι, a phrase attributed to Hippocrates but which he did not actually use.[1] The phrase sums up one of the guiding principles of Hippocratic medicine which is that organisms contain “healing powers of nature”.

Contents

Hippocrates

Hippocrates believed that an organism is not passive to injuries or disease, but rebalances itself to counteract them. The state of illness, therefore, is not a malady but an effort of the body to overcome a disturbed equilibrium. It is this capacity of organisms to correct imbalances that distinguishes them from non-living matter.[2]

From this follows the medical approach that “nature is the best physician” or “nature is the healer of disease”. To do this Hippocrates considered a doctor’s chief aim was to help this natural tendency of the body by observing its action, removing obstacles to its action, and thus allow an organism to recover its own health.[3] This underlies such Hippocratic practices as blood letting in which a perceived excess of a humor is removed, and thus was taken to help the rebalancing of the body's humors.[4]

Renaissance and modern history

After Hippocrates, the idea of vis medicatrix naturae continued to play a key role in medicine. In the early Renaissance, the physician and early scientist Paracelsus had the idea of “inherent balsam”. Thomas Sydenham, in the 18th century considered fever as a healing force of nature.[3]

In the nineteenth-century, vis medicatrix naturae came to be interpreted as vitalism, and in this form it came to underlie the philosophical framework of homeopathy, chiropractic, hydropathy, osteopathy and naturopathy.[5] As Bynum notes, "Search the Internet for vis medicatrix naturae and you will find yourself in the land of what we now politely call 'alternative' or 'complementary' medicine"[5].

Relation to homeostasis

Walter Cannon's notion of homeostasis also has its origins in vis medicatrix naturae. "All that I have done thus far in reviewing the various protective and stabilizing devices of the body is to present a modern interpretation of the natural vis medicatrix."[6]. In this, Cannon stands in contrast to Claude Bernard (the father of modern physiology), and his earlier idea of milieu interieur that he proposed to replace vitalistic ideas about the body.[6] However, both the notions of homeostasis and milieu interieur are ones concerned with how the body's physiology regulates itself through multiple mechanical equilibrium adjustment feedbacks rather than nonmechanistic life forces.

Relation to Evolutionary medicine

More recently, evolutionary medicine has identified many medical symptoms such as fever, inflammation, sickness behavior, and morning sickness as evolved adaptations that function as darwinian medicatrix naturae due to their selection as means to protect, heal, or restore the injured, infected or physiologically disrupted body.[7]

References

  1. ^ Hiroshi, H. (1998) "On Vis medicatrix naturae and Hippocratic Idea of Physis" Memoirs of School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Kanazawa University 22:45-54 [1]
  2. ^ Grube, C. M. A (1954) “Greek medicine and the Greek genius” Phonix 8 123-135 JSTOR
  3. ^ a b Neuburger, M. (1944) "An Historical Survey of the Concept of Nature from a Medical Viewpoint" Isis 35 (1): 16–28 [2]
  4. ^ Neuberger, M. (1932) 'The doctrine of the healing power of nature throughout the course of time'. Homeopathy College New York. OCLC 10366814
  5. ^ a b Bynum, W. F. (2001) "Nature's helping hand " Nature 414 (21): 21 PubMed
  6. ^ a b Cross, S. T. Albury, W. R. (1987) "Walter B. Cannon, L. J. Henderson, and the Organic Analogy" Osiris 3:165-192 page 175 [3]
  7. ^ Nesse, R. M. Williams, G. C. (1994) 'Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine' Vintage Books New York ISBN 0-679-74674-9

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • vis medicatrix naturae — foreign term Etymology: Latin the healing power of nature …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • vis medicatrix naturae — noun The ability of the body to heal itself without intervention …   Wiktionary

  • vis medicatrix naturae — …   Useful english dictionary

  • Vis vitalis — Die Vorstellung einer Lebenskraft wurde als Gesundheits und Krankheitskonzeption von Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland Ende des 18. und Anfang des 19. Jahrhunderts differenziert beschrieben. Hufeland nahm Elemente aus dem Animismus oder Psychodynamismus …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Remedy — (Roget s Thesaurus) < N PARAG:Remedy >N GRP: N 1 Sgm: N 1 remedy remedy help redress Sgm: N 1 anthelmintic anthelmintic Sgm: N 1 antidote antidote antifebrile antipoison counterpoison antitoxin antispasmodic …   English dictionary for students

  • ЛИХОРАДКА — ЛИХОРАДКА, сложный комплекс явлений в организме, характеризующийся гл. обр. расстройством теплорегуляции и повышением t° тела. Из этого определения явствует, что повышение t° при Л. является собственно говоря лишь главным, наиболее… …   Большая медицинская энциклопедия

  • Lebenskraft — Die Vorstellung einer Lebenskraft wurde als Gesundheits und Krankheitskonzeption von Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland Ende des 18. und Anfang des 19. Jahrhunderts differenziert beschrieben. Hufeland nahm Elemente aus dem „Animismus“ oder… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Vitalität — Die Vorstellung einer Lebenskraft wurde als Gesundheits und Krankheitskonzeption von Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland Ende des 18. und Anfang des 19. Jahrhunderts differenziert beschrieben. Hufeland nahm Elemente aus dem Animismus oder Psychodynamismus …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Vitalism — This article is about the non mechanist philosophy. For other uses, see vital (disambiguation). Vitalism, as defined by the Merriam Webster dictionary,[1] is a doctrine that the functions of a living organism are due to a vital principle distinct …   Wikipedia

  • Hippocrates — Infobox Person name =Hippocrates of Kos (Greek: polytonic|Ἱπποκράτης) image size = 240px caption = Engraving by Peter Paul Rubens, 1638, courtesy of the National Library of Medicine. [ Harvnb|National Library of Medicine|2006 ] birth date = ca.… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”