This book represents a summary of the methods of Dr. Jean Elmiger, a French MD homeopath. While I am very glad that Dr. Elmiger chose to write about his method I have somewhat mixed feelings about the book itself.
On the positive side it is one of a very few number of books discussing the use of isopathy (isotherapy) in the treatment of chronic disease. Isopathy is the use of the same substance that caused a disease to treat that disease. The substances are "potentized" in the same way that homeopathic remedies are potentized, i.e. through repeated dilution and sucussion (strong agitation). Isopathy is a kind of unsung hero in natural medicine and, I believe, deserves more attention from alternative practitioners.
On the negative side, while the author gives a lot of theoretical and philosophical information about his therapy and claims great success, he is often somewhat vague about the details of the therapy as well as the results he claims to obtain. This fact makes the book an interesting intellectual or philosophical exercise but provides almost no useful information for the reader who is looking for help with a health condition and is not well versed in homeopathy and isopathy. Short of traveling to Switzerland to have some appointments with Dr. Elmiger I don't think they will get much help here. For a health practitioner looking to expand their repertoire the book is also lacking in detail unless one already has a fairly advanced knowledge of homeopathy and isopathy. If one does have a good knowledge of these subjects, I believe it is possible to extrapolate the details from the text and fill in some gaps with other sources.
Having said that, I think this and other similar approaches hold great promise for restoration of health in chronic disease. As a naturopathic doctor I have used homeopathy and isopathy for years and seen many wonderful results. Results that cannot be achieved with other therapies such as nutrition and herbal medicine. The "alternative" doctors in Europe have continued to evolve and experiment with the uses of homeopathy in ways that haven't really begun to be understood in the U.S. While his book might not be a great exposition of his work, I think pioneers like Dr. Elmiger deserve our attention. In the end, I suspect that the limitations of this book lie in the fact that Dr. Elmiger is really a dedicated physician and not a writer.
