Galen acknowledged only the four qualities of Aristotle, but for the sake of completion, and better clinical work, we need also to include the two basic conditions described by his opponents, the methodist physicians: too much tension (status strictus) or too much relaxation (status laxus). The four qualities represent fixed, oppositional imbalances, while the two states represent dynamic imbalances due to change or exhaustion. Putting them altogether we have a system of six types, which corresponds to the system of six “tissue states” introduced by the physiomedicalists, or botanical physicians (the descendants of Samuel Thomson) in the early twentieth century. Putting these two systems together we have the following six conditions of imbalance.

Heat/Excitation

Wind/Constriction

Dry/Atrophy

Damp/Relaxation

Damp/Stagnation

Cold/Depression

Organ Systems

This is a subject which is too grand to take up in a short lecture or paper, but the main point is that we want to understand how the entire organ system works, not just the parts in their isolated molecular glory. Thus, for instance, we want to know that a lack of saliva and dry mouth will be associated with poor secretion in the stomach, tension, food sitting and rotting, gas, intestinal colic, poor digestion, and weight loss. If the urine is concentrated and dark we think of coolants and relaxants, if copious and pale, we think of astringents and sometimes stimulants. We do not think of the specific pathways in the liver, but of the general function of detoxification and rebuilding of food/toxins, and so we use metabolic stimulants or alteratives – the Greek word for metabolism was “alteration.”

To give an example of differentiation in the treatment of a single organ: we do not just understand high blood pressure in isolation, but in relationship to general wrongs in the organism. Thus, the BP associated with beta-blockers calls for relaxants to the nervous system. When associated with ACE inhibitors and diuretics we need salt-balancing remedies that retain potassium and strengthen the kidneys. When statins are prescribed there is an indication, not only need for exercise and dietary restraint, but for better oils, prostaglandins, and herbal blood thinners.

The following is just a short list of organ-affinities:

Brain (wood betony)
Neck and spine (blue vervain, black cohosh)
Throat glands/lymphatics (cleavers, calendula, scrophularia, poke, ceanothus)
Ears (lady’s mantle, ground ivy, pulsatilla)
Eyes (eyebright, goldenrod, pulsatilla)
Throat passages (marshmallow, elecampane, sage, propolis)
Trachea (calamus)
Bronchial tubes (garlic, Easter lily, elecampane)
Lungs (elecampane, coltsfoot, mullein, pine, usnea, white hoarhound)
Heart (hawthorn, cayenne, linden flower)
Vasculature (collinsonia, horse chestnut, oak bark, black walnut)
Blood (cayenne, sassafras, yarrow)
Stomach (meadowsweet, wood betony, lemon balm)
Intestines (yellow dock root, rhubarb, plantain, butternut)
Kidneys (sumach, pipsissewa, nettles, string beans)
Bladder (monarda, corn silk, yarrow, buchu)
Adrenal cortex (burdock, licorice, Siberian ginseng, spikenard)
Thyroid (lemon balm, black walnut, cleavers, chickweed)
Pituitary (pulsatilla, vitex)
Sex glands and hormones (white peony, black cohosh, angelica, shepherd’s purse, blue vervain, raspberry, mitchella, blessed thistle, mugwort, Easter lily, white hoarhound)
Nerves (lemon balm, oatseed, skullcap)
Muscles (lady’s mantle, shepherd’s purse)
Connective tissue (true and false Solomon’s seal, horsetail)
Bone (boneset, comfrey, true Solomon’s seal, nettles, horsetail)

Government from Center to Circumference

The hypothalamus is the “master gland” of the endocrine system. It regulates the internal temperature and fluid levels through sensors, the autonomic nervous system, hormones, and feedback loops. It also regulates the periphery in the same manner – the “vents” of the exterior open and shut to keep the internal temperature constant. This includes the sweat glands, capillaries, sebaceous glands, and “shivering mechanism.” When the body is overheated the sweat glands open up to release sweat, which cools the body as it vaporizes off the surface; it opens the peripheral capillaries to release heat to the surface. When the body is overcooled it elicits the shivering mechanism to generate heat, and if the body is cold and damp the oily sweat is poured out to coat the skin and retain heat. The healthy surface temperature is slightly lower (98.6º) than the interior (100º) so there is always a gentle flow from interior to exterior.

Samuel Thomson realized that the organism was like a “fountain” and that it flowed from interior to exterior, bringing in a sense nutriment, heat, and life to all corners of the body, while it was protected from the cold and exterior by the skin or periphery. If the internal heat died down the organism was not able to defend the periphery and cold, blockage, and disease crept in. Likewise, if the exterior was too weak cold and blockage burst there way in forcefully and attacked the internal heat. Thus, the object of medicine was to maintain the heat in the center, the flow to the periphery, and the integrity of the defensive system at the perimeter. This gives us a model to understand the self-regulation and orderliness of the organism.

Galen classified herbs according to whether they opened, closed, moved up or down, thinned or thickened. Here are a few pointers.