chaos theory for lay people? [was MDMD(4) p.123 small re-write]

[Thomas Eckhardt]

At 13:17 31.07.1997 -0400, Sojourner wrote:

>Kind Sir, as you are in Germany, perhaps you can translate this to
>some enlightenment:

Enlightenment? I belong to the counterforce! (No, not really...)

>Der Entwickler der Klassischen Homöopathie, Samuel Hahnemann 
>(1755 - 1843) benutzte diesen Begriff zunächst auch in diesem Sinne, 
>wenn er z. B. von den "akuten Miasmen" spricht oder von 
>"festständigen Krankheiten" ="festständigen Miasmen" wie etwa bei 
>Masern, Scharlach etc. Er war einer der ersten, denen bewußt war, daß 
>die Krätze und die Cholera von kleinen Tierchen - in der Sprache der 
>Zeit  ->>--"ANIMALCULA" -<<-- übertragen werden. Dennoch maß 
>er dem materiellen Erreger bei der Entstehung von Krankheiten nicht 
>die entscheidende Rolle zu. Im Zentrum seiner Betrachtungen stand 
>stets die "dynamisch verstimmte Lebenskraft". 
>

I will attempt a rough translation: 

The developer of classical homeopathy, Samuel Hahnemann, (1755 - 1843) also
used this term at first with the said meaning. For example when he talks
about "acute miasms" or "fixed illnesses" = "fixed miasms", as for example
in the case of "measles", "scarlet fever" etc. He was among the first who
were conscious of the fact that scabies and cholera are communicated by
small animals - ANIMALCULA in the language of the time. Nevertheless, he did
not attribute a decisive function to the material (my dictionary says:)
pathogen (or: causative organism) as far as the development of an illness
was concerned. Instead, his reflections focussed upon the "dynamically
dissonant force of life".

The German is a bit strange, too...

This fits in nicely with Mason's suspicious thoughts on page 205: "If
Christ's body could enter Bread, then what else might?" And if Christ is
life, then Animalcula, according to the above passage, is more or less
closely related to death...

"Inedible manna fell on their children's tongues"
Derek Walcott, "Omeros"


Thomas Eckhardt


                             The clouds didn't look like cotton,
                             they didn't even look like clouds.

                             Townes Van Zandt