is a major component of traditional Chinese (and
other Asian) medicine and Ayurveda, traditional
Hindu and Indian medicine.
See also AYURVEDA; NATIVE AMERICAN MEDICINE;
TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE.
herbal wraps Cloth or another substance such as
seaweed saturated with herbal preparations and
applied to the body for therapeutic and cosmetic
purposes. Herbal wraps may be used to counteract
excess body fluid or fat (e.g., cellulite), aching mus-
cles, and dry or distressed skin and to provide con-
current relaxation and aromatherapy.
herbs, Ayurvedic See AYURVEDA.
Hering’s Law of Cure A homeopathic theory
developed by Dr. Constantine Hering (in some
sources spelled Herring), one of the founders of the
American homeopathic movement, that “the cura-
tive process moves from within outward, from the
more important to the less important organs, in the
reverse order of the onset of the symptoms, and
from above downward.” Rudolph M. Ballentine,
M.D., writes in Radical Healing(Harmony Books,
New York, 1996): “A patient with asthma may find
that as his lungs clear, his skin breaks out. Physi-
cians of the old school like to call asthma ‘eczema
on the inside... .’ The reason it’s a move in the
direction of cure is that the lungs are more vital
than the skin. As we get stronger, we tend to push
the disorder out toward the surface. This is the
opposite of suppression.... We express the disor-
der the way dirty water is expressed from a sponge.
... Herring’s Law of Cure, as it is called, also stipu-
lates that as you move toward better health, old
symptoms will return in reverse order of their orig-
inal appearance. When the asthma goes away, the
eczema returns.”
See also HAHNEMANN, SAMUEL C. F.; HOMEOPATHY.
Hippocrates Greek physician of the fifth century
(ca. 460–ca. 377 B.C.), considered “the father of
modern medicine.” In harmony with traditional
medical practices throughout the world as well as
with contemporary alternative and complementary
medical practices, Hippocrates’ major tenets are
that physicians should observe all, evaluate hon-
estly, assist nature, work for the good of the
patient, treat the whole person and not simply the
illness, and, above all, do no harm. In addition,
modern chiropractic employs Hippocrates’ idea
that all illness stems from anomalies of the spine.
In Hippocrates’ writings, he described the symp-
toms of many illnesses and embraced the idea that
certain foods could cause what has now long been
established as allergic reaction.
Hippocrates, the son of a physician, traveled and
practiced medicine extensively in Greece and Asia
Minor; taught at the medical school in Cos, Greece,
the island on which he was born; and wrote and/or
collected material (some scholars believe that some
of the writings in the collection were by his disci-
ples, or Hippocratists, and possibly other authors)
for works known as Corpus Hippocraticum(the Hip-
pocratic collection). The collection consists of
anatomy, physiology, medical ethics, general
pathology and descriptions of clinical subjects,
gynecology and obstetrics, diseases of children,
mental illness, prognosis, treatment by diet and
drugs, and surgery. The collection—approximately
72 books and 59 treatises—was assembled in the
fourth century B.C.at the great Library in Alexan-
dria, Egypt, which was intended by the ruling
Ptolemies to be the site of the entire scope of
human knowledge.
The Hippocratic oath, widely associated with and
credited to the teachings of Hippocrates but not nec-
essarily his exact concept, is an ethical code and a
pledge taken by nurses, physicians, and other
health professionals at graduation, marking the
beginning of their professional careers. The oath
serves as a guide to appropriate behavior and intent,
particularly that health care professionals help or at
least do no harm to the patient or family, honor
confidentiality, and act with purity and discretion.holistic medicine A discipline of Western medi-
cine that incorporates some theories of Eastern and
other medicines and the recognition of the patient
as both a physiological and a psychological being.
Holistic practitioners believe that psychological fac-
tors affect well-being and disease processes. They
employ various techniques, including relaxation,
guided imagery and visualization, and hypnosis,
along with conventional methods of treatmentholistic medicine 55