This much   awaited   book.   continues  on  from   the  groundbreaking books, An Insight  Into    Plants: Volume I and II,  It  presents  exploration   of  the   vital sensations  for six more plant  families and for   the Fungi kingdom.  The presence of many illustrative     cases   from Dr. Sankaran’s practice and from colleagues worldwide confirms and adds   dimensions to many remedies.

This book is divided into three parts.

Part one  contains  more cases from  the  plant   families  of the previous two volumes,  It  provide,   more elaboration   and  deeper    understanding of  the   remedies already categorized  under the  chart of  remedies  versus miasm.

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Part two of   this    book,    features      the   derivation of vital    sensation, misams and illustrative cases, differentiation and source/ alert words for :

• Brassicaceae / Cruciferae
• Carnivorous plants
• Fungi (Kingdom)
• Piperaceae
• Rosaceae
• Rutaceae

The third part of the  book  incorporates   various tables including    the   latest   table on vital sensation  and  miasm of plant remedies.

A new feature of this volume is the inclusion of photographs for  each   family  so as give the  reader  a closer  feel for  particular plants.

Book Reviews – Homoeopathic Links –  1 – 2/2008, Page : 101
Reviewed by Harry van der Zee, Netherlands

Corrie Hiwat’s review of “An Insight into Plants Volume I and II” (published in LINKS volume 15 issue 3/2002, page 169) discussed the outlay of the series. The volume under review here was published earlier this year. For an understanding of the philosophy and practice behind this series the reader is recommended to read “The Sensation in Homoeopathy” by the same author.

If you take yourself seriously as a homeo­path and if you want to keep in touch with the direction in which homeopathy is de­veloping, you cannot ignore Rajan Sankaran’s work and the increasing number of books he has written. Throughout the years there has been a clear line of development evident in his books; among them the three volumes of “An Insight into Plants” form a set of handbooks every homeopath should have close to hand.

Many homeopaths all over the world have worked for several years now with Rajan’s concept of the Vital Sensation and with his interview technique and case analysis of reaching to the Vital Sensation in their pa­tients; the first two volumes of “An Insight into Plants” have proven to be of value in finding a remedy from the plant kingdom if indicated.

To the twenty-one plant families discussed in the first two volumes this third volume adds five more (Brassicaceae/Cruciferae, Dioscoreaceae, Piperaceae, Rosaceae, Ruta- ceae), as well as one kingdom (Fungi) and one group (carnivorous plants).

In Julia Schiller’s excellent article “An Insight into Taxonomy” in LINKS volume 18 issue 4/2005 she challenges Rajan to improve on his work, among others things by incorporating more input from the homeo­pathic community. Showing that these vol­umes indeed are a work in progress, Rajan has entered many new cases of the previ­ously discussed families from a wide variety of internationally well-known homeopaths.

These cases partially confirm the ideas expressed in the earlier volumes, but also help improving the understanding of the families and have allowed the addition of some plants filling some of the gaps in the earlier tables of families and miasms. At other levels too, Rajan responds in this new volume to Julia’s constructive criticism of the two earlier volumes.

Whether or not taxonomy purely based on genetics should be the basis for forming homeopathic families of remedies remains a valid question. In the way Rajan has formed his families he to some extent already took the liberty of deviating from strict taxonomical rules, which 1 think is a practical and valid approach. His group of insect­eating plants, for instance, consists of five plants coming from four different families.

There are many ways to constitute families of practical use to homeopaths. Within the plant and animal kingdom genetics is only one, biotopes that transcend not only the borders of families but also of kingdoms are another.

To save homeopaths from having to leaf through three volumes in one’s daily prac­tice, this third volume includes tables in the appendices that include all families in­vestigated so far, together with four new ones (Araceae, Ericaceae, Piperaceae, The- ales) that are apparently under construction.

The Chart of Plant Classification by Jorg Wichmann, as the last appendix, makes clear that not only Rajan, but all of us dedicated to further exploring the width and depth of the homeopathic materia medica still have a long way to go in gaining insight into plants.[/read]