The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Anthroposophical Foundations of Pharmacology III

[ 1 ] If we continue to make progress in viewing the human organism in the way that—much to my regret—I have been able only to hint at, then certain aspects will become important precisely for assessing healthy and sick people—aspects that are otherwise not properly recognized in their fullness. Even today, for example, very little attention is paid to what I attempted to call the threefold structure of the human physical being in the appendix to my book *Mysteries of the Soul*. Nevertheless, a great deal—both in terms of the pathological and the therapeutic—depends on a correct understanding of this threefold structure of the physical human being.

[ 2 ] This threefold division of the physical human being is meant to indicate that everything that constitutes the nervous-sensory system must be regarded as primarily located in the head; however, it goes without saying that this organization of the head then extends throughout the entire human being, so that, for example, everything in the human skin—as well as within the human organism—that must be designated as a nervous-sensory function is certainly part of it. However, with regard to the modes of action within the human organism, one cannot arrive at a well-founded view unless one first theoretically distinguishes the nervous-sensory system from the rest of the organism.

[ 3 ] As a second system, I then distinguished the human rhythmic system, which encompasses everything in the body that is subject to a rhythm, that is, primarily, of course, the respiratory system in connection with the circulatory system, and also, in a broader sense, that rhythm which applies to human beings at least in essence—even if they can often disrupt it—such as the day-night rhythm, the rhythm of sleeping and waking, and all other rhythmic processes, including those involved in food intake and so on. These latter aspects are, of course, disrupted by human beings; however, what results from this disruption must in turn be balanced in a certain way by regulatory mechanisms found within the organism. Thus, we must regard the rhythmic human being as the second component of the human organism, and the metabolic organism as the third component—to which I also include the limb organism, because what takes place functionally through the movement of the limbs is intimately connected with metabolism in general.

[ 4 ] If we take this threefold division of the human being, we come to the conclusion that what I have referred to this morning as the organization of the human being—which is primarily connected to the “I”—has a certain relationship to the metabolic human being, but precisely to the extent that this metabolic human being extends throughout the entire human being. And in turn, the rhythmic human being has a certain relationship to what I referred to this morning as the heart-lung system. And in turn, what I referred to this morning as kidney function—originating from the kidney system—has a certain relationship to what I referred to this morning as the astral organization of the human being. In short, the threefold human being has a certain relationship to the individual members of the supersensible human nature and thus also to the individual organ systems, as I explained this morning. But we must now examine these relationships in greater detail if they are to have any real value for understanding the healthy and sick human being, and it is probably best to begin with the rhythmic human being, with the rhythmic organization of the human being.

[ 5 ] It is precisely this rhythmic organization of the human being that is very often not properly appreciated with regard to a very specific characteristic, namely, the relationship that emerges between the rhythm of blood circulation and the rhythm of breathing. In adults, this ratio is, in fact, nearly four to one. Of course, this is only an approximate, average ratio, and it is precisely in the way this entire ratio manifests itself specifically for each individual human being that something is expressed regarding the degree of health and illness present in the human organism. And what appears to us in this rhythmic human being as a ratio of four to one actually extends to the entire human being. And we have—we can certainly verify this, as I said this morning regarding other matters, through a series of tangible, empirical facts—a ratio of four to one with regard to the development of the metabolic human—to which the limb human belongs—I say “the metabolic human” for the sake of simplicity—in relation to the nervous-sensory human. This ratio extends to the point where we can indeed say: Everything connected with human metabolism takes place in its processes at approximately four times the speed of everything that results from the nervous-sensory organization for human growth. We can even say: In a child’s second set of teeth—that is, the emergence of the second set of teeth—we see an expression of what is taking place in the human metabolic system, in a sense because this metabolic system is constantly interacting with the nervous-sensory system, but that everything which then flows from the human metabolic system into the middle, rhythmic system—that is, what flows from the nervous-sensory system into the rhythmic system—occurs at a ratio of four to one in terms of tempo. To be precise, it is as follows: We can see in the respiratory system the rhythmic continuation of the nervous-sensory system, and we can see in the circulatory system the rhythmic continuation of the metabolic system. We can say: The metabolic system, so to speak, sends its effects upward into the rhythmic human being—that is, from the third member of the human organism into the second member—which is expressed through the rhythm of blood circulation in daily life. The nervous-sensory system sends its effects into the respiratory system, and this is expressed through the rhythm of breathing. Thus, in the rhythmic human being—in whom we can observe a ratio of four to one (some seventy heartbeats to eighteen breaths)— we have, so to speak, the collision of the nervous-sensory system and the metabolic system in the ratio of their rhythms; and this, as I said, we can still observe at any stage of a person’s life when we consider the relationship between everything that originates from metabolism in human processes and that which emanates from the head system—the nervous-sensory system. This is an extraordinarily important relationship. And we can say quite plainly: During a child’s second set of teeth, we see a surge of the metabolic system up into the head, but in such a way that, when the metabolic system encounters the nervous-sensory system, the nervous-sensory system initially predominates.

[ 6 ] This will become clear to you immediately from the following discussions. We can therefore say: When a child gets its second set of teeth around the age of seven, this represents a convergence of the metabolic system and the nervous-sensory system—but in such a way that the influence of the nervous-sensory system predominates, and the resultant of this convergence—in a sense, these are the components emanating from the nervous-sensory system and the metabolic system— the resultant is what then leads to the development of the permanent teeth.

[ 7 ] Once again, during the stage of life that brings about human sexual maturity, we see a renewed clash between the metabolic system and the nervous-sensory system. But now the metabolic system prevails and predominates, which is expressed, for example, in males by the fact that even the voice—which up to this age had essentially been a form of expression of the nervous-sensory system—changes as the metabolic system, so to speak, takes over and makes the voice more muffled. We can understand these effects by observing how much of them stems, on the one hand, from those radiations within the human organism that originate in the renal system and the liver-bile system in the manner indicated today, and, on the other hand, from the head and skin organizations—that is, essentially from what underlies the nervous-sensory system. This is an extraordinarily interesting relationship, something that, one might say, leads into the deepest depths of the human organism. It is such that one can almost create a mental image of the formation and shaping of the organism in such a way that radiations emanate from—let us say—the kidney-liver system, which are met by the plastic impressions of the head system. And if one were to sketch schematically what is happening there, one would have to draw it like this (it is drawn). One would have to say: Such radiations emanate from the liver-kidney system—not only upward, of course, but in all directions—and these radiations tend to act in a semi-radial manner, but they are blunted everywhere by the plastic formations that meet them from the head system. Thus, we understand the form of the lung by conceiving its shape as plastically formed from the liver-kidney system, but with components from the head system coming toward it to round it off. The entire human form, in fact, comes into being through our thinking: radial formation from the kidney-liver system, and the rounding off of this radial formation from the head system.

[ 8 ] In this way, we arrive at the extraordinarily important fact—which can be empirically substantiated in every detail—that two components of force are at work in human organization, particularly in human growth: those force components that originate in the liver-kidney system, and those force components that round out the forms they shape—that give them their surface—these components that originate in the nervous-sensory system. Both components interact, but they do not interact at the same rhythm; they interact at different rhythms. Everything that originates from the liver-kidney system has the rhythm of the metabolic human. And everything that originates from the head system has precisely the rhythm of the nervous-sensory human. This means that when a person is ready, through their organization, to get their permanent teeth around the age of seven, then in his metabolic organization—in everything that emanates from the kidney-liver system and which is, so to speak, driven by that rhythm, which is the heart rhythm—he is subject to a rhythm that stands in a ratio of four to one to the other rhythm coming toward him from the head. So that, with regard to the head’s organization, a person is not actually as far along by the twenty-eighth year of life as they are at age seven with regard to their metabolic organization. This means that the plastic principle in humans progresses more slowly than the radiating, non-plastic principle. The plastic principle progresses four times as slowly. This is related to the fact that, with regard to what arises from our metabolism, we are at the end of the seventh year roughly as far along as we are—with regard to our overall growth, insofar as it is governed by the nervous-sensory system—only by the twenty-eighth year of life. Thus, the human being is a complex being in that two currents—two currents of movement—are actually at work within him, each governed by a completely different rhythm. And so we can say, for example, that this second set of teething arises because what is connected to metabolism initially comes into contact with the slower but more intense plastic principle, so that in the teething process we have a predominance of the plastic element. During the period of sexual maturity, the metabolic element predominates; the plastic element, so to speak, recedes, which is expressed in the male sex through the well-known phenomenon.

[ 9 ] However, other aspects of human organization are connected to this. All of this is linked to the fact that, in reality, the greatest likelihood of a person becoming ill essentially falls within the period of life up to the second set of teeth—and in such a way that the greatest likelihood of becoming ill occurs in the very earliest stage of life. Then, with the second set of teeth, a person’s inner predisposition to illness essentially ceases. Studying this relationship in detail was, in fact, required of me by the pedagogy we were required to study. For one cannot, in fact, establish a rational pedagogy without these foundational principles regarding healthy and sick human beings. In fact, due to their inner nature, human beings are at their healthiest during the second stage of life, from the change of teeth to sexual maturity. Then a new stage begins for them in which they fall ill quite easily. Now, falling ill during the first stage of life up to the change of teeth is, fundamentally speaking, something entirely different from falling ill after sexual maturity. These two ways of falling ill are, I would say, as different as the eruption of permanent teeth is from the change in a boy’s voice. This is because, during the first stage of life up to the change of teeth, everything in a child originates from the nervous-sensory system and extends to the outermost peripheries of the human organism. In fact, everything originates in the nervous-sensory system. The nervous-sensory system, which still predominates at the time of tooth replacement, is the source from which the pathological phenomena in the first stage of human life also arise. And you will arrive at a comprehensive understanding of these pathological phenomena—if I may put it that way—when you look at the matter in this light, when you say to yourselves: It is quite clear here that what radiates from the kidney-liver system is, so to speak, dulled—plastically dulled—by the plasticizing principle of the nerve-sensory human being, and within this plasticizing element of the nerve-sense human, what I have described in these lectures as connected to the human ego-organization and to the human astral organization now acts preeminently.

[ 10 ] You see, it is strange that I used to have to say that the “I” organization originates in the liver-bile system, that the astral organization originates in the kidney system, and that I now have to say: Everything connected with the “I” organization and the astral organization originates from the head organization. For one can never come to terms with the human organization in all its immense complexity if one describes things in such a simplistic way—that is, by saying: “The ‘I’ organization originates from the liver-bile system, the astral organization originates from the liver-kidney system”—and then stops there. One must be clear about the fact that in the first stage of human life, up to the time of the change of teeth, these radiations from the liver and kidney systems are dulled by the nervous-sensory system, and that this dulling is the essential point—that is, what comes to the human ego and astral organization from the liver-bile system and the kidney system curiously manifests as a counter-radiation, not in its direct path from bottom to top, but rather from top to bottom in its counter-radiation. And we actually have the entire childhood organization such that we must create a mental image: the astral radiates from the renal system, the “I” organization radiates from the hepatic system, but these radiations have no significance; rather, the hepatic system is, so to speak, reflected by the head system, the renal system is reflected by the head system, and only the reflection back into the organism appears as the active principle. So you must ask yourself: How do I observe the astral organization in the child? — I observe the astral organization in the child by observing the effects of the kidneys, but as they are reflected back from the head system. How do I view the ego organization in the child? — By observing the liver and gallbladder functions, but as they are reflected back from the head system. And the actual physical system and the etheric system—they act from the bottom up: the physical organization, with its point of origin in the digestive system, and the etheric organization, originating from the heart-lung system. These act from the bottom up, and the others from the top down during the first epoch of human life; and the radiation from the bottom up is influenced by that rhythm which stands in a ratio of four to one to the radiation from the top down.

[ 11 ] It is a pity that I must only briefly allude to this, but what I am now hinting at actually holds the key to understanding the processes of childhood. So that if you wish to study the most conspicuous childhood illnesses, you can divide them into two groups, and you must arrive at the following conclusion: When you study the most conspicuous childhood illnesses, you will find that, on the one hand, they are based on the fact that what radiates from the bottom upward is met by what radiates from the top downward in a four-to-one rhythm, but that no balance is achieved. And when that which has the rhythm of four—that which still radiates upward from below—is the very thing that refuses to integrate into the human individuality, while the inherited rhythm of the head organization, with a rhythm of one, is actually in order, then all those diseases arise that we find in the child’s organism, and which are nevertheless metabolic diseases, but metabolic diseases that arise precisely from a blockage against the nervous-sensory system, so that the metabolism cannot adapt appropriately to what radiates from the nervous-sensory system, and we get, for example—I can only cite examples—that peculiar blood disorder in children that leads to a kind of purulent blood. We also see all other childhood illnesses in this way, which we can indeed describe as metabolic disorders. If, on the other hand, the metabolic organism is adapted to the child’s individuality—and, in particular, if hygienic conditions are reasonable, so that the child is properly adapted to its environment—that is, if the child is given proper nourishment—but if, due to certain hereditary factors, the nervous-sensory system—which acts from top to bottom and whose effects influence the emanations of the liver-bile system and the renal system— then all the convulsive childhood illnesses arise, which we must say are due to the fact that the ego organization and the astral organization cannot properly integrate into the physical and etheric organizations.

[ 12 ] Thus, the illnesses of the child’s organism arise from two opposing sides. But it is always the case that we can only address these illnesses of the child’s organism by directing our attention to the organization of the head and the nervous-sensory system. For, fundamentally, we must also shape the child’s metabolism in such a way that it adapts not only to external conditions but also to the nervous-sensory system. During this early stage of human life, up to the time of tooth replacement, it is essential that we develop a thorough understanding of the human nervous-sensory system—a practical understanding—and that we truly ensure that everything in the child radiates from the head organization, with the metabolism only coming to the fore because it is in order and the head organization might be too weak due to hereditary factors.

[ 13 ] When the second phase of a person’s life begins—the period from the change of teeth to sexual maturity—it is the rhythmic organism itself from which everything radiates. And the astral and etheric organizations of the human being play an essential role in this process. Between the change of teeth and sexual maturity, everything that the respiratory and circulatory systems perform in their functions radiates into the astral and etheric organizations of the human being. Because these systems can actually be kept in order from the outside, the human being is at the healthiest during this stage of life due to his or her own organization. We can actually do great harm to the health of schoolchildren of compulsory elementary school age if we subject them to poor hygienic and sanitary conditions, whereas in the first stage of life we cannot provide for them in the same way from the outside. This is what imposes such an immense responsibility with regard to the medical aspect of education—that one can know with absolute certainty, based on a genuine understanding of human nature: You are essentially responsible for the causes of illness that primarily arise between the ages of seven and fourteen. So especially during the age of compulsory elementary schooling, the human being is not actually self-sufficient, but adapts to their environment through their breathing—precisely by inhaling air and through what is expressed in their circulation via metabolism. Metabolism is always connected to the organization of the limbs. If children are not allowed to do proper physical education or get proper exercise, one fosters external causes of illness. This is what forms the foundation for the study of a truly sound elementary school pedagogy. All conditions, including teaching conditions, must be arranged in such a way that this is taken into account.

[ 14 ] You see, that’s not what our time does. You can see this from the following: In so-called experimental psychology—which, in a certain sense, is something magnificent; I can certainly appreciate its significance—one of the sins, among others, is, for example, the notion that: “If the child has these kinds of lessons, it gets this tired, and if the child has other kinds of lessons, it gets that tired”—and so on. And from this, they conclude how the curriculum should be designed, based on the levels of fatigue they’ve determined in this way. Yes, the question is posed entirely incorrectly; it must be posed differently. From the age of seven to fourteen, thank God, we are dealing only with the rhythmic human being, who, in principle, does not tire at all. For if he were to tire, our heart, for example, could not carry out its movements while we sleep, throughout our entire earthly lifetime. Likewise, our breathing movements are carried out without fatigue. So if someone says they must take into account what manifests as greater or lesser fatigue in an experiment, they would have to conclude that they have actually done something wrong if that occurs. Our ideal must be, between the ages of seven and fourteen, not to focus primarily on the head system at all, but rather on the rhythmic system. We do this when we shape our education artistically. In doing so, we influence the rhythmic system, and we will see that we are correcting precisely what is currently being researched—the conditions of fatigue resulting from incorrect teaching. For example, even by placing an incorrect strain on the memory—albeit in a subtle way—one can still exert an influence on the respiratory movements that only becomes apparent at a later age. When the child reaches sexual maturity and beyond, the opposite is true. Here, once again, we encounter what I would describe as potential causes of disease within the human being themselves—namely, within their own metabolic and limb-organ system—arising from the fact that the substances they consume as food assert their own laws; and here we are dealing with a predominant influence of the physical and etheric organisms on the human constitution.

[ 15 ] Thus, in the child’s organism, we are dealing—indirectly through the nervous-sensory system—with the ego organization and the astral organization; during the period from the change of teeth to sexual maturity, primarily with the influence of the astral and etheric organizations, but originating from the rhythmic system. After puberty, we are dealing with the predominance of the physical and etheric organizations, originating from the metabolic-limb system. And we see how pathology thoroughly confirms this. I need only cite the typical diseases of the female sex; we see how the actual metabolic diseases emerge from within the human being precisely after puberty, so that we can now say: Metabolism predominates. It is this metabolic process that overpowers the nervous-sensory organization, rather than harmonizing with it properly. So if we take the child before the change of teeth, we have a false predominance of the nervous-sensory system; when we have childhood diseases, then the healthy phase between the change of teeth and puberty; and after puberty: the predominance of the metabolic-limb organism with its faster rhythm. This faster rhythm is then expressed in everything related to metabolic deposits, which form simply because the plastic organization of the head does not meet them in the proper way—so that, in a sense, what emanates from the metabolism pushes its way to the fore under all circumstances.

[ 16 ] I am extremely sorry that I can only present these ideas in a cursory, aphoristic manner. But what I would like is for at least the guiding principles to be stated, so that it becomes clear that function must be regarded as the primary factor in human beings, and that, fundamentally, formations and deformations must be derived from this function. Externally, this is expressed by the fact that plastic development has a particularly strong effect in children up to the age of seven. The organs are shaped to such an extent by the nervous-sensory system that we can say, for example: What takes place in the formation of the teeth up to the time of tooth replacement is never repeated again. In contrast, everything that is accomplished in terms of the metabolism’s permeation of the organism actually enters a completely new phase only when, with the onset of sexual maturity, a portion of the metabolism is transferred to the reproductive organs, thereby transforming the metabolism entirely into a different constitution.

[ 17 ] It is now extremely important to methodically examine these matters—which I have so far only touched upon—in all their details, and one will then be able to organize the results obtained in this way into a truly scientific framework by summarizing them together with the concepts I outlined at the end of this morning’s lecture, and by relating them once again to the world’s activity outside of the human being.

[ 18 ] Everything that radiates in this complex way—as I have indicated—from the renal system and the hepatic system can now be addressed simply by inducing changes within them from the outside. One can address it by adhering to what can be observed in the plant—namely, the growth principles, so to speak, that stem more from the previous year or years, and those that stem from the immediate present. Let us return once more to the plant. From the root all the way up to the ovary, up to seed formation, we actually have something that is old for the plant—something from the previous year. And in what develops specifically around the petals, we have what is present. We see an interplay between the present and the past in the formation of the green leaves. The past and the present are, in fact, united there as two components into a single resultant. Now, in nature, everything relates to one another, just as everything in the human organism relates to one another in the complex way I have indicated. One must simply learn to recognize the pathways of these relationships. Everything in nature is interconnected, and if we wish to trace these relationships—which are evident in the plant—in a simpler schematic, so to speak, then we find the following: We find everything that, in an older, instinctive form of medicine—which we by no means wish to revive; I merely mention it so that we may understand one another better—was called the “phosphorus-like” and the “sulfur-like” in that which develops as the fresh, current-year growth in the flower, excluding the ovary with the stigma. So that when one prepares a tea from these parts of the plant, from these organs—thereby also extracting the mineral-active substances—one obtains the phosphorus- and sulfur-like substances. It is entirely incorrect to believe that the physicians of old understood “phosphorus” and “sulfur” to mean what is understood by those terms in chemistry today; rather, they understood them to mean precisely what I have just described. And a tea prepared, for example, from red poppy petals would, in the sense of traditional medicine, be a “phosphorus”-like or “sulfur”-like substance.

[ 19 ] On the other hand, if I prepare the green leaves in a certain way—if you take spruce needles, that is, of course, something quite different from taking cabbage leaves and making a decoction out of them—then you obtain what was traditionally referred to as the “Mercurial.” That is the mercurial substance, not mercury as we understand it.

[ 20 ] And everything connected with the root, the stem, and the seed has been regarded as “saline” in traditional medicine. I mention these things only to clarify the point. Today, with our scientific knowledge, we cannot build upon the ancient insights, but we must nevertheless conduct a series of experiments that show us how, on the one hand, let us say, a decoction made from a plant root affects the organization of the head and, consequently, childhood illnesses as well.

[ 21 ] We will have an immensely significant regulatory principle if we simply conduct experiments on the effect of what we extract—specifically from the root-like and seed-like parts of the plant—on the child’s organism up to the time of tooth replacement. We will then obtain, for everything that is similar to what must be acquired from the outside—essentially, all diseases acquired primarily between the change of teeth and sexual maturity must be acquired from the outside—remedies, that is, at least agents that act upon what comes from the outside, by preparing preparations from the foliage and the leaves. This is the mercurial aspect in the older sense, which is indeed more strongly present in mercury, but is not identical with it. The fact that mercury is a specific remedy for conditions acquired distinctly from the outside—that is, for certain sexually transmitted diseases—is certainly connected with this. Everything that manifests as a sexually transmitted disease is, in essence, merely the potentiated continuation of illnesses that can occur in an exceptionally mild form during the second epoch of life. But in essence, even sexually transmitted diseases are merely a potentiated form of what can be acquired from the outside between the ages of seven and fourteen, right up to the onset of puberty. They do not develop into sexually transmitted diseases because the individual is simply not yet sexually mature by that age. Otherwise, many of the diseases that can be acquired would be directed very strongly toward the sexual organs. And anyone who can truly observe this transition from the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth years into the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth years will see how, at this stage of life, what previously manifested in a completely different way now takes the form of abnormalities in sexual life. And then there are those human diseases that may have their primary seat in the metabolism—insofar as the metabolism is linked to the human physical system and the human etheric system—and which must be considered in connection with those effects that are linked to what is contained within the actual flowering part of the plant.

[ 22 ] When one presents these matters in a sketchy manner, as I unfortunately had to do, much of it may seem fantastical. But all of these details are verifiable, and the underlying difficulty in actually bringing these matters to the attention of official medicine today is precisely that what we are faced with initially seems overwhelming, because we must, after all, expect such complications throughout the human organism—such as the one that must have particularly struck you when I began speaking today and had to characterize it in such a way that it seemed to contradict what I had said this morning. But this becomes clear when we see that what emanates from the liver-kidney system first manifests in its counteractions and then represents something that is essential for the ego-organism and for the astral organism of the human being. This manifests itself particularly strongly there. But in a similar way, there is also a direct interaction and counteraction between the blood circulation rhythm and the respiratory rhythm in the average human being, so that here, too, one must look for many things that originate in the blood rhythm only in the counter-rhythm of the respiratory rhythm, and vice versa.

[ 23 ] If you connect what I have just said with the fact that, for example, the human ego-organism actually lives within the thermal human, as I said this morning, and the thermal human then permeates the airy human, the gaseous human—and when we observe an effect such as that which emanates from the ego-organism and the astral organism—then, viewed physically, we see within it something that primarily emanates from the thermal organization and from the gaseous, airy organization. But we must observe this in the early childhood organism. We must therefore trace the origin of childhood illnesses through a study of the human thermal and airy organizations. And the effects that now arise when we approach the thermal and airy organizations with the preparations we make from roots or seeds—these effects stem from the fact that two polar modes of action collide, one of which stimulates the other. That which we introduce into the organism—which arises from the seed organization and the root organization—stimulates precisely all that which emanates from the human being’s thermal and aerial organization. And with this I simply wanted to suggest to you how, on the one hand, when we consider the effects that proceed, so to speak, from top to bottom, we have from the outset a predisposition in the human being toward a warmth-air vibration that is strongest in childhood, although it is not a vibration but rather a temporal organic structure. And what, in turn, runs from the bottom up within the human physical-etheric organism is the human being’s solid and liquid organization. The two interact with one another in such a way that, so to speak, the liquid and gaseous organization interpenetrate in the middle and likewise give rise to an intermediate stage of states of aggregation, just as the intermediate stage of states of aggregation between the solid and the liquid exists in the human organism through this interpenetration. Likewise, however, we must seek within the living, sentient human organism an intermediate stage between the liquid and the gaseous, and in turn an intermediate stage between the gaseous and the thermal.

[ 24 ] And you see, everything that, I would say, manifests itself physiologically in this way has significance for pathology and therapy. Isn’t it true that when we look at the human being, who is organized in such a complex way, one organ system is constantly exerting its influence on another? If you now consider the entire organic process that manifests itself, for example, in a sensory organ—let’s say, specifically, the ear—you will find the following: The ego organization, the astral organization, the etheric organization, and the physical organization interact in a certain way, so that metabolism permeates the nervous-sensory system, which is then rhythmicized by the respiratory process insofar as it acts upon the organ of hearing, and is organized and rhythmicized by the blood rhythm insofar as it enters the organ of hearing. In every single organ, what I have tried in various ways—through the threefold human being and the fourfold organization, as I have described—to make transparent to you in this manner is expressed in a certain proportion. But ultimately, everything in the human being is in a state of metamorphosis. What, for example, occurs normally here in the region of the ear—why do we call it normal? Because it occurs in the way it does, so that the human being comes into being, and comes into being in the way that he walks about on Earth. There is no other reason why we call this “normal.” But if these particular conditions—which have a formative effect in the ear, specifically due to the ear’s position, namely because the ear is located on the periphery of the organism—cause, let’s say, a similar relationship to arise through metamorphosis at some point within the organism, a similar interrelationship with all these structures—arises through metamorphosis, instead of the interrelationship that is precisely appropriate at that location—then something forms at that location that actually wants to become an ear; forgive me for this sketchy description, but there is no other way to express what I mean when I must describe it in such broad strokes. For example, it forms in the region of the pylorus, instead of what should have developed there. In this way, you must view the origin of tumor formation as the result of a pathological metamorphosis. In fact, all tumor formations, right up to carcinoma, are misplaced attempts at the formation of sensory organs; and if you therefore have such a pathological formation, and you understand the human organism correctly, then you will discover what role the heat organism and the air organism play in the child’s organization—even in the embryonic organization—in bringing these organs into being. For these organs can only come into being correctly through the heat organism and the air organism if the liquid organism and the solid organism counteract them, and if a resultant force arises from these components. That is to say, it is necessary for us to examine this relationship between the physical organism—insofar as it expresses itself, for example, through metabolism—and the plasticizing organism—insofar as it expresses itself in the nervous-sensory system. We must, so to speak, see how that which carries the substance radially radiates from the metabolic organism, and how the substance is then plastically formed in the organs by that which the nervous-sensory system counteracts.

[ 25 ] When we consider this, we realize how we can truly approach the formation of a tumor. We can only approach the formation of a tumor by recognizing that there is a false relationship between the physical-etheric organism on the one hand—insofar as it expresses itself in the radiating metabolism—and between the “I” organism and the astral organism on the other hand, insofar as they express themselves in the heat organism and the air organism. So, above all, when we speak of the outermost limits, we must consider the relationship of metabolism to the human thermal organism, and we achieve this best in the case of a tumor—especially when it is located internally— though it is also possible externally—I will speak specifically about these matters tomorrow in the therapeutic section—by enveloping the tumor in a thermal mantle. We need only succeed in enveloping the tumor in a thermal mantle. This brings about a radical transformation of the entire organism. If we succeed in surrounding the tumor with a heat mantle, then—to put it simply—we also succeed in dissolving it. This is actually achieved when remedies such as those certainly prescribed to you by our medical colleagues are applied in a completely appropriate manner, and when such remedies are administered via injection to take effect in the human organism. Once the specific effect on one organ system or another has been determined, one can be certain that in every case a heat mantle will be formed around the affected abnormal organ—for such an organ is, for example, the carcinoma in question—by a mistletoe preparation as we use it. You cannot apply the same approach to breast cancer, uterine cancer, or pyloric cancer. You must study the path taken by what is induced by the injection, but you will never achieve anything unless you bring about a genuine effect. And this effect manifests itself in the form of a fever. The injection must therefore be followed by a febrile state. You can expect failure from the outset if you do not induce a febrile state.

[ 26 ] I wanted to mention this in principle so that you can see how these things are based on reason, but reason is meant to be only a regulative principle. You will see that what is asserted by these regulative principles can be verified in the same way that such facts are generally verified according to the practices of modern medicine. Nor do we claim in any way that these things should be accepted as assertions before verification is available. But the fact remains that anyone who truly takes an interest in these matters today can make remarkable discoveries.

[ 27 ] Everything I have presented to you today—even if this rough outline may be somewhat confusing, it will become clear once you delve into the matter— you will find it documented in a curious way on one page, if you simply take the correct facts from one source as recorded in the literature—somewhere these things are recorded, which can actually bring you close to the picture presented today—namely, if you put this in context with something else, if you relate it to the numerous remarks you find in the literature: You can get this far, but no further.

[ 28 ] You will therefore find, from two different perspectives within existing medicine, confirmation that what I have outlined today is indeed the case. I will now take the liberty of adding some therapeutic considerations tomorrow; this will help clarify many of the points that may not have been entirely clear today due to the sketchy nature of my presentation.