Eugenics is a discipline that seeks the genetic improvement of the human species. It was invented by the British statesman Francis Galton in 1859 in opposition to the evolutionary theory of his cousin Charles Darwin. In homeopathic medicine the term eugenics appears in an attempt to eliminate or better, mitigate the hereditary predispositions intervening on the mother from conception and following for the entire period of gestation. Hahnemann had reported the studies on Miasms in his book on chronic disease. A concept that we could translate in modern day as genetic and phenotypic substrate that predisposes us for certain chronic diseases that are not easy to cure and that are transmitted to future generations.

The homeopath knowing the pathological and physiological history of the mother and the father-to-be can intervene with deep acting homeopathic remedies trying to prevent certain predispositions that might occur in the future. This means we need to eliminate as much as possible the miasmas.

To obtain a healthy mind and a healthy body, one must begin before conception, starting with the parents. Psora, Syphilis and Sycosis, especially Psora, must be eliminated from the heredity. Hahnemann studied this problem for 12 years and then made up a list of remedies that could cure, without explanation, certain psoric states and later discovered them to be true homeopsoric medicines, like Arsenicum, Aurum, Limestone, Causticum, Colocyntis, Dulcamara, Hepar sulphuris, Sulphur, etc. The full list is reported in § 9 of the text “The Chronic Diseases”. According to Hahnemann homeopathic treatment should be continued until you have removed all of the predisposition layers.

Miasma falls under the so-called epigenetic factors, that is, those that are not related to the genome, but that can influence the phenotype of an individual. Even Kent, in his book “Lectures on Homeopathic Materia Medica” discusses how the disease or the treatment of these parents can affect their children.