(Flower Essence and Bach Flower articles are listed at the bottom of this page,
and on the Flower Essence Index)
Dr. Edward Bach - the Qunitessential Natural Healer
“Dr. Edward Bach (1886-1936) was a physician well ahead of his time. In his short career he moved from
orthodox medicine into developing a natural form of medicine to treat emotional and spiritual health, very much
in tune with the trends in natural medicine health today.
Born in Moseley outside Birmingham, of Welsh extraction, he was an intuitive, delicate but independent child
with a great love of nature. He left school aged 16 and spent three years in hi father’s Birmingham brass
foundry, in order to pay for his own medical training.
Dr. Bach’s early medical career was both conventional
and successful. In 1912 he qualified at University College Hospital (UCH), London , where he became Casualty
Medical Officer in 1913; later that year he became Casualty House Surgeon at the National Temperance Hospital
. After recovering from a breakdown in health, he developed a busy practice close to Harley Street , London .
From an early age, Dr. Bach had been aware that people’s personality and attitude have an effect on their
state of health. As a student he took interest in patients as people rather than cases and early on came to the
conclusion that, as illness, personality is more important than symptoms and should be taken into account in
medical treatment.
He became increasingly dissatisfied with the limitations of orthodox medicine and its focus on curing symptoms.
Believing that effective treatment involves addressing the cause of illness, he decided to pursue an interest
in immunology and became Assistant Bacteriologist at UCH in 1915.
His health was never robust; refused for service in World War I, he became very ill in 1917, and was expected
to die. His determination to complete his work led to a complete recovery and when he later developed his essences,
he was strongly influenced by belief that following one’s true vocation is essential to spiritual and physical
health.
From 1919-1922 he worked as a pathologist and bacteriologist at the London Homeopathic Hospital . There he was
struck by the fact that Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, had recognized the importance of personality
in disease 150 years before. Combining these principles with his knowledge of orthodox medicine, he developed
the Seven Bach Nosodes, oral vaccines based on intestinal bacteria which purified the intestinal tract with remarkable
effects on patients’ general health, and on difficult chronic conditions like arthritis.
He still had his Harley Street practice, and treated the poor for no payment in Nottingham Place . With his little
spare time, he continued to search for simpler and purer methods of healing. Although the medical profession
had adopted his vaccines (they are still used today by some homeopathic and other physicians), he disliked the
fact that they were based on bacteria and was anxious to replace these with gentler methods, possibly based on
plants.
In 1928, at a dinner party, he had a revelation. Looking at his fellow guests, he realized that they fell into
several distinct types. From this, he came to the inspired conclusion that each type would react to illness in
a particular way. That autumn he visited Wales and brought back two plants, Mimulus and Impatiens; he prepared
these as he did the oral vaccines, and prescribed them according to his patients’ personality, with immediate
and successful results. Later that year he added Clematis. With these three essences he was on the brink of developing
an entirely new system of medicine.
In the spring of 1930, aged 43, Dr. Bach closed his laboratory and his practice and went to Wales to seek further
essences in nature. Walking through a dew laden field early one morning, it struck him that each dewdrop, heated
by the sun, would acquire healing properties of the plant it lay on. That inspired him to develop a method of
preparing essences using plant water.
Later that year he wrote the short book Heal Thyself, with its message that physical disease is the result
of being at odds with one’s spiritual purpose. It was published in 1931 and has remained in print ever
since.
From August 1930 until 1934 Dr. Bach based himself in Cromer, on the Norfolk coast, finding and preparing further
flower essences, and successfully treating patients with them.
Dr. Bach charged no fees, and his financial resources were dwindling. In 1934 he moved to Mount Vernon , the
small house in Oxfordshire which is still the Dr. Edward Bach Centre. He worked in, writing, treating patients
in Sotwell and London and continuing his search for further essences. During this time he suffered considerably
both mentally and physically before finding the plant to relieve his symptoms.
He continued to work and lecture, while training assistants to carry on his work. Once he developed 38
essences,
together with Rescue Remedy, he knew that no further essences were needed; the 38 essences covered all aspects
of human nature and thus all the negative states of mind underlying illness.
At the end of November 1936, he died in his sleep, content that his mission was complete. He entrusted full responsibility
for the continuation of his work to friends and colleagues, whom he had trained. He also requested that his home
should remain the source of his findings. So, still today, the Bach Centre Mount Vernon is actively involved
in advice and education and continues to prepare the mother tinctures. The Trustees thereby ensure that the traditions
and principles of purity, simplicity and completeness are maintained.
Flower Essence and Bach Flower Articles:
