Prior to his involvement with homeopathy, Kent had practiced conventional medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. He discovered and "converted" to homeopathy as a result of his wife's recovery from a serious ailment using homeopathic methods.
Many homeopathic practitioners today still follow Kent's early method of curing, which was to prescribe remedies using single doses of high potencies. When he taught, he would inspire his "Kentians" to use these higher potencies; and he held a strong belief that homeopaths must treat patients in their entirety, including the physical body, as well as the mental/emotional and spiritual elements, using these high potencies. Later in his career, however, Kent began using Hahnemann's method of starting with low potencies and working up the scale by threes (6, 9, 12 etc.).
One of his greatest contributions to the profession of homeopathy, and its teachings, was his completely unique style of repertory. Although others exist, Kent's famous repertory, The Great Repertory, is still the popular choice, and has been described as more complete, systematic and precise — with more well-described symptoms.
Kent is also known for developing "pictures" of constitutional types of patients. A well-known example would be his description of Sulphur as "the ragged philosopher." There are many works based on Kent's principles, including a book by one of his pupils, Margaret Tyler. Tyler further developed this idea of "pictures" into a book entitled Homeopathic Drug Pictures.
Kent is considered to have been a great homeopath; and his philosophy, homeopathic interpretations and influence have steadily continued to grow in popularity since his death.
- "There are three great epic works in the English language prior to the twentieth century: the translations of Homer, Melville's Moby Dick, and Kent's Lectures on Homeopathic Philosophy."
Theodore Enslin, poet and composer
- "Lectures on Homeopathic Philosophy is must reading for any student or practitioner of homeopathy as well as any individual seriously interested in understanding fundamental laws of health and healing."
Dana Ullman, co-author Everybody's Guide to Homeopathic Medicines
- Synthesis is the Repertory linked to the RADAR project. It is based on the Sixth American Edition of Kent's Repertory, and contains all its rubrics and remedies.
If you appreciated this article, you can read about another major contributor to Homeopathy, Constantine Hering, in this article: