Hey Guys. My Book is coming along well. You can see what has been happening so far here and here, but I thought readers at my professional blog would like to see my proving suggestions for the mollusks as well.
Enjoy!
Mollusks have a number of well proven remedies, including several polycrests amoung them. Three classess of mollusk, the Bivalves, the Gastropods, and the Cephalopods are extensively proven, each posessing a number of well known remedies. However the other classes of Mollusk such as the Aplacopohra, Rostroconchia, Helcionellida, Scaphopods and Serialia have almost no provings whatsoever. Future provers should focus on expanding the materia medica into these catagories.
However, a number of members of the well proven classes do still appear fascinating and would merit further Homeopathic exploration.
One family of Bivalves the Sphaeriidae, such as Sphaerium corneum have the ability to climb op plants to find more suitable locations for feeding. One very large and long lived species is the Geoduck Panopea generosa. Another interesting species is the Zebra Mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) which has invaded many lakes throughout North America. Tridacna gigas is also known as the giant clam, and is the largest bivalve species. One other potential remedy would be a recently detected cancer which is in and of itself conagious among eastern soft shell clams on the east coast of North America[i].
Among the gastropods, many species present tempting targets for proving. One species I have always wanted to prove is Elysia chlorotica, a sea slug which extracts chloroplasts for the algae it feeds on and internalises them, photosynthesising itself. It in fact contains a number of algal genes within its genome which can immensely prolong the life of the cholorplasts (which normally die outside plant cells). Another would be Glaucus atlanticus, the Blue Angel, a species which feeds on cnidarians such as Physalia physalis and acquires their stings. Another species Hinea brasiliana glows when it is disturbed[ii]. One deep sea vent species Crysomallon squamiferum, incorporates heavy metals from the local environment into it’s shell[iii]. One fascinating species is Conus geographus, which in addition to having potent toxins, injects a form of insulin into it’s prey, causing hypoglycemic shock. This species has already been potentised, and merely awaits proving, potentially providing an immense remedy for blood sugar issues. In terms of nosodes, a Schistosimiasis nosode made from one of the host species of snails carrying this pathogen could prove very valuable, both therapeutically and as a prophylactic for the disease. A final suggestion could be the Sea Butterfly, (Limacina helicina in the Arctic and Limacina Antarctica in the Antarctic) which split their foot into two winglike structures and fly through the water, and which are a keynote species, providing food for many others.
Cephalopods are relatively well represented, but several interesting species are still available[iv]. Idiosepius notoides is the smallest cephalopod species, living amounst sea grass. The flapjack optopus Opisthoteuthis is flattened like a pancake, and lives like many other Octopi in Cirrina family, as free floating oceanic organisms, none of which are proven. Metasepia pfefferi is a poisinous species of cuttlefish. A fascinating species is Vampyroteuthis infernalis, literally the “vampire squid from hell” a species living deep in the abyss and the only Cephalopod to subsist off of decomposing detritus. The largest recorded species of Octopus, the Pacific Giant Octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) would also make an excellent remedy.
[i] Dennis, Brady. Researchers trace Origin of Cancer in East Coast soft-shell clam. Portland Press Herald. April 9th 2015.
[ii] Nightingale, K. Clusterwinks Bask in the Afterglow. 2010. Online Document Accessed April 7th 2015. http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/12/15/3093673.htm
[iii] Barley, S. Deep Sea Snail could inspire Next’Gen Armour. 2010. Online Document Accepssed April 7th , 2015. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18404-deepsea-snail-shell-could-inspire-nextgen-armour.html#.VSSIZBfIfRC
[iv] Gratitude to Wojcik, J. 10 Incredibly Strange Cepahlopods. 2013. Online Document accessed April 7th 2015. http://listverse.com/2013/06/05/10-incredibly-strange-cephalopods.