What is homeopathy?
Homeopathy is a healing art based upon the principle that a particular homeopathic preparation may cure an illness or disease if that preparation can produce symptoms similar to that disease when taken by a healthy individual. The word homeopathy comes from the Greek words, ‘homois,’ meaning “similar,” and ‘pathos,’ meaning “disease.” While, Hippocrates taught about the Law of Similars 2400 years ago, this principle is now referred to as the Law of
Similars. Samuel Hahnemann, a German medical doctor is credited with developing the modern principles of homeopathy.
A bitter discovery.
Dr. Hahnemann, a highly skilled physician and esteemed chemist, was the personal physician to members of the German royalty. As the author of a highly respected German chemistry book and fluent in a number of languages, he also translated literary and scientific texts. It was while translating a medical textbook that the groundwork was laid for Hahnemann’s subsequent development of the principles of homeopathy.
In this book, the author claimed that it was the bitter quality of Peruvian bark, that made it an effective treatment for malaria. Dissatisfied with the explanation Hahnemann made a medicinal preparation that was even bitterer. While testing the Peruvian bark he found that he developed malaria-like symptoms that would subside when he discontinued the intake of the material. Hahnemann found through exhaustive study that other materials from plant, animal, and mineral sources would bring on symptoms similar to a disease or illness for which it subsequently came to be used for the treatment of.
The Law of Similars.
In the 4th century B.C. Hippocrates said “Through the like, disease is produced, and through the application of the like, it is cured.” Samuel Hahnemann coined the phrase “similia similibus curentur,” or “let likes be cured with likes.” He tested substances tiressly, meticulously cataloging every symptom he experienced, it’s duration, and an extensive detailing of the accompanying symptoms. The basic essence of the Law of Similars is: like cures like. The first like is the substance that causes a certain complex of symptoms in a healthy person. The second like refers to the same symptoms when they are present in a sick individual.
