The History Of Homeopathy

Homeopathy is a form of medicine that relies on minute amounts of herbs, minerals and other substances to stimulate a person's natural defenses and help the body heal itself, often tames illnesses with a single dose of medicine and causes virtually no side effects. Homeopathy, which is derived from two Greek words, literally means "similar suffering."

Although the concept dates back to at least the10th century B.C., modern homeopathy is based on the observations of Samuel Hahnemann, an 18th century German physician. Dr. Hahnemann considered the medical practices of the time barbaric, because patients were regularly bled,leeched and blistered to purge them of fluids believed to cause most illnesses.
He quit medicine and became a translator of scientific texts. But Dr. Hahnemann continued to experiment on himself with various substances in hopes of finding a more humane way of healing people. He suspected that disease represented an imbalance in what he called the body's vital force (believed to be the immune system) and that only a small stimulus was needed to restore balance in the body's natural defenses.

But that hunch didn't fully bloom until he began experiments to discover why small doses of quinine, an extract from a Peruvian tree bark, cured malaria. To his surprise. Dr. Hahnemann found that large doses of the drug had unexpected effects. After taking massive doses of quinine for several days, he developed trembling, heart palpitations and other symptoms of malaria. As soon as he stopped taking the drug, his symptoms disappeared. From this experiment, Dr. Hahnemann developed his belief that "like is cured by like," also known as the law of similars, which is the basis of homeopathy.

Dr. Hahnemann theorized that if large amounts of a substance such as quinine cause symptoms of illness in a healthy person, then small doses of that same substance should cure an ill person who has similar symptoms. For instance, if you have a cold, taking a small amount of a substance that in large doses would cause coldlike symptoms should cure your sniffles, according to Dr. Hahnemann's theory. But the remedy will work only if its pattern of induced symptoms matches the symptoms of the ill person.

Dr. Hahnemann and his early followers conducted more experiments in which they gave large amounts of herbs, minerals and animal extracts to healthy people and recorded all of the symptoms they developed. Later, he compiled these experiments into a book, called “Materia Medica,” a reference guide first published in 1811 that helps practitioners match a patient's symptoms with a corresponding homeopathic remedy.

Dr. Hahnemann had to overcome one major obstacle. Some of the substances he used, such as arsenic, mercury and belladonna (deadly nightshade), were extremely poisonous. So he diluted the substances in water and alcohol until he believed he had safe doses that would trigger healing in the body without causing any harmful effects. In fact, Dr. Hahnemann theorized that as the doses got smaller, the remedy not only would become less toxic but would actually be more potent and effective as well.

Today, more than 1,200 substances are recognized as homeopathic remedies. Available as pill, powder or liquid, these remedies are considered safe enough that 95% of them are sold over the counter in the United States in many health food stores.