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 In this section:

•	What is Homeopathy
•	Types of Homeopathy
•	Where Did it Originate
•	How Does it Work
•	Homeopathic Remedies
•	How Remedies Are Made
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Homeopathy

Where Did it Originate

The principles of Homeopathy have been referred to in the times of ancient Greece by HippocratesAn ancient Greek physician in the Age of Pericles, considered one of the most influential figures in the history of medicine. Hippocrates is often referred to as the "father of medicine", the founder of medicine, around 450 BC. Homeopathy as an accepted healing method was developed in the early 18th century by Samuel Christian Hahnemann (1755-1843), a German physician, chemist and linguist who founded the system based on the concept of “like cures like.”

Trained as a conventional physician, Hahnemann became increasingly disillusioned about what he considered to be drastic and harsh medical procedures such as bloodlettingThe pricking of the skin for the purpose of releasing blood (referred to as Phlebotomy in modern medicine), believed to be tainted, in order to cure the patient, purging with mercury, lead and other toxic substances, and the disturbing side effects of conventional medicines. In an effort to treat patients with the minimum amount of distress and side effect from medications, he began to explore the use of herbal remedies. While translating A Treatise on Materia Medica by Scottish physican and chemist Dr. William Cullen, Hahnemann experimented on Cullen’s theory of extracting quinine from cinchona bark to cure malaria. Upon internally digesting quinine himself (although he had not contracted malaria), he began to develop symptoms which simulated a patient ill with malaria. This led Hahnemann to investigate the possibility that a substance may create the very symptoms which it could also relieve. This concept came to be known as “like cures like” and is the basis of the first Law of Homeopathy: The Law of Similars.

With focus on developing a less-threatening approach to medicine, Hahnemann began to systematically test individual substances on himself, family, friends, and volunteers. These substances were plant, animal or mineral based. In early experiments, the intake of certain substances would often cause the patient to become worse, which led Hahnemann to begin diluting and vigorously shaking the remedy during preparation. This process was called “potentization” and also included banging the substance against a hard surface. Meticulous records of these experiments and their results were kept, which he called “provings.” During these experiments, Hahnemann also discovered that potentization of the substances not only increased their effectiveness, but also caused them to 1) last longer, and 2) eradicated many side effects of the final remedy.

His provings aimed at establishing a set of symptoms, known as a “symptom picture” which were all of the symptoms caused by taking a particular substance. When the symptom picture matched the set of symptoms of an illness or imbalance in the patient, that particular substance was notated as the most effective at stimulating the vital force within the patient to treat the illness. The critical key was to establish a proving which exactly matched the totality of the patient’s symptom picture.

Combined with his knowledge of conventional medicine, herbs, and toxicology, 6 years later Hahnemann eventually began treating his patients with appropriate dosages of his provings. When a patient described his symptoms, the symptoms were then compared with this collection of provings until a match was found. The patient was then treated with the proving which caused the illness symptoms.

These provings became more commonly known as remedies, and led to Hahnemann opening the first Homeopathic clinical practice. Hahnemann named his new system of medicine “Homeopathy,” as it signified a combination of the the Greek words “like” and “suffering.” During the course of his lifetime, Hahnemann proved over 100 remedies and continued to refine his system. He published his findings in six volumes called the Materia Medica Pura.

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