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The origins of homeopathy |
In the eighteenth century, Dr Samuel Hahnemann, a great German physician, appalled by the medical practices of the day, sought a method of healing that would be safe, gentle and effective. He believed that human beings have the capability of healing themselves and that the symptoms of disease reflect the individual’s struggle to overcome the illness. He reasoned that instead of suppressing symptoms, he could seek to stimulate them and so encourage and assist the body’s natural healing process.
Hahnemann discovered that when he took a dose of cinchona bark (quinine), it produced the symptoms of malaria. When given to a patient suffering from the disease it alleviated the symptoms. He described this phenomenon as ‘similia similibus curantur’, or ‘like can cure like’, which is the first and foremost rule of homeopathy.
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About Homeopathy