Homeopathy : wherein lies the cure?

Abstract

The term Homeopathy comes from the Greek words homaeo, meaning 'similar', and pathos, meaning 'suffering' or 'disease' It is a system of medicine developed in the late 18th century by Samuel Hahnemann (l7SS -1843), a German physician, chemist and linguist. However the underlying concept - the 'similia principle' or 'like cures like', was described by Hippocrates, who noted that, for example, recurrent vomiting could be treated with a small dose of an emetic (such as ipecacuanha) which in a larger dose would be expected to make it worse. Samuel Hahnemann was a father of eight children. He was disil!usioned with the medical methods of his time after several of his children died from epidemic disease and he was powerless to save them. He lived at a time, when common medical treatments were harsh (bloodletting, purging), and there were few effective medications for treating patients. He gave up medicine and turned to translating medical text. The first major step in his work reportedly was when he was translating an herbal text and read about the treatment (cinchona bark) used to cure malaria. This was solely based on the fact that it was 'bitter'. Interested in the logic of this treatment he himself took some cinchona bark and observed that, as a healthy person, he developed symptoms that were very similar to malaria symptoms. This led Hahnemann to consider that a substance may relieve symptoms that it can also create - the similia principle. A simple example of this principle in action is as follows: While cutting an onion, one's eyes start to water and the nose starts to discharge. The homeopathic medicine made from the onion is used to treat hayfever with these same symptoms of lachrymation of the eyes and coryza. Another simple example is the homeopathic medicine made from the bee, which helps to relieve the symptoms and heal a bee sting.