The basic principle of homeopathy - Likes can
cure likes- dates back to the times of Hippocrates, the Father of
Medicine, 5 th century BC. The use of Veratrum album or white
hellebore in the treatment of cholera for it's ability to produce purging
in large doses is a good example. Physicians of later times too had a
fancy for the principle. They began using substances based on their
similarity to certain organs of the body or the color of their juices to
secretions of certain organs. In this contest could be seen the use of
Euphrasia for diseases of the eyes and Chelidonium for the disease of the
liver and gall bladder, the first due to similarity of shape between
flowers of the plant and human eyes and the second due to yellow color of
the plants juice resembling
bile.
But all these remained fragmentary and
relatively insignificant due to their empirical nature and lack of
concrete scientific basis.
It is Dr. Samuel Hahnemann
who bought all theses to a scientific basis thus providing the human
race the science of homeopathy. Hahnemann's first work on this new
scientific system was published in the year 1796.
"A New
Principle for Ascertaining the Curative Powers of Drugs and Some
Examination of Previous Principles" is the first original work on the
subject.
In
it Hahnemann stated "One should imitate Nature which at times heals the
chronic illness by another one.
One should apply in the disease to be
healed, particularly if it is chronic, that remedy which is able to
stimulate another artificial disease as similar as possible and the former
will be healed."
He
called this principle homeopathy, from Greek, homeo, meaning similar, and pathos, meaning
suffering.
Homeopathy rests upon three fundamental principles The similar medicine,
The single medicine, and The minimum dose.
* The Similar medicine : The most important
contribution made by Hahnemann to the human race is the discovery of the
means to finding out what every substance which can be used as medicines
is capable of producing on healthy human beings. His method was new and
ingenious. He tested each one of the substances which he thought capable
of being used as medicines on healthy human beings and recorded the
effects produced by them. To his astonishment he found that each of the
substances produced symptoms similar to the diseases for which they were
considered effective. Belladonna for example produced symptoms very
similar to Scarlet fever when given to healthy human beings in large
quantities and Cinchona produced symptoms similar to Ague of a particular
kind in which it was most effective. Thus the stumbling block to the
effective implementation of homeopathy was removed and a scientific basis
for the use of similar medicines was formed. Thus a new way of
ascertaining the effects of drugs was born which is known as Drug
proving
The homeopath has
got a vast collection of medicines whose effects on healthy human being
has been studied thoroughly and the symptoms recorded in detail. When a
person approaches a homeopath for treatment of a particular condition of
disease what the homeopath does is to compare the most characteristic
symptoms of the disease and the patients personality with the images he
already have and select the right remedy.
* The
single medicine : Since homeopathy to be scientific has to conform to the
principle of similar drug it is compelled to adopt the second strong
principle of Single medicine. It is well known and well proved that there
can only be a single most similar medicine for the patient.
Homeopathy disproves of the use of multiple
drugs.
* The minimum dose : Hahnemann was initially using
medicines in the crude form itself and in large quantities. Gradually it
became clear to him that the there is no need for employing such large
quantities of medicine and also that at times it resulted in increased
suffering to the patient. By constant observation and research he
developed a new method for arousing the power of medicines which while
reducing the quantity of medicine increased the effect. Homeopathy thus
subscribes to the use of least quantity of medicine for effecting positive
change in health of the patient. The new method of drug preparations known
as potentisation or
dynamisation
