History

Homeopathy was first developed into a system of medicine by
Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843)

An eminent physician and chemist, Hahnemann was appalled by the medical practices of his day which were often barbaric and without proper scientific basis. Giving up his own orthodox practice he set out to develop a gentler and more scientific system of treatment. Being a practical man this meant giving up theory concerning disease in favour of experiment, as he began testing treatments upon himself and meticulously recording their effects.

The first "proving"

One of the first substances Hahnemann took was Cinchona Bark (from which quinine is derived). He was subsequently surprised to find himself experiencing symptoms characteristic of intermittent fever, and realised that Cinchona had produced in a healthy person the symptoms of malaria, the very disease it was known to cure.

This discovery was to be of great importance in the development of homeopathic theory and practice, for by carefully observing the symptoms any substance produced when given to a healthy person, Hahnemann could discover the precise healing properties of that substance.

He had in fact discovered a way that would provide accurate and specific information about individual substances tested. This procedure of testing he called "proving" a remedy.

The law of similars

Up until that time, doctors had usually assumed that if a patient produced a particular symptom the only appropriate treatment would be to give him the opposite or "contrary" medicine. This is still the way of orthodox medicine. For example, if a person is suffering from excess stomach-acid, a doctor might prescribe "anti-acid" or alkaline. Hahnemann's experience with Cinchona suggested that a different principle of treatment might also apply. This way of thinking was not without precedent, for as early as the 4th century BC, Hippocrates had realised that there were two distinct approaches to illness - one way by "opposites" and the other by "similars". Hahnemann was thus able to establish the first principle of homeopathy, "Like cures like" or "The law of similars".

The minimum dose

Because of his wish to reduce the poisonous effects of large doses of medicines in use at that time, such as mercury in the treatment of syphilis, Hahnemann investigated diluting them. The problem remained that when a medicine is sufficiently diluted to eradicate its side effects, it no longer cures. Yet he was to make a startling discovery, one that set his medicine apart from any other, and rendered it so easily ridiculed by his opponents. This was that if the medicines were mixed vigorously by striking the bottle against a firm surface (succussion), they became better able to cure, even though there was less of the original substance. He believed that the shaking released the energy of the substance (involving some sort of imprinting on the water/alcohol solution), with none of its toxic effects remaining. Orthodox medicine, based on chemistry, could not explain this "energetic" principle, and therefore could not accept how something so dilute could have an effect. Despite tremendous opposition, homeopathy survived and spread remarkably quickly, because it worked remarkably well.

Homeopathy became extremely popular in Europe and America during the 1800's helped partly by its success in treating the many infectious diseases that raged during that time, including yellow fever, scarlet fever, cholera, and many others.
The death rate in homeopathic hospitals was extremely low, being one-half to one-eighth of that in conventional medical hospitals. As might be expected, many scientists and orthodox doctors did not appreciate such comparison and it became convention to suppress the true figures whilst dismissing homeopathy publicly as "unscientific".

A famous example of this occurred in 1854, when cholera again spread through Europe. A homeopathic hospital had opened in London and this made it possible to compare its success in treating this disease with that of other London hospitals. The inspector assigned to the Homeopathic Hospital was compelled to admit that the treatment worked. Although an allopathic (orthodox) doctor he wrote -

`Were it the will of Providence to afflict me with cholera and deprive me of the power of prescribing for myself, I would rather be in the hands of a homeopathic than an allopathic adviser.'

When the statistics were conveyed to Parliament the doctors conveniently left out the figures for the Homeopathic Hospital, but a young member of Parliament, Lord Grosvenor, spotted the deficiency and the Board was ordered to "furnish all the returns".

They showed that the average mortality among cholera patients had been over 50% except in the Homeopathic Hospital, where it had been just 6.4%. When asked why they had suppressed these figure, the Committee said they had all agreed that if the figures were published they would "give an unjustified sanction to an empirical practice alike opposed to the maintenance of truth and to the progress of science."

So whatever the evidence, the orthodox doctors would not change their views.

Up to date

Unfortunately little has changed to date, and in spite of numerous clinical audits which demonstrate how well homeopathic treatment works in practice, the establishment will not forsake its dogma.

Like religion, it seems the scientific community has its fixed beliefs, and will not change in the face of contra-evidence, even when this attitude deprives the sick of the best treatment available.

Yet homeopathy has continued to flourish despite this bigotry, and according to the World Health Organisation, is now the second most popular health-care system globally and the fastest growing.

Email: sams.homeopathy@iofm.net