History of Homeopathy

 

Samuel Hahnemann the man who discovered Homoeopathy was born in Meissen in 1755, the son of a porcelain painter. Due to his talent as a student he found a patron that enabled him to go to High School. He then went on to study medicine in Leipzig. He financed his studies with translation work and by the age of 24 he was fluent in seven languages. He sat his doctorate examinations in 1779.

He went into practice as a doctor but quickly became dis-illusion about medicine as it was then practiced. He gave up his practise and supported himself by translating medical texts. One such text was a Pharmacopoeia by Dr Cullen. This work described the action of China Officianalis (Cinchona Bark) on Malaria and attributed it therapeutic affect to be due to its astringent effect on the stomach. Hahnemann found this explanation unlikely and experimented by taking the bark himself.  It produced the symptoms of Malaria (sweats, headaches, shivering etc.) From this accidental discovery Hahnemann concluded that the bark cured Malaria because it can produce similar symptoms in a healthy person.

 

 

 

Over the next few years he carried out other experiments with other substance and subjects. He also experimented with the dilution of the medicines because he believed that the medicines used in orthodox medicine at the time were given in toxic dosages. To his surprise he found the more he diluted the medicine the better it seemed to work. He eventually diluted medicines to a point that there was no measurable amount of medicine left in the solution but there was still an increased curative response. From this he concluded that be treating the substance in this way some kind of energy was liberated from it which then stimulated the subject’s energy.

From these discoveries he developed the whole system of Homeopathy. His major work “The Organon of Medicine” was published in 1810 and sets out the Laws and Principles of Homeopathy which remain valid to this day.