The term homeopathy is derived from the Greek words “homoios” (”like”) and “pathos” (”suffering”). It is an alternative form of medicine that involves the use of heavily diluted preparations made from substances that would ordinarily cause effects that were similar to the symptoms of the actual disease. This is known as the principal “Similia Similibus Curentur”, or “Like Cures Like”.

Though homeopathic treatments in medicine go back to at least the early 16th century in western medicine (and probably even earlier than that in some Asian societies), it was Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries who first gave it a name and a set of governing principles.

While translating A Treatise on the Materia Medica by William Cullen, a Scottish doctor and chemist, Hahnemann became intrigued by Cullen’s theories on the use of Cinchona bark to treat malaria. He began experimenting with cinchona on himself, and found that it caused malarial-like symptoms and concluded from this that it would have the same effect in any otherwise healthy individual. The end result of this an other similar experiments conducted by Hahnemann was his famous healing principle, “…that which can produce a set of symptoms in a healthy individual can treat a sick individual who is manifesting a similar set of symptoms” .

Hahnemann published his first article on homeopathy in a German medical journal in 1796, though the actual word “homeopathy” did not actually appear in print until 1807. As a result of his research and writings, as well as news of the success of his treatments, other physicians began to study his techniques and methods.

At the time, mainstream medicine still advocated the use of such treatments as “bleeding”, “purging” as well as laxatives and enemas for a variety of medical conditions despite their being no scientific basis for their effectiveness, which usually ended up being negligible at best, and extremely harmful and even fatal at worst. Hahnemann favored the use of single drugs at lower doses, and only after first experimenting with them on healthy patients. He was also unique for the time in his advocacy improved diet, exercise, and hygiene as a means of both curing and preventing certain kinds of disease.

The first school for teaching homeopathy opened in 1830, and by 1900 there were 22 homeopathic colleges and 15,000 homeopathic practitioners in the US alone. Due to the aforementioned primitive medical practices still in use at the time, homeopathy became very popular, due to it’s relative success, (and at worse, relative harmlessness) compared to such standard medical practices. Homeopathy also tended to be very effective in the treatment of typhus and cholera, which were both very common (and deadly) at that time due to poor sanitary conditions.

Homeopathy began to fall out of favor in the late 19th century, mainly due to improvements in mainstream medical treatments resulting from enhanced research (ironically in some instances using research techniques and principles pioneered by homeopaths) some of which also ended up ultimately discrediting some of homeopathy’s basic principles. However, in the last 30 years it has staged something of a comeback in popularity.

The Greek homeopath George Vithoulkas was responsible for a great deal of research involving the updating and refinement of traditional homeopathic theories and practices. Eventually, the medical profession began to more widely integrate homeopathic ideas into its practices, and mainstream pharmaceutical companies began developing their own homeopathic drugs. Today, it has become a huge growing business.

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