homeopathy
- a brief intoduction to its origins and principles
Homeopathy was developed by Dr Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician, around the beginning of the nineteenth century. It began from Hahnemann’s reflections on using Peruvian bark to treat malaria. Hahnemann found that Peruvian bark was capable of producing malaria-like symptoms in healthy people. This led him to one of the foundation principles of natural medicine - The Law of Similars.
Homeopathy- The Law of Similars
This fundamental principle of homeopathy holds that a medicine used to treat a particular condition or symptom picture should be capable of causing that same condition or symptom picture in a healthy person. Medicine in both the past and the present more commonly operates from the law of opposites. For example, if a person has diarrhea, the physician prescribes a medicine which is constipating in its effect. In homeopathy, by contrast, diarrhea would be treated using a medicine which produces diarrhea in a healthy person.
Homeopathy- The Law of the Minimum Dose
Even more radical is the second fundamental principle of homeopathy, that the medicine can be diluted greatly without losing its medicinal powers. Moreover, the homeopathic medicine appeared to become in many instances much stronger in its action as it was diluted more.
Dilution and Succussion
Homeopathic remedies are prepared by diluting one part medicine in water with 9 parts of water (the decimal scale, indicated by ‘X’) or with 99 parts water (the centesimal scale, indicated by ‘C’). The resulting mixture is vigorously shaken and banged on a hard surface, aerating the liquid content of the bottle. This process is called succussion.
Homeopathy and Chemistry
It is easy to demonstrate that homeopathic ‘high potencies’ (which have had many, many dilutions and succussions) have not a single molecule of the original substance left in them. This calculation can be done using Avagadro’s number which specifies the number of atoms in a mole of substance.
These high potencies in homeopathy must then work based on an imprint of subtle energy remaining from the molecules that were present earlier in the dilution and succussion process.
