What is the origin of homeopathy?
A German physician and physicist named Samuel Hahnemann developed homeopathy in the late 1700s. After reading about a certain treatment for malaria (Peruvian cinchona bark) that actually caused symptoms of malaria when it was ingested by a healthy patient, Hahnemann began experimenting with other substances that might have the same affects. Further studies revealed that this “law of similars,” an idea previously described by Paracelsus and Hippocrates and utilized by the Mayans, Chinese, American Indians and Greeks, could be applied to medicine in a non-toxic manner. For instance, Hahnemann discovered that administering miniscule doses of ipecacuanha, a substance known to induce vomiting when taken in large doses, could cure vomiting. Hahnemann also discovered that the more diluted the substance, the more potent its effects.
