Where did Homeopathy come from?
Homeopathy was begun by Samuel Hahnemann in the early 1800s, and carried to the United States by Hans Burch Gram in 1826. During its height in 1880, 14 homeopathic medical colleges were in operation. Homeopathy subsequently declined and the Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia was the last to close in 1920. In 1938, the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) was passed with strong influences from Senator Royal Copeland, a homeopathic physician. The FDCA included in its definition of “drug” homeopathic remedies published in the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States (HPUS), and gave jurisdiction to the Food and Drug Administration.1 What are the basic tenants of Homeopathy? Homeopathy presupposes that disease states represent disturbances in the body’s internal balance of a self-healing spiritual energy, called its “vital force.” To return the energy to balance, the homeopath selects a treatment, called a “remedy”. Remedies are produced by “dynamization” of certain substances
