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Chapter 1: History of Homoeopathic Initiation
CHAPTER 1
Homoeopathy
1.1. History of Homoeopathic Initiation
Natural medicine, which follows a holistic approach, views illness and disease as an imbalance
of the mind and body that is expressed on the physical, emotional, and mental levels of a person.
Being a part of Alternative medicine and natural therapies, Homeopathy is essentially a natural
healing process in which the remedies assist the patient to regain health by stimulating the body’s
natural healing forces. The term homeopathy is derived from the Greek words homeo (similar) and
pathos (suffering from disease). Hence, It is a system of health care, which concentrates on care of the
whole person by methods that are specific, gentle and sympathetic to the body's needs.
The German physician Samuel Hahnemann formulated the first basic principles of homeopathy
in the late 1700s. Curious about why quinine could cure malaria, Hahnemann ingested quinine bark and
experienced alternating bouts of chills, fever, and weakness, the classic symptoms of malaria. From this
experience he derived the principle of similars, or "like cures like": that is, a substance that can cause
certain symptoms when given to a healthy person can cure those same symptoms in someone who is
sick. Basing on the like treats like principle, Hahnemann found he could produce effective remedies by
greatly diluting substances which in large doses would have created symptoms similar to those seen in
the patient.
The basic principal of homeopathy is: "like cures like", i.e. a substance that causes certain
symptoms, when taken in large doses, can remove those symptoms, when taken in minute specially
prepared forms. Homeopathic remedies are thought to have a resonant effect on the body .It resonates
with the symptom picture of an individual producing a catalytic effect, and triggering a systemic
response in the patient. This response is strengthening to the individual from the inside out. The remedy
stimulates a return to balance, which in turn helps the individual resist disease, and become more
flexible in adapting to one's environment. Therefore, in homeopathy, the goal is not the removal of
symptoms but the recognition and removal of the underlying cause of the symptoms. For this reason, the
correct homeopathic remedy is based on understanding the whole person rather than matching the
symptoms of the disease.
Since Homeopathy concentrates on treating the patient rather than the disease, it must be noted
that, a person response to a disease varies according to ones basic temperament, Except for severe
physical trauma most illnesses, derives from a level of susceptibility that varies in different people.
The history of homeopathy begins with the discoveries of its founder Samuel Hahnemann.
Hahnemann never claimed to be the originator of the semili principle. He went to great lengths to point
out all the other people who (before him) had suggested it as means of treatment. Yet, Hahnemann was
certainly the first person to base a system of therapeutics exclusively upon the law of similarities and he
is therefore generally acknowledged to be the founder of homeopathy.
Hippocrates, Paracelsus, and George Ernst Stahl (a Danish Physician who lived a century before
Hahnemann) were Hahnemann’s most significant predecessors.
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The law of similars was previously described by Hippocrates and Paracelsus and was utilized by
many cultures, including the Mayans, Chinese, Greeks, Native American Indians, and Asian Indians.
Hippocrates wrote of symptoms as the expression of nature’s healing powers and so he urged
that treatment should enhance Nature’s effort rather than hinder them.
Paracelsus on the other hand didn’t state the homeopathic principle clearly instead he wrote that
the key to understanding the inner properties of a remedy and these were to be discovered using intuitive
rather than rational thinking.
As with George Ernst Stahl, in the seventeenth century he wrote “I am convinced that will yield
to and be cured by, remedies that produce similar affections” and so this was a direct pronunciation of
the homeopathic principle.
Hahnemann's first comments about the general applicability of the law of similars were in 1789
when he translated a book by William Cullen, one of the leading physicians of the era. At one point in
the book Cullen ascribed the usefulness of Peruvian bark (Cinchona) in treating malaria due to its the
bitter and astringent properties. Hahnemann wrote a bold footnote in his translation, disputing Cullen's
explanation. Hahnemann asserted that the efficacy of Peruvian bark must be for another factor, since he
noted that there were other substances and mixtures of substances decidedly more bitter and more
astringent than Peruvian bark that were not effective in treating malaria.
His first experiment was then with Cinchona bark, where he took substantial doses of the bark
for a couple of days and described the effects as follows:
“My feet, finger tips etc. First grew cold, I became exhausted and sleepy, then my heart began to
palpitate, my pulse became hard and rapid, I had intolerable anxiety, trembling prostration in all my
limbs, then throbbing in the head, flushing of the cheeks, thirst and, in short, all the ordinary symptoms
of intermittent fever.”
From the resemblance, as he had infact suffered from malaria, Hahnemann concluded that the
bark over powered and eradicated the intermittent fever chiefly by exciting a fever of short duration by
it’s own.
The homeopathic principles first appeared in 1796 in article in the leading medical journal in
Germany .In this article he wrote that while choosing a remedy, one must imitate nature and employ it in
the disease one wishes to cure “that medicine which is able to produce another very similar artificial
disease”. Since then, he became very busy constructing a therapeutics system based on this principle.
Through which Hahnemann and his followers started collecting more provings by examining on
themselves and on their family. They also examined toxological data as he considered them to be
acceptable provings. Hahnemann’s and his follower’s results to their provings were the subject of the
Materia Medica Pura which is a compilation of all the different drug pictures they observed.
Later on in 1810 The Organon of Rational Medicine (changed to The Organon of The Healing
Art) appeared and was the first of five editions, which were considered as a testament to the evolution of
his ideas and practice of homeopathy. (For a brief summary refer to chapter 2).
The advantage of experimenting with humans is that subjective as well as objective clinical
symptoms can be ascertained. The disadvantage is that incidental symptoms have nothing to do with the
actual drug action may also be reported.
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Hahnemann argued a lot about homeopathy being the only way to treat disease especially those
of chronic nature. He criticized what he considered to be the two ‘alternative’ methods other than
homeopathy. On Allopathy (the treatment of disease by remedies that produce effects different from
those produced by the disease) he had two objections; the first concerned the uncertainty of the method
since one could not be sure whether it would have the desired effect and so one would only be guessing
at the problem rather than solving it, his second objection was about the harm it causes due to
disordering healthy tissues and flooding the tissues with large amounts of sometimes very poisonous
substances.
On the second treatment method which he called the ‘antipathic method’ (involving an attempt to
neutralize various symptoms by giving them remedies which produced directly opposing effects e.g.
Giving purgatives in constipation), he acknowledged the effectiveness of antipathic drugs in many acute
conditions but stressed their inadequacy in the treatment of recurrent and chronic dis-eases ;on this he
said “the vain empiric imagines it to be the beaten highway and plumes himself on the wretched power
of giving but a few hours ease , unconcerned if , during this specious calm ,the disease plants its roots
still deeper”. According to Hahnemann it was also limited in that there were relatively few directly
opposing states, which existed between natural disease and drug action, and furthermore it was
inadequate in that it was usually limited to the treatment of single symptoms.
According to Hahnemann homeopathy was superior .It acted directly on the affected parts, that is
the remedies were ‘target specific’ .It was gentle in it’s manner because of the very small doses he came
to favor and employ. It was also of ‘inexhaustible fertility’ through simply finding a drug picture, which
matched as accurately as possible the specific disease picture, could treat any disease that presented
itself, known or unknown.
1.2. Hahnemann’s followers and other Homoeopaths:
1.2. a. Herring, Constantine:
(1800-1880) Materialist school; Dr. Constantine Herring is called the ‘Father of Homoeopathy’
in America. He established a homoeopathic school at Allentown, Pennsylvania, proved 72 drugs
including the South American Lachesis trigonocephalus, the snake whose poison gave us one of the
great Polychrest, and he is mistakenly thought to have started the ‘Law of Directions of Cure’ known
popularly as ‘Herring’s Law.’
BOOKS
The Homeopathic Domestic Physician, 1835
The Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica (10 vol.)
Analytical Repertory of the Symptoms of Mind
Condensed Materia Medica
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1.2.b. KENT
The American James Tyler Kent established methodologies for taking a case, studying the case,
how to establish a hierarchy of symptoms and how to decide what to do after the first prescription, how
to interpret the many reactions following its action and lead the patient scientifically to his cure.
He elaborated the criteria which decided whether the remedy was simply acting suppressively or
really curing, whether the cure was natural or really the result of the remedy, whether a case was curable
or not, and the famous law of progressive potentizations.
His repertory is considered the best by many and is the basis for many modern repertories, and
He was considered part of the spiritualist / idealist school.
Books available online,
The following books or lecture notes that elaborate principles of the Organon and actual explanation of
the main principles is discussed in detail in an interesting manner.
Kent's Repertory of the Homeopathic Materia Medica, 1897
Lectures on Homoeopathic Philosophy, 1900
Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica, 1905
Loosely organized detailed lecture notes straight from the classroom.
New Remedies
Lesser Writings
Clinical Cases
What the doctor needs to know
Kent's Aphorisms and Precepts from extemporaneous lectures
Other intresting books published by the author ,and not online ,are given below.
 Repertory of the Homeopathic Materia Medica, Head, Eye, and Vision, corrected from the original
manuscript, C.S. Sandhu
 Kent’s Final General Repertory, Pierre Schmidt and Diwan Harish Chand, 1980
 Kent’s Repertorium Generale, Jost Künzli von Fimmelsberg, 1987.
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1.2.c. HUBBARD, Elizabeth Wright
(1896-1967) International Hahnemannian Association president 1945-46. President of the
Anthroposophical Society in America. President of the American Institute of Homeopathy.
Dr. Wright-Hubbard was one of the foremost homoeopaths of the United States, and in the
world. She learned her Homoeopathy from Dr. Pierre Schmidt of Geneva, Switzerland. She venerated
this great tradition, which had formed her, and magnificently served it in her practice and teaching.
Elizabeth Wright Hubbard qualified in medicine in 1921 at Columbia University School of
Physicians and Surgeons and interned at Bellevue Hospital, New York. From there she went on to study
homoeopathy for two years under Dr Pierre Schmidt of Geneva, returning to the United States to pursue
a career that brought her international acclaim and affection.
She was the first woman to be elected President of the American Institute of Homeopathy. She
also was Editor of the 'Homoeopathic Recorder' for many years and subsequently as Editor of the
'Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy'.
Books
Homeopathy As Art and Science (collected writings), 1990
A Brief Study Course in Homoeopathy
NOTE; for further information on more homoeopaths and homoeopathy followers please refer to the
following web page:
http://doughoff.com/homeopathy/02_history/02_toc.htm
1.3. Spread & Success of homoeopathy:
Homeopathy is widespread in Europe. Top homeopathic manufacturers come from Germany,
France, and Switzerland.
Homeopathy enjoys excellent status in England, where the Royal Family has had homeopathic
physicians since the 1830's. 45% of conventional MD's in England refer patients to Homeopaths.
Almost all French pharmacies dispense homeopathic remedies and the use of homeopathy is
covered by state social security. Approximately 30% of the people in France use homeopathy.
In Asia, homeopathy is widely accepted and used in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia.
Homoeopathy proved itself through many facts including the following;
1.
Safety, by offering no long-term side effects.
2.
Homeopathy also boasts of being safe for pregnant women, infants and the elderly as
compared with other therapies.
3.
Homeopathy
uses
natural
substances,
not
synthetic
or
chemical.
Homeopathy can be safely taken with heart, blood pressure, insulin, thyroid, and other medications.
4.
Homeopathy is known best as a first aid remedy for quick help for sudden, acute, and
seasonal illnesses.
5.
Through the process of dilution, remedies no longer contain whole molecules, rendering
them non-allergenic and non-poisonous.
6.
Homeopathy stimulates the body towards health balance.
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1.4. Homeopathy and classical medicine (allopathy)
When we say treatment, most people would immediately imagine alleviation of a particular
symptom .So, allopathy means, asymptomatic treatment, elimination of the effects of pathology, not of
its causes. e.g. cutting of a tumor, suppressing eczema, substituting a live but disease organ with another.
It was Hippocrates who gave us the concepts of what Samuel Hahnemann then named
"allopathy" and "homeopathy."
Hippocrates said that there were two concepts of healing, in other words, Two ways to approach
the symptoms of disease, and that he could best illustrate them by thinking of them as two streams that
flowed side by side in opposite directions. Those two streams are homeopathy and allopathy.
The term allopathy is taken from two Greek words allos, which means "other", and pathos,
which means suffering. Where the idea is that the symptoms that the patient associates with pain are bad
things, they are things that must be struggled with and worked against. The doctor who practices
allopathy will give a patient medicine that will work against the symptoms that are in place, or will
simply mask the symptoms.
Therefore, the patient who has a cold, which has left him with a runny nose and tearing eyes, will
receive a medicine that has the power to dry up both eyes and noses. And the patient who has a
headache will be given a medicine that will interrupt their ability to feel the headache pain. In neither
case will the medicine actually treat the actual cause of the symptoms. The cold medicine will have no
effect on the cold itself, nor will the pain medicine actually put an end to the headache. So as a
conclusion, the allopath depends upon the body to ultimately heal itself and creates an environment in
which that healing can take place with as much comfort as possible.
Homeopathy, on the other hand, is something very different .For the homeopath, illness is not an
invader of any sort, but is, instead, the being’s response to some trauma or crisis that has set the patient
into a dis-ease. The symptoms, therefore, tell the homoeopath more about the patient’s reaction to
circumstances than they do about the circumstances themselves. First, they tell you that the patient was
susceptible to the trauma that they suffered. They were in a state in which they were resonating with the
illness enough for it to take hold. This may have been caused by exhaustion, depression, or any of many
other causes, but the homeopath recognizes that there was a reason that the patient became ill in the first
place.
Since the symptoms associated with the illness are not invaders, instead they are considered to be
a part of the patient himself, they must be respected as such and worked with and not against. And so
homoeopathy offers a variety of therapies for different kinds of illness through a holistic approach where
Homoeopaths consider the whole person -mind and body- in the diagnosis and treatment of patients, and
their therapies also respect this integration
The homeopath will then give the patient a remedy that would, in a healthy person, create the
very symptoms that are naturally within the patient’s being. He does this with the knowledge that as the
Patient’s Vital Force rises up to move against the effects of the remedy, it will move against the illness
as well and restore the patient to health.
Hippocrates states that these two streams of medicine flow side by side and that they flow in
opposite directions. They are, in many ways, in close proximity with one another. They almost touch,
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and yet, there is never truly a meeting point. Because they flow in opposite directions, and have opposite
impacts upon the being--one suppressive and the other expressive--they never can be united as one. Yet
allopathic practices proved disability to return health and/or well being especially in the cases of chronic
diseases, so it cannot treat ill people.
Cited References;
1. Dr. Brian Fradet, Dr. William Bergman, Brian Clement et al., The Natural Way of Healing Stress,
Anxiety and Depression, © 1995 by The Philip Lief Group, Inc., Chapters 1-3.
2. Jiri Cehovsky, 1994,Translation by: Voyen Koreis,1997, Homoeopathy-More Than A Cure,
Chapters 2-8, 10-17 http://www.ecn.cz/alternativa/book/hocu13.htm
3. Douglas Hoff ,2001, Classical Homeopathy
http://doughoff.com/homeopathy/01_philosophy/01_toc.htm
4. British School of Homoeopathy, Diploma coarse of Homoeopathy, 1988 & 1992,
http://www.homoeopathy.co.uk/
5. A Condensed History of Homeopathy, Dana Ullman ,©1991.
6. Biochemic remedies, © Deepak M R, http://www.onlinehomeo.com/biochemic.htm
7. Boericke, Materia Medica with Repertory; 9th edition
8. Margaret Roy, The Principles of Homeopathic Philosophy; Publisher: Longman Group UK
9. Dr. E.A. Maury, Homoeopathic treatment of children’s ailments, Translated from French by
Geoffrey A. Dudley B.A.; Publisher: Thorsons Publisher limited.
10. Jeremy Swayne, Homoeopathic method implications for clinical practice and medical science;
Publisher: Churchill Livingstone
11. Julian N. Kenyon, 21st century medicine, Publisher; Thorsons publishers limited.
12. Dr. C.H.Sharma edited by David Leland, The international manual of homeopathy and natural
medicine, Puplisher: Thorsons publishers limited.
13. Homeopathy for children Henrietta wells MCH. RSHOM publisher: ELEMENT.
14. Dr. Rupal Shah & Dr. Rajesh Shah, Indiaspace creation.., © 1997,
http://www.indiaspace.com/homoeopathy/
15. James Tyler KENT, Lectures on homoeopathic philosophy , Presented by Dr Robert Séror An
appreciation
Preface by Pr James Tyler Kent
Introduction par le Dr Robert Séror (French) http://www.homeoint.org/books3/kentlect/
16. Diploma coarse of the British institute of Homoeopathy 1992.
17. Diploma coarse of the British institute of Homoeopathy 1988.
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