The History and Origins of Homeopathic Medicine

Homeopathy was first practiced by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, who was born in the spring of 1755. As a medical student at the University of Leipzig, he worked as a translator and mainly translated medical journals due to his flair for languages. He also taught German and French.

He went on to set up a medical practice in a small copper village, but due to his sensitive and humanitarian nature, was soon shocked and appalled at the methods of his profession. He found them to be brutal and barbaric. These methods shocked him to such an extend that he did not practice much medicine. Practicing medicine in the 18^th, 19^th and early 20^th century mainly consisted of venesection (lancing of veins) applying of leeches, depleting enemas, strong laxatives and potent emetics to induce vomiting. He did not agree that pregnant woman should be exposed to venesection, and most practitioners believed that this procedure only effective when the patient fainted due to blood loss.

He chose to rather further his studies by reading and translating medical literature into German. He also wrote some literature and in his first essay he recognized the need for proper hygiene, long before germs were discovered, clearly concerned about the contagious element.

In 1780 Hahnemann was contracted to translate A Treatise on Materia Medica written by Dr. William Cullen, a Scottish physician, this is said to be the birth of Homeopathy. In translating this Hahnemann read about Peruvian bark that was used to cure malaria by the indigenous South Americans, the bark was named Cinchona, after the vice Queen of Peru, after she was cured by this bark.

Hahnemann started experimenting with this bark by taking small amounts twice a day and recorded the symptoms he experienced, soon realizing it only took 2 or 3 hours for him to display malaria like symptoms this included fever, drowsiness and heart palpitations to name a few, he then soon realized that the bark can cure malaria because it produces the malaria like symptoms in people that does not have malaria hence the first principal of homeopathy - like cures like (similia similibus curentur).

1810 was the year in which the first edition of the Organon the complete edition is the most complete explanation of his healing system; it compiles 20 years of hard work and experimenting, mostly on him.

He believed that the whole person must be studied and then treated, thus creating a healthier person and not just curing a particular disease which may still leave the person on a whole not feeling well.