His discovery that infinitely diluted medicines could be used to treat patients meant that a wide range of substances could be used to treat illness without worrying about side effects. This is, of course, in direct contrast to modern drugs, which become less effective when diluted. To do so he began diluting his medicines finding that as he did so, that they became more effective. Hahnemann was very aware that some of the remedies he tested were quite toxic and produced side effects, so he set about finding the minimum dose needed for a cure. He was able to put his theories into practice by successfully treating a typhoid outbreak during the winter of 1812-1813. By listing what a substance could cause, he was able to predict what symptoms it was capable of curing. These he compiled into his own “Materia Medica”.
In each case he carefully noted down the symptoms, both physical and mental, which developed as a result of taking each individual substance over a period of time. Over the following years Hahnemann tested a number of other substances on himself and on friends. This is the basic principle on which homeopathy is founded. In Latin this translates to similar similibus curentur or “like cures like”. This experiment he termed a “proving” and concluded, after repeating the test on other people, that like is capable of curing like. However once he stopped taking the medicine, the symptoms disappeared rapidly and he returned to normal once more. Somewhat surprisingly he developed a set of symptoms closely resembling those seen in malaria. To do this Hahnemann took repeated doses of Cinchona bark over the course of several days and noted the effects. Knowing that other and more powerful astringents had no effect in treating malaria he set about trying to discover how and why quinine worked. Cullen’s book suggested that the benefits of quinine (isolated from Cinchona bark) in treating malaria was because of its action as an astringent. His work on one book in particular, Cullen’s Materia Medica, was to become of major significance in the development of homeopathy. Eventually ceasing work as a doctor, he decided to earn a living instead, by translating medical texts into German.
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Instead, he advocated the provision of a good diet, increased exercise and better living conditions, basic commonsense advice which applies as much today as it did in Hahnemann’s time. Many of the treatments, such as bloodletting, were harsh and most cures probably occurred as a result of the patient’s own ability to recover rather than as a direct benefit of any treatment.Īs a consequence, Hahnemann gradually became disillusioned with the medical practices of the time. It appeared that the more pungent and unpleasant a medicine, the more effective it was likely to be. Medical treatments of the day seemed to rely on a large amount of good fortune. Its real potential was not realised until the late eighteenth century and the pioneering work of the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Homeopathy is a popular form of complementary medicine which was founded on the medical traditions and beliefs of the Greeks and Romans many thousands of years ago.
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