Homeopathy is the second largest therapeutic system in the world – World Health Organization
Homeopathy was developed by Dr. Samuel Hahneman in the 1700s. It is a therapeutic system of medicine that is based on the “Principle of Similarity” or “like cures like.” This means that a substance that can cause certain symptoms in a healthy person can cure similar symptoms in an unhealthy person. Homeopathy aims to aid and stimulate the body’s own defense and immune processes.
Homeopathy is a scientifically based, well-described system of approaching health and disease. Naturopaths use the term “scientific”because its insights are based on reproducible experiments. We use the term “well-described” because from these observations a number of fundamental rules are evident, first of which is the “similarity principle.”
Hahnemann published his ideas and experiences in a book called the Organon. The first edition appeared in 1810 and the last edition (which appeared posthumously) was published in 1842. Hahnemann’s fundamental concepts still hold true today, nearly 200 years later. This is not to say there has been no progress in homeopathic thought, but rather that subsequent investigators have been able to confirm and reconfirm Hahnemann’s basic principles.