| Introduction
of Homeopathy:
Homeopathy
today is a rapidly growing system and is being practiced
almost all over the world. In India it has become a
household name due the safety of its pills and gentleness
of its cure. A rough study indicates that about 10%
of the Indian population solely depend on Homoeopathy
for their Health care needs.
It is more than a century
and a half now that Homoeopathy is being practiced in
India.  It
hasblended so well into the roots and traditions of
the country that it has been recognised as one of the
National Systems of Medicine and plays a an important
role in providing health care to a large number of people.
Its strength lies in its evident effectiveness as it
takes a holistic approach towards the sick individual
through promotion of inner balance at mental, emotional,
spiritual and physical levels.
The word ‘Homoeopathy’
is derived from two Greek words, Homois meaning similar
and pathos meaning suffering. Homoeopathy simply means
treating diseases with remedies, prescribed in minute
doses, which are capable of producing symptoms similar
to the disease when taken by healthy people. It is based
on the natural law of healing- "Similia Similibus
Curantur" which means "likes are cured by
likes". Dr. Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843) gave it
a scientific basis in the early 19th century. It has
been serving suffering humanity for over two centuries
and has withstood the upheavals of time and has emerged
as a time-tested therapy. The scientific principles
propounded by Hahnemann are natural and well proven
and continue to be followed with success.
ORIGIN
The principle of Homoeopathy
has been known since the time of Hippocrates from Greece,
the founder of medicine, around 450 BC More than a thousand
years later the Swiss alchemist Paracelsus employed
the same system of healing based upon the principle
that "like cures like". But it was not until
the late 18th century that Homoeopathy as it is practiced
today was evolved by the great German physician, Dr.
Samuel Hahnemann. He was appalled by the medical practices
of that time and set about to develop a method of healing
which would be safe, gentle, and effective. He believed
that human beings have a capacity for healing themselves
and that the symptoms of disease reflect the individuals
struggle to overcome his illness.
Over two hundred years
ago, the German physician Dr. Samuel Hahnemann discovered
the principle that what substance could cause in the
way of symptoms, it could also cure.Hahnemann was struck
by the effect that certain drugs, when taken by him
while quite healthy, produced symptoms that the drug
was known to cure in sick. For instance, when he took
Cinchona Bark, which contains quinine, he became ill
with symptoms that exactly mimicked intermittent fever
(now called malaria). He wondered if the reason Cinchona
worked against intermittent fever was because it caused
symptoms indistinguishable from intermittent fever in
a healthy human.
Hahnemann continued
to experiment, noting that every substance he took,
whether a herb, a mineral, an animal product or a chemical
compound, produced definite distinct symptoms in him.
He further noted that no two substances produced exactly
the same set of symptoms. Each provoked its own unique
pattern of symptoms. Furthermore the symptoms were not
just confined to the physical plane. Every substance
tested also affected the mind and the emotions apart
from the body.Eventually, Hahnemann began to treat the
sick
on the principle ‘let likes be treated by likes’.
From the outset he achieved outstanding clinical success.
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