IRCH - Homoeopathic Text

‘The Physician’s high and only mission is to heal the sick’ Samuel Hahnemann - The Founder of Homoeopathy 1755-1843 Homoeopathy is a scientific system of healing in which the whole system is assisted to heal itself. Symptoms are viewed as expressions of disharmony within and the patient, not the disease, is given treatment. The medicines, or remedies as they are referred to, work by stimulating the body's own natural healing power. Although Homoeopathy has been practised in its current form for over two hundred years, the philosophy underlying this form of medicine can be traced back much further, to the Ancient Greeks, who proposed the Law of Similars. Indeed, the great master Hippocrates, a Greek himself, wrote that there were two methods of healing: by 'contraries' and by 'similars' and both Galen and Paracelsus had referred to the principle of ‘simile’ in their works. The belief in 'let likes be cured by likes' persisted in folk medicine through the millennia, but it was the German physician Samuel Hahnemann (1755 - 1843) who first recognised its significance and developed Homoeopathy as it is known today. In an experiment on himself Hahnemann took Cinchona (Peruvian bark or Quinine), which was a remedy used to treat malaria, and found that in a healthy state, this medicine developed a pathological effect resembling an intermittent fever similar to the symptoms it was supposed to cure. Hahnemann continued to work on this new idea, trying many substances and found his findings confirmed. Later he discovered that the smaller the dose of the medicine that was given, the more effective it became. Thus, the Law of Similars was rediscovered and a system known as Homoeopathy was born. Hahnemann believed the ideal cure to be a gentle and permanent restoration of the health in the shortest and most reliable way. He stood up to the medical inadequacies of his time and despite much opposition to his ideas, published his findings in 1810 in the 'Organon of Rational Healing'. Further revised editions followed, under the new title of 'Organon of Healing' and 'Organon of Medicine'. His insight into the laws of healing have made him one of the greatest physicians in medical history. Homoeopathy, as with any other holistic discipline, does not treat disease, but is concerned with the 'whole person,' and views all symptoms in their totality. It is a science based on experience and abides by a strict code and principles of healing.