Homeopathy was invented and developed by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, one of the great geniuses in the history of medicine. Dr. Hahnemann learned fourteen languages in order to read every medical text available in Germany in the late 1700's. His discovery of the fundamental principles of Homeopathic Medicine occurred when he was in his forties in the 1790's. He continued to practice, write, and teach until his death in 1843 at the age of 88 years.

The four principles of homoeopathy

" Like to treat like "

This first principle is embodied in the phrase Similia similibus curentur or 'let like be treated by like'. Examples might be the use of Coffea (coffee) to treat insomnia or Apis (from the bee) to treat stings and similar histamine type reactions. At first sight, this is rather different to the orthodox approach, when the use of Syrup of Figs to treat diarrhoea might cause a few eyebrows to be raised! However, there are several examples of this practice in orthodox medicine. Above a certain dose level, the drug digoxin causes many of the heart conditions for which it is also a treatment; aspirin in large doses causes headaches.

" Treating the whole person "

The holistic approach to treatment is perhaps the most important concept within the practice of homoeopathy and is shared with all other complementary disciplines. To a homoeopath there is no one remedy for an illness. One remedy may be used to treat a wide range of different conditions in different patients and two patients with similar symptoms may not receive the same remedy. The aim is to restore a patient to his or her own unique state of wellness, taking into account any environmental influences, and not just to an 'average' well state. A first consultation might take 30 - 40 minutes upt 2 hours, during which time the patient will be asked all sorts of seemingly unrelated questions about their personality and environmental preferences. In this way the practitioner can build up a total picture of the patient before considering any symptoms that prompted the visit. Rather than treating the case as 'a sore throat attached to a body', a prescription can be issued on the basis of 'a body with a sore throat'. Without some knowledge the beginner would find it difficult to treat complicated long standing illnesses, and this limits the conditions that can be realistically treated by self medication. However, there is a range of around 20 'specifics' or polychrests, remedies with wide applications that can be used routinely to help many common ailments and first aid situations.