Homeopathy

Homeopathic Brands

What is homeopathy?

Samuel Hahnemann was a German physician who is often referred to as the father of homeopathy, although many have contributed to it’s development. In the 19th century, Samuel came across an idea that he strongly disagreed with in a book about poisons. The author of the book claimed that quinine helped prevent reoccurring fevers in cases of malaria because it strengthened the stomach. Samuel disagreed as he was familiar with quinine and aware that it causes digestive upset, nausea, and headaches. Healthy at the time, Samuel decided to test this claim and took quinine himself. After taking the quinine, Samuel experienced symptoms similar to those of malaria such as headaches, nausea, and fever.

Samuel realized the effects of quinine (causing a fever) in a healthy person was the same effect that malaria has on an infected person. From this observation the central idea of homeopathy was born – the law of similars. Samuel began a journey of testing various natural substances from the plant, animal, and mineral kingdoms in minute amounts on healthy individuals and documented his findings. Today these highly diluted substances are known as homeopathic remedies.

Since Samuel’s time many others have continued his studies and today there are thousands of different homeopathic remedies. Some companies produce individual remedies and others produce complexes which are several individual remedies combined.