Homeopathy is a scientific system of medicine based on the discovery that a medicinal substance can cure the same problems it can cause – by varying the dosage of that substance.
Any herb, mineral or animal product given to a healthy person in a suitable dose will eventually cause that person to experience symptoms. These symptoms will be specific to the particular substance taken. That is, each substance produces in the healthy individual symptoms unique to that substance.
Now, here’s the interesting part: That same substance, in an extremely tiny dose, will remove just those symptoms it is capable of producing.
The essence, then, of homeopathy is:
Whatever a medicine can cause in the way of symptoms
that same substance can take away.
When Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, the originator of homeopathy, made this observation 200 years ago, he stated it as a principle which became his Law of Similars: “Let likes be treated by likes.”
A simple example of Hahnemann’s Law is drinking too much coffee. For one person it may be a sip or two; for another, a full pot. Whatever the amount, familiar symptoms will appear. At first, alertness is increased. Later, the mind races, preventing sleep, setting the nervous system on edge, and causing anxiety. According to homeopathy the best antidote to coffee poisoning is – coffee. However, only a very small amount (one drop or less) will reverse the effects – and then only if that drop is suitably prepared according to exact homeopathic instructions.
Another example is a cook slicing an onion. Her eyes burn and water profusely; her nose is affected with sneezing and watering. If a person has not been cutting onions but experiences these symptoms, he or she is probably suffering from allergies or the common cold. As one might expect, one remedy for such a condition is the onion – again a minute amount prepared according to exact homeopathic instructions.