Evolution of Homeopathy

Stage 1 of Homeopathy was when German physician Dr Samuel Hahnemann,  over 200 years ago, had initially just discovered Homeopathy.

This was when Cinchona bark was used to treat malaria. Cinchona bark produces fever with chills when proved. These are the symptoms of a malarial fever. This is the Law of Similars at work.

Chinchona Officinalis (China); common name: Peruvian Bark; has two classic characteristics: Complaints which follow loss of bodily fluids, and periodic fevers. Today however, we less commonly observe these features in their original forms because of the advent of intravenous therapy, antibiotics, anti-diarrhoeals and anti-emetics.

The allopathic way of using homeopathics was to chose a medicine on the name of a disease or a disease diagnosis. Hahnemann soon left this ‘stage 1’ when he realised the disease name wasn’t important but most intermittent fevers irrespective of the diagnosis can be treated with Cinchona. And this is where the evolution began!

Hahnemann was using homeopathy for local particular symptoms, or pathological symptoms very closely related to disease diagnosis. Soon it required differentiation of the different types of intermittent fevers to be able to choose Cinchona, or understanding an individualistic Cinchona fever in a patient. It also required knowing what is different in the patient irrespectively of the disease symptoms; i.e. their general state, their mind, their change in disposition.

This was the dawn of individualistic treatment and the striking advantage of homeopathy over conventional medicine as we all know it.