Homeopathy is “a therapeutic method of using preparations of substances whose effects when administered to healthy subjects correspond to the manifestation of the disorder in the individual patient”.1. The discipline was developed by Samuel Hahnemann (1755–1843) about 200 years ago. Hahnemann postulated that
if a remedy causes a symptom in a healthy volunteer, then it can be used to treat that symptom in a patient (the “like cures like” principle).
if a remedy is potentized (that is, diluted and sucussed), it becomes more rather than less effective (the “memory of water” theory).
all diseases originate from the “itch” (psora), gonorrhea (sycosis), or syphilis (lues).
The third of these assumptions is now all but forgotten (I suspect that homeopaths feel embarrassed by its overt incorrectness), but despite the fact that the two other axioms also fly in the face of science, they still form the basis of homeopathy today.
Initially Hahnemann was remarkably successful, and homeopathy conquered much of the world.2. With hindsight, this early popularity probably accrued because, unlike many other therapies of the time, homeopathy was not outright harmful. With the eventual emergence of conventional treatments that generated more good than harm, homeopathy’s popularity faded.