Homeopathy and the Law of Similars

Homeopathy is becoming increasingly mainstream—celebrities such as Catherine Zeta-Jones and Cher have discussed using this form of natural medicine, which seeks to stimulate and use the body’s own natural self-defense healing mechanisms. Critics of homeopathy often claim any positive results seen in studies of homeopathy must be the result of a “placebo effect”; however, the positive results of homeopathy have been shown to function independently of the placebo effect.(Lancet. 2007;350(9081):834 43).

The roots of homeopathy stretch back to the late 18^th century, when Samuel Hahnemann, a classically trained German physician and chemist, became disenchanted with the accepted medical practices of his day, such as bloodletting and purging. He was very familiar with a broad range of medicines and methods of preparation and spent several years in the 1790s testing some common remedies, using himself, his wife and children as subjects. This testing methodology was to become known as provings: dosing healthy individuals and studying their reactions.

One of the first medicines Hahnemann investigated was cinchona, a natural source of quinine, used even today to treat malaria. After a personal accidental ingestion, Hahnemann noticed the drug caused intermittent fever, a classic symptom of the disease it was intended to treat. After further study, he found cinchona in significant doses, taken when well, produced fever, chills, thirst and a throbbing headache, the symptoms of malaria. From this, he speculated that a substance that triggered symptoms of a disease in a healthy individual might alleviate those same symptoms in an ill person. And thus was born “The Law of Similars”, the theory of “like cures like.”

Simply stated, the Law of Similars is a therapeutic method based on the principle that illness can be successfully treated by giving infinitesimal doses of substances that, if given to healthy individuals in larger amounts, will cause symptoms similar to those of the illness being treated. This is the same operating principle of modern medicine's vaccines and allergy desensitization therapies, namely stimulating the body’s own natural self-defense healing mechanisms.

Simple examples of like curing could include Apis mellifica (honey bee), which causes pinkish red swelling with an itching and burning sensation in healthy people; in infinitesimal doses, the same venom is used to treat these symptoms. Belladonna is used to treat scarlet fever, when poisoning with this substance causes a flushed face, dilated pupils, high fever and dry mouth. Likewise, Allium cepa, a preparation from red onion, causes watery eyes; in a minute dose, it is used to treat colds and allergies characterized by watery eyes.