 |
Dr. Samuel
Christian Frederic Hahnemann, M.D.
(1755 - 1843) |
|
Samuel Hahnemann was the founder of Homoeopathy. He
established the fundamental principles of the science
and art of Homoeopathy.
He is called the Father of Experimental Pharmacology
because he was the first physician to prepare medicines
in a specialized way; proving them on healthy human
beings, to determine how the medicines acted to cure
diseases. Before Hahnemann, medicines were given on
speculative indications, mainly on the basis of
authority without experimental verification.
Hahnemann discovered the remedial powers of drugs and
inert substances such as gold, platinum, silica,
vegetable charcoal, lycopodium, etc. By preparing the
medicines through potentization, these inert and
insoluble substances became soluble in alcohol or water
and were charged with medicinal force.
Dr. Hahnemann espoused the law of cure known as "Similia
Similibus Curentur", or "Like Cures Like". This means
that a remedy that produces symptoms in a healthy person
will cure those same symptoms when manifested by a
person in a diseased state. This law of cure has been
verified by millions of homoeopaths all over the world
since the time of Hahnemann.
Hahnemann discovered the primary and secondary actions
of remedies. The primary action results from the first
encounter between the vital force and the external
agent, and the secondary action is a result of the vital
force's reaction to the symptoms of that primary
encounter. This discovery led him to the curative powers
of poisonous substances.
Dr. Hahnemann described the different aspects of 'acute'
and 'chronic' diseases. Acute diseases are transitory;
they have a beginning and an end, whereas the chronic
diseases are co-existent with life. Either they are
present in a manifest or a latent state. From this work
came the chronic miasms of Psora, Syphilis, and Sycosis.
Dr. Hahnemann was the progenitor of several modern
medical approaches. Deeming the treatment of insane
patients to be cruel and harmful, he advised a humane
treatment for the insane. He cured many insane patients
with homeopathy, and became famous for this success.
Dr. Hahnemann was quick to recognize poor hygiene as a
contributory cause to the spread of disease. His success
with cholera and typhoid fever was in part due to this
recognition. Hahnemann also emphasized the importance of
nursing, diet, bed rest, and isolation of patients
during epidemic diseases. Hahnemann described 'Noxious'
principles as the precursors of certain disease states.
Hahnemann's three major publications illumine the
development of homeopathy. In the Organon of Medicine
(revised six times), we see the fundamentals laid out.
Materia Medica Pura records the exact symptoms of the
remedy provings. In his book, The Chronic Diseases,
Their Peculiar Nature and Their Homoeopathic Cure, he
showed us how the natural diseases become chronic in
nature when suppressed by improper treatment.
Dr. Hahnemann treated thousands of difficult and chronic
cases that defied the best care from allopaths all over
Europe. Thus, he became so famous that physicians from
Europe and America came to him for coaching in the new
science and art of healing, called Homoeopathy.
HOMOEOPATHY
|
