The history of homeopathy begins with the discoveries of its founder Dr.Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), a German physician on who’s birth anniversary 10th April we celebrate World Homeopathy day. Dr. Hahnemann first coined the word “homeopathy” (“homoios” in Greek means similar, “pathos” means suffering) to refer to the pharmacological principle, the law of similars that is its basis. Actually, the law of similars was previously described by Hippocrates and Paracelsus and was utilized by many cultures, including the Mayans, Chinese, Greeks, Native American Indians, and Asian Indians ( the law also finds a mention in the vedhas) , but it was Hahnemann who codified the law of similars into a systematic medical science.

Despite the significant oppression from the orthodox medical profession, homeopathy survived and even thrived in the 1800s and early 1900s. In a 1890 issue of Harpers Magazine, Mark Twain acknowledged the special value of homeopathy, noting, “The introduction of homeopathy forced the old school doctor to stir around and learn something of a rational nature about his business.” Twain also asserted that “You may honestly feel grateful that homeopathy survived the attempts of the allopathists (orthodox physicians) to destroy it.”

Homeopathy attracted support from many of the most respected members of society. Its advocates included William James, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Nathanial Hawthorne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Daniel Webster, William Seward, Horace Greeley, Louisa May Alcott Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa and Rabindranath Tagore . William Cullen Bryant, the famous journalist, was president of the New York Homeopathic Society. John D. Rockefeller referred to homeopathy as “a progressive and aggressive step in medicine”; the fact that he was under homeopathic care throughout the latter part of his life may be one reason he lived 97 years.

Homeopathy’s popularity among respected classes was also evident in Europe. Besides its patronage by Britain’s Royal Family dating from the 1830s , homeopathy could count among its supporters Charles Dickens, W.B. Yeats, William Thackarey, Benjamin Disraeli, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, and Pope Pius X,.

Homeopathy was also disproportionately popular among women, not only as patients, but as its practitioners. The first women’s medical college in the world was the homeopathic Boston Female Medical College, founded in 1848. Four years later it became the New England Female Medical College, and in 1873, it merged with Boston University, another homeopathic college. Homeopaths also admitted women physicians into their national organization considerably before orthodox physicians did. Homeopaths admitted women into the American Institute of Homeopathy in 1871, while women were not invited into the A.M.A. until 1915. The orthodox medical school at Johns Hopkins finally agreed to accept women students as late as 1890, but not out of interests in women’s rights. They were offered a $500,000 endowment. Harvard turned down this same offer.

Many clergy not only were personally supportive of homeopathy, they also helped spread the word about it. Even Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, who generally was vehemently opposed to the use of drugs, acknowledged homeopathy’s value, saying, “Evidences of progress and of spiritualization greet us on every hand. Drug-systems are quitting their hold on matter and so letting in matter’s higher stratum, mortal mind. Homeopathy, a step in advance of allopathy,* is doing this.”

[* “Allopathy” is a word coined by Hahnemann to refer to orthodox medicine.]

It is no wonder that Henry James, another advocate of homeopathy, portrayed this medical science in such a positive light in his novel The Bostonians. This reference is carried over in the recent movie made from this book. In a scene from this movie, which is set in the 1880s, Basil Ransom (played by Christopher Reeve) addresses Miss Birdseye, the grand dame of the women’s movement (played by Jessica Tandy):

Ransom:: “You must tell me how much you take. One spoonful?

Birdseye:: “I guess this time, I’ll take two. It’s homeopathic.

Ransom:: “Oh, I have no doubt of that. I presume you wouldn’t have anything else.”

Birdseye: “Well, it’s generally admitted now to be the true system.”

The success of homeopaths in treating the yellow fever epidemic of 1878 that spread throughout the south was so impressive that homeopathy finally began to be noticed in the region. Deaths rates for those under homeopathic care were approximately one-third what they were for those using orthodox medicine.

Besides offering effective treatment for infectious diseases, homeopaths provided care for a wide range of acute and chronic disease. The observation that patients under homeopathic care lived longer led some life insurance companies to offer a 10% discount to homeopathic patients. There is also actuarial evidence that more life insurance money was paid to beneficiaries of homeopathic patients because these people lived longer

Homeopathy is particularly popular in Great Britain where the Royal Family has been under homeopathic care since the 1830s. The New York Times noted that visits to homeopathic physicians are increasing in England at a rate of 39% per year. Not only is there growing interest from the general public, there is also surprising acknowledgement of homeopathy by conventional physicians.

In Great Britain and to a small extent in the U.S. “complementary medicine” or “complementary therapies” is replacing the term “alternative medicine” or “alternative therapies.” Advocates of complementary therapies assert that their therapies are not “alternative” but are a growing part of mainstream medicine.

This impressive growth in Great Britain is being matched in France. A survey of French doctors in 1988 revealed that approximately 11,000 utilize homeopathic medicines, approximately 25% of the French public have tried or are presently using homeopathic medicines, and over 20,000 French pharmacies now sell homeopathic medicines. This survey also noted that courses in homeopathy leading to a degree are offered in six medical schools. Homeopathy is taught in all pharmacy schools and in four veterinary schools. Homeopathy is growing so rapidly in France that a recent cover story of Le Nouvel Observateur, one of France’s leading magazines, noted that President Mitterrand and six medical school deans had called for more research on homeopathy. The author editorialized, “It is a fact that homeopathy obtains results, sometimes spectacular results.”

In 1981 the Dutch government published a report on Alternative Medicine in The Netherlands in 1981, which concluded that 20% of the Dutch public utilize alternative healing methods. The report also noted that homeopathy is one the most popular therapeutic modalities.

Homeopathy is widespread in Europe, but it is even more popular in Asia, especially India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Homeopathy spread in India, in part, because of the support it received from Mahatma Gandhi, who was reported to have said that it “cures a greater number of people than any other method of treatment,” but also because it has been effective in treating many of the acute infectious conditions and the chronic maladies on the subcontinent. As an article in the World Health Organization’s journal World Health Forum noted, “Homeopathic treatment seems well suited for use in rural areas where the infrastructure, equipment, and drugs needed for conventional medicine cannot be provided.” Homeopathy is also considerably cheaper than conventional medicine, and any person, not just physicians, can learn to use a small number of medicines for simple common complaints.

Contrary to some critics who think that people try homeopathy only because they are uneducated, research published in the Western Journal of Medicine showed that homeopathic patients tend to be considered even better educated than the average population.

Homeopathy is re-experiencing a renaissance the world over.It is difficult to predict how popular homeopathy will be in the future, though it is probable that most physicians will utilize at least some of the micro doses which research has proven to be effective. Growing numbers of consumers will also learn to self-prescribe homeopathic medicine for common acute conditions and will probably demand homeopathic care from their physicians for more serious medical conditions.

Clearly, homeopathy will play an increasingly important role in health care, for as internationally acclaimed violinist and humanitarian Yehudi Menuhin* once said, “Homeopathy is one of the few medical specialties which carries no penalties–only benefits.”