Samuel Hahnemann

       The great Apostle of the ‘Law of Similar’ was Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann. He was born on the 10th April 1755‚ in the town of Meissen in Saxony‚ Germany. His father was a porcelain painter and young Samuel had to assist his father in the daytime and learn his lessons at night. Under such difficulties‚ he pursed his studies of Greek‚ Hebrew‚ Arabic‚ Latin‚ Italian‚ Spanish‚ Syrian‚ French‚‚ and of course English.

       In his 24th birthday he got his first MD degree and in 1782 he married Henrietta Kucher‚ an accomplished German Lady. He was then appointed senior surgeon to the Dresden Hospital‚ which he quit for private practice in a small village near Leipzig. This he threw up in disgust‚ the action of the medicines then used it. He turned to his chemical studies and eked out a meager living by translating scientific works into German Language.

       In 1790 while he was translating in to German language the Cullen’s Materia Medica‚ he came cross Cinchona or Peruvian bark and noticed properties of it somewhat antagonistic to each other.

Cinchona

And arguing by analogy‚ that cinchona cured ague‚ he thought that cinchona might give rise to ague like symptoms if taken in health. He began to try its effects on his own system‚ to be convinced that it produced symptoms similar to those of ague. This lead him to try in succession several other drugs on his system and all these trials revealed to him the truth of ‘SIMILIA SILIBUS CURENTUR’. Thus the discovery of law of ‘Gravitation’ by Newton‚ Hahnemann easily discovered the law of similars.

       In 1796‚ he published his researches in the foremost medical journal of the time‚ the Hufeland’s Journal; it made a stir and brought him devoted friends and implacable but interested enemies. Nothing daunted‚ in 1805 he published the ‘Fragmenta De Viribus’ in Latin the Homoeopathic Materia Medica‚ containing the proving of twenty-seven remedies.

       All this achievement won him the newly founded chair on Homoeopathy at the Leipzig University‚ which he occupied from 1812–1821‚ but his enemies and prosecutors ultimately hounded him out of Leipzig in 1821 into the humble town of Kothen.

       The rest of life is melancholy reading. In 1830 he became a widower‚ and remarried to Madame Melanie‚ an accomplished and rich French lady and on 2nd July 1843‚ Hahnemann breathe his last breath.

The Homoeopathic Proving

       Most drug experimentation conducted by orthodox medical researches has been performed on sick people‚ on animals‚ or in laboratories. As an ever-innovative contributor to medical science‚ Hahnemann was the first to recommend giving medicinal drugs to healthy people to access their physiological properties. These experiment‚ called ‘PROVING’ involve in giving the person small doses of the single substance on a daily basis until symptoms are elicited. The dose used is extremely small and is selected according to previous knowledge of the toxic properties of the potential medicine. Careful observation and record are made of the symptom that occurs. Each substance creates a variety of physical emotional‚ and mental symptoms‚ unique to that substance.

       The homoeopathic proving provides the experimental basis for learning what symptoms a substance cause and thus‚ according to the law of similar‚ what it cures. The deatailed records of the symptoms produced during the proving are compiled in reference book known as ‘Materia Medica’ (Latin for ‘materials of medicine’).

       Initially‚ hahnemann used mostly herbs and heavy metals like mercury and arsenic for his provings‚ the drugs employed by orthodox practitioners of his day. Later he tested various herbs used in European folk medicine‚ and other mineral and animal derived substances.

The First Proving

       The Law of Nature goes far back in the 400BC practiced by a philosopher‚ name Hippocrates. In the year 1790‚ German medical practitioner name Dr.Frederick Samuel Hahnemann‚ while translating into German language a “Cullen’s Materia Medica”‚ found that ‘Cinchona’ or ‘Peruvian Bark’ or quinine can be used to cures cholera and when taken by a healthy person it produces the same ‘Cholera’. The same ‘cinchona’ is then used in making into remedy which he makes and tested on himself to cures this disease cholera.

       Based on his findings‚ Dr.Hahnemann carry out further in-depth studies on other different remedy‚ which he tested on himself or his workers. He was convinced that ‘Like Cures Like’ could cure disease.