Homeopathic medicine (homeopathy) takes its name from the Greek terms “like” and “suffering.” The underlying premise of homeopathic medicine, “like cures like,” originated in Egypt and ancient Greece. In the late 18th century, German physician Samuel Hahnemann read that quinine-containing Peruvian bark (chinchona) could heal malaria. Hahnemann took a dose of Peruvian bark and became hot, worn out, exceedingly thirsty, and agitated, all of which are indications of malaria. Hahnemann began to explore further and developed his hypothesis of like cures like, also known as the Law of Similars: that if a chemical causes a particular symptom in big doses, it can treat such symptoms in small doses.
Homeopathic treatments can be made using herbs, minerals, snake venom, and other things. They are diluted repeatedly and “succussed,” or aggressively shaken in between each dilution. The process of sequential dilution and succussion is known as potentization.
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