HOMEOPATHY is a system of medical practice based on a theory of Dr. Samuel Hahnemann of Leipzig. He practiced this system about the beginning of the 1800's. He called it homeopathic to distinguish it from the older school of medicine, which he called allopathic.
Hahnemann's theory was that a drug which will produce certain disease symptoms in a healthy person will cure a sick person who has the same symptoms. He expressed this in the Latin phrase, Similia similibus curantur, which means like cures like.
In spite of opposition by the leading physicians of his day, Hahnemann became noted and had many followers. Homeopathic medical schools, clinics, societies, and journals sprang up in various cities in Europe and the United States.
