Homeopathy is a vitalist philosophy which interprets diseases and sickness as caused by disturbances in a hypothetical vital force or life force. It sees these disturbances as manifesting themselves as unique symptoms.
Homeopathy maintains that the vital force has the ability to react and adapt to internal and external causes, which homeopaths refer to as the ''law of susceptibility''.
The law of susceptibility implies that a negative state of mind can attract hypothetical disease entities called ''miasms'' to invade the body and produce symptoms of diseases.
However, Hahnemann rejected the notion of a disease as a separate thing or invading entity and insisted that it was always part of the "living whole".
Hahnemann's "Law of similars"
Hahnemann observed from his experiments with cinchona bark, used as a treatment for malaria, that the effects he experienced from ingesting the bark were similar to the symptoms of malaria.
He therefore reasoned that cure proceeds through similarity, and that treatments must be able to produce symptoms in healthy individuals similar to those of the disease being treated.
Through further experiments with other substances, Hahnemann conceived of the ''law of similars'', otherwise known as "let like be cured by like" as a fundamental healing principle.
He believed that by inducing a disease through use of drugs, the artificial symptoms empowered the vital force to neutralise and expel the original disease and that this artificial disturbance would naturally subside when the dosing ceased.
Miasms and disease
In 1828, Hahnemann introduced the concept of ''miasms''; underlying causes for many known diseases.
A miasm is often defined by homeopaths as an imputed "peculiar morbid derangement of vital force".
Hahnemann associated each miasm with specific diseases, with each miasm seen as the root cause of several diseases.
According to Hahnemann, initial exposure to miasms causes local symptoms, such as skin or venereal diseases, but if these symptoms are suppressed by medication, the cause goes deeper and begins to manifest itself as diseases of the internal organs.
The underlying imputed miasm still remains, and deep-seated ailments can only be corrected by removing the deeper disturbance of the vital force.
Hahnemann's miasm theory remains disputed and controversial within homeopathy even in modern times.
In 1978, Anthony Campbell, then a consultant physician at The Royal London Homeopathic Hospital, criticised statements by George Vithoulkas claiming that syphilis, when treated with antibiotics, would develop into secondary and tertiary syphilis with involvement of the central nervous system.
This conflicts with scientific studies, which indicate that penicillin treatment produces a complete cure of syphilis in more than 90% of cases.
Campbell described this as "a thoroughly irresponsible statement which could mislead an unfortunate layman into refusing orthodox treatment".
The theory of miasms has been criticized as an explanation developed by Hahnemann to preserve the system of homeopathy in the face of treatment failures, and for being inadequate to cover the many hundreds of sorts of diseases, as well as for failing to explain disease predispositions as well as genetics, environmental factors and the unique disease history of each patient.
Further Reading
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