Definitions for "Homeopathy"
Keywords:  hahnemann, samuel, dilute, dose, cure
The art of curing, founded on resemblances; the theory and its practice that disease is cured (tuto, cito, et jucunde) by remedies which produce on a healthy person effects similar to the symptoms of the complaint under which the patient suffers, the remedies being usually administered in minute doses. This system was founded by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, and is opposed to allopathy, or heteropathy.
a system of alternative medicine that seeks to treat patients by administering small doses of medicines that at higher doses in a healthy person would bring on symptoms similar to those of the patient.
an form of alternative medicine that treats symptoms. Originated about 200 years ago with experimental physician Samuel Hahnemann who theorized that "like treats like". Basically, this means the symptoms of a condition could best be treated with a substance that would produce those symptoms. By pairing the symptoms presented by a sick individual with the known toxic effects produced by a particular substance, that same substance, in a much diluted form, is used as a treatment. The chemicals used in homeopathy are often toxic materials such as poison ivy or arsenic, but they are diluted to the point where the toxic effects are negated.
Among the more widespread forms of alternative therapies (q.v.). [See Case Studies related to Homeopathy