Encyclopedia of Homeopathy

14 •THEORY & PRACTICEALLEGORY OF DEATH Between the Middle Ages and the Enlightenment there waslittle faith in medical practice: in this 15th-century French book illumination,doctors examine a patient’s pulse and urine, while death waits in the wings.with working conditions that were often unsafe. Standards of public hygiene and medicalcare were often low, and the mentally ill were treated in asylums. Violent medical practices,including blood-letting, leeching, and purging, became increasingly widespread and wereoften detrimental to people’s health. Toxic substances such as lead, mercury, and arsenicwere in common usage medicinally, and the cure often proved to be more harmful topatients than the illness, with some patients dying and many more suffering serious longtermside-effects as a result of the drastic or extreme treatments they had received.The origins of homeopathyThis was the cultural and scientific milieu in which the German doctor Samuel ChristianHahnemann (1755–1843) began practicing in 1780. He continued in practice for nine years,during which time he became increasingly disillusioned with the harsh medical methods ofthe day. In articles written to supplement his income, Hahnemann attacked the extrememedical practices of the day, advocating instead good public hygiene, improved housingconditions, better nutrition, fresh air, and exercise. Eventually his convictions led him tocease work as a doctor. He wrote later that it had been agony to work “always in darkness,”with no secure principles in place regarding health and disease.At this time a period of great social and political change evolved in Europe. TheIndustrial Revolution and the Enlightenment were accompanied by great technologicaland scientific advances, and increasing freedom of thought and expression. This