Encyclopedia of Homeopathy

HISTORY OF HOMEOPATHY• 19Many of the substances from which remedies are made are highlypotent or possibly even poisonous. Hahnemann used only smalldoses of substances in his medicines, but to his consternation hispatients still tended to suffer side-effects, or “aggravations”, as hecalled them. He developed a technique called “potentization” (seepage 28), which involved diluting and shaking the medicinevigorously or banging it on a hard surface during preparation.This turbulent motion, which Hahnemann called “succussion”,apparently released more potency into the medicine, even atlower dilutions. To Hahnemann’s surprise, his research showedthat microdilutions prepared with the additional turbulentenergy provided by potentization seemed to have a muchstronger effect than standard dilutions, providing a rapid andgentle effect that was long lasting. Homeopaths therefore need togive only this minimum, completely safe dosage. Hahnemann’soriginal theories were expanded further by the US homeopaths,Dr. Constantine Hering and Dr. James Tyler Kent (see page 16).Dr. Hering developed three basic Laws of Cure to explain howillness is cured in homeopathy (see box), while Dr. Kentestablished a clear framework by which a course of treatmentcould be understood. Possible scenarios included: the patientgets better; the patient gets worse; the patient’s condition remainsunchanged; the patient initially gets worse but then gets better.Dr. Kent laid down 12 different possible outcome scenarios,including the above, which enabled homeopaths to determinehow treatment should be continued and assess whether aparticular remedy had been successful or not. Since the 1970sthe Greek homeopath George Vithoulkas has done a great deal ofresearch to update the scenarios and refine the theory andpractice of homeopathy.DR. CONSTANTINE HERING This 19th-century UShomeopath formulated three “Laws of Cure” thatprovide a useful guide for interpreting apatient’s development.LAWS OF CUREAs a patient progresses towards cure,symptoms move from the inner organs ofthe body (those most vital to life) to theouter, less vital tissues and organs.Cure usually takes place from the top of thebody to the bottom; so, for example, headsymptoms clear first, gradually followed byany symptoms on the extremities.Old symptoms often resurface duringthe curative process, usually in the reverseorder to that in which they had firstappeared. Immunologists claim that thebody has the capacity to “remember”every “assault” on the system that it hasever reacted to, and this process confirmsthat capacity.Constitution & susceptibilityIn homeopathic terms, a person’s “constitution” describes their state of health, includingtheir temperament and any inherited and acquired characteristics. Homeopaths believethat healthy people resist developing sickness, despite being constantly exposed to anenormous variety of potentially harmful viruses and bacteria, since their vital force isstrong and their susceptibility is therefore low. Their degree of susceptibility to ill-healthmay change, however, from hour to hour and day to day. It depends on a particular