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'''Homeopathy''' is a theory of [[alternative medicine]] which tries to treat illnesses with infinitesimal doses of the drugs that cause the same symptom as the illness. Homeopathy is based on the ideas of [[Samuel Hahnemann]], a 19th century physician who observed that some contemporary medicines evoked symptoms similar to those of the illnesses for which they were prescribed.  

'''Homeopathy''' is a system of [[alternative medicine]] whose practitioners believe that if a large dose of a particular substance causes a symptom when administered, then the same substance would cure ailments causing similar symptoms when a smaller, more diluted dose is administered; this is called "like cures like".<ref>http://www.webmd.com/balance/guide/homeopathy-topic-overview</ref> Practitioners repeatedly dilute and vigorously shake substances with water and/or alcohol; the resulting "remedy" often contains very little, if any, molecules of the original substance. However, homeopathists believe that this procedure makes their remedies ''more'' potent through a phenomenon known as ''dynamization''.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20020826082134/http://altmed.creighton.edu/Homeopathy/philosophy/dilution.htm</ref>

Homeopathy is popular in Europe and has been used by the British Royal Family.

This method of healing was created in the 18th century by physician Samuel Hahnemann, who noticed cinchona bark, used to cure [[malaria]], could cause malaria-like symptoms.<ref>http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1676328/</ref> Since then, homeopathy became more popular. Homeopathic hospitals of the time were better for their patients than conventional hospitals, as they generally prescribed medicines that had no effects at all, while contemporary conventional hospitals had dangerous treatments. As new medical discoveries were made and conditions in conventional hospitals improved, however, homeopathy fell into decline. <ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20070705095116/http://altmed.creighton.edu/Homeopathy/history.htm</ref>

Critics claim there is no clear evidence to support the efficacy of homeopathic remedies.<ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2002/homeopathy.shtml</ref>  They further argue that the reported effects are equivalent to placebo.<ref>http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/homeo.html</ref> A group of studies examined by the National Center for Biotechnology Information and U.S. National Library of Medicine found that homeopathic treatments had weak evidence of efficacy and that they were likely a result of the placebo effect. <ref>http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16125589</ref>

Modern scientific consensus states that homeopathy is [[pseudoscience|pseudoscientific]]; there is a lack of evidence to suggest that homeopathy's effects are any more than [[placebo]]. <ref>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1874503/</ref>

==History==

==History==

The term "homeopathy" was coined in the 19th century by German physician Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20080407183345/http://www.shpltd.co.uk/dean-homeopathy.pdf Archived with the Wayback machine]</ref>  The concept was first thought up of when he tested upon himself cinchona bark (a purported cure for malaria at the time) and noticed that the symptoms it induced in him were similar to the symptoms of [[malaria]].  He then developed the Law of similars based on this "discovery".<ref>http://www.skylarkbooks.co.uk/Hahnemann_Biography.htm</ref> He then cataloged the effects of various substances on humans in what he called "provings."  These provings, he believed, were best applied to the [[subjectivity|self]].<ref>http://altmed.creighton.edu/Homeopathy/philosophy/provings.htm</ref>

The term "homeopathy" was coined in the 19th century by German physician Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20080407183345/http://www.shpltd.co.uk/dean-homeopathy.pdf Archived with the Wayback machine]</ref>  The concept was first thought up of when he tested upon himself cinchona bark (a purported cure for malaria at the time) and noticed that the symptoms it induced in him were similar to the symptoms of [[malaria]].  He then developed the Law of similars based on this "discovery".<ref>http://www.skylarkbooks.co.uk/Hahnemann_Biography.htm</ref> He then cataloged the effects of various substances on humans in what he called "provings."  These provings, he believed, were best applied to the [[subjectivity|self]].<ref>http://altmed.creighton.edu/Homeopathy/philosophy/provings.htm</ref>