User:Leugen/homeopathy

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". 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.

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. 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.

Modern scientific consensus states that homeopathy is pseudoscientific, and there is a lack of evidence to suggest that homeopathy's effects are any more than placebo.