examinations. Certification earns the right to place the designation “DHt” after
one’s name. Licensure to practice homeopathy varies among the states. At the pres-
ent time, five states—Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Nevada, and New
Hampshire—have medical boards regulating homeopaths. Other states regulate
practitioners through the “scope of practice” guidelines issued by medical boards.
How Does Homeopathy Work?
At first glance, Homeopathy might seem absurd: treating an illness with a tiny
quantity of the substance that caused the illness in the first place. This first glance
would, however, be a very superficial assessment of the system Dr. Hahnemann
developed, as we shall see.
Law of Similars
Hahnemann proposed the use of the Law of Similars, which claims that a natural
substance that produces a given symptom in a healthy person can cure it in a sick
person. The substance that causes symptoms most closely resembling the illness
being treated is the one most likely to initiate a curative response for that person.
Hence the name homeopathy: “similar feeling.”
By definition, the natural compounds used in homeopathy will produce symptoms
of disease, if taken in large amounts. In the doses used by homeopaths, however,
these remedies stimulate a person’s self-healing capacity. As the well-known alterna-
tive doctor and author Andrew Weil states, “The difference between a poison and a
medicine is the dose.” An example is seen in the use of ipecac, which in large doses
causes severe nausea and vomiting. Women who are experiencing the nausea and
vomiting of pregnancy, however, can use small doses of Ipecac to cure those same
symptoms. The most extreme example is, of course, chemotherapy, where the
patient is effectively poisoned in an attempt to halt the uncontrolled cell growth that
would otherwise kill them.
Law of Infinitesimals
Natural healing compounds are specially prepared for homeopathic use through a
process of serial dilution. The compound is first dissolved in a water-alcohol mixture
called the “mother tincture.” One drop of the tincture is then mixed with 10 drops of
water-alcohol, and this process is repeated hundreds or thousands of times depend-
ing on the potency being prepared. At each step of the dilution, the vial is vigor-
ously shaken, called succussion, which seems to be an essential step. The
homeopathic belief is that the more the substance is diluted, the more potent it
becomes as a remedy.
CHAPTER 8 HOMEOPATHY 107
