What is homeopathy?

Remedies are diluted on the decimal scale (x) with a dilution factor of 1:10, or on the centesimal scale (c) with a dilution factor of 1:100. A decimal dilution of 6x is said to equal one part in a million; roughly equivalent to a pinch of salt in a bath of water. On the centesimal scale, a 12c potency is comparable to a pinch of salt in the Atlantic Ocean. After each dilution, the mixture is shaken vigorously (known as succussion) to transfer ‘energy’ from the substance and potentiate its healing properties.

Although homeopathy is one of the most mainstream complementary therapies and available on the NHS through a homeopathic doctor, its principles are beyond current scientific understanding. Yet several clinical trials at Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital, published in The Lancet, found that homeopathic remedies alleviated hay fever and allergic asthma. According to one theory, the diluted liquid keeps an electromagnetic ‘footprint’ or ‘memory’ of the original substance.

Another theory put forward by two scientists and reported in the New Scientist, claims that when a solution is diluted to the point where you would think nothing remains, the molecules actually clump together to form even larger clusters and become biologically active.

The right remedy for your personality
Hahnemann also discovered that the more he found out about his patients, the more likely he prescribed the right remedy. Illness is considered the result of an inner imbalance and so-called ‘classical’ homeopaths assess a patient’s ‘constitutional type’ by noting appearance and asking detailed questions about likes and dislikes, lifestyle habits and personality. Their skill lies in matching symptoms and constitution to one of around 2,000 remedies. A cold, for example, will be treated differently according to whether the patient is jolly, overweight and outgoing, or thin and neurotic.

Remedies come in many different forms, including lactose pills, tablets and powders, as well as ointments and tinctures. Treatment is said to work according to the ‘laws of cure’: symptoms improve from the top of the body; from inside before the outside; and in reverse order of appearance. The longer a condition has taken to develop, the longer it takes to treat, and remedies may be changed according to how symptoms progress.