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Homeopathy and Modern Science

How homeopathy started:

Homeopathy is a discipline that has been around for over 100 years. Though more prevalent in the east now, it was developed by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician who was practicing medicine in the 18th century. Some medical practitioners warmly embraced homeopathy as a humane, alternative method as compared to mainstream medical practices that were pretty extreme then, to say the least.

The practice of homeopathy is based on the law of similar. Dr. Hahnemann proposed that "like cures like." and therefore if something causes an ailment it will also subsequently cure it with appropriate doses. However unfortunately it is not presently accepted by traditional medicine anymore. More often than not people dismiss it as being nothing more than a nostrum.

Homeopathy- why it cannot be accepted by modern science?

The basic problem with homeopathy is that it was founded before the principles of modern science were developed in other words homeopathy was developed before the dramatic advances of chemistry and physics in the 1900s. In an age driven by science and technology a branch that doesn't take molecular structure of a substance into consideration doesn't fare well nor does it get taken seriously.

Unfortunately, as science progressed, homeopathy did not attempt to incorporate any of the basic scientific principles into its basic tenets. It is here therefore that homeopathy fails the basic acid test of being 'scientific' as we conventionally understand science. The irony lies in the fact that the touchstone method of science is that it should there should be proof.

However, many modern medicines treat numerous diseases with medication successfully in spite of the mechanism of action being unknown. These kinds of cases are however rare on the other hand homeopathy is totally unscientific and it runs counter to the basic laws of chemistry, physics and common sense. It is due to this unscientific ness of homeopathy that people express their skepticism regarding its benefits.

There have been numerous studies that have attempted to prove or disprove the effectiveness of homeopathy. Most of the studies were double blinded which implies that neither the patient nor the physician knew if the patient was getting a placebo or homeopathic remedy or even accepted forms of medication. Unfortunately most of the experiments have proved to be inconclusive.

Homeopathy has no scientific basis whatsoever, and the concept of its working by dilutions is absurd when modern basic scientific principles are considered. However, homeopathy undoubtedly does have certain good principles that some believe modern medicine could benefit from. The scientific basis of homeopathy is still embroiled in many controversies but most modern scientists opine that homeopathy works on placebo effect and that its admission into modern science is unacceptable.