Roman Influence

During the 1st to 5th centuries AD the Romans made great advances in medicine. They introduced more herbs into the pharmacopoeias and placed greater emphasis on the improtance of preventative health care by improving public hygiene. Roman physicians, especially Celsus, Galen, and Dioscorides, increased the knowledge and understanding of the structure and function of the human body but Hippocrates theory that "like can cure like" and his idea of an individual prescription for an individual patient were largely ignored.

During the Dark Ages in Europe, after th decline of the Roman Empire, there was little medical advancement. Altough Greek and Roman medical traditions survived in Persia and throughout the muslim empire, it was not until 16 th century that European medical study resumed and progressed.

Ancient Homeopaty

The principle of "like cure can cure like"(that is, an illness should be treated by substance capable of producing similar symptoms to those being suffered by the patient) is the basis of homeopathy. The principle dates back to the Greek physician Hippocrates in the 5th century BC. He is considered the seminal figure in the history of medicine because he was the first person to think that disease was the result of natural forces, not divine influences.

Central to his beliefs was the idea that careful observation of the symptoms specific to an individual and also that person's reaction to disease should be taken into account before reaching a diagnosis. He also believed that teh patient's own powers of healing were essential to choosing an appropriate cure and should be encouraged.

Hippocrates had a collection of several hundred remedies. One of the best examples he provided of "like curing like" was using the root of Vetarum album (white hellebore) in the treatment of cholera. In large doses this highly poisonous root causes violent purging that leads to severe dehydration, mirroring the symptoms of cholera.

However most medical treatment at this time was based on the Law of Contraries, which advocated that an illness should be treated by a substance capable of producing opposite symptoms in a healthy person. Treating diarrhoea with a substance such as alumunium hydroxide, which constipates, is an example treating an illness according to the Law of Contraries.


Sources of picture: http://spghworld.org/publications.htm