Homeopathic medicine, or homeopathy, is a holistic system of treatment that originated in the late eighteenth century. The name homeopathy is derived from two Greek words that mean "like disease" because the system is based on the notion that a medicine capable of curing a disease will mimic or imitate its symptoms. Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), the founder of homeopathic medicine, used the Latin phrase similia similibus curentur, or "let like be cured with like," to summarize the underlying principle of his system. Homeopaths use the term allopathy, or "other disease," to describe the use of drugs in conventional medicine to oppose or counteract the symptom being treated.

Hahnemann was trained in the standard medical practice of his day and licensed as a physician in 1779. In 1796, he gave up his practice because he was disturbed by the poor results of orthodox medical treatment. He supported himself by...