A Medical Maverick: Introduction.

 

Of all the men to enter the field of medicine during its long and winding history, none is perhaps so well-loved by some, and equally reviled by others, as Samuel Hahnemann. Unlike so many doctors during an age in which medicine could be brutal, intrusive, and sometimes even detrimental to the patient, Hahnemann developed a system of medicine based on tenderness, a study of the individual, and the body's own powers of healing that he called Homeopathy and has since spread across the globe.

Although Hahnemann introduced a system of treatment rather than a system of medicine, he actually was far more influential on medical thinking during the 18 th and 19 th century, helping to bring about the current emphasis of putting the individual patient before more invasive, medicalized interventions. During Hahnemann's era, such common therapies as bloodletting, purging, and using extremely toxic compounds, such as mercury, often further harmed and debilitated patients rather than healing them. This was because scientific principles had not yet reached their current standing, little was known about how disease truly worked, and practices relied far more on convention than science, something Hahnemann himself could not stand. He abandoned his medical practice, and after a period where he focused on scientific writing and translations, returned with a new system that revolved around observation, experimentation, and reason. His principles of "like cures like," individuality, and minimal dosage formed a foundation for an entirely new approach to understanding how people get better, which, despite its current controversy, has made him one of the more important figures in the history of medicine.

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