Homeopathy is a system of medicine proposed by Samuel Hahnemann late in the eighteenth century which hypothesizes that disease is cured by remedies which produce symptoms in a healthy subject resembling the disease in question. However, and this is very important, the cure takes place only when the medicine is administered in such small amounts as to fail to produce the symptoms. Hahnemann based the latter principle on the never-proven assertion that in illness the body is enormously more sensitive to drugs than in health. Practitioners of conventional medicine scoffed at such wild claims, and they still do. The interest in unconventional medicine developed during recent years has also extended to homeopathy.
Many modern herbals quote homeopathic uses for various drugs.
Thoughtful consideration tells us that, whatever it may be, the system of homeopathy has no relation to the effective use of drugs of any kind. Probably the best that can be said about this now discredited treatment is that it demonstrates the therapeutic value of the placebo effect. For a full explanation of herbs, their benefits and hazards, please read Tyler's Herbs of Choice and Tyler's Honest Herbal. Hazards, however, should not be thought of simply in terms of toxicity. To some extent, all self-treatment with herbs or any other kind of medication is potentially hazardous because it may cause the patient to neglect conditions that could respond to timely professional therapy but if neglected, could result in serious health problems.