In 1796 a German doctor, Samuel Hahnemann, discovered a different approach to healing which he called homoeopathy, from the Greek words meaning ‘similar suffering’. Like Hippocrates, two thousand years ago, he realised that there were two ways of treating health, the way of opposites and the way of similars. The way of similars is the homoeopathic way.

Homoeopathy uses minute doses of substances on the basis of ‘like curing like’. This means that a substance which causes certain symptoms in a healthy person can heal someone who is ill and showing similar symptoms.