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Homeopathy (also homœopathy or homoeopathy; from the Greek ὅμοιος, hómoios, "similar" + πάθος, páthos, "suffering" or "disease") is a controversial form of complementary and alternative medicine created in the late 18th century by German physician Samuel Hahnemann. The principles of homeopathy were laid out in his textbook, The Organon of the Healing Art, which remains in wide use today.

Homeopathic remedies are made from substances that, in undiluted form, cause symptoms similar to the disease they aim to treat. These substances are serially diluted, with shaking at each stage, that homeopaths believe removes side-effects from those that may be toxic, "adds to their power to stimulate a response", and "develops the special properties of the remedy" - even in those that are chemically inert or past the point where any molecules of the original substance remain. Hahnemann proposed that this process aroused and enhanced "spirit-like medicinal powers held within a drug". The therapeutic applications of the remedies used in homeopathy are recorded in homeopathic materia medica, and practitioners select treatments according to a patient consultation that explores both the physical and psychological state of the patient.

1. ^ Cite error: The named reference homhist1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
2. "Dynamization and Dilution". Creighton University Department of Pharmacology. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
3. Smith, Trevor. Homeopathic Medicine Healing Arts Press, 1989. 14-15
4. "Similia similibus curentur (Like cures like)". Creighton University Department of Pharmacology. Retrieved 2007-08-20.
5. Organon of Medicine, Samuel Hahnemann, combined 5th/6th edition