“No man-made law ever, no matter whether derived from the past or projected onto a distant, unforeseeable future, can or should ever be empowered to claim that it is greater than the natural law from which it stems and to which it must inevitably return in the eternal rhythm of creation and decline of all things natural.”
– Wilhelm Reich
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PART I: THE LAW OF SIMILARS IN HOMEOPATHY
INTRODUCTION
Modern medical science is characterized by its protean aspects, facets and dimensions. Its prodigiousness presents a complex blend of paradoxes, contradictions, disparities and similarities, where coherence and incoherence, as well as rational and irrational elements, coexist. The passage of time serves as the ultimate measure for evaluating these varying approaches with an objective perspective.
The Homeopathic Law of Similars, propounded by its founder, Dr Samuel Hahnemann, has tested the crucibles of time and emerged as a curative principle, holding pre-eminently as a central place in nearly all branches of medical science.
The understanding of homeopathy necessitates the in-depth knowledge of its philosophical substratum. The Law of Similars, regarded as the only curative principle in the homeopathic fraternity, is the most fundamental issue to be scrutinized.
EXPLANATION
The Law of Similars states that a disease can be cured by an agent/drug/ substance in nature, which has the capacity to produce a similar state when administered to a healthy human being, In other words, a new disease produced by a particular medicine can remove a pre-existing natural disease if the manifestations are similar.
The application of the Law of Similars in (homeopathic) clinical practice involves utilizing the drugs or substances as remedial agents in the treatment of the sick. The principle is to cure the disease, prescribe the drug that causes it i. e. the drug causing the disease, cures it; that which poisons, heals; that which kills life, restores it (if administered in right dosage). When two similar states are brought together, they neutralize each other and the result is cure. Two similar diseases, whether natural or artificial, annihilate each other. Two similarities repel, as do the like poles of the magnet.
DISCOVERY OF THE LAW OF SIMILARS
While translating Cullen’s Materia medica from English into German, Hahnemann came across a statement by Cullen about Cinchona bark, that it cures cases of malaria because it produces malaria like symptoms. Hahnemann decided to confirm the ‘modus operandi’ of Cinchona bark. He dosed himself with Cinchona and to his amazement, found that the symptoms he suffered from, closely resembled a mild attack of malaria. He then proceeded to experiment on many subjects using many substances. Finally, through systematic analysis of data of the drugs and the diseases, and the results obtained, Hahnemann concluded that, “Drugs cure by virtue of their capacity to induce changes that are similar to those brought about by the disease.”
THE FORMULATION OF THE LAW OF SIMILARS
In 1796, Master Hahnemann formulated the Law of Similars in the following manner:
“A weaker dynamic affection is permanently extinguished in the living organism by a stronger one, if the latter (whilst differing in kind) is very similar to the former in its manifestations.”
Hahnemann further elaborated:
“The curative power of medicines depends on their symptoms, similar to the disease but superior to it in strength, so that each individual case of disease is most surely, radically, rapidly and permanently annihilated and removed only by a medicine capable of producing (in the human system) in the most similar and complete manner the totality of its symptoms, which at the same time are stronger than the disease”.
The following aphorisms (from Organon of Medicine) explain the Hahnemann’s concept of Similia.
APHORISM 19: “Now, as diseases are nothing more than alterations in the state of health of the healthy individual which express themselves by morbid (i.e. disease-producing) signs, and the cure is also only possible by a change to the healthy condition of the diseased individual, it is very evident that medicines could never cure diseases if they did not possess the power of altering man’s state of health which depends on sensations and functions; indeed, that their curative power must be owing solely to this power they possess of altering man’s state of health.”
In other words, the capacity of a substance to act as a medicine depends on its power to call forth a specific alteration in the function and sensibility of the healthy organism, in fact, to produce some specific form of illness.
APHORISM 24: “No other method of using medicine to fight disease is as efficacious as homeopathic medicine in the light of which a medication is chosen that acts against the pathological symptoms in their entirety regarding the initial cause, if known and to the accompanying circumstances, and that, amongst all medications, …. is capable of producing with perfection a state of disease most similar to the case in cure.”
APHORISM 25: “Pure experience, the one and only infallible oracle of therapy, shows as exactly, in all accurate research, that the medicine which in a healthy person shows to be capable of producing in a similar way the majority of symptoms found in the suffering person, when given in a suitable potentiated and small dose, quickly, radically and permanently removes all the symptoms of the pathological state, that is the total existing disease, transforming it into a healthy state ….”.
Master Hahnemann’s inquisitive mind did not stop at merely perceiving the nature’s Law of Cure. An out and out scientist, he pursued his investigations to demonstrate the validity of the Doctrine of Similia.
PHENOMENA RELATED TO THE LAW OF SIMILARS
The phenomenon of natural disease
This is the phenomenon to which humanity is subjected. The ‘Textbook of Medicine’ outlines countless disease entities, each labelled according to the accepted international nomenclature of Western medicine.
The phenomenon of artificial disease
This encompasses the range of symptoms and functional disturbances elicited during homeopathic drug provings conducted on healthy individuals. These provings serve as a methodological foundation for understanding the dynamic pathophysiology and therapeutic potential of medicinal substances within the framework of human pharmacodynamics.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL DISEASE
By applying the Law of Similars, Master Hahnemann was able to find out the relationship between the natural disease, the artificial disease and therapeutic remedies and with the application of the Law of Similars, he found a solution. It is commendable that Hahnemann discovered an isomorphism or an analogical relationship, between the effects of a substance studied on a healthy person and the symptoms manifested by a sick individual.
Incidentally, this entire search and the subsequent solution of Dr Hahnemann’s propositions are parallel to Newton’s laws. Newton postulated the hypotheses and after successful verifications (of physical phenomena), they were regarded as ‘Laws’. Similarly, the more Hahnemann verified and solved problems of diseases through the postulation (of Similia), the more hypotheses strengthened. Thus, the original postulate proved to be recognized as the Law of Similars.
From the perspectives of the usual philosophy of the scientific method as applied to natural sciences, the Law of Similars is the fundamental and natural law of healing. Undoubtedly, the application of the Law of Similars provides a clear and known knowledge of the science of therapeutics since the relationship between disease and therapeutics has already been established. Homeopathy exists on the basis of this natural law, that governs the relationship between ‘similar’ and the effects they produce. Homeopathic physicians utilize these relationships and their effects to prevent and treat the diseased individuals, employing symptom-producing remedies to address conditions with similar symptoms.
FURTHERANCE OF THE LAW OF SIMILARS
From a practical standpoint, Hering’s insights into the curative process can be seen as an extension of the Law of Similars. Hering stated, ‘Symptoms disappear from above downward, from within outward, and in the reverse order of their appearance.’ This statement, born of his logic, observation and clinical experience, provides homeopathic physicians with a framework to assess the ‘movement’ that occurs following the administration of a homeopathic remedy.
Hering provided crucial guidance for physicians on the curative process, acting as signposts to direct them on what to expect next.
His suggestions have also been further explored in the context of embryology. The curative process, which begins in the body’s systems derived from the germinal layers—ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm—unfolds shortly after the administration of a remedy. This process involves the chronological healing of affections in the organs, starting with the vital (central) organs and progressing to the peripheral (less vital) organs. In essence, the curative process begins at the center and moves outward to the periphery.
However, Hering’s suggestions may not apply in every case. Additionally, pathology should not be overlooked when considering Hering’s guidance.
The corollaries that characterize today’s scientific homeopathy have logically evolved from the Law of Similars.
COROLLARIES OF THE LAW OF SIMILARS
PART II: THE LAW OF SIMILARS AND HISTORY
“The only way of humanizing scientific labour is to inject into it a little of the historical spirit… Without history, scientific knowledge may become culturally dangerous. Combined with history, tampered with reverence, it will nourish the highest culture.”
– George Sarton
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In an era where pharmacology is a well-established science, the concept of the Law of Similars—’treating a disease with a substance that causes similar symptoms in a healthy person’—may seem absurd. However, history holds the potential to validate such a concept.
Throughout history, physicians have observed similarities and correspondences between the spontaneous symptoms of the sick and the effects of drugs on healthy individuals.
The idea of treating with similars is ancient and has been believed for centuries. Yet, it was left to the brilliance of Hahnemann, the master of a later vintage, to successfully outline a therapeutic system based on this Law of healing. Many distinguished figures in the medical field throughout the ages have also explored the concept of treating with similars.
HIPPOCRATES (460-370 B.C.)
Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, has mentioned the Law of Similars.
In Chapter I of the book, “Peri Topon Ton Kat Antriopari,” codex of the works of Hippocrates, “Magni Hippokratis Coiopera Omnia”, he has mentioned:
“Through the like, the disease is produced and through the application of the like, it is cured.”
“The disease is produced by influences which act similar to the healing process and the disease condition is removed through remedies which produce similar symptoms to the disease.”
“The disease is induced through influences of a similar effect as the remedies and the disease is eliminated through remedies which are able to produce similar symptoms.”
ARISTOTLE (384-322 B.C.)
Aristotle gave the following dictum.
“If simile acts upon simile, the result of this mutual action reveals itself in neutralization, annihilation of the original qualities and in the production of another state, which is exactly contrary to the previous one. If the simile of the remedy acts upon the simile of the disease, the result of this mutual action is neutralization, annihilation of the original qualities, viz. of the pathopoiesis of the remedy and of the pathogenesis of the organism and change into the contrary state, viz. health.”
STAHL, a contemporary of Hahnemann also wrote, “The rule accepted in medicine to cure by contraries is entirely wrong; on the contrary, diseases vanish and are cured by means of medicines capable of producing a similar affection.”
BOULDUC has also written long before Hahnemann’s time that Rhubarth’s purgative quality was the reason why it cured diarrhoea.
BETHARDING also pointed out that the herb Senna cures colic because it produces a similar effect on the healthy.
In the holy BIBLE, Mekilta has stated that whereas man heals with contrary remedies, God heals with similars.
“Come and see, the healing of the holy one, blessed be he, is not like the healing of man. Man does not heal with the same thing with which he wounds, but he wounds with a knife and heals with a plaster. The holy one, blessed be he, however, is not so, but he heals with the very same thing with which he smites”.
The principle of similia, as one of the therapeutic principles, is mentioned in the very ancient medical works of India, the AYURVEDA in which a well-known Sanskrit phrase reads:
Translation: Likes are cured by Likes.
The following Sanskrit phrase underscores the importance of simile principle.
Translated it means: “Contraria principle results in complications, while similia principle is always helpful”.
PARACELSUS (1493-1541)
In the 16th century, the very origin of modern science and medicine, Paracelsus grasped the Similia principle in a different way. The words ‘Similia Similibus Curentur’ occur in Geneva edition of the works of Paracelsus as a marginal heading of one of the paragraphs. He proposed that disease should be classified according to their remedies. He emphasized, “When similar is put to similar and used and applied with intelligence, nature is served ‘well’ as ‘’Arsenic cureth Arsenic, Anthrax cureth Anthrax, as poison cureth poison, thus similar anatomy cureth a similar one.”
We also find the Law of Similars being advocated in the writings of Stahl of Denmark (1660-1734), Boulduc, Betharding, Bertholon, Thiury, Haller of Switzerland (1708-1777), Stoerk and others.
THE DOCTRINE OF SIGNATURE AND THE LAW OF SIMILARS
This is a known and extensively applied concept and the very basis of it is the Law of Similars.
Signature is a token of identity and identification. The Doctrine of Signature, in its true sense and originality, was not formulated for the medical profession. It is based on spiritual philosophy and simple concept that ‘Almighty had marked everything he had created with a sign’.
The Doctrine of Signature is an ancient philosophy that suggests that the parts of a plant that bear resemblance with the parts of the human body or animals have useful relevance. It can also relate to the environment or specific places where the plants grow. Originally associated with herbs and medicinal plants, the modern application of this doctrine contends that every plant has a unique pattern that mirrors a body organ or physiological function, serving as a signal or sign for its therapeutic use.
The outward appearance of a body signals its unique properties, such as its magical or healing virtues and there exists a relationship between the external qualities of a medicinal object and the diseases against which it is effective. The Doctrine of Signatures points to the mysterious healing power revealed by the generous nature.
Edmund D. Pellegrino, M.D., wrote, ‘The Doctrine of Signatures is one of the first and most significant works of our time to demonstrate how closely the liberal arts are connected to clinical medicine. It is a seminal work in the recent history of the philosophy of medicine, a field that is experiencing a renaissance worldwide today.
SOME EXAMPLES
A sliced CARROT resembles the human eye, with its pupil, iris, and radiating lines mirroring the structure of the eye. Modern science supports its role in improving blood supply to the eye and enhancing vision.
A TOMATO, with its four chambers and red colour, resembles the heart. Recent research highlights its benefits for health of the heart and blood circulation.
GRAPES hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and it is a well proved fact that grapes are beneficial for the heart and acts as a blood vitalizer.
A WALNUT looks like a small brain. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. It is now known that walnuts help in the development of over three dozen neurotransmitters essential for normal neurological function.
KIDNEY BEANS actually heal and help in maintaining the kidney function and surprisingly they look like the human kidneys.
CELERY, BOK CHOY, RHUBARB and more look like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don’t have enough sodium in your diet the body pulls it from the bones, making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.
EGGPLANT, AVOCADOES AND PEARS are related to the normal functions of uterus and cervix of the female as they look just like these organs. The research suggests that when a woman eats 1 avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight and prevents cervical cancer. Interestingly, it takes exactly 9 months for an avocado to grow from blossom to ripe fruit. These foods contain over 14,000 phytochemical constituents, though modern science has studied and named only about 141 of them.
FIGS are full of seeds and hang in pairs when they grow. Figs increase the motility of male sperm and increase the sperm count and improve reproductive health.
SWEET POTATOES look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.
OLIVES assist the health and function of the ovaries.
GRAPEFRUITS, ORANGES, and other CITRUS FRUITS resemble female mammary glands and support breast health and enhance lymphatic circulation.
ONIONS look like body cells. Today’s research shows that onions help clear waste from all body cells. They also produce tears, which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes.
BANANAS, CUCUMBER, ZUCCHINI and more target the size and strength of the male sexual organ. It’s true!
PEANUTS have a significant impact on testicular health and sexual libido. During the Middle Ages, the church often banned peanuts for males. Many are unaware that arginine, the key ingredient in Viagra, is extracted from peanuts.
Dr C.M. Boger has commented on the Doctrine of Signature saying, “The doctrine of signatures has been derided and is said to rest upon pure fancy, but I know of no accident in nature and everything has an adequate cause; hence we should not be too ready to attribute such things to mere coincidences. Such correspondences are too numerous as well as too striking to be lightly passed over. It seems rather a case of not knowing just what they mean or what the real connection is.”
“At the risk of seeming to ask hard questions, we may inquire why the time of the honeybee’s greatest activity corresponds closely to that of the Apis mellifica aggravation? Why the poison of the sleepy surukuku snake is most active a little while after falling to sleep? Why Kalium bichromium crystals become tough on exposure to the air? Why the twining convolvulaceae cause twisting intestinal colics, etc., etc.?”
Boger has further written, “In the life history of every substance there is a mark which points towards its application. The doctrine of signatures is not all fancy even if correspondences have mostly been found in forms, a little understood subject. Striking things have their counterparts and their mutual connection is made clearer through symptomatology. While the indications include subjective, objective, anamnesis and environmental effects, drug symptoms are also made up of much more than has been recorded and we read much between the lines.”
While the Doctrine of Signatures is based on the Law of Similars, it is important to remember that the Law of Similars is a broad, natural law, and the Doctrine of Signatures represents just one aspect of understanding these resemblances.
REFERENCES FROM HISTORY
THE LAW OF SIMILARS IN ANCIENT INDIAN WRITING
The Sanskrit poem called ‘SRINGARA TILAK’, written by KALIDASA, the Sanskrit poem ‘Srungara Tilak,’ written by Kalidasa, demonstrates the principle of homeopathy being recognized even in ancient times, as reflected in the following proverb:
Translation: “It has been heard of old time in the world that poison is the remedy for poison.”
MADHAV NIDANA also quoted that diseases can be treated both by antipathic as well as homeopathic methods:
By medicines, diet or regimen opposite to
The cause, or
The disorder, or
The cause and the disorder.
By medicines, diet or regimen similar to these factors.
In Bhagvatam Purana (3500 BC), an esteemed ancient text in Vaishnavism (a Hindu tradition that reveres Vishnu), there is a dialogue between Narada and Vyas, a great philosopher is being mentioned as:
Translation: “A disease produced in the organism by a drug is cured by the same drug itself, is it not? Similarly, the mind, which is the cause of worldly fetters, becomes the agent for release from those fetters through self-immolation”.
There is a famous stanza in Sanskrit:
Translation: “The curative drug will be the one having the capacity to produce a similar disease (from which the patient is suffering).”
THE LAW OF SIMILARS IN ANCIENT CHINESE WRITING
Definite references to the use of medicines based on the Doctrine of Similars are also found in ancient China.
The Chinese herb ‘Ban Xia’ (synonymous with Pinellia ternata or Thunbergia brevipedicellata), in its raw form, induces vomiting in a healthy person, described as the ‘abnormal ascent of stomach qi.’ Around 200 BC, in the ‘Shen Nong’s Herbal,’ it was recognized that properly prepared Ban Xia (in the correct dosage) could be used to treat Qi that is abnormally ascending from the stomach (i.e., vomiting).
Shen Nong recorded, ‘Overeating of ‘Land Dang Zi’ (Hyoscyamus niger) makes a man run violently with mania and mental disorder.’ Five hundred years later, the physician Tao Hong Jing documented in the ‘Transactions of Famous Physicians’ that ‘Land Dang Zi’ could be used to treat mania and wind epilepsy (grand mal). Interestingly, Hyoscyamus niger remains one of the major remedies for mania and epilepsy in homeopathic therapeutics.
In the BAREFOOT DOCTORS MANUAL, Thlaspi (Capsella bursa-pastoris), Valeriana, Cantharis and Cimicifuga are listed for treating hemorrhage, hysteria, rabid dog bites, and menorrhagia, respectively.
Interestingly, the homeopathic Materia medica also includes these remedies for similar conditions.
In TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE (TCM), remedies are prescribed based on the Doctrine of Signatures, reflecting the principle of similitude. To improve the condition of a diseased organ, an organ with a similar shape or pathological consistency is recommended. For example, toad skins are prescribed for warty or unhealthy skin. If the kidney is diseased, patients may be advised to consume the kidneys of ox or lamb. Impotency is treated by eating the male organs of ox, deer, or dog, akin to hormonal replacement therapy. Similarly, the extract of cicadas, known for their loud screeching, is believed to help treat disorders of the vocal cords.
PROF. ARNDT (1835-1932) AND PROF. SCHULZ (1853-1900)
Prof. Arndt, a German psychiatrist and Prof. Achulz, a German pharmacologist, independently of each other (and without any knowledge of homeopathy), deduced from biological experiments a law that briefly states:
“Small stimuli encourage the life activity of protoplasm, medium to strong stimuli tend to impede the life activity and very strong ones destroy it.”
If we consider the behaviour of protoplasm, the cells affected by disease are the cells especially in need of a stimulus which can be found in a small dose of an agent (which, in larger doses, would cause damage). If by pharmacological experiments through ‘proving’, show that a drug can damage a specific set of cells, then a small dose of the same drug can be used to stimulate those cells when they are oppressed by disease.
The Arndt-Schulz Law helps in understanding the operational field of the Law of Similars and the concept of potentization.
PART III: THE APPLICATION OF THE LAW OF SIMILARS IN DIFFERENT SYSTEMS OF MEDICINE
Homeopaths actually follow the first rule of medicine, the Hippocratic injunction: “First, do no harm.”
– Dana Ullman
The Similia principle is applied (consciously or unconsciously) not only in various therapeutic systems but also in allied sciences. In understanding the application of the Law of Similars, however, it is important to consider the biphasic action of the medicine – namely, the primary action and secondary curative actions. The primary action is exerted by a medicinal substance due to its medicinal power, which deranges the vital force or vis mediatrix naturae. In response, the vital force automatically attempts to counteract this disturbance, resulting in the secondary curative action.
PHYSIOTHERAPY
The curative mechanism in the field of physiotherapy involves provoking a reaction from the body.
Typically, an initial aggravation followed by amelioration demonstrates the biphasic reaction as a rule in the physical procedures, which justify the Simile principle.
Hippocrates has already formulated the homeopathic rule for Hydrotherapy, “Cold water produces warmth and warm water cools”.
MECHANICAL MANIPULATION
A therapy of graded stimulation is represented in the process of manipulation. The similia principle is operative in this process as it causes initial aggravation followed by a secondary curative reaction.
At first, dislocation is increased in the same way as during the resetting of a dislocated joint. Then a normal position and a reactive stimulation of nerves and tissues are achieved through a rebound effect.
SPONDYLOTHERAPY
In Spondylotherapy, one or more of the spinal nerve centers are stimulated by means of concussion, deep pressure or electricity. This initially causes intensification of the symptoms, thus justifying the principle of similia.
The effects are said to be produced by stimulating or inhibiting the spinal nerve centers. Through this reflex action, the blood vessels in the areas controlled by these centers can be made to contract or dilate.
DIETETICS
Fasting is a method in dietetics that aids in detoxification and the elimination of waste products and pathological deposits in the body. Initially, these are attacked, acting as autogenous stimuli that produce a primary aggravation followed by a secondary curative reaction. This process is analogous to the curative phase seen in homeopathic treatment.
PSYCHOTHERAPY
The essence of psychotherapy lies in confronting the individual with his subconscious ego, which triggers therapeutic change in his personality.
The conscious probing into the depths of the subconscious acts as a stimulus, reaching the sore spots and often causing pronounced initial aggravation, followed by eventual amelioration.
Exposure therapy: Gradual exposure to the source of fear (similar stimulus) reduces phobia/anxiety.
Role-playing in therapy: Confronting a situation in a similar but controlled way helps integration and healing.
PSYCHOLOGY AND SIMILE PRINCIPLE
Reciprocity, a well-known phenomenon in psychology, explains interpersonal attraction by suggesting that people tend to like those who like them.
This has been well-explained by the following Sanskrit words:
Many psychologists have explored how similarity influences the attraction between individuals.
Economic level
A person likes a stranger more when his economic level is similar rather than different from him (Byrhe, Clore and Worchel, 1966).
Personality characteristics
People are more attracted to people who are like them (Byrhe, Griffit and Stenfaniak, 1967).
Attitude
The more a hypothetical stranger’s attitudes resemble our own, the more we tend to like them.
SAD MOVIES AND HAPPINESS
Researchers investigating why some people like watching sad movies found that, paradoxically, these sad movies make viewers happier.
As a matter of fact, it is the Law of Similars that is related to sad movies. It clearly explains why some people feel happier after a heart-rending movie when an emotion or experience portrayed on the screen resonates with an unresolved emotion within themselves. The similarity between the two emotions has a nullifying effect that eases one’s own internal unhappiness. As a result, one feels better. If the movie mimics grief, loss or emotion that one has also experienced, it triggers a reciprocal healing effect in the individual.
PSYCHIATRY
Five key homeopathic principles – the Law of Similars, the self-healing principle, the micro-dose effect, Hering’s suggestions of the curative path and the concept of totality – are already integrated into contemporary Psychiatry. Recent neurobiological research provides validation to these homeopathic precepts.
According to the postulate of Similia, the most effective treatment for a given constellation is one that can induce the same symptom picture when given in higher doses, either to the healthy or the diseased individuals. Traditional in-depth psychotherapies, as well as more recently developed cognitive and behavioural treatments for anxiety disorder-all share, in common, a similar therapeutic principle, it orders to cure the symptoms successfully. The treatment itself is either capable of evoking, or can evoke, these symptoms in a controlled manner.
For example, exposure therapy for panic attacks, phobic anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder deliberately evokes symptoms rather than suppressing them. In essence, the therapy that works is the one that induces the very symptoms of the disorder.
BARLOW’S PANIC CONTROL TREATMENT (PCT)
PCT (Panic Control Therapy) is based on systematic, structured exposure to feared internal sensations.
For instance, if palpitations are a major symptom, exercise may be used to induce this sensation. Similarly, respiratory symptoms can be triggered through hyperventilation to help the individual confront and manage their fears in a controlled environment.
FRANKL’S LOGOTHERAPY
The use of paradoxical intention is a technique that encourages the patient to deliberately engage in the feared behaviour.
Recent biological research has shown that sleep deprivation can be effective in the short term for treating depression, a condition in which sleep disturbances are a key symptom. In this method, the patient is either kept awake throughout the night or is woken at a specific time and prevented from returning to sleep.
HERING’S SUGGESTIONS AND PSYCHIATRY
Hering observed that symptoms often resolve in the reverse order of their appearance. The recent symptoms may be the first to disappear while the chronologically earlier symptoms may temporarily reappear during recovery.
This concept is echoed by Detre and Jareeki in their “Rollback” phenomenon in affective disorders.
Rollback can be either temporal or symptomatic. Temporal rollback refers to the time taken for an illness to remit, which corresponds to the time taken for it to unfold. Symptomatic rollback refers to the fact that symptoms of depression disappear in the reverse order of their appearance.
ACUPUNCTURE
The application of the needle in Acupuncture produces a specific irritation according to the place of its insertion, which provokes a curative effect through the secondary reaction.
However, to understand the application of the Law of Similars in acupuncture, one must consider the biphasic action.
The biphasic response to acupuncture has also been demonstrated in the blood. Studies from the 1974 Beijing Symposium indicate that, acupuncture applied to specific points in animals as well as in humans has a biphasic effect e. g. in patients with initially increased WBC counts, the levels are decreased by acupuncture; the application of needles to the same points in patients discovered to have low initial counts, causes the levels to increase. These effects are used therapeutically in appendicitis to reduce high WBC counts and in neutropenia caused by cancer chemotherapy during cancer to raise the count. Similar regulatory effects have been found to occur in hyper and hypotension as well as in excess and deficient gastric motility.
The biphasic action can be proved by the experience of Acupuncture patients showing worsening of their symptoms, which precedes improvement, thus this phenomenon bears an analogy with the concept of homeopathic aggravation.
PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY
Resonance principle: one vibrating body can induce vibrations in another of similar frequency.
Catalysis: sometimes, a substance structurally similar to a reactant can accelerate or modulate reactions.
FEW EXAMPLES
The effects of the Law of Similars that happens elsewhere in life but usually goes unnoticed include:
Soap removes oil because of its fat content.
Two tuning forks of the same key both resonate with the same sound even though only one was struck.
Damp soil absorbs water more easily than dry soil.
Stimulant medications such as Ritalin, Concerta, and Dexamphetamine (causes over-stimulation in a healthy person) are given to calm the hyperactive children.
Hormesis: Low doses of a stressor (radiation, toxins, exercise) stimulate adaptive repair and resilience.
In education and learning the concept of similarity is followed at two levels 1. Analogical reasoning: learning a new concept by relating it to a similar known one and 2. Simulations and case-based learning: presenting situations similar to real life to develop capacity
Empathy: “Feeling with” someone by experiencing something similar within yourself.
Art & literature: catharsis occurs when audiences experience emotions similar to the character’s suffering, bringing relief.
Social mirroring: People are drawn to those similar in values, language or energy.
All of the above phenomena work according to the Law of Similars and the homeopathic effects it produces.
MAINSTREAM MEDICINE
The fact is that the modern (orthodox) therapeutics, particularly with many chemical products, is in fact based on the Similia principle. Molecules similar to others involved in the disease pathways are introduced to block or antagonize them in a manner akin to Hahnemann’s concept of giving a new disease to block the natural one. The distinction is, however, between the reductionist models of disease on the molecular scale as against the Hahnemann’s holistic conception of disease since the human having the disease needs to be cured with the similar agent to his whole manifestation of symptoms.
With Hahnemann’s concept of the new drug-given disease eliminating the similar natural disease, one can approach nearer to concepts underlying modern pharmaco-therapeutics. One of the most fruitful ideas in modern therapeutics has been the use of a substance whose molecules are structurally similar to the molecules in the pathway of disease. Competition and inhibition of the disease pathway can result with the use of this substance which similarizes it to the principle of Similia though it may be far removed in other respects.
LAW OF SIMILARS AS AN OPERATIVE CURATIVE PRINCIPLE
IMMUNOLOGY AND SERUM THERAPY
The entire development of immunology and serum therapy is rooted in the principle of Similia. It is interesting to note what Emil von Behring, one of the pioneers of this field in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, wrote:
“In spite of all scientific speculations and experiments concerning smallpox vaccination, Jenner’s discovery remained an erratic boulder in medicine until biochemically thinking Pasteur, devoid of all classroom knowledge, traced the origin of this therapeutic boulder to a principle, which cannot be better characterized than by Hahnemann’s word ‘Homeopathic’. Indeed, what else causes the epidemiological immunity in sheep vaccinated against anthrax than the influence previously exerted by a virus similar in character to that of a fatal anthrax virus? And by what technical term could we more appropriately speak of this influence exerted by a similar virus than by Hahnemann’s word ‘Homeopathy’?
The preventive use of homeopathy was first implemented by Dr. Hahnemann in 1799 during a scarlet fever epidemic in Königslütter, Germany.
Hahnemann prescribed a single dose of Belladonna as the Genus Epidemicus to susceptible children in the town, achieving over a 95% success rate in preventing the disease.
ALLERGOLOGY
In allergology, aside from suppressive treatments using sympathomimetic drugs like adrenaline, corticosteroids or newly synthesized antihistamines, the only known curative principle is desensitizing individuals by administering the allergen itself. In other words, the same substance that causes the allergic reaction is used to treat it in a sensitive (or allergic) individual who is otherwise in good health.
The striking similarities between homeopathy and allergology include the Law of Similars, minimum dose, and medicinal aggravation. It can be said that allergology serves as a bridge between homeopathy and allopathy.
ALLOPATHY
Many drugs are used “homeopathically” in mainstream allopathic medicine. In numerous disease conditions, the same drugs are employed in both allopathy and homeopathy, leading to an overlap in their use.
To explain the action of these drugs, allopathy presents pharmacological and pathological mechanisms, without explicitly referring to the Law of Similars. However, this does not contradict the principle of Similia, as both systems can coexist with different explanations for the therapeutic effects.
NITROGLYCERINE
Nitroglycerine was first introduced into Medicine by Dr. Constantine Hering, a renowned American homeopathic physician. The proving of Nitroglycerine (known in homeopathy as Glonoine in its potentized form) yielding several cardiac symptoms, including those resembling angina pectoris. A century later, Nitroglycerine was adopted in allopathic medicine to treat angina pectoris.
Additionally, headache is a known side effect of Nitroglycerine (Sorbitrate), and Glonoine is a well-known homeopathic remedy for the congestive form of headache.
METALLIC GOLD
Metallic gold is commonly used in homeopathy for treating rheumatic and cardiac affections. In 1933, Forestier introduced metallic gold in allopathic medicine, observing that gold salts do not have direct antibacterial action but instead stimulate the host’s defense response.
Forestier reported positive results in 550 cases of rheumatoid arthritis. Similarly, Ayurveda also uses gold in the treatment of arthritis.
RAUWOLFIA SERPENTINA
The proving of Rauwolfia serpentina shows increased blood pressure with an irregular heartbeat. Both homeopathy and allopathy use this substance to reduce blood pressure. Its proving also reveals increased emotional excitability, mood fluctuations, irritability, excitability, mild depression, and inner restlessness.
The medicine Reserpine, derived from Rauwolfia serpentina, is also used in allopathy to treat agitated psychotic states.
BELLADONNA
The Belladonna derivative was discovered in allopathy in 1920 for the treatment of infantile colic in minute doses. Belladonna has long been used by homeopathic physicians for treating colic in infants.
Known as deadly nightshade, Belladonna is a highly poisonous plant, with a single leaf capable of killing an adult, while smaller amounts cause symptoms such as headaches, hot and dry skin, red rashes, dilated pupils, confusion and hallucinations. If an individual presents with this set of symptoms, whether or not they have consumed Belladonna, potentized doses of Belladonna can counteract those symptoms, leading to recovery. Homoeopathically potentized Belladonna has also been used as a preventive for diseases like scarlet fever or meningitis, as its symptoms are similar to these conditions.
DIGOXIN
Digoxin is a well-known drug for the treatment of cardiac failure. Digitalis has long been proven in homeopathy, before the use of it in allopathy. The proving of Digitalis has revealed several heart-related symptoms such as a “thready, slow, and intermittent pulse; very slow and weak pulse; and regular small pulse.” It is the homoeopathicity of Digitalis on these heart symptoms that has made it a valuable remedy in treating cardiac conditions for nearly two centuries.
COPPER-T
Copper-T is widely used as an effective contraceptive device, with the prevention of conception occurring due to the small amounts of copper released into the reproductive system. The proving of Cuprum-met (the homeopathic form of copper) reveals various symptoms related to the female reproductive organs, such as “spasms,” “delayed” or “suppressed menses,” and “violent cramps.”
EPHEDRINE
Ephedrine, derived from Ephedra vulgaris, is a key ingredient in several asthma medications in allopathy. Interestingly, the proving of Ephedrine also induces asthma-like symptoms, such as “wheezing respiration with ordinary exertion,” highlighting its role in both causing and treating similar symptoms.
L.S.D.
The homeopathic proving of L.S.D. in the nineteenth century revealed numerous hallucinatory symptoms. Recently, modern medicine has proposed L.S.D. as a treatment for schizophrenia, demonstrating a straightforward (but unsophisticated) application of the Law of Similars.
STREPTOMYCIN
Streptomycin was introduced in the mid-1940s as a treatment for tuberculosis. Common side effects observed in clinical practice include dizziness, deafness, vertigo, imbalance and tinnitus – symptoms characteristic of Meniere’s disease.
Researchers from both allopathic and homeopathic medicine have proposed the use of Streptomycin for treating Meniere’s disease.
ALLOXAN (MESOXALYA UREA)
Alloxan is known to induce diabetes but has also been successfully used by homeopathic physicians in a potentized form to treat the condition. It has been reported that glycosuria disappears and blood sugar levels decrease with its use. Homeopathic researchers have also found that Alloxan-induced diabetes in animals can be effectively treated with potentized Alloxan.
INSULIN THERAPY AND DIABETES
The power of pancreas to produce insulin, the hormone secreted by beta cells, is related to the degree of granulation in these cells. Degranulation of the beta cells occurs under the administration of insulin and if insulin is given for a longer period, a temporary diabetic state develops, with a return to normal when insulin is discontinued. It is worth noting that insulin causes diabetes and is also used for the treatment of diabetes.
Incidentally, note that atrophy of endocrine gland cells is caused by prolonged and continuous administration of hormones that they produce.
PHENOTHIAZINE
Phenothiazine-based preparations are used to treat Parkinsonism, yet they can also induce Parkinsonism-like symptoms such as tremors and muscular rigidity.
HEXACHLOROBENZENES
Hexachlorobenzene is a fungicide that can cause poisoning and lead to hepatic and dermal porphyria. In allopathic treatment, petroleum is applied externally as a lubricant and desensitizer.
Interestingly, petroleum, a hydrocarbon containing benzene, produces similar symptoms in homeopathic provings.
METHYLENE BLUE
Methylene blue is used in congenital methemoglobinemia to relieve cyanosis as it causes cyanosis in its toxicity.
ANTI-MALIGNANT CHEMOTHERAPEUTIC AGENTS
Anti- malignant chemotherapeutic agents are employed for the treatment of cancer and they themselves are carcinogenic.
RADIATION
It is known that Radiation causes cancer in healthy subjects and it is also employed for the treatment of cancer.
VITAMIN D
Excessive use of Vitamin D can lead to osteoporosis, while in moderate doses, it is used to treat weak bones in conditions such as rickets, osteomalacia and dental caries.
To summarise:
Many other drugs are applied – whether consciously or unconsciously – according to the Law of Similars. However, due to space constraints, only commonly used allopathic drugs are mentioned.
There are striking similarities between mainstream medicine (allopathy) and homeopathy.
One way to foster a rapprochement between these two medical systems and resolve ambiguities is to evaluate the extent of their confluent points and overlapping principles.
PART IV: THE LAW OF SIMILARS AS A UNIVERSAL DOCTRINE
“Nature, when left to universal laws, tends to produce regularity out of chaos.”
– Immanuel Kant
From the above understanding of the Law of Similars through various angles, as perceived by various therapies of medical science. It is clear that Similia principle is followed not only in the homeopathic system but also in almost all therapeutic systems and allied branches of medical science. This makes the Law of Similars a universal principle that pervades all forms of illnesses that impinge upon the living organism. Its field, therefore, extends beyond the human sufferings, into the morbificities of the non-human animals and plants; thus, making the Law of Similars and its application universal.
LAW OF SIMILARS AND PROPHYLAXIS
Clinical practice grounded in the Law of Similars opens up novel horizons for the systematic exploration of homeopathy’s therapeutic potential, with prophylaxis emerging as a critical domain for advancing both preventive strategies and the scientific validation of the discipline.
Homeopathy is a constitutional therapeutic system and its selective and collective approach takes into account the concept of health as an ongoing process, which has to be maintained always.
One of the benefits of homeopathy is that a homeopathic physician can initiate treatment at any stage of disease presentation, even while the patient is awaiting definitive diagnosis through investigations such as serology, culture, or imaging.
This is possible because:
Homeopathic prescribing is based on the totality of symptoms and not exclusively on laboratory confirmation or label of the disease.
Homeopathy perceives disease as a manifestation of a deranged vital force, expressed through characteristic signs and symptoms.
Homeopathic treatment does not interfere with the course or accuracy of diagnostic procedures or conventional therapeutic measures.
The individualization principle allows timely intervention tailored to the patient’s constitution, mental state and physical modalities, independent of diagnostic delay.
Early initiation of homeopathic management may provide symptomatic relief, enhance patient comfort and potentially modify disease progression even before confirmatory reports are available.
Homeopathy integrates well with contemporary diagnostic advances, offering a parallel therapeutic approach without creating iatrogenic complications or drug interactions.
By focusing on sensitivity, susceptibility and host response, homeopathy complements the biomedical search for causation, thereby enriching the clinical understanding and broadening treatment horizons.
From early inoculation to homeopathic prophylaxis: A continuum of the Similar principle
The prevention of disease by using an agent, which may cause or transmit the disease has been known for centuries and its earliest example was of protection against viral infections. For example, the Chinese used to give protection against smallpox by the compulsorily wearing the garments of the patient in full suppuration, or by the introduction of a one-year-old dried pustule into the nostrils. During the 17th and 18th centuries in Europe, vaccination against smallpox using inoculation with variolic pus was also carried out. Even Hippocrates recommended consuming slimy saliva (from under the tongue) from a rabid dog, taken as a drink, as protection against rabies.
The above examples illustrate ‘Isopathy’, a form of therapy based on the principle of treating with the same agent that may cause or transmit the disease. In contrast, Homeopathy is based on the Law of Similars. Edward Jenner, who laid the foundation of modern immunization, through his belief that infection with cowpox would protect a person against small pox, has, in fact, illustrated the ‘homeopathic’ principle.
Every immunization procedure carries some risk of adverse reactions since crude/material disease agents can trigger infections or else an immunological reaction. These reactions may deter both the doctor as well as the patient from using these procedures in individual cases. In such instances, nosodes (homeopathic potentized preparations of disease-products), can serve as prophylactics. As a result of many years of clinical use, there seem to be good grounds for recommending these nosodes due to their efficacy and safety. However, more research is required in this field. Homeopathic prophylaxis is based on the totality of data (the field of semeiology), and not on the causative agent only. In view of the problem of change/mutation of the strain of the virus and the difficulty in preparing a vaccine, the homeopathic prophylactic drug based on Hahnemann’s’ concept of ‘Genus epidemicus’, is easy to prepare.
LAW OF SIMILARS AND LAW OF ATTRACTION
The Law of Similars proposes that a similar influence stimulates a healing or adaptive response. It is an active therapeutic principle, based on dynamic engagement between stimulus and organism while Law of Attraction proposes like attracts like. Thoughts, emotions or energies of a certain type tend to attract corresponding realities.
Both suggest that similarity creates resonance and effect. But there is also a key distinction. The Law of Similars is specific to healing and adaptive processes (medical/biological principle) while, the Law of Attraction is a broader metaphysical or psychological principle about manifestation.
LAW OF SIMILARS AND SELF-RECOVERY
The human system has an inherent ability for self-recovery due to its complex structure and remarkable quality of adaptation. The essential concept of homeopathy is ‘self-recovery’ by stimulating the defences of the organism through the Similia principle.
The universal impulse to heal is natural and is evident in all animate manifestations of the universe. Nature’s processes of dealing with the disease include neutralization, limitation, extermination and elimination of the morbific matter. Homeopathic remedies assist this process to steer towards recovery.
A homeopathic remedy, by virtue of its similarity to the morbific process and its enhanced dynamic activity achieved through potentization, engages with the diseased state, neutralizes its influence and thereby facilitates the restoration of health.
The apprehension that a homeopathic remedy may be detrimental to the organism by producing an artificial disease state similar to the natural one is not substantiated. The foundation of homeopathic therapeutics rests on three principles that should mitigate this concern.
The infinitesimal dose used in homeopathy, rendered active through potentization, ensures that the stimulus is dynamic rather than material, thereby precluding toxic effects.
The living organism possesses intrinsic biological intelligence a regulatory capacity that distinguishes it from inert matter. This self-regulatory faculty enables the organism to respond adaptively rather than passively to therapeutic influences.
The organism reacts through the mechanism of vital antagonism, in which the artificially induced medicinal state mobilizes the vital force in a curative direction. This response is not an aggravation for its own sake but an intensification of the healing process, oriented toward restoring equilibrium and health.
THE LAW OF SIMILARS AND HUMAN PHENOMENON
Medicine differs from other scientific disciplines in possessing the unique feature of ‘humanism’. Homeopathy acquires a special position here in being an out and out ‘humanistic’ science. Hahnemann observed the disease on the human scale and conceived it as a dynamic idea, which came to expression in the form of symptoms. The disease is known through its activity like a human being is known through his actions and gestures.
The homeopathic Materia medica, a compilation of human sufferings, vividly portrays the living images of human beings. Hence, Homeopathic Materia medica may be termed as humanoid or an artificial representation of a human being. A homeopathic physician tries to strike the similarity existing between the case in hand and the most fitting remedy in the Materia medica.
Disease ←→ drug relation is based on similarity and the inter-action occurs through the human language.
Homeopathy conceives the disease in terms of a human phenomenon on a human scale. Disease is not primarily a disorder of molecules, cells or any other abstraction. It is actually a deed, an expression of one’s deepest beings. It belongs to one’s biography and no account of human illness would be complete without perceiving it in relation to the individual and his life history.
Symptom is not just a manifestation but a phenomenon and the phenomenological approach of homeopathy treats an individual as a whole. In essence, ‘Human synthesis in human design for a human purpose’ is the substratum of homeopathy.
This humanistic touch in case management, guided by the Law of Similars, elevates homeopathy as both a science and an art and as a means to achieve Hahnemann’s higher purpose of life-both for both physician and patient!
The Law of Similars, then, is not merely a therapeutic process formulated and technically developed, but a fundamental mechanism of the association, which hold an extremely special value in the physician →← patient relationship.
The Law of Similars can also be used by a physician through a similar psychotherapeutic stimulus other than homeopathic medicine, known homeo-psychotherapy which can be considered as a new vista in the understanding in patient care and treatment.
THE LAW OF SIMILARS AND ITS LIMITATIONS
Although homeopathy possesses a wide potential, its structured doctrine of Similia has limitations as well. The notion that homeopathy is universally applicable is a misconception and a physician must assess whether a case falls within its scope.
A major challenge is the lack of adequate and reliable data, which can hinder remedy selection. Hahnemann referred to such cases as “one-sided diseases.” If a physician cannot logically process the available data, applying the Law of Similars becomes challenging.
Additionally, in advanced, irreversible pathological cases, homeopathy may serve as a palliative measure.
Limitations of Homeopathy
While homeopathy offers a comprehensive therapeutic field of its utility, certain conditions require auxiliary treatment alongside homeopathy due to their inherent nature or the limitations of dynamic remedies. These include:
Diseases of mechanical origin
Traumatic injuries: Fractures, dislocations, severe burns, crush injuries
Surgical diseases: Conditions requiring operative intervention such as obstructive tumors, appendicitis with perforation, hernia, gallstones with obstruction.
Congenital anomalies: Structural defects like cleft palate, cardiac malformations, or other developmental abnormalities where surgery or corrective procedures are indispensable.
Note: Homeopathy may provide valuable support in pain control, wound healing, reduction of complications and overall recovery.
Diseases of chemical origin
Acute poisonings or intoxications: Administration of chemical antidotes, gastric lavage, or chelation therapy is mandatory.
Homeopathy may be applied as a complementary measure to neutralize residual effects, restore systemic balance, and manage long-term sequelae.
Deficiency states
Nutritional deficiencies: Iron, vitamin B12, vitamin D, folic acid, essential minerals.
Diet and replacement therapy may be necessary, while homeopathy plays an adjunctive role in improving assimilation and constitutional balance.
Extreme emergencies
Severe trauma, shock, myocardial infarction, stroke, acute respiratory failure, sepsis.
Intensive care measures are essential; however, homeopathy has been observed to provide valuable support in stabilizing the vital force and improving prognosis in critical care settings.
Maintaining causes
Persistent exposure to occupational hazards, addictions (alcohol, tobacco, drugs), environmental toxins, or unresolved psychological stress.
Unless these causes are removed, homeopathic intervention may have limited or only temporary benefit.
Artificial chronic incurable diseases (Drug-miasm)
Long-standing iatrogenic disorders caused by suppressive therapies or irreversible pathological changes (e.g. drug-induced nephropathy, advanced cirrhosis, chemotherapy-induced damage, etc.).
Homeopathy can help palliate symptoms, enhance quality of life, and support systemic function, but cannot reverse irreversibly destroyed tissue.
CONCLUSION
In the present era, when the winds of integration are flowing among medical disciplines, the Law of Similars stands as a connecting tool to bridge the gap between different therapeutic approaches. In spite of information explosion occurring all over the world, lack of proper communication is one of the reasons for prevailing misconceptions about homeopathy and the Law of Similars can stand as a unique confluent theme to start a fruitful dialogue which will reduce the castigation sparked off by physicians of other schools and will allow the critics to look at homeopathy with a fresh, inquisitive approach.
Once the Law of Similars is comprehended in its depth and scope, the acceptance of homeopathy will inevitably expand.
As a system of therapeutics, homeopathy has withstood the taste of time and is now enjoying a modest resurgence of interest. As a matter of fact, this resurgence is because of the intrinsic merit of homeopathy, in terms of its holistic philosophy, artistic practice and consistent results.
The Law of Similars constitutes the foundational principle of homeopathy, offering a unifying paradigm through which physicians from diverse medical disciplines can critically engage with its methodology. By extending the scope of therapeutic reasoning beyond conventional paradigms, it underscores homeopathy’s potential contribution to integrative medicine and its relevance to advancing human health and well-being.
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*Dr AJIT KULKARNI
M.D. (Hom.)
Director, Homeopathic Research Institute, Pune
A Veteran Homeopath, an Academician and a Famed International Teacher
Co-Author: Absolute Homeopathic Materia Medica
Five Regional Repertories: AIDS, DM, Thyroid, HTN and Trauma
Author: Homeopathy through Harmony and Totality Vol I-IV
Law of Similars in Medical Science
Homeopathic Posology
Kali Family and Its Relations
Body Language and Homeopathy (English)
Body language (Marathi)
Homeopathic Covidoscope (published by Amazon)
More than 100 publications on various aspects of homeopathy
Numerous books translated into multiple languages
26 books in Russian language
Award of ‘Excellence in Homoeopathy’
Award of ‘Homoeo-Ratna’
‘Life achievement Award’
Member, Editorial Board, National Journal of Homeopathy, Mumbai
Address: Kachare Classic, Erandwane, near New Karnataka High school, Pune
Website: www.ajitkulkarni.com
E-mail ID: dr_ajitkulkarni@hotmail.com/dr_ajitkulkarni@rediffmail.com