Homeopathic medicine, also known as homeopathy, is a system of alternative medicine created in 1796 by Samuel Hahnemann based on his doctrine of like cures like-that a substance that causes symptoms in a healthy person can be used in diluted form to treat those same symptoms in a sick person. The word "homeopathy" comes from the Greek homoios (similar) and pathos (suffering), meaning "similar suffering." In Hebrew, it is called רפואה הומיאופתית (refuah homyopathit). In German, it is Homöopathie, in French, homéopathie, and in Spanish, homeopatía. Homeopathic remedies are prepared by serial dilution, where a chosen substance is repeatedly diluted in alcohol or distilled water, followed by forceful striking on an elastic body, a process homeopaths call succussion. Each dilution and succussion step is said to increase the remedy's effect while decreasing the toxicity. Homeopathic remedies are generally prepared in dilution orders of 1:10 (denoted by "X"), 1:100 (denoted by "C"), or 1:50,000 (denoted by "LM" or "Q"). Despite its widespread use, homeopathy is considered a pseudoscience by the scientific and medical communities, as there is no convincing scientific evidence that homeopathy is effective for treating any disease or condition. Critics argue that any benefits observed from homeopathic remedies are due to the placebo effect or natural recovery.
