Development
In 1831, there was a cholera outbreak in central Europe. Hahnemann's treatment with 'Camphor' was very successful. Dr Frederick Foster Hervey Quin, follower of Hahnemann was one of many people cured of cholera by 'Camphor'. This enhanced his respect for Homeopathy, that in 1832 he set up a Homeopathic practice in London, where he later started the first Homeopathic hospital in 1849.
Homeopathy was established in the US during the 1820's and gained a widespread following. Dr. Constantine Hering (1800-80) and Dr. James Tyler Kent (1849-1916) were two important American homeopaths who continued Hahnemann's work in proving remedies and also introduced new ideas and practices to homeopathy.
The 'Laws of cure', devised by Dr. Hering explains how disease is cured in homeopathy. There are three basic laws of cure: symptoms move from the top of the body downwards; from the inside out and from the most important organs to the least important. Hering also believed that a cure occurred in reverse order to the onset of symptoms. For example, a person generally feels better emotionally before the physical symptoms disappear.
Dr. Kent observed that certain people reacted to certain remedies more strongly than to others. He maintained that people with similar body shapes and personalities tended to suffer from the same types of disease. He grouped people according to 'Constitutional types'. For example, Natrum Mur types tended to be pear-shaped, had a dark complexion, were fastidious, kept to themselves, craved salt and suffered from constipation. High potency remedies were prescribed according to the patients constitutional type and physical symptoms, this came to be known as Classical Homeopathy .
Towards the end of the 19th century, Richard Hughes (1836-1902) an English homeopath questioned the theory of constitutional prescribing by Dr. Kent and insisted that only the physical symptoms of the patients should be taken into account while prescribing a remedy. He also advocated using lower potencies. This led to a split in Homeopathy, between the followers of Dr. Kent, who used high potencies and believed that a persons emotional characteristics and their physical symptoms should be taken into account and the followers of Dr. Hughes. This internal split, suppressed the practice of this system of medicine for sometime. But later Homeopathy experienced a resurgence throughout the world and Classical Homeopathy gained widespread recognition.
