The History of American Homeopathy

The History of American Homeopathy
Author: John Haller
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 472
Release: 2005-09-13
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9780789026606

Discover how homeopathic practice developed alongside regular medicine Explore the history of American homeopathy from its roots in the early nineteenth century, through its burgeoning acceptance, to its subsequent fall from favor. The History of American Homeopathy: The Academic Years, 1820-1935 discusses the development of homeopathy’s unorthodox therapies, the reasons behind its widespread growth and popularity, and its development during medicine’s introspective age of doubt and the emergence of scientific reductionism. Not only does the book explain homeopathy within the same social, scientific, and philosophic traditions that affected other schools of the healing art, but it also promotes a more integrative connection between homeopathy’s unconventional therapeutics and the rigors of scientific medicine. The History of American Homeopathy examines the work of Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy—the development of his and other practitioners’ theories, and the factors in the growth and later withering of acceptance. You’ll learn the reasons behind homeopathy’s wave of popularity in nineteenth-century America and the impact of regular medicine’s shift to rationalistic system-theories and laboratory science on homeopathy. Discover how homeopathy emerged from the system-theories of the late eighteenth century; the mounting ideological differences within this unorthodox health art; its destructive internal feuds; and the factors that led to the eventual turning over of homeopathies to regular medicine. The History of American Homeopathy answers questions such as: how did the state of medicine in the early nineteenth century facilitate the public acceptance of Hahnemann’s theories? what were the relationships between regualr medicine and homeopathy? what tensions surfaced between academic and domestic homeopathy? how did homeopathic medical schools emerge, and what were their regional and philosophical distinctions? what was the impact of scientific medicine on homeopathy? what were the reasons for the growing division between the liberal wing of homeopathy and the more conservative Hahnemannians, and what effect did it have on the movement? The History of American Homeopathy: The Academic Years, 1820-1935 is an informative, insightful exploration of homeopathy’s roots that is valuable for medical historians, history students, homeopaths, alternative medical organizations, holistic healing societies, homeopathic study groups, homeopathic seminars and courses, and anyone interested in homeopathy.

Vernacular Medicine in Colonial India

Vernacular Medicine in Colonial India
Author: Shinjini Das
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 307
Release: 2019-03-14
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 1108420621

Interrelated histories of colonial medicine, market and family reveal how Western homeopathy was translated and made vernacular in colonial India.

Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries

Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries
Author: Dean T. Jamison
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 1449
Release: 2006-04-02
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0821361805

Based on careful analysis of burden of disease and the costs ofinterventions, this second edition of 'Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries, 2nd edition' highlights achievable priorities; measures progresstoward providing efficient, equitable care; promotes cost-effectiveinterventions to targeted populations; and encourages integrated effortsto optimize health. Nearly 500 experts - scientists, epidemiologists, health economists,academicians, and public health practitioners - from around the worldcontributed to the data sources and methodologies, and identifiedchallenges and priorities, resulting in this integrated, comprehensivereference volume on the state of health in developing countries.

Copeland's Cure

Copeland's Cure
Author: Natalie Robins
Publisher: Knopf
Total Pages: 351
Release: 2009-07-22
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0307555372

Today, one out of every three Americans uses some form of alternative medicine, either along with their conventional (“standard,” “traditional”) medications or in place of them. One of the most controversial–as well as one of the most popular–alternatives is homeopathy, a wholly Western invention brought to America from Germany in 1827, nearly forty years before the discovery that germs cause disease. Homeopathy is a therapy that uses minute doses of natural substances–minerals, such as mercury or phosphorus; various plants, mushrooms, or bark; and insect, shellfish, and other animal products, such as Oscillococcinum. These remedies mimic the symptoms of the sick person and are said to bring about relief by “entering” the body’s “vital force.” Many homeopaths believe that the greater the dilution, the greater the medical benefit, even though often not a single molecule of the original substance remains in the solution. In Copeland’s Cure, Natalie Robins tells the fascinating story of homeopathy in this country; how it came to be accepted because of the gentleness of its approach–Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow were outspoken advocates, as were Louisa May Alcott, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Daniel Webster. We find out about the unusual war between alternative and conventional medicine that began in 1847, after the AMA banned homeopaths from membership even though their medical training was identical to that of doctors practicing traditional medicine. We learn how homeopaths were increasingly considered not to be “real” doctors, and how “real” doctors risked expulsion from the AMA if they even consulted with a homeopath. At the center of Copeland's Cure is Royal Samuel Copeland, the now-forgotten maverick senator from New York who served from 1923 to 1938. Copeland was a student of both conventional and homeopathic medicine, an eye surgeon who became president of the American Institute of Homeopathy, dean of the New York Homeopathic Medical College, and health commissioner of New York City from 1918 to 1923 (he instituted unique approaches to the deadly flu pandemic). We see how Copeland straddled the worlds of politics (he befriended Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, and Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, among others) and medicine (as senator, he helped get rid of medical “diploma mills”). His crowning achievement was to give homeopathy lasting legitimacy by including all its remedies in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938. Finally, the author brings the story of clashing medical beliefs into the present, and describes the role of homeopathy today and how some of its practitioners are now adhering to the strictest standards of scientific research–controlled, randomized, double-blind clinical studies.