The "Law of Proving" is the method used to test substances for their healing effect. Dr. Hahnemann and his assistants conducted many provings, taking in plant, mineral, animal, and chemical material. They carefully wrote down the symptoms they felt with each substance. Later, when patients had those symptoms, they were treated with very dilute doses of that substance. This approach became the first Law of Homeopathy: the Law of Similars, or "like cures like."

Over time, volumes of information developed from Dr. Hahnemann's years of "provings." These volumes are called the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia, and they are still used as the source of homeopathic remedies. When a patient describes his symptoms, the symptoms are compared with this large collection of documented symptoms until a match is found. The patient is then treated with a highly diluted version of that substance. A person  complaining of intense, throbbing headaches, for example, might be treated with a very diluted dose of belladonna (a poisonous herb used to make some medicines), because a tiny bite of that plant causes throbbing headaches.

Substances diluted in water or alcohol

Homeopathic remedies are made from substances diluted thousands of times in water or alcohol. Between each dilution, the liquid is shaken vigorously. For example, a one-to-one-hundred dilution means that one drop of a plant extract is placed in 99 drops of water or alcohol. After lengthy shaking, one drop of the new solution is mixed with another 99 drops of water. This mixture is shaken vigorously, and then one drop is taken from it and added to another 99 drops of liquid, and so on. This process is repeated as many as 30, 50, or more times.

The end result can be a solution more dilute than one molecule of salt placed in an ocean. A molecule is the smallest possible amount of any substance. Most homeopathic remedies contain less than one molecule of the original plant or chemical extract.

Today, homeopathic remedies are used most often to treat problems such as arthritis, asthma, colds, flu, and allergies. These are some of the most common problems for which people seek medical advice. But, some supporters believe that homeopathic
remedies can cure many illnesses. Responsible practitioners do not use homeopathic remedies to treat diabetes, cancer, heart disease, or other major illnesses. Nor do they use it to treat surgical emergencies or serious infections or injuries.

How does it work?

Some people believe that homeopathic medicine works by stimulating the body's own natural defenses. Dr. Hahnemann believed homeopathic remedies would replace the illness with a similar but weaker illness the body's "vital force" could more easily overcome.

However, the use of highly diluted substances has not been shown scientifically to work. If there is less than one molecule of a substance present, it means that no substance remains. How then, can homeopathic remedies have any impact on symptoms or
disease? In what way is it more than water?

The reason most commonly offered today by homeopathic proponents is the remedy's water has a "memory" of the original substance. What is this memory? Homeopaths say it is electromagnetic waves of the active ingredient it once contained. They say that vigorous shakings between each dilution make this memory possible.

Another explanation, heard less often, is that all of the shaking and dilution activity releases the essence, or healing life force, of the original substance. Many advocates of homeopathy indicate they do not know how it works, and that later research will unlock that mystery. Homeopathic supporters have not been able to offer an explanation that scientists can reproduce or accept. How its remedies could work remains a perplexing problem for homeopathic proponents and is a major source of scientific skepticism.

Clinical homeopathic research has produced varying results. Some studies indicate it is effective in the treatment of allergies, infant diarrhea, and other problems; other studies do not. Researchers in Britain recently looked at the results from the most well-designed research projects about homeopathy. After careful study, they decided that there was little reason to believe that homeopathic remedies work.

Will homeopathy help?

Most scientists say homeopathic remedies are basically water and can act only as placebos. A placebo is a "sugar pill" which appears to reduce symptoms by means of mental suggestion. However, homeopathic remedies involve using products that are safe and have no side effects. If only through the power of the mind, they can be used to reduce the symptoms of self-limiting illnesses (aches and pains that will go away on their own in a week or so). Thus, homeopathic remedies help some people get through these problems with fewer symptoms and may shorten the length of these illnesses.

Many avid supporters swear by homeopathic remedies for allergies, colds and flu, and other minor but annoying ailments. Homeopathic remedies have not been shown to have any impact on serious illness. In fact, using homeopathic remedies may delay diagnosis and effective treatment of serious illness when time is of the essence. Homeopathy's only medical danger lies in postponing recognized, proven treatment for major diseases or serious problems that are best diagnosed and treated as early as possible.