First Edition of Hahnemann's Organon: celebrating its 200th anniversary: [editorial]

ABSTRACT

With this special issue, IJHDR celebrates the 200th anniversary of the first edition of Hahnemann?s Organon, published in 1810. By 1796, in a previous foundational article published in Hufeland?s prestigious Journal of Practical Medicine [1], after criticizing with fine reasoning the usual ways of studying the ?curative properties of medicinal substances?, namely according to their chemical actions, their effects on animals, their external aspect or sensitive properties, their taxonomic classification, or the random use of multiple drugs by the so called empiricists, Hahnemann stated what can be regarded as one of the cornerstones of homeopathy ?The true physician, whose sole aim is to perfect his art, can avail himself of no other information respecting medicines, than ? first, what is the pure action of each by itself on the human body? Second, what do observations of its action in this or that simple or complex disease teach us?.