Julie Horrocks RSHom, MNCHM

The Remedies

Today there are nearly 3000 remedies available for use in homeopathy, made from animal, vegetable and mineral sources. In the early days of homeopathy most of the remedies were made from plants used in botanical medicine - plants such as aconite, belladonna, chamomilla, cinchona and pulsatilla. Other substances used in contemporary medicine at the time were also incorporated - arsenic, mercury, magnesium and nitric acid. As Hahnemann was a chemist as well as a doctor he was able to devise methods of making metals into medicines - gold, silver and platinum are all used in homeopathy.

Remedies have also been made from charcoal, salt, bee stings, sepia, snake venom, oyster shell, nuts and modern drugs. All the remedies in common use in modern times have been tested in the same way that Hahnemann used - taking repeated doses of the substances and establishing the range of symptoms which each of these might cause and therefore cure. This is known as 'proving' a remedy.