Homeopathy as a scientific system of therapeutics is based upon certain basic principles. These form the foundation stone on which the system stands. The ten tenets of Homeopathy are:

• The law of Similia.
• The law of Simplex.
• The law of minimum dose.
• The doctrine of vital force.
• The doctrine of drug proving.
• The doctrine of Potentisation or drug Dynamisation.
• The doctrine of Chronic Miasms.
• The doctrine of Totality of symptoms.
• The doctrine of Individualisation.
• Law of Homeopathic Cure.

1. LAW OF SIMILIA: Similia Similibus Curentur i.e Let Likes be Cured by Likes is the basic mantra of Homeopathy . Though the credit of giving the basic idea of this law goes to Hippocrates, it was the genius of Dr. Hahnemann who tested it and worked upon it to formulate it into an effective therapeutic tool to help the suffering humanity

This law is the basic foundation of homeopathy, without it we can not think of Homeopathy. It means that a drug which has the ability to produce a certain ailment when given to healthy human being CAN CURE the same ailment when given to a diseased individual. For e.g. Belladona was when given to healthy individual it produced Dry Fever with violent delirium now if in a patient with similar picture of Fever with delirium we give Belladona he is cured (provided the potency chosen and repetition of dose is proper).

2. LAW OF SIMPLEX: Simple means not admixed or compounded, only simple substance. Hahnemann was against mixing up of two or more remedies at a time for any disease. He said and proved that only the most similar (called the similimum) drug is all that is needed for a cure. He sates that "I have no hesitation in asserting that whenever two medicines are mingled together, they almost never produce each its own action on the system but one almost always different from the action of separately- an intermediate action, a neutral action or an entirely separate action. The more complex our recipe more obscure will it be in medicine." This was the reason that he advised against mixing up or compounding of drugs and advised giving one simple medicine at a time.

3. LAW OF MINIMUM DOSE: Homeopathy advises dispensing of the drugs in a minute quantity. As we know that every thing present in nature has certain property to alter the health state of an individual, be it medicine or poison- it all depends on its dosage. So the least quantity you use the least will be the drug effects (the disturbance caused by the drugs in the system). Also we know that homeopathic medicines are not just dilutions but potentized remedies, so they are capable of producing effect in even the smallest dose. To sum it up let's say that whenever possible the size of the dose of Homoeopathic medicine, should be sub-physiological, i.e. a dose that is so small that it is not capable of producing disease symptoms, when used therapeutically.    

4. DOCTRINE OF VITAL FORCE: Human Body is made of Physical Body + Spirit + Mind. This spiritual part was named by Dr. Hahnemann as Vital Force, the animated, dynamic, spirit that rules the material body with unbounded sway. Hahnemann defines vital force in aphorism 9 of 'Organon of Medicine'
             "In the healthy condition of man, the spiritual vital force (Autocracy), the dynamic that animates the material body (organism), rules with unbounded sway, and retains all parts of the organism in admirable, harmonious, vital operations, as regards both sensations and functions, so that our indwelling, reason-gifted mind can freely employ this living, healthy instrument for the higher purposes of our existence." 
            In short there is a force, a power capable of sustaining on its own, which exists within every living organism. That power is the driving force as well as sustaining reason of its life. Which is invisible and intangible and that's why it is occasionally called the simple substance. It manifests in disease as well as health and rules the material body in which it occupies. All the actions and functions of the material body is under its control and occurs due to its being there. Any alteration of its composition will reflect in the material body too. Diseases are nothing but the alteration in the state of health of the individual produced in turn by any alterations in his vital force, which express themselves by the so called signs and symptoms.  

5. DOCTRINE OF DRUG PROVING: Drug Proving is the systematic method by which we test the therapeutic or healing power of a drug. In this method the pathogenesis or curative power of each drug is ascertained by administering on normal healthy individuals and noting the changes produced by these drugs in their health. The healthy human volunteers are called 'provers' of the drugs. The resulting symptom pictures are 'provings' of the drug. The effects of drugs are noted not only on the organs or structure of the body but also on the mind and personality of the prover.

The specialty of Homeopathic drug proving is that it is always done on a number of provers of different age sex and body make up and also with different potencies or strength of the same drug. So we study not only the curative power of each drug but also what effect it would produce on a particular age-group, sex or mind of people. This we see is the basic reason why we tailor a homeopathic remedy according to the patient or rather prescribe different drugs in different people suffering from same disease.

6. DOCTRINE OF DRUG DYNAMISATION: Dynamisation is the method by which we arouse the dynamic property of a latent drug. According to Dr. Hahnemann, Homoeopathic dynamisations are processes by which the medicinal properties which are latent in natural substances (while in their crude state) become aroused and then become enabled to act in an almost spiritual manner on our life-principle. The product of dynamisation is called potency. Dynamisation can de done either by Trituration (in insoluble substances) and Succussion (in soluble substances). For e.g. the poison of Surukuku snake can actually kill a person in its crude state but when dynamized it forms the medicine "Lachesis" which can cure a number of diseases right from Tonsillitis to Gangrene and Menopausal syndrome.

7. DOCTRINE OF CHRONIC MIASMS: The word miasm is derived form a Greek word 'miasma' which means stain, pollution etc Miasms are the disease causing agents in the body. Originally when Dr. Hahnemann discovered Homeopathy, he gave the medicines to a number of people and relieved them of their complaints; but as he later found out that the complaints further lapsed. This meant that inspite of the best chosen medicine there was something which prevented the complete removal of disease from the body. He worked on this and it was only after 12 years of strenuous labor that he came forward with the concept of miasms. Miasms are the underlying cause of all disease, they not only serve as a fertile soil for the diseases but even seed the process of illness.  Hahnemann recognized that there are three miasms as the fundamental causes of all the true chronic diseases. Each one is having it's own symptoms and mode of action as far as initiation and maintenance of a disease in a healthy organism is concerned. 

The three chronic miasms are:

• Syphilitic- The venereal chancre disease.
• Sycotic- The fig wart disease.
• Psoric- The itch eruption disease.

The first two are collectively known as venereal miasms and the third one non-venereal miasm.  According to Hahnemann Psora accounts for 7/8th of all the chronic diseases where as Syphilis and Sycosis are responsible for only 1/8th of them. Also Psora inevitably joins the other two miasms in time to complicate the disease process and picture even further. According to him Psora is the most infections and dangerous of all the three miasms and the most difficult to cure too.  

Dr. Hahnemann explained that unless and until we prescribe suitable remedy for this miasm (anti-miasmatic) we cannot deal successfully with chronic diseases.

8. DOCTRINE OF TOTALITY OF SYMPTOMS: According to Stuart Close "Totality of symptoms means all the symptoms of the case which are capable of being logically combined into a harmonious and consistent whole, having form, coherency and individuality." Totality in Homeopathy does not mean the numerical summation of the symptoms but it stands for the qualitative collection of the symptoms. It includes the peculiar mental characteristics of the patient, the environmental peculiarities, the unique features of the disease (the peculiar, uncommon, singular and/or striking symptoms in Homoeopathic terminology) and all. In disease state every patient present with a collection of symptoms which signify this diseased individual; in Aphorism 7 his Organon Dr. Hahnemann stated that if we are to cure an individual we have to first remove these symptoms from his body i.e. Removal of Totality of Symptoms means Cure. "..symptoms alone by which the disease demands and points to the remedy suited to relieve it - and, moreover, the totality of these its symptoms, of this outwardly reflected picture of the internal essence of the disease, that is, of the affection of the vital force, must be the principal, or the sole means, whereby the disease can make known what remedy it requires - the only thing that can determine the choice of the most appropriate remedy - and thus, in a word, the totality of the symptoms must be the principal, indeed the only thing the physician has to take note of in every case of disease and to remove by means of his art, in order that it shall be cured and transformed into health..."

Thus totality of symptoms expresses the holistic approach to the medicine practiced in Homoeopathy.  

9. DOCTRINE OF INDIVIDUALISATION: Individualisation is the process of singling out or differentiation by which we distinguish an entity or individual from the others of same class or group by some exclusive feature. In Homeopathy it stands for The process of tailoring remedies or treatments to cure a set of symptoms in an individual instead of basing treatment on the common features of the disease. All the practical processes of Homoeopathy from drug proving to fixing of auxiliary treatment are governed by the principle of individualisation. The basis of individualisation is a properly taken case. According to Hahnemann "this individualised examination of a case of disease demands on the part of physician nothing but freedom from prejudice, sound senses, attention in observing and fidelity in tracing the picture of disease." Hahnemann's first rule in individualisation is that the characteristics of the case must correspond with the characteristic of the drug. 

10. LAW OF HOMEOPATHIC CURE: Dr. Hahnemann explained the Homeopathic Law of Cure in Aphorism 26 of Organon' "A weaker dynamic affection is permanently extinguished in the living organism by a stronger one, if the latter (whilst differing in kind) is very similar to the former in its manifestations " i.e. a weaker dynamic affection (disease) can be extinguished or removed by a stronger one (produced by medicine) if the manifestation they produce is similar (the symptom presentation is similar) and the origin of both i.e medicine and disease is different (differing in kind). Thus we see that according to Homeopathy we can establish cure if we prescribe a medicine which produces the most similar symptom presentation to the disease but with a power which is just higher to the disease power.

These laws form the basis of Homeopathy and are the pillars on which Homeopathy stands. For an Issue exclusively on Essences of Homeopathy one cannot think of missing or ignoring these principles.

Other than these we provide in this Issue article of Dr. George Vithoulkas on Constitutional Remedy; Anomalies in Homeopathic Literatures by Dr. Mahendra Singh; Kentian Philosophy by Gina Tyler; An Introduction to Miasms by Grant Bentley and a special paper of Dr. George Loukas on Research and Homeopathy. In short, this issue includes all those subjects which essentially form ESSENCES OF ORGANON. With this wish that it may reach upto your expectations, we present to you the FEBRUARY ISSUE OF HOMEOPATHIC HORIZON ON ESSENCE OF ORGANON.

Happy Reading !