ABSTRACT
The healing art Homeopathy is derived from the Greek (homeo meaning similar and pathos meaning
disease). Hippocrates first thought of and documented the idea of using Cantharis
(Cantharis vesicatoria) to treat ‘strangury’ (cystitis), thus establishing the basic
homeopathic principle of ‘treating like with like’. This describes the law of similars,
a fundamental principle of homeopathy. In Latin the phrase ‘similia similibus
curentur’ translates ‘let like, cure like’.
