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Hahnemman's success
was wonderful, particularly with endemic and
epidemic diseases, that homeopathy quickly spread
throughout Europe and across to America. Dr Fredrick
Harvey Foster Quinn introduced homeopathy into Great
Britain in the late 1820's and in 1849 he founded
the London Homeopathic Hospital.
Homeopathy was brought to America in 1825 and
rapidly gained in popularity, partly due to the fact
that the excesses of conventional medicine were
especially extreme there, and partly due to the
efforts of Constantine Hering. Hering developed the
doctrine that symptoms always move in a particular
way: from the surface to the interior, from the
extremities to the upper part of the body, and from
less vital to more vital organs. His "Laws of Cure"
state that the cure must take place in the reverse
order of the appearance of the symptoms (first in,
last out).
Nearly as important as Hahnemann himself to the
development and popularization of homeopathy was the
American physician James Tyler Kent (1849 – 1921).
His most important contribution may be his
repertory, which is still widely used today.
Homeopathy reached its peak of popularity in America
in the decades 1865–1885. In the 1930s the
popularity of homeopathy began to wane, especially
in Europe and the United States, partly due to
advances in biology and conventional medicine,
partly due to a decline in coherence in the
homeopathic community and partly due to increasing
influence of AMA on medical practice. Homeopathy
experienced a renaissance in the 1970s that
continues to this day. George Vithoulkas, who
studied in India, where the homeopathic tradition
had remained strong, was instrumental in
resurrecting homeopathy in Europe.
With advent of computer technology, the ease with
which large symptom databases can be used has
brought about profound changes in the way homeopathy
is practised. Today a large number of homeopaths use
personal computers to sift through hundreds of
thousands of pages of provings and case studies. The
homeopathic repertorisation software have made
practicing homeopathy much more easier.
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