Editing Samuel Hahnemann (section)

=== Development of homeopathy ===
Following up the work of the Viennese physician [[Anton von Störck]], Hahnemann tested substances for the effects they produced on a healthy individual, presupposing (as von Störck had claimed) that they may heal the same ills that they caused. His researches led him to agree with von Störck that the toxic effects of ingested substances are often broadly parallel to certain disease states,<ref>Dudgeon, pp.xxi–xxii; Cook, p.95</ref> and his exploration of historical cases of poisoning in the medical literature further implied a more generalised medicinal "law of similars".<ref>Dudgeon, p.49 & p.176; Haehl, vol. 1, p.40</ref> He later devised methods of diluting the drugs he was testing in order to mitigate their toxic effects. He claimed that these dilutions, when prepared according to his technique of "potentization" using dilution and succussion (vigorous shaking), were still effective in alleviating the same symptoms in the sick. His more systematic experiments with dose reduction really commenced around 1800–01 when, on the basis of his "law of similars," he had begun using ''[[Carapichea ipecacuanha|Ipecacuanha]]'' for the treatment of coughs and [[Belladonna (plant)|Belladonna]] for scarlet fever.<ref>Cook, pp.96–7; Dudgeon, pp.338–340 & pp.394–408</ref>

He first published an article about the homeopathic approach in a [[German-language]] medical journal in 1796. Following a series of further essays, he published in 1810 "Organon of the Rational Art of Healing", followed over the years by four further editions entitled ''[[The Organon of the Healing Art]]'', the first systematic treatise and containing all his detailed instructions on the subject. A 6th ''Organon'' edition, unpublished during his lifetime, and dating from February 1842, was only published many years after his death. It consisted  of a 5th ''Organon'' containing extensive handwritten annotations.<ref>[http://www.minimum.com/reviews/organon-sixth.htm Sixth Organon book review] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101021000237/http://www.minimum.com/reviews/organon-sixth.htm |date=21 October 2010 }}. Minimum.com. Retrieved on 16 May 2012.</ref> The ''Organon'' is widely regarded as a remodelled form of an essay he published in 1806 called "The Medicine of Experience", which had been published in Hufeland's Journal. Of the ''Organon'', [[Robert Ellis Dudgeon]] states it "was an amplification and extension of his "Medicine of Experience", worked up with greater care, and put into a more methodical and [[Aphorism|aphoristic]] form, after the model of the Hippocratic writings."<ref>[[Robert Ellis Dudgeon|Dudgeon, R. E.]] (1853) ''Lectures on the Theory and Practice of Homeopathy'', London: Henry Turner, p. xxxi.</ref>