The author of this volume, Bernhard Hirschel (1815-1874), was one of the pioneers of homeopathy in 19th century Germany. Between 1852 and 1874, Hirschel served as the editor of the Journal for Homeopathic Clinic. He published numerous books on homeopathy and worked as a medical historian. In the Compendium of Homeopathy from 1864, he provides guidance for the study and practice of homeopathy. According to the principle of similarity, or similia similibus curentur (like cures like), diseases are to be treated with remedies that produce similar symptoms in a healthy person as those observed in the patient: Every effective medicine provokes a kind of illness in the human body, a more peculiar, distinctive, and intense illness, the more effective the remedy is.