Do we still use Allopathy to indicate Modern medicine?

Dear Editor,

A recent comment by one Indian yoga instructor and businessman made the term “Allopathy” surfaced in the majority of the newspapers.[1] Even the ‘Google Trends’ (A public domain web application to show the internet search pattern on Google search engine) shows a sharp rise of the interest in the word “Allopathy” as shown in [Figure 1].

Figure 1

Relative internet search volume for ‘Allopathy’ and ‘Modern medicine’ in India in last one year. Data sourced from the Google Trends(https://trends.google.com/trends/) for relative search volume for previous one year

We hope the health journalists and the healthcare professionals are aware of the term – Allopathy.[2] This derogatory term was started by Homeopathy practitioners in the 19th century.[3] Homeopathy, as found in MeSH (Medical Subject Headings), is “a system of therapeutics founded by Samuel Hahnemann (1755–1843), based on the Law of Similars where “like cures like”. Diseases are treated by highly diluted substances that cause, in healthy persons, symptoms like those of the disease to be treated.” The Homeopathy practitioners used the term – Allopathy to differentiate their practice from contemporary medicine. We could not find any term “Allopathy” in the MeSH, the annually updated, widely accepted controlled vocabulary for medical literature. However, the word is available in various dictionaries. We have listed the definition of Allopathy, Homeopathy, and Medicine from three sources in [Table 1].

Table 1

Definition of Allopathy, Homeopathy, and Medicine

Source	Allopathy	Homeopathy	Medicine
MeSH (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/)	Not found	“A system of therapeutics founded by Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), based on the Law of Similars where “like cures like”. Diseases are treated by highly diluted substances that cause, in healthy persons, symptoms like those of the disease to be treated”	“The art and science of studying, performing research on, preventing, diagnosing, and treating disease, as well as the maintenance of health”
Oxford Language (https://www.lexico.com/)	“The treatment of disease by conventional means, i.e., with drugs having effects opposite to the symptoms”	“A system of complementary medicine in which ailments are treated by minute doses of natural substances that in larger amounts would produce symptoms of the ailment”	“The science or practice of the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease (in technical use often taken to exclude surgery”
Merriam-Webster (https://www.merriam-webster.com/)	“A system of medical practice that aims to combat disease by use of remedies (as drugs or surgery) producing effects different from or incompatible with those produced by the disease being treated”	“A system of medical practice that treats a disease especially by the administration of minute doses of a remedy that would in larger amounts produce symptoms in healthy persons similar to those of the disease”	“The science and art dealing with the maintenance of health and the prevention, alleviation, or cure of disease”

All definitions are available in public domains.

We have Searched the terms in Google Book Ngram viewer and found that the use of the term “Allopathy” has been declined as shown in [Figure 2]. From the definitions, it is evident that “Medicine” is not similar to either “Allopathy” or “Homeopathy.” However, it is commonly used by the layman and occasionally in medical literature to indicate the practice of modern medicine.[45] We oppose the resurfacing of the derogatory word from the vocabulary of Homeopathy practitioners.[6] Using the word “Allopathy” to indicate modern medicine should be avoided. Practitioners of modern medicine should avoid using the term either in spoken or in written language.

Figure 2

Use of words over time found from Google Ngram viewer. Captured from Google Books Ngram Viewer (https://books.google.com/ngrams)

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