A German physician, the founder of Homoeopathy (q. v .), born at Meissen; established himself in practice in Dresden on orthodox lines and enjoyed a high reputation, but retired to revise the whole system of medicine in vogue, of which he had begun to entertain misgivings, and by various researches and experiments came to the conclusion that the true principle of the healing art was similia similibus curantur , "like things are cured by like," which he announced as such to the medical world in 1796, and on which he proceeded to practise first in Leipzig and finally in Paris, where he died (1755-1843).