<unk> , or allopathy, is an archaic term used to define science-based, modern medicine. There are regional variations in usage of the term. In the United States, the term is used to contrast with osteopathic medicine, especially in the field of medical education. In India, the term is used principally to distinguish "Western medicine" from Ayurveda, especially when comparing treatments and drugs. The terms were coined in 1810 by the inventor of homeopathy, Samuel Hahnemann. It was originally used by 19th-century homeopaths as a derogatory term for heroic medicine, the traditional European medicine of the time and a precursor to modern medicine, that did not rely on evidence of effectiveness. Heroic medicine was based on the belief that disease is caused by imbalance among the four "humours" (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile) and sought to treat disease symptoms by correcting that imbalance, using "harsh and abusive" methods to induce symptoms seen as opposite to those of diseases rather than treating their underlying causes: disease was caused by an excess of one humour and thus would be treated with its "opposite". A study released by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2001 defined<unk> " as "the broad category of medical practice that is sometimes called Western medicine, biomedicine, evidence-based medicine, or modern medicine." The WHO used the term in a global study in order to differentiate Western medicine from traditional medicine, and from complementary/alternative medicine, noting that in certain areas of the world “the legal standing of practitioners is equivalent to that of<unk> ” where practitioners are certified in both complementary/alternative medicine and Western medicine. The term allopathy was also used to describe anything that was not homeopathy. Kimball Atwood, an American medical researcher and alternative medicine critic, said the meaning implied by the label of allopathy has never been accepted by conventional medicine and is still considered pejorative by some. American health advocate and skeptic William T. Jarvis, stated that "although many modern therapies can be construed to conform to an<unk>  rationale (e.g., using a laxative to relieve constipation), standard medicine has never paid allegiance to an<unk>  principle" and that the label "allopath" was "considered highly derisive by regular medicine." Most modern science-based medical treatments (antibiotics, vaccines, and chemotherapeutics, for example) do not fit Hahnemann's definition of allopathy, as they seek to prevent illness, or alleviate an illness by eliminating its cause.
Allopathic medicine
Traditional medicine
Graphic medicine
Space medicine
Venoms in medicine
Cold medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine
Alternative medicine