LARKIN, LYMAN BEECHER – Cleave’s Biographical Cyclopædia of Homoeopathic Physicians and Surgeons By E. Cleave

ARKIN,
LYMAN BEECHER, A. M., M. D., of Ballston Spa, Saratoga county, N.
Y., was born in Marlborough, Mass., November 8th, 1804.

     At the age of fourteen,
he was apprenticed to a farmer and currier, but his master dying three
years after, he was again at liberty. Anxious for a good education, but
having no friends to assist him, he started for Cambridge, thinking that
if near the college, something might turn up in his favor and he thereby
be enabled to pursue his studies. The first year he worked as gardener
for a family in the neighborhood, and then secured the position of
assistant to John W. Webster, Professor of Chemistry at Harvard College,
but falling ill of typhoid fever, this desirable arrangement was broken
up. On his recovery he went to Boston, and engaged with a mercantile
house in that city, at a salary of $50 per year and board. When the term
for which he had engaged expired, notwithstanding he was offered a good
salary and the promise of a partnership in three years, he determined to
pursue his original intention, and, with thirty dollars in his pocket,
began his studies at the Woburn Academy. While there, he abstained from
tea and coffee, and has never resumed their use.

     In 1831, he completed
his studies at the academy, returned to Boston, and worked in the drug
store of Maynard & Noyes, until he had earned sufficient to enable
him to enter Amherst College. In the fall of 1833, he was appointed
Professor Hitchcock’s assistant in chemistry. While lecturing upon the
gases, the Professor stated that musical sounds could be produced by
holding a glass tube over a burning jet of hydrogen gas, and the next
day young Larkin played several tunes before the class, upon a silver
lined flute, held over a burning jet of hydrogen gas ; for which he
was highly complimented by the Professor, with whom he evidently became
a favorite.

     About this time, while
assisting Professor Snell in some electrical experiments, he connected a
wire, which was nearly half a mile in length, with a Leyden jar which
was heavily charged ; then placing a sheet of paper on a smooth
table, he laid upon it some goldleaf, upon which he then placed a piece
of paper, on which was the word lightning ; over all he placed a
heavy weight, and then by means of the wire discharged the jar upon the
goldleaf, and found the word

lightning
was thereby permanently gilded.

     He was with Professor
Hitchcock during his geological survey of the State of Massachusetts,
and was present when he first discovered bird tracks in the new red
sandstone in the valley of the Connecticut River.

     In August, 1855, Mr.
Larkin finished his course of studies at Amherst, and, at once,
commenced the study of medicine under the direction of Dr. A. Hunting,
of Franklin, Mass., paying his expenses by his lectures on geology, of
which he delivered over two hundred while yet a student, and with such
approval that the degree of A. M. was conferred upon him by Brown
University.

     Dr. Larkin graduated in
the fall of 1837, and immediately after, was selected by Professor
Hitchcock as his assistant in the labor of analyzing the different soils
of the State.

     In 1838 ; he
commenced the practice of his profession at Wrentham Centre. He became a
member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and married Miss Jemima
Richardson, daughter of Hon. Joseph L. Richardson, who died in June,
1850.

     Dissatisfied with the
mode of practice taught by the “Old School,” and independent
in his views, Dr. Larkin incurred the censure of many of his colleagues,
but his great success vindicated his theories.

     In 1853, worn by his
large practice, and desiring a change, he sold out, and invested his
money in the book business on Broadway, New York, fell among theives,
and soon found himself penniless.

     He then borrowed money,
returned to Massachusetts, and studied and practiced homœopathy with
such success, as soon convinced him of its superior merit as a system,
and of the fundamental truths upon which it is founded.

     In 1856, he removed to
La Salle, Ills., where were then fourteen allopathic physicians ;
eight years after, but three remained, neither of them having sufficient
business to require a horse.

     In 1864, Dr. Larkin
returned to Brooklyn, N. Y., for the purpose of establishing a homœopathic
institute, which he successfully conducted for four years, and then
removed to Ballston Spa -seven miles from Saratoga- where are several
valuable mineral springs, and where he has established a new institute,
which is now in successful operation. In 1860, he married Miss Hattie P.
Hills, who died of consumption, January, 1873.

     The doctor’s life has
been one of constant endeavour, and he well deserves the success he now
enjoys.

Source
: Cleave’s Biographical Cyclopædia of Homœopathic Physicians and
Surgeons By Egbert Cleave