History
of Homœopathy : Its Origin ; Its Conflicts.
by Wilhelm
Ameke, M. D.
Presented by Dr
Robert Séror.
Hahnemann,
as a man.
Hahnemann was born at
Meissen, in the kingdom of Saxony, on the 10
th of April, 1755
; he was the eldest of a family of ten.His parents adhered to the evangelical form of religion.
His father was a painter on porcelain, and his circumstances were
not such as to permit him to spend much money on his son’s education ;
youngHahnemann
was, therefore, destined to learn his father’s trade.By the persuasion and with the help of his teachers he was,
however, placed in a position to attend the Princely School at
Meissen, of which Müller was the principal.
“A man who,” as
Hahnemann
says of him in his autobiography of 1791,
[In the work, S. Hahnemann,
ein biographisches Denkmal, Leipzig, 1851.]
while he was still alive, has
but few equals in up-rightness and industry, who loved me as his
child, and who allowed me a freedom in the choice of the subjects of
my education for which I shall always be grateful to him, and which
had a perceptible influence on the further course of. my studies.In my twelfth year he commissioned me to. teach to others the
elements of the Greek language.”Hahnemann
received several other marks of partiality from his master. ” My
father was strongly opposed to my studying.On several occasions he took me away from the grammar school for
years together, in order to devote me to some other occupation more
suitable to his means.My teachers prevented this by refusing all fees during the last
eight years, only begging him to allow me to stay with them and follow
my inclination.He could not refuse this, but would do nothing more for inc.”
Hahnemann’s
last essay before leaving the Princely School was on a subject
selected by himself, ” The Wonderful Construction of the Human
Hand.”In Easter
1775,
my father sent me to Leipzig with the sum of twenty thalers — the
last money that I ever received from hint.He had to bring up several children on his limited income, and this
sufficiently excuses the best of fathers.Hahnemann
never enjoyed the
unlicensed freedom and amenities of a student’s life.He had to fight a hard battle with adversity. Besides diligently
attending the courses of lectures, he taught German and French to a
young Greek from Jassy, and further increased his income by
translations.He probably worked through many nights, while his fellow-students
were enjoying themselves in places of amusement. “I can myself
testify that while I was at Leipzig I honestly tried to follow my
father’s injunction never to play a merely passive part in the matter
of learning.Neither did I neglect exercise and fresh air, in order to preserve
that strength of body by which alone mental exertion can be
sustained.”
Dr Joseph von Quarin (1733-1814)The fees of his courses of lectures were remitted by all the
professors of medicine through the influence of the Counsellor of
Mines,Pörner,
a doctor in Meissen, and it thus became possible for him to save a
small sum of money.With this sum
Hahnemann,
in the year 1777,
went, after a two years’
sojourn in Leipzig, to Vienna, in order to study ” practical
medicine,” for at that time there were no hospitals either in
Leipzig or in many other university towns.Before his departure from Leipzig he was cheated out of part of his
savings, so that he had only sixty-eight florins and twelve kreutzer
to pay for his living in Vienna during nine months.Here the young medical student diligently attended the hospital of
the Brothers of Charity in the Leopoldstadt, and was a zealous
disciple of the physician in ordinary to the Emperor, Freiherr v.Quarin,
of whom he speaks with great respect.
Quarin
, for his part,
seems to have shown peculiar partiality for his pupil Hahnemann,
for he was the only one whom he took with him on his private visits to
patients.Hahnemann
himself says :
— ” He singled me out, loved and taught me as if I were his
sole pupil in Vienna, and even more than that, and all without
expecting any remuneration from me.”Professor
Bischoff*
[Ansichten über das bisheribe
Heilverfahren, Prague, 1819,
p. 28.]
states that ” Freiherr v. Quarin
bestowed on Hahnemann
his special friendship.”
” The slender resources still remaining to me were on the
verge of disappearing,” soHahnemann
relates, ” when the Governor of Transylvania, Baron v. Bruckenthal,
invited me on honourable terms to accompany him to Hermannstadt as
resident-physician and to take charge of his library, which was
considerable.” Hahnemann
obtained this position through the warm recommendation of Quarin
[Brunnow, Ein Slick auf Hahnemann,
Leipzig, S. 4,
1844
(translated by Norton, London, 1845).],
a proof that during his long intercourse with his pupil he had learnt
to value his practical knowledge. ”
Hahnemann’s
wanderings, Appointments and Marriage.Here (in Hermannstadt) I had an opportunity of learning other
languages necessary to me, and also of acquiring other branches of
knowledge in which I was deficient.”Hahnemann
seems to have studied chemistry and the art of smelting with special
industry.After he had practised a year and three-quarters in this populous
town, he went to Erlangen in order to take his degree of doctor.Here he also attended various lectures by
Delius,
Isenflamm, Schreber and Wendt,
to whom he says, he ” is indebted for much kindness ” ; and
on the 10
th of August he sustained his thesis : Conspectus affectuum
spasmodicorum aetiologicus et therapeuticusErlangae,
1779,
4
to 20
p.From Erlangen
Hahnemann
returned to his home, ” The yearning of a Swiss for his rugged
Alps cannot be more irresistible than that of a Saxon for his
fatherland,” he writes.After a sojourn of three quarters of a year in the mining town of
Hettstädt, in Electoral Saxony, and in Dessau, he obtained in1781
the post of parish doctor it Gommern, near Magdeburg.
On the
1st
of December ; 1783,
he married Henrietta Küchler,
the step-daughter of an apothecary at Dessau, named Haseler,
whom Hahnemann
calls an excellent apothecary.
[Brunnow, L.c., p. 4.]Hahnemann
was not satisfied
with a permanent residence at Gommern and he therefore exchanged this
place for Dresden.Here according to his own statement, he enjoyed the intimate
friendship of the town physicianWagner,
who instructed’, him in forensic medicine (” for he was an expert
in this’ branch “) and committed to him (on account of his own
illness) the charge of the town hospitals for a year with the consent
of the magistrates — a proof that this doctor also had great
confidence in Hahnemann’s
practical knowledge.
Johann Christoph Adelung (1732-1806)The Superintendent of the Electoral Library, the well-known
philologistAdelung,
treated him with great kindness, and as we learn from Hahnemann’s
autobiography, both he and the Librarian Dössdorf,
contributed largely to the pleasure and instruction afforded to him by
his sojourn in Dresden.
Hahnemann’s
retreat from Leipzig to Cöthen
The house in cöthen”
To be nearer the
centres of knowledge,” he went to Leipzig in 1789.Hahnemann
everywhere
displayed indefatigable literary industry, and was considered a
learned and very skilful physician.Hahnemann
was in Gotha from
the year 1792,
and treated the well-known author and private secretary, Klockenbring,
who was confined in a lunatic asylum founded by the Duke at
Georgenthal, with acknowledged success. He published an account of
this case in 1796.
[See Lesser Writings, 287.]After he had spent some time in Molschleben, near Gotha, he went in
1794
to Pyrmont, remaining there only a short time, and then to Brunswick.
In
1797
he was at Konigslutter ; in 1799
he went to Altona and Hamburg.His residence in this commercial town does not, however, seem to
have pleased him, for he soon returned to Eilenburg in his native
country, where he had a difficulty with the municipal medical
authority, because he insisted on dispensing his own medicines.On this account he again took to his wanderings and went to Machern
near Leipzig.Thence he went to Wittenberg, and then to Dessau, where he remained
two years ; in1806,
he removed to Torgau.
House of Torgau.Here he wrote his
Organon
der rationellen Heilkunst, and
in 1811
he went to Leipzig to qualify himself at the University there, so as
to be able to give lectures on his new system of treatment.Here he and his pupils were zealously occupied with proving
medicines on their own bodies, and the further development of his
doctrines.
Hahnemann and his pupils.His increasing practice aroused the envy of the doctors, and his
practice of dispensing his own medicines alarmed the apothecaries.The latter took proceedings against him in
1819,
on account of his dispensing his own medicines. Hahnemann
in vain contended in an able vindication [See
Lesser Writings, 783.]
that his medical treatment did
not come under the existing medicinal regulations, and that his
therapeutic implements had nothing to do with the medicines subject to
these regulations.In vain !
Hahnemann
was forbidden to dispense his own medicines, and it was made
impossible for him to practise in Leipzig.
Duke Frederick Ferdinand of Anhalt offered him a refuge at Cöthen,
together with full liberty to practise as he chose.Hahnemann
, therefore, went
there in the spring of 1821
as Hofrath and physician in ordinary to the Duke.The following few fragments concerning
Hahnemann’s
connexion with the ducal house have been published : [Hahnemann’s
Leben and Wirken von Albrecht, Leipzig, 1878.](
1)
” Cöthen, Jan.
29th,
1823.” MY DEAR HOFRATH
HAHNEMANN,
“While expressing to you my thanks for your medical help this
year, and for the past two years, and assuring you of my complete
satisfaction, I wish you to accept the enclosed trifle as a slight
recompense for your medicines and for your services.May Heaven pre-serve you in good health for many years to the
benefit of suffering humanity.”
FERDINAND,
DUKE.”(
2)
” I HEREBY wish to thank you sincerely in my own name, and in
that of my wife, the Duchess, for your good wishes for the New Year,
and hope that you, too, may be preserved for many years for the
benefit of mankind.At the same time let me have the pleasure of assuring you of the
continuance of my favour.“Cöthen,
3rd
Jan., 1829.“
FERDINAND.”
(
3)
” My best thanks, my dear Hofrath, for your kind wishes for my
birthday.I owe to your exertions one of the pleasantest gifts op entering on
a new year — viz., improved health.I hope to preserve this to your praise and credit.
” With sincere pleasure,
” Yours very affectionately,
“JULIE, DUCHESS OF ANHALT.”
(
4)
” I HAVE learnt with the greatest distress, my dear Hofrath,
of the sad blow which has fallen on you this night[His
wife’s death apparently.] —
the news was all the greater shock to me since I had no suspicion of
the illness of the departed.I beg you to be assured of my most hearty sympathy, and to grant my
earnest request that, under this severe shock, you will not neglect
your health, which is so necessary to the welfare of man-kind.”JULIE, DUCHESS OF ANHALT.”
Brunnow’s account of
Hahnemann
in Leipzig.Duke Henry also expressed his gratitude to
Hahnemann
on various occasions.The number of his patients in Cöthen grew from year to year, so
much so thatHahnemann
was obliged to engage Counsellor Lehmann
to help him in his work.
Dr Gottfried Lehmann (1788-1865)He occupied himself with the development of his system with
undiminished energy and pleasure.On
31
St, March, 1830,
Hahnemann
lost his wife, who, for forty-six years, had shared the storms of his
life with him.
Hahnemann’s
Personality and Character.Sufficient information is obtainable on this subject, but with
regard to the history of his life, the accounts of his biographers are
so meagre that it is now very difficult, if not impossible, to fill up
the existing gaps.
Brunnow
relates : [Ein
Blick auf Hahnemann,
Leipzig, 1844.]” On a bright spring day in the year,
1816,
I, then a young, newly inscribed student of law, was strolling along
the pleasant promenades of Leipzig with some companions.The University then possessed several notabilities, and not a few
originals among its professors.Many a professor and tutor marched gravely along in the old
Franconian dress of the previous century, with wig and hair bag, silk
stockings and buckled shoes, while the flaunting students of the
various nationalities strutted about swaggering in hussar’s jackets
and braided trousers, or in leather breeches with high dragoon boots
and clanking spurs.“Who is
that
old gentleman with the intelligent face, walking arm-in-arm with a
stout lady, and followed by four rosy-cheeked girls ?”I asked one of
the
older students near me.
“That is
the
celebrated Doctor Hahnemann,
with his wife and daughters ?” was the answer. ”He walks round the town regularly every afternoon.”
”
Who is this Hahnemann,”
I asked ? ” for what is he celebrated ?” He is the discoverer of the homeopathic method of treatment
which is upsetting the old system of medicine,” replied my
acquaintance, who, like me, was an inhabitant of Dresden, and who
served under the banner of Themis.
Brunnow
made further
inquiries, and as he was himself in indifferent health, he consulted Hahnemann,
and wad admitted to intercourse with the family, concerning whom he
gives us welcome information :Hahnemann
was then in his 62
nd year. Silvery locks surrounds his lofty, thoughtful brow, beneath
which his intelligent eyes flashes forth with piercing fire.His whole face had a calmly inquiring grand expression ; only at
times did the expression of a delicate humour replace that of deep
earnestness which indicated that he had gone through many troubles and
struggles.His bearing was upright ; his gait firm, his movements alert, like
those of a man of thirty.When he went out he dressed quite simply in a dark colored surtout,
and breeches and boots.In his own room, however, he liked to wean a brightly-flowered
dressing-gown, yellow slippers and black velvet cap. His long pipe was
seldom out of his hand, and this indulgence in tobacco was the only
relaxation from his abstemious mode of life. His drink was water, milk
and white beer, his food extremely frugal.His whole domestic arrangements were as simple as his dress and
food. Instead of a bureau, he used a large plain square table on,
which three or four huge folios lay, in which he had entered the
histories of the maladies of his patients, and which he was
accustomed, when interviewing them, to consult diligently, and in
which he wrote down their cases. For his examination of patients was
carried out with the exactness which he recommends in his Organon.Hahnemann
received me most
kindly, and our intimacy increased every day. I was attached to him by
strong bonds of veneration and’ gratitude. I shall never forget the
good he did me.The life in
Hahnemann’s
house was peculiar. The members of the household and his academic
pupils lived and worked for one object’ alone — that was homeopathy,
for which everyone strove to labour in his own way.The four grown-up daughters helped the father in preparing his
medicines, and willingly took their part in proving the various
remedies. The students who were devoted to the great re-former were
still more eager to do this, and their names are still to be found
carefully recorded in the pathogeneses of the various remedies in the Materia
Medico Pura.The patients were enthusiastic in their praises of the grand
results of homoeopathy, and became apostles of the new teaching among
the unbelievers……
Hahnemann’s
Domestic and Professional Life in Leipzig.When the day’s work was done,
Hahnemann
was accustomed to recruit himself from the hours of eight to ten by
conversation in a familiar circle of friends.All his friends and pupils had free access to him, and were happy
and cheerful while smoking and drinking white beer. In the middle of
the listening circle in his comfortable arm-chair with his long pipe
in his hand, sat the venerable Aesculapius, and alternately related
amusing and serious stories from his stormy life, while puffing clouds
of smoke from his pipe. Natural Science and the condition of foreign
nations often formed the subjects of those evening conversations.Hahnemann
had a special
partiality for the Chinese, and for this reason that they lay very
great stress on the respect and strict obedience due from children to
their parents–a duty which is becoming more and more neglected in our
civilised European world.Hahnemann
‘s family, indeed,
presented an example of the old German family discipline. It was
evident that the children not only obeyed but truly loved their
parents.Hahnemann
demanded not only
intelligence and industry from his pupils, but also strict morality. I
know of a case in which a talented young medical student was forbidden
the house on account of a disreputable connexion with a pretty girl of
easy virtue.With regard to religion,
Hahnemann,
who belonged to the Lutheran confession held aloof from all dogmatic
creeds. He was a pure Deist, but he was this with full conviction.” I cannot cease to praise and thank God when I contemplate
his works,” he was accustomed to say.Strict as was the obedience
Hahnemann
demanded from his children, as a husband he was far from having the
rule in his own hands.His tall and stout wife, who, as Agnes Frei did to the noble
painter, Albrecht Dürer, gave him many a bitter hour, exercised the
most baneful influence over him. It was she who cut him off from
society, and set him against his medical colleagues.It was she who often caused dissension between himself and his most
faithful pupils, if they did not treat the doctor’s wife with the
deepest respect. Not withstanding this,Hahnemann
was accustomed to call this scolding Xantippe, who took pleasure in
raising a storm in the house, ” the noble companion of his
professional life.”We learn the following particulars from the Seminary Director,
Albrecht,
[Hahnemann’s
Leben, Leipzig, 1875,
2nd
edit.] who enjoyed familiar
intercourse with Hahnemann
from 1821
to 1835
:Hahnemann
was always happiest
in his family circle, and displayed here as nowhere else a most
amiable disposition to mirth and cheerfulness. He joked with his
children in the intervals which he could devote to them, sang cradle
songs to the little ones, composed little verses for them, and used
every opportunity to instruct themAlthough at first he had but little, he spent as much as he could
possibly save on the education and culture of his children. He wished
them to learn what was worth learning.His son understood and spoke Latin, Greek, French, English and
Italian ; he understood as much of Arabic as could be required and
desired from a highly educated physician.He was also a very fair musician ; he played the guitar and the
piano, and displayed great skill in many other useful acquirements. He
became a medical man, and in this capacity wrote a defence of his
father against Hecker (Dresden,1811).
He was persecuted by both doctors and chemists on account of his
practice of dispensing medicines himself.He emigrated at last and died during
Hahnemann’s
lifetime. ” Four daughters and a son are, together with my wife,
the pleasure of my life,” so Hahnemann
wrote in 1791.The son, whose name was Frederick, was then five years old.
Hahnemann
paid attention,
too, to the education of his daughters.They were thoroughly instructed in all domestic and feminine duties
by their mother. Their mother had, indeed, greater influence over’
them than their father so long as they were still at home.She was a remarkable woman of an energetic character and educated
above the ordinary standard.She was much respected and beloved by her husband and children.
She had also had a musical education, and composed music to words
written by herself.Hahnemann
, too, was a great
lover of music, and had a pleasant singing voice, but without knowing
a note.He was fond of coming into the parlour when he took an interval of
repose from his work — between nine and ten—and of getting his
wife to play him something on the piano.Here is another description of
Hahnemann’s
family life :Hahnemann
combined firmness
and kindness in the education of his children ; he was unwilling to
punish, and when he did so was always dispassionate and just. Where he
could do so it gave him real pleasure to forgive. One of the peculiar
features of his educational plan was that his daughters were not
allowed to learn to dance. Was he then an enemy of social enjoyment ?On the contrary, he i enjoyed innocent mirth in the society of his
friends ; he was fond of jokes, and sometimes laughed till the tears
stood in his eyes. But he never indulged in inordinate demonstrations
of pleasure, and his self-respect preserved him from anything like a
false step, from any over-stepping of the strict line of propriety.[Hahnemann,
ein biographisches Denkmal, Leipzig, 1851,
p. 113]All the authors who describe
Hahnemann’s
family life from their own experience agree in bearing witness to the
cordial relations existing between Hahnemann
and his children.
They acknowledge the worth of his first wife, of whom
Hahnemann
always spoke with love and esteem.Even if she were, as
Brunnow
says, fond of power and imperious — and Brunnow’s
writings bear the stamp of truthfulness — yet she must have
possessed excellent qualities which were highly valued by her husband.
Her energy was, no doubt, often a support to him in his stormy life.
The region of romance was far from her — she lived in
realities.”A letter from
Hahnemann
to Stapf, written on the 17th
of December, 1816,
[Published in 1844
in Archiv f. hom. Heilk., XXI., H. I, p. 157.]
shows his high conception of
family life.
Stapf
had in the first
year or two of his married life, informed Hahnemann
of the birth of a daughter.Hahnemann
replies :
I take the most cordial interest in this happy event — the
addition to your family. May your dear little daughter grow up to be a
joy to her parents.I, for my part, have been accustomed to loot : upon each increase
of my family, each confinement of my wife, as one of the most
important events of my life. An offspring of our most intimate union,
a new human being springing from our blood sees the light of day,
increasing the joys and the (wholesome) sorrows of his parents,
awaiting a wonderful development and destiny in this life and a
preparation for the higher ends of his existence through all eternity.
A solemn thought well calculated to lead us to serious reflections.And behold ! with what solemn preparation the new citizen enters
the world, after the throes of his mother between life and death, and
uncertain whether she herself may not sacrifice her earthly life and
leave her children orphans and her sorrowing husband desolate. I see
the grave of the wife open whose life was so full of promise — the
grave of departed happiness for husband and children, and the portals
of eternity opening for her — and side by side with these
awe-inspiring possibilities there appears the new-born longed-for life
for mother and child, the triumphal entrance into existence of a young
being of divine origin — both events during these anxious moments
await decision in the unopened hand of God. What a terrible yet
ecstatic time of anxious expectation !For myself, every accouchement of my wife, every one of these
almost supernatural occurrences deeply agitates my inmost life. I have
accepted each as a refining and purifying process for my moral being
from the great principle of Good, the Father of perfected spirits —
and I have striven to use these awe-inspiring moments, fraught with
eternal purposes, for the cleansing and purifying of may own character
— and where I could still detect stains in myself — envy towards
my fellow-creatures, any suspicious or hypocritical taint in my heart,
any trace of falsehood or duplicity, any disposition to appear and to
speak differently from my true conviction, I have resolved to purge
myself of them.
Hennicke’s Appreciation of
Hahnemann.The editor of the
Allgemeiner
Anzeiger der Deutschen Legationsrath
Dr. Hennicke,
passes this judgment on Hahnemann
in his paper (1825,
p. 901)
:” The editor (
Hennicke)
had, in 1792,
the honour of making the acquaintance of this man distinguished by his
rare acumen, his powers of observation, his clear judgment, as well as
by his originality of character, uprightness and simplicity.” And
in another passage (ib. 1833,
p. 133)
:” I have for more than twenty years printed the coarsest
invectives against homoeopathy and its founder, so long as they had
the semblance of truthfulness and justice and bore the name of their
author, and this, although I have been for more than forty years on
the most friendly terms with HofrathHahnemann,
and respect him as one of the greatest benefactors of the human race,
on account of his far-reaching scientific culture, his piercing
intelligence, his profound and clear spirit of observation, and his
great medical services, which, for the past fifty years, have been
thankfully acknowledged by all competent judges of medical science.Two cures which
Hahnemann
successfully accomplished in the year 1792
in Gotha and Georgenthal, and which excited general admiration,
together with the opinion of him held by a doctor who died here (Dr. Buddeus),
first directed my attention to Hahnemann,
filled me with the greatest esteem for him, and were the origin of our
friendly relations and of our subsequent uninterrupted
correspondence.”
Dr Philip Wilhelm Ludwig
GRIESSELICH (1804-1848)Griesselich
,
[Skizzen, &c. Karlsruhe, 1832.]
who visited Hahnemann
in Cöthen in 1832,
writes of him thusHahnemann
at the age of
seventy-seven showed in every action all the fire of a young man. No
trace of old age could be detected in his physical appearance, except
the white locks surrounding his temples, and the bald crown, which is
covered with a velvet cap.
Small and sturdy in form,
Hahnemann
is lively and brisk ; every movement is full of life.His eyes reveal his inquiring spirit ; they flash with the fire of
youth. His features are sharp and animated. As old age seems to have
left few traces on his body, so is it with his mind.His language is fiery, fluent ; often it becomes vehement as a
stream of lava against the enemies and opponents — not of himself
personally, for that he never alluded to but — of the great truths
to the testing of which he had summoned his colleagues for many
decades. His memory seems to be unaffected ; after long interludes and
side conversation he continues where he left off.When he becomes heated in conversation, which often happens,
whether about friend or foe, or on scientific subjects, his words flow
forth uninterruptedly, his whole manner becomes extremely animated,
and an expression appears on his countenance which his visitor [Griesselich]
admired in silence.Perspiration covers his lofty brow ; his cap is removed even his
long pipe — his trusty companion — goes out and must be relighted
by the taper which is at hand and kept burning all day. But the white
beer must not be forgotten !The venerable old man had so accustomed himself to this sweet drink
that it always stood in a large covered glass on his table ; at his
meals, too, he takes this drink, which is unknown in South Germany [Griesselich
lived in Karlsruhe]. He does not drink wine ; his mode of life is very
simple, abstemious, and patriarchal………There is generally something polemical in
Hahnemann’s
conversation. At the same time he proclaims openly that he would give
every-one free scope who entered on the field of experience in order
to confirm and complete defective results (his own included), and who
did not seek to overthrow them by mere assumptions ……he is, indeed, far from seeking to establish a despotism over his
followers which would shut out every other view.Men who have known
Hahnemann
personally recall with pleased admiration his grand, bright,
penetrating eyes, his lofty, clear forehead, his remarkably well
formed head, his firm but not unkindly mouth.Certain incidental expressions in his books reveal his ambition to
excel the majority of men in his deeds. He had the just consciousness
of superior powers.Petty vanity was far removed from him. He wrote to
Stapf
in 1816,
in a letter published after his death : [Arch.
f. d. hom. Heilk., Vol. XXI., H. I, p. 162
(transl. in Brit. Jour. of Hom., Vol. III., 141).]” One word more ; no more encomiums of me ; I altogether
dislike them, for I feel myself to be nothing more than a plain,
straightforward man who merely does his duty.
His indifference to
hostile attacks.Let us express our regard for one another only in simple words and
conduct indicating mutual esteem.”No single passage in his writings indicates that he ever weakly
complained of the persecution to which he personally was subject.Griesselich,
in describing his visit to Hahnemann,
specially mentions this habit of putting his personality out of the
question. He himself writes : [Chron.
Krank., Vol. I., p. 8.]” I care nothing for the ingratitude and persecution which
have pursued me on my wearisome pilgrimage, the great objects I have
pursued have prevented my life from being joyless.”While a storm of opposition was raging against it him and repeated
attempts were made to crush him, he was occupied with unwearied and
unremitting zeal in developing his doctrines, finding compensation for
all these attacks in the consciousness of having striven for and
attained great ends.” The satisfaction I have derived from this mode of treatment
I would not exchange for the most coveted of earthly
possessions,” he writes toHufeland.
[Lesser Writings, p. 587.]In
1829
he wrote to a young physician, Dr. Schreter,
of Lemberg, [In a letter
published after his death, Archiv, XXI., H, 2,
p. 182
(Brit. Jour. of Hom., Vol. V., 398).]
who had been inveighing warmly
against Hahnemann’s
medical opponents, to abstain from doing so :” No good result will come of it. You put yourself out of
temper by it (a most undesirable state of mind), and matters will not
change until Divine Providence produces a better state of things in
its own good time.Rather compassionate the poor blind infatuated creatures ; it is
mortification enough for them not to be able to accomplish anything
valuable. Just leave them alone and go along in the path of rectitude.
Be honourable in your practice without allowing yourself to be led
astray ; you will then have the blessing of a good conscience and can
live your own life cheerfully and happily in privacy.”He never for a moment doubted of the final triumph of homoeopathy
as is shown by many passages in his works. We quote one here.
In the year
1815
Stapf
had expressed to him his hope that a distinguished allopath might be
converted in order that the spread of homoeopathy might be more rapid.Hahnemann
answered : [Archiv,
XXI., H. 2,
p. 129
(B. J. of H. III., 198)]Our art requires no political lever, no worldly decorations in
order to become something. It grows gradually, at first unrecognised,
surrounded as it is by all manner of weeds which luxuriate around it,
from an insignificant acorn to a sapling ; soon its summit will
over-top the rank weeds ; patience ! it is striking deep its roots
into th earth, it is increasing in strength imperceptibly but all the
more surely, and will in its own time grow into an oak of God, which,
no longer to be shaken by storms, spreads out its branches into all
regions that suffering mankind may be healed under its beneficent
shade.So
Hahnemann
wrote in 1815,
when only a few isolated doctors in Saxony were among his adherents.
He lived to see his system spread over the whole earth, to see
thousands of homoeopathic practitioners, converts from allopathy, some
of whom occupied brilliant positions, and, further, to see the number
of enthusiastic adherents of homoeopathy amounting to many millions.***
Hahnemann
‘s handwriting was
small and neat but firm, and he preferred to write on small sized
paper, as appears from his letters and notes. [See
Lesser Writings, p. X.]He took pains to write every letter distinctly and he wrote a
beautiful hand. He was very particular in his forms of expression, and
often we find in one line two or three corrections.Up to his latest years he read and wrote without spectacles (
Albrecht).
Albrecht
(l.c.) writes
thus of his knowledge :His amount of knowledge was astonishing. He was at home in all the
sciences, even in those which had no connexion with medicine —
information could be obtained from him about them all ; for even if he
had not particularly pursued any branch of science, he was sure to
have read a great deal about it.” A really educated man” he used often to say ” must
be well up in all subjects.”Thus he was well acquainted with astronomy. A planetary system hung
in his room ; he was fond of conversing with his nephew, Hofrath
Schwabe, who had a telescope in his garden, on astronomical
matters.
He was a good meteorologist, and was something of a weather
prophet. This he owed to the hygrometer, barometers and thermometers
which he liked to watch in his room and garden.He was not less thoroughly acquainted with geography ; and a rich
collection of maps formed part of his large library, containing works
on all branches of science. Magnetism and Mesmerism were more closely
allied to the study of medicine.Hahnemann
paid especial
attention to them both and made use of them in certain cases of
disease with favourable results. Up to his latest years Hahnemann
spent a great part of his leisure hours in reading.Hahnemann
‘s numerous
translations show that he was proficient in modern languages. But this
did not interfere with his love for ancient philology — he was a
thorough philologist [his inaugural thesis[On
the Helleborism of the Ancients. Lesser Writings, p. 644.
] shows that he was even able to
read Chaldaic works.] This to a great extent explains his friendship
with the philologist Professor Adam Beyer.They met occasionally in the evening, and most earnestly discussed
syntactic and critical points in Greek and Latin, and the Leipzig
Professor listened with particular attention to the opinion of his
medical friend on controverted points in various philological
controversies.Hahnemann
‘s wonderful and
thorough acquaintance with all branches of knowledge can,
notwithstanding his natural gifts, be only accounted for when we learn
from Hartmann
that his health was such that he could work through every other night,
and this he doubtless frequently did.
Dr. Franz Hartmann (1796-1853)Besides his many translations of scientific works, we are indebted
to his industry for the translation from the English of theHistory
of Abelard and Heloise, a
work which is of both
political and ecclesiastical importance.The
Allgemeine deutsche
Bibliothek [1792,
Vol. CVI., p. 243.]
contains this criticism on
it :Hahnemann
‘s translation is
correct and fluent, and we can recommend his work to those who have
long wished to have this interesting subject better treated.——-
In the year
1834
a highly cultivated French lady, thirty-four years of age, Mélanie
d’Hervilly Gohier (born in 1800)
came to Cöthen and placed
herself under Hahnemann’s
medical treatment.
Hahnemann’s
second marriage, removal to Paris, and Death.She succeeded in fascinating
Hahnemann
by her intelligence, her unusual degree of culture and her natural
grace, so that he resolved to throw in his lot with hers.His friends heard with surprise, as
Rummel
states, that the old man of eighty had married again on 28th
January, 1835.
Dr Friedrich Jakob Rummel (1793-1854)His young wife persuaded
Hahnemann
to quit his native land.Paris she thought was the town where her husband’s renown could be
still further extended ; Paris alone could give him the honour which
was his due.Hahnemann
yielded. And Paris
and France did not fail to fulfil his wife’s promises.He was received with enthusiasm and distinguished marks of honour
in Paris, and enjoyed high respect and grateful recognition up to the
end of his life.His domestic life there seems to have been very happy, as is
apparent from his letters.Thus he writes on the
13
th of August, 1840,
to Dr. Schreter
of Lemberg, [Archiv. f. hom.
Heilk., Vol. XXIII., H. 3,
p. 107.]in a letter published after his death :
I cannot remember in my long life having ever felt better and
happier than here in Paris, where I am enjoying the affectionate
inter-course of my dear Mélanie, who cares for nothing in the
world more than for me.
Mélanie
I find, too, that my medical labours’ begin to excite more than
attention — respect — for our divine healing art in this great
metropolis.He kept up a constant and affectionate correspondence with his family
in Germany, who also visited him in Paris.On his death,
Jahr
writes from Paris on the 4
th of June, 1843,
in the Allgem. homöopathische
Zeitung (vol. XXIV.
No. 17)
:
About the
15
th of April he was taken ill with the malady that usually attacked him
in the spring — a bronchial catarrh — and it took such hold of him
that his wife admitted no one.
The report was spread several times that he was dead ; this was,
however, contradicted. I had been intending to call myself, when I
received a note from Madame.Hahnemann
begging me to come
that same day.I went at once, and was admitted to
Hahnemann’s
bedroom.Here — think of the sight ! — instead of seeing
Hahnemann
— the dear, friendly old man smile his greeting — I found his wife
stretched in tears on the bed and him lying cold and stiff by her side,
having passed five hours before into that life where there is no strife,
no sickness and no death.Yes, dear friends, our venerable Father
Hahnemann
has finished his course ! a chest affection has, after a six week’s
illness, liberated his spirit from its weary frame.His mental powers remained unimpaired up to the last moment, and
although his voice became more and more unintelligible, yet his broken
words testified to the continued clearness of his mind and to the calm
with which he anticipated his approaching end.At the very commencement of his illness he told those about him that
this would be his last, as his frame was worn out.At first he treated himself, and, till a short time before his death,
he expressed his opinions relative to the remedies recommended by
his wife and a certain Dr. Chatran.
Dr Joseph Antoine Chatran (1805-1876)He only really suffered just at the end from increasing oppression on
the chest.When, after one such attack, his wife said :
— ” Providence surely owes you exemption from all suffering,
as you have relieved so many others and have suffered so many hardships
in your arduous life,” he answered, “Why should I expect
exemption from suffering ?Every one in this world works according to the gifts and powers which
he has received from Providence, and more or less are
words used only before the judgment scat of man, not before that of
Providence.Providence owes me nothing.
I owe it much. Yea, everything !”
Profound grief for this great loss is felt here by all his followers.
All shed tears of gratitude and affection for him.But the loss of those who have had the happiness of enjoying the
friendship of this great man, can only be estimated by those who have
known him in his domestic circle, and especially during his last years.He himself when not persecuted by others, was not only a good, but
a simple-hearted and benevolent man, who was never happier than when
among friends to whom he could unreservedly open his heart.Well, he has nobly fought through and gloriously completed his
difficult and often painful course.Sit ei terra lexis !
***
Testimonies of Opponents to his Learning and Genius.
For the student who follows the development of
Hahnemann’s
great idea, who carefully reads his numerous works, comparing them with
the views of his contemporaries, and who thus becomes aware of his iron
industry, his rare gift of observation and the lofty enthusiasm with
which he strove to do all that lay in his power for the advancement of
the healing art, and for those who have repeated, as he desired, his
experiments, and who know by experience gained
at the sick bed what this grand genius has accomplished — for these
and such as these it would be taking ” owls to Athens” to
quote words of praise from the lips of strangers ; it would be like
trying to prove Humboldt’s
greatness as a naturalist by citing the recognition he received from his
contemporaries.But for those who hold themselves aloof or are even hostile we may be
permitted to quote certain proofs that it is not only homeopaths who
show respect for this man.All the following appreciations are from non-homeopaths :
Compare the testimonies quoted on pp.
74,
75.Prof. J. R.
Bischoff [Ansichten
über das bisherige Heilverfahren und die hom.. Krank heitslehre,
Prague, 1819,
p. 27.]writes in
1819
: ” Dr. S. Hahnemann
has won for himself during a period of forty years a most honourable
name in the field of medicine.”About the same time Professor
Puchelt
writes in Hufeland’s
journal, [St. 6,
pp. 15
and 27.]
in an article which he published
in the following year, 1820,
as a separate pamphlet :All this ought not to make us unjust to a man to whom we cannot deny
a very high degree of acumen, logical powers and perseverance, who had
previously done much valuable work in the field of medicine before the
invention of his system, and who, in the system itself, according to our
opinion, promulgates many views, which well deserve to be noticed, and
which will certainly be acknowledged sooner or later in scientific
medicine.Further on he repeatedly speaks of him as a ” learned
physician.”In the same place
Hahnemann
is spoken of in a note by Hufeland as ” the worthy founder of
homeopathy.”Dr. v.
Wedekind,
formerly professor of clinical medicine in the University of Mainz, says
: [Prüfung des hom. Systems,
Darmstadt, 1825.]Hahnemann
is known to me as an
experienced, learned, and genial physician…..Far be it from me to assert that Herr
Hahnemann
wishes to serve the purposes of the obscurantists ; his clear intellect
loves the light…..My learned opponent…….
Learn, gentlemen, the opinions held by
Hahnemann,
an old, learned, experienced, highly educated and renowned physician,
respecting our science and ourselves.The manner in which this man propounds his ideas, shows so deep and
earnest a conviction that you must pause before you reproach him with
charlatanryHow in all the world could the celebrated and learned
Hahnemann,
fall into the error of propagating such a doctrine ?He believes in his theory. Where shall we find a remedy to cure
homeopathically this meritorious savant.The passage has been already referred to in which
Hufeland
characterises Hahnemann
as one of the ” most distinguished, gifted and original
physicians.”He continues as follows : ” Is it necessary to remind my readers
that medicine has to thank him for the discovery of the wine test and of
the soluble mercury, which is in my opinion still the most efficacious
preparation of mercury, as well as for so much else. He has given
sufficient proof in many of his earlier writings of a grand
philosophical acumen and of a rare power of observation.”In Oken’s
Isis (1822,
p. 135),
Hahnemann
is thus spoken of : “This earnest thoughtful man, one of the best
physicians of our time.”Dr. Fr.
Groos
(physician in ordinary to the Grand Duke of Baden) says,
[Ueber das hom. Heilprincip. Heidelberg, 1825,
p. 19.]
” I cannot refrain from
admiring Hahnemann’s
profound thoughtfulness and originality.”
Naumann
: [Hufeland’s
Bibliothek, 1825,
Vol. LIII., p. 42.]
” The doctors of Germany have
gladly accorded Hahnemann
their respect as a highly accredited thinker.”He also praises him in these words : ”
Hahnemann’,
services with respect to the more accurate knowledge of the properties
of many drugs will never be forgotten.” (ib.
p. 116.)
Urban
passes the following
judgment in Hufeland’s
journal in 1827
: [St. 4,
p. 80.]
“
The undisputed merit
remains to him for all time of having directed attention to the pure
curative properties of medicines, and of having thus paved the way for a
rational and experimental development of the materia medica.In
Froriep’s
Notizen aus dem Gebiete der
Natur- und Heilkunde, 1829,
[No. 7,
Kleinert, Reporter. der ges. deutsch. med-chir. Journ., 1830,
IV., 119.]
Hahnemann
is compared ” with other men of genius…Although the system of homoeopathy is very incomplete, yet its
founder is to be considered thrice happy because he has found a
standpoint from which he has been able mightily to move the intellectual
world, and his name will be mentioned with reverence and admiration by
posterity, along with those ofGalen,
Paracelsus
and Brown.”In
1833,
Kruger-Hansen,
[Die Allopathie und Homöopathie
auf der Wage, p. 11]
whom no one could accuse of
friendship for Hahnemann,
writes :” The history of medicine will always assign to him an
honourable place among those physicians who clearly recognise the faults
of extreme allopathy, and who perseveringly call new ideas into
life.”
Geheimrath
Dr. Link calls Hahnemann
“a man of large information and great acumen.” [Hufeland’s
Journ., LXXVI., St. 6,
p. 64.]]Kurt
Sprengel,
the historian, expresses himself thus :” So far am I from bearing ill will to a man whom I have never
seen that I have on the contrary for more than forty years spoken highly
of his learning and his great technical skill.”[Ueber
Homöopathie, translated from the Latin by Schragge. Magdeburg, 1833,
p. 33.]
Stieglitz
: [Die
Homöopathie, Hanover, 1835,
p. 89.]” It is impossible to deny that
Hahnemann
is a man of great intelligence and possessing much knowledge.”C. A.
Eschemnayer,
Professor in Tubingen : [Die
Allöopathie and Homöopathie, Tubingen, 1834,
pp. 47
and 122.]”
Hahnemann
undertook his great experiment with a perseverance and circumspection to
which we cannot refuse our admiration.”” So much has been achieved that we can only gaze with
admiration at this gigantic intellect who conceived the idea of
reforming medicine, and showed by example how it was to be done.”On the
7
th of April, 1841,
the Saxon Ambassador in Paris presented him with the freedom of his
native town Meissen.It would be easy to add a still greater number t’ these recognitions
ofHahnemann’s
merits on the part of non-homoeopaths, if Hahnemann
required such supports.[To these
we may be permitted to add a couple of testimonies from two of the most
learned and illustrious old-school medical authors of this country. Fletcher
(Elements of General Pathology
; p. 493)
says :”
Hahnemann’s
book (Organon) is an
original and interesting one, and displays more reflection in every page
than many of his reviewers will evince in the whole course of their life
and conduct for half a century.” Sir J. Forbes
writes (Medical Review, Vol.
21,
p. 226)
:“
Hahnemann
was undoubtedly a man of genius and a scholar ; a man of indefatigable
industry, of undaunted energy. In the history of medicine his name will
appear in the same list with those of the greatest systematists and
theorists, surpassed by few in the originality and ingenuity of his
views, superior to most in having substantiated and carried out his
doctrines into actual and most extensive practice.’ — ED.]Copyright
© Robert Séror 2006.
