Charles Gaspard Peschier (1782-1853) – Pioneers of homeopathy by T. L. Bradford

Pioneers
of homeopathy

by Dr Thomas
Lindsey Bradford

Presented by Dr Robert Séror

Charles
Gaspard Peschier (1782-1853)

Photo not available

Dr.
PESCHIER, CHARLES GASPARD. (1782-1853)

The

Zeitung list of homoeopathic physicians practicing in 1832 places Dr. Peschier
in Geneva. Quin’s
list of two years later also mentions his name. In the British Journal for January, 1854, appears the following :

The subject of this memoir was born at

Geneva on Friday, March 13, 1782.

We mention the day of the week because it was the circumstance of
having been born on a Friday that Dr.

Peschier
was wont to attribute the misfortune that seemed constantly to overtake
him in life.

He went to

Paris to study medicine, and devoted
himself to the cultivation of the medical sciences with such diligence and
zeal as to command the esteem of his masters, especially of the celebrated
Antoine Dubois, with whom he was a great favorite.
He took his degree in 1809.

Before this, in

1804, he published a memoir on croup on
the occasion of a concours established by the government on the subject,
which was very highly thought of. In 1812 he
followed the course of medical instruction at Montpellier.

In

1822 he published an essay on the
treatment of pneumonia and pleurisy by Tartar emetic in large doses, and asserted that by so treating
these diseases he had not lost a case.

This essay created a great sensation in the medical world, and spread
the fame of its author far and wide – in fact, he gained a reputation from
it disproportioned to his merits as the originator of the system, for
there is little doubt the treatment was derived from

Rasori, and disproportioned to its merits as a
successful method, for Dietl has proved that the fatality
attending the administration of Tartar emetic in pneumonia is nearly equal to that of bleeding in the
same disease.

In

1832 his attention was called by a Russian gentleman of rank to Homoeopathy, and as his
knowledge of the German language was perfect he set about
studying Hahnemann’s works, and the same year he visited
Hahnemann at Coethen.

During his journey he was very well received by the medical men of

Germany, to whom his name was familiar by his treatise
on tartar emetic, and he got a cordial reception
from Hahnemann, who was proud to claim a man of
his distinction as pupil.

On his return to

Geneva he commenced, in 1833, the publication of a monthly journal devoted to
Homoeopathy, entitled, Bibliothèque Homoeopathique de Genève, which continued in existence until 1842 ; it was the first homeopathic periodical
published in the French language, and it exercised an
undoubted influence in promoting the extension of Homoeopathy, not only in
Switzerland, but throughout France.

Among the articles in this journal from Dr.

Peschier’s pen, his ” Letters on Homoeopathy,” addressed to Professors Forget, Louis, and Gerdy, deserve especial mention.

The

Bibliothèque was not a good pecuniary speculation ; in fact,
its publication was only abandoned on account of financial difficulties.
Dr. Peschier belonged more to the specific
school of homoeopathists than to the so-called Hahnemannists.

He was an indefatigable worker, he spoke most of the languages of

Europe, and at the age of sixty he set himself to study
Hebrew, in order to be able to read the Bible in the original. In addition to the medical
sciences, his attainments were considerable in literature, philosophy,
botany, astronomy, mathematics, and theology.

He was a great lover of the arts, and was very fond of the theatre,
thereby greatly offending his more rigid and puritanical friends. He was a
member of many scientific societies, and was elected honorary member by
almost all the homoeopathic societies of

Europe and America.

His benevolence of disposition was so great that he could not resist
the claims of others on his purse, the consequence of which was, that in
the last years of his life he actually was reduced to extreme poverty, and
was often unable to pay for his daily meals.

He died on the 31st of May last, and has left a name that will be
remembered with gratitude and affection, not only by those who enjoyed his
friendship, but also by all who are interested in the extension of
Homoeopathy.

Dr. H. V.

Malan, in a letter written in 1844, mentions Peschier
as a man distinguished by his talents and writings, who, since his
adoption of Homoeopathy, had published many books in its favor, and is
well known as the editor of the Bibliothèque Homoeopathique.

Dr. C. G.

Peschier, of Geneva, became interested in Homoeopathy in 1832. He attended a meeting of the Central Union at Leipzig, in August of that year, and afterwards visited Hahnemann at Coethen.

An account of the meeting of the society, and also of the visit to

Hahnemann, was furnished by him in two letters published
in the Bibliothèque
Homoeopathique, Vol. 1., 1833.
This is the first homoeopathic periodical published in the French language, and Dr. Peschier afterwards became its editor.

Dr.

Peschier was at Coethen about the middle of August, 1832, and remained there for some time, learning new medical
doctrine at the home and from the lips of its discoverer.

The

Allg. hom.
Zeitung contains the following :

Dr. Charles Gaspard

Peschier died in Geneva, his native city, on the 31st of May, 1853. He was born there on Friday, the 13th of March,
1782 ; he is said to have ascribed to
these dates, namely to Friday and to the 13th of March, the various
misfortunes of his life.

Having received his education in the institutions of

Geneva he went to Paris
to perfect himself in medicine. The celebrated Dubois even then considered him a perfect master of his art, and
in his examinations he, indeed, received the highest honors.

Having received his diploma on the 31st of August,

1809, he went back to his native city to practice as
physician. As early as 1804 he had written a treatise on croup,
which received great praise at the governmental competition for the
premium essay.

In

1812, with the consent of the Supreme
Chancellor of the University, he delivered a course of lectures concerning
medical studies at the school in Montpellier. He took a very active part in the Bibliothèque Britannique, a compilation which is highly valued.

Being dissatisfied with the results of venesection in inflammation of
the chest, he used

Tartar
emetic in large doses
in this disease, and published in 1822 in
the Journal des
Sciences et Arts de Genève a
letter to the editor concerning this treatment, in which he assured him
that he had used this method for inflammation of the chest for five years
and had not lost a single patient.

He stated that he had been led to this remedy because :

(I) It made the circulation more easy by cleansing the first
circulatory paths, and those freed the chest ;

(2) that by disturbing the digestion it diminished the amount of blood
prepared, and

(3) by the excitation of the whole organism it diminished the rush of
blood to the chest.

This material explanation, though the cure is effected without such
disturbances, is totally different from the physiological theory of

Rasori. his predecessor, yea, it is contrary to it ;
this explains his silence as to the inventor, as well as the generally
received name of the Peschierian Method,
though it does not excuse it, for Rasori
is really its author and his publication of the method was made as early
as 1794.

It may be said that

Peschier, so to say, smuggled in the use of
the tartar emetic into medicine, because he left
aside and unnoticed the whole radical revolution of a counter stimulant
and ignored it. Only in so far can he be considered its founder.

In the year

1809 he published a treatise on ” Children’s Diseases,” and in 1831 his ” Notices et Documents sur le Cholera.”

About this time his attention was directed to Homoeopathy by a noble

Russian, and as he was a master of the German language he studied it from the original
fountain, and he soon was completely convinced of its truth through the
cures of diseases considered incurable, effected by Count Des Guidi, in Lyon
and Geneva.

From this time he devoted all his strength to the new doctrine, and in

1832 he traveled to Coethen to gain an entirely accurate knowledge and to
make the acquaintance of Hahnemann, who gave him a most friendly reception.

He published his remarks about this journey and the reception given him
by physicians on account of his celebrity owing to

Tartar emetic while these same physicians
rejected the far greater merits of Hahnemann, deeply wounded his modesty.

At his return to

Geneva, he found several of his colleagues
already united in a homoeopathic society, and became the secretary of this
union. With the members of this society he published a monthly journal,
the Bibliothèque
Homoeopathique, which for ten years served to spread
a knowledge of Homoeopathy in France, England, Spain and Italy.

His literary labors are well known and used ; he especially sought to
spread a knowledge of the labors of the

German
homoeopaths, through translations and extracts. Besides this, during his
last years, after the death of his colleague Dufresne, all the work of the publication of the journal lay on
his shoulders. But he would have mastered these labors if financial
difficulties had not, in 1841,
disturbed the publication.

He looked closely to the purity of the homoeopathic teaching, and was
therefore frequently insulted by imprudent innovators. But he most
delighted in directing the sharpness of his criticism against the
opponents of Homoeopathy, and his letters to

Professors Forget, Louis and Gerdy remain unanswered.

His mathematical mind fought against the potencies, and in the last
years of his practice he more frequently used the mother tinctures than
the 4th and higher dilutions.

Charles

Peschier was gifted with a wonderful memory
and was remarkably industrious. He could speak most of the European
languages, and was resolute enough to undertake in his sixtieth year the
study of Hebrew in order to be able to read the Bible in the original, in which he succeeded. He had
knowledge in everything worthy of being known, in literature, botany,
anatomy, mathematics and even in theology.

During the last years of his life he would read his works concerning
the

Bible the society of his friends. He also
loved the arts : next to the intercourse with his friends the theatre was
his recreation, which caused sonic disfavor with his rigorous fellow
citizens.

He was regimental surgeon of the carabiniers of Aubonne : honored by
many foreign learned societies, for a long time secretary of the first
Gallic Society, corresponding^– member of the Royal Society of
Science and of the Arts in Nancy, of the Medical Academy of Bern, of the
Academy of Science, the Arts and des Lettres in Dijon, of the Society of
the Sciences and of Arts in Macon, of the Archeological Society in Athens.
of the Central Society of Homoeopathic Physicians, of the Homoeopathic
Society in Liege, of the Medical Society in Rio Janeiro, of the Medical
Homoeopathic College in Pennsylvania, of the Homoeopathic Society in
Turin, etc.

Although he was an original character, he had a fine feeling heart,
wholly devoted to his friends.

His inexhaustible benefactions caused him to lose his paternal fortune
in the latter end of his life, so that he lived almost in destitution.

” When a man in his seventieth year cannot every day pay for his
dinner, although he has worked all his life long,” so he wrote to

Croserio, “I see no refuge from this misery but
death, which I hope will not let me wait a long time.”

And even so it came to pass.

(From the Journal de Ia Société Gallicane.

Brit. Jour. Hom., vol. 2, p.327 ; vol. 12, p. 166.

Allgm. hom. Zeit., vol. 47, p. 55.

Everest’s Popular View of Homoeopathy. New York, 1842, p, 128.

Bradford’s Hahnemann, p 280.)

Numérisation,
vérification, mise en page,