This post contains the Biography of Dr. Samuel Hahnemann who is the founder/Father of the Homoeopathic system of medicine.
Before we go through the Theories and Aphorisms of Organon of medicine, we definitely need to know about a wonderful personality who built it.
Master Hahnemann introduced us with the Divine therapeutic science and art of curing people in a harmonic way.
In this post I have tried my best to picturise his life journey leading to the Discovery of homoeopathy.
So, let’s get started from the birth of him.
[Note: words with ( * ) are particularly defined at the end of this post].
• In the middle of the 18th century, there was a charming little town named Meissen situated on the bank of Elbe River (12 miles Northwest of Dresden city) in Saxony of Germany.
• Meissen had about 4000 residents of which many were expert artists, chemists & painters. This town was famous for decorating China glass with colours, gold & painted pictures.
2. THE ECK-HAUS
• On 6th April, 1753 a man named Christian Gottfried Hahnemann bought and set up his household goods within its walls.
• His house was known as Eck-Haus.
• He was a porcelain painter & worked in a porcelain factory.
3. THE BIRTH
- On the 10th April 1755, his wife Johanna Christiana gave birth to their third child (of 5 children) & eldest son.
- They named him as Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann.
4. EARLY DAYS OF CHILDHOOD
A) FATHER AS A PRECEPTOR
- Hahnemann’s father was a preceptor in his life & had a big influence on his character.
- He had the soundest ideas of “What may be considered good & worthy” and he implanted them deeply on his son’s mind as well.
B) THE THINKING LESSONS
- When Hahnemann was 5 years of age, his father had a habit of giving his son what he called as “Thinking lessons”.
- This childhood habit followed him throughout his lifetime.
5. LIFE AT THE SCHOOL
• On 20th July 1767 He was admitted to the town school where he spent many years.
• At the age of 16 years he moved to the Prince school of that town.
• Rector of that school, Master Muller was his teacher in ancient languages & German composition treated him very affectionately, like his own son. He trained him in many languages.
• Due to the poor financial family status his father forced young Hahnemann to leave the school & join at a nearby porcelain factory as a labourer.
• But he re-entered in the prince school with the help of fellow students & staff.
• In 1775 On the school leaving ceremony, Hahnemann presented a Latin oration called “The wonderful construction of human hand”.
6. LIFE AT LEIPZIG
• In the year 1775, at the age of 20 with just 20 thalers* in his pocket he entered Leipzig University for his medical studies.
• Here he managed his earning by teaching French & German as well as translating books from English.
• He became a master of almost a dozen languages like Greek, Latin, English, Italian, Arabic, German, Hebrew etc.
- During the days of his boyhood, Hahnemann had the habit of taking frequent walks over the hills of his native town, and he also formed an herbarium of the plants of his beloved Saxony.
- His favorite study was medical science.
7. LIFE AT VIENNA
• Early in 1777 he moved from Leipzig to Vienna as a medical student for further studies and joined the hospital, “Brothers of Mercy”.
• Here he became favourite pupil of Dr. Von Quarin who was a physician of royal court & allowed to accompany him to his private patients.
• He taught him many therapeutic hints.
• But after only 9 months he had to abandon his studentship.
8. LIFE AT HERMANSTADT
- In 1777 October he was appointed as a librarian & family physician by Von Brukenthel (Governor of Transylvania).
- Here he stayed for 19 months & learnt several languages & gave much time to philology*.
9. GRADUATION AT ERLANGEN
- In 1779 at the age of 24 years, he received his master degree from Erlangen University.
- He submitted thesis on 10th August 1779 which was published in 20 pages.
- The subject of thesis was “A Consideration of Aetiology & Therapeutics of Spasmodic Affection”.
10. RETURN TO SEXONY AFTER DEGREE
- In 1781 he started his first ever medical practice as a village doctor in a town named Hettastad in the country of Mansfield.
- But there was not much scope for practice at there, so he moved to new house at Dessau, a place 50km from Hettastad.
11. AT DESSAU
- Here he first turned his attention to chemistry.
- He started translating original medical works to Germany & started to learn chemistry.
- Here he regularly visited at the chemist shop of Herr Haseler, where he learnt practical pharmacy and chemistry.
- And here he also met his future wife (Haseler’s step-daughter).
12. LIFE AT GOMERN
A) THE MARRIAGE
- Gomern was a small town where our master was first physician who had ever been commenced the medical practice.
- In 1782 at the age of 27 years on the 17th of November he got married to Johanna Henrietta Leopoldine Kuchler (9 yrs. young).
- In 1784 they had their eldest child, Henrietta.
- In 1786 his 2nd child (son) Fredrick was born.
- They had 11 children during the years of 1783 AD – 1806 AD. (2 sons & 9 daughters.
B) FAMILY LIFE
- He often joked with his children, sang cradle songs to the young ones, composed little poetry for them, and used every opportunity to instruct them.
- Hahnemann was a great music lover with a pleasant singing voice.
C) FIRST ORIGINAL MEDICAL WORK
- In 1784 he published an original book on the treatment of Scrofulous sores.
- In 1785 he published a valuable translation of chemistry book of Demachy’s “ART OF DISTILLING LIQUOR” in two volumes (Demachy was one of the first chemist of that time).
- At that time, practicing hygienic habits were given little importance but he recommended,
-Exercise & open air.
-Benefits of climate change & seashore.
-The value of cold water as a remedial agent.
13. DISSATISFACTION WITH THE MODE OF PRACTICE
- They stayed at Gomern for two years and nine months.
- He was a sincere man and was greatly dissatisfied with indefinite medical knowledge and cruel methods of treatments of those days.
- He almost stopped his medical practice.
- He continued translating books to support his family.
- In 1789 in order to fulfil his needs of growing family he moved to Leipzig due to poverty and released his first volume of “FRIEND OF HEALTH”.
14. LETTER TO HUFELAND
- Hahnemann expressed his agony about wrong methods of treatment at that time to his friend Hufeland.
- He wrote him a letter which was published in “Lesser writing” under the title of “Letter to a physician of high standing on the great necessity of a regeneration in medicine”.
- Hahnemann called Hufeland as Nester of medicine.
15. THE YEARS OF WANDERING
- For next 20 years a strange curiosity urged him to move his growing family from town to town.
- They never stayed in one place for more than a few months or a year.
- From 1792-1804 for about 12 years, he lived in 14 different towns.
- Between 1777-1806 he translated 24 large textbooks & several articles into German.
Hahnemann used to sit at his desk writing until his fingers were sore.
- Even though these wandering years were restless and lonely to him as a medical person to, they were obviously a crucial period of his life.
- Because his views of the medical science were undergoing a revolution.
Translation work helped him to observe and analyse thoroughly in his own search for medical understanding.
16. DISCOVERY OF HOMOEOPATHY
- It was the time in 1790 Hahnemann was busy in translating Dr. William Cullen’s* “A TREATISE ON MATERIA MEDICA” from English to German.
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- In this book there were 20 pages allotted for curative effect of the Peruvian Bark (Cinchona Bark) for the intermittent fever.
- It was explained that the curative power of it was due to its bitterness in a small footnote to this chapter.
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- Hahnemann was not satisfied with this explanation so he wanted to experiment on it.
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- He took 4 drams of Cinchona Bark extract twice daily for several days and he observed malaria like symptoms including fever and spasms.
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- He repeated the same experiment on himself to confirm before coming to final conclusion.
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- He conducted similar experiments on his friends and other volunteers.
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- As he expected, all of them had the same symptoms like malaria fever.
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- Which led him to an old therapeutic saying “Similia Similibus Curentur” which means “Like Cures Like”.
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- Days after days he continued proving of other medicines on himself and others.
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- He collected histories of poisoning cases to prove physiological principles of remedies.
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- He used to send his children into the fields to collect Henbane*, Sumach*, Belladonna* etc.
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- Everyone in his family and friends joined him from Youngest to Oldest.
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- They gathered most accurate information on their observed effects.
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- In 1796, his “Essay on New Principle” which started from the work with Cinchona extended to general principle applicable on all drugs became the foundation for the complete system of medicine based on LAW OF SIMILARS.
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- He restarted practicing medicine.
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- But he never charged for medicines produced by himself.
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- Between 1790- 1805 Homeopathy was slowly coming to birth.
WHAT IS DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SIMILAR AND SIMILIMUM?
17. LIFE AT TORGAU
- In 1804 he finally settled in Torgau for whole 7 years.
- From 1804-1811 he commenced to write important essays one by one.
- At Torgau every inch of details of his new system of medicine were getting in shape.
- In 1805 he published “Fragmenta de Viribus*” in which details of 27 provings including Aconite, Belladonna, Drosera, Ignatia, Pulsatilla etc. were included.
- Then came “The Medicine of Experience” in 1805 which was the precursor of an Organon.
- Then followed by Organon in 1810 & Materia Medica in 1811.
- By the first decade of 19th century his wandering had ceased.
Hahnemann advocated three points very firmly.
First– Doctors should prepare his own medicines.
Second– Administration of small doses.
Third– He was a passionate rival of mixed doses with many ingredients at a same time.
18. RETURN TO LEIPZIG
- In 1812 he moved back to Leipzig with new confidence and chief intention of opposing the allopathic foundation.
- He obtained a teaching post as the faculty of university medical school.
- In starting, his lectures to students went well but soon due to his uncontrolled and bitter assaults on medical methods of that time students found him confused and discontinued to attend his lectures.
- Eventually his position in university became weak.
- He had to suffer ruthless attacks of mistreatment upon him and homeopathy by orthodox minds.
- Continuous opposition of the medical profession and government decree about self-dispensing of drugs made his life in Leipzig almost intolerable.
- By the end of 1820, he had to leave Leipzig.
19. LIFE AT COTHEN
A) CONTINUATION OF WORK
- He obtained an approval from the Duke for a position in Cothen and moved there in June 1821.
- This decree* also permitted him to do exactly what he had been refused in Leipzig.
TO PREPARE HIS OWN MEDICINE. - He lived in Cothen with his wife and daughters Charlotte and Louisa for 14 years (1821-1835).
- On the other hand, he continued to publish Essays & Books by updating his Organon and Materia Medica Pura.
- In 1828 his publication of “THE THEORY OF CHRONIC DISEASES” made revolutionary changes.
- He explained that causes of the chronic diseases are planted entirely upon 3 ancient dyscrasias (imbalance).
1) Skin diseases (psora)
2) Gonorrhoea (sycosis)
3) Syphilis. - This Miasm theory provoked a great controversy among his followers.
B) THE DEATH OF HIS WIFE
- For 48 years, she had been his faithful companion in his all wanderings, supporting him in his studies & always taken care for him and family.
- At the age of nearly 67 years, Hahnemann’s wife died on 31st March of 1830.
- She was ill with liver abscess that burst into the lungs.
C) THE SECOND MARRIAGE
- After the death of the wife, he had continued to live a very quietly in the house at Cothen, well taken care of by his daughters, devoting his time to his large practice and medical researches.
- On 8th Oct 1834, A young, attractive and well-connected French artist lady paid him a surprised visit in Cothen.
- Her name was MARIE MELANIE D’HERVILLY-GOHIER.
- She was 40 years younger than him, became his patient, then his homeopathic student and then his lover.
- So, on the 28th of January 1835 they got married in Cothen.
- Then they moved to Paris on 7th June 1835.
20. LIFE AT PARIS
A) THE LAST PRACTICING YEARS
- Hahnemann lived his final, blissful happy Eight years of his life at Paris.
- He established his medical practice with his young wife.
- Melanie never left his side.
- She mastered his casebooks, all the symptoms and most uncertain notes of Materia Medica Pura.
- She became a living collection of Homeopathy.
- Hahnemann established the smelling remedies and the LM potencies as central pillars of his practice in Paris.
- His last years were filled with experiments on Dosage, Potency and mode of administration of remedies.
- He made the last revision of the Fifth Organon in February 1842 (but it was never sent to a publisher)
B) THE LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH
- Around 15th of April 1843, he was attacked by the Bronchial catarrh.
- Memorable words by him in death bed with sincerity,
“GOD OWES ME NOTHING, BUT I OWE GOD MUCH, YEA ALL.”
- A chest affection liberated his spirit from his old weary body.
- He died in his 89th year of life, at his house in Rue de Milan, Paris at 5 o’clock on Sunday morning, 2nd July, after an illness of six weeks.
- His remaining are presently laid in madame Hahnemann’s family vault at Montmartre.
- The Epitaph* on his tomb- “NON INTUTILLIS VIXI” (I Have not lived in vain).
SUMMARY
Meissen was situated on the Elbe River bank.
Father’s Name- Christian Gottfried Hahnemann.
Mother’s Name- Johanna Christiana.
Name of the birth house- The Eck-Haus.
Full name- Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann.
Siblings- Total five, he was third and eldest son.
10th April 1755- Birth date.
20th July 1767- Got admitted to town school.
16 years of age- Moved to the Prince school.
1775- Presented a Latin Oration.
1775 at the age of 20- Got admitted in Leipzig university for Medical Studies.
1777- Moved from Leipzig to Vienna to join a hospital.
1779 at the age of 24 years- Got Master Degree from Erlangen University.
1781- First ever medical practice started at Hettastad.
17th Nov 1782 at the age of 27 years- Got Married.
Wife Name (First)- Johanna Henrietta Leopoldine Kuchler (9 yrs. young).
1783- Henrietta born
1784- An original medical book on treatment of Scrofulous sores.
1785- Demachi’s Art of Distilling Liquor.
1786- Frederick born
1788- Wilhelmina born
1789- Moved to Leipzig; First volume of Friend of Health.
1790- His mother dies; first proving with Cinchona.
1791- Caroline born.
1795- Frederika born.
1796- Essay on New Principles.
1798- Ernst born.
1803- Eleonore born.
1804- Settled in Torgau for 7 years.
1805- Charlotte born; Fragmenta De Viribus; Medicine of Experience.
1806- Louisa born.
1812 – Moved back to Leipzig
1820- Loses legal battle in Leipzig to dispense his own drugs.
1821 to 1835- Moved to Cothen & stayed there for 14 years.
1828- The theory of chronic disease.
1830 30th March – Johanna dies in Cothen.
1834 8th October – Melanie arrives in Coethn
1835 18th January – 2nd marriage.
Name of second wife- MARIE MELANIE D’HERVILLY-GOHIER.
1835 7th June– Leaves Coethen for Paris.
2nd July of 1843– He Died at the age of 89 years.
REFERENCE TERMINOLOGIES
Philology – A branch of knowledge that deals with the structure, historical development, and relationships of a language.
Thalers– The thaler was a large silver coin first made in the year 1518 used throughout the Europe for 400 years. The Thal means valley in German, and the thaler named after the Joachimsthal (Joachim’s valley) The dollar is named after the thaler.
Belladonna/ Deadly nightshade– Flowering plant of Solanaceae family which includes potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants etc.
Henbane– A poisonous Eurasian plant also known as Hyoscyamus niger.
Sumach– A small tree with compound leaves, green flowers in clusters and red hairy fruits.
Dr. William Cullen– He was an authority on allopathic materia medica of Hahnemann’s time, he was an experienced lecturer, a talented chemist and brilliant popular teacher in Edinburgh.
Fragmenta de Viribus – 1805, “Fragmenta de Viribus Medicamentorum Positivis”, published in Latin in two volumes. Contained details on experiments of 27 remedies from the years of proving on himself, family and friends.
Decree– An official command by force of law.
Epitaph– A brief statement at a tomb or a grave in memory of the one buried there.
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