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Born
in Meissen, Saxony, April 10, 1755. Hahnemann grew up
during an era of tremendous upheaval and rebirth in
Europe which was centered in Germany with the
"Enlightenment" movement, which encouraged freedom of
thought and opinion. He was born into a poor family and
was taught early by his father never to learn passively
but to question everything. Hahnemann later developed
his thirst for knowledge into a profoundly deep-reaching
gift. He virtually read all medical books previously
published, in nine languages.
Dr.Hahnemann became
a Medical Doctor in 1791 and practiced conventional
medicine for nine years until he discovered, quite by
accident, that by his ingesting repeated doses of
Chinchona bark (to test Cullens theory on the
effectiveness of China in treating Malaria) he would
develop the symptoms of malaria, which the bark was used
to treat. Thus the first homeopathic proving, and the
discovery of the first law of homeopathy: Similia
similibus curentur, or "like cures like". Hahnemann
named this newfound therapy "Homeo" (similar) "pathy"
(suffering). He began conducting provings with many of
the medicines used in allopathy but his methods were met
with disbelief and ridicule by his contemporaries.
Although his patients were experiencing profound
cures which solidly verified his theories, Hahnemann was
marked as an outcast because his method of single and
minimum dosage was threatening the financial foundation
of the powerful apothecaries. Hahnemann focused on
reducing the dose to the point where there were no side
effects but he was unsatisfied because this step further
rendered the dose insufficient in strength to act. He
experimented with a new method whereby after each
dilution he would shake the substance vigorously. This
he called "succussion" thus developing the energetic
aspect of homeopathy. It is unknown how Hahnemann
reasoned this (still scientifically unexplainable)
method of "potentization".
In 1810, Hahnemann published the first of six
editions of The Organon which clearly defined his
homeopathic philosophy. In the same year, 80,000 men
were killed when Napoleon attacked Liepzig. Hahnemann's
homeopathic treatment of the survivors, and also of the
victims of the great typhus epidemic that followed the
siege, was highly successful and further spread his, and
homeopathy's, reputation. Hahnemann taught at the
Liepzig University where his lectures would often shift
into sharp tongued diatribes against the dangerous
practices of conventional medicine, thus nicknamed
"Raging Hurricane" by his students. By 1821 Hahnemann
had proven sixty-six remedies and published his Materia
Medica Pura in six volumes. In 1831, Cholera swept
through Central Europe. Hahnemann published papers on
the homeopathic treatment of the disease and instigated
the first widespread usage of homeopathy which had a 96%
cure rate as compared to allopathy's 41% rate.
In 1834 Hahnemann met the avant-garde Parisian,
Mademoiselle Marie Melanie d'Hervilly. They were married
(his second marriage, her first) within six months, and
settled in Paris. In spite of the fact he was more than
twice her age, they remained very intimate, she working
by his side in his active practice until July 2, 1843
when Hahnemann died, in Paris, at the age of
eighty-eight. This picture was painted by Melanie when
Hahnemann was 83.
(Photo: The original painting
is hanging at the Bosch Institute in Stuttgart)
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