The History of Homeopathy
Homeopathy emerged in Germany/Austria towards the end of the 18th century,
and early 19th century as a result of work by Samuel Christian Friedrich
Hahnemann, of Meissen, Saxony (1755 - 1843).
Now known as the 'Father of Homeopathy', Samuel
Hahnemann believed that the highest purpose of medicine was "to restore
health rapidly; gently; permanently; to remove and destroy the whole disease
in the shortest, surest, least harmful way". However, as is true
of many revolutionary thinkers, he encountered much opposition from the
establishment of the day.
Early Work undertaken by Hahemann
Hanhemann's principles of homeopathy were developed at a time (early
1800s) when many areas of human activity were in states of upheaval and
reorganisation. Nevertheless, many of the issues he encountered, such
as hostility from the medical establishment and remedy-providers of the
day may be familiar to practitioners of alternative medicine in the early
2000s.
Hahnemann's childhood was a story of poverty and continual efforts to
gain an education and thereby develop his considerable academic abilities.
He mastered many languages in addition to his native German, these included
Latin, French, English, Italian, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic. In 1775 Hahnemann went to study medicine, first in Leipzig and later in
Vienna, eventually receiving his medical degree from Erlangen in 1779.
He then practised medicine in addition to continuing to study a range
of scientific subjects including chemistry. He also continued his work
as a technical translator, an occupation that brought him into contact
with the latest scientific concepts of his time, also gained a reputation
as a scientist and scholar in his own right.
Hahnmann wrote and published open criticisms of the conventional medical
practices of his day. Examples of these include blood-letting (draining
large amounts of blood using various techniques), burning the skin to
release pus (infection being drawn out of the body), and administering
large doses of drugs to induce vomiting, evacuate the bowels, and so on.
Hahnmann believed that these technqiues weakened the body's capacity to
heal itself, and were dangerous. As a result of his views he withdrew
from practising conventional medicine as his full-time occupation, preferring
instead to earn his living predominately from his translation activities.
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1790
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Hahnemann translated William Cullen's "Treatise of the Materia
Medica". This inspired him to question some of the analysis
and research it himself by ingesting the drug 'cinchona (Peruvian
Bark) himself.
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1796
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Hahnemann's "Essay on a New Principle for Asceraining the
Curative Powers of Drugs, with a Few Glances at Those Hitherto Employed"
introduced two key principles on which homeopathy would later rest:
* The curative power of a remedy being associated with it's similarity
to he disease it causes.
* Trials may be conducted by giving the remedy to healthy people
and observing the symptoms that result - the same substance may
then be used to cure such symptoms in sick people.
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1796
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Hahnemann practices medicine based on his 'Law of Similars'.
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1805
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Hahnemann published a small volume of trials (called 'provings'
based on the German word) of 27 medicines he had tested on himself.
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1810
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Hahnemann published First Edition of the "Organon of Rational
Healing", later re-released entitled "Organon of the Healing
Art". This stated the principles of homeopathy, and also Hahnemann's
objections to the orthodox medicine of the day.
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1812
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Hahnemann moved to a position as a Univerisity Lecturer in Leipzig
and began to develop a group of scholars/followers interested in
his approach. They met at his home and carried out trials under
his supervision.
Hahnemann's "Materia Medica Pura" was published in 6 volumes,
detailing the trials that had been carried out to date using Hahnmann's
techniques.
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1821
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Hahnemann, under pressure from both the Medical Establishment in
Leipzig - and also the dispensing chemists (pharmacys) who objected
to his preparing and supplying remedies, moved to Anhalt Koethen
to take up a position as personal physician to Duke Ferdinand. There
he was permitted to prepare his own remedies and continued his practice
for the next 14 years.
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1828
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Hahnmann published another controversial text, entitled "Chronic
Diseases".
Shortly afterwards Hahnemann's wife Henriette died. Homeopathy continued
to be used with great successes, especially during an epidemic of
Asiatic cholera in Europe during 1831-2.
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1843
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Having remarried Melanie d'Hervilly in the mid-1830s, Hahnmann
moved with her to Paris and enjoyed a thriving practice until his
death in 1843, at the age of 88.
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The Spread of Homeopathy beyond Central Europe
Short descriptions of the progress of homeopathy in specific places including the British Isles and the United States of America follow below.
History of Homeopathy in the British
Isles
Dr F.H.F. Quin brings Homeopathy to Britain
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1830s-40s
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Dr F.H.F. Quin (1799-1878)
brought Homeopathy to Britain during the 1830's. This occurred because
after receiving his M.D. from Edinburgh University in 1820, Dr.
Quin had become a family physician to a member of the English aristocracy
and in the course of this employment he travelled extensively in
mainland Europe. While abroad he met Hahnemann and spent much time
among Hahnemann's closest associates during the 1830s and 1840s.
On Hanhemanns's death Quin was appointed Honorary President of the
Gallic Homeopathic Society, a post he held until his death.
Back in England, Quin introduced homeopathy to the highest levels
of society, resulting in generous clients among the Dukes, Counts,
Lords, minor Royals and Baronets. This British aristocratic
patronage of homeopathy in the UK extended well into the 1940s
and beyond.
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Homeopathy practised by Medical Professionals
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1840s-50s
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Quin concentrated exclusively on introducing homeopathy amongst
medically qualified doctors and their predominantly upper-class
clientele. He established the British Homeopathic Society (B.H.S.)
in 1843, a London hospital in 1850, and the British Journal of Homeopathy
(B.J.H.) in 1844. (The B.H.S. became the Faculty of Homeopathy in
1944, while the B.J.H. became the B.H.J. in 1911.) The Faculty is
the training and controlling body of medical homeopathy in the UK
and also trains many homeopaths from abroad.
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late C19th
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However, due to the domination of British homeopathy by medically
qualified practitioners who served a predominately Aristocratic
clientele, homeopathy failed to become established among the lower-
and working- classes of the day. Initially this situation was beneficial
to the development of homeopathy, but it became disadvantageous
from the 1880s onwards.
Largely due to the class distinction, homeopathy tended to thrive
mostly in the fashionable towns of the era, (such as Buxton, Leamington,
Harrogate, Bath) and also the wealthy coastal resorts (e.g. Eastbourne,
Brighton, Bognor Regis) and in London and Southern England in particular.
However, there were three exceptions to this pattern - those being
Glasgow, Bristol and Liverpool - all of which had large, thriving
homeopathic hospitals.
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Homeopathy for the lay-person
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late C19th
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As the influence of the English Aristocracy went into decline so
too did homeopathy in Britain (this is especially true of England, at times it fared better in the Glasgow area of Southern Scotland).
Consequently, a few homeopathic doctors (such as Dr.
J.H.Clarke), concerned for the future of homeopathy,
broke away from the British Homeopathic Society and started writing
books and teaching the principles of homeopathy to lay-persons.
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early-mid C20th
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Of Dr Clarke's lay-students, J Ellis Barker
(1869-1948) and Noel Puddephatt
(1899-c1971), became practitioners who went on to become influential
teachers of homeopathy themselves. In this way, a new system of
lay homeopathy was established in Britain. Hence, although the number
of homeopathic medical doctors went into decline and then stagnation,
the lay homeopathic movement became extremely popular during the
1920s and 30s.
Nevertheless, within the confines of the conventional medical system
in the UK interest in homeopathy remained low, as did the number
of medical doctors training in this field. This situation continued
up until the late 1970s. During this time there was much criticism
of the British Homeopathic Association (which had been revived in
1902) for failing to promote the benefits of homeopathy to the general
public.
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late C20th
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In 1978 a group of lay practitioners established their own Society
of Homeopaths, a Register, College (The London College of Homeopathy),
Journal (The Homeopath) and Code of Ethics, inadvertently imitating
the medical professionalisation process of the 1850s. This resulted
in the rapid expansion of homeopathy in the UK, more Colleges becoming
established during the 1980s and 1990s. The success of this is such
that the lay movement within homeopathy is now a semi-legitimised
profession with its own mode of registration, unified teaching syllabuses,
training procedures and self-regulation - on the brink of full legal
recognition.
There are therefore two strands of the modern homeopathic movement
in the UK. They are the medically qualified, and the lay practitioners.
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History of Homeopathy in the United States
Homeopathy arrives in the United States
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1825
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Dr. Hans Burch Gram (of Dutch
background, who had studied medicine in Copenhagen where he had
concentrated on homeopathy) returned to the United States and established
the first homeopathic practice in the U.S. in New York.
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1828
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While resident in Pennsylvania Swiss-German medical doctor Dr.
Henry Detwiller converted to the 'New School' of homeopathy
after studying it for some years. Shortly afterwards Constance
Hering also settled in Pennsylvania and, through the
efforts of these two German speaking practitioners, use of homeopathy
increased among the german-speaking immigrant population in that
area.
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Homeopathic Training Colleges established in the United States
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1835
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Detwiller and Hering establish the first homeopathic college in
America, located in Allentown, Pennsylvania. (However, all tuition
was in German and the school was forced to close in 1841.)
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1844
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The American Institute of Homeopathy was formed, becoming the first
national medical organisation in the United States. However, in
order to maintain high standards, this institute restricted admission
to persons who had completed full allopathic medical training.
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1848
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Hering founded the Homeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania
in Philadelphia, which was to remain the centre of homeopathic education
in the United States.
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The Lay (non-Medical) Homeopathic Movement in the United States
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Early-mid C19th
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Apart from Homeopathy, two challengers to the orthodox medicine
of the day had been steadily increasing in popularity in the United
States. They were the Thomsonian System of herbal remedies and the
traditional herbalists (the medically-qualified of whom were known
as 'botanical practitioners'). In 1845 these two groups joined forces
to form the Eclectic Medical Institute. As they had a following
of 15-20% of the population, orthodox physicians were concerned
by this movement. Similarly, homeopathy gained in popularity across
all social classes, causing further concern to the practitioners
of allopathic medicine who losing clientele as a result.
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Reactions to Homeopathy from the Allopathic Medical Community
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1846
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The American Medical Association (AMA) was founded. It quickly
launched a publicity campaign to discredit other (than allopathic),
i.e. alternative forms of medicine and, in 1847, banned its members
from consulting with homeopaths. Consequently, communication between
allopaths and homeopaths in the United States ceased for the remainder
of the C19th. This prevented, for example, homeopaths referring
their patients to allopaths in cases where the patient required
surgery - obviously to the detriment of both the health of the patient
and the commercial interests of the allopathic practitioner !
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The Development of the Homeopathy Movement
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Mid-late C19th
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In contrast to the policy of the AMA at that time, homeopathic
practitioners included women and all ethic groups, therefore homeopaths
also became associated with the causes of race and gender equality.
Homeopathy enjoyed a period of respect and credibility at all levels
of society and government and was supported by a network of hospitals
and institutions, even insurance companies recognizing the benefits
of homeopathy.
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1880
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Divisions between the homeopathic community became so extreme that
the International Hahnemannian Association was established, it's
members leaving the American Institute of Homeopathy to publicly
align themselves with the purist view that Hahnemann's principles
should be strictly (rather than liberally) applied.
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To be continued ... |
For further general information about the History of Homeopathy see
Chapter 8 of "The Complete Book of Homeopathy", by Micheal Weiner & Kathleen Goss, Avery Publishing Group, New York, 1989.
Back to the main Homeopathy page.
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