Supplement 21
HISTORY OF THE PERIOD PRECEDING THE GEORGENTHAL MENTAL HOME
IN the "Anzeiger," a daily paper "for the use of the Law administrators, constabulary and all Civic professions, as also for the free and mutual entertainment of the reader on all kinds of useful subjects," of March 8th, 1792, appeared an appeal signed by R.Z.Becker, editor of the paper, which read as follows:
Proposal for a much needed relief Institution for Mental Patients of the better classes.
Very often a person who is most useful to the world and to his family, and who is frequently indispensable, or otherwise important as regards position, means, feeling or intelligence, sinks through some trifling cause into an animal-like dullness of mind. He clings to some disjointed and fixed ideas, or his spirit shrouds itself in an impenetrable veil of brooding and melancholy. Moral as well as physical conditions combine ultimately to destroy the nervous system, Seeing that confusion of the intellect is one of the most distressing of all human afflictions, it is deplorable that little or no care is taken in Germany of this pitiable class of humanity.
The Asylums, usually run in connection with prisons and workhouses, are generally conducted in such a way that miserable beings are insufficiently fed. They are merely kept in close confinement in order to prevent them from doing harm to one another, and nothing more. Usually their malady is increased,and they become incurable by accessory circumstances, or by the rough and injudicious treatment of the attendants. There is usually only one doctor in charge of such an institution, although twenty would be required for the ultimate purpose of curing this large number of unfortunate inmates.
Often a physician in such a position has neither the courage nor sufficient knowledge for this special branch of work. He very soon wearies under the burden of his occupation and decides (as almost always happens)not to overwork himself- that is, he learns to regard callously the dozens or hundreds of these patients and to do nothing for them in the actual sense of the word.
These noblest of all creatures, destined for the exalted use of Reason, are here treated as wild beasts from Africa intended for exhibition would not be treated. Or they are kept like inanimate objects for three, four, ten, thirty or more years for the not altogether humane object of sooner or later giving them over to corruption in a silent grave- without contributing to the alleviation of the disease, without restoring them to the usefulness for which in their former days they had been so deserving of honour; they are kept, I say, with an indolence which does not credit to our century. This is inflicted upon the middle and lower classes of the population. "They must rest content with the existing institutions," says the heartless onlooker.
What will the distinguished relatives do with such unfortunate beings What is the husband to do, who has become more sensitive through his improved position and better circumstances, or the mother, with her sons who have occupied posts of honour, when they fall into this distressing condition The most sincere sympathy, tears, honest sorrow, the sacrifice of large sums of money avail nothing. Nothing can call back, in most cases, the health and reason of their beloved ones. Their inhuman speech, their foolish acts, repulse those who come near them and make these pitiable and helpless creatures a disgrace to the family. What is the family physician to do One cannot expect him to have an extensive knowledge of this branch of medicine. He tries some known remedies, abandons them and replaces them with others, then he begins a long course of treatment which often fails to have the desired effect. In the end he wearies of the case, and advises the distinguished relatives to give the patient up and have him removed to an institution , But where Perhaps to incarcerate the patient for ever in one of those asylums, to be herded with the disgraceful collection of criminals, unfortunates and sick of all kinds: there, the tumult of the insane, partially insane and maniacs of all degrees and classes, appeals any honest family. Should this be the fate of a family of exalted position -- father, mother, husband or wife --- without their seeing before them the faintest ray of hope that the health and reason of their beloved will be restored on this side of the grave
Is this treatment to be meted out to people in a good position from wealthy homes I need not add more, I think, in order to make you feel how desirable it would be to have a decent home for this class of patient. I am glad to be able to announce that a preposition in this spirit has been made by a physician who is both scientific and practical, and who is wellknown to me and to the scientific world. He is taking steps to establish an institution which will accommodate about four better class mental patients. He will devote all his time to them, and they will be under his supervision both day and night. They will neither be beaten nor confined in chains, and no harsh treatment will be used in order to bring them back to reason. Everything that the deep and mature thought of the doctor can devise will be tried in order to restore body and soul to health again, such as gentle persuasion as well as the best medical treatment.
It seems desirable that, out of consideration for the family, patient who may regain their health in such a desirable institution should remain incognito. For the same reason, the name of this humane physician and the locality in which the institution is situated should remain unknown to the general public. To those people who require to make use of this hospital for some unfortunate patient, the name will be given at once, as well as detailed information of the inner working of the institution,together with the conditions for admission. They should address their enquiry in the first place to the office of the "Deutsche Zeitung" in Gotha, and the necessary information will at once be forwarded.
R.Z.BECKER Gotha, February 6th, 1792.
Councilor Becker of Gotha was Editor and owner of the "Reichsanzeiger" in Gotha, at the end of 1791 or the beginning of 1792. At first the paper was named "Der Anzeiger", but later the paper was used by physicians for dissertations, discussions and advertisements. From the year 1806 and onwards the paper appeared under the name "Der Allegemeine Anzeiger der Deutsche."
Hahnemann and Councilor Becker were very close friends, as we shall see later. In a letter from Konigslutter, dated November 15th, 1798,. Hahnemann openly requests his friend and patron to append his own valued signature to an article or appeal ,since by that means he, Hahnemann, anticipated a greater amount of success. One may therefore accept with confidence that the foregoing appeal emanated from Hahnemann judging from the style and mode of expression. Through the appeal the attention of Duke Ernst von Gotha was drawn to this subject. The Duke.
SECOND PERIOD OF TRAVELS
Wished at the same time to serve a higher cause apart from the personal help that he could give to Hahnemann and Klockenbring, for he too, like Hahnemann, was a freemason.
In Number 34 of his " Anzeiger" (August 11th, 1792), Becker was able to write :
To friends of sufferers.
The Nursing home for mental patients of the better classes, of which the preliminary announcement was made to the public ( in No. 58,page 78, Vol. 1 of the "Anzeiger"), has now open for some time. A true father of his people found this proposition for the alleviation of human suffering desirable, that he gave up one on his country houses and had it furnished for that purpose. In this home everything was prepared to ensure the safety and kind treatment of these most unfortunate of all patients, as well as all that the art of healing could devise in order to restore them to health. The first experiment which has already been made gives hopes of happy results.
The locality where this home has come into existence through the generous help of the Sovereign, is Georgenthal, an important village with a law-court and an office for forestry. It is situated in one of the most beautiful parts of the principality of Gotha at the foot of the Thuringerwald, three hours'journey from the capital, Gotha. The man who has taken charge if it, is the well-known physician Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, to whom relatives and friends of those in need of help can write directly for more detailed information.
D.H.
PSYCHIATRY AT THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
Professor Emil Krapel says in his publication "One Hundred Years of Psychiatry, a contribution to the history of human civilisation" (Berlin, published by Julius Springer, 1918 ) a work which in spite of its excellence unfortunately does not mention Hahnemann's merits as a pioneer in this field :
The actual care of the patients was almost everywhere in the hands of " Inspectors general" or managers of asylums, whilst physicians were only consulted for bodily ailments. Only in the chief centres of science were to be found some prominent men who made it their life's work to investigate mental diseases. There were also occasionally in hospitals and infirmaries physicians who had acquired a certain knowledge of the sufferings of mental patients from many years of observation. They lacked, however, any real professional education in that branch, and they carried on mental work as a kind of secondary duty. There can therefore be very little question of any scientific handling of this subject. Above all, their position was often an unworthy one and they had but slight influence upon the fate of the patients. Did not Professor Autenrieth in Tubingen (about 1800), in his lectures on disorders of the mind, give his audience the emphatic advice not to occupy themselves for too long a time with the treatment of mental patients " because of the danger of becoming mentally afflicted or insane " The result of this teaching was a terrible treatment of the insane.
" We lock up these unhappy being like criminals in cells !" exclaims Reil in 1803. " In antiquated prisons side with the haunts of the owl, in desolate caves, over the entrances of a city, or in the damp cellars of prison houses where the sympathetic eye of the philanthropist never penetrates. We leave them there in chains to decay in their own filth."
The rule of the chain was accompanied by that of the whip. Muller tells us that the attendants of both sexes, in the Julius Hospital in Wurzburg, were well provided with various instruments for coercion and punishment, among them chains, hand-cuffs and fetters. In addition they had strong strips of ox hide covered with leather, and they made good use of them when a patient soiled himself, complained, scolded, or became violent. " To chastise was the order of the day."
Pinel, a French physician , tells us that in 1784 out of 100 patients admitted, fifty-seven died, and 1788 out of 151 even ninety-eight died : in later years a third or a fourth of those admitted died.
The Duke Larochefoucauld-Lianfourt, who reported on lunatic asylums to a Constitutional Assembly of the French Republic, declared :
That insanity was regarded as incurable ; the insane receive no treatment of any kind. Those that were considered dangerous were chained up like wild animals.
" That the evil is assumed to be incurable is a prejudice which is injurious to humanity, and this assumption is probably the deplorable reason why all hope for the insane is abandoned, " says Pinel.
Supplement 22
HAHNEMANN IN GEORGENTHAL.
Hahnemann wrote, on May 6th, 1792 : Gotha, May 6th, 1792.
Our Duke will shortly hand over to me his hunting castle in Georgenthal (two hours distant from Gotha) and have it furnished. There I shall be able to found a small institute for the cure of wealthy insane and melancholic patients. Within a few weeks the necessary arrangements for their safety will be completed and my patients, who are already chosen, can be admitted. As soon as all this is arranged, we will consider together how we shall make it known to the public.
This little letter was probably addressed by Hahnemann to Councillor Becker in Gotha, and that on account of future Publications which Hahnemann subsequently considered necessary, according to the closing sentences in the above letter. This is also perhaps the first intimation which Hahnemann gives to his friend of the success following the article published in Becker's paper.
Apparently one of the first letters from Georgenthal to his friend Councillor Becker in Gotha, reads as follows : Dear friend,
The case of the Princess and her letter is a curious joke. I have written to Winz and reduced 3./5, as I think with good grace, nearly as you meant me to do. I can well see that in Germany they are unable to appreciate the efforts to cure an insane person. Rath. F. from Hildburghausen, too, has excused himself in the grounds of expense. I asked for 40 thaler a month and 500 after the cure was completed. Schmid from Frankfort also seems to have been afraid of 50 thaler a month and 1,000 at the end of the cure, and therefore he has not answered. Now can anyone expect a physician to risk his reputation should he be unable to cure these patients How can anyone expect him to face the danger which is always present with mental cases, or expect that the careful active and passive precautions necessary for the safe-keeping of such as are devoid of reason, or that the time spent, the expensive upkeep of the nurses, the selection of the medicine, etc., should all be undertaken for a trifling sumwithout even thinking of the gloominess of such work Does one not wish, for one's own sake, to remunerate the diver more liberally than the man who walks down a few steps in safety
Besides, it is much more expensive to cater for a fairly important establishment in the country than in Gotha. I ought really to have a daily messenger-boy at my disposal, as almost all our needs (meat, vegetables, cereals and clothing) have to come from Gotha. Indeed, I should not like to undertake so much for very small stipend. Therefore I share your opinion that I am justified in asking my rightful fees.
Do come and see me soon. We are at present in great disorder on account of building alterations, but I am quite able to spend a few hours with a good friend and especially with you.
Publish this onslaught from Wien, in God's name, in your "Anzeiger," and, if I may ask it of you, print my reply immediately below.
Adieu, faithful friend, D.H.
Supplement 23
HAHNEMANN'S CURE OF KLOCKENBRING IN GEORGENTHAL.
(" Nekrolog" from the year 1795, containing records from the lives of remarkable Germans who died that year, by Friedrich Schlichtegroll, Year 6, Vol. I, pages 124-247. Gotha, Justus Perthes, 1797.)
Schlichtegroll tells us in his " Nekrolog" that Geh. Kanzleisekretar Klockenbring, of Hanover, born in 1742, who was know as an author, was as learned as he was irritable. His wellbeing was largely dependent upon the opinion the world expressed of him. His mind had become unhinged (in1790) through an infamous pamphlet of the poet, August Kotzebue. In this essay, which was published under the name of Knigges " Doktor Bahrdt with the iron brow" Klockenbring was attacked in the meanest way for no apparent reason.
This upset his health to such an extent he became insane, with attacks of raving. Schlichtegroll continues here verbatim :
During this time, the meritorious family physician Wichmann, in Hanover, was, conjointly with others, uninterruptedly striving to cure the patient trying II the known means of medical science. Alas ! In vain ! Even though it seemed there was at times a clear interval, the fury of the illness was soon doubled.
About this time, the famous Dr. Hahnemann, then residing in Gotha, made known through the "Reichsanzeiger" that he intended all his time and all his capabilities to patients with diseases of the mind, and that he had already seen happy results from his method of treatment. As the treatment had to be concentrated chiefly on the mind, and therefore required much time, he only took very few patients at a time for treatment.
After many enquiries, there was only one opinion regarding Hahnemann's skill as a physician, therefore nothing could be more desirable than that such an intelligent man should offer himself for such sad work. There was an interchange of letters on the subject, and Hahnemann declared himself ready to take the patient under his care. Madame Klockenbring came herself to Gotha to discuss more detailed conditions with him. Hahnemann had given the public the news of his projected institute in order to see if it would find any response, and until then had made no definite arrangements regarding the locality for the institution. A dilemma now arose for both parties, as an urgent case awaited admission in the person of this distinguished patient. The well-known kindness of the reigning Duke of Gotha came to the rescue. He gave up, for this purpose to Dr. Hahnemann, one wing of his hunting-castle in Georgenthal, three hours from Gotha, and also helped him in many ways to furnish it. In June, 1792, Klockenbring was brought to Georgenthal under a suitable escort and placed under the care of Hahnemann. This learned Physician has told us in. an article of his own (" Notes describing Klockenbring during his dementia," I.s Deutsche Monatschift, February, 1796) something if the extraordinary psychological VOL. 2-4
conditions of this patient, and how the force of the illness gradually subsided. We will only give selections from the most striking parts relating to mental science, especially such as give the reader an idea of the gifted and comprehensive mind now distorted by the violence of the disease, but which , disordered as it was, yet aroused admiration.
Hahnemann devoted the first week to observation only, without giving any medical treatment to his patient. The latter spent day and night having a series of attacks ; at one minute he spoke as a judge and delivered sentence ; at another, he would recite as Agamemnon, or as Hector in the actual words of the Iliad, sung in the middle of a stanza of Pergolese's Stabat Mater ; or he quoted passages from the Old Testament in the original Hebrew, or sought for an old Greek melody to a song of Anacreon or the Anthology ; and again changed over to passages from Milton's "paradise Lost " or Dante's "Inferno" ; and from these again he would turn to algebraic formula. Nothing was ever quite completed, but the new idea displaced the former with violet haste.
" The marvellous part," says Dr. Hahnemann, "was the correctness of expression of all that his memory recalled from writings in many languages, especially of all that he had acquired in his youth." This mixture bears testimony to his extraordinary and manifold knowledge, but perhaps also to his eager desire to be brought into prominence by it, as he did when he boasted of his intimate acquaintance with distinguished personages ; he was not free from this characteristic in his normal state. He smashed everything that came to hand at that period, even his piano, and this he put together again in a peculiar manner in order, as he said, to find a complementary note, the Proslambanomenon. This man, who ordinarily knew nothing of bodily ailments, once wrote out for himself a prescription to be immediately dispensed, the rare ingredients of Which, according to Hahnemann's deposition, were so well chosen and arranged, and so correctly calculated for the treatment of maniac of his type, that it could easily have been accepted as the work of learned physician ; had it not been that the absurd signature and directions for administering it were proof of a disordered mind. By what means did the spirit in the midst of the fog of a storm-tossed imagination, without chart or rudder, find its way to so excellent a remedy for insanity, and one unknown to many a doctor, seeing that he had no books in his possession How did he manage to prescribe it for himself in the most appropriate form and dose Almost as astonishing was the fact that during the worst period of his mental disorder, on being questioned, he would not only know the date ( this perhaps was comprehensible, although he had no calendar ) but also the correct hour by day or night with great exactitude. As he began to improve, this power of divination became more uncertain and unreliable until with the complete return of his reason he knew neither more nor less about less it than an ordinary person. When he was completely cured, I pressed him once in a friendly way to solve this riddle for me, or at least to describe the sensation that had prompted him. " My whole body shudders," he replied, " and something cold runs over me when I try to think of it ; I pray you not to remind me of this thing."
At the beginning of his recovery he had a ravenous appetite (ten pounds of bread a day besides other food did not satisfy him) ; at the same time he showed a tendency to deceive and offend everybody, and yet when well again he ate moderately and behaved courteously to everyone-these are symptoms previously observed in similar patients.
The patient arrived in Georgenthal in June, and already in August, Hahnemann gave hopes of his recovery. Klockenbring's wife, who was ready to make any sacrifice, offered to spend the winter in Georgenthal in order to entertain him during his lucid intervals. The physician would not consent to this, and wrote her in November that only in complete solitude would he be able to lead the patient's mind into the right path, and that she must quietly await the time which he would appoint for her to come.
In February, 1793, the physician wrote to her that Klockenbring was completely restored, and that she could come in a few weeks time to fetch him. Klockenbring was now quite normal, and he gave the best proof of it by translating from the English, Arthur Young's book, " State Economy in Great Britain," with the addition of annotations ; this was printed just as it came from his pen. He also published in the " Reichsanzeiger" a comparison of the density of population, amount of taxation and of England and France.
Klockenbring travelled to Hanover ( March or April, 1793 ) to resume the possession of his offices and his official position. He was acknowledged as cured, and his physician received, apart from the cost of his keep, the thousand thalers stipulated for his cure.
Klockenbring's power of mind seemed to have lost nothing, and he awaited nothing more ardently than to be reinstated in his previous position and activities.
This desire was not fulfilled ; he received a pension instead and the Directorship of the Hanoverian State Lottery. This disappointment rankled in his mind and depressed him. Later it was reported:
" His feelings of misery culminated in a long and painful illness. Haemorrhoidal troubles, which were growing worse and more trying, ended in inflammation and gangrene, and it was only owing to the great care of the physicians and surgeons that he was able to endure the attacks of pain. He often believed during this illness that death was near and longingly awaited it.
Klockenbring completely recovered and the returning vigour of his body seemed to promise a long lease of life.
All the same, he sank after this illness ( two years after he had been discharged from Hahnemann's treatment-R.H.) into a state of complete apathy, and lost interest in everything ; only very rarely could he be awakened from this slumber of the soul, and when it happened such vehemence would manifest itself as made it obvious that the whole condition was one of violence, and great care had to be taken not to arouse his feelings since it was difficult to gauge their depths. He lived for a few months in this condition : his body grew stronger but his intellect become weaker. It was pitiful to see how this once clever, active, comprehensive mind could now hardly follow the thread of a simple narrative ; how he read nothing but the books that were put before him, and never asked about any new discoveries in science, whilst all literature became an abomination to him, and his new position was given to others since he now showed as aversion to it."
He died on June 12th, 1795, at the age of fifty-three years, of severe cramp in the chest without having any definite disease. On opening his body no other cause for his death could be found.
Before undertaking the cure Hahnemann had asked for a fee of one thousand thalers, for he had at the time to maintain a wife and four children, whilst Klockenbring was in a good financial position, and his wife came from a wealthy family. Hahnemann was bitterly attacked by his opponents for this demand. How unjustly so is clearly shown by all the circumstances, but especially by the fact that while the old school physicians could not cure Klockenbring, Hahnemann succeeded in giving him back his health, and so enable him to take up a lucrative position for another nine months. Hahnemann had given up all his time and energies to this one patient.
Supplement 24
PETITION TO BE ALLOWED TO REMAIN AT THE CASTLE OF GEORGENTHAL.
Gotha, April 17th, 1793.
Your Ducal Eminence,
Will you deign to allow me to put before you most humbly that the Council chamber advised me a few days ago to leave the hunting-castle now that I have given up the institution. I have made preparations for this a long time ago but I have been unable to find suitable houses, at a reasonable price, which would suffice for the accommodation of my rather numerous family, especially as the weather is still very rough and wintry. I therefore take the liberty to beseech Your Ducal Eminence most humbly to add to the many proofs of your favour by allowing me to remain another month or two in your castle, within which time I confidently hope to be able to move elsewhere.
I remain, in all submissiveness,
Your Eminence's most devoted servant,
SAMUEL HAHNEMANN.
On the back of this letter are the following Chancellery remarks from the Ducal Cabinet :
His serene Highness sent this over to the Ducal chamber with the remark that the applicant has been granted permission to remain until July 1st of this year.
Sigl. Friedenstein in consilio secreto April 15 th, 1793. No. 199, Dep. A. (Leipz. " Pop. Ztschr.," 1894. 25 year, p. 105.)
Shortly before his removal from Georgenthal on June 1st, Hahnemann wrote to his friend Councillor Becker in Gotha. (This letter and a number of those following are in the possession of Dr. Schwabe of Leipsic. They were published in the "Popularen Zeitschrift," 31. 32, year 1900/1901):
Dearest friend,
Heinze has now probably arranged about the conveyance with the Rifleman's innkeeper (for two and a half days, four horses and the largest wagon); he can come out in it and be ready to travel with it at 8 o'clock on Monday morning.
I must also ask you to order me a good cart, with a team of three horses that can take a load of 25 hundredweight, to be here at half-past four, with a strong man to help load and to bring with him a drayman's ladder.
Another favour ! I should have liked a leather bag, which need not be very big as it is to hold only gold.
I should also like to entreat you to let me have one bottle of your good wine in exchange for money and good words. For that, as well as for the bag and the laubthaler of yesterday, the money will follow with my thanks. Work is now rushing at us from all sides. Many compliments to your sister and yourself, from my wife and also from me.
S.H.
Do not forget the letter to your friend in Hamburg, which is of such importance to me.
My wife asked your sister to arrange that Heinz's wife should come out on Monday at half-past four with the waggon which is to transport our things to you, so that she may accompany the load. We will remunerate her.
Supplement 25
REINHARDT CONCERNING HAHNEMANN.
The minister of Gotha and intimate friend of Duke Ernst, H.A.O.
Reinhardt, writes in his biography, published by Hermann Uhde (J.G. Cotta, publisher, Stuttgart) :
The well-known Dr. Samuel Hahnemann appealed to him (Duke Ernst) and received support when he was searching for a place in which to establish his Nursing-home for mental patients. Duke Ernst gave up his hunting-castle in Georgenthal to him in 1792. It is true that poor Klockenbring regained, in this nursing-home, the use of his mind, of which he had been robbed through "Dr.Bahrdt with the iron brow," but the eccentric and ingenious tricks of the Director of the Institution soon withdrew from the latter the Duke's protection. Once I asked the witty Bailiff of Georgenthal " how many lunatics has Dr. Hahnemann got in his institution " The dry answer was : "One, and that is himself!"
Supplement 26
HAHNEMANN'S CONTINUED TREATMENT OF THE INSANE.
Another letter which bears neither date nor address, is sufficiently and clearly linked up with the Klockenbring episode, and might well have been written in Molschleben, Hahnemann had removed in June, 1793. A remark in the margin by an unknown hand gives this date definitely. The letter reads as follows :
Dear friend,
I have had a very definite assurance from Klockenbring that after the 6th of August, when the magisterial holidays are over, he would send me my money ; before that it would not be possible, as his outstanding money obligations are in the hands of the Court administration. What could I do I must believe it and have patience. If you know how to advise me, please do so!
You suspect me unjustly of not letting you share in my vicissitudes. Why should I entertain you with the multitude of empty eggs which have been laid
You know as well as I, that once more a Prince appeared on the scene whose intelligence I was to restore, but they would not pay more than a paltry sum for him, so that nothing came of it. As this did not work, they proposed to make me family physician and court adviser with a salary of 100 thalers . . . no travelling expenses, no special remuneration in the event of a cure, and there the thing ended, and I was glad to remain a simple doctor such as you have had the honour to see me. With such and similar soap-bubbles I would not waste your precious time, as indeed nothing special has happened to me.
I have been in town only on very rare occasions, and even then I could not speak to you. How many times shall I again assure you that I am and remain the same for all my life.
Your indebted friend, S.H.
Have you had your money What does Muldner say
I read yesterday a story like Klockenbring's in an old book which appealed to me very much. In Boneti medicine septentrionalis fol. Pars. I, pages 200-204.
When you can do so, read it ! It has always been the same in the world, even 130 years ago.
In his article, " Notes on the cure of Klockenbring," which Hahnemann wrote at the end of 1795 or beginning of 1796 in Brunswick, he says in one annotation :
However wearying, even when followed by success, the uninterrupted and personal attention given to this kind of patient may be, seeing that it is capable of killing the joy of life more effectually than anything else, and sadly shakes the soul of the humane and thoughtful physician, yet I feel strongly the inward call to continue this work even here ( in my garden in Brunswick).
Konigslutter, November 15th, 1798.
Honourable friend ( Councillor Becker in Gotha),
You have just recently given me a proof of your unfailing friendship and affection by recommending me to young Hagenbuch from Muhlhausen, for which I thank you most heartily. That which is good will prove itself!
That I could not take him in, as he arrived here before I had made any preparations, and also was hurriedly left here by his brother-is a question which need not be raised here. You know how careful I am on this point, and have to be, on account of lot of little children who can be easily injured.
Otherwise I have a really pretty, comfortable and also favourable house which is the only possession I can boast of here apart from a dear family. I have already made some use of the house for patients ; and you, dear friend, could contribute not a little if you would favour me by inserting, once or twice, this or a similar advertisement in your Messenger of the Gods the Reichsanzeiger, the omnipresence of which is well know-but I pray you to sign it with your own honourable name, for the patients in question could not confide for information in a more prudent man. You understand me.
Otherwise you may alter the wording of this advertisement as you please.
Altona, November 9th, 1799.
Dearest friend (not to be mistaken for citizen Becker),
Your agreeable letter would have been still more agreeable if it had been sent off six or seven weeks earlier, for it would then still have found me at Konigslutter and have persuaded me to begin a very much less expensive life at Sondershausen, besides which I should have been able to conform to your wishes much more easily.
However little I should like to try and persuade you to send the unhappy Wezel ( Johann Karl Wezel was born on October 31st, 1747, in Sondershausen. After much travelling he became a dramatist in Vienna, and was in special favour with Kaiser Joseph II. He became insane after his removal from Leipsic to his birthplace, in the year 1786, and he imagined that he was God. A small circle of literary friends interested themselves in him, and the Court at Sondershausen granted his landlady 5 groschen a day in payment for looking after him. Councillor Becker then sought to put him under the care of Hahnemann : the treatment was ineffective and he died on January 28th, 1819, in Sondershausen.) here, I can just as little grant that his cure could not be considered possible outside his own four walls, although they try to persuade us that, dragged out of his present position, he would be God knows how unmanageable, and impossible to cure. If arrangements were made to have him fetched by people who would lift him de facto into a carriage and drive away with him, the whole to be done silently, without telling him their reasons or intentions, and afterwards hardly speak two words to him in the 24 hours, attend to his needs only at his request, and then grudgingly, and treat him during the journey with martial countenance, so that he would be overwhelmed by a terrible feeling of being overpowered together with the awful silence, and so would behave well during the journey and would be the more satisfied with his kind doctor on arrival.
I have now come to live here on the advice of some prominent friends in a place where living is at least three times more expensive than in Gotha. I give 700 M.C. (about 840 marks) rent for my little house, and all other necessities bear the same relation to it. If I should take in the noteworthy unhappy Wezel (one room for one patient can be spared) I could just barely do it for the here existing currency of 120 Mark C, or nine pieces Friedrichsd'or (about 150 marks).
I will take him for this price out of higher considerations, and will care for him as a father and a physician as if he were giving me a large income ; in other words, I shall try most earnestly to cure him.
That he should lose his present free house and keep through such a temporary retreat ( supposing the worse came to happen and he returned uncured) is hardly to be expected.
A four months' trial will be sufficient to ascertain if he can be cured.
I should not know what else to propose. Dr. Bledau in Sondershausen ( who I assume considers I am some authority) would have to watch him several times a day through observation openings, and carry out my instructions punctually. He would have to mix the medicine, which I would send, with his drinks himself, in order to see that the correct quantity was taken. This, of course, would be much cheaper, as I would make a charge of two species thaler (about 8 mark 4 pence ) for a letter, with or without medicine.
Judge for yourself which would be the more advisable or possible. Here only a practitioner. May Heaven help me to increase considerable the small practice which I have made during my six week's sojourn. I need it if I am not to be out of pocket.
I, my wife, and my eight healthy growing children greet you and kiss you.
Altona, December 9th, 1799.
I should like to know what the Prince is doing for Wezel in order to make use of it at the right time. And now for the answer to your questions.
1. When can he come The sooner the better.
2. How to bring him here Let those who are going to bring him enter ( if possible with martial demeanour ) and announce in a loud voice : "On account of his delicate health, the Prince has ordered him ( even if it be not true ) to be driven to the physician." Upon which they will lead him straight to the carriage, and if he not properly clothed attend to this only on the night or mid-day halt.
Talk very seriously and very little with him on the journey, satisfy his animal needs silently but fully, answer when he asks where he is going :
"To Dr. Hahnemann, in Altona, who will cure him." There is no need for any other answer on this subject. However much he may remonstrate that he is not ill, answer nothing but. "Yes, you are ill." Say this and no more as often as is necessary. Do not tell him any untruths about the future. On the road he must be searched, to make sure that he has no cutting instruments on his person which he may be bringing to me secretly.
3. The precise address where he is to be delivered Here in Altona, straight to my place, Kleine Freiheit, No.65, in the house of the wine-merchant Rinks, at Dr. Hahnemann's.
4. What he is to bring At least six shirts, six pairs of woollen socks, two pairs of cotton ones, two pairs of trousers, two vests, one or two coats, a very warm and thick woollen scarf ( unless he has a fur), a feather bed ( but if he has incontinence of urine and faeces, a horse-hair mattress instead), two pillows and an eiderdown, perhaps two sheets and two bedcovers, two pairs of comfortable boots, one pair of shoes, four night-caps, one new and also one old hat, 8to 12 handkerchiefs, and old linen of some kind for cleaning and mending purposes, his pipe (if he needs one), his snuff-box (if he uses one), four towels, some neckties, preferably a couple of black silk ones.
As soon as he has been put onto the carriage, his room and especially his table must be searched for all written papers ; they must be collected and put into a bag tied up together so as not to lose any, and brought here for my instructions.
An intelligent man in Sondershausen must question the people with whom he was living, especially those who were attending him and saw most of him, regarding his mental peculiarities. If he talked to himself and on what subjects chiefly How he treated his attendant If he tried to commit suicide, or to run away, or if he attacked strangers or acquaintances without provocation What he mostly desired in the way of food, drinks, and other favourite things What he had complained about, such as bodily ailments and any other things, Whether he left his excreta and urine in the right place like ordinary people Was he in the habit of laughing, whistling, scolding, swearing, shouting or weeping How long he sleeps, and when he is in the habit of lying down, if dressed or undressed If he is inclined to tear and break things
This preliminary report will be very useful to me. If possible, I would like to be notified by a preceding letter ( If only a few days beforehand ) about which day I am to expect him, or at least on which day he starts. In any case I must know if he will arrive in the morning or afternoon, so that I may receive him myself, and arrange my visits to my local patients accordingly. May God restore him to health !
My family and I send their kind regards to you and your whole house.
With warm friendship,
Your Dr. HAHNEMANN.
Together with Wezel may I ask for a remuneration in advance for two months.
On July 10th, 1800, Hahnemann asked from Hamburg as a monthly fee for Wezel's keep, 10 Friedrichsd'or. After 9 Friedrichsd'or been settled upon with him previously from Gotha. He based his increased on the fact that Hamburg was 15 per cent. dearer to live in than Altona. But scarcely two weeks later Hahnemann asked his friend Becker to help him to get Wezel removed as soon as possible.
Hamburg.
July 24th, 1800.
Dearest friend,
It is quite impossible for me to keep Wezel. I took him in because he was here, but more so because Blodau had written to me that he was like a lamb, and did no harm to anybody. I believed it, and left him for eleven days to his own devices just as he wished, without medicine, in order to watch him. He remained quiet. But when I began to do something for his health, to persuade him to go for a walk, etc., then it proved that all these assurances were without foundation. He wanted to throw me out of the room, and beat me ; and when I called others to help in persuading or forcing him to go for a walk-or at least go onto the yard- he bit and scratched so that we were unable to move him. I myself was in danger through this. When I tried to get my way and got four strong men to help me, everyone, withdrew. Nobody would lend himself to this, and I could get nobody to do it even for a considerable sum of money. " All such people here are put in asylums and in the box for maniacs, " no one had any pity for such people, neither they nor anyone like them should have anything to do with persons of this kind." This was the reply I got in at least ten instances. Even supposing I could get some strong workmen for this job who would keep their word, I know from experience that it would be impossible to pay for them. Those who would be of any use could earn for more in day in quiet work than I could afford them. They all earn two or three thaler a day in good money. It is very doubtful if they would let me engage them for my purpose even at such heavy cost, as prejudice, want of human kindness and unreliability are customary here. I resign my treatment of the patient with pleasure, and wrote to Rat Blodau five days ago with the pressing request to have him fetched away. I cannot keep him, as here he would have to be cured and not just fed. In my present position this would be impossible.
He has never met with the slightest resistance- in any case he has always conquered. He has become obstinate and refractory. Only when the mood drives him to something can be persuaded, otherwise he resists with the strength of a lion.
In a place where human kindness is easier to get, I do not consider it impossible that he might be restored ; and if I am asked, I will give all necessary instructions gained by my experience of him. The first condition is : that he should imagine his landlord to be nothing less than a doctor. ( It is really more advantageous if his landlord is not a doctor. Wezel can easily penetrate through dissimulation. It is only necessary to have a kind, sensible and trustworthy man.)
If anyone should give as a reason for a certain request that it would be good for his health and that a physician recommended it, he would certainly not do it ; and what is worse than that, to force him would do more harm than good to his health.
What else is to be done, and what medicines are to be given, I will advise with pleasure. My most urgent request is that he should be removed as soon as possible. Be so good as do your share to secure this. I will then do all can to help this unfortunate man back to health by medicine and advice, both founded upon my experience of him. He is quite a different man from the description given of him : much that has been said and written of him is quite contrary to the truth.
I ask for a fulfilment of my petition, and am as ever,
Your true friend,
HAHNEMANN.
Hamburg. July 24th, 1800.
Molln, in Lauenburg, September 20th, 1800.
Dear friend,
The unfortunate Wezel had been with been with me 1 3/4 months, when he was fetched away on September 1st, in a carriage which came from Sondershausen. Fortunately it arrived just in time before the closing of the city gates. Thus I was able to leave Hamburg on a forced march. That place would ruin any honest man who is not in commerce, without having to wait there for an expensive and weary confinement of my wife, which in consequence would have kept me there another bad winter. Thank goodness ! I am here where I need earn only half the amount in order to live with more comfort than in Hamburg. It is a small place with 230 houses, mostly filled with modest working people, and possessing all necessary requirements amid beautiful surroundings.
Here I will again stand at the helm of the little ship of my making, and only cure what Heaven sends me. The huge, merciless waves of Hamburg, which carry large vessels but overturn small craft, had almost swallowed me up. Thank God, Who again put me ashore !
If I did not help the unhappy man, who is very different from what has been said about him, directly, I may yet be able him indirectly, leaving it to you and circumstances to decide. I know sufficiently now to be able to give good advice more easily than others could do, and I will do so free of charge.
Oh ! if only we had escaped the war, which is the grave of science !
Supplement 27
TREATMENT OF A PATIENT BY LETTER
From 1793 to 1805.
Dr. Bernard Schuchardt, Geh. Regierungs and Obermedizinalrat in Gotha, published in 1886 " Letters of Hahnemann to a patient during the years 1793-1805" (Tubingen, published by Lauppe), which are addressed to an " educated artisan of Gotha." The patient, who seemed to have had a delicate constitution, had in spite of it, or perhaps because he followed Hahnemann's instructions, reached the great age of 92 years, and only died in 1851. These letters show, as Dr. Schuchardt rightly concludes from the text, " little indication of his (Hahnemann's) system, as it was built up step by from 1790 until it was completed in the year 1810. We see instead in almost every line the great attention he paid to the mode of living (even, we may add, to minutest ) ; especially to diet and its influence on the organism and its infirmities. On the other hand we notice how he managed to keep patients for many years under his care, with his very simple means and prescriptions, and how he impressed upon them repeatedly the simple rules of life which he recognised as necessary." Dr. Schuchardt of Gotha, who is no friend to friend to homoeopathy, ultimately points out the importance of homoeopathy on the development of the new medicine which it " has undeniably influenced, at least in a negative and indirect way."
Supplement 28
"ON THE MILK SCAB"-CRUSTA LACTEA (MILKCRUST).
Hahnemann published in 1795, in J. FR. Blumenbach's "Medizinischer Bibliothek" (Vol.III, part 4), Gottingen, an essay in which he says :
In the village where my children enjoyed perfect health, there were many children affected with the so-called milkcrust, and that to an unusual degree.
In order to prevent an infection of his children, as Hahnemann thought the disease was infectious, he isolated his own children. One sick boy had however brought infection through a kiss and all four children became affected.
I poured warm water over dry Hepar sulphuris-powdered oyster shell mixed with an equal part of Sulphur and kept for ten minutes at a white heat-and thus made a weak solution. I painted the faces of the two who had the worst eruption with this every hour for consecutive days. After the first application I noticed that the evil was arrested and gradually began to heal.
The same treatment was applied to the children with like success.
Hahnemann adds here :
Is the milkscab a skin disease acquired only through contagion Is not the eruption-contagion perhaps due to small animalculae or miasms as an underlying cause I do not think that my practice will ever give me another opportunity which might answer my question in the affirmative in a more positive way than this one, which I had altogether under my control.
The "village" must have been Molschleben ; this can be deduced from the fact that the component parts of that volume were compiled in 1793. In the summer of that year, Hahnemann was in Molschleben, from which place he went to Pyrmont and Brunswick and he therefore removed to two cities.
Supplement 29
HAHNEMANN'S ACCIDENT WHILE TRAVELLING.
Gottingen,
June 1st, 1794.
Dear friend,
I have stuck here at Gottingen and shall probably not get any farther, but stay here. The upsetting of the carriage at Muhlhausen, of which you have probably heard, and in which we nearly lost our lives (to heal all our wounds we had to remain eight days in Muhlhausen ), has shattered my wife's health so much and the children have become so afraid of driving, that it is becoming impossible for me to come any further-at least without probable danger to the health of my family in general, and especially of the suckling baby-boy. The driver who overturned us is one of the most careless and dangerous men I have ever known. I hope no one else will suffer through him.
The following letter is probably connected with the former ; it has no date or address. In any case, it belongs to this travelling period :
I should be very glad if I could out through you how much a driver with four horses and a very roomy carriage requires a day, without my having to trouble about fodder. If I can agree with the man and like the carriage, which I do not know beforehand, and if the cost for the day is cheap, I might (if I wish) use him until I get there. But I cannot decide on a definite length of road nor define the number of days. It must be understood that in any case his return does not concern me. On an average I drive not more than 4 or 5 miles a day, and I decide my plans each day in order to be free to make just such a short journey as I like.
At the time when Hahnemann was staying in Gottingen we learn some details from the reminiscences of Dr. Christian Heinrich Pfaff, who was born in Stuttgart in 1773 and died at Kiel in 1852. ( Erich Epstein, " Physician's Memoirs," Berlin, 1923.) He states that he was staying in Gottingen from the autumn of 1793 until the autumn of 1974. At that time dysentery had been prevalent there, but of a catarrhal and not of a serious type, and which was easily cured with Opium tincture and Vinum stibiatum. He then proceeds:
This brings me to my acquaintance with the then famous Hahnemann, the man whom the homoeopaths highly honour as the reformer of practical medicine. He arrived in Gottingen in a kind of emigrant's carriage, together with his numerous family. I knew him first through meeting him at the Lying-in hospital. He gave me the impression of being a Herrnhuter and a mystic, and his mysticism betrayed itself in the habit he had of always having the shutters down in his front room. I called on him several and he did not then say anything about homoeopathy, but expected to cure through the chemical properties of medicines. One of his sickened with dysentery, and Hahnemann hoped to fight the enemy through the antiseptic properties of charcoal ; but the illness became worse, and as I could assure him from my experience of many cases I had treated that my method had been efficient, he gave the patient over to me and happily I cured him.
Pfaff has probably written his recollections from memory, and it is possible that he ascribed more of the mystic element to Hahnemann than was justifiable, since homoeopathy is considered a mystic method of healing. From these recollections we also gather that Hahnemann occupied himself at the time with activities which were far removed from his field of operation, as he visited the lying-in-hospital. It shows further that Hahnemann at that time had not a clear vision of the Law of Similars, but practised on the lines of chemical ideas, against which he fought so strongly later on. Another indication that he had not quite broken his connection with the old school is the fact he let Pfaff treat his child.
Supplement 30
A LETTER FROM PYRMONT.
Best friend,
As I have to write to Gotha to-day, I will fulfil my obligation and thank you for your trouble with the auction matters, etc. As the thing with the mechanical model took too long I had to have one made according to my own idea, as I wanted it very much. Another would be superfluous. I thank you very heartily for your trouble.
As I am still corresponding with Mr.Zeiss, and have an account with him , would you be so good as to pay him out 3 thaler and 10gr. against assignment
To-day the post forces me to break off with a well-meant VALE.
HAHNEMANN.
Pyrmont,
January 10th, 1795.
Councillor Becker, of Gotha.
Supplement 31
LETTER FROM BRUNSWICK.
Sir,
I notify herewith most submissively that I have sold my house and garden ( to Herrn von Heym Sollingen ) and pray that you will withdraw the day for the auction sale.
With fullest esteem
I am, Sir,
Most obediently,
Dr.SAM HAHNEMANN.
Brunswick, June 21st, 1796.
To Secretary Wittmann.
Supplement 32
LETTER FROM KONIGSLUTTER.
Dearest friend (to Councillor Becker of Gotha),
I am sending a small advertisement for the cost of which as well as the postage, the tailor Ruger of Gotha will willingly pay you.
Through your National paper you have so happily filled a need in influencing German morality. that every friend of the good and noble ought to thank you heartily.
My family, ten souls strong, sends greeting to your household, and is longing to receive good news from you, as well as
Your admirer and old friend,
SAMUEL HAHNEMANN.
My kind regards to Dr. Hennicke and friend Schlichtegroll.
Konigslutter, October 14th, 1797.
Writing from Konigslutter, he gives in the "Reichsanzeiger" (No. 249, October 26th, 1797) medical information on a previous enquiry :
Supposing that the patient is convinced there is no creeping fever present, the mode of living must first be altered ; then means must be used which will remove the cough and expectoration. Oily, slimy and sweet medicines are of no use. Poppy juice acts only as a palliative. With these medicines the tendency to cough is increased, although when first taken they give relief, and in this way are deceptive.
This observation shows that Hahnemann already then went his own way and was not afraid of declaring it openly, in opposition to the majority of his colleagues.
That he enjoyed widespread recognition in medical circles is proved by the following letter to Hahnemann from K.B. Stadtgerichsarzt Dr. Preu :
Nurnberg, February 1st, 1832.
Thirty-four years ago when you were still living at Konigslutter (1796-1799-R.h.) I was not able to resist the pleasure of visiting you. I was then a young doctor travelling in order to become acquainted with the man, who had then already made himself useful to humanity in many ways : and I have never forgotten the words with which you, highly esteemed man, bade farewell to a young disciple of the art, who to his great joy thought he noticed that you had not remained indifferent to him. The golden words were : " Remain faithful to the Art." I promised then and have until now kept my promise.
Supplement 33
HAHNEMANN ATTEMPTS TO RETURN TO GOTHA AS PHYSICIAN
TO THE DUKE. From Dr. Bernhard Schuchardt, Gen. Regierungs and Obermedizinalrat in Gotha, "Letters of Hahnemann to a patient, " Tubingen, 1886, Publisher, H. Laupp.
My dear X,
To-day I make you my confidant. Kindly give the enclosed letter to the Minister Von Frankenberg Sylvius Friedrich Ludwig von Frankenberg, born 1728, died 1815. Minister of State in Gotha. if he still alive, if Zigesar August Friedrich Karl von Zigesar, born 1746, died 1813. Geheimrat and Kanzler in Gotha. is in his place give it to him, but before doing so have the goodness to write the name of the present. First Minister in Latin characters on the envelope in the blank space. I was not quite sure if Frankenberg were still living, otherwise I should have written his name myself. I am applying in this letter for Dr.Buchner's Friedrich Buchner at Gotha, Court Counsellor and Physician to the Duke of Gotha. Died February, 1799. Post with the Duke, and would like to return to Gotha in that capacity, for I have always preferred Gotha to Brunswick. But I should have no possible excuse for changing my abode unless I get an appointment of this kind.
Do not let anyone know a word of all this, so that no intrigues may be set on foot, which otherwise would certainly happen. But how will you contrive to get this letter immediately and without fail into Frankenberg's hands As it is the news of Buchner's death reached me a week later than it should have done, so I must not now lose any time.
Forgive me for the trouble I am putting you to, and with best wishes I remain,
Yours most devoted servant,
Dr. HAHNEMANN.
March 14th, 1799.
Supplement 34
COMPLAINTS AND RESOLVE.
In the "Reichsanz" No. 272 of November 22nd, 1799, we read under the above heading :
Dear Public !
One would hardly credit that there are people who, knowing that I am a private gentleman living on what I have made through the right use of my time, would yet overburden me from time to time with letters, many of which are not stamped and therefore fall as a burden on my purse, and partly contain such requests as will occupy my thought and split up my precious time, while it never seems to occur to these inconsiderate correspondents to send any adequate remuneration for my time and my efforts which are calculated to be useful to them.
I see myself compelled through this growing importunity to declare :
1. That henceforth I shall return unopened all letters are not sufficiently stamped, whoever the senders may be .
2. That after reading through letters from distant patients or others seeking advice I will return them unless they contain a sufficient fee ( at least a Friedrich'd or ) in a cheque or actual money, unless the misery and poverty of the writer is so apparent that I could not withhold advice without offending the laws of humanity.
3. Lottery tickets will all be returned by me without exception, in such a way that the post-office here shall pay my expenses, and the tickets will therefore become an expense to the collectors.
SAMUEL HAHNEMANN,
Doctor of Medicine.
Altona near Hamburg, November 9th, 1799.
Supplement 35
LETTER TO COUNCILLOR BECKER FROM EILENBURG
Eilenburg, September 18th, 1801.
I was again almost unable to write to you to-day, as, although I have only been here a few weeks, I have been blessed with so many patients that I often hardly had time for meals. I have found much favour here, which helps me to overcome many difficulties, the chief of which is the building of my new house.
Do find me a buyer for my pretty and comfortable house in Machern-a place where the remaining comforts of life are indeed nearly all missing. It is this which drove me away from there.
Otherwise I had a very good country practice, both far and near. But here matters are even worse.
This declaration of Hahnemann's does not agree with a somewhat touching description of Dr. Dudgeon's in London, who wrote in his " Biography of Hahnemann" (" Lectures on the theory and practice of Homoeopathy, " 1854, page xlviii) :
During his residence at Machern, after toiling all day long at his task of translating works for the press, he frequently assisted his brave-hearted wife to wash the family clothes at night, and as they were unable to purchase soap they employed raw potatoes for this purpose. The quantity of bread he was enabled to earn by his literary labours for his numerous family was so small that, in order to prevent grumbling, he used to weigh out to each an equal proportion. At this period one of his daughters, a little girl, fell ill, and being unable to eat the portion of daily bread that fell to her share, she carefully put it away in box, hoarding it up, child-like, till her appetite should return. Her sickness, however, increasing, she felt assured that she would never recover to enjoy her store ; so she one day told her favourite little sister that she knew she was going to die, that she should never be able to eat any more, and solemnly made over to her as a gift the accumulated fragments of hard, dried-up bread, from which she had anticipated such a feast had she recovered ! "
If Hahnemann was able to own a "pretty and comfortable house" in Machern, and if he was able in the same summer and before he had sold the other, to build a second "almost new house " in Eilenburg, then it can hardly have been a question of such distress in the Hahnemann family that he, the physician, had to do the family washing at night, and in order to save money used raw potatoes for it instead of soap ; and also that the children had to be fed on carefully weighed out portions of bread which had even become stale. Besides, Hahnemann himself speaks of a " country practice both far and near " which he had in Machern. Neither does it apply that he spent "his whole day " in toilsome literary work.
There is here probably a confusion with the period in Stotteritz. A confusion which can be ascribed to the " relatives of Hahnemann's family " from whom Dr. Dudgeon would have heard this narrative.
Supplement 36
HAHNEMANN'S OWN WORKS AND ESSAYS, AS WELL AS
TRANSLATIONS IN THE YEARS 1793- 1804.
OWN WORKS AND ESSAYS.
(a) Of a chemical and pharmaceutical nature.
1793-99. Apothekerlexikon (Pharmaceutical Lexicon), in IV parts ; 280, 244, 259 and 498 pages. Leipsic, by Crusius.
1793. Some Remarks on the Wurtemberg and Hahnemann's Wine Test. " Intelligenzblatt der Allgem. Liter. Ztg.," No. 79.
1793. Preparation of the Cassel Yellow. Erfurt.
1794. On Hahnemann's new Wine Test and the new Liqor probatorius fortior. " Crell's Annals." Vol. I, part 12, pages 104-III.
1797. Something about the Pulverisation of Ignatia Beans. " Trommsdorff's Journal of Pharmacy," Vol. V, part I pages 38-40. (b) Medical.
1795. On Crusta lactea (Milkcrust). J. Fr. Blumenbach's " Medica. Bibliothek, " Vol. III, pages 701-705.
1795. The Friend of Health. Leipsic, by Crusius. Part II, 6 sheets.
1796. Description of Klockenbring during his Insanity. " Deutsche Monatsschrift," February, 1796 ( trans. in Lesser Writings, 295).
1796. Essay on a New Principle for ascertaining the Curative Powers of Drugs, and Some Examinations of the Previous Principles.
" Hufeland's Journal," Vol. II, parts 3 and 4, pages 391-439 and pages 465-561. (Translated in Lesser Writings.)
1797. A Case of Rapidly Cured Colicodynia. " Hufeland's Journal, " Vol. III,part i, pages 138-147. (Trans. in Lesser Writings 353.)
1797. Are the Obstacles to the Attainment of Simplicity in Practical Medicine Insurmountable Ibid., Vol. IV, part 4, pages 727-762. (Trans. in Lesser Writings and in British Journal of Homoeopathy, Vol. II.)
1797. Antidotes to Some Heroic Vegetable Substances. Ibid., Vol. V, part I, pages 3- 21. (Trans. in Lesser Writings, 382.)
1797. Some Kinds of Continued and Remittent Fevers. Ibid., Vol. V, part I, pages 22-51.
1797. Some Periodical and Hebdomadal Diseases. Ibid., Vol. V, part I, pages 45-59. (Lesser Writings 395.)
1801. Cure and Prevention of Scarlet Fever. Gotha, by Becker. 40 pages. ( Trans. in Lesser Writings.)
1801. Fragmentary Observations on Brown's Elements of Medicine.
1802. " Hufeland's Journal," Vol. XII, part 2, pages 52-76. (Lesser Writings 405.)
1801. On the Power of Small Doses of Medicine in General and of Belladonna in Particular. Ibid., Vol. XII, part 2, pages 153-159. (Lesser Writings 443.)
1801. Observations on the Three Current Methods of Treatment, by the Author of the Medical Treasury. " Hufeland's Journal," Vol. II, part 4, pages 3-64. (Lesser Writings592.)
1803. View of Professional Liberality at the Commencement of the Nineteenth Century. "Reichsanzeiger," No. 32.
1803. On the Effects of Coffee. Leipsic, by Steinacker. 56pp.
1803. On a Proposed Remedy for Hydrophobia. " Reichsanzeiger."No 31. (c) Translations.
1796. Hand-book for Mothers. J.J. Rousseau on the Education of Infants. Second edition, 1804.
1797-98. Translation of Taplin's Equerry, or Modern Veterinary Medicine. Leipsic. part I, 387 pages ; part 2, 304 pages.
1797-98. Translation of the New Edinburgh Dispensatory. Leipsic, by G.Fleischer, Junr. Part I, 583 pages with annotations ; part 2, 628 pages.
1800. Translation of Thesaurus Medicaminum, a new collection of medical prescriptions. Leipsic, by G. Fleischer, Junr. From the English. 412 pages, with a preface and notes by the translator.
1800. Translation of Home's Practical Observations on the Cure of Strictures of the Urethra by Caustics. Leipsic, by G. Fleischer, Junr. From the English. 147 pages with annotations.
In the article " Antidotes to some Heroic Vegetable Substances, " Hahnemann continues :
In early days physicians were looking for a universal antidote against all that they called poison. At first these enormous mixtures, then came the ineffective Bezoar and after that Edelsteinlatwerge (gem electuary). In more rational and modern times, the universal antidote has been sought in vinegar, although it will do nothing against poppy-juice, and little or nothing against Camphor. Others saw in milk and fatty substances an alleged universal remedy against poisons of all kinds. Others relied on emetics, which however are only useful when a large quantity of harmful substance has swallowed. In the end they tried to obtain for each separate poison, or for special kinds of poison, a corresponding antidote.
And Hahnemann now gives a number of antidotes.
Against Camphor, poppy-juice and vice versa ; against Arnica, vinegar ; against India berries ( Cocculus indicus ), Camphor ; against gummi guttae (gamboge and other drastic gummy resins), Tartaric brine salts ; against Datura Stramonium, vinegar (and lemon acid) ; against Ignatia bean, vinegar ; against Veratrum album, coffee ; against Mezereum, Camphor ; each case is illustrated with examples from his own practice.
In conjunction with this article, Hahnemann published a second one :
" Some kinds of Continued and Remitting Fevers."
He says : "The big epidemics which differ widely are more often describe than the many small sporadic ones, which on account of their frequency and because they are unknown do not kill fewer people." He continues to describe such sporadic fevers and their treatment in an essay of twenty-five pages-among them he also describes influenza-always linking up with them cases from his own practice.
A third article deals with
"Some Periodical and Hebdomadal Diseases."
Hahnemann shows with examples, on seven pages, the treatment of alternating fevers-especially those with periodical attacks of seven days' duration-by Ignatia bean.
Some comments on the most important works.
The " Medizinisch-chirurgische Ztg.," 1793, Vol. III, on page 171, comments in the two volumes of the Apothekerlexikon :
The author presents here a book which is very useful for the practical apothecary, and even for the physician. It compares favourably with similar writings and renders the Fiedlersche Pharmaceutical Lexicon unnecessary. Also this work is not a mere compilation, but contains many new ideas, hints and valuable improvements. Several articles are particularly well written.
In the same journal (1799,II, page 4II) it says :
A work of this kind, by a man who has made a name for himself in Germany as a chemist and as a practitioner, deserves special recommendation. Every article gives evidence of having been written with the greatest care.
Trommsdorff, Professor in Erfurt, wrote in his journal of pharmacy ( 1794, Vol. II, part I, page 185):
An excellent work which every apothecary ought to procure. Brevity, lucidity, decision, and yet a completeness seem, as far as we can judge from this first part, to distinguish this work from all others of a similar character. In examining the work more closely, we can find much new and important matter, and every pages shows that the well-informed author speaks from experience. We wish the author leisure and continued health for the completion of this important work, which will be of great service to pharmacy.
In the eighties of the last century, Hofrat Mayer of Tubingen, who was lecturing at that University on the science of pharmacology, said to the homoeopathic doctor Schlegel that Hahnemann's Pharmaceutical Lexicon" " was still a very useful book in which he often looked things up." (" Allg. hom. Zeitung." No. 8. 1916.)
The translation of the "New Edinburgh Dispensatory " is announced as follows in "Hufeland's Journal" (1798, V, page 469):
The usefulness of this work has recognised and it is enhanced by the translator's notes.
" Trommsdorff's Journal of Pharmacy" (1799, Vol. V, Part I, Page 22) thus criticises it:
Although there is no lack of treatises of this kind in Germany, yet the present work is welcome, especially as the translation is an improvement on the English original on account of the notes by the learned Dr. Hahnemann.
On the Cure of Strictures of the Urethra by Caustics." In the year 1800 Hahnemann translated, under the above title a little English book by Dr. E. Home. As with almost all his translations, here he also added his personal views and experiences in the form of annotations and footnotes. Home was a disciple of the genial Hunter, a specialist on diseases of the genital organs. He had already carried out in practice the recommendation of his teacher to use strong caustics for urethral strictures. In the easy now before us he was relating his observations and experiences. Even if the opinion of Hunter and Home in the reasons and causation of urethral strictures no longer coincides with our present views, chiefly because since then the microscope has given us a better insight into the construction of a network of cells, and the pathological processes which underlie a stricture, yet the hypothesis brought forward by Hunter and Home testify to such a correct and fine observation, that even to-day we cannot withhold our admiration. The strong recommendation of the use of caustics in the treatment of certain urethral strictures as suggested by the two English specialists, was not only declined by many physicians of those days, but also fought against and repudiated. And yet such a treatment at that time had a certain justification. Hunter and Home started with the correct assumption that there are strictures which are incapable of an involution, and therefore can only be removed by destroying the restricting web of tissues. Operative measures, without anaesthetics and without the knowledge of aseptic surgery, as it was used in those days, apart from being often a failure, partook of the nature of cruelty. For this reason, the treatment by caustics of Home decidedly deserved preference
Hahnemann had grasped this fact correctly, and it was no small merit to him to have acquainted the medical profession, through his superior translation of Home's work, with the progressive experiences of English physicians on the treatment of strictures of the urethra.