H.F. Samuel Hahnemann and homeopathy
Around homeopathy, disputes have been going on for a long time and spears are being broken. Let's talk about the history of its appearance and about its author. Homeopathy is one of the areas of modern alternative medicine. It originated over 200 years ago, thanks to the extraordinary scientist and physician Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843).
Life and professional path
Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann was born in Saxony. He studied the profession of a doctor at the medical faculties of the Leipzig and Vienna universities. The beginning of his medical practice was not successful. Therefore, Hahnemann, who was a polyglot, preferred the job of a librarian. Without losing interest in medicine, during this period he carefully studied the works of chemistry and other natural sciences.After returning to the profession of a doctor in 1779, he managed to defend his dissertation at the University of Erlangen and received the title of doctor. While practicing medicine in Dresden and Leipzig, Samuel Hahnemann increasingly doubted the effectiveness of the methods of contemporary medicine. The revolution in his mind came after studying the therapeutic effect of quinine, which was widely and effectively used against malaria. Deciding to take cinchona powder as an experiment, Dr. Hahnemann noticed that it caused fever and other malaria-like symptoms. The discovery led the scientist to the idea that "like is cured by like." This conclusion became the main postulate of a new trend in medicine - homeopathy.
Establishing the foundations and principles of homeopathic treatment
The essence of the homeopathic action of medicines, according to Samuel Hahnemann, was that in a healthy person they caused symptoms of the disease, and in a sick person they intensified them, but as a result, a healing effect was still observed. The doctor's first experiments in treating vomiting with large doses of emetics, and excitability with stimulants, were not successful. Without stopping to conduct experiments, including on himself, the scientist came to the conclusion that small (homeopathic) doses of drugs are more effective than large ones.
Hahnemann's technique found its fans, although traditional medicine immediately recognized it as charlatanism. In many essays on the history of homeopathy, cases of curing hopeless patients by this doctor are described, although his opponents called it nothing more than happy accidents. Due to the opposition of the authorities, Hahnemann often had to change his place of residence.
Engaged in active practice, Samuel Hahnemann did not forget about the theoretical component of his teaching. He regularly issued scientific works on this topic. Most famous works: "Organon of Medical Art", "Pure Medicinal Substances" in 6 volumes, "Chronic Diseases" in 4 parts. In these books, the main postulates of homeopathy were detailed:
Human health is maintained by the vital force, its disorder leads to diseases.
The causes of disease are dynamic and not essential to successful treatment.
Specific symptoms need to be treated.
You can defeat the disease only with a similar disease, only more pronounced.
In addition to homeopathy, Dr. Hahnemann is the author of two other theories. The first was about the use of coffee as the cause of many diseases. After some time, the scientist himself abandoned it in favor of the version of the existence of psoric miasms. The essence of this hypothesis is the existence of infectious miasms that cause most chronic diseases, primarily skin diseases.
The unusual method of treatment was popular and found many followers in Germany, and in our time - all over the world. Last years During his lifetime, Samuel Hahnemann worked successfully in France, and his works still find their readers.
Samuel Friedrich Christian Hahnemann (1755 - 1843)
“The highest and only appointment of a doctor is to restore health to the patient - to cure him!
Samuel Hahnemann Christian - Friedrich - Samuel Hahnemann was born on April 10, 1755 in Meissen, Saxony, his father was a porcelain painter.
The child received his initial upbringing in the family. His father taught him observation through drawings and from the very early years accustomed to practical experience, developing inquisitiveness and independence of judgment. Samuel was inquisitive. Despite his son's obvious inclination towards education, his father intended him for a trading business and was about to send him to a merchant in Leipzig.
However, the urgent requests of the headmaster of the school contributed to the fact that the boy remained in the city. The director accepted the boy to school for free, because he highly appreciated Samuel's abilities.
In this remarkable school for its time, Hahnemann acquired a classical education and a thorough knowledge of 5 languages. It was here that his passion for natural science was determined. An inquisitive mind, organization, diligence and a penchant for systemic thinking singled out the young Hahnemann among his peers.
Subsequently, the headmaster trusted him to teach science classes in the classroom. And Hahnemann's graduation essay "On the wondrous structure of the human hand" made a real sensation. No one doubted that the young man had a great future. After leaving school, twenty years old, with 20 thalers in his pocket, which his father could give him, Samuel went to Leipzig to enter the University of Leipzig. Hahnemann entered the Faculty of Medicine. But in view of the cramped financial situation of the family, he had to not only study, but also earn a living by lessons and translations from foreign languages.
Two years later, Hahnemann was transferred to Vienna, where he continued medical education and besides, he is engaged in urban practice in Hermann Stadt. In 1779 he went to Erlangen to take the examination for the degree of doctor of medicine.
He brilliantly defends his dissertation "On the causes and treatment of convulsive diseases" and receives a doctorate in medicine with the right to practice medicine. Working as a county doctor in Hammern, near Magdeburg, he found love and respect. local residents. Friendly relations with pharmacists contributed to his acquaintance with the daughter of a pharmacist in Dessau, Johanna Küchler, whom he married in 1781.
Hahnemann and his wife were bound by tender feelings and mutual understanding, for many years she became his assistant and best friend in all the difficulties and joys of life. Hahnemann had four daughters and one son from this marriage.
Three years later, the family moved to Dresden, where Hahnemann practiced in a hospital without leaving his scientific studies. Here, in addition to small articles, he wrote (1796) his treatise on arsenic poisoning, which later served as the discovery of the drug Mercurius solubilis Hahnemanni (Mercurius solubilis according to Hahnemann).
Four years later, Hahnemann goes to Leipzig. The restlessness of the 33-year-old doctor was explained not only by the outstanding strength of the soul and the insatiable thirst for knowledge. Dissatisfaction with the practical medicine of that time and exploratory thinking were the main reasons for his relocation to Leipzig. Hahnemann decided to give up the practice, preferring to earn money by working in chemistry, pharmacy, and translating French, English, and Italian medical treatises.
But that's what served turning point in his medical practice and was marked by a new direction in medicine. While translating an article on cinchona bark from Cullen's English manual, Hahnemann came across a description of the therapeutic indications for Peruvian bark. The author attributed the beneficial effect of the drug in the treatment of malaria to its bitter taste, which allegedly has an astringent effect on the stomach. Hahnemann was shocked by such a stupid explanation. To find out the real reasons why cinchona cures malaria, he undertook a test of the drug on himself. Taking large material doses of cinchona bark, he, being completely healthy, received all the symptoms characteristic of intermittent fever. Stopping taking the medicine, Hahnemann became healthy again a day later. These experiments showed the absurdity of the claim that Peruvian bark cures malaria because it is bitter or astringent.
Hahnemann demonstrated that Peruvian bark cured attacks of fever because it itself produced the same symptoms in a healthy person. From these observations emerged a fundamental principle, which Hahnemann called the law of similarity: "For the chronic disease we want to cure, we must use the drug that can create a very similar artificial disease."
Thus, he discovered the basic principle of homeopathy: like cures like - "similia similibus curantur". For six years he kept his idea, again engaged in medical practice, studying a new principle and accumulating clinical experience, which was needed to prove this idea. He first published his teachings in 1796 in the medical journal of Hufeland, so that colleagues in the profession could impartially evaluate new method. In 1805, the first experiments on the action of various drugs on a healthy person were published in Latin, where the word homeopathy was first mentioned. He called the new therapy "Homeo" (similar) "pathy" (suffering).
In 1810, Hahnemann published the first six editions of his Organon, in which he outlined homeopathic philosophy. Already in the first years after the publication of the Organon of the Medical Art, a whole series of attacks and insults fell on the lot of the bold reformer. It must be said that homeopathic medicines did not require a large amount of raw materials for the manufacture of medicines and Hahnemann himself prepared them for his patients. Doctors and pharmacists declared a merciless war on both Hahnemann and homeopathy, seeing in it direct competition and undermining their activities. But this could not frighten Hahnemann.
In 1806, he turned to colleagues with a popular article in which he proved the effectiveness of a new method of treatment on facts that could not be dismissed or invalidated. This method called Homeopathy attracted the attention of doctors and scientists of many specialties. Confirmation of the action of homeopathy was not long in coming.
At that time, hostilities were going on in Europe, Napoleon attacked Leipzig, there were many killed and ill with typhus, an epidemic broke out. Hahnemann and his followers treated the surviving wounded and typhus patients with very good results. Those who were lucky enough to get to Dr. Hahnemann recovered. Moreover, Hahnemann sent recommendations to practicing doctors all over the country for the treatment of the typhus epidemic. The use of homeopathy has saved hundreds and thousands of patients throughout the country. This was the first proof of the effectiveness of homeopathy.
In 1831, a cholera epidemic raged through Central Europe. Hahnemann also took a direct part in overcoming the epidemic and then published works on the homeopathic treatment of the disease, which contributed to the widespread dissemination of homeopathy among doctors. It must be said that antibiotics were discovered later, and their introduction contributed to the oblivion of the results of homeopathic treatment of dangerous infections.
In 1811, Hahnemann arrived in Leipzig for the second time, wishing to acquire an independent chair and clinic for the practical application of his theory. He did not succeed. Then Hahnemann sent out an appeal to doctors, inviting them to listen to lectures on homeopathy, and gradually gathered around him a circle of adherents, who soon became his students. With their help, he came out in 1811-1819. the foundation of homeopathy is Pure Medicine (Reine Arsneimittellehre), in six large volumes containing the results of a study of sixty-two remedies.
In 1821, Duke Ferdinand called the famous physician as a life physician to his court in Anhalt-Köthen and gave him complete freedom to practice medicine throughout the country. Hahnemann was no longer alone; a significant circle of his adherents was formed from doctors whose names everyone knows Beningshausen, Hal, Quinn, Goering. Thus, the future of homeopathy was secured. The names of Farington, Sharett, Boericke, Gerhard, Stiegele, Allen, Hughes and many others still adorn the gallery of world homeopathy.
In 1828 -1830. Another work of Hahnemann was published: Chronic Diseases. In Köthen, Hahnemann had a lot of practice; patients from other countries came to him for treatment. Hahnemann gained not only fame, but also some material well-being.
But adversity lay in wait for him even at that time. His only son left Germany and went missing. His wife, who shared with him the days of disaster and glory, died, his daughters got married - and Hahnemann was left alone in his house. However, he remarried a young Frenchwoman, Melanie d'Hervil Goya, who was successfully cured by Hahnemann.
Despite the fact that he was more than twice her age, they understood each other well, since Melanie was a very enlightened woman of her time, was fond of natural science, medicine, and painted wonderful pictures. She was Hahnemann's faithful assistant in medical practice, and they remained close friends until his last days.
After their marriage, they went to Paris, which at that time was the center of the whole world. Paris and France could appreciate Hahnemann's merits better than Germany. Indeed, upon his arrival in Paris, Hahnemann received, through the agency of the Duke d'Guise, the highest permission to freely distribute and practice his method of treatment.
For eight years Hahnemann practiced in Paris, visited by visiting doctors and patients from everywhere; hence homeopathy spread throughout the world.
He died on July 2, 1843, at the age of 89, enjoying the general respect and love of the society around him. Samuel Hahnemann wished that these words be written on his grave: “There are two treasures in life: perfect health and an impeccable conscience; homeopathy gives the first, love for God and neighbor gives the second.
Hahnemann was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery, the students and associates of Samuel Hahnemann made another inscription: “He did not live his life in vain!”
This portrait was painted by Melanie when Hahnemann was 83.
Hervil Goya, who was successfully cured by Hahnemann.
"The highest and only appointment of the doctor is to restore health to the patient - to cure him."
Samuel Hahnemann
Homeopathy is a highly systematized method of powerfully stimulating the body's vital force in order to cure disease. It is based on several simple but deep laws of Nature, which, however, contradict conventional wisdom. The ramified system of homeopathy is too complex to be learned in a few seminars or by reading this book. Its laws are easy to formulate, but difficult to understand. It takes many years of study and practice to start using them; no less, if not more, than for conventional medical education.
As a good introduction to Homeopathy, we should turn to a story from 170 years ago, one of the most interesting in the history of medicine. It revolves around one person. I am sure that in time this man will take his place among such giants of history as Einstein, Newton and Hippocrates. Like them, this man, with his discoveries, radically and for a long time changed our ideas not only about health and disease, but also about nature in general. Therefore, we will now follow in more detail his life, the evolution of his thoughts, which should help us to clarify the basic principles of homeopathy.
In 1810, in Torgau, a small German town, the book "Organon of Medical Art" was published. Its author, Samuel Hahnemann, was known as an eminent physician and author of medical books, so the publication of his new work in itself aroused the interest of readers. However, after reading the book, the European medical community was outraged. They were offered a completely new system of medicine, fundamentally opposed to the traditional medicine of that time.
Hahnemann called his system of medicine homeopathy - from the Greek homeos "similar" and pathos "suffering". Thus, homeopathy means "treatment with something that produces an effect similar to the suffering itself." In the new book, Hahnemann outlined the laws and principles of his science, collected empirically over 20 years. In short, Hahnemann argued and argued that:
1. Healing occurs in accordance with certain laws inherent in nature.
2. Healing bypassing these laws is impossible.
3. There are no diseases as such, there are only sick people.
4. Since disease is a state of dynamic nature, the remedy must be the same.
5. At each stage of the disease, the patient needs only one remedy. If this remedy is not found, then he cannot be cured, but may get temporary relief.
The beneficial effect of homeopathy was so noticeable that the new method began to quickly gain recognition in Europe and in the world. However, when first published, Hahnemann's book met with the most severe resistance from doctors, who still prescribed bloodletting, laxatives and diaphoretics to patients. But Hahnemann was not discouraged: an extraordinary personality, he was accustomed to misunderstanding.
His first biographer, Thomas Bradford, tells how Hahnemann's father locked up his son alone for what he called "mental exercises"*,
*Thomas Lindslcy Bradford, "Life and Letters of Dr. Samuel Hahnemann: Pliiladelphin, Boericke & Tafel, 1895.
those. tasks that the boy had to solve on his own. Thus, Hahnemann developed intuition and understood the limitations of rational logic.
Hahnemann showed signs early development in almost everything he touched. So, at the age of 12, he received an assignment from his teacher to teach Greek to other children. At the university, he took up chemistry and medicine, as well as translating books on these sciences from of English language into German. In 1779 he graduated from the University of Leipzig with a medical degree and soon published a series of papers on medicine and chemistry. In 1791, for his work in chemistry, he was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences in Mayens. His "Apothecary Dictionary" became a universally recognized textbook of that time; he was chosen to carry out the standardization of the German Pharmacopoeia.
Soon after completing his medical education, Hahnemann married and had children. Having a family and a solid reputation in chemistry and medicine, he nevertheless continued to experience dissatisfaction. Much to the chagrin of colleagues and friends, he left the practice of medicine. Explaining his act, he wrote to one of his friends:
"It was torment for me to wander in the dark while treating a patient, prescribing a remedy in accordance with one hypothesis or another, which fell into pharmacology due to someone's arbitrary judgment. Shortly after my marriage, I left the practice of medicine, since I could no longer put patients at risk That's why I turned exclusively to chemistry and writing."
Hahnemann's convictions did not waver even after his beloved children fell ill. He wrote to a friend: "My doubts were doubled when I found that I could not give the children any permanent relief." Hahnemann continued to translate, providing the family with a very meager source of subsistence. By his practice as a doctor, he could have provided the family with a comfortable existence, but he preferred poverty to the need to accept a system whose errors and uncertainty disgusted him.
But Hahnemann's mind remained inquisitive, open and systematic. He relentlessly explored the basic questions of health and disease. At this time, he stumbled upon the first fundamental law of homeopathy. He translated Materia Medica (collection of information on the action of medicinal substances), written by Cullen, a professor at the University of London. Cullen devoted 20 pages of the book to the medicinal indications of Peruvian bark (the source of what is now called quinine).
The author attributed the beneficial effect of the drug in the treatment of malaria to its bitter taste. Hahnemann was so dissatisfied with the explanation that he did something completely out of the ordinary: he took Peruvian bark himself! This act had no precedent in medicine. It is still unknown what prompted him to do this, but the experiment began a new era in medicine. He described the result as follows:
"I began to take 4 drachmas of good cinchona twice a day, which made my feet, fingertips, etc. become cold, I became lethargic and sleepy. Then my heart began to beat, the pulse became small and hard. My limbs were seized trembling and weakness, the head throbbed, the cheeks reddened, intense thirst set in. In short, all the symptoms characteristic of intermittent fever appeared, except for a tremendous chill. each part of the body. The attack lasted each time for about 2-3 hours and recurred only in case of taking the medicine. I stopped taking the medicine and became completely healthy "*.
*T. L. Bradford, op. cit.
Imagine how Hahnemann was shocked by the result of this experiment! It has always been generally accepted in medicine that when a symptom occurs, a remedy should be given to alleviate that symptom. This connection is imprinted into the minds of physicians and patients to the point of automaticity. However, Hahnemann discovered from his own experience that a medicine that helps with malaria causes exactly these symptoms in a healthy person!
Many would simply ignore these observations as exceptions. But Hahnemann was a real empirical scientist. For him, it was the fact that was more important, regardless of whether it fits the generally accepted dogmas or not. Taking his observation seriously, he began further experiments. The results confirmed that his "accidental" observations reveal a real phenomenon of Nature: a substance that causes certain symptoms in a healthy person cures them in a sick person.
This discovery, apart from the fact that its author was already widely known, attracted to Hahnemann a significant number of doctors - seekers of truth like him. Together they began to experiment on themselves, taking various means. These experiments continued for six years. All observations after taking each of the drugs were meticulously recorded. At the same time, Hahnemann, who had access to an extensive medical library and was fluent in Latin, Greek, Arabic, English and French, compiled the most extensive collection of records of accidental poisoning made by doctors from different countries over many centuries. Descriptions of symptoms caused by poisons were combined with those obtained in experiments on Hahnemann and his doctor friends - into detailed volumes.
Hahnemann and his colleagues soon discovered that these symptom complexes were similar to many diseases that scientific medicine was powerless to face. Having tried these medicines in patients who were found to have similar symptoms, they were amazed at the cures achieved according to this principle of the so-called "incurable" diseases. Hahnemann made sure that any medicine helps with exactly the group of symptoms that it causes in a healthy body.
The process by which the pathogenesis of various substances is experimentally evoked in a healthy organism was called by Hahnemann the "testing" of a drug. Orthodox medicine (which homeopaths call "allopathy" from the root allo, meaning "other") is also testing drugs; but the important difference is that allopaths test drugs on animals. Animals don't talk. They can't tell you about the subtle mood changes, the different types of pain that the test people can describe. In addition, the physiology of animals differs significantly from that of humans. Hahnemann clearly understood the limitations of medicine based on animal experiments. To create a valid therapy, the experiment must be carried out under the same conditions, within the same framework, in which the medicine will work. It requires simple common sense, but for Hahnemann's contemporaries it was a revolution.
After devoting several years to experiments, Hahnemann returned to medical practice, but already homeopathic. During the consultation, he recorded all the physical and mental symptoms of the patient. Then he looked for a homeopathic remedy that caused similar symptoms in him or his colleagues (or these symptoms were observed as a result of accidental poisoning). Thus, he achieved very significant success in treatment, and sometimes he achieved a quick and lasting effect even with a single dose of medicine!
The homeopathic principle, known today as the Law of Similars, is justified by Hahnemann in the 19th paragraph of the Organon.
“Since diseases are nothing but a change in the state of health of a healthy person, manifested by visible signs, and as a cure is possible only through a change in a diseased state to a healthy one, it is easy to understand that it would not be possible to cure drugs if they did not have the power to change the state of human health, the sensations and functions of the body, and that their healing property is based only on this power.
Hahnemann, having understood and formulated this fundamental law, did not feel himself to be its discoverer. He quotes many authors who, it seems to him, formulated or even hinted at this law long before him. For example, Hippocrates several times in his books calls two methods of treatment: "similar" and "opposite". Bulduk wrote long before Hahnemann that rhubarb cures diarrhea due to its laxative properties. Another author, Betharding, said that the herb senna cures colic precisely because it causes it in healthy people. And a contemporary of Hahnemann Stahl wrote that "the rule accepted in medicine to treat with the opposite is completely false. On the contrary, diseases are cured and disappear from drugs that can cause a similar defeat"*.
*S.Hahnemann, Organon of the Art of Healing, 6th ed. Boericke and Tafel, Phila., 1917, p. 46. Turning back into the depths of centuries, to the Old Testament times, we will meet the statement of Mekilta that a person heals by opposite means, and God - by similar ones!
"Come and see: the healing of the Holy One, blessed be He, is not like that of a man. A man does not heal with the same thing that hurts: he wounds with a knife, but heals with a plaster. But not so Holy, blessed be He, for He heals with the same, than strikes."
*"Mekilta de-rabbi Ishmael", trans J.Z.Lauterbach, The Jewish Publication Soc. of America, Phila., p. 239.
Although others noticed this principle, Hahnemann's genius took a huge step forward. He was given to see that the Law of Similars is a deep truth, that we can determine the medicinal properties of substances by systematically testing them on healthy people. This systematic method was the first of his many contributions to medical thought.
The founder of homeopathy, as an independent system of treatment in medicine, is considered to be a German scientist - Friedrich Christian Samuel Hahnemann.
He was born on April 10, 1755 in Saxony, in the small town of Meissen . Both his grandfather and his father were artists of the famous porcelain factory and prepared their son for this. It is possible that it was precisely this circumstance, the deep sense of harmony that art gives, that left an imprint on Hahnemann's personality and scientific activity.
Hahnemann did not become an artist, he chose medicine. He received his medical education in Leipzig (1775), from 1777 in Vienna, then in Erlangen. In 1779 he defended thesis. In 1781 he supplemented his medical education with the study of pharmacy in Dessau.
After graduating from university, Hahnemann devoted several years to the practice of medicine. He was not satisfied, but rather disappointed with the possibilities of medicine. Later he began teaching at the Leipzig Academy. At the same time, Hahnemann was translating scientific literature, because knew almost all European languages and several ancient ones. His areas of interest were chemistry and pharmacology.
In terms of his personality, Hahnemann was an outstanding person, distinguished by great activity in his work. The experimental sciences had not yet taken shape, and experiments on the sebe were almost the only opportunity for drug research. He tried out the medicines he read about.
In 1784, S. Hahnemann, having married Henriette Küchler, the stepdaughter of a Dessau pharmacist, moved to Dresden, where he practiced medicine in city hospitals. Since 1789, the first Leipzig period of S. Hahnemann's life begins. By this time, he already enjoyed the reputation of a scientist and an experienced practitioner. The literary activity of S. Hahnemann was not limited to translations. He became the author of the following works: "On arsenic poisoning", "Instruction to thoroughly heal old premature and rotten ulcers", "Guide for doctors to venereal diseases"; invented a method for making soluble mercury, described Chemical properties bile and gallstones, etc.
Medical practice did not bring satisfaction to S. Hahnemann. At that time, therapeutic methods were used that exhausted patients: large doses of diaphoretic, emetic, diuretic and laxatives, frequent and abundant bloodletting were performed. All this led to discouragement, gave rise to a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness of medicine. S. Hahnemann is gradually moving away from medical practice, immersing himself in literary work, including translations.
In 1790, Hahnemann translated the medicine science of the Edinburgh professor W. Cullen ("Materia Medica"). In the section on quinine, he was struck by the contradictions in the description of its therapeutic effect, and Hahnemann took quinine in a therapeutic dose, observing its effect. To his surprise, the symptoms he noted matched those of malaria, which he had previously contracted. He developed a typical periodic fever.
An innate sense of harmony and a philosophical mindset demanded a search for patterns. It became clear to him that cinchona had taken an exceptional position in the treatment of malaria because it itself was capable of producing the same picture. This analogy became for Hahnemann the principle of choosing medicines for treatment.
The principle postulated by S. Hahnemann received numerous private confirmations. For example, mercury preparations in toxic doses affect the body, affecting many organs and systems, while the large intestine is significantly damaged (severe ulcerative colitis). Meanwhile, these drugs in small doses act favorably in dysentery-like colitis. Arsenic causes cholera-like diarrhea, and in homeopathic use, arsenic preparations cure diarrhea of various nature. Iodine irritates the respiratory tract, and in small doses it has a beneficial effect on bronchitis. Sulfur with prolonged exposure leads to widespread dermatitis, and in homeopathy Sulfur iodatum cures various skin diseases. Cantharis vesicatoria (Spanish fly) in toxic doses causes inflammation of the bladder, and in homeopathic doses it alleviates the suffering of patients with cystitis and urethritis. Ergot in large doses causes severe damage to the body with vasospasm, complicated by the development of gangrene, and in small doses Secali cornutum is successfully used in obliterating atherosclerosis, etc. Gradually matured the concept that formed the basis of homeotherapy as new system treatment.
Hahnemann, who does not ascribe to himself other people's discoveries, writes that the principle of similarity as a possible principle for choosing a remedy for treatment has been known for a long time. His merit lies in the fact that he came to the conclusion that this should not be done with isolated cases, but always with all medicines, and this is general principle choice of drugs.
In 1796, Hahnemann published his work "Experience of a new principle for finding the healing properties of medicinal substances" in von Tufeland's journal, which can be considered the first work that proclaimed the principles of homeopathy, and this date can be considered the year of birth of a new trend in medicine. Hahnemann then stopped teaching at the university and returned to medical work. He had to test in practice the universality of the principle of similarity, in the future expressed by the formula“Simila similibus curantur” (“Like cures like”).
Samuel Hahnemann's main work, The Organon of the Art of Medicine, is considered throughout the world to be the foundational classic of homeopathy. First published in 1810, 20 years after S. Hahnemann's discovery of the homeopathic method of treatment, the "Organon" contains the philosophical, theoretical and practical aspects of homeopathy as presented by the author of the method of homeopathy.
The book has been reprinted many times and translated into many languages. The fifth edition of the Organon in Russian translation by V. Sorokin was published in 1884. Of particular interest is the sixth edition of the Organon, carefully revised by S. Hahnemann at the age of 86, during the last period of his medical practice in Paris. According to W. Berike, an outstanding homeopath of the early 20th century, who prepared the last text of the work edited by the author for publication in 1922, it was a variant of the fifth German edition, published back in 1833, "literally interbedded with handwritten sheets." The last version, published only 80 years after the end of the author's work on it, S. Hahnemann himself considered "the closest to perfection."
The preface to the "Organon" was written by S. Hahnemann back in 1833 and confirmed by him when preparing the 6th edition of the book. The preface compares the old medical school (allopathy), with its constantly weakening influences on the sick (at that time, repeated bloodletting was performed, numerous leeches, blood-sucking cups, enemas, etc.) were compared with homeopathy, which “avoids everything, even in the slightest degree weakening the sick" and "is a saving and blessed work." Without such a comparison, sharp and mutually concluding, at that time it would have been impossible to single out, establish and develop the homeopathic system of treatment, which coexists today with other areas of healing, enriched with major successes and achievements.
The first part of the "Organon" contains the main theoretical ideas of the author and his provisions on the mechanisms of the homeopathic and therapeutic effect (like is treated with like). The ideal of treatment, according to S. Hahnemann, is “a quick, gentle and final restoration of health ... in the shortest, most reliable and safe way based on easily understood principles. But the doctor is also "the guardian of health, because he knows the factors that upset health and cause death, and knows how to protect healthy people from them." The doctor must be a true practitioner of the healing art, and the true purpose of the doctor "consists not in scientific chatter, but in helping the afflicted." S. Hahnemann calls for healing without theorizing.
The second section of the Organon contains practical recommendations for the use of homeopathy. In order to treat correctly and effectively, the doctor must examine the patient, know the effect of drugs and apply them correctly. Among the “exciting” causes of acute diseases, negative influences are distinguished environment, mental influences, "acute miasms". Some of them “may affect each person no more than once in a lifetime, such as smallpox, measles, whooping cough, scarlet fever, mumps, etc.”, while others “often recur while maintaining the basic nature of their manifestations” . S. Hahnemann notes that acute illnesses “most often are temporary exacerbations of latent psora”. This thesis is close and understandable to the modern reader. For example, acute nephritic syndrome in most cases turns out to be an exacerbation of chronic nephropathy, the nature of which is specified by nephrobiopsy. Among chronic diseases, S. Hahnemann distinguishes between true and false ones. The first are miasmatic diseases (syphilis, sycosis and psora), the second are the result of the abuse of drugs or the result of exposure to certain harmful substances (eating disorders, the use of stimulants, etc.). In acute illnesses, the vital force of the sick person is able to overcome them, or the miasma overcomes the vital force in a short time. Therefore, according to S. Hahnemann, the outcomes of acute miasmatic diseases are recovery or death. It is impossible not to add: the transition of the disease into a protracted or chronic form is possible.
The final section of the Organon deals with activities that support homeopathic treatment. S. Hahnemann confirms the action on the “life principle” of “the dynamic force of mineral magnets, electricity and galvanism”. He has a positive attitude towards "animal magnetism", proposing to call it mesmerism out of respect for Mesmer. "The strong will of a person, acting from the best of intentions on the patient through contact and even without it, and even at some distance, can dynamically transmit the vital energy of a healthy hypnotist", "the power of a strong good will can sometimes work wonders." These considerations of S. Hahnemann do not seem alien and unacceptable to us today. The author endows many "manual procedures" with a "calming and irritating" effect. Massage is especially effective when it is "done by a strong, benevolent person," but this method "should not be unnecessarily applied to hypersensitive patients." It is useful to add baths to general treatment during the period of recovery and improvement of the patient's condition "with due attention to the condition of the convalescent, water temperature, duration and frequency of repetition of procedures." Apparently, the creator of homeopathy does not deny the role of music therapy: “the gentlest sounds of the flute coming from afar ... can fill a tender heart with sublime feelings and dissolve it in religious ecstasy.”
His authority as a skilled doctor is growing every year, the practice is expanding. At the same time, S. Hahnemann constantly faces discontent, envy and opposition from doctors and pharmacists. In the period from 1793 to 1810, S. Hahnemann often had to move from one city to another, practicing in Molshkben, Göttingen, Pyrmont, Braunschweig, Wolfenbüttel, Köningslütter, Alpton , Hamburg, Melne, Maheme. In parallel with the practice, a voluminous "Pharmacist's Lexicon" was compiled, which created S. Hahnemann's fame as an authoritative expert in pharmacy. In its final form, the concept of homeopathy is presented in the first edition of the famous Organon.
The most important stage in the development and spread of homeopathy was the second Leipzig period of the life of S. Hahnemann (І8ІІ-І82І), when he taught at the university. Despite the opposition of numerous enemies, he successfully defended his thesis at the Faculty of Medicine, presenting a detailed historical and medical study "On the Helleborism of the Ancients." Extraordinary depth of study of the subject, brilliant knowledge huge amount ancient sources, the persuasiveness and logical presentation eliminated all the objections of even the most unfriendly opponents. Having received the right to teach at the largest European university, S. Hahnemann rallied numerous students and followers around him. It was a period of rapid development of knowledge and practical experience in homeopathy, accumulation of detailed descriptions of the pathogenesis of homeopathic medicines.
In 1811, his book "Pure Medicine" was published in 6 volumes, which describes 60 medicines. In 1828, the book "Chronic Diseases" was published in 5 volumes. In these books, in addition to the law of similarity, two other rules of homeopathy are described: the use of small doses and the need to test the effect of drugs on a healthy person.
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Along with the successes of homeopathy, the growth of the authority of S. Hahnemann and his school, the forces of his opposition also grew. A lawsuit arose between him and the Leipzig pharmacists, who demanded that they transfer the manufacture of any drugs into their own hands. As a result, S. Hahnemann was officially ordered to prescribe all his homeopathic medicines exclusively through ordinary allopathic pharmacies, which are in the hands of violent opponents of homeopathy. This was tantamount to a ban on homeopathic medical practice in Leipzig.
In the summer of 1821, S. Hahnemann was forced to move to the small town of Keten under the auspices of Duke Ferdinand of Anhalt-Keten, an adherent of homeopathic treatment. S. Hahnemann, the fame of whose medical art had already spread throughout Germany, again received the freedom of medical practice with the right to independently prepare and dispense homeopathic remedies. Patients began to flock to Kethen not only from all regions of Germany, but also from neighboring countries.
In the Keten years, S. Hahnemann published a major multi-volume work “Chronic Diseases”, which was based on the concept of miasms. The most important principles of homeopathy were also thoroughly clarified and detailed - potentiation or dynamization of drugs, proof and explanation of the effectiveness of small doses. In 1831, when cholera spread in Europe, S. Hahnemann suggested using homeopathic remedies (camphor, veratrum, copper salts) to treat this most serious disease that claimed thousands of lives. The positive effect of homeopathy was confirmed by many doctors of that time, in particular, in Austria, Hungary, England, Italy, Russia, etc.
In 1830, S. Hahnemann suffered a misfortune - the death of his wife, who was his faithful friend and companion in all life's hardships and numerous relocations, who gave him 11 children. After the death of his wife, he continued his solitary life and practice in Köthen. The number of patients who came to S. Hahnemann increased. In 1835, at the age of 80, he married 35-year-old Parisian Maria Melanie Harvey and moved to Paris.
The last, Parisian period of S. Hahnemann's life was full of intensive medical practice. He became one of the most popular doctors in Paris, was surrounded by honor and respect.
However, attacks on the teachings of Hahnemann continued at this time. In 1845, the Council of Medicine asked the French Minister François Guizot to take action against homeopathy, to ban its use, but Guizot replied very cleverly: “If homeopathy is a chimera or a method of no value, it will disappear. But if, on the contrary, it is progressive, it will spread, no matter what they do. The Academy should desire this above all, since its task is to stimulate scientific progress and scientific discoveries.
Due to age and unbearable load, S. Hahnemann's health began to deteriorate. On July 2, 1843, at the age of 89, he died and was buried in Paris at the Pere Lachaise cemetery, where the Latin saying “Non inutilis vixi” (“I did not live in vain”) is engraved on a monument with a bust of S. Hahnemann.
For two centuries, homeopaths all over the world have sacredly observed the basic life principle of this great man: to treat "correctly, safely, quickly and reliably." She was, without a doubt, an outstanding personality, violent in character, brilliant in the magnitude of her talent.
Samuel Hahnemann was born in one of the most scenic spots Germany - Saxony, in the city of Meissen on April 10, 1755. Like most of the inhabitants of this city, Hahnemann's father painted the famous Meissen porcelain. The old man wanted his sons to master the craft and continue the family business. However, fate prepared Samuel a different path.
FROM lower grades School teachers were delighted with the boy's abilities, especially he excelled in the natural sciences and languages. His father, short of money, took him out of school for a whole year. The teachers begged Hahnemann Sr. to let the boy continue his studies and were ready to teach him for nothing. Finally, the father gave in...
At the age of 12, Samuel was entrusted with teaching the basics of Greek to other students and was allowed to attend classes of his own choice. Young Hahnemann was the undisputed favorite of the teachers, but his classmates also loved him for his meek disposition and kind character.
Father, Hahnemann Sr. was not very educated, but it was precisely by his simple principles that great doctor will be guided all his life "To live and work without boasting and external gloss."
After graduating from school, Samuel enters the medical faculty of the University of Leipzig. There is not enough money for education, and the young man is forced to interrupt his education and enter the service of the governor of Transylvania as a family doctor and caretaker of his luxurious library. Having gained access to rare medical tomes, the young doctor immerses himself in their study and, along the way, earns money for further education. Two years later, the accumulated funds are enough to study at the cheaper University of Erlagen.
Having received the title of Doctor of Medicine, Samuil, instead of the service of a doctor, switches to the study of pharmacy, chemistry and translation activities. Very soon he becomes known as a talented chemist and translator, whose comments on translated books turn out to be almost more valuable than the originals.
To understand the role that Samuel Hahnemann played in the development of medicine, one must have a good idea of how things were in this area.
At the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, physiology, pathology and diagnostics in the usual sense of these sciences almost did not exist.
The most common therapy of that time was based on the opinion that the cause of all diseases is plethora, and the main remedy for all diseases is bloodletting and defecation. The abuse of emetics, laxatives, clysters, blood-sucking cups, leeches, and especially bloodletting, knew no bounds. Clysters were prescribed to patients daily for many years. Received the best treatment of all, the King of France, Louis XIII, received 47 bloodlettings, 215 emetics and laxatives, and 312 enemas in one year! The great Goethe was completely exhausted physically and mentally by 400 bottles of Marienbad Kreuzbrunnen prescribed to him a year, with daily addition of bitter salt and pills from rhubarb, jalapa and azafoetida. The most common means of "treatment" at that time: saltpeter, mercury, iron, quinine , opium, etc. Drugs were prescribed in incredible doses: mercury - to ulceration of the gums, destruction of teeth and complete poisoning of the body, opium - to stupor. Needless to say, these procedures often proved fatal to patients.
The nature of Samuel Hahnemann could not accept such a state of affairs. The doctor openly rejected therapies that had been lauded by his colleagues for centuries as irrational and inappropriate.
In 1784, after abandoning medical practices that were contrary to his views, Dr. Hahnemann earns his living as a translator and conducts personal research on the errors of medicine.
In 1790, while translating William Cullen's Treatise on Materia Medica, Samuel Hahnemann was confronted with the symptoms of poisoning with cinchona, the bark of the Peruvian tree, and the claim that cinchona was effective in treating malaria due to its astringent properties. However, other substances with astringent properties have not been any effective in the treatment of malaria! Hahnemann himself had been ill with malaria and knew the disease very well. A flash of genius helped him to grasp the main thing - the symptoms of cinchona poisoning and the symptoms of malaria, which it cures, were the same!
This allowed him to derive the principle: "What can bring out a set of symptoms in a healthy person can cure a sick person who shows a similar set of symptoms." This principle, which can be translated into Russian as "knock out a wedge with a wedge," became the basis of a new approach to medicine. However, the term "homeopathy" was first used by the author in Hufeland's Journal "Journal der praktischen Arzneikunde und Wundarzneikunst" only in 1796.
For 7 years after the cinchona revelation, Samuel Hahnemann has been collecting materials in the medical literature available to him. Also, he tests the effect of various poisons on himself and his volunteer followers and fixes the similarity of the symptoms of poisoning with the symptoms of diseases known to him.
Only after an extensive multi-year research work and obtaining an unequivocal result confirming the authenticity of his hypothesis, Samuel Hahnemann begins to treat patients in accordance with the understanding that has opened to him. Dozens of people pass through him and he makes another significant discovery - different psychotypes of people with different inclinations and eating habits react differently to the prescribed treatment. This fact allows him to formulate the concept of "the constitutional type of a drug."
Dr. Hahnemann diluted toxic substances in solution or powder to very low concentrations. The more he diluted the substance, the weaker its toxic properties became. However, instead of fading the healing effect, the healing power, on the contrary, increased. It was also noted that the healing power is the greater, the more intense and longer the shaking of the dishes in which the substance was diluted takes place.
Based on the experimental data obtained, Hahnemann will formulate the principles of a new method of treatment.
First principle: similia similibus curentur, which in Latin means "like cures like". The very same method of treatment was called "homeopathy" - "like a disease."
Second principle: The strength of the drug increases as its concentration decreases, and the solution is shaken during preparation. This process is called potentiation or dynamization.
Third principle: One simple remedy should be used for treatment. In order to determine the constitutional type of a remedy, it is first necessary to test it on a group of healthy people. This process is called the law of proving (testing drugs on healthy volunteers).
The recognition of homeopathy was helped by the successful fight against the cholera epidemic in 1831. In those days, it was possible to escape from it only by fleeing from the focus of defeat.
Dr. Hahnemann, who never encountered cases of cholera in his practice, on the basis of a mere description of its symptoms, finds them similar to those of camphor poisoning, hellebore and copper salts. He predicts that camphor, hellebore and copper will be homeopathic remedies for disease! He sends out several thousand circulars to all corners of the world with precise instructions in which periods of cholera and in what doses to take these medicines, and news soon returns from everywhere that homeopathy brilliantly conquers cholera. Thus, thousands of lives were saved, and the authority of homeopathy throughout the world was greatly strengthened.
Dr. Hahnemann has crowned patrons who give him protection and the opportunity to practice scientific activity, but the number of enemies is also growing. Adherents of the school of clysters and bloodletting were well aware that their age was ending and they overstepped the boundaries of all decency in slandering the progressive homeopathic doctor.
Also, it is impossible not to mention that in addition to working on the main business of his life - homeopathy, Samuel Hahnemann became the founder of several new directions for medicine of his time.
Such a familiar concept for us as hygiene was little known to anyone at that time.
Hahnemann emphasized the importance of care, nutrition, bed rest, and isolation of the sick during an epidemic. He argued that poor hygiene contributed to the spread of the disease. His success in the fight against cholera and typhoid fever was partly due to the recognition of this fact in society.
Also, Hahnemann managed to reverse the idea of treating people with mental disorders. In those days, the mentally ill were everywhere kept like animals, in chains and fetters, and instead of being treated, they were subjected to all kinds of torture and corporal punishment. In a new type of hospital organized by Samuel Hahnemann, with the help of humane treatment and homeopathy, he cured many patients, among whom was the famous scientist and writer, the Hanoverian minister Klokenbring, who suffered from manic insanity. Less than a year later, the minister left the clinic completely cured. It became another important step to the recognition of homeopathy.
Dr. Hahnemann became one of the first European pioneers of gentle and humane treatment of the mentally ill.
His life was full of struggle...First with poverty, then with prejudice, superstition and malevolence of colleagues. However, he always remained true to his lofty goal - to free humanity from disease and suffering. He was able to see the non-material side of the disease, believing that all diseases have not only physical, but also spiritual causes.
The personality of Samuel Hahnemann, without a doubt, entered the pantheon of glory the greatest people in history. His discoveries, his many years of medical practice and scientific work, his works "Organon of Medical Art", "Pure Medicine", "Chronic Diseases", "On Heleborism of the Ancients", "Experimental Medicine", "Aesculapius on the Scales" allowed scientists to take a fresh look at medicine and see in Man a small semblance of the Universe .
In 1834, Samuel Hahnemann lived in Koeten... Most of all he loved his garden, where in the warm season he received his sick and acquaintances, spent time resting and studying. Once, one of the many visitors, who had heard about Hahnemann and his garden, came to him at the very moment when the great physician was busy reading in the gazebo. The visitor, expecting to see a large luxurious garden, asked: "Where is the garden?" To which Hahnemann replied: "This is the garden." The visitor asked in surprise: "How, this little piece of land?" “Yes,” replied Hahnemann, pointing his finger at the sky, “it is very small and cramped, but look, it is infinitely high.”