About Hahnemann
Christian Fredrick Samuel Hahnemann was the genius who discovered a unique system of healing, which is popularly known to all, as ‘Homoeopathy‘. He rooted the foundation of this art and its principles through his extensive efforts, and devoted his entire life for the development and worldwide spread of Homoeopathy.
Birth and Academics
Medical Practice
End of a long journey
Birth and Academics
Hahnemann was born on 10th April 1755, in Meissen, a beautiful town across the river Elbe, in Saxony of Germany near Dresden. His father’s name was Christian Gottfried Hahnemann who was a painter in the porcelain factory and his mother was Johanna Christiana. Hahnemann was the third child of his parents. His parents guided him to read and write in the initial days till he started going to the town school where he completed his further education. His father was an idol for him and Hahnemann always had a strong desire to be a ‘hard task worker’ like him. He traveled to various places to gain good knowledge of medicine in spite of various obstacles and eventually completed his M.D. from the Erlangen University in 1779.
Medical Practice
After completing his M.D. Hahnemann started his medical practice in a small town. During that era, medical practitioners adopted harsh and cruel methods to treat the sick, which were not only ineffective but also had harmful effects on patients. Hahnemann was extremely disappointed by the then prevailing system of medicine and decided to leave his practice. He started studying chemistry and wrote many articles/essays regarding the same subject.
In 1790, while he was translating a book, Cullen’s Materia Medica, he came across an observation made by the author that cinchona bark cures ‘swamp fever’ (malaria) because it is bitter and has tonic effect on the stomach. In his quest for the true explanation, Dr. Hahnemann ingested 4 drachms of juice of the bark and was surprised to find that he himself developed symptoms of ‘malaria fever’. This experiment gave rise to the idea; that a substance cured an illness in a sick person because it was capable of producing symptoms, similar to the illness in an apparently healthy individual. This experiment led him to establish the principle of ‘SIMILIA SIMILIBUS CURANTUR’ (like cures like) in 1796 and thus a new system of medicine ‘HomoeopaTHY’ originated.
Later, he made important contributions in terms of translations, articles, books, and discovered curative values of many medicines. During this period Hahnemann had to face a lot of opposition from allopathic physicians but he stood firm and faced it with lot of grit and courage. However, he received a strong support not only from his disciples, but also from his first wife who was a great moral support to him during this struggling period.
Hahnemann’s long and sustained efforts bore fruit in the form of the first ‘Homoeopathic Hospital’ in 1832 and many Homoeopathic colleges opened all over Europe thereafter Hahnemann could not settle down his practice at one place because of his medical rivals, but this did not deter him from successfully spreading Homoeopathy. He was very popular amongst patients, and people from all over the world came to seek treatment from him. He got married for the second time at the age of 80 years and his second wife supported him in his journey thereafter.
In 1790, while he was translating a book, Cullen’s Materia Medica, he came across an observation made by the author that cinchona bark cures ‘swamp fever’ (malaria) because it is bitter and has tonic effect on the stomach. In his quest for the true explanation, Dr. Hahnemann ingested 4 drachms of juice of the bark and was surprised to find that he himself developed symptoms of ‘malaria fever’. This experiment gave rise to the idea; that a substance cured an illness in a sick person because it was capable of producing symptoms, similar to the illness in an apparently healthy individual. This experiment led him to establish the principle of ‘SIMILIA SIMILIBUS CURANTUR’ (like cures like) in 1796 and thus a new system of medicine ‘HomoeopaTHY’ originated.
Later, he made important contributions in terms of translations, articles, books, and discovered curative values of many medicines. During this period Hahnemann had to face a lot of opposition from allopathic physicians but he stood firm and faced it with lot of grit and courage. However, he received a strong support not only from his disciples, but also from his first wife who was a great moral support to him during this struggling period.
Hahnemann’s long and sustained efforts bore fruit in the form of the first ‘Homoeopathic Hospital’ in 1832 and many Homoeopathic colleges opened all over Europe thereafter Hahnemann could not settle down his practice at one place because of his medical rivals, but this did not deter him from successfully spreading Homoeopathy. He was very popular amongst patients, and people from all over the world came to seek treatment from him. He got married for the second time at the age of 80 years and his second wife supported him in his journey thereafter.
End of a long journey
By the end of his career, Hahnemann not only gained name, fame, recognition and money but above all he attained ‘peace’, after a long struggle with poverty, hardship and opposition. He spent the last few years of his life at Paris where he eventually passed away on 2nd July 1843 at the age of 89 years.
As a mark of respect to this great man, many statues and monuments are seen not only in Germany but also in other countries. His valuable works and contributions are stored as a treasury by Dr. Haehl in his museum.
As a mark of respect to this great man, many statues and monuments are seen not only in Germany but also in other countries. His valuable works and contributions are stored as a treasury by Dr. Haehl in his museum.