Cleave's biographical cyclopaedia of homoeopathic physicians and surgeons.

  • Cleave, Egbert.
Date:
1873 [©1873]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cleave's biographical cyclopaedia of homoeopathic physicians and surgeons. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    In 1805, he published a little work on The Positive Effects of Medicine, i. e. the effects produced by drugs on a healthy body. This was written in Torgau; but to make the ex- periments more perfect, he was compelled to return to Leipzig. In 1831, the cholera raged with fearful violence in Eastern Europe. Hahnemann sug- gested the use of camphor as a remedy, which led the way to the trial of the homoeopathic system in some of the hospitals of Russia with the most gratifying results. Again, in 1836, when a similar epidemic prevailed in Vienna, Dr. Fleischmann adopted that mode of treat- ment in the hospital of the Sisters of Charity with even greater success. Mr. Wilde re- marks, in connection with this fact, that on comparing the report made of the treatment ot cholera in that hospital, with that of the same epidemic in other hospitals in Vienna, at the same time, it appeared that while two-thirds of those treated by Dr. Fleischmann recovered, two-thirds of those treated by the ordinary methods died. Hahnemann resided fifteen years at Coethen, under the pi-otection of the Duke, pui-suing one of the most brilliant careers on record. He was constantly perfecting his system by ex- periments upon himself and his friends, many of them accompanied with extreme suffering. Not only did he enjoy the highest reputation at home, but the fame of his marvellous cures had spread itself throughout the whole of Europe, so that thousands of strangers of the highest rank flocked from abroad to profit by the advice of the illustrious founder of the new school of medicine. Here one of the most romantic marriages we have heard of took place. Mad'lle Marie Melonie D'Hervilly-Gohier, a member of one of the most distinguished fami- lies in France, was amongst the number of his patients. She was suffering from an appa- rently incurable pulmonary complaint and disease of the heart; had consulted almost every physician of eminence in Europe, had tried the climate of Italy, and employed all the ordi- nary methods of cure without avail, being pronounced by her physicians to be beyond medi- cal aid. Hahnemann effectively mastered the disease in an incredibly short space of time, and, upon her recovery, they were married, when he was in his eightieth year, his wife being some forty-five years his junior. She was charmed with his genius, his manners, and his noble character, and positively adored him till the day of his death. He, on his side, cher- ished and almost reverenced her; was never tired of speaking of her devotion and her bril- liant talents, and regarded her as his ministering angel, as well he might. Shortly after their marriage, he was persuaded by his wife to remove to Paris; not to increase his already oppressive popularity; but, on the contrary, to enjoy that ease and repose his declining years required. They travelled incognito, even his immediate friends and pupils being left in ignorance of their destination. His retreat, however, did not long remain undiscovered, and, thenceforward, his doors were daily besieged by throngs of sufferers, anxious to benefit by the skill of the great innovator. Indeed, such was the pressure upon him that, without the aid of his wife, he could not have borne it. We are indebted to the pen of an American lady, Helen Berkley, for a delightful and graphic picture of their joint lives in Paris. She saw them frequently both in private and during their hours of business. Madame Hahnemann was a woman in every way worthy of her husband, and possessed of most extraordinary talents. Wealthy in her own right, she refused to participate in her husband's fortune; a poetess of no mean order, and an artist, whose paintings had been ad- mitted into the galleries of the Louvre. She spoke and wrote fluently five or six languages, and had studied the homoeopathic system under her husband to such advantage, that she took almost the entire burden of consultation from his shoulders. She was always present at his receptions, putting questions, receiving replies, and noting minutely the symptoms of every case, merely appealing to Hahnemann in cases of difficulty, when he would reply, yes, my child, or, good, my child, and the consultation proceeded; she was tenderly beloved by her step children, and in short a family so united is rarely to be met with. 1