An interview with Samuel Hahnemann, by Iman Navab - Copyright © The ARHFC

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An interview with Samuel Hahnemann, by Iman Navab - Copyright © The ARHFC

An interview with
Samuel Hahnemann
by Iman Navab

First Edition
2013

A must have, a must read, for all.

Based on the actual events, statements and writings of

Dr. Samuel Hahnemann (April 10, 1755 - July 2, 1843)

Dear Reader,

There is no price for this book; it is free - a gift for you!

Instead, if you can, please purchase a copy of the Organon by
Dr. Hahnemann, and donate it as a gift to your local library.

Be well,

Iman P. Navab
Homeopath Historian

Copyright  The ARHFC

The Applied Research in Homeopathy Foundation of Canada

For Educational Purpose.

ISBN: 978-0-9739927-2-4

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An interview with Samuel Hahnemann, by Iman Navab - Copyright © The ARHFC

INDEX

Dedication note – page 4

A message from late Vaikunthanath Kaviraj – page 6

Foreword by Hal Sippel – page 7

Part 1: You and Your Family – page 10

Part 2: Your Profession – page 23

Part 3: Your Love-Life – page 69

Bibliography – page 72

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An interview with Samuel Hahnemann, by Iman Navab - Copyright © The ARHFC

Dedication


I dedicate this book with gratitude to

my beloved wife, my dearest children,



and to my best teacher,

Vaikunthanath Das Kaviraj
a noble Dutch homeopath-scientist that
left his physical-body on
March 2nd of 2013 at 6:30 pm in France.

Special thanks to
my friend Hal Sippel, for the great foreword for this
book. His energy and dedication for investigating the
science of homeopathy is outstanding;
…my best friend, my wife, Elie Lak, for her
unconditional love!
the talented Jane D. Taylor, for her incredible talent and
amazing vision for the artwork of Hahnemann!
…and the advisory board and members of the Applied
Research in Homeopathy Foundation of Canada, for
their continuous support.
Let’s forward homeopathy together!
Yours Truly,
Iman Navab

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An interview with Samuel Hahnemann, by Iman Navab - Copyright © The ARHFC

Master V.D. Kaviraj (October 31, 1946 - March 2, 2013)

Image source, with thanks to: Dr. Shashi Mohan Sharma
The Hahnemann College of Homeopathy - London, U.K.

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An interview with Samuel Hahnemann, by Iman Navab - Copyright © The ARHFC

A message from late Vaikunthanath Kaviraj:

Hi Iman brother,

You should know the opposition as well as your own

side. We need to understand exactly where they stand on
every part of the way to death. Your own side you must
know as well, to be able to cure. Organon, Chronic
Diseases, V Boenninghausen, Hering, Allen, Nash,
Borland, Boger, these are the names of the people you
need to study. You may have noticed the absence of
other names. They are simply not classical, regardless
their claims. They are the system-builders we should
avoid like the plague.
Hahnemann is my hero. I see Hahnemann as Saktyavesa-
Avatara. He is the true “Father of Medicine”. Once you
are well-versed in Hahnemannian homoeopathy, you can
read their books and pick out a few useful ideas. These
are never universal, but always specific, so they are easy
to spot.

I feel I can say everything to you. I need not holding

back anything. Thanks for all your efforts and I am
looking forward to your package. Hope to see you again
and not in the too distant future.

Warm regards and greetings to the rest of my family,

Kaviraj.
In the service of SB 1/5/33.

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 Foreword 
Iman Navab is my mentor and friend. He has taught me
classical homeopathy. He has founded a research
foundation reaching out to homeopaths around the
world. His passion and dedication have truly been
inspiring.

Imagine living in Europe two hundred years ago. It was

a dynamic time. The industrial revolution was under way
in Europe, with mass production about to irrevocably
change the world forever. It was the Classic Period of
music: Ludwig van Beethoven was writing his 9th
symphony, destined to become timeless itself. And a
revolutionary new system of medicine was being
formulated, based on ancient wisdom and modern
scientific principles. And it too would change our world
- forever!

Iman in his earlier work, the Miasma of Cancer shared

with us his understanding of that disease. In this new
work he opens a virtual time capsule and presents us
with Samuel Hahnemann as though we had just sat down
with him over a coffee. What follows is an insightful and
informative discourse with the founder of homeopathy.

Hal Sippel
Homeopath
Toronto

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“Scientific research is based on the idea that everything that

takes place is determined by Laws of Nature, and therefore
this holds for the action of people.”
~ Albert Einstein

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A Homeopathic Hospital Ambulance!

“Had Hahnemann been more tolerant of the errors and

absurdities, he might not have met with the same opposition
from the profession. But how could he?
It is the very nature of truth to have no toleration for error.
There are no degrees of comparison for the adjective true. A
thing must be either true or not true. Compromises in politics
are said to be necessary at times; but compromises in science
must be always unsatisfactory, for the reason that a scientific
truth cannot compromise with an unscientific error.”
~ Dr. Campbell, M.D.
Member of the Board of Physicians & Surgeons,
Ontario of Canada, 1892

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Part 1: You and Your Family

Interviewer: Your honour, what is your complete name?

Hahnemann: Christian Frederick Samuel Hahnemann.

I: Tell me about your place and date of birth:

Hahnemann: I was born on April 10th of 1755 at

approximately twelve o'clock midnight in the Electorate
of Saxony, one of the most beautiful parts of Germany.
My baptism took place on the second day, which was
Sunday.

I: Who was your grandfather?

Hahnemann: His name was Christoph Hahnemann, he

was a professional painter. His brother’s name was
Christian. My grandfather had seven children; three sons
and four daughters. The second son and fifth child of
was Christian Gottfried, he was my father.

I: Tell me about your parents:

Hahnemann: My father was born on the 24th July of

1720. Like my grandfather, my father was a professional
painter too. He was appointed as painter to the ceramic
and chinaware factory at Meissen. He was able to marry
at the age of 28 years. This marriage was of short
duration, as the young wife died nine months later after
giving birth to twins.

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He was accustomed to family life, so he married again

on November 2nd of 1750. His second wife, Johanna
Christiana Spiess, was the only daughter of the Captain
and Quartermaster of Saxe-Weimar. She became my
mother.

My parents taught me how to read and write while

playing. My father had found for himself the soundest
conceptions of that which is good and can be called
worthy of man. To act and to live without pretence or
show, was his most noteworthy principle, which
impressed me more by his actions than by his words. He
was frequently present though unobserved, where
something good was to be accomplished. In his deeds he
differentiated between noble and ignoble to so fine a
degree of correctness and practical delicacy of feeling, as
was highly creditable to him; in this also he was my
teacher.

While my father looked upon me with so much hope,

this was his thought that: ‘If this boy is permitted to
grow up by God, I will give him lessons in thinking.’
...Later on, always at a certain hour he said: ‘I must go
home now, I have to give a lesson to Samuel, a lesson in
thinking; that boy must learn to think.’

He also taught me never to be a passive listener or

learner. His ideas on the first principles of creation, the
dignity of mankind, and its lofty destiny, seemed
consistent in every way with his mode of life. This was
the foundation of my moral training.

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I: When did your parents pass away?

Hahnemann: My father passed away in November of

1784; and my mother passed away in May of 1790.

I: You mentioned that your father was a painter like your

grandfather; can you tell me more about that?

Hahnemann: My father Christian Gottfried and his

brother, my uncle, Christian August, were painters, and
both were employed in the porcelain factory as artists.
Therefore, there were three painters in the family, my
grandfather, my father and uncle. My father also
published a small book on water-colour painting.

I: What are the names of your siblings?

Hahnemann: My sisters’ names were Benjamina and

Charlotta Gerharduna. My brother’s name was Augustus.

I: Describe your family in one sentence:

Hahnemann: Spice of my life.

I: Describe your house in one sentence:

Hahnemann: My house was my castle.

I: The role of your wife in house?

Hahnemann: My wife had supreme control in the house.

I: What makes you anxious?

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Hahnemann: To do justice to the truth.

I: What is your motto?

Hahnemann: “Aude sapere” – Dare to be wise!

I: What do you think of this life?

Hahnemann: Earthly stage!

I: What do you think of forgiveness?

Hahnemann: Remorse imposes atonement.

I: Do you like music?

Hahnemann: I enjoy and play music with my family.

Occasional music is the best thing for cheering the
human soul.

I: Do you have any pets?

Hahnemann: I had a dog at one point.

I: Are you a religious person?

Hahnemann: Pure human understanding is a voice of

God. I have faith in a living God, the Almighty Architect
of the Universe, Creator and Supporter of the whole
world and of every individual. I believe in spiritualism.
I’m a strong opponent of materialism.
The mysterious, flight-like progression of spiders

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horizontally and upwards in the air; if this does not show

a perfect revelation of God's wisdom, power and
goodness,… if true religion is not to be learned from it,
then I am spiritually blind.

I: How is your relationship with God?

Hahnemann: I cannot cease to praise and thank God

when I contemplate his works. Providence owes me
nothing. I owe all to Providence. Yes, everything.
With heartfelt gratitude I acknowledge the infinite mercy
with which the Supreme Giver of all good things has
hitherto upheld my strength and mind amidst all attacks
of hostile men. Nothing without God's dispensation. The
ever-loving God, for whom no sufficiently worthy name
can be found, who tends all and cares for the
infinitesimal needs of the little animals in the dust,
invisible to the sharpest human eye.

I: What kind of pen and paper were you using for your
writings?

Hahnemann: I used mostly rough paper for my writings

of the earlier years with the use of an un-split quill. But
in October of 1833, my son-in-law sent me the first steel
pen with an ink powder, and from that time onwards I
used nothing but steel pens, and a smoother writing-
paper.

I: Speaking of papers, if one would be able to put

together only the letters that you wrote to your friends

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and colleagues, how much would they approximately

weigh?

Hahnemann: Just letters - about 37 ½ kilograms by

weight.

I: In total how many children do you have?

Hahnemann: Eleven children.

I: Who are your children? Tell me more about them!

Hahnemann: My eldest daughter and first child was

Henriette, she married Christian Friedrich Forster, and
he was a minister. Four children resulted from the
marriage, two sons and two daughters - Louis, Robert,
Angeline and Adelheid. After her husband's death my
daughter spent the rest of her life retired in Dresdorf in
the Harz district, and died there.

The second child was a son, Friedrich. Unfortunately he

suffered from rickets, which left him high-chested and
with a curvature of the spine. Despite his physical health
issues he yet seemed to have abundant mental capacities
and talents, which were developed in Torgau Grammar
School, and later, from 1808 onwards, at Leipsic
University. His knowledge and gift for languages were
noticeable and celebrated in his case.

My son then received his own doctorate and soon

afterwards Friedrich married and settled down as a
homoeopathic physician in Wolkenstein where he also

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acquired a homeopathic pharmacy. He was therefore

able to prepare his own medicines unhindered by current
legal regulations and administer the same to his patients.
However, he soon drew public attention on himself by
reason of his odd and unusual behaviour. In addition,
there was the envy of the apothecaries and of his
neighbouring colleagues because of his large practice.
Hence he first moved to Holland, then stayed some time
in Hamburg and finally migrated to England. This move
alone showed his excessive nervousness. From 1818
onwards, his letters continue to bear traces of temporary
mental disturbance, so I realized that my poor son is
actually going mad!

In his letters the individual sentences are often spaced on

a quarto sheet into capricious sections, separated from
one another by blank spaces, two or three fingers wide.
From 1828 onwards Friedrich was missing. What
happened to him cannot be positively determined.
Perhaps he migrated to America in that year because
about the year 1828 there practiced in the state of New
York a homeopathic physician, whose behaviour and
external appearance coincided entirely with those of
Friedrich, and that this physician was a German. He also
often told people in America that he was the son of the
founder of homeopathy and that he had left his native
country in order to avoid the eternal persecutions
constantly turned on him.

In the year 1832 there is said to have appeared in St.

Louis, a cholera epidemic, and a physician whose
description with regard to clothing, behaviour and

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physical defects again tallied with that of my son

Friedrich. He is said to have treated cholera patients with
homeopathic medicines, and in spite of the favourable
results which he achieved he would not accept any kind
of payment for his service. After that period my son
disappeared from this without leaving any trace, and
most probably passed away. Friedrich's widow was
living in fairly needy circumstances and died in March
of 1858. Their only daughter was married to Principal
Hohlfeld of Dresden. From the marriage there resulted
six children, three sons and three daughters.

My third child was again a daughter, Wilhelmine. She

married a musical conductor, Richter, of Gera, but she
died at thirty years of age. Her only son, Hermann
Friedrich Siegmund, died in May of 1866.

My fourth child was also a daughter, her name was

Amalie. She was first married to a Dr. Suss, whose
practice was in Wittenberg. Due to typhus he passed
away from this life before the birth of their first child.
Later the young widow with her son, Leopold, came
back to my house. From that time onwards she was my
right hand in my profession. It was her responsibility to
keep my patients' registers organized and in order, and to
coordinate my correspondence. In the year 1832 Amalie
married for the second time with a mill inspector named
Liebe. However the marriage did not last, she was
separated from him after a few years. After that she lived
with her two sisters in my house. There she died in
December of 1857. Amalie’s son, Leopold, born on the
24th October 24th of 1826, and lived at my house in

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Kothen until he was nine because his father died before

his birth. My grandson Leopold became a doctor too,
and he was allowed to bear the name of S. Hahnemann.
So for forty-seven years my grandson practiced in
London as a homoeopathic physician. He was twice
married and had one son and two daughters. In 1914, Dr.
Leopold S. Hahnemann died.

My fifth child was also a daughter, her name was

Karoline. She died unmarried, before her mother's death.

My sixth child, and the second son, was Ernst. He died

as an infant, as a result of an unfortunate road accident.

The seventh and eighth children were twin sisters, of

whom Friedrike lived while the other sister passed away
at birth. Friedrike married twice. Her first husband was a
Post Secretary to the Court. After his decease she
married an inspector of clothing for the Post Office. Both
marriages were childless. Later her second husband
moved to Dresden. After the death of her second
husband Friedrike was discovered murdered close to her
house. As it seems, she had been busy in the garden on
that day, when suddenly she was attacked by a man.
After the crime her murderer had ransacked her house
and took away all the money as well as all the bonds. By
chance Friedrike's sister Amalie happened to know the
numbers of the state bonds stolen and gave information
to the police about them. Not long after the murder a
respectably dressed man asked a man whom he met in a
Dresden street, where state bonds could be sold. That
man happened to be a plain clothes policeman and he

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took the inquirer to the police station. Here it was

discovered that the arrested man was in possession of the
robbed state bonds. He was then imprisoned. But before
sentence was passed he made an end to his life by
hanging himself in the prison cell.

My ninth child was again a daughter, her name was

Eleonore. She was married unhappily twice. Like her
sister Friedrike, Eleonore also suffered an untimely end.
Tragically her body was discovered in a pond. Suspicion
was immediately directed on a solicitor, to whom my
murdered daughter had donated all her fortune shortly
before. On the day of the murder this solicitor had been
seen several times in the company of Eleonore. After the
discovery of the body in the pond, he was arrested as a
suspect. But by showing a railway ticket he was able to
prove that he had left the city when Eleonore was still
alive. For lack of further proofs he was then acquitted. A
few years later he committed suicide.

The tenth and eleventh children, my two youngest

daughters were Charlotte and Luise, they were always
called in the family, Lottchen and Luischen. They were
together most of the time. Charlotte died unmarried in
April of 1863.

Quite in contrast to the general strict training of my

children, Luise, was petted as the “baby” of the family,
and in consequence of this she was very stubborn and
demanding. While still very young, only sixteen years of
age, she married my assistant Dr. Mossdorf. However

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the marriage had soon to be cancelled and Mossdorf

disappeared without leaving any trace.

At the beginning of 1835 I bought the neighbouring

house for my two youngest daughters and here they lived
near me. With the outside world they had little contact
and even in their own house they were obsessed by an
almost morbid anxiety. This was probably the result of
the strict training from their mother strengthened by the
constant fear of succumbing to the same fate as their two
sisters, Friedrike and Eleonore. At the last, Luise dwelt
alone in the paternal home until her death in July of
1878.



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Hahnemann’s Children Chart

No. Name of Year of Number of their children;

Hahnemann’s Birth Hahnemann’s grandchildren
Children

1 Henriette 1783 2 sons and 2 daughters

2 Friedrich 1786 1 daughter

3 Wilhelmine 1788 1 son

4 Amalie 1789 1 son

5 Karoline Early None because she passed

1790’s away unmarried.

6 Ernst 1794 None because he passed

away in the same year due to
a road accident.

7 Friedrike 1795 No children in her marriage.

8 Friedrike’s twin 1795 None because she passed

sister away at birth.

9 Eleonore Early No children in her marriage.

1800’s

10 Charlotte Early None because she passed

1800’s away unmarried.

11 Luise Early No children in her marriage.

1800’s

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A Homeopathic Hospital Ambulance!

“Hahnemann introduced an entirely novel and scientific

method of studying drug-action. He demonstrated the effect of
drugs on the living human being. Surely a method far superior
to the study of their toxic effect on animals!
Even if drugs did affect animals in precisely the same way
that they affected all other animals and humans, which is not
the case - what animal could initiate us into the suicidal
impulses of Aurum, the terror of death of Aconite?”
~ Sir John Weir, M.D., Royal Physician
The Royal Society of Medicine, U.K., 1932

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Part 2: Your Profession

Interviewer: What was your very first job?

Hahnemann: My father at first put me in a grocery store

to become a merchant but working in the shop was
dreadful and unendurable for me because I was drawn
irresistibly towards science and research.

I: That’s interesting, tell me more.

Hahnemann: I had often been obliged to hide myself in

order to be with my beloved books. I made a candlestick
out of clay so that I might read and learn in my hiding-
place at night, without my father noticing that a
candlestick was missing. I did not allow anything to
deter me.

I: How about your early school years?

Hahnemann: As a young boy, I was physically weak and

delicate; I was frequently ailing from over-studying. I
studied private all the time. I spent several years in the
Town School of Meissen, and when about sixteen years
of age I attended the Prince's School of that town. There
is nothing of special note to report about me at that
school, except that the Rector of the Prince's school,
Magister, loved me like his own child. He was my
teacher of ancient languages and German composition;
and I owe him a great debt of gratitude, for in honesty
and diligence few could equal him. In my twelfth year he

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authorized me to teach others the fundamentals of the

Greek language.

I: You mentioned that you were frequently ailing from

over-studying; were you reading a lot?

Hahnemann: Yes but I made it my duty to grasp what I

was reading rather than read too much, to read little but
correctly and to classify in my mind the portion already
read before continuing.

I: What subject didn’t catch your interest?

Hahnemann: Politics.

I: What attracted you more in natural sciences?

Hahnemann: Amongst the natural sciences botany

attracted me particularly.

I: What subject interested you more?

Hahnemann: Chemistry!

I: Interesting, but why botany and chemistry?

Hahnemann: Because from an early age I realized the

great importance of chemistry and botany for medical
science.

I: What were you doing in your spare time?

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Hahnemann: Study of botany, chemistry, mathematics,

geometry, astronomy, meteorology, and geography
occupied my hours of leisure, and with small journeys to
learn metallurgy and mining science filled some
considerable gaps left in my education.

I: Other than German, what other languages do you

know fluently?

Hahnemann: Latin, English, French, Italian, Greek,

Hebrew and Arabic.

I: Tell me about your move to the Leipsic University.

Hahnemann: In spring of the year 1775, when I was 20

years old, I was going to Leipsic University with 20
thalers for my support, the last money that I received
from my father. However by teaching German and
French to a wealthy young Greek, as well as by
translations from English, I procured for myself for a
time the means of survival, as I intended to leave Leipsic
after a while because the learning of practical side of
medicine, for which there was no institution in Leipsic,
encouraged me to go to Vienna at my own expense.

I: Where did you receive your medical training?

Hahnemann: I am grateful for my medical training to the

hospital of the Brothers of Mercy in Vienna, or rather to
the great practical genius of Dr. von Quarin. He was the
physician to the Prince's family. I had his friendship; I
was the only one at that time whom he allowed to

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accompany him to his private patients. He singled me

out, loved and taught me as if I had been one of his first
pupils in Vienna, or more than that, and all this without
ever being able to expect remuneration from me. My last
crumbs of subsistence were just about to vanish when
the Governor of Transylvania, Baron von Bruckenthal,
invited me on honourable terms to go with him as his
family physician and the custodian of his important
library. My duty was to arrange, under the strictest
conditions the Governor's extensive library and also
collection of coins, and at the same time act as his family
physician. Here I had the opportunity of learning several
other languages, and of acquiring knowledge of some
other sciences in which I was still lacking.

I: When exactly did you receive your doctor degree?

Hahnemann: On August 10th of 1779, I received my

degree in Doctor of Medicine. I was 24 years old.

I: What happened next?

Hahnemann: Towards the close of the year 1781, I

received an important appointment as Medical Officer of
Health for Gommern near Magdeburg. The previous
Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Wagner honoured me
with his intimate friendship, showed me the duties of a
physician in forensic medicine, for in his own branch of
science he was a master, and with the consent of the
town council he handed over to me, on account of his
illness, for a year, his complete work in the hospitals.

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This gave me an exceptionally valuable opportunity of

gaining experience in hospital and making observations.

I: Did you also translate any books other than foreign

medical books?

Hahnemann: Yes, my research in chemistry drew my

attention to a well-known Frenchman chemist, Demachy.
He was a well-recognised man in chemistry who was a
member of the Paris and Berlin academies on account of
his writings and investigations in chemical industry.
Demachy's work, “The wholesale manufacture of
chemicals, the science of preparing chemical products in
factories", was not only of importance to France but to
Germany also, because it tended to break the monopoly
of the manufacturers of that time, and to attract the
attention of intelligent and enterprising men to the
various fields of practical chemistry which could be
developed on a large scale. So I translated the whole
work of Demachy, and I also inserted numerous
footnotes, supplement facts and independent references.
This translation was important and helpful for Germany.

Another two examples of non-medical books that I

translated was my translation of the “Story of Abelard
and Heloise”, from the English version, which had 638
pages, and as well, the “Algemeine Deutsche
Bibliothek” of 1792 - Vol. 106, 243 pages, that was
about a story of the pair of French lovers, which had
such an important bearing on the ethical and church
history of the first half of the twelfth century, proves that

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I had studied foreign classic literature thoroughly and not

just as a pastime.

I: Wow that’s impressive!

Hahnemann: Keep in mind that during the years 1785 to

1789, in four years, I published more than 2,200 printed
pages, including translations, original works and essays.
This increased activity as a writer brought me not only to
the attention of the publishers, who approached me with
valuable and important projects, but also distinguished
societies elected me as an honorary member, such as the
Leipsic Economical Society and the Academy of
Science.

I: You also researched in different fields including

chemistry, give me an example about your work.

Hahnemann: One of my research works was on arsenic

poisoning. I wrote an essay on the forensic detection of
arsenic poisoning. This sphere of legal chemistry
received new stimulus through my research. In my work
I also recommended three more test methods for arsenic
in addition to those already known. I emphasised
especially the necessity of the additions of acids in these
methods. As well, I demanded prohibition of the sale of
arsenic, which at that time was largely sold by various
tradesmen under the description of “fever powders”.
Hence I made detailed suggestions for the prescribing of
poisons in general, which were carried out later. I

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classified the large number of recommended remedies as

antidotes and for poisoning by arsenic; I grouped
together the best remedies resulting from my personal
experiments.

I: You gave up your medical practice; so to support your

family, you had to be supported almost entirely by your
translation and literary work, right?

Hahnemann: Yes, and in order to live more cheaply and

at the same time to provide a better home in better
environment for my children, I moved after to the suburb
of Stotteritz, four or five km south-east of Leipsic. Here
also I had to struggle against poverty.

I: Tell me about your famous experiment on Cinchona -

Peruvian bark in the Cullen's Materia Medica.

Hahnemann: In the question of the medicinal effect of

Peruvian bark, Cullen defended the old opinion of the
efficacy of this remedy through its tonic effect on the
stomach. I opposed this opinion in his notes. By
combining the strongest bitters and the strongest
astringents we can obtain a compound which, in small
doses, possesses much more of both these properties
than the bark, and no fever specific can be made from
such a compound. This undiscovered principle of the
effect of the bark is probably not very easy to find.
I took, for several days, as an experiment, four drops of
Cinchona twice daily. My feet and finger tips, etc., at
first became cold; I became lethargic and drowsy; then
my heart began to palpitate; my pulse became hard and

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quick; an intolerable anxiety and trembling; prostration

in all the limbs; then pulsation in the head, redness of the
cheeks, thirst; briefly, all the symptoms usually
associated with intermittent fever appeared, yet without
the actual rigor. Thus all those symptoms which to me
are typical of intermittent fever, as the stupefaction of
the senses, a kind of rigidity of all joints, but above all
the numb, disagreeable sensation which seems to have
its seat in over all the bones of the body, all made their
appearance. This outburst lasted from two to three hours
every time, and recurred when I repeated the dose and
not otherwise. I discontinued the medicine and I was
once more in good health. However, Cullen wrote in his
book, quote: “I have endeavoured to explain, in my first
outlines of practical medical science, that the bark in this
instance acts through its tonic effect on the stomach, and
I have found nothing in any writings which could make
me doubt the truth of my statements”. But if Cullen had
detected that the bark had the power of producing
artificial, antagonistic fever, certainly he would not have
held so firmly to his mode of explanation.
Therefore, I opposed Cullen’s statement and I wrote that
Peruvian bark, which is used as a remedy for intermittent
fever, acts because it can produce symptoms similar to
those of intermittent fever in healthy people. In order to
cure certain forms of intermittent fever, a kind of
artificial fever must be produced.

I: But you know, your opponents now pointed out that

Peruvian bark is not capable of producing intermittent
fever symptoms, and that your experiment is without
proof.

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Hahnemann: For its effect it only requires a dosage

based on individuality. For some individuals even very
small quantities of Cinchona can produce this condition
every time. Homeopathy is absolutely inconceivable
without the most precise individualization!

I: What was your first experiment in homeopathic

prophylaxis – in prevention?

Hahnemann: An episode with belladonna in a scarlet

fever epidemic. I knew the extraordinary similarity
between the symptoms of scarlet fever and those of
belladonna poisoning: the burning skin, the dry sore
throat, the red rash, the dilated pupils, and the delirium.
In a family of which several members were attacked by
scarlet fever, one, a child, whom I was treating with
belladonna for some other ailment, remained immune.
Therefore I gave this beneficial remedy to other children,
who remained well, even when subjected to the greatest
risk of infection. Here I made my first successful
homeopathic prophylaxis!

I: You were also a pioneer in psychiatry and treating

insane patients, tell me a little about that.

Hahnemann: I never allowed any insane patient to be

punished by blows or other painful bodily chastisement,
because there can be no punishment for involuntary
actions, and because these patients deserve nothing but
pity, and are always made worse and not better by such
rough treatment. The physician in charge of such
patients must indeed have an attitude which inspires

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respect but also creates confidence; and never feel

insulted by them, because a being that cannot reason is
incapable of insulting. Friendliness and humanity,
combined with firmness, inspire at the same time the
necessary respect and confidence. These principles
established by me, were entirely new to the psychiatry of
that time.

I: Do you recommend food and lifestyle changes for

your patients?

Hahnemann: For my patients I explained into the

smallest details about food and drink for each meal, and
gave exact prescriptions according to the condition of
individual requirements; I recommended baths, and also
cleanliness in the rooms, beds and body-linen; but above
all I asked for admission of fresh air into the houses and
regular exercise in the open air, walks, together with the
avoidance of excessive physical or mental exertion, and
violent emotions, etc.

I: Do you agree with a standard diet for everyone?

Hahnemann: Diet always remained one of the principal

elements of my curative method; however, a universal
diet...is an idle dream. I laugh at the idea of any standard
or normal system of diet for all, even those in health. I
insist on adapting the diet to the constitution and
digestive powers of each individual. I must feel for
myself, what is useful for me and how much of it; if I do
not know it, no one else does. Therefore do not think

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badly of me, if I am somewhat prejudiced against those

universal rules of diet meant to apply to sensible people.
For is not every man's stomach as peculiar to him as his
foot? ...Moderation and attention to the needs of each
individual constitution under any given conditions is
important.

I: What are your thoughts on pollution?

Hahnemann: I condemn severely anything that pollutes

the air. Fresh air, fresh water, free movement, are as a
general rule, always the preliminary conditions of well-
being.

I: Do you recommend exercise?

Hahnemann: Next to food, exercise is the most essential

requirement of the animal mechanism. Exercise and
good air alone set all the humours in our body in motion
to fill their appointed places, and compel every secreting
organ to give off its specific secretions, give power to
the muscles and to the blood its deepest red colour.

I: What is your advice about raising healthy children?

Hahnemann: Children must be kept clean and in good

air; to that must be added moderation in eating and
drinking, the avoidance of sweets and fatty substances.
Children, who are stuffed with cakes and confectionery,
will soon be under the ground. They must have healthy
and frequent meals, no meat, and no coffee.

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The earliest education is the most important. To force a

child to learn to speak too soon is just as reprehensible as
to repeat words to children in a broken and garbled
fashion such as they themselves are accustomed to use.
They should sleep a great deal, going to bed and getting
up with the sun. Writing should be preceded by the
drawing of all kinds of material objects, also of squares,
triangles and circles. Besides the natural and mechanical
exercises of the body all the senses should be trained.

I: I would like to know your suggestions about control of

contagious diseases?

Hahnemann: For the care of public health in infectious

and contagious diseases; I made proposals for their
treatment in general and isolation hospitals, and
demanded the use of large, airy rooms. I established
clear and comprehensive principles for the discovery,
removal and isolation of those attacked by contagious
diseases, and for the disinfection of all utensils and
rooms used by such patients.

Also, in some cases, in order to save fuel and high rents,

several families will often herd together, frequently in
one room, and they are careful not to let in any fresh air
through window or door, because that might also let in
the cold. The exhalations from perspiration and the
breath become concentrated, stagnant and foul in these
places; one person's lungs do their best to take away
from the others all the small amount of life-giving air
remaining, exhaling will exchange impurities from the
blood. Here contagious epidemics not only go on

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spreading easily, but it is here that they actually originate

and break out.

In laying out new towns no houses more than two stories

high should be allowed; every street should be built at
least twenty paces wide and perfectly straight, so that the
air could blow freely through it, and behind each house,
except perhaps the corner houses, there should be a yard
and a little garden, running the width of the house and at
least twice its length. In this way the air could easily be
renewed behind the houses over the fairly large surface
of the adjoining gardens; and this would be such an
effective method for improving the general health.

I: What about health care in prisons?

Hahnemann: It is cruel to lock up several prisoners

together, without allowing at least 500 cubic feet of air
space to each. After the release of an inmate, a prison
should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected by heating
it to a temperature of 120 degrees.

I: You always treated your patients with one remedy at a

time, why?

Hahnemann: It is the masterpiece of art to give the right

medicine, not the most complex. Hippocrates chose the
simplest. When will it be recognized that the cure of
diseases is better effected by simpler but properly
selected remedies? Nature likes simplicity and can
perform much with one remedy, while you perform little
with many. Imitate nature. I have never prescribed more

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than one medicine at a time, and I have never repeated

the dose until the effect of the previous one had been
exhausted; as a result, I have successfully cured patients
to their own satisfaction.

I: How is it possible to cure, homoeopathically?

Hahnemann: At the bottom of every malady there is a

peculiar stimulation contrary to nature and disturbing the
harmonious working of our organs. If the two stimuli are
very similar to one another, then the weaker will be
totally annihilated with the whole of its action by the
analogous power of the stronger one. To be able to cure,
we need only have a suitable medicine for the unnatural
stimulus present of the disease. That is, we need only
apply another diseased power with action similar to that
exerted by the disease itself.

I: Why did you give up your ordinary medical practice at

one point?

Hahnemann: I was deviating from the ordinary practice

of the medical art. My sense of duty would not easily
allow me to treat the unknown pathological state of my
suffering brethren with these unknown medicines. If they
are not exactly suitable - and how could the physician
know that - since their specific effects had not yet been
demonstrated, they might with their strong dosage easily
change life into death or induce new disorders and
chronic maladies, often more difficult to eradicate than
the original disease. The thought of becoming in this
way a murderer or a malefactor towards the life of my

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fellow human beings was most terrible to me, so terrible

and disturbing that I wholly gave up my practice in the
first years of my married life.
I scarcely treated anybody for fear of injuring them, and
occupied myself solely with chemistry and writing.
But then children were born to me, several children, and
after a time serious illnesses occurred, in endangering
my children, my own flesh and blood, made it even more
painful to my sense of duty, that I could not with any
degree of assurance procure help for them. This was a
labyrinth, in which, only that man can remain at ease that
is willing to accept as truth the assertions of the healing
powers of medicines, because they are printed in a
hundred books. It was said that “perhaps the whole
nature of this science is such that it is not capable of any
great certainty”, what a shameful thought!

The ever-ready prescription-writers know a vast deal

better than the wise Hippocrates, whose name is
constantly in their mouths, whilst in their acts they
dishonour and deny him!
All they need to do is to ask the patient a couple of
questions in order to be able at once to prescribe a lot of
medicines. What a contrast does this superficial,
bungling practice present to the careful, true, detailed
observations of Hippocrates?!

I: Then when you were so unsatisfied what did you do

about it?

Hahnemann: Well then, I thought if there must be a safe,

more dependable method of healing, as sure as God is

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the wisest and most beneficent of beings, let me no

longer seek it in the thorn hedges of the ontological - the
doctrine of the existing statements - in arbitrary opinions
and false conclusions, even though they may adapt
themselves wonderfully to a splendid system, nor yet in
the authorities of highly celebrated men of delusions.
No, let me seek it where it might be nearest at hand, and
where they have all passed by, because it did not seem
artificial or learned enough. It made its appeal only to
me, who wished to be able to look on with normally easy
conscience, should my endangered children die.

I: So what are the options?

Hahnemann: there are three ways; the first way, that of

removing or destroying the original causes of the
malady. The second way, the most used, contraria
contrarus, i.e., treating opposites by opposites, which is
objectionable in chronic diseases, and even with diseases
which will easily degenerate into chronic diseases. For
example, the palliative treatment of constipation by
laxatives, does indeed offer relief at first, but does the
more injury, the longer it is applied. The third way,
traversed only occasionally by the more conscientious
physicians of deeper insight, aims at rooting out by
specific means. One should rely as little as possible upon
chance and proceed as rationally and conscientiously as
possible by experiments of the medicines on the healthy
human body. Only by this means can the true nature, the
real effect of the medicinal substances be discovered;
from them alone can be ascertained to what maladies
they are safely and successfully adaptable.

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With this is made the first conscious step towards the

new doctrine of healing, followed immediately by the
second, in this general principle: Every effective remedy
incites in the human body a kind of illness peculiar to
itself, the more peculiar, the more marked and the more
acute, according as the medicine is the more effective.
One should apply in the disease to be healed, particularly
if chronic, that remedy which is able to stimulate another
artificially produced disease, as similar as possible; and
the former will be healed.

I: You said experiments of the medicines on the healthy

human body, why?

Hahnemann: How could you divide up medicines with

reference to the pathological states for which they are
created? One should observe how medicines act on the
perfectly healthy human body.

I: What is the physician's mission?

Hahnemann: The physician's high and only mission is to

restore the sick to health - to cure, as it is termed.

I: In your opinion what is the responsibility of a

physician?

Hahnemann: The advancement of every means, even the

slightest, to save human life or to secure health and
safety, must be a sacred duty to the real physician.

I: When was the birth of homeopathy?

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Hahnemann: In 1796, and originally it is Homoeopathy.

I: Why the name “Homoeopathy”?

Hahnemann: It is composed of “homoios” similar, and

“pathos” disease. This principle is in contrast to contraria
contrarus, also known as Allopathy.

I: Is it “similia similibus curentur” – “are to be cured”, or

“curantur”, can you verify?

Hahnemann: In the introduction to the first edition of my

book Organon, I wrote: To obtain a quick, easy and
lasting cure, choose for every attack of illness a medicine
which can produce a similar malady to the one it is to
cure - similia similibus curentur. I never wrote curantur -
not even in the sixth and final edition.

I: Give me a simple example for “similia similibus

curentur”

Hahnemann: In the case of burns a cook never uses cold

water but holds the burned hand near to the glow of hot
flame, until the pain diminishes, so for burns one should
not use cold water. Just as snow is used for frozen limbs
and not warm water, just as an impetuous dancing girl, at
fever heat and tortured by excessive thirst, would bring
on herself destruction by taking off clothes in a current
of air and by drinking a glass of ice-cold water although
this would seem at the moment to be the greatest
refresher.

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I: Why some are so much against homeopathy?

Hahnemann: Because it is an unwelcome truth.

I: Has it always been like that?

Hahnemann: Before my time, and as long as there

existed a medical science, all systems, all therapies, all
directions for healing diseases, were included in the
phrase, “Contraria contrarus curentur”, and whenever a
wise man did occasionally venture to argue, in gentle
language and propose a "Similia similibus" this
suggestion was never heeded. The basic dogma of all
medical schools “treat disease merely by opposing
media” remained quietly prevalent.

The principles of homeopathy have been applied in

former times including Hippocrates and his school; from
the book “The Localities of Mankind” which he quoted
that: Unless arises by similar things can the sick be made
well; vomiting can be made to cease by means of
emetics. An illness is caused by similar means and
similar means can cure men of illness.
Hippocrates said: by the application of precisely what
causes the illness, will the patient recover again from the
illness.

If the supposed seeker after truth is not willing to seek

truth where it is to be found, namely in experience, then
he may leave it undiscovered; he cannot find it in the
multiplication tables.

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Homeopathy is an imminent and inseparable component

of creation itself.

I found the road to truth, upon which I have to tread

alone, a road far removed from the common highway of
medical routine. The further I advanced from truth to
truth, the further did my conclusions move from that
ancient structure, which, having been built out of
opinion, was upheld only by opinions, although I
allowed no single one of my conclusions to stand unless
fully confirmed by experiment.

I: What do you say to those that ignore and dismiss all

evidences and clinical research studies in homeopathy?

Hahnemann: It is infinitely easier to contradict than to

investigate, infinitely easier to mock at realties and to
present them in a distorted light by twisting and
falsifying, than to sacrifice one's whole life to tireless
and conscientious investigation of truth, by faithful
observation of the nature of things in the most careful
experiments and to the unprejudiced employment of
their results for the good of mankind.

Only those unbiased individuals, to whom truth and the

happiness of mankind are of some value, will be
receptive to our simple doctrine of healing.

I: What do you think of the biased journalists and bad-

media that are politically motivated to put down
homeopathy?

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Hahnemann: All in vain. The better part of the informed,

just and unprejudiced public and I take it upon myself to
say, the greater part - knows very well with whom it can
find medical trustworthiness.

Experience and scribbling are two very different things!

Works of experience, such as my Organon, can only be
confirmed or refuted by fresh, honest experiments. It is
ridiculous, and more than ridiculous, to combat careful
real experience by captious verbosity.

I: What is your argument against the opinion that

nothing can be seen visually in homeopathic remedies
due to dilution-and-potentization procedure?

Hahnemann: God himself is not visible, not perceivable

by the senses, but He exists. All-powerful, All-
permeating, transfusing every creature.
I believe in the illimitable possibilities of medicine,
because I believe in God.
This conviction strengthened me in the efficacy of small
and extremely small doses in high and extremely high
dilutions, such as cannot be perceived by the senses or
determined by current science. The dynamization
develops the medicinal powers lying in the substance
and discloses these powers more and more by
potentization.

I: I think there are doctors that might simply be afraid to

defend the truth in medicine!

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Hahnemann: There were times that the better minds had

been so intimidated and discouraged that they did not
dare to express their thoughts. Only the voice of the
common mob was heard. A number of causes, I dare not
to count them up, have for centuries been dragging down
the dignity of that divine science of practical medicine,
and have converted it into a miserable, degrading
prescription trade.

But now, heroic courage, resolution, faithfulness,

friendship, honesty of purpose, and for the love of
humanity - truth will once more ascend the throne and
that which is good will no longer be so derisively
misunderstood.

Blind as many still remain, let us do them a service

despite themselves, they will be grateful someday,
because our principle is, like the light, one of the
grandest truths of nature!

I: What do you call “quackery”?

Hahnemann: A quack nostrum is a medicinal agent

prepared for public sale in a certain invariable way, and
it is advertised as efficacious for one or several named
diseases.

I: What do you call “healing”?

Hahnemann: The doctor's sole object is to make sick

person well, this is “healing”, and it is an art. The highest
ideal of the healing art is a speedy, gentle and lasting

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restoration of health, or the removal and annihilation of

the malady in its entirety in the shortest, most
dependable, least harmful way, on easily understandable
principles - rational healing.

I: How do you recognize diseases?

Hahnemann: Diseases are not to be recognised by the

change they effect in the interior, but they are clearly
recognisable by their symptoms. As far as the doctor is
concerned, the disease consists merely in the totality of
their symptoms.

We must recognise with great clearness what has to be

eliminated from every disease condition in order to
evolve one of perfect health, and every medicine must
clearly demonstrate what are its curative powers that can
be depended upon in the treatment of disease. Then only
will medical science cease to be a frivolous gambol for
human life and begin to be a sure deliverer from disease.

I: Many doctors in your lifetime accused that you

attacked them with your strong words?

Hahnemann: Doctors are my brothers. I have nothing

against them personally. It is medical science that is my
object.

I: Why were some of the doctors really angry or fearful

towards you?

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Hahnemann: What would they have to fear from a little

book of not many pages like my Organon?
It is just the successful result of my treatment of the
severest diseases which made them very angry. My
crowd of patients increased rather than diminished. By
the grace of God I have successfully effected on patients
abandoned by the doctors, whereby I have gained the
love and esteem of this community and others.
The plain effect of my medical doctrine, aids human
beings to recover their health in a straightforward
manner; but I am powerless against simplicity and
mighty force of this beneficent truth, and I humbly beg
pardon, as Galileo did for the earth moving round the
sun!

It must some time or other be loudly and publicly said,

so let it now be boldly and frankly said before the whole
world, that medicine requires a thorough reform from
top to bottom. What should not be done is done, and
what is essential is utterly neglected.

I: What do you have to say to those who gave you so

much hardship and trouble in your mission?

Hahnemann: Shame upon them; they would not

confound me. These miserable creatures cannot perform
anything beneficial.

I: What is your advice for homeopaths that have to face

the medical bigots and bullies?

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Hahnemann: Do not give way to the wicked, but boldly

meet them. All will come better if we only persevere.

I: Your idea of “Psora”, what is that all about?

Hahnemann: Psora was a common expression that was

widely known in my era. Psora or “itch” was the general
term for a whole series of skin troubles of the most
varied kinds, well known from the very earliest times.
I did not therefore coin this expression, but I rather used
the word in a wider sense. Like other physicians I knew
the cause of itch was the itch mite - Acarus scahiei or
Sarcoptes hominis. I also had the view that the itch
eruption could only develop on a favourable fostering
ground, called “Internal Psora”. However it was not
cured with the destruction or removal of the mites,
although of course it was necessary first of all to remove
the parasite. So my theory was that Psora, the internal
itch, was totally different in my opinion from the
external ailment, the primary eruption. The latter could
be cured quickly and easily, while the internal psora,
often remaining latent for a long time and only showing
secondary symptoms. What the Allopaths could not
expel by sulphur or mercury ointments, was no primary
itch eruption at all, for that disappears with such
ointments in two days and often in a few hours. No, that
was definitely a secondary eruption, a real case of
developed psora, which was showing itself in eruption as
in so many cases. Do not be surprised that they could not
easily get rid of these psora cases which are often so
vicious. In newly contracted itch – an internal psora,
which has developed into chronic diseases and eruptions,

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is very different from that, in fact, that is the primary

state while the other is the secondary, and worse in a
case of this itch, newly infected, you will obtain easy
success by treating with a mild sulphur remedy.
Psora, breaking out from its latent state, can be observed
in the most variable forms imaginable, according to the
bodily constitution, the deficiencies of up-bringing, the
habits, the mode of occupation and the external
conditions of the individual.

The ultimate purpose of my Psora theory is to show the

connection between skin diseases and the rest of the
body. There are disadvantages of purely local treatment
of external diseases.

I: Speaking of skin, what is your advice for treating skin

conditions?

Hahnemann: If the physician desires to proceed in a

conscientious and intelligent manner, no skin eruption,
whatever its nature, should be removed by external
remedies. The human skin cannot without the help of the
rest of the living body produce from itself an eruption. In
every case an improper condition of the whole body, of
the inner living organism, is at the root of the trouble and
therefore this must first be considered and should be
removed by internal medicines, which will alter,
improve and cure the whole.

I: What is your opinion about those practitioners who

mix allopathic drugs with homeopathic medicines in
their prescriptions?

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Hahnemann: I call them Half-Homeopaths.

I: There is a myth, a misunderstanding, among some

people that Homeopathy rejects medical sciences
including physiology and pathology. What is your
comment about this falsification?

Hahnemann: In fact, I definitely turned away all those

who thought they might become homeopaths without
earnest scientific training. I expressly demanded of a
pupil, regular medical study before studying
homeopathy. I laid before the candidate a number of
serious and detailed questions, the satisfactory answering
of which could alone lead me to regard him as a genuine
homeopath student.

I: What is your comment about those people that in the

name of homeopathy develop new systems that are
mainly for business?

Hahnemann: Should any false doctrines be taught under

the honourable name of Homeopathy, deserves to be
branded and avoided. Their want of Homeopathic
knowledge could not be the measure whereby the power
of pure Homeopathy could be judged; seeing that they
left uncured or sent to their graves, many whom true
Homeopathy could have cured.
The purifying and separating of the true from the false
which I undertook with the highest motives and which
has the unmitigated approval of the best and most
dependable of my students, must draw the world's
attention to real values. What have you to fear from a

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frank and earnest separation of pure homoeopathy? The

science and I have need of fewer but truer adherents. I do
not wish to see my colleagues increased by a large
number of those false coiners.
If you really wish to do as well as the practitioners of
Homeopathy, imitate the Homeopathic practice
rationally and honestly. If you do not wish this, well
then, harp away, we will not prevent you, harp away on
your comfortless path of blind and servile obedience in
the dark midnight of fanciful systems.

I: What do you tell those who consider the classical

homeopathy as a difficult approach?

Hahnemann: Have you really read the Organon?!

I: Tell me about Vital Force.

Hahnemann: It is present in all parts of the organism.

The material organism without the vital force is capable
of no sensation, no function, no self-preservation; it
derives all sensations and performs all the functions of
life solely by means of the immaterial being - the vital
principle, which animates the material organism in
health and in disease.

A homeopath knows that a cure can only take place by

the reaction of vital force against the rightly chosen
remedy, and that the cure will be certain and rapid in
proportion to the strength with which the vital force still
prevails in the patient.

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I: Your advice for homeopathy schools and colleges?

Hahnemann: Let us use all care to make it most perfect.

I: Any advice for homeopath researchers and scientists?

Hahnemann: Never take anything for granted, nor

receive anything in any science as a truth, until you have
investigated it for yourself.

I: Any advice for the homeopathic hospitals and clinics?

Hahnemann: Do not cease from announcing publicly in

great detail your work in your institution by issuing
quarterly reports of the results obtained by your pure
homeopathy.

I: Give me one the reasons why you so much liked Dr.

Clemens von Bonninghausen, and, Dr. Constantine
Hering? Why they were among your favourites?

Hahnemann: Because Dr. Bonninghausen held the

ultimate requirements for successful homoeopathic
treatment, to be strict and accurate in making a detailed
examination of the patient and a complete tabulation of
the disease symptoms; and Dr. Hering because he
believed in my idea that one should disregard all
theories, even those of one's own fabrication, when they
are in opposition to the results of pure experience.

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I: Unprejudiced and unbiased observation is one of the

key qualities of a good homeopath. How can one master
this skill?

Hahnemann: I urged upon my pupils the propriety of

addicting themselves to close thinking, by the study of
the mathematics, of qualifying themselves for minute
observation, by the study of natural history, and when
possible also by the art of drawing, for the purpose of
sharpening the sight to close observation!

The properties and varieties of natural bodies and natural

phenomena, enormously numerous though they be, exist
in order that we may observe them!
I encouraged my pupils in observations in objects...; e.g.,
in the description of every single species of plants; every
joint of the rarest insects is described and counted; the
tiniest worms are dissected and the peculiarities of their
intestines noted; minerals are scrupulously described in
all their infinite varieties of composition down to the
minutest deviations. And quite right, too!

I: Many people commonly ask, “Do you believe in

homeopathy?” ....but homeopathy is not a religion, it is
an applied science. What is your response?

Hahnemann: See, I first called my work “Organon of the

rational medical doctrine” - Heilkunde; but from the
second edition onwards I changed the title to “Organon
of the true healing art” – Heilkunst; I replaced the
"rational" by "true" - genuine. The elimination of the
term “rational” has been supposed to imply that my

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followers were required to accept my doctrines as though

they were the revelations of a new gospel, to be received
as such, and not to be subjected to logical criticism. I am
not ashamed to confess that I did not know yesterday
what experience might teach me today. I am not afraid of
being contradicted by experience. If experience should
show you that my method is the best, then make use of it
for benefit of the humanity, and give God the glory!

I: How did you take a patient’s case?

Hahnemann: I often allowed my patients to tell me what

they think their disease is and what it proceeds from. I
like to knew what sort of ideas people form of things.
In each case, I wrote with punctuality the totality of
symptoms, or entire group of sufferings of the patient.
On the completion of my record, the symptoms of the
disease were most carefully arranged to correspond with
the indications of the medicine I deemed most
appropriate to the case; but in reaching this conclusion I
neither depended on my memory nor relied solely upon
my previous case experience, but I rather checked the
Materia Medica.

I: What was the Union of Provers of Medicine?

Hahnemann: I formed a group from my students, and

designated the group as a Union of Provers of Medicine
to conduct clinical trials. These people were:
Karl Franz who participated in provings of 37 medicines,
including 1900 symptoms; Gustav Gross who helped in

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proving of 42 medicines, including 2380 symptoms;

Franz Hartmann who helped in proving 28 medicines,
including 880 symptoms; Christian Hornburg proving 24
medicines, including 750 symptoms;
Christian Langhammer proving 47 medicines, including
1600 symptoms; Ernst Rückert in 8 medicines, including
100 symptoms; Johann Stapf helped in proving of 43
medicines, including 1000 symptoms; and
William Wislicenus in the proving of 25 medicines,
including 840 symptoms. I then examined every report
of the group carefully and with exacting inspection.

I: Outside of medicine, what were your conversations

about with friends, and did you even have time to chat?

Hahnemann: After the day had been spent in hard work,

I was in the habit of recruiting myself from eight o'clock
till ten by conversation with my family and circle of
trusty friends. Outside medical science I liked to
discourse on natural science subjects, the conditions of
foreign countries and peoples. I had a peculiar fondness
for the Chinese and for this reason that among them the
children were brought up in the strictest obedience and
respect for their parents - duties which, in the civilized
countries of Europe, were becoming more and more
neglected.



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An Incomplete List of Articles - Author: Dr. Hahnemann

No Subject Year
1 The wonderful construction of the human hand 1775
2 Instruction for Surgeons respecting Venereal 1789
Diseases
3 The Friend of Health, Part One 1792
4 The Friend of Health, Part Two 1795
5 Description of Klockenbring during his Insanity 1796
6 Essay on a New Principle for ascertaining the 1796
Curative Powers of Drugs
7 Case of rapidly cured Colicodynia 1797
8 Are the Obstacles to Certainty and Simplicity in 1797
Practical Medicine insurmountable?
9 Antidotes to some Heroic Vegetable Substances 1798
10 Some kinds of Continued and Remittent Fevers 1798
11 Some Periodical and Hebdomadal Diseases 1798
12 A Preface 1800
13 Fragmentary Observations on Brown's Elements of 1801
Medicine
14 View of Professional Liberality at the 1801
commencement of the Nineteenth Century
15 Cure and Prevention of Scarlet-fever 1801
16 On the Power of Small Doses of Medicine in 1801
General, and of Belladonna in particular
17 On a proposed Remedy for Hydrophobia 1803
18 On the Effects of Coffee, from original Observations 1803
19 Esculapius in the Balance 1805
20 The Medicine of Experience 1805
21 Objections to a proposed Substitute for Cinchona 1806
Bark and to Succedanea in general
22 Observations on the Scarlet-fever 1808
23 On the present want of Foreign Medicines 1808
24 On the Value of the Speculative Systems of Medicine 1808

Continued...

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An Incomplete List of Articles - Author: Dr. Hahnemann

No Subject Year
25 On Substitutes for Foreign Drugs 1808
26 Extract from a letter to a Physician of High Standing 1808
on the great necessity of a Regeneration of Medicine
27 Observations on the Three Current Methods of 1809
Treatment
28 To a Candidate for the Degree of MD. 1809
29 On the Prevailing Fever 1809
30 Signs of the Times in the Ordinary System of 1809
Medicine
31 Medical Historical Desertation on the Helleborism of 1812
the Ancients
32 Spirit of the Homoeopathic Doctrine of Medicine 1813
33 Treatment of the Typhus or Hospital Fever at present 1814
prevailing
34 On the Treatment of Burns 1816
35 On the Venereal Disease and its ordinary improper 1816
treatment
36 Nota bene for my Reviewers 1817
37 Examination of the Sources of the ordinary Materia 1817
Medica
38 On the Uncharitableness towards Suicides 1819
39 Treatment of the Purpura Miliaris 1821
40 On the Preparation and Dispensing of Medicines by 1820
Homoeopathic Physicians themselves:
Representation to a Person high in Authority
41 On the Preparation and Dispensing of Medicines by 1821
Homoeopathic Physicians themselves: The
Homoeopathic Physician is prevented by no existing
Laws regulating medical practice, from himself
Administering his Medicines to his patients
42 On the Preparation and Dispensing of Medicines by 1825
Homoeopathic Physicians themselves: How may
Homoeopathy be most certainly eradicated?
Continued...

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An Incomplete List of Articles - Author: Dr. Hahnemann

No Subject Year
43 Contrast of the Old and New systems of Medicine 1825
44 The Medical Observer 1825
45 How can Small Doses of such very Attenuated 1827
Medicine as Homoeopathy employs still possess
great power ?
46 On the Impregnation of the Globules with Medicine 1829
47 Allopathy: a word of Warning to all Sick Persons 1831
48 Cure and Prevention of the Asiatic Cholera 1831
49 Appeal to thinking Philanthropists respecting the 1831
mode of Propagation of the Asiatic Cholera
50 Remarks on the extreme attenuation of 1832
Homoeopathic remedies
51 Cases illustrative of Homoeopathic Practice 1833
52 Two cases from Hahnemann's Note Book 1843

Dr. Hahnemann is also the author of 10 books in Latin

and 23 books in the German language, which
compromised four volumes. He wrote the Organon of
Medicine in 6 editions, the Materia Medica in 6
volumes, and the Chronic Diseases in 4 volumes. He
recorded his patients’ cases in 40 volumes of 500 pages
each, plus many letters and essays that he wrote to his
students and colleagues.

As well, Hahnemann translated many books from

different languages. For more information check the
following pages.

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An Incomplete List of Dr. Hahnemann’s Translations

No Hahnemann’s Translation from English to German:

1 John Stedtmann’s – Physiologische Versuche und

Beobachtungen. Leipzig, 1777.
Original. Physiological essays and observations, by John
Stedtmann. London, 1769. 8vo.

2 Nugent’s Versuch uber die Wasserscheu. Leipzig, 1777.

Original. An essay on Hydrophobia. London, 1753. 8vo.

3 William Falconer’s Versuch uber die mineralischen Wasser

und Bader. Leipzig, 1777.
Original. On Mineral baths and Waters, by W. Falconers.
Bath, 1775. 8vo.

4 Ball’s neuere Herilkunst. Leipzig, 1777. Original. Ball’s

Modern Practice of Physic. 2 vols. 8vo.

5 Dr. M. Ryan’s Natur und Kur der Lungenschwindsucht.

Leipzig, 1790.
Original. An Inquiry into the nature causes and cures of
consumption. London, 1787. 8vo.

6 A. Young’s Annalen des Ackerbaues. Leipzig, 1790.

Original. Young’s Annals of Agriculture. London, 1786. 2
vols. 8vo.

Continued...

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An Incomplete List of Dr. Hahnemann’s Translations

No Hahnemann’s Translation from English to German:

7 Cullen’s Materia Medica. Leipzig, 1790. Original. A treatise

on the Materia Medica, by W. Cullen, M. D. Edinburgh,
1789. 2 vols. 8vo.

8 I. Grigg’s Vorsichtsregeln far das Weibliche Geschlecht,

besonders in der Schwvangerschaft und dem Kindbette.
Leipzig, 1791
Original. Grigg’s Advice to the Female Sex. London, 1789.
Svo.

9 D. Monro’s Arzneimittellehre. Leipzig, 1791.

Original. Monro’s Materia Medica. London, 1788. 2 vols.
Svo.

10 F. Ringby’s chemische Bemerkungen Uber den Zucker.

Dresden, 1791.
Original. Chemical remarks on Sugar, by F. Ringby. London,
1788. 2 vols. 8vo.

11 Brown’s Elementen der Medecine. Leipzig, 1801.

Original. Brown’s Elements of Medicine.

Hahnemann’s Translation from Latin to German:

12
Albrecht von Haller’s Materia Medica. Leipzig, 1806. 8vo.

Continued...

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An Incomplete List of Dr. Hahnemann’s Translations

No Hahnemann’s Translation from French to German:

13 Demachy’s Laborant im Grossen oder Kunst die chymischen

Produkte fabrikm£ssig zu verfertigen. Leipzig, 1784.
Original. Proeedes chymiques ranges methodiquement et
definis. Neufchatel, 1780. 2 vols. Svo.

14 Der Liquerfabrikant. Leipzig, 1785.

Original L’art du Destillateur Liquofista, par Demachy et
Dubisson. Paris,1775. 2 vols. 8vo.

15 Demachy’s Kunst des Epissfabrikanten.

Leipzig, 1787.,Original. Demachy’s L’art du Vinaigrier.
Neufchatel, 1780. 8vo.

16 Die Kennzeichen der Gute und Verfalschung der

Arzneimittel, von I. B. Sande.
Dresden, 1787.
Original. La falsification des Medicaments devoilee.
Bruxelles, 1784. 8vo.

17 De la Metherie uber die reine Luft und verwandte Luftarten.

Leipzig, 1790.
Original. Essay sur l’air pur et les different especes d’air.
Paris, 1785. 8vo.

Hahnemann’s Translation from Italian to German:

18 A. Fabroni’s Kunst, wein zu verfertigen, Leipzig, 1790.

Original. Dell arte di fabre il vino.

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An Incomplete List of Publications in Latin

Author: Dr. Hahnemann

No In Latin Language:

1 Dissertatio inauguralis medica. Conspectus affectnum

spasmodicorum aetiologicus et therapeuticus. Erlangae. 1779.
4 vols.

2 Dissertatio historico — medica de Helleborismo veterum.

Leipzig, 1812. 4 vols.

3 Fragmenta de viribus medicamentorum positivis S. in sano

corpore humanis observatis. Leipzig, 1805. 2 vols.

An Incomplete List of Publications in German Language

Author: Dr. Hahnemann

No In German Language:

1 The wonderful construction of the human hand, 1755

2 A Treatise on the detection and cure of poisoning with

arsenic. Leipzig, 1786. 1 toI. 8vo.

3 An essay upon the bad effects arising from the use of

anthracite coal fires. Dresden, 1787. 1 vol. 8vo.

4 An essay upon the influence of various kinds of air. 1788.

4 vo.

Continued...

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An Incomplete List of Publications in German Language

Author: Dr. Hahnemann

No In German Language:

5 Directions for detecting Iron and Lead in wine. 1788. 4vo.

6 An essay upon Bile and Gall Stones. 1788. 4vo.

7 An essay upon a new and very efficient agent in the

prevention of putrefaction. 1788.

8 An essay on Baryta. 1789

9 Upon the detection of a new constituent in Graphites. 1789

10 An essay upon the Principium astringents of vegetables. 1789

11 Remarks upon the Mercurius Solubilis Hahnemanni, with

exact directions for its preparation. 1789. A second edition
was called for in 1790.

12 A treatise on Syphilis, and its treatment with mercurius

solubilis. Leipzig, 1789. 1 vol. 8vo.

13 An essay on the best means of avoiding salivation and the

destructive effects of mercury! 1791

14 A treatise on the best method of preserving health. Frankfort,

1792. 2 vols.
Svo. A second edition was published at Leipzig in 1796.

Continued...

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An Incomplete List of Publications in German Language

Author: Dr. Hahnemann

No In German Language:

15 The Apothecaries Lexicon. Leipzig, 1793. 2 vols. A second

edition was published in 1795

16 Remarks upon the Hahnemannean wine test. 1793

17 Remarks upon the Cassel yellow. Erfurt, 1793. 1 vol. 4vo

18 Remarks upon the Hahnemannean wine test, and the new

Liquor probalorius fortior. 1793

19 An essay upon the regulation of the passions. Leipzig, 1795

20 Socrates and Physon. 1795

21 An essay on the qualifications of a true physician. 1795

22 A Manual for Mothers. 1796

23 An article in defence of Klockenbring. 1796

24 An essay upon the new method of discovering the curative

powers of medicines, and a criticism upon the methods
previously employed. 1796

25 Are the obstacles to the attainment of certainty and simplicity

in the practice of medicine insurmountable. 1797

Continued...

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An Incomplete List of Publications in German Language

Author: Dr. Hahnemann

No In German Language:

26 An essay on Colic. 1797

27 Antidotes to several heroic vegetable poisons. 1798

28 A criticism of Brown’s Elements of Medicine. 1801

29 A treatise on Continued and Remitting fevers. 1801

30 An essay on periodical diseases. 1801

31 Remarks upon the candor and humanity that distinguishes

physicians of the 19th century. 1801

32 A treatise on the cure and prevention of scarlet fever. Gotha.

1801. 1vol.

33 An essay on the efficacy of small doses of medicine, and of

Belladonna in particular. 1801

34 A treatise on the cure and prevention of Hydrophobia. 1803

35 An essay on Coffee. Dresden. 1803

36 Asculapius upon the balance. Leipzig. 1805. 1 vol

37 A new System of medicine, based upon pure experience.

Berlin, 1S05. 1vol. 8vo.

Continued...

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An Incomplete List of Publications in German Language

Author: Dr. Hahnemann

No In German Language:

38 Remarks upon the proposed substitutes for Peruvian bark, and

upon substitutes in general. 1805

39 An essay on scarlet fever. 1808

40 An essay on the value of the Speculative Systems of

Medicine. 1808

41 Remarks on the insufficiency of the present Materia Medica.

1808

42 An essay on the abuse, and dreadful effects of mercury. 1808

43 Upon the necessity of a reform in the practice of Medicine.

1808

44 A treatise upon Syphilis. 1809

45 An essay on nervous fevers. 1809

46 On the Signs of the Times, as regards the practice of

medicine. 1809

47 A monograph on the only three possible methods of curing

disease.

Continued...

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An Incomplete List of Publications in German Language

Author: Dr. Hahnemann

No In German Language:

48 The Organon. Dresden, 1810. 1vol. 8vo.

A second edition was published at Leipzig in 1819; a third, in
1824; a fourth, in 1823; and a fifth, in 1333.

49 The pure Materia Medica. Dresden1811. 6 vols. 8vo.

A second edition was published in 1822; a third, in 1830 and
a fourth, in 1833.

50 A Dissertation upon the use of Homoeopathic remedies by

physicians of the old school. 1812.

51 A treatise upon nervous and hospital fevers. 1814

52 A treatise upon Syphilis. 1816

53 An essay on Burns. 1816. A second edition was published

during the same year.

54 Remarks upon Suicide. 1819

55 An essay upon Purpura miliaris 1321

56 Upon the most certain method of preventing the extension of

Homoeopathia. 1825

Continued...

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An Incomplete List of Publications in German Language

Author: Dr. Hahnemann

No In German Language:

57 Chronic diseases. Dresden, 1828.4 vols. 8vo.

A second edition was called for in 1830, and a third, in 1835

58 An essay on Allopathia. Leipzig, 1831. 1 vol. 8vo

59 A treatise on Cholera. 1831. 1vol. 8vo.

A second edition was published in 1831; a third at Leipzig
during the same year; a fourth at Berlin in 1831.

60 Remarks on the extreme attenuation of Homeopathic

remedies, 1832.

A Homeopathic Hospital Ambulance!

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Homeopathic Hospital Ambulances!

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Part 3: Your Love-Life

Interviewer: What do you think of love?

Hahnemann: What can we do but follow this sweet

fragrance called love? It makes sense of our life and
gives us new meaning and purpose.

I: What do you think about marriage?

Hahnemann: I think very highly of marriage in relation

to the wellbeing both of body and soul.
When kind Providence sends you the one who is worthy
of you, for all unmarried people, I recommend marriage.

I: Tell me about your first wife.

Hahnemann: My first wife was Johanna Leopoldine

Henriette. Her date of birth is January 1st of 1764. Her
parents had an apothecary. I met her when she was
seventeen years old, and soon I fell in love with her. She
was also gifted in the musical sense. We married on the
17th of November, 1782.

I: When did Madam Johanna pass way?

Hahnemann: On March 31st of 1830, after nearly forty-

eight years of happy married life, my beloved wife,
Johanna passed away quite suddenly in her sixty-seventh
years of age, due to an abscess in the liver which had
opened into the lung. She was a noble companion in my
scientific life.

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I: Your second wife, Madame Melanie, how did you

meet her?

Hahnemann: In October of 1834, a young French lady,

Mademoiselle Marie Melanie d'Hervilly-Gohier, came to
consult me about her health because of a lung trouble.

I: But what was the real reason that she came to see you
in Germany, I mean was she really suffering from an
illness?

Hahnemann: According to her own statements she had

already discovered in Paris an inward calling to the
medical profession and as a painter had seized
opportunities of studying anatomy. The loss of several
friends is said to have shattered her health. Then the
French translation of my book Organon fell into her
hands. Here was medical truth – in Organon; off to
Germany, to its source. She came to me with the definite
intention of learning homeopathy from the beginning.

I: What do you know about Melanie’s childhood?

Hahnemann: She belonged to a wealthy family. One

interesting story about her childhood is that Melanie
learned to read only after her eighth year because she
was bored with learning alphabets; then her father
presented her with a copy of the “Thousand and One
Nights” and read aloud to her one story and told her
there were many such beautiful stories in the book. This
motivated her to learn the alphabet.

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I: When did you two get married?

Hahnemann: On January 1st of 1835. I was eighty years

of age, and she was about thirty years of age.

I: Did Melanie really love you?

Hahnemann: She adored me.

I: And then you and Madam Melanie moved to Paris!

Hahnemann: We departed for France on the 7th of June

1835, and on June 21st, we arrived in Paris.
There was a fairly strong homeopathic activity in
existence in Paris, when we arrived in 1835. My arrival
was welcomed most cordially by the homeopaths of
France. The next month on August 12th, I was granted
by the authorities the right to practice.

I: On July 2nd of 1843, at 5 o'clock in the morning, at 88

years of age, due to bronchial catarrh, you left this life,
in your house in No # 1 Milan Street in Paris, France.

Hahnemann: I have not lived in vain. At last I rest in

peace!



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Bibliography

Organon, by Dr. S. Hahnemann

Defense of the Organon, by Dr. S. Hahnemann

Samuel Hahnemann, by Dr. R. Haehl

Hahnemann’s Autobiography, by Dr. S. Hahnemann

Lesser Writings of Samuel Hahnemann, by Dr. S. Hahnemann

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