Medizin, Gesellschaft, und Geschichte : Jahrbuch des Instituts für Geschichte der Medizin der Robert Bosch Stiftung
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Biography Historical Article
[Protestant clergymen among Hahnemann's clientele. Patient histories in letters].
As part of the research project, developments in the history of science and in the regional and ecclesiastic history of the late feudal petty state of Köthen-Anhalt have been assessed and numerous documents of the Nagel and Mühlenbein family histories examined that place the transcribed patient letters of the two Protestant clergymen within the context of the Hahnemann Archives. These findings complement and extend previous insights into Hahnemann's Köthen clientele, especially when it comes to the structure and milieu of the local clerical elite. Inspired by the interpretive methods of sequential textual analysis, form and content of the letters of the two clergymen and their relatives were also investigated as methodically structured lines of communication. ⋯ The correspondence between the pastors Albert Wilhelm Gotthilf Nagel (1796-1835) and August Carl Ludwig Georg Mühlenbein (1797-1866), presented here in a standard edition, has been investigated at Fulda University as part of the project 'Homöopathisches Medicinieren zwischen alltäglicher Lebensführung und professioneller Praxis' ('Homeopathic medicine between everyday use and professional practice'). Of the altogether 78 transcribed documents, 53 are letters written by either of the two pastors, 16 are patient journals by Samuel Hahnemann, 9 letters by the pastors' wives and Mühlenbein's mother. The two series of letters, originally composed between 1831 and 1833 in old German cursive script, can now be used as sources for research into the history of homeopathy.
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Nosodes and sarcodes (homeopathic remedies gained primarily from disease products respectively organs of human or animal origin) are groups of drugs which were added to the homeopathic Materia Medica in the 1830s. Most substances used in nosode or sarcode therapy have a long medical tradition, with some even going back to the pre-Christian period. ⋯ The investigation shows, on the one hand, that there are aspects common to both approaches that go far beyond the mere choice of substances. On the other hand, it demonstrates the effect the inclusion of human or animal body substances in the homeopathic Materia Medica has had on homeopathy, as their use is no longer in line with what is considered rational.
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Biography Historical Article
[How to dose correctly? An overview of debates in the United States, Great Britain and Germany (1830s to 1970s)].
The dispute over low and high potencies is no longer current in today's homeopathy, but from the 1830s to the 1960s it played a major role in scientific discourse. The devotees of high potencies claimed to be the only true Hahnemannians, while their antagonists tried to practise a scientific, modernized homeopathy. ⋯ As well as Hahnemann, other scholars, such as Constantin Hering, James T. Kent and Karl Koetschau, played important roles in the international disputes.
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Biography Historical Article
["At times I had to be an allopathic medical officer and then again I was allowed to be a homoeopathic physician." Homoeopathy and war from the Franco-German War (1870/71) to World War I (1914-1918)].
With its focus on the Franco-German War and World War I the present paper constitutes a first approach to the comprehensive topic of "homoeopathy and war". Sources used include articles from homoeopathic magazines, homoeopathic specialist literature, material from the estate of the homoeopathic lay organization "Hahnemannia" and individual testimonies from non-homoeopaths. ⋯ This is followed by the investigation of homoeopathic war hospitals at home with an analysis of the attitude of the homoeopathic physicians and lay-healers involved. The paper also describes the difficult relationship between homoeopathy and conventional medicine during the two conflicts.
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Biography Historical Article
Potency and provenance: an inter-generational study of homeopathic practice in Ontario.